Hi folks,

 

I’m a newbie on the forums and new to modern flight simulators as well (been lurking and trying to learn for a few days but still have a ton of questions).  I was recently at a work colleague’s place who’s really into FSX and was pretty blown away by his setup and what the program can do these days.  I'd dabbled with Microsoft Flight Simulator as a teenager (some 15-20 years ago) and really enjoyed it then, though I remember nothing about how it works, and I’ve always been into aviation despite being in a completely different field, so after seeing FSX in action I immediately caught the bug!  Of course, I went home and immediately ordered FSX Gold BEFORE researching what hardware I actually need for it to work properly.  Oops!  Not a big deal as I now plan on getting a new system built in the near future, once my budget priorities allow for it,  but most likely that won't be before the fall unfortunately.  For now I have the software and my measly laptop (getting a joystick too for now) and was wondering if I can at least make use of the time between now and getting a new system to begin learning to fly.  I’ll post my laptop specs at the bottom of this post.

 

I’m not here hoping that someone will tell me that I can run everything fine as is on my laptop.  I already know from reading these forums that’s not the case, but I am hoping for a bit of help to get FSX set-up with some proper slider adjustments and some basic addons to work at least passably on my computer, so that I can begin to explore FSX and learn to fly for now.  My plan is to start with the built in tutorials to work my way up, and then to join vatsim and a virtual airline with a good training program to really learn to fly in FSX.  My ultimate goal down the line when I get the new computer is to learn to operate rather realistic-type airliners and fly for a virtual airline as well as fly realistic bush-planes in a variety of places (Canadian far north, Australian outback, even African safari territory if possible), but that’s down the road a bit.

 

Now I know my computer is severely limited so I don’t expect to get great top-notch add-ons just yet, but I’m wondering if there are any basic, must-have add-ons that will be able to enhance my experience with my current limitations in mind until I get my new system.  I’m thinking that the biggest resource drains are probably top-notch scenery and realistic weather.  I plan on doing my practice flying in southern Ontario and southern Quebec (specifically the Toronto and Montreal areas) as that’s where I live and grew up respectively, and was wondering if I could get a mid-range scenery and airport add-on for those areas.  Do the mesh, landscape and terrain add-ons have their own sliders, or would getting any of them just totally ruin performance?  Ideally I’d get something that has sliders to adjust for my current computer but that I could carry over to my next system and ramp up, as I’d rather not buy add-ons now that need to be replaced later. Are UTX and FTX adjustable like this or would I need something else?  As far as airports go, do the airport upgrades also hinder performance significantly?  Also, are there any other must-have add-ons that would be compatible with my system that I should get to improve my initial FSX experience or any adjustments/tweaks that the experts on here would suggest I make right away?

 

Finally, I’ve read that the default aircraft in FSX are pretty useless if the goal is to fly really realistic aircraft sims.  Is this something I should worry about now by getting some slightly enhanced aircraft right away or not really?

 

I know I have a lot of questions…  Hoping for some AVSIM expert help.

 

Thanks,

Corey

 

Here are my laptop specs (mostly cut and pasted from dxdiag):

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1)

Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz (4 CPU) – I’m confused by this as it’s listed as a 2 core not quad by the manufacturer, 3072KB L3 Cache, 512KB L2 Cache

Memory: 6144MB DDR3 (1333MHz)

Available OS Memory: 6052MB RAM

500GB 5400rpm HDD (with 187GB free)

Video Card: Intel HD Graphics 3000

       Display Memory: 1696 MB

      Dedicated Memory: 64 MB

      Shared Memory: 1632 MB

     Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

I also started on a laptop before building my system. A program called fsx boost helped a lot, you may want to google that

I would partially agree in what you said about FSX default aircraft being useless. Their autopilots work normal, some switches. Back then I flew the A321's default FSX aircraft, when I switched to Boeing, in which now I currently fly Precisionmanual's 737. That's the best aircraft Boeing addon I know of. Feel free to use any brand of planes though. There are many addons of different types. Whatever floats your boat!  But for the time being, use the FSX default aircraft, if you're not too experienced at flying heavies (if that is what you are looking to).  ^_^

 

As for terrain addons.. I'm not sure about those since I haven't purchased any.

