I have had FSX for years and spent most of my time trying to fly the plane properly in a simulator. I only recently discovered the world of addons. I have spent hours on the internet, mostly reading about scenery. I am fascinated with the idea of making the sky, water, terrain, airports, etc, more realistic. But, the more I read, the more confused I got on how to do this in the right way. I am looking for help or suggestions on exactly what program or programs as of this date would give me a nice setup and how to go about installing them. I will most likely do most of my flying in North America. I have Intel® Core i7 - 3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz- 3.40 3.40 GHz    16.0 GB of RAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti and Windows 7 64 bit OS. I am sure there are several different setups that would work, but, I would rather build one based on people who are knowledgeable in this area. Thanks for any help you can give me. 

One way to start, is to purchase an Orbx scenery area and fly there..

 

Their latest (and best) is Northern California.

 

If you have a nice little plane to fly around in, there are lots of airports, starting with KSFO and the bay area, and all the way up to the Oregon border.

 

If you do not not have a nice add-on plane, a good option is the Baytower RV7 or the RealAir SF-260..

Yes, some Orbx scenery and a nice high wing GA aircraft addon like the A2A C172.

Before buying something why not try a demo first? It will help you get an idea of what addons can do for your FSX setup.

 

ORBX have a demo of their PNW scenery which you can download from here:

 

https://www.fullterrain.com/product_demos.html

 

And some freeware airports here:

 

https://www.fullterrain.com/freeware.html

Pull up a chair...

 

Some questions. The answers will hopefully narrow down the direction:

What sort of planes do you want to fly? The add ons suitable for flying around at 500' in a Cub are not the same as those for flying back and forth across the continent in a big jet.

 

How important is weather depiction to you? Not the pretty textures, but how the weather behaves (or not, as the case may be). Some would argue that's the first place to start.

 

Do you want to spend half an hour plotting and planning, or chuck a plan into the built in flight planner, tie the GPS to it and go? There is no 'right' answer to this. Whatever floats your boat, spins your wheels, etc... If you start eyeing up planes, there are different horses for different courses in this respect.

 

You will probably get a pile of varied responses, adding up to more than a few pesos in outlay. But it's important to remember that Rome was not built in a day. If you heap them on top of the sim at once, it might struggle under the load. But with patience it will all come together.

 

Mike

Yep, lots of freeware and demos out there. Should help you get a 'feel' for what you like and what you'd invest in.

 

Remember, there are no 'must haves'.

 

Except, of course, for REX textures and Active Sky Next (ASN) weather.  

 

Seriously, check the ASN demo first. And check user screenshots/customer comments on REX4 replacement textures.