Looks good - thanks! About airports - I see this in the manual: "The latest Gateway scenery will be provided automatically via updates. You may also add scenery from the Airport Scenery Gateway before that happens, but note that if you do so, it will suppress any later Global Airport updates to that same airport."

 

So, if I install an airport from the Gateway that is not currently in XP, I won't get any updates of that airport if they are made at a later date. While I want more populated airports, is it a better strategy to wait for these airports?

The above airports are custom scenery and they go in the custom scenery folder and will over ride the gateway airports, however the folder of the gateway is separate and will receive proper updates once available in an xp update. Its separate and if you remove your custom airport you see the default.

OK - thanks!  So, if I put an add-on airport in the Custom Scenery folder, the Gateway will still update OK.  But, if I download one from the Gateway and put it in Custom Scenery > Global Airports, that will suppress further updates of that airport.  Is that correct?

I, too, am contemplating moving over from FSX to XP10/11. Definitely a fan of the 64-bit platform. Loved the XP10 demo. I, too, am interested in weather, AI, ATC. Not a fan of the reported empty XP airports, lack of AI traffic, poor weather, etc.

 

Regarding poor weather, take into consideration that not everyone is complaining about the same things. For some people it's the look of the clouds, and there are add-ons like SkyMaxx Pro and others that can improve that. Personally, I've been using SkyMaxx Pro and I like it. The clouds look pretty good, and it models flying above an overcast cloud deck very well. 

 

Other weather complaints (like my main ones) are about the way the current system is based on horizontal layers of clouds and winds that surround your plane. There is no discrete modeling of vertical convection, so we can't have realistic CB thunderstorms. Lightning and turbulence yes, but not the cloud shapes or the vertical airflow. Other complaints are about sudden transitions instead of interpolating between injections of real weather data, but there are products that can smooth this out.

 

Meanwhile, X-Plane does include other effects like cloud shadows, ridge lift over mountains, dry-wet-icy runway surfaces, and in-flight icing (a bit aggressive on that, but maybe it's better in v11).

 

The only way to figure out how "poor" the weather is in X-Plane is to try it, and see how it fits your personal idea of what a flight sim should offer. 

OK - thanks!  So, if I put an add-on airport in the Custom Scenery folder, the Gateway will still update OK.  But, if I download one from the Gateway and put it in Custom Scenery > Global Airports, that will suppress further updates of that airport.  Is that correct?

 

No, the X-Plane updater will update in any case the "Global Scenery" folder. The correct procedure would be to manually install an airport in the Custom Scenery folder, but then you just have to remember to delete it once you find that same airport has been finally approved and hence installed in the "Global Scenery" folder. Otherwise, you'll continue to see the "old" unapproved version that you manually installed.

OK - at 66, the remembering part may be an issue!