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Kuragiman

On The Fence... STILL

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I run both as well! It's not that costly. Just budget a little and only buy 1 or 2 addons at first. Get all th freeware you can and then decide if xp is worth it.

 

The photoscenery (x plane world calls it orthoscenery) textures are amazing. It's pretty easy to make yourself once you get the hang of it (and have plenty of HDD space!) And you automatically have photo textures beneath accurate roads and auto gen. Not just flat photoscenery!

 

Oh, K - send me a pm with your email and some places you want to see and at what times of day - I'll send you some pics


| FAA ZMP |
| PPL ASEL |
| Windows 11 | MSI Z690 Tomahawk | 12700K 4.7GHz | MSI RTX 4080 | 32GB 5600 MHz DDR5 | 500GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD | 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 | EVGA 850W Gold | Corsair 5000X | HP G2 (VR) / LG 27" 1440p |

 

 

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I probably would if there was a good 700/800 737 to fly.    I am not interested in an outdated 300 model which appears to be the best 737 sim available at the moment.    I fly heavy iron 99% of the time and have little interest in GA aircraft. ....

 

Hey Brian, check this freeware version out.

 

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

 

 

Regards,

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So I have watched a bunch of XP11 videos with add-ons like X-Plane Life and xEnviro.   It is impressive.   The sim still lacks the aircraft I want to fly but they are coming sooner or later.

 

I am still on the fence though because there is a problem with all the videos I have watched... EVERY single one of them that go in depth.. is in Europe.  X-Plane has ALWAYS catered more to Europe flyers than United States in my opinion.   Are there any good videos of US areas BESIDES New York?   It just feels like all the effort to make X-Plane look its best via payware or freeware mods are all based in the European theater.   I have only seen New York and parts of Seattle in the US shown in screen caps and videos.  Maybe that's all that is out there in the Beta?

 

Some questions for you X-Plane 11 fanatics

===================================

 

Is there good OSM data for the USA/Canda so I can have a semi-completed road network displayed below me.

Are the major cities represented in a decent fashion in the USA/Canada?

How many good payware/freeware airports are there for major hubs in the USA/Canada? (That KDFW is looking sexy!)

How much Photoreal scenery is available already for USA/Canada?  I don't have time to sit there in Ortho4XP and all that jazz.

 

 

Some screen caps in this thread with all the bells and whistles running from you guys that have them installed would be nice.    I have about $3000-$4000 invested in Prepar3D and I am not willing to make the switch unless XP11 meets my needs at least 90% of the way.  The often spoken solution of "Just use both" is not something I am interested in.   I want a one stop shop for my simulation needs.   X-Plane 11 is shaping up beautifully and after running the Demo it has an impressive frame rate and smoothness in the tests I did.  (though setting up my joystick, throttle and rudder is still a bit wonky for some reason).

 

I think I have done enough research.   Let's see what you guys answer to the questions below.

 

1.  Best ATC add-on?

2.  Best weather engine?

3.  Best environment engine?

4.  Best AI-Traffic add-on?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

You spent 3-4k and you are on the fence about spending $60 ! lol.... 

  • Upvote 11

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, 6800XT, Ram - 32GB, 32" 4K Monitor, WIN 11, XP-12 !

Eric Escobar

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Well..I can see his side...

 

$60 bucks is just the entrance fee when you realize the effort to come of all the potential new add ons and spending..

 

And then after you spend 3-4k you walk away to build again afresh....

 

This hobby isn't cheap and at the end of the day there are many broken promises.  But its great that X-Plane offers so much with that initial $60 investment....its gotta be the best deal in the sim biz right now.

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You spent 3-4k and you are on the fence about spending $60 ! lol.... 

 

Helpful.

 

Yes.  I am.   Because I rarely leave a sim in its DEFAULT state.    Before I dump 1000+ more on a new sim I want it to cater to MY needs.   If it doesn't then I'll wait or abandon it.    P3D is great.  Love it but I am always looking for the next great thing that isn't stuck in 2007 like FSX/P3D.   XP11 looks very impressive with what it can do, especially that night lighting engine but I wanted to know what it can do with the current add-on state.


100454.png
Captain K-Man FlightBlog Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCulqmz0zmIMuAzJvDAZPkWQ  //  Streaming on YouTube most Wednesdays and Fridays @ 6pm CST

Brian Navy

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I still use both. However, IF XPII had traffic, GSX, PMDG jet support, etc, it would be my permanent sim.  

 

These photos are using Ortho4XP at Zoom Level 17. It's kinda a pain to get it running at first, BUT it's FREE and it looks better than orbx IMO. No, there are no winter textures when using Ortho4XP, but if using the standard scenery (in conjunction with HD Mesh V3), there is a FREE winter package adding winter ground textures. I now have both sims locked at 30FPS, and in XPL it never goes below, regardless of where I am. World Traffic 3 is coming out soon and that should add more traffic, but Pilot Edge/Vatsim work fine for now. 

 

As much as you may not like the IXEG being "old," southwest still flies them, AND it is the most comprehensive jet for XPL right now aside from the FF 767/757. If you like to practice failures on any particular system, the simulation of these systems are spot on. 

 

I really enjoy flying Turboprops in XPL because they are modeled so beautifully. With many many hours IRL flying turbo props, XPL does the PT6 justice. 

 

PROS: 

High performance, visuals, stability, flight dynamics, computer resource management, COMMUNITY SUPPORT, Very high quality freeware scenery (google just about any airport and you'll find scenery for it), versatility, free plugins etc.

 

CONS: Clouds transparent at night  :mad:  :mad:  :mad:  (extremely annoying, hopefully fixed soon), lack of competition between developers, lack of PMDG support for airliners, still in BETA, lack of AI traffic versatility.

 

With that said, the two photos below are using Ortho4XP an xEnviro. Carenado 210 and default 737. 

 

2yyz0c9.pnge6yipw.png

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Before I dump 1000+ more on a new sim I want it to cater to MY needs

 

There's the important word "MY needs". Yes you can have tonnes of free high-quality scenery and you could even cover the US in orthos if you want without spending a penny (or dime), however since you don't fly GA, need good ATC and weather and don't want to fly the 737 classic, then I'll be the first to jump up and say stick with P3D. 

 

Why not spend the $60 on X-Plane 11, keep it installed (or you can just reinstall it at any time). PMDG have already mentioned they are creating products for X-Plane, and although ORBX bailed out, I believe no love is lost here. Weather wise, xEnviro and SMP both aren't there yet for me, but we may also see REX at some point.

 

I'm sure you are well aware that the next release of P3D is likely to be 64-bit. I doubt most of your products will continue to work so you'll be in exactly the same boat, in fact I would wager to say that X-Plane will actually be well ahead of P3D 64-bit with addons when it is released (even if that was tomorrow). It also gets more complicated because I believe developers only target P3D because it's more or less the same platform as FSX, but when they diverge to the point that they are no longer compatible, P3D stops becoming such an attractive platform. The same also applies to DTG's FlightSim. Most simmers/gamers probably will pick up FSX or DTG from steam, never post anything on Avsim and maybe pick up an addon or two (I doubt the larger quiet group would spend $200 on P3D and $130 on a 747)

 

Also, is it really possible to even spend $1000 on addons for X-Plane?. If I count up the purchases I've made since I switched to XP10, it's probably about $400, and most of those purchases I don't use anymore :)

 

Just go and buy it, and treat it like you'd treat any other game (sorry for using that word). 

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Helpful.

 

Yes.  I am.   Because I rarely leave a sim in its DEFAULT state.    Before I dump 1000+ more on a new sim I want it to cater to MY needs.   If it doesn't then I'll wait or abandon it.    P3D is great.  Love it but I am always looking for the next great thing that isn't stuck in 2007 like FSX/P3D.   XP11 looks very impressive with what it can do, especially that night lighting engine but I wanted to know what it can do with the current add-on state.

the beauty of x-plane is that you can not spent that much money.  honestly 1000 $ will buy you pretty much every payware avaialble on the market.  99% of the people buy x-plane, cloud/weather engine (skymax or x-enviro) and payware planes to liking in your case that are not alot. if you are a nice than you spend some money donating to the great freeware authors.  so with sub 200$ you get pretty much the 99% setup everyone is using including one of the top tubeliners (733, 757, 767)

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I know you didn't want to hear it again, but if I had thousands invested in P3D, then I'd simply run both sims. Personally, I think total switches is silly!  I often see complaints of " I miss this & that, but I'm willing to do without, hoping that whatever, comes soon".   Just run both. Less heartache. 

 

In my case, a complete switch from FSX made perfect sense for a few reasons:

  1. I had hardly anything "invested" in FSX beyond the base software -- less than $50 in third-party add-ons -- so I didn't have any strong vested reason to stick with it.
  2. X-Plane 10 was cheaper than what it would have cost in third-party add-ons to bring FSX up to the level of X-Plane 10.
  3. I was in the process of moving away from Windows to Linux and in fact don't even have Windows installed any more, so X-Plane is literally the only game in town if I want a commercial flight simulