Hi guys,

 

It's been a very long time.... Some of you may remember me as an avid contributor here in the FS2004 days, made some repaints, beta tested for Aerosoft, etc.... Had a kid in 2010 then my HD crashed and with it my custom FS2004 install. No simming at all since.

 

I would like to return to FSX soon. It never ran well on my old rig, but would like to give it a try now. I found some tips on hardware in the hardware forum. What I would like to know here is what are the must-have add-ons these days for FSX? I would mostly like to fly short airliner hops (1-2hrs) in aircraft with the best visual detail and systems simulation available. Mostly, I plan to fly in Western Europe and the US. So my questions:

- What's the best A320? Aerosoft?

- What's the best 737NG? PMDG still?

- please name the best European and US airport add-ons

- any good freeware mesh?

- a good basic GA aircraft would be lovely too. Any great freeware?

- what's the best weather program these days?

- any other basic must-haves?

- recommended tweaks and config imrpovements?

- is WOAI still the gold standard in up to date AI addons?

- is AES still a thing?

 

A lot of questions, I know. Any ones you can answer I would be greatly appreciative.

 

Good to be back.

 

Misha
(da Mine - as edetroit used to call me - is that guy still around?)

This may not be in your sweet spot... but for flying GA in the U.S...

 

1.  RealAir Legacy V2 or TDuke V2

 

2.  Flight1 GTN 750

 

3.  Orbx West Coast Regions...  PNW, NorCal, SoCal.

- What's the best 737NG? PMDG still?
yes
- please name the best European and US airport add-ons
this is pretty subjective. i am very pleased with the UK2000 stuff and the aerosoft X sceneries i have in europe. eiresim has some decent ones too. the orbx airports i have in the usa are all either very good or amazing. there are really hundreds so it's hard to pick a 'best' and it depends on what you look for, i personally avoid the larger airports since i have an older comptuer and they tend to be tough on fps.
- any good freeware mesh?
search these forums for 'freeware mesh' there is a solid one that was released last year that you should be able to find the thread about
- a good basic GA aircraft would be lovely too. Any great freeware?
dunno about freeware. a2a probably making the most sophisticated and realistic GA stuff, but again there's really a lot to choose from. the realair dukes are also great.
- what's the best weather program these days?
active sky next gets my vote. opus has it's fans as well.
- any other basic must-haves?
ezdok probably the only one i couldn't live without. FSUIPC is a very common one to have as a lot of projects require the free version installed and it is a useful program in it's own right. also take a look at the majestic q400 it is probably the best add-on aircraft right now and perfect for short 1-2h hops.
- recommended tweaks and config imrpovements?
if you use the fsx steam version you can pretty much run without tweaks and have a great experience, otherwise highmemfix is important and as far as things like bufferpool settings, there's a lot of tweak guides out there. edit: i should add that unless you have a really compelling reason to avoid it, i would generally recommend to highly consider the steam version as it improves the memory handling quite a bit and cures a lot of headaches that you otherwise will be reading about in those tweak guides like buggy old dll files that need to be replaced and such. or consider p3d as others have suggested.
- is AES still a thing?
yeah but also maybe look at fsdreamteam's GSX which is similar but works anywhere

cheers
-andy crosby

One of the must-haves should be P3Dv3.x. You should sent FSX into its retirement. IMHO

• So at the moment Aerosoft's A320 is the best but I think FSLabs are also developing an A320.
• In the Boeing sector, PMDG is in my opinion the best you can get (737,777,747 soon?).
• There are a lot of developers that produce Airports in the U.S. and Europe. For major in the U.S. there's FlightBeam, these guys do wonderful sceneries. Then there is Aerosoft, Taxi2Gate, UK2000, FlyTampa, FSDT etc.
• For regions and mesh I'd check out ORBX
• I don't know about GA aircraft as I only fly Airliners. Sorry
• For weather I use ActiveSkyNext, it's really amazing and I really like it. There are freeware weather programs but I don't know them.
• For basic must haves maybe REX4, just to enhance the default textures.
• I don't need to tweak my sim anymore because I use P3D so just ask Google.
• Freeware traffic probably WOAI, payware I know UT2 which I used, but now I fly on VATSIM so I don't need it anymore.
• I prepfer GSX because you can use it on every airport (Payware Airports, default, freeware etc.) what means and don't have to buy these credits. What you can't do with GSX is, use the Jetways with some payware Add-ons (for example Aerosoft)

