VRAM becomes a bottleneck with high definition textures and scenery tools like w2xp.

2 GB VRAM is more or less the current minimal Standard. There are many planes that more or less demand at least 2 GB VRAM. But if you want to have many scenery files and things like HD, UHD Mesh or Sky Maxx Pro, you will get into trouble. Then you need more than 8 GB RAM and 4 GB VRAM.

They really need to improve their weather system as well. Once again - I haven't seen a decent cumulonimbus yet.

 

That's one of my few complaints about X-Plane as well. I want to see big scary CB's and have to steer around or between them.

 

AFAIK, it can't happen with the current weather model because it's a very basic three layer "pancake" with your plane at the center. When the weather changes, it changes in a 360 degree circle all around your plane at once. The weather model just doesn't support discrete modeling of a vertical column weather system like a CB. 

 

So unless some 3rd party dev figures out a way to hack in discrete weather systems within that model, I think we won't see it until the next major version release at the earliest. And even then, it will depend on whether Laminar prioritizes it. I would think Austin might care about modeling this type of weather since he's a GA pilot. Maybe he just figures people shouldn't fly when there are big CB's around. 

 

On the general topic of scenery, I love the detailed mountains in X-Plane since I'm mostly a low-level bush pilot in the sim. The two things I'd like to see improved are seasonal textures so we're not always flying in Summer, and something more than a uniform drab water color everywhere. It's painful to see water colors in shallow areas of the Tropics that are dull dark blue instead of a vibrant turquoise color. But I know that doing this with auto-gen scenery would involve a much larger and more complex geographic database for water depth and clarity. So that probably won't happen soon. I'm hoping for seasonal textures and realistic CB modeling before that.

hey thanks for the tip on the steam sale.. i've never used steam before.. will they ship the DVD set to my address or is it a digital download?  I live in India and on the steam site it shows the price as 9$ !! that's weird considering that 50% sale should be 30$.. am i missing something here?

 

if your going to buy xplane you should do so now. there is a 50% sale right now on steam

 

 

the more ram you have for xplane the better. if you go 16 gig you should be fine.

many suggest a 4gig graphic card but thats up to you. i would add the extra 8 gig of ram first to see how it goes

hey thanks for the tip on the steam sale.. i've never used steam before.. will they ship the DVD set to my address or is it a digital download?  I live in India and on the steam site it shows the price as 9$ !! that's weird considering that 50% sale should be 30$.. am i missing something here?

 

its a digital download and its big. Im not sure what kind of internet speed you have but if its fast enough you should buy it from steam. 

9 dollars sound pretty good.

here is the link to the xplane on steam

http://store.steampowered.com/app/339395/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

thanks.. i got most of my questions about steam answered.. I have 10 Mbps internet speed so it shouldn't be that bad.. i'll let it download thru the night.. 

 

I know 9$ is insanely cheap.. it was 60$ on all other sites.. any idea why its so cheap on steam? what's the catch? In other sites like amazon, they ship the DVDs whereas here I gotta download the 70GB over many days.. maybe that's the reason for the big difference?

 

p.s - FSX is 2$ on steam!! Yikes, they're just giving it away!

 

its a digital download and its big. Im not sure what kind of internet speed you have but if its fast enough you should buy it from steam. 

9 dollars sound pretty good.

here is the link to the xplane on steam

http://store.steampowered.com/app/339395/?snr=1_5_1100__1100

The question is, for $9, why wouldn't you buy it if you're a simmer. I think I've spent more than that on a coffee :-)

Well, it's Winter Sale on Steam, so everything is heavily discounted. 

Also, the provided link by Saed, leads to an addon DLC, not the game itself.

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292180/ - That's the base X-Plane 10. 

thanks.. i got most of my questions about steam answered.. I have 10 Mbps internet speed so it shouldn't be that bad.. i'll let it download thru the night.. 

 

I know 9$ is insanely cheap.. it was 60$ on all other sites.. any idea why its so cheap on steam? what's the catch? In other sites like amazon, they ship the DVDs whereas here I gotta download the 70GB over many days.. maybe that's the reason for the big difference?

 

p.s - FSX is 2$ on steam!! Yikes, they're just giving it away!

