Good morning from EGNR...!A quick request for help if I may...I've flown FS2004 since it came out - with no add-ons whatsoever, either freeware, or payware. Then I stopped flying when other priorities came along...I've now re-installed and gotten right back into it again... 8-)I fly jets nearly all the time - learjet a favourite - doing corporate jet runs around europe mostly, buzzing around at high altitude and then down into the cities for landing.....I wanted your collective advice on what add-ons I should go for.. Is there a "best set" for me to consider? What I'm looking for is:Great environment / skiesBetter AI traffic / real world liveries and timetablesDifferent languages from ATCI'm not that bothered about flying different planes....Are there views on whether Ultimate Traffic or MyTraffic or Flight Environment are any better than any other??Your experience and comments most welcome...Cheers...

good morning.,I would recommend Flight Environment. There is a big thread on it further down. Then you might want to run it with Active Sky, which also provides a weather engine, the two work really well together.I use Ultimate Traffic for AI. I think you can update AFCADS and import your own AI if you want, but at the moment i use it as is and it works great. Another alternative might be Project AI.CheersDan:-)

Thanks very much, Dan.After some digging it looks like Flight Environment is a must! Could I bother you with a follow up? 8-)I run with real world weather turned on... will FE use my real world weather to generate its graphics or will it override it with its own random stuff?Secondly, it looks like ActiveSky has its own real world weather link... If I took your advice and bought FE and AS, can I just set my weather to "real world" through AS and then let FE turn it into something beautiful 8-) Is that what you meant by "works well together"??Cheers...Dave

Hi Dave.,If you use Active Sky offline then FE will generate the archived weather for that particular day. Using real-world weather online, then Flight Environment will provide the visuals for the current conditions provided by the AS weather engine, but does not replace the actual weather dynamics (if that makes sense). I think you'll love em!.CheersDan :)

I have both Ultimate Traffic and My Traffic - Ultimate traffic is better by far. Ultimate Traffic uses real world timetables while My Traffic just uses "realistic" situations. The Ultimate Traffic models look far better, it has a great program that allows you to manager your traffic files etc.I no longer use any traffic addons as I find they take a pretty big hit on performance, and I mostly fly at small airports anyways where the default traffic does a good job.Activesky 2004.5 is a must have - simply the best weather addon out there. I'd recommend you get that first before any other addon. Make sure you get the 2004 version and not WxRE which is a 2002 version.As for aircraft - If you enjoy corporate jets, look no furthur than Eaglesoft - I have their Citation II and really enjoy it, their Citation X is very popular as well - http://www.eaglesoftdg.com

>>>If you use Active Sky offline then FE will generate the>archived weather for that particular day. I should actually say that FE will produce the visual/graphics for that particular day:)

Thanks again Dan...'scuse my ignorance! But can we try an example to make sure!Firstly, my real world weather download would come from the download feature in ActiveSky, not the default download in FS2004. Yes?Assume it gives me rain and six degrees C for EGNR. ActiveSky will then give me a much better "real world weather" model for that weather than FS2004 would have done. ANDFlight Environment will then take that enhanced model and give me the correct visuals for the model.So all in all I get my real world weather and the eye candy 8-)Cheers, and thanks again for your help....Dave.

No problem.,>Firstly, my real world weather download would come from the>download feature in ActiveSky, not the default download in>FS2004. Yes?Exactly right>>Assume it gives me rain and six degrees C for EGNR. >>ActiveSky will then give me a much better "real world weather">model for that weather than FS2004 would have done. Yes>AND>>Flight Environment will then take that enhanced model and give>me the correct visuals for the model.>>So all in all I get my real world weather and the eye candy >8-)>>>Dave.>That is correct. You get the best of both worlds. I should mention that their is a new version of Active Sky in development. I have know idea when it will be released though, but there is a good Active Sky forum here at Avsim. All the bestDan

Excellent news!Thanks Dan!I'll drop those two on my shopping list along with ultimate traffic as it seems that these three all work very well together and could be called "standard best practice add-ons"! 8-)Now, what do I have left? How about getting some different ATC voices? Even a slightly nasal Gallic voice would be nice as I cross the channel!!Any thoughts?Saying that - any thoughts on more add ons at all?! Although not that bothered about planes or scenery - I'm more into the "experience" and the "atmosphere".... I've seen reference to FS2Crew, Radar Contact, etc etcDave.

Hi Dave., There are so many options available these days, other people will of course have different ideas but here's a few of my own.Regards ATC i use Radar Contact. You get a large selection of atc chatter files with the program, though i do find some countries have better coverage than other. However, there are ways to import your own files i just have not done that yet. The countries i often fly (US,UK,Netherlands,Spain) for example are well covered. Of course you can always try on-line atc with SquakBox3., i might try it one day!Another program i really like is Flight Deck Companion. They have a forum here to. With this program you can add your own user sound files (for Cabin Announcements etc and you can add atc chatter files into geographical regions). There is good support for this over there.For co-pilot operations i really like FDC but FSCrew sounds good to but i do not own the PMDG737 as yet so cannot really comment. There is some excellent freeware in the Avsim library to. Also FSHotSeat gives you excellent AI sounds if you want...That'll do for now!All the bestDan:-)

Oh and bye the way., both Active Sky and Radar Contact have new versions under development, but obviously i have no idea when the release date may be. Personally that would not bother me its just good to become familiar with these programs as their is a lot of information to digest (for people like me anyways;).CheersDan