Hope that helps and happy landings

 

Kind regards and a nice weekend

One of the must-haves should be P3Dv3.x. You should sent FSX into its retirement. IMHO

Yes I would also consider to change to P3D. 

For FSX a really really really really really really fast computer  :wink:

 

Yes I would also consider to change to P3D. 

 

 

What he said   :wink:

For FSX a really really really really really really fast computer  :wink:

 

What he said   :wink:

Well for P3D you also need a very good PC  :wink:

Well for P3D you also need a very good PC  :wink:

 

:wink:  :wink:

Like spesimen, I also recommend that the OP take a good look at FSX:Steam Edition.  Like P3D, it's an improvement (though a more subtle one) on FSX Boxed.  It also has the advantage of being a much less expensive environment to live in.  I was an enthusiastic user of P3D 2.X but got tired of chasing updates, fighting stutters and dealing with the niggling problems of add-ons that were almost, but not quite, fully compatible.  So I've happily settled on FSX:SE, which runs smoothly for me and gives me more flying time.  I realize that others disagree strongly and I'm not trying to touch off one of those FSX vs. P3D debates (so guys, please don't!)  Am just suggesting that Misha take a good look at both.

 

@Misha - I remember you and I remember edetroit.  Haven't seen him recently but it might just be that we're running in different forums.  Welcome back!

- What's the best A320? Aerosoft?

Yes

- What's the best 737NG? PMDG still?

Yes

- please name the best European and US airport add-ons

US: Flightbeam SFO, IAD. Euro: Aerosoft, Flytampa

- any good freeware mesh?

Search "Free Mesh X". 

- a good basic GA aircraft would be lovely too. Any great freeware?

A2A's C172, C182, and Piper Cherokee are the best. Not GA per se but Manfred Jahn made a great C-46. Otherwise I don't know much about GA.

- what's the best weather program these days?

Active Sky Next

- any other basic must-haves?

Prepar3D. Don't buy FSX. Perpar3D is $60 and delivers subtle visual improvements as well as tweaks that makes it use your hardware more efficiently (better FPS, less crashes). Must haves: REX 4, Orbx FTX Global, Orbx FTX vector

- recommended tweaks and config imrpovements?

For Prepar3D, not really. 

- is WOAI still the gold standard in up to date AI addons?

Yep, but you need to augment their plans with ones from the avsim library for up-to-date schedules

- is AES still a thing?

Yes, but GSX is better as it works everywhere, looks better, and you don't have to buy those stupid credits (only advantage AES has is that it makes your Aerosoft jetways work)

 

 

Prepar3D. Don't buy FSX. Perpar3D is $60

 

The Prepar3D Academic license is $60, which the OP may, or may not qualify for.  The Professional license is $199.

The Prepar3D Academic license is $60, which the OP may, or may not qualify for.  The Professional license is $199.

True. Despite the fact that Lockheed will never ask for academic credentials or for you to otherwise prove your status as a student, the Academic license is reserved for undergraduate students. It is up to OP to choose the software appropriate to his situation. Either way, P3D is vastly superior to FSX.

