Showing off the amazing visuals in X-Plane 10 (with the Bell 407)

[Ebs 114]

Hello,

 

As some of you know, I'm a massive P3D fan but I also know that there seems to be a large contingent of the FSX/P3D community who won't even entertain the idea of flying X-Plane. I know X-Plane has it's rough spots but we all know FSX/P3D has its own share of rough spots too.

 

I've just uploaded a short 4 minute video of clips of me flying the brilliant DreamFoil Bell 407 and I decided to put it here in Hangar Chat to see if we could get a (civil!) discussion going.

I really hope XPX gets some much needed attention in the near future with regards to Developers, AI and Weather. So many of us P3D Users are always chasing the visual side which, I'm sure you'll agree, is something XPX really excels at.

 

[charleslee201 19]

Very nice   love those  highway shots    

[kamaz74 81]

Looks very nice, but you can't get me to part from FSX/P3D just yet  ^_^

[Poppet 703]

Very good Neil.  Yes the high way shots do look good alright. 

[TheNerd 12]

I don't use Xplane ( I did try XP10's demo once), but I feel as if it's better suited for the low and slow type of flying whereas FSX/P3D has a better and wider selection of tubeliners.

Either way, I'm out of hard drive space for XP10  Need to buy another 2TB's or so.

[Guest]

 

 

I've just uploaded a short 4 minute video of clips of me flying the brilliant DreamFoil Bell 407 and I decided to put it here in Hangar Chat to see if we could get a (civil!) discussion going.

 

I'll keep my finger on the Risk of Closure button ...  :wink:

 

P3D is my main "go to" simulator as it just has everything.  However I keep XP10 updated and running (even bought the Steam Version of XP10 just because I didn't want to have to mess with my old XP10 DVDs).  Some great new aircraft and products have come along for XP10  (Skymaxx, Aerosoft, Carenado, and many others).  The night/dusk/dawn road lighting and road traffic is just fantastic ... and boy can that police car really move, think I clocked it at 130-140 GS.  My TrackIR worked out of the box with XP10 ... no need for simConnect just check the settings box for TrackIR and bingo, good to go.

 

XP10 still has some basic render engine issues (terrain shadow maps, airport lights that float in the sky, strange reflections on water surfaces) and performance issues (have to dial back a lot of detail to get a solid 30 fps out of it in 4K on my Titan X).  There is still a lot missing from XP10 but it has improved and keeps improving.

 

If you haven't already, you should also give DCS a try.

 

I'm also waiting to see what this "new" flight sim product is about from Dovetail.

 

It is nice to have so many good quality options for flight sim enthusiasts.  Obviously it's difficult for many to maintain multiple simulators (financially and time commitments) but if you do have spare time and cash, it's good to taste the simulator world outside of one's primary simulator.  Good developers doing good work all around us.

 

Speaking of videos, I can't for the life of me get ShadowPlay to work in full screen mode in XP10 (it does work in Window mode) ... tried starting in Window mode then expanding to full screen, but still no go.  Were you using ShadowPlay for recording your video?

 

Cheers, Rob.

[Ebs 114]

Thanks everyone

 

Rob, I was a big fan of DCS a couple of years back, love that Blackshark and Huey (I do have a soft-spot for helicopters) but I kind of burned out on the A-10 before taking a break from simming for a while. I'll take another look at it once EDGE drops. They've been promising us that for years!

 

What I like about X-Plane is that there is a lot of freeware available. It seems like a very community driven sim. One of the big criticisms towards XP 10 was it's featureless airports, but even that's being addressed by the community and anyone is free to use the available tools to build an airport and upload it to the Gateway for it to be included in a future X-Plane update. The HD Mesh available is also outstanding (featured in my video) and the stuff that Tonywob is doing with World2Xplane is extremely impressive.

 

As "TheNerd" mentioned, FSX/P3D is where it's at when you're after some "big tin" but I'm really looking forward to IXEG's 737 Classic that should be on it's way Soon and the fact that PMDG have also taken an interest is great news for all of us.

 

As for recording, I was using Shadowplay for my previous videos but last week picked up a Hauppauge Rocket PVR for doing the YouTube stuff so that's what I used for the X-Plane video. I haven't actually tried Shadowplay with X-Plane yet (seriously considering returning the PVR though and going back to Shadowplay, it's not the catch-all solution I was expecting it to be)

 

If I had to quote one line from your post it would be this one...

 

it's good to taste the simulator world outside of one's primary simulator.

 

Wise words, indeed.

 

All the best,

Cal

[Guest]

I knew you were Cal in disguise!  How you make time for the MotoGP circuit and wonderful flight simulation videos I don't know!

 

If you ever figure out how to get ShadowPlay to work in full screen mode in XP10 please post it.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

BTW, your videos are very professionally done ... clear, concise, and to the point ... no umms, no errrs, no long pauses as you breath heavily into the microphone ... excellent "work" indeed.

[Poppet 703]

BTW, your videos are very professionally done ... clear, concise, and to the point ... no umms, no errrs, no long pauses as you breath heavily into the microphone ... excellent "work" indeed.

 

Great tutorials and reviews, he has a gift for it alright.

[CrownCityMisfits 58]

Nice video, and yes certainly some beautiful eye candy in XP. And what about those crispy VC shadows!  :wub:

 

Still, the autogen looks a bit stale and "plastic" to my eye, and the lack of airports, atc, weather, etc still needs to be addressed before I make drive space for this sim.

 

My eye is on it though!

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

I knew you were Cal in disguise! How you make time for the MotoGP circuit and wonderful flight simulation videos I don't know!

 

Is Ebs Cal Crutchlow?

[Poppet 703]

Is Ebs Cal Crutchlow?

The motor bike racer, Yes! I knew Neil/Cal before he was famous. *sticks tongue out*!

[yidahoo 365]

For those of you that have Radar Contact 4, there is a plugin due to be released very soon that integrates RC4 into X-Plane. Add in MCE for X-Plane and I believe you get full voice controlled ATC. Alternatively there is always Vatsim, IVAO and Pilotedge, all of which support X-Plane 64 Bit 

[n4gix 4,947]

That was a very impressive video, although I have to say that the final moments flying between (and often through!) the light poles and overhead signs...

 

...brought back one of my ancient nightmares; flying very low altitude patrols in a helicopter and being trapped because of power lines and other obstacles crisscrossing the highway, with nowhere to go but forward!

[Ebs 114]

Thanks for the kind words all! Very much appreciated.

 

 

how to get ShadowPlay to work in full screen mode in XP10 please post it.

 

Rob, I just did a quick test with Shadowplay. X-Plane is a weird one that's for sure and it wouldn't work directly. (as you know!)

I run two montiors. So, get XPlane running full screen, then click on the second monitor to give it focus. Enable shadowplay and immediately click back into X-Plane. That does the trick!