Seems, just overnight---the XP franchise...has blossomed, yep.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

I just finished a two hour real-time flight with the Cirrus 22 turbo, and loved every minute of it.

 

As I was shutting down the session, it made me think and appreciate how much, the XP franchise has blossomed into such a fabulous flight sim platform, with aircraft, offered from each new enthusiast/commercial, and commercial scenery releases, as well as enthusiast, and commercial flight environment releases.

 

I always say so, and do...fly each platform that I have installed, but really...if it came down to the crunch of flight numbers...really, it would have to be reported that XPX.41's start button gets pressed over all others.  The sim is graphically gorgeous, being 64 bit, means no O.O.M issues ever--- fly cross country, or the world for that matter in real-time hours..., and the code keeps maturing/being released, day-by-day.  Hot tweaks to the coding, new features being developed/added, amounts to a rich user experience.

 

Stunning performance, great plane physics, great avionics modelling, and I know it is only a matter of time, before either Laminar (in-house) or by 3rdP, will bring on-board like Vivaldi...the 'four seasons'.  Just a matter of time....

 

This sim would be the KING KONG, of all sims...if it had the same A.T.C. coding and execution, that the M.S. based sims do at this moment. If it had that...it would be the Triple Crown winner out by a lead of 6 lengths....and I imagine this will come as well. Once it does..OMG!

 

It has so much to offer, and the further into the menus, you go...the richer the experience it is.

 

Do I enjoy running XPX.41?  Well..I'll let you decide that for yourselves   :wink:  

 

Just musing...after a great flight sim experience,

 

Mitch

[klamal 282]

I just bought X-Plane about 2 months ago now and couldn't agree more with this post!!!  I've been an MSFS/P3D simmer since 1995 but I am so very close to completely devoting myself to X-Plane.

 

All X-Plane needs for me is a better weather engine so we can have something like ASN.  That's really the only thing missing for me in X-Plane that's better in P3D.  I actually bought P3Dv3 3 weeks ago too and I am actually seriously considering returning it for my money back.  Everything else in X-Plane is just simply better than FSX/P3D could ever do.  I'll go as far as to say that HDMeshv3 even with default textures is better than anything possible in MSFS as far as land class based scenery is concerned.  The water in X-Plane, hands down, blows anything possible in MSFS.  The night lighting, well, that has been stated a million times already just how much better that is compared to MSFS.

 

I know if you're in love w/ PMDG that it's impossible to think of flying anything else and I can understand that.  But, it's funny, I see all these people looking for a great business jet for FSX/P3D.  They spend ~$45 or more to get Carenado crap and buy each attempt from Carenado when they could spend $60 for X-Plane and $30 for the DDen Challenger and get not only a by far better aircraft than anything Carenado can do in FSX/P3D but also get a overall better sim.

 

I've spent a total of $200 on X-Plane so far and I am not wanting for anything scenery wise despite having spent hundreds on FSX/P3D scenery.  I am flying routes all over EU and US and everywhere I have gone there has been at least a pretty good rendition of that airport available for free.  And, now, Denmark Pro and World2XPlane stuff like that...well, there's just no comparison!  That I know is another hard thing for the FSX/P3D crowd to do, give up their quality add ons.  I thought there was no way I could do it either.  But, again, I am completely drawn to X-Plane.  I don't miss anything other than ASN.

 

I am shocked myself.  I was so afraid to spend the money on X-Plane.  I was so afraid of how I'd manage two sims and the spending that would go along with that for both.  But, now, I am so glad that I made the jump.  I'll say it again, in my opinion, X-Plane is just an 'ASN like' weather engine away from being the best sim, hands down!!!  Oh, seasons too but that's not as big a deal as I thought that would be.  Once PMDG does actually get here besides, it's over....who cares of P3D ever gets to 64-bit then!?!?!?  

 

Of course, just my opinion/experience.  We're all different and beauty is all in the eye of the beholder.  But, I too was on the other side of the fence and until you at least give X-Plane a real shot, you don't know what you're missing!!!

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

 

Of course, just my opinion/experience.  We're all different and beauty is all in the eye of the beholder.  But, I too was on the other side of the fence and until you at least give X-Plane a real shot, you don't know what you're missing!!!

So totally true, Kevin...so totally true!

 

You have to fly it...take it in...and THAT is the only way to know, if you'd enjoy this platform as well. But..once you do...well...truly, enough said, lol.

 

Cheers,

 

Mitch

[charleslee201 19]

I just finished a two hour real-time flight with the Cirrus 22 turbo, and loved every minute of it.

 

As I was shutting down the session, it made me think and appreciate how much, the XP franchise has blossomed into such a fabulous flight sim platform, with aircraft, offered from each new enthusiast/commercial, and commercial scenery releases, as well as enthusiast, and commercial flight environment releases.