My guess is Steam makes its' money on the DLC. They'll almost give away the core sim but they're counting on you to buy a lot of addons from them. Trainsim is the same way.

Alright, I bought it finally!  I went on a shopping spree and bought the following on sale:

 

1. X-plane 10 global 64 bit (9$)

2. London Heathrow (9$)

3. Dusseldorf (9$)

4. Southwest Florida airport (9$)

5. Rio De Janeiro Airport (9$)

6. FlightFactor 757 (45$) - this too was on sale!

 

That's enough to get me started on X-plane for the next 6 months..  

 

I'm also saving some money for a high quality A330 and 747. 

 

For the A330 - what do you recommend? JARDesign OR RWDesign or Aerosoft (FSX) ?

 

For the 747 - should i wait for PMDG V2 in FSX or V2 in X-plane? It will be great if Rotate makes a 747 - their level of detail gives PMDG a run for their money. 

 

Vinod.

Alright, I bought it finally!  I went on a shopping spree and bought the following on sale:

 

1. X-plane 10 global 64 bit (9$)

 

Are you sure you got it for $9.00? I show it at 50% off at $29.99

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292180/

Are you sure you got it for $9.00? I show it at 50% off at $29.99

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292180/

 

yes, for India and other countries, it shows as 9$... 

Does anyone know how to get the cars to move during replays? I read the article by Ben Supnik that talks about cars having their own "mission" which cannot replayed like the aircraft.. but i see many videos on youtube where they show wing views and the cars are moving in the streets below.. are those replays or live recordings?  The movie feature in X-plane doesn't record sound and I can't change views either.. so how do those youtube videos manage to get wing views with sound and cars moving all at the same time? 

 

I saw these discussions about cars not moving in replays from 2007 onward.. don't know what the current state of this bug is in 2015.. anybody know? 

 

Thanks!

Vinod.

Does anyone know how to get the cars to move during replays? I read the article by Ben Supnik that talks about cars having their own "mission" which cannot replayed like the aircraft.. but i see many videos on youtube where they show wing views and the cars are moving in the streets below.. are those replays or live recordings?  The movie feature in X-plane doesn't record sound and I can't change views either.. so how do those youtube videos manage to get wing views with sound and cars moving all at the same time? 

 

I saw these discussions about cars not moving in replays from 2007 onward.. don't know what the current state of this bug is in 2015.. anybody know? 

 

Thanks!

Vinod.

 

Unfortunately the cars still don´t move in replay - you would have to get a bit creative, here.

 

For example, you can record "live" with FRAPS, or any other capture software. You can let the plane fly on autopilot, while you record the "wing view" (what on earth is the fascination with that? This is not a "passenger simulator"!). You can also record sound while in live-view, and then mate that sound to your "replay view" if you have video editing software.

 

Good luck, Jan

thanks Jan for the reply..  I just wish X-plane had implemented moving cars the same way FSX did.. they were not tied to the replay/recordings.. this especially hurts because X-plane roads and car animations are soooo much better than FSX..  so its a shame I can't enjoy them as i come into land in replay mode.. 

 

Since this is a fundamental decision they took in the simulator, i doubt if future revisions will fix this anomaly..

 

Vinod.

thanks Jan for the reply..  I just wish X-plane had implemented moving cars the same way FSX did.. they were not tied to the replay/recordings.. this especially hurts because X-plane roads and car animations are soooo much better than FSX..  so its a shame I can't enjoy them as i come into land in replay mode.. 

 

Since this is a fundamental decision they took in the simulator, i doubt if future revisions will fix this anomaly..

 

Vinod.

 

Namaste, again.

 

The problem with the replay is that they "record" every variable available in the simulator. If they decided to also "tape" the AI traffic, then they´d have to store positions off all moving objects, along with the speed vector (to make for a smooth animation).

 

I agree, it would be better if some things would just keep running in real-time during the replay (car traffic, time, clouds and visibility, etc.), if enough people send "bug reports" about this to Laminar, they might change it at some point (google x-plane bug report form).

 

The one thing that keeps moving is the aircraft carrier and the frigate, but it took a while until that worked smoothly (without stuttering movement).

 

Cheers, Jan