I've purchased XP on Steam today - I'm hoping to short-cut the learning curve as much as possible and just get flying.

I recently put P3D on a new PC, the same one I'll be using for XP, and went for a fairly minimalist install. FTX global/England/Socal – a few high end aircraft, A2A/Realair, some Caranado, and some retro jets Milviz and Capt sim.

A couple of must have add-ons, ASN, EZDOC,

If someone could give some pointers of the best way forward – freeware or payware, to get to a similar position on XP, I appreciate that.

There's quite a few YouTube tutorials on the web, which is great – any recommendations of the best ones for a noob?

The pinned topics on AVSIM look very useful too.

I assume the scenery downloads on Steam are a must – even if installing other freeware/payware scenery – or are they replacements?

Any hardware advice – I use Saitek yoke and throttle, which I imagine will work fine – but are there other hardware devices around to control the autopilot and radios – did a quick web crawl but couldn't see anything?

I've got An Android and and Ipad tablet – any good XP apps for those?

I know it will be a big learning curve in the longer term – but hoping to get a basic setup running quickly in the meantime.

Thanks

Eugene

Great post as I have just bought it too, and like you want to be up and flying.

There are a few things that i would suggest as a must

 

- HD-Mesh V3, this is bascially a replacement of the original mesh.  It doesnt have complete world coverage, so if you want to fly in places that it doesnt have coverage you need to still download the scenery on steam. You can check the map on what is available http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-mesh-scenery-v3/#Mirrors-Torrents

- World2Xplane, if you love buildings and trees everywhere and want to torture your cpu and gpu, this is the way to go forward. Great addon, but it can put your sim to a grinding stuttering halt.

- RTH,  Real Terra Haze that changes the art controls of the sim and makes it look more beautiful

- NOAA Plugin, just an improved weather injector and the cheapest way to get global winds aloft (until 10.5 is released)

- HD Clouds, if you want to improve the stock clouds abit.

- Aiports are "stock lego airports" in alot of places, quite decent if you just want to fly there once. Other than that just google the .org site for pretty much all airports in the world. As a treat i can recomend pretty much all airports from misterx, they are true masterpieces that stand the comparison to most expensive payware airports in fsx/p3d and he does them for free.

 

A last thing, please if you have the finances and like some of the things that i mentioned, consider donating to the people that create these gems. It helps this great community to grow and flourish

 

Regarding Performance the original handbook is pretty good resource to learn how to optimize the sim. alot of people do not read that though

Payware: SkyMax Pro and RWC (real Weather Connector). Since you use ASN I'm assuming you want a professionally done weather program and both of those from X-Aviation should do the trick.

 

X-Plane.org is a great place for super payware planes  and sceneries. Lots of great sceneries as well. Take your pick. Also their forum and file download section is great. There are a lot of great freeware sceneries available for x-plane.

 

In terms of traffic AI right now in my opinion nothing beats X-Life   http://jardesign.org/x-life/www/

I'd buy the full version (Deluxe). It's not comparable to MyTraffic or Ultimate Traffic but it's the first satisfactory AI traffic program out there.

 

Personally best payware commercial aircraft right now is :IXEG 737 Classic from X-Aviation.

 

That should give you a start.

 

Pilot2ATC is a good robust ATC program and it works  for P3D and X-Plane.

 

X-Camera is a real good program to set up your cameras better than EZDOC.

Any of MisterX6's airport sceneries are an absolute must, and free!

Wow, great advice guys - just what I needed - will save hours of research!

The IXEG 737 looks fabulous, also must get the PMDG DC6 - Some AI prog is a must - X-life deluxe sounds perfect. X-camera looks just what I need - looked at their tutorial video. Misterx6 airports amazing.

HD mesh V3 just what I need - even downloaded an installation video from Youtube.

And of course - if all else fails - read the manual!

You've saved me so much time!

Many thanks

Eugene

Are there any free high quality aircraft? High quality meaning a good 3d pit included?

 

Are there any free high quality aircraft? High quality meaning a good 3d pit included?

 

http://www.eadt.eu/index.php?new-x737-version-5

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/21649-douglas-dc-9-30-unfinished/

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/22160-let-l-410-for-x-plane-1045/

Are there any free high quality aircraft? High quality meaning a good 3d pit included?

There is a very good free LET-410, available at the Org website, or if you want a good challenge, the FELIS AN-24 is available for $10 at the Org, it is a piece of art.

If you are into military aircraft, khamsin's B-17 is also a very nice piece of freeware:

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/16610-boeing-b-17g-for-xplane10/