 

I always say so, and do...fly each platform that I have installed, but really...if it came down to the crunch of flight numbers...really, it would have to be reported that XPX.41's start button gets pressed over all others.  The sim is graphically gorgeous, being 64 bit, means no O.O.M issues ever--- fly cross country, or the world for that matter in real-time hours..., and the code keeps maturing/being released, day-by-day.  Hot tweaks to the coding, new features being developed/added, amounts to a rich user experience.

 

Stunning performance, great plane physics, great avionics modelling, and I know it is only a matter of time, before either Laminar (in-house) or by 3rdP, will bring on-board like Vivaldi...the 'four seasons'.  Just a matter of time....

 

This sim would be the KING KONG, of all sims...if it had the same A.T.C. coding and execution, that the M.S. based sims do at this moment. If it had that...it would be the Triple Crown winner out by a lead of 6 lengths....and I imagine this will come as well. Once it does..OMG!

 

It has so much to offer, and the further into the menus, you go...the richer the experience it is.

 

Do I enjoy running XPX.41?  Well..I'll let you decide that for yourselves   :wink:  

 

Just musing...after a great flight sim experience,

 

Mitch

 

I couldn't agree more

[CFIJose 5,485]

X-Plane 10 is the real deal. :smile:

[tf51d 284]

This sim would be the KING KONG, of all sims...if it had the same A.T.C. coding and execution, that the M.S. based sims do at this moment. If it had that...it would be the Triple Crown winner out by a lead of 6 lengths....and I imagine this will come as well. Once it does..OMG!

 

It has so much to offer, and the further into the menus, you go...the richer the experience it is.

 

Do I enjoy running XPX.41?  Well..I'll let you decide that for yourselves   :wink:  

 

Just musing...after a great flight sim experience,

 

Mitch

 

ATC isn't the real problem, as with FS the ATC can be handled by 3rd party developers, as demonstrated with FS++ plugin for RC4. The real problem and limitations come from the AI traffic system. That like with FS, is much harder for a 3rd party developer to deal with, as it's built into the core of the sim. What makes it worse for XP is their choice to use random AI and limit it to 20 aircraft, (Mainly because they use the same complex flight model system for AI as they do the user aircraft.) rather then the more versatile flight plan based system like FS has. To fix that would require a rewrite of the AI system, something that is unlikely to happen during the remaining XP10 life cycle. It will first and foremost require a change in culture at Laminar if it will change for XP11. As Austin stated in an early on AVSIM interview, he thinks the current AI system "Rocks".

[mwilk 1,106]

ATC isn't the real problem, as with FS the ATC can be handled by 3rd party developers, as demonstrated with FS++ plugin for RC4. The real problem and limitations come from the AI traffic system. That like with FS, is much harder for a 3rd party developer to deal with, as it's built into the core of the sim. What makes it worse for XP is their choice to use random AI and limit it to 20 aircraft, (Mainly because they use the same complex flight model system for AI as they do the user aircraft.) rather then the more versatile flight plan based system like FS has. To fix that would require a rewrite of the AI system, something that is unlikely to happen during the remaining XP10 life cycle. It will first and foremost require a change in culture at Laminar if it will change for XP11. As Austin stated in an early on AVSIM interview, he thinks the current AI system "Rocks".

Tom,

         Actually there is a third party program for AI. It's called World Traffic. It actually works pretty well and is not bound by the 20 aircraft rule. The problem is, it's not plug and play like the AI programs we're used to for FSX/P3D. It requires the creation of ground routes and flight plans. There is a utility in place to do both but a lot of the freeware scenery is not designed with what is needed to create the ground routes. It basically relies on the community to create these files and that has been slow going.

[Comanche 417]

Honestly, the poor Ai traffic rendition in X-plane 10 is not a big deal for me.  I'm not into watching ai planes flying about, but can appreciate having an occasional plane land or takeoff is all I really want.  I know its a big deal for some people and getting into X-plane, they may be a little disappointed.  Its just another thing that effects my frame rate and even if its done really well, like in My traffic, I tend to turn it off or way down. I rather give my system resources to something else.

Seeing 747's at grass fields, Is a bit odd to say the least, so one of the first things I did when I first got XP was to turn off the default ai. I never really missed it.

 

That being said, I do have World Traffic for XP and although, its not very user friendly and not the click and go type of thing that FSX enjoys, it does work once you set it up, I can see Traffic takeoff and land at most of the airports I fly to and I cant see any drop in frame rate. just enough to give life to the airport with out causing any frame rate issues.  

 

Rob

[Jimmy RFR 406]

Since June... As reported by Steam's stats...

 

X-Plane 10: 428 hours

FSX: 29 hours

 

So yea, I'd say I've come close to switching over.

