Ian Aka Pennkiwi Is Back

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Hi Everybody

It's been over a year since I last had the opportunity to do any FSing and during that time I've made only occasional visits to the forum. The love of the hobby never left me but some serious health and life issues just got in the way. I'm pleased to say that I had surgery two weeks ago that completely FIXED the problem that was CAUSED by a surgery I had over a year ago. The doctor who did the post-operative care of my surgery last year left an item behind inside my body that left me in constant pain and other nasty symptoms. Nobody could figure out what the problem was so much of the last year I was just in survival mode and didn't have much enthusiasm or energy for my beloved hobby. (Yes, I am pursuing a negligence law suit!)

 

So this post is to say hello to my old friends and any new ones who have joined the community since I was last here. And for those of you who are dedicated to FS9 and only to those who are, I have a question... It's an old one that's been rehashed over and over and I don't want to start it all over again. So I'm just looking for some simple yes/no answers from those who I know have credibility on this issue.. Yeah, here we go --- FSX and FS9. Here's my statement and then I'll ask the question.

Statement: The debate over which one is "best" is worthless and I am not interested in what anyone has to say on that overheated topic. I accept that both have their advantages and disadvantages... Up to now I have stuck with my initial decision after FSX was released to stay with FS9/2004 exclusively. I am now reconsidering that and thinking of purchasing FSX to use it in addition to FS9. From what I have read over the years, those who use both often comment that FSX is best for VFR, General Aviation, low and slow kinds of flights whereas FS9 is the choice when it comes to heavy metal, congested airports etc. I am a "max AI" and "max features" guy and uninterested in any FPS lower than 24... So my question is:

Install FSX and load my GA/Helo/retro military aircraft and sceneries in there????

Use FS9 for airline flying???

I AM going to continue with FS9 - that is not up for debate. I love it and have invested an absurd amount of money in it... My sole question for those who love FS9 but also use FSX is simply, is it worth doing both as described above???

Looking forward to some short, simple and friendly replies.. :-)

Ian

[A320driver 17]

Ian,

Welcome back! Very glad to hear you got your health issues sorted out. I have tried to use FSX multiple times, but I always keep coming back to FS9. Rather hard to pin down one single reason, just seems I like everything about FS9 better. I guess with some of the new scenery for FSX VFR flying could be better than FS9, but I'll leave that to those that have actual experience with those sceneries. Again, glad you are back.

[Roger Ramjet 72]

Welcome back Ian,

 

• I use both and both serve different purposes. FS9 is when I want to have all the AI in the world around me while I'm flying complicated commercial aircraft into  complicated airports. I also find FS9 has WAY more freeware airports than FSX. FSX is my GA simulator and coupled with ORBX gives an experience that surpasses FS9 (especially with the A2A planes) . I have a 7 tear old cpu and thanks to various tweaks I can run FSX with almost all the bells and whistles (best tweak for me ever.... Nvidia vsync 1/2 refresh rate and limiting to 30 in-game took all the stutters out of both sims. )
• I would say bottom line is yes, go for FSX but get the Orbx products because they transform that sim completely.

Cheers

[Appliance 51]

Welcome  back Ian ... you have been sorely missed.

 

To your question.  Bypass FSX entirely and purchase instead P3Dv2.2.  FSX development has of course ceased while Lockheed Martin continues to improve P3D.  As an ex-pilot you would of all people appreciate the realism of cloud shadows.  Yes, thanks to DX11, we now have shadows traversing the landscape, aircraft and cockpit.  I implore you to check it out.

 

In the meantime I'm glad you have sorted out your health issues and look forward to your considered contributions to our forum in future.  ^_^

[WingZ 547]

I thought you were off penning a flight epic!

Welcome back...

 

I am in the same boat, virtually.

I have a major investment in FS9 and it is my go-to for full-on AI and scenery, anywhere in the world.

 

I do have FSX, and much of the FS9 software I have bought (Read: Aerosoft) has a freebie FSX download.

I put them into FSX and occasionally have a (beautifully scenic) GA low level flight, just for fun - until the sim crashes. 

I wouldn't spend too much money on FSX for sure. Like FS9 it needs a better texture set, and other addons to make it run at all. 

Keeping it small and tight, maybe Orbx for NZ, plus some of Robin Corn's excellent FSX Free - and Payware?

 

But Appliance is right: FSX remains a dog, and much of the FSX stuff will run in P3D. Why wouldn't you?

[HaraldG 559]

Ian, welcome back!

Your new thread has answered one of my questions I asked in my 727 thread. I'm glad you're well again.

