Just entered Flight Sim World, with FSX and have doubts: FSX or Prepar3d? No trolling, honest!

[walterg74 0]

Hi all, I *think* this would be the forum, as it doesn't really fit on the other specific ones, so here goes...

 

I've only recently started to actually play around with FSX, and did a vanilla install first, following a sensible guide to just start smart and simple.

 

After that, I wanted to see what I can get with it, to make it a little nicer. So I start looking at addons, try to read a lot, see what's best for what I want, etc. Considering whether VFR or regular "layers" would tickle my fancy more,etc. Bought a few "essentials" that would go nice no matter what route you take (i.e. Mesh) and also decide to try a few. So I got some megascenery first, and also the Orbx demos for global and regions.

 

So that's where it starts to get a little rough. As I'm entering, I start finding what most of you already have for a long time, which is all the needed tweaks (sometimes guesswork) getting maybe some CTDs, textures looking blurry, flashing terrain or objects, etc.

 

And this has started to make me wonder whether I'm taking the right path with FSX....

 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm definitely not starting one of those "fsx is dead, etc" controversies. I know that a properly tuned FSX can be wonderful, even if it is harder and harder to keep cramming things in and keeping it sweet. And of course I know a lot of folks have an FSX install in which they are heavily invested, and fine tuned and it makes zero sense for them to switch.

 

But for me. For my particular case. Does it make sense to jump into this ocean knowing that I have very little invested in it so far, or does it make more sense to just forget about it (the cost of fsx itself was negligible anyway, even more compared to some addons) and go for the latest prepar3d?

 

Rephrasing/summarizing:

 

What makes more sense for someone starting with sims TODAY to do, where they haven't bought anything except a few addons that are compatible with both sims anyway?, and also the ones I planned on buying (ASN, REX4 TD, Orbx product line, some planes I want, etc.) are also compatible with both sims? FSX or just get Prepar3d?

 

For reference, this is my system:

 

Intel i7 4790K @4Ghz - No overclock yet but fine with trying it

Asus Maximus Hero VII Z97 Motherboard

16GB RAM (G.skill Trident X 2400)

Sapphire Radeon R9 290 x 2 in crosfire

Samsung Pro Evo 250GB SSD (Win 8.1 pro)

Seagate Spinpoint 3TB 7200 RPM HDD

Triple 23" IPS monitors (though I've been playing around with both triple and single screen modes)

 

Saitek Pro Flight Yoke + Throttle

Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Peddals

Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2

TrackIR 5

 

Thanks for your input!

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

My view is that FSX is alive and well.

 

With your system, you should be able to run it well indeed.

 

Are you a GA pilot, or an airline ATP kind of guy?

 

The population here is about 50 50 on that..

 

If GA, you should look at RealAir and Orbx regions.

 

If ATP, PMDG and airports..

[walterg74 0]

My view is that FSX is alive and well.

 

With your system, you should be able to run it well indeed.

 

Are you a GA pilot, or an airline ATP kind of guy?

 

The population here is about 50 50 on that..

 

If GA, you should look at RealAir and Orbx regions.

 

If ATP, PMDG and airports..

Hi Bert, thanks for commenting!

 

I am a "noob" kind of guy....

 

I am just getting a real liking to this, and so I think it would be best for me to start with small planes. Starting this has really got me liking the idea of flying in general, and want to learn for real besides simming. In addition to software I also bought a few books (among them Stick and Rudder and Machado's how to fly) with the hopes of some day being able to do it for real.

 

But for now back to simming...

 

So I thought I would start with something like the realair, or the A2A Cessna, and regarding scenery I know ORBX is really nice but "fake" (don't "GA guys"/VVR guys prefer seeing real things below to guide themselves by?) but photoscenery also has it's charm, and while it's ugly close up, don't think it's nothing that can't be solved with a nice airport addon (or city+airport addon maybe).

 

Of course I know FSX is alive, stuff being constantly developed for it, etc. But my doubt stems from seeing the apparent exhausting work to get FSX running properly, that somebody who has done it through the years doesn't have presently, or very minor. i.e. Maybe you had it in smaller quotas to get to where you are now?

 

Maybe I have the wrong impression that Prepar3D does not have too many issues and would be simpler to install and add things to? (Plus taking advantage of modern hardware, better memory handling, DX11 etc.) Is this wrong?

[Glynn 405]

If I were starting again today then P3D is the route I would take.

Like many here I am heavily invested in FSX and use it the most, but I have also bought P3D and will transition to it fully as time goes by.

My vote is for P3D and sell the Ati cards in favour of a GTX 980

[walterg74 0]

If I were starting again today then P3D is the route I would take.

Like many here I am heavily invested in FSX and use it the most, but I have also bought P3D and will transition to it fully as time goes by.

My vote is for P3D and sell the Ati cards in favour of a GTX 980

Hmm.. Interesting bit about the cards.... Why? Is prepar3d also bad to Radeons?