 

I recommend one addon of the Real Environment Xtreme line. Either one of their addons will enhance textures (include sky, clouds, taxiways, runways, NOT terrain) http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/ I use REX Texture Direct. 

 

For other addons, I use EZDok Camera modification, and as I said before, PMDG's 737 NGX aircraft.

 

As far as your system.. You're going to need a much better one. I'm running 16Gigs RAM, and Intel i7, and an Nvidia GTX 760, needless to say I get good FPS with alot of my settings on high, about $1,500. IMHO, you don't need a $3K computer to get fair graphics at good performance. 

 

As for learning to fly, you'll be using youtube alot (at least I did lol). Some handy websites for when you get into more automated flying that I always use: http://www.fscharts.com/ - which is for airport charts. And Routefinder http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/ Which in the future when you use the Flight management navigation systems you will find routefinder indispensable. 
 

Hope this helped you, and feel free to ask away. 

Here are my laptop specs (mostly cut and pasted from dxdiag):

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1)

Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz (4 CPU) – I’m confused by this as it’s listed as a 2 core not quad by the manufacturer, 3072KB L3 Cache, 512KB L2 Cache

Memory: 6144MB DDR3 (1333MHz)

Available OS Memory: 6052MB RAM

500GB 5400rpm HDD (with 187GB free)

Video Card: Intel HD Graphics 3000

       Display Memory: 1696 MB

      Dedicated Memory: 64 MB

      Shared Memory: 1632 MB

     Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

 

I hope I am wrong, but; (you are at minimum spec with FSX Acceleration expansion pack)

• The CPU is your first major bottle neck @ 2.1 GHz
• Memory looks ok
• HDD speed looks too slow (slow loading)
• Your video chip is your next bottle neck

Thanks for the quick replies already. I've definitely looked at the REX software but I'm worried it may bog down my current system. It may have to wait for my system build.

 

 

Now I know my computer is severely limited so I don’t expect to get great top-notch add-ons just yet, but I’m wondering if there are any basic, must-have add-ons that will be able to enhance my experience with my current limitations in mind until I get my new system. I’m thinking that the biggest resource drains are probably top-notch scenery and realistic weather. I plan on doing my practice flying in southern Ontario and southern Quebec (specifically the Toronto and Montreal areas) as that’s where I live and grew up respectively, and was wondering if I could get a mid-range scenery and airport add-on for those areas. Do the mesh, landscape and terrain add-ons have their own sliders, or would getting any of them just totally ruin performance? Ideally I’d get something that has sliders to adjust for my current computer but that I could carry over to my next system and ramp up, as I’d rather not buy add-ons now that need to be replaced later. Are UTX and FTX adjustable like this or would I need something else? As far as airports go, do the airport upgrades also hinder performance significantly? Also, are there any other must-have add-ons that would be compatible with my system that I should get to improve my initial FSX experience or any adjustments/tweaks that the experts on here would suggest I make right away?

 

I would agree with most of the comments already made and I too feel that your main problem with running FSX well at the moment is going to be your system. I think this will particularly apply if you install some of the better addons (both aircraft and airports) which often have a high resource demand on your system and I suspect would cause yours to struggle somewhat. There are some amazing addon aircraft out there (just read the forums to be dazzled by them!) but many will put a strain on a relatively powerful system. I don't have the PMDG 737 but I have their 777 which is one amazing aircraft but even my system takes a hit (as monitored by FPS and Process Explorer) when I fly it.

 

With regard to the area where you propose to fly, Montreal is available from both Fly Tampa and Blueprint and although the Blueprint version might have less of an impact on your system, I would be slow to recommend it as it feels quite lifeless and you would almost certainly want to replace it with the superb Fly Tampa version when you have a new system. Toronto is also available from Blueprint but the same comments apply and I think FlyTampa may also be developing this one.

