I am really trying to like this but -

[warbirds 555]

Number one question is why does it mess with my internet connection so much?  I have the demo and when I use it for 15 minutes or so and exit out I cannot get on the internet. I have to reboot and then the internet is slow for at least half an hour or so. Nothing has ever done this before so please, what is it doing and how can I stop it.

 

Other less important but still want to know questions:

 

Is there a cycle views key? I really hate to shift/# to get to the virtual cockpit and then outside view or any other view,,need a cycle view key.

 

Is there a quality freeware plane I can download to test as most stock planes are fs9 graphics. 

 

Wish it had SLI but I have it set to use two cards by setting AA Sli in Nvidia Inspector and running AA at super high. 

 

More coming I am sure while I try out this interesting software. I do like the way you setup your joystick controls and wish FSX was this user friendly. I also like the strange little things such as let the AI fly your plane. Much to like just have to get it sorted.

 

To be honest two things brought me to test this out. The upcoming DC6 that will be only for this sim at first and the super cool Cessna showcased here in this forum. 

 

Thanks,

Paul

[LAdamson 240]

I've never had the internet connection problem. If using the demo, you can  pause to set everything up. It doesn't use the 15 minute time period. keys can be setup for all kinds of views.  I use XP along with FSX, as I'm a fan of A2A and RealAir. The new Cessna does look interesting. I'm not listing all of the setup answers, because I use both sims, have other hobbies, am getting older, and don't remember everything offhand.............as my interests are too varied these days. I just have to look up questions or experiment. But the views can be easily done, as I change them often from my Saitek X52 joystick.

[warbirds 555]

Still looking for a good freeware plane to use in the demo. I am liking what I see so far and the cities and freeways with all the cars and streetlights are amazing. Nothing like that in FSX.

[Old_As_Dirt 160]

Look for the Falcon 7X - free and very good.

 

John

[Sbacchini 15]

Here's a great little freeware plane: 

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=24452

 

Cheers!

[mwilk 1,106]

Paul,

         If you're into biz jets, I've heard the Eclipse 550 v2 is pretty nice. It's freeware.

[RocketDuck 7]

I've never heard of network issues before. Sounds like you have a driver or hardware issue.

 

When it comes to freeware airplanes, I am yet to find one that shows the true potential of X-Plane. Some of the freeware scenery on the other hand is absolutely stunning.

X-Plane does take some getting use to, but once you get there it is hard to use any other sim. There are just something about it.

[warbirds 555]

Ok, still working with this and have some more questions. 

 

Is the demo scenery, which seems to be very detailed with roads and cars and great airports, indicative of all the scenery in the global release?

 

Now here is a tough one but I have to know; seems x-plane has more airports than fsx and has one near me that fsx does not have. I have flown from this small grass airport several times and would like to see what it looks like in x-plane. If anyone is interested and would like to show me a screenshot of McBride field near Marion Iowa that would great.

I've never heard of network issues before. Sounds like you have a driver or hardware issue.

 

When it comes to freeware airplanes, I am yet to find one that shows the true potential of X-Plane. Some of the freeware scenery on the other hand is absolutely stunning.

X-Plane does take some getting use to, but once you get there it is hard to use any other sim. There are just something about it.

My network issues were only with the exit from x-plane but they have vanished and now all is good. 

 

I am really amazed at the detail of the roads, freeways with cars, even police cars, and the lights. Flying at night over a large city is pure eye candy that is not possible in FSX.

[N405GJ 36]

I'm in the same boat. I got Xplane after watching one of the DC-6 beta test team's streams. Got it installed, and spent the next two hours configuring things in this very foreign environment. Quickly found out there is no SLI support, which frankly was disappointing, from the only 64bit game in town. Another hour or so trying to putz around in the 172 using my TrackIR, feeling as if I can't seem to get my further than 3" away from the instruments.

 

I will admit, as the OP states, the visuals outside of being smashed against the instrument panel, are stunning compared to most of what I have experienced with FSX/P3D. But alas, the awkward (to a new user) controls and menus, gimped view presets, and having to resize my desktop to get the cursor to actually point where it should as I run in UHD, got the best of me and I haven't touched it since. It looks to have lots of promise, if I can find the time to sit down and relearn (unlearn) everything I know about flight sims.

 

It truly does have potential though. The limited AI traffic did look amazing. I was in awe as the wonderfully done C-130 flew over my little 172. Perhaps if SLI is ever offered, and I actually get the time to learn, I will give it another go.

[warbirds 555]

What is with the vc views that put you very close to the window and with no way to really move much farther back?

 

Still hoping for that screenshot of McBride field.

[Murmur 3,941]

Is the demo scenery, which seems to be very detailed with roads and cars and great airports, indicative of all the scenery in the global release?

 

X-Plane default scenery comes from a handful of sources, among them OSM (OpenStreetMap). So the improvements in OSM, get through to X-Plane, but not immediately, it may take months before they find their way in a new X-Plane release.

 

OSM coverage is usually better in Europe than in USA, you can have a look yourself:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/41.857/-93.741

 

Now here is a tough one but I have to know; seems x-plane has more airports than fsx and has one near me that fsx does not have. I have flown from this small grass airport several times and would like to see what it looks like in x-plane. If anyone is interested and would like to show me a screenshot of McBride field near Marion Iowa that would great.