 

But that said, I've been flying both due to pretty much exclusively flying in FSEconomy as of late, and needing to use both sims in order to fly the best renditions of the aircraft I want to fly.  And with flying both back to back, there are definitely a few things that FSX has that I miss in XP:

 

- Weather.  There's just nothing like ASN for XP.  It, combined with REX4 + Soft Clouds textures, is absolutely sublime.  Stretches all the way to the horizon, and doesn't even come close to making my pc break a sweat.

- GTN 750.  While I type, I'm currently using it as a popup window in the Aerosoft Twin Otter on a flight over Idaho.  It's just superb, and I dearly wish for it in XP.

 

If I could have those two things, plus perhaps a few key GA aircraft that I can't bear to live without (looking at you, 4X DA20-100), and I'd delete FSX off of my hard drive for good.

[steve310002 1,198]

I agree with the OP. Can't get enough of X-Plane 10 these days. I love how the fact that the freeware community is so active and we can literally have FSX payware quality (and better) scenery add-ons for free such as the UHD mesh, ortho photos, and airport sceneries. Added to this we now also have some incredible aircraft to choose from. When I look at an X-Plane aircraft in 4K they looks solid and real. When I look at FSX aircraft, they lack the same look and feel and appear more 'cartoon like'. However, there are things that really frustrate me. In order of importance....

 

1. Lack of AI program that models real airlines in a plug and play manner (World Traffic looks too time consuming in its current form)

2. Lack of decent weather program that also simulates transitions in weather (currently this is pretty awful when you transition between different weather fronts)

3. Lack of seasons (I know there are some freeware workaround options that help with this but again I just want plug and play and high quality)

 

For me these three things bring some serious added immersion. If Laminar implements these and does some decent marketing, I see no reason why they wouldn't shoot to the top of the must have sim platforms.

[jcomm 5,939]

Great plane physics - unfortunately not true ....

 

Not better, nor worse than what we can have in good old fs9, fsx, p3d... In some aspects actually worse... Needs fixing, Austin now even knows what to fix - before that... :-/

 

Weather depiction poor compared to MSFS, and weather sintesys not much better, even using the best tools /add-ons. NOAA free injector by far still the best option, but the looks we get are simply not comparable to what we have had for ages in MSFS...

 

But! Great free scenery, thanks to talented and dedicated users, that's for sure!

 

Some really nice aircraft add-ons too, even if limited by the above mentioned bugs...

 

I keep coming and going... converging / diverging... I desperately try to love it, but I always smash into the usual annoying / limiting bugs and lack of features that should, IMO, already be there given the age XP10 already is... Scenery is not all that matters in a flight simulator even if it is so much more inexpensive to get it great in X-Plane 10...

[tonywob 4,769]

Scenery is not all that matters in a flight simulator even if it is so much more inexpensive to get it great in X-Plane 10...

 

Depends who you ask  :wink: . I can't use a simulator no matter how good the physics simulation if the view out of the window is boring. Personally, flight simulation for me is opening a map or VFR chart, choosing two destinations and flying it and seeing close to what you'd see in real-life, and actually feeling like you've gone somewhere. I don't care too much about practising stalls or spins, following the magenta line or programming an FMS for an approach because it simply doesn't interest me (But I know these things are very important to others).

[LAdamson 240]

 

I know if you're in love w/ PMDG that it's impossible to think of flying anything else and I can understand that.  But, it's funny, I see all these people looking for a great business jet for FSX/P3D.  They spend ~$45 or more to get Carenado crap and buy each attempt from Carenado when they could spend $60 for X-Plane and $30 for the DDen Challenger and get not only a by far better aircraft than anything Carenado can do in FSX/P3D but also get a overall better sim.

 

 

 

Personally, I don't buy Carenado for FSX. I do buy Carenado for X-Plane.  On the other hand, my most preferred GA aircraft, are still A2A & Realair for FSX.   They just still remind me of real flight (which I did very much of).

Other than that, I'm still a two sim person, when I get around to it. Considering it was warmer summer months, I just haven't simmed enough lately. I have 2 FSX & 2 X-Plane payware aircraft, that I haven't even downloaded yet. 

[jcomm 5,939]

Very true Tony, and probably why for me there was never a better GA sim than ELITE, no better airliner simulation that Aerowinx PSX, and for the helicopter and overall flight dynamics, DCS World or IL-2 BoS, even if combat flight is not my beach :-)

 

But scenery like those made available by you, and other great contributors are indeed a good reason, for themselves, to use X-Plane.

[N1G 88]

How efficient the code remains moving forward will play a big roll in our satisfaction, especially when the CPU cycles will need to share time with the ever growing modules being introduced.  I hope it does not turn out to be a tweak fest.

 

Bob