 

With regard to UTX and FTX , UTX does give you a lot of options in terms of resource usage but FTX gives you virtually none. I would suggest you might want to try Ultimate Terrain Canada and use their configuration panel to adjust things to suit your current system and when you get a new system you can then ramp things up with it if you wish. With regard to FTX, there are no specific scenery areas available for the region in which you wish to fly, but FTX Global is quite compatible with UTX and improves ground textures and autogen buildings without having any real frame rate impact. The alternative to FTX Global would be to use Ground Environment X North America but you cannot use FTXG and GEX together as they both essentially do the same thing. If however you plan to do most of your flying in the Ontario Quebec region then perhaps the UTX/GEX combination might be your best option.

 

For the moment, I would suggest that, for the moment, you concentrate on doing the various tutorials with the basic FSX set up using either the default aircraft or possibly one or two of the less resource intensive payware aircraft addons. This will keep you occupied and well entertained while you are waiting to get a new system!

 

Bill

Thanks everyone for your help and advice so far.

 

So I'm thinking I won't install any addons except maybe UTX Canada for now. I'll just focus on learning to fly while researching all I need to know for building a more ideal FSX system. Maybe bump that system build up a bit if I get too impatient.

 

One more (multi-part) question: It seems that the acceleration pack has system requirements right at the limit for my current computer. Is there a way to install FSX from the gold DVD to get the service packs but without installing the acceleration pack? Would that help at all? And would I be missing anything significant without that installed?

 

Thanks again!

The acceleration pack will not put any additional load on your system - but you will have to lower the scenery settings a bit to get smooth flight.

 

Start by setting the fps limiter to 20 in fsx, and see if you can fly and keep the fps at 20 in flight..

 

Just stick with the basic Cessna, Cub, and Maule for starters..

The service packs are available in the Avsim forum, as well as other places online

FSX Gold + SP1 + SP2 has been my favourite setup; never installed or missed the Xpack. (It is required for a number of addon helicopters, fighters and missions, though.)

 

Official site for the SPs to download is fsinsider.com.

I jumped in too quickly in November and bought a reconditioned PC for £180 and quickly realised it was not what I wanted (it was Dual Core, not too bad but ...). So I did LOTS of reading on here and on other sites. I found a great site, run by a nice guy giving good advice on machine specs. I simply copied all his specs down, then went hunting for that system in the UK and picked one up brand new, built to spec, on Overclockers.com in the UK for £1000. I knew it would run well because someone else had already tried the combination of parts out for me (!). 

 

Advice: read and read and read. I took my time buying after that, I thought 'I've waited 30 years for something like this, another couple of months won't kill me'. 

For the record on default aircraft; I buy payware GA aircraft, but since I do not want to play with FMCs, and find the payware airliners just suck up memory and frames per second, I use the default airliners. Its not my primary reason for simming, flying airliners, but I do enjoy seeing a flight I've taken 'from the pilot's view'. I customize them, however, with fresh liveries, realistic soundsets and even retextured VCs in some cases. 

 

I know they will never give me trouble, and take up very little memory. Most of the complex switches I will never touch anyway.... 

find the payware airliners just suck up memory and frames per second

 

I don't take any FPS hits from flying those like the PMDGs. Maybe I do, but not noticeable, as my graphics card has limited FPS to 60 . (Going to disable this, see if I take a hit)Anyone know of a good program to measure FPS?

I don't take any FPS hits from flying those like the PMDGs. Maybe I do, but not noticeable, as my graphics card has limited FPS to 60 . (Going to disable this, see if I take a hit)Anyone know of a good program to measure FPS?

 

FSX is not about Frame Rates, it's about smoothness. Some here get a very smooth flight with 22 - 24 FPS. You do what is takes to get it as smooth as possible, no matter the frame rate. don't concentrate on FPS, you will chase your tail.

Total agreement on the smooth vs fps. I have excellent results using an external limiter.

Total agreement on the smooth vs fps. I have excellent results using an external limiter.

 

Here is a good example of "There is no Silver Bullet". For willym the external limiter works and for me it is the FSX limiter that works. Some use unlimited.