Although I have neither FSX nor P3D, I feel towards Appliance in this regard. And I would obviously decide just that way. (It may last a while, though, as I'm enjoying FS9Evo these days with new summer textures in Switzerland.)

 

Happy flying!

With best wishes - Harald

[PittsS2B 33]

Glad you're back, Ian.  I took some time off from the hobby last year as well.  I have FSX now, but have decided to concentrate my efforts and cash on FS9 for the time being.  I'm working through the tutorials for the PMDG MD-11 (which was recently on sale at Aerosoft), and really enjoying it.  The iFly 737 has had some functionality added in the latest service packs, and is a solid product. 

[edetroit 933]

Great to see you back Ian!

[Deltaguy 45]

Welcome back Ian.  Sorry to hear about your terrible ordeal.  I will tell you that my first simulator experience started in 2006 when my kid's bought me FSX for my birthday.  Yes, I started out simming with FSX.  I kept hearing everyone talk about FS9 and wondered to myself, "I've got to try this out, everyone says its the best, better than FSX?".  So I found a copy and installed it and never looked back.  Sure, I have FSX installed on my computer with $1000 worth of addons, but I just can't beat the look and feel of old reliable FS9.  I never have crashes or memory errors and it looks better to me than FSX ever did.  Sure people will say they get great FPS in FSX but then they show you a screen shot and it's because they have their graphics card turned down so low everything is just a bunch of jaggies.  I'll take my FS9 with graphics set to full tilt and the sliders maxed out all day long over FSX.  Yes, it's tempting when PMDG puts out their shiny new 777 and thumbs their noses at us FS9'ers, but then you look at a post that reads:  Just flew 14 hours in the 777 only to have my FSX crash before I could finish the flight.  Kinda brings a grin to my face.

[Wobbie 938]

Welcome back & good health.

Quite a few opinions out there. Very simply, whatever you want. We are such a bunch of guys with so many diverse interests in simming!. Some are very technical as far as specs go, others are frame rate focused. At the end of the day, for you, that all does not matter!

 

I dumped my FSX in favour of P3Dv1.4. I cannot use the latest v2.2 as my laptop (i5, 4gb ram), is only DX10.2. 

I have FS9 as well as a time regessed version (1930-1940ish) called Golden Wings.

So, for quick flights & a lot of fun, especially low & slow stuff, I use my GW & FS9. For more proceedual stuff, I use the more technically advanced P3D.

& so rightly said by previous posters, FS9 is stable & far less hassle.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Robin

[Bruce53 1]

Welcome back Ian, your post have been missed over the last year !!!

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Hi Everyone

Great to hear from all of you and thanks for the excellent advice. I think it's a pretty easy decision, based on what you've said. I will start off focusing on getting FS9 back and running and then next Christmas give myself the gift of P3D. I will confess that some of my interest in trying FSX was because of many addons that have come out for FSX that can't be run on FS9 but they are invariably also available in P3D so investing in FSX at this point probably doesn't make sense. With all the work I will need to do to restore FS9 it will keep me busy until Christmas anyway!!!! 

 

It's great to be part of this community again and when I actually DO get into the virtual air, I will let you all know. My new flight controls arrived today so I'm out of excuses - got everything I need and now just need to bite the bullet and start copying files, reloading software, finding disks, fixing old bugs that I've forgotten how to fix, tweaking things I tweaked years ago and can't remember how to tweak and maybe - just maybe - actually FLY again!!!! :-)

 

I've kept an eye on what's been released for FS9 since I was last active. Looks like no new payware aircraft since the final BAe146 release and the Corenado portovers from FSX? Been following Michael Pearson's prolific military AI releases and notice that there are some nice looking new payware airports - LatinVFR San Juan, Taxi2Gate Fort Lauderdale, Aerosoft Dublin and UK2000 Jersey Extreme all look like sceneries I will want to get. Any other suggestions of things I may have missed in the past year?

Of course, after so long it's all going to seem brand new again anyway so I can't miss!!! Life is good

Ian

[royth 0]

Sorry to hear of your loose item problem (that is what it is called in aviation engineering ). Don't know whether or not the medics follow similar procedures to minimise it that aircraft engineers do. If not it is about time that they did! Best to try and put it behind you now and enjoy immersion in flightsim. Great to have you back. Roy.

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Thanks Roy. Glad it wasn't a wrench they left behind but was big enough to cause me some serious problems! LOL And yes, surgeons are supposed to use a check list - what goes in MUST come out but the guy doing the post-op care didn't bother to check.....

Cheers mate

Ian