 

I'm unable to post screenshots right now, but I see it's in the X-Plane database:

http://gateway.x-plane.com/scenery/page/7IA3

You'll find no 3D scenery though, from what I see, so just taxyway and runway.

 

What is with the vc views that put you very close to the window and with no way to really move much farther back?

 

Try going in the rendering options and increase the "lateral field of view" entry to a bigger value, e.g. 90. However there should also be a keyboard command to move forward and backward.

[warbirds 555]

Do not understand  open street map  OSM. Does that mean that the scenery in the demo is the best there is stock or does that detail show in other places or just not yet? I went to OSM map and it just showed streets and road so is that what is in place now or something to come?

[Murmur 3,941]

Keep in mind I'm no scenery expert (so I hope experts like alpilotx or tonywob will chime in).

 

Basically, default X-Plane scenery is derived (among other things) from OSM. So what you see on the OSM map (in terms of roads and other features), should also be in the default X-Plane scenery.

 

However as I said, OSM gets improved and updated continuously, so the updates may take some months before they finally get through to X-Plane default scenery, with a new X-Plane release and a new default scenery "recut".

 

Also, even if OSM scenery has no buildings but only roads, X-Plane will add autogen buildings (houses), similar to FSX in some sense.

 

So to answer your question, the detail of other parts of default scenery can be variable: some parts could be worse than the demo scenery, some could be better than that (for example, cities like Paris are incredibly detailed in OSM, so you'll find the default scenery of Paris is as good or better than that of Seattle).

[alpha12125 213]

I'm in the same boat. I got Xplane after watching one of the DC-6 beta test team's streams. Got it installed, and spent the next two hours configuring things in this very foreign environment. Quickly found out there is no SLI support, which frankly was disappointing, from the only 64bit game in town. Another hour or so trying to putz around in the 172 using my TrackIR, feeling as if I can't seem to get my further than 3" away from the instruments.

 

I will admit, as the OP states, the visuals outside of being smashed against the instrument panel, are stunning compared to most of what I have experienced with FSX/P3D. But alas, the awkward (to a new user) controls and menus, gimped view presets, and having to resize my desktop to get the cursor to actually point where it should as I run in UHD, got the best of me and I haven't touched it since. It looks to have lots of promise, if I can find the time to sit down and relearn (unlearn) everything I know about flight sims.

 

It truly does have potential though. The limited AI traffic did look amazing. I was in awe as the wonderfully done C-130 flew over my little 172. Perhaps if SLI is ever offered, and I actually get the time to learn, I will give it another go.

 

I am not trying to attack you, but what you posted is a little bit unfair towards x-plane. One of your biggest complaints is that you are so used to FSX/P3D that you are not familliar with a new programm and need to relearn stuff.  For other people, especially people that started with x-plane or have no such problems and its one that will always exsist. Adobe users that are very familiar with Photoshop will never switch to other very capable programms, soley because its not inuitive for them and this is frustrating. Same goes for X-Plane switchersm

 

What is with the vc views that put you very close to the window and with no way to really move much farther back?

 

Still hoping for that screenshot of McBride field.

 

You can move further back, sometimes it even helps reading tutorial there are even some good ones for switchers from FSX/P3D. I have a German Keyboard Layout so i dont exactly know if it is similar in the english layout. In the german its the two buttons " , " and " . "  i think in the english layout its pgup adn pgdn, you can look in the key assigments though.

 

Do not understand  open street map  OSM. Does that mean that the scenery in the demo is the best there is stock or does that detail show in other places or just not yet? I went to OSM map and it just showed streets and road so is that what is in place now or something to come?

 

Ok just some clarification:

 

OSM is an open source map. Every scenery company uses a data set for their scenery. Some cost money some are free, in general those that cost money used to be alot superior, but in the recent years OSM gets more powerful, Only in rural areas OSM lacks some streets. Every person can contribitue to this and add info to the map and make it better for everyone. 

 

So what does this mean for X-Plane:

 

Well the demo areas is the best that there is stock, this means that everything else is honestly not as good as this and especially outside the US sometimes really poor. It is also very outdated, because its latest dataset is from the time XP10 launched. But do not fear: This is where the amazing community comes into play. You install HD-Mesh V3 and World2Xplane and you will get a really good coverage of almost all of the world. These addons  use newer data and put everything where it should be. All of this is freeware, well rather donationware. You should support the amazing work these people do for free.

 

And what this will look like with a good coverage like in germany is something like this : https://world2xplane.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/car_c337_v10_98.jpg

Granted you need a beefy PC for that but it will blow the stock scenery out of the water any day.

[LAdamson 240]

It's possible to move all over the cockpit, the back seats, and out the tail. Same for the left & right cockpit seats. Keys can also be set, for instant changes. 

 

Scenery. I'm a long time mountain flyer. X-Plane is exceptional with recreating mountain visuals. I've seen a lot of European screenshots that look great. But I'm use to the mountain west..........mountain  and desert areas. X-Plane creates this scenery very well, and usually with sharper looking images, than FSX.

 

However, there are many times where X-plane can look repeating, and boring. Such as flying over the Jackson Hole area, in which the Teton mountain range looks great in X-Plane, to the Idaho side. This is where Orbx for FSX & P3D can easily make all the difference. I'll never give up Orbx scenery, RealAir airplanes, as well as A2A airplanes. Therefor, I'll continue to use both sims, and still purchase third party products for both.  I spent many years of real flight, in those areas of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, & Nevada.