I thought I could never get into XP because several versions back I did not like the UI, and the lack of all the default airport buildings found in MSFS.

 

But with the new UI with the XP 11 beta and demo I thought I'd try the demo and grew fond of it very quickly, especially the night lighting, way beyond what I ever had with MSFS, FSX, or even P3D.

 

I was also happy with the default 172 and the tail-dragger, they are pretty sharp, and I have not had a 747 in ages so I love it.

 

I aklso found some free apps to add buildings to any airports I want, and so many free and payware out there.

 

I expect improvement in all area's of the sim and will love it.

 

But, I still, I did not figure I would try XP 10, but after some thought I knew that the screen shots from XP 10 looked nice, and there is a world off add ons, so how bad could the UI really be?

 

It has been a long time since I had that XP ? whatever version, and I am much more tech savvy now, so I downloaded 10, only installing a small amount of scenery so I could get a feel for if I liked it or not.

 

After the install I opened it up, and the menu was actually pretty simple, I set up my joystick buttons with a few controls and view changes, set the rendering, etc, and enabled T-IR, and went flying, ugg! it was a 2D panel.

 

A quick trip to settings and I found the 3D, set it, went back and started flying.

 

The AA was awful, set it for HDR, and the highest AA and AF settings and it was so smooth and clear.

 

At 20-25 FPS it is buttery smooth with zero stuttering.

 

I played about over Seattle at night (love the night lighting) and by day in several planes, am not the great heli pilot P3D and FSX had me thinking I was, lol, but I was loving it.

 

And after I made a nice manual landing in the 747, I tried the replay, loved that it recorded the whole flight, and had a slider that I could drag.

 

Best of all, the replay is smooth as silk, from all views.

 

Cannot wait to try making some videos.

 

The default aircraft are not the eye candy I love, but I was enjoying them even so.

 

My verdict on X-Plane 10 and 11:

 

I love them, glad I gave them a try, and will always have them on my rig from now on.

 

This is not a P3D or FSX Vs X-Plane thread, so lets not go there.

 

I have thousands invested over many years with flight simming, and I will always love P3D, but now I have a new love, and I shall show them both lots of attention.

 

What a great day, and night.

 

As I prepare for bed, I will set the installer to download and install North America and follow suit each night until I have all of XP 10.

 

I am very pleasantly surprised.

And I love, really love, the blurring effect behind the engines, it is awesome, something that folks in other sims use high dollar editors to try to achieve in their screen shots, now I can click shift and space and there is an awesome effect behind the engines on my jet, awesome.

well said!

Don't you mean to say XP11 whenever you say XP11...? Or are you actually installing and liking XP10? Other than that, I am with you. I am a way for a week now but I can't wait to get back home to give XP11 another spin! It is totally awesome.

XP11 and 10, started out with XP11, then decided to install XP10.