29Palms Airport KTNP

A2A Sim 3D Lights Redux Mega Pack

AI Dupe

AIController

Air Traffic Manager

Airport Design Editor 

AlacrityPC

AS Airbus Bundle A318/A319

AS Airbus Bundle A320/321

AS Airport Enviroment Services

AS Approaching Innsbruck X

AS Catalina Island

AS DHC-6 Twin Otter Extended

AS Frankfurt-Hahn

AS German Airports 3 - Paderborn-Lippstadt X

AS KTNP Twentynine Palms

AS Maldives X The Male Atolls

AS Mega Airport Amsterdam Schiphol X

AS Mega Airport Berlin Brandenburg

AS Mega Airport Duesseldorf

AS Mega Airport Frankfurt X

AS Mega Airport Helsinki

AS Mega Airport London Heathrow Xtended

AS Mega Airport London Heathrow Xtended Jetway Patch

AS Mega Airport Zurich v2.0 FSX

AS Night Enviroment Benelux

AS Night Enviroment British Isles

AS Night Enviroment California

AS Night Enviroment Germany

EditVoicePackX

Ezdok Camera

Flight1 AFX Demo

Flight1 Audio Enviroment Airliner Edition

Flight1 Software Ground Enviroment Xtreme Europe

Flight1 Software Ground Enviroment Xtreme Interface

Flight1 Software Ground Enviroment Xtreme North America

Flightbeam Studios Denver International

Flightbeam Studios KFSO San Francisco

Flightbeam Studios Phoenix Sky Harbor International

Flightbeam Studios Washington Dulles International

FlyTampa Dubai Rebooted

FlyTampa Kai Tak

FlyTampa St Maarten

FlyTampa Tampa Rebooted

FlyTampa Vienna LOWW V2.5

FS2Crew PMDG 777 NGX Captain's Set

FSDT Chicago O'Hare V2.0

FSDT Ground Services X

FSDT Houston George Bush Intercontinental

FSDT Las Vegas McCarran

FSDT Los Angeles International

FSDT New York JFK v2

FSIpanel

FSRecorder

HiFi Tech Active Sky Next

LatinVFR Miami International KMIA V3

LatinVFR Orange County John Wayne KSNA

LatinVFR San Diego KSAN

LatinVFR San Juan TJSJ

Majestic Software Dash 8Q 400 Pro Edition

Make Runways

MyTraffic Professional 6.0

NVIDIA Inspector

Old Prop Solutions 777 Immersion

Old Prop Solutions PrecipitFX

ORBX Palm Springs KPSP

Overland Seoul Icheon International RKSI

Pete Dowson FSUIPC4

PMDG 737 NGX 600/700 Expansion

PMDG 737 NGX 800/900 Base Package

PMDG 777-200LR/F

PMDG 777-300ER Expansion

ProcessExplorer

Professional Flight Planner X

RAAS Professional by FS2Crew (unlocked)

REX 4 Texture Direct

REX Essentials PLUS Overdrive

REX Soft Clouds

Rex Weather Architect 

Simple Airport Scanner

SteveFX DX10 Scenery Fixer

Taxi2Gate Hamad International OTHH

Taxi2Gate Hong Kong International VHHH

Taxi2Gate KMCO Orlando International

Taxi2Gate Seattle-Tacoma International KSEA

Taxi2Gate St Louis International KSTA

TOPCAT

TrackIR 5

Ultimate Terrain X

Ultimate Terrain X Canada

Ultimate Terrain X Europe V2.0 

Ultimate Terrain X USA V2.0 

So Misha_K:  You had a kid in 2010 then your HD crashed... Cause and effect? :wink:

Aerosoft airbus, Pmdg Boeing 737, 777.... you can't go wrong.

I would also go for ORBX global for the textures, it is nice.

GSX is good for all ground services, pushback, de-icing...

Active Sky Next will give you fab weather.

UK2000 scenery is good, otherwise I am sure you will find some nice freeware scenery here in the AVSIM library....

I am a little bit similar to you, back to FSX after a while... I have those add ons mentioned above plus a few more and I have a lot of fun (if you have a look at my youtube channel, you will see how it all works).

 

Quite a bit of an investment already anyway!