fsx-ms After a hiatus of years! My head is spinning

[flyinpilot212121 724]

Good day everyone,

 

Well after a hiatus of about 4 years I'm coming back, got a "first" flight in yesterday after being away from the hobby for a while, I was a fs9 user, I've done some research and asked questions and for now I'm gonna go with fsx for the time being as it seems to be running quite well on my new to me computer that I recently purchased.

 

So I have fsx installed along with reinstalling fs9, I'm thinking of using fs9 for my airliner flights as I purchased many aircraft years ago that I reinstalled, and will be using fsx for my commuter flights, fseconomy, VFR flying etc.

 

Anyways to get to the point, I forgot how involved this hobby can get with all the add-ons, utilities, scenery, mods etc. etc. that its kind of got my head spinning.

 

I'm Sure it's been asked before, but on a stock fsx setup, what are the main enhancements one should get, I'm doing research and it's overwhelming, ORBX, GEX, REX, UT.... And the list goes on..

I would be looking at one ground enhancement add-on, and perhaps a sky enhancement add-on.

Where should I start, what's the difference between ORBX and GEX and UT?

I'm kinda of confused, and this time around unlike my fs9 days I want to make the proper purchases and not over do it as I did in fs9, seems like I had so much in fs9 that I wasn't even sure what I had or what was running or what was doing what or if one add-on was "overtaking" another, and I'm trying to avoid that this time around.

 

Thanks for the help

[Guest]

Given your timing I would certainly proceed with caution unless you have buckets of money floating around.

The release of DTG Flight Simulator is immanent and I would be very surprised in anything you buy now will be compatible with it ever unless it MS Flight repackaged. An addon purchasing strategy for Flight Simulation has never been more important than it is today. Frankly, if I where in your shoes right now I would stick with the Vanilla sims and purchase no addons. Get Prepar3D V3 which you can try for 60 days and get if refund if you decide against going down that road and hopefully DTG will provide an early purchasers promotional pricing for their soon to be released sim. Some addons will work on multiple platforms e.g. ORBX, ASN, REX. However, as I see it there is movement to the same addon being separate purchases for different platforms. If you want to indulge in multiple platforms you might as well go and get flying lessons. It will end up being cheaper and and more fun. I say try them all for a while vanilla and see whats out there before you committee to investing in one.

 

My sim of choice is Prepar3D V3 but I am strangely hopeful for DTG Flight Sim.

[flyinpilot212121 724]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

 

Flight lessons are already taken care of :smile: :smile:

 

Ive never heard of DTG, maybe ill check it out.

Now you got me thinking, perhaps i should hang tight and enjoy fsx in its default state and with whats available as freeware for now.

 

P.S whats Vanilla ? sorry been out of the scene for a while now.

[hychewright 46]

Hi Gerry, welcome back. There is new life for FS9. Google "Shasha's EVO for FS9" It is fantastic what he has done with that sim.  You can also search AVSIM as well.

[Guest]

 

 

whats Vanilla ?

 

Vanilla is a term commonly used to describe the out of the box sim with no addons.

 

DTG (Dove Tail Games) bought the distribution rights for FSX from Microsoft sometime back and have for some time being developing the next generation flight Sim rumored to based on the shelved MSFlight. There is a lot of discussion about it in these forums and I understand it is to be released next week. I am hopeful about it despite the obvious fact that it will be basic compared to what we have with FSX and P3D today but I anticipate that at its core it will likely be superior to both FSX and P3D because it will almost certainly have a far superior rendering engine and all the hooks required to do anything FSX or P3D can. But it may take many years if ever for the content developers to catch up with what is currently available in other sims.

[Anxu00 176]

I would suggest to start with FSX Steam edition.  There is a sale going on now so you can have the sim for 7.99.  Start slow with FSX, see what you like and understand the performance cost of the add-ons before you buy.  Be patient and add to you add-on slowly over time.  If you only do VFR with FSX, you have two routes:  start with an ORBX region (PNW for example, there is even a free demo available so try it out first) or go the generic route with UTX and GEX.  Too many add-ons without careful research will cause instability with FSX, especially with lower rate scenery developers.  ORBX, FSDreamteam, FlyTampa and FlightBeam are first rate developer, all others including Aerosoft are hit and miss.  Above all do your research about the plane you like to fly.  The scenery stuffs come second.  In this regard, A2A, RealAir, Flight1 and Milviz are top notch VFR (A2A aircrafts in FSX Steam edition are also on sale currently).  Good luck.

 

 

Where should I start, what's the difference between ORBX and GEX and UT?

UTX and GEX are more generic products and are the best bang for your bucks.  ORBX are visually stunning but has some performance cost and best is to stick to their region products.  ORBX also have detailed airports for their regions, be very selective on these.  If you are patient, at the end of every year there are sales.

[flyinpilot212121 724]

Thanks everyone for the great replies, after years avail still seems like a great place for help...

 

That's where I purchased fsx was through steam, got it at a good price that's why I tried it out, was just gonna stick with fs9 but at the low price wouldn't have been much a loss at all if I didn't enjoy fsx, but I do..

 

As for fs9 and the evo mod, I'll take a look as I had many add-ons for fs9

 

I think I'll just do a bunch of reading and enjoy the simple flying and let time and patience dictate what I decide on purchasing.

 

I do appreciate all the replies, any other words of advice I'm all ears.

 

Thanks Again everyone.

[mjrhealth 820]

Must haves for FSX.

 

ASN Active sky next for weathet,

REx texture 4 with soft clouds,

Orbx global - will change much of teh fsx world,

and the free Mesh posted somewhere here, will enhance mountains etc.

[Orlaam 306]

I too was on hiatus, however it wasn't planned.  OS was trashed by a rootkit.  Pretty sure it came from a web site for FS too.  This was like 9 years ago.  Destroyed a heavily modified FS9 install.

 

Anyhow, getting back in resulted in me installing FSX Steam.  I never bought the Gold edition, so that left FSX Steam.  It was a choice between P3D or FSX.  Most seemed to steer me towards FSX:SE.  If you have the cash to buy P3D, it might be worthwhile, but from looking around, it seems to be hit or miss.  Some people swear by it and would never go back, others have stutters and other issues that they didn't have in FSX.  All you can do it test the heck out of it and get a refund.  Trouble is, you may not notice those problems until you've purchased P3D-only add-ons.  Then what?  You're stuck.

 

In reality, P3D is still a 32-bit sim, so it's not all that much of an improvement.  Who knows what direction that sim will go and how far.  Each major revision costs full retail.  Personally, I'm not one to migrate yet, based on what I've seen.

 

Then there's this Dovetail (DTG) sim.  No one knows anything about it.  Is it completely different?  Will it be 64 bit?  Will it be like MS Flight or something entirely different?  Who knows.  I can say with confidence that it's probably more than a year away from ever seeing the light of day, and we can most likely say that wonderful realistic add-ons like PMDG, RealAir, ORBx, A2A, and others won't be a party to that sim for a long time, if ever.  Why are people all of the sudden clamoring to the hope that DTG will be some saving grace?  I'm excited to see what they have in store, but I certainly have no delusions about its presentation.  I had zero interest in MS Flight.  I prefer realistic add ons and environmental enhancements, not gaming-level software.

 

I think it's safe to say that FSX Steam will be a competitive player for a while.  I do think P3D is surpassing FSX:SE, but add ons are driving the market more than anything.  You won't be money out by investing in FSX:SE in my opinion.   

[hychewright 46]

I too was on hiatus, however it wasn't planned.  OS was trashed by a rootkit.  Pretty sure it came from a web site for FS too.  This was like 9 years ago.  Destroyed a heavily modified FS9 install.

 

Anyhow, getting back in resulted in me installing FSX Steam.  I never bought the Gold edition, so that left FSX Steam.  It was a choice between P3D or FSX.  Most seemed to steer me towards FSX:SE.  If you have the cash to buy P3D, it might be worthwhile, but from looking around, it seems to be hit or miss.  Some people swear by it and would never go back, others have stutters and other issues that they didn't have in FSX.  All you can do it test the heck out of it and get a refund.  Trouble is, you may not notice those problems until you've purchased P3D-only add-ons.  Then what?  You're stuck.

 

In reality, P3D is still a 32-bit sim, so it's not all that much of an improvement.  Who knows what direction that sim will go and how far.  Each major revision costs full retail.  Personally, I'm not one to migrate yet, based on what I've seen.

 

Then there's this Dovetail (DTG) sim.  No one knows anything about it.  Is it completely different?  Will it be 64 bit?  Will it be like MS Flight or something entirely different?  Who knows.  I can say with confidence that it's probably more than a year away from ever seeing the light of day, and we can most likely say that wonderful realistic add-ons like PMDG, RealAir, ORBx, A2A, and others won't be a party to that sim for a long time, if ever.  Why are people all of the sudden clamoring to the hope that DTG will be some saving grace?  I'm excited to see what they have in store, but I certainly have no delusions about its presentation.  I had zero interest in MS Flight.  I prefer realistic add ons and environmental enhancements, not gaming-level software.

 

I think it's safe to say that FSX Steam will be a competitive player for a while.  I do think P3D is surpassing FSX:SE, but add ons are driving the market more than anything.  You won't be money out by investing in FSX:SE in my opinion.   

 

 

Chris, I think all the sims that we have available now will be around for a long time including FSX.