I've been simming for years, but have been flying FSX with a circa-2008 computer so I've restricted my add-ons to aircraft, plus ASN.

 

That all changed yesterday when I bought a new rig.  All of a sudden I went from 7-15 FPS to 70+.  So now I'm ready to be greedy and enjoy scenery add-ons.  I just don't know where to start and what the difference between them is.  Mesh?  Textures? Terrain?  Someone tell me what I need.

FTX Textures

FTX Regions & airports

REX 4 TD & ASN

 

That's all!

Jose

FTX Global is a good place to start, this will replace the default textures all over the world with much nicer ones with no framerate hit and I would also definitely get Active Sky Next for the weather as this will really transform your sim.

 

I would suggest updated mesh.  Before you buy you can look to see if the locations you fly are covered by freeware mesh.  FS Global is probably the best bet here.

 

Then FTX Global and Vector.

 

After that you can buy some airport addons in places you fly often.  Just be careful with the airports, its easy to go crazy and get tons of them but I have found I don't really fly to that many of my purchased airports, it seems to be the same ones over and over again (EGLL, EGKK for example) and then another usually default or freeware version....there are some I have never been to once!   Also, look for freeware, lots out there and it does the job on a one off flight.

 

I would also suggest REX Textures, adds very nice atmosphere to the sim in terms of airport, cloud, sky, sunset and water textures.

FTX Global + Vector + FTX OpenLC Europe is a great combo

Otherwise you can buy specific FTX region. + FTX Global + Vector.

You need a weather engine like ASN + Rex Textures

This is a good place to start getting info: http://fsxgetstarted.com/scenery/   http://fsxgetstarted.com/airports/

GREAT post BeechPapa.  Thanks so much.  I have an "itch" to buy "an airport".  I fly in and out of NY more than any others.  I was strongly thinking of the Drzewiecki NY airport package.  My hesitation is that with it giving you 3 majors (LGA, JFK, and EWR) versus one (say for example a JFK package) = does it improve them amoe, but not as much as a "one airport" package.  Are the gates numbered for example?  Thanks in advance for replies, and I'll go web checking in the meantime.

 

CaptainKen

GREAT post BeechPapa. Thanks so much. I have an "itch" to buy "an airport". I fly in and out of NY more than any others. I was strongly thinking of the Drzewiecki NY airport package. My hesitation is that with it giving you 3 majors (LGA, JFK, and EWR) versus one (say for example a JFK package) = does it improve them amoe, but not as much as a "one airport" package. Are the gates numbered for example? Thanks in advance for replies, and I'll go web checking in the meantime.

 

CaptainKen

Ken,

 

If you do some research on those airports you will see lots of unsatisfied customers due to performance issues using them. They just had a $5 sale over the holidays and I picked up Newark and while it looks ok, the performance is not very good. In my experience the only New York City airport that performs well is KJFK from FSDT. The Drzewiecki are very high on VAS and FPS aren't that great.

I sure appreciate the response cmpbellsjc.  Really!  I'll just keep on looking then.  I have very little fps to spare!!.  Thank you, sir!

 

CaptainKen

Ken,

If you do some research on those airports you will see lots of unsatisfied customers due to performance issues using them. They just had a $5 sale over the holidays and I picked up Newark and while it looks ok, the performance is not very good. In my experience the only New York City airport that performs well is KJFK from FSDT. The Drzewiecki are very high on VAS and FPS aren't that great.

I've always stayed away from Drzewiecki airports for this reason. Their NY airports have been known for performance issues and to be honest the screenshots didn't really look that impressive compared to the work of other developers. It's unfortunate because New York is such a cool place to fly. I really wanted to have a nice Teterboro. But I would stick to known quality developers (basically all the other developers on that list) before buying a Drzweicki New York airport.

If you like VFR flight, get a free demo for Orbx PNW.

 

Fly in and out of Bowerman as a base.

 

If you like the level of detail provided, consider buying an Orbx region, such as their latest: Northern California.

Again, gentlemen - I appreciate the replies, guidance and suggestions.  Thank You

 

Captain Ken

FTX as mentioned also Aerosoft produce some very nice airports and scenery addons and areas that are compatible with FTX. If you haven't put much back into fsx yet. I highly recommend doing an un install out of program files-program files (86) . Just make up a folder called FSX or something like that on your main drive and point all addons to that. PMDG recommend it, I had to do it as I had scenery issue, it was a huge job for me but worth it getting better frames better scenery etc