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Not sure P3D is any simpler to work with...

 

They keep changing it.. and you get to re-install and rediscover.

 

FSX is stable and works fine, unless you overload it.

 

I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions  ^_^

 

Yes, Orbx is "fake", but still the best there is, presently.

 

If you want to start with a "small plane", get the a2a Cherokee.

Best plane for learning the basics.

[SteveW 1,792]

I start finding what most of you already have for a long time, which is all the needed tweaks (sometimes guesswork) getting maybe some CTDs, textures looking blurry, flashing terrain or objects, etc.

Is that most of us now? I've never had those issues, apart from once when I tried installing an insane mesh and a 1 billion facet overcount airport.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Not sure which platform I would choose if I started all over again with flightsimming today. FSX SE (SE = Steam edition for performance reasons and improved VAS management) maybe?

 

(I am a current FSX MS user; MS = Microsoft's Gold edition of FSX.)

[Dean33 69]

I've been in flight sim for 20 years through several generations of MS Flight simulators. All that stopped dead with FSX. FSX is certainly fine for now but where will we be in 10 years time?

 

I changed to P3d professional edition (because I'm obviously not a student) 8 months ago.

 

I love it. Less crashes. Faster loading. Knowledge that it's developing is reassuring.

 

In my view, get into P3d NOW before you spend more on 'FSX only' licences. Buy the new PMDG P3d offerings as they come available hopefully all at offer prices. Buy the A2A aircraft (and a few select others like Aerosoft Airbus with joint licences).

 

If you don't do it now and you are serious about simming you'll probably end swapping to P3d and paying twice for them.

 

Take a long term view of your hobby and make the change to P3d now is my advice.

 

Enjoy.

[walterg74 0]

Not sure P3D is any simpler to work with...

 

They keep changing it.. and you get to re-install and rediscover.

 

FSX is stable and works fine, unless you overload it.

 

I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions ^_^

 

Yes, Orbx is "fake", but still the best there is, presently.

 

If you want to start with a "small plane", get the a2a Cherokee.

Best plane for learning the basics.

I'll take a look at the cherokee, hadn't thought of ot as the first/starting one.

 

I know the whole objective is to not overload it, and what I was looking at is some practical way of switching between installed scenery (i.e. Ok today I want to to do photoreal, click/select something and disable all orbx stuff and just leave megascenery. Tomorrow I want orbx, the opposite, disable all megascenery). Does that sound doable?

Is that most of us now? I've never had those issues, apart from once when I tried installing an insane mesh and a 1 billion facet overcount airport.

Hmm.. I think that was either phrased wrong by me, or misinterpreted... I dodn't mean to say most of you get these errors. What I meant to say is most of you *did* (at some point) and you already know about all this that I myself am only now starting to find out about. Myabe your setup is now butter smooth and have 0 of these nasty critters

Not sure which platform I would choose if I started all over again with flightsimming today. FSX SE (SE = Steam edition for performance reasons and improved VAS management) maybe?

 

(I am a current FSX MS user; MS = Microsoft's Gold edition of FSX.)

That is another option as well. With their last holiday sale, and FSX SE at $5 it was a no-brainer, and is waiting for me in my Steam Library.

 

Haven't installed it yet since at the time I didn't know about compatibillity and co-existance with the "standard" MS version, which is the one currently installed.

 

Maybe I shoud revisit that instead. So they actually did tweak *some* of the code for better memory management?

I've been in flight sim for 20 years through several generations of MS Flight simulators. All that stopped dead with FSX. FSX is certainly fine for now but where will we be in 10 years time?

I changed to P3d professional edition (because I'm obviously not a student) 8 months ago.

I love it. Less crashes. Faster loading. Knowledge that it's developing is reassuring.

In my view, get into P3d NOW before you spend more on 'FSX only' licences. Buy the new PMDG P3d offerings as they come available hopefully all at offer prices. Buy the A2A aircraft (and a few select others like Aerosoft Airbus with joint licences).

If you don't do it now and you are serious about simming you'll probably end swapping to P3d and paying twice for them.

Take a long term view of your hobby and make the change to P3d now is my advice.

Enjoy.

Right, that was the whole intent. To try to get a good and objective (I know right? ) opinion on what is best form some just starting NOW.

Like I said, the addons I already have (FS Golobal Ultimate and a few pieces of MegaSceneryEarth) are compatible with both, so not worried about choosing in that regard, since I won't be needing to re-buy them.

 

Also my thoughts were:

 

If all the addons I want, which for now are basically FS Global Ult mesh, FTX Global/Vector/LC/Regions, ASN, REX4 TD, a few A2A/Carenado/Milviz, and some other misc ones, are all compatible with FSX and also Prepar3D (let's skip PMDG for now which I'm not ready for anyway)... Wouldn't Prepar3d have the same appearance with these, minus the problems FSX has and plus the new features it takes advantage of in regards to modern hardware? Or does it just come with its own set of problems and I would just be looking at a different sideof the same tweakville coin?

 

Separate question: you say "I'm obviously not a student"... Is this because of something I don't know about you like your professional activity? Because if not, you know age doesn't really matter in terms of if someone decides to become a student/enroll in something... )

[Dean33 69]

QUESTION

 

Or does it just come with its own set of problems and I would just be looking at a different sideof the same tweakville coin?

 

MY ANSWER

I rarely have any P3d problems with add ons. There are few tweaks, I suppose because the good stuff gets adopted in updates by LM.

I spend zero time tweaking P3d.

 

QUESTION

Separate question: you say "I'm obviously not a student"... Is this because of something I don't know about you like your professional activity? Because if not, you know age doesn't really matter in terms of if someone decides to become a student/enroll in something... )

 

MY ANSWER

I meant my age!

The licence conditions are quite clear.

If you are prepared to spend on Orbx and A2A you need to budget to buy the right P3d licence in my opinion.

What you save buying correctly now should allow you to do this.

There's a good thread about this (featuring me) elsewhere:

 

http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/topic/15285-prepar3d-professional-license/?fromsearch=1

 

NOT READY FOR PMDG YET?

Believe me you will be soon then you are at the crossroads!

Don't forget PMDG 777 goes up in price soon.

 

Prepar3d offers a 30 day money back guarantee / trial period I think. So try it!

 

Cheers

Dean

[walterg74 0]

QUESTION

Separate question: you say "I'm obviously not a student"... Is this because of something I don't know about you like your professional activity? Because if not, you know age doesn't really matter in terms of if someone decides to become a student/enroll in something... )

MY ANSWER

I meant my age!

The licence conditions are quite clear.

If you are prepared to spend on Orbx and A2A you need to budget to buy the right P3d licence in my opinion.

What you save buying correctly now should allow you to do this.

There's a good thread about this (featuring me) elsewhere:

http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/topic/15285-prepar3d-professional-license/?fromsearch=1

Hmm.. Sorry have to disagree with you here... The license is very clear about the intended use of the software, and even though the academic license has some "categories" indicated as K12, the undergrad/grad is not meant to convey age but a study program.

 

I'll give you an example: I started studying electronics engineering, enleft it for personal reasons. I later went on to get an engineering degree in systems information and that's what my engineering degree is kn. however, I didn't want to "waste" my electronic studies and am resuming them now. I'm 40. Techincally I am a student so I'm not violating anything.

 

This, and that fact that even staff has loosely (of course) said numerous times on the forums statements along the lines of "don't ask don't tell" convinces me that there is nothing wrong with buying the academic version. But still, potatoe/potato... Now The only downside is the anal-retentive douche in me will probably be bothered by the watermark...

 

NOT READY FOR PMDG YET?

Believe me you will be soon then you are at the crossroads!

Don't forget PMDG 777 goes up in price soon.

Prepar3d offers a 30 day money back guarantee / trial period I think. So try it!

Cheers

Dean

So how do you figure soon? I mean, as much as I'd love to I'm just a noob starting out with flying in general. I barely have the main notins of flight and trying to learn each day. I don't see myself being able to fly one of these beasts for quite some time (again, not that I don't want to and think it would be awesome).

 

It is tempting to just get it now though for example taking advantage of current price and the 20% off boxed products at aerosoft...

 

I'll take a look and read at the link you provided. Thanks!!

[n4gix 4,947]

They keep changing it.. and you get to re-install and rediscover.

Bert, beginning now with Prepar3D v2.5, that will no longer be the case. From this point forwards, all point releases will be the more traditional "update patches" instead of full (re)installs.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Bert, beginning now with Prepar3D v2.5, that will no longer be the case. From this point forwards, all point releases will be the more traditional "update patches" instead of full (re)installs.

 

Fair enough..  so let me rephrase it to "under active development"... always exciting, no doubt.  ^_^

 

But FSX, for all its weaknesses, is stable, and once installed on powerful, modern hardware, is a "set and forget" affair.

 

If I wanted to learn "to fly", I would get Orbx Northern California and the a2a Cherokee, and take flight lessons out of Redding or Santa Rosa.   That would keep me busy for quite some time!  Maybe add multiplayer flight at Digital Themepark, just to have some likeminded individuals to talk to and fly with B)

[Dean33 69]

I may be wrong but the 20% off boxed products will be FSX. So you spend 80% and when you decide to go P3d you've wasted that money AND have to pay full price $140? for 777 and probably similar for 777 NGX in a few months / years when you go to P3d.

 

Again I may be wrong but if you read PMDG's product update posting just yesterday in the PMDG General forum there seem to be delays or problems updating DVD versions I.e boxed sets.

 

Further advice - try the FSX basic 737 for a few hours.. Multiply the quality and experience say three fold. Watch a few YouTube videos of Froogle in NGX - then you'll know if you want PMDG 737 NGX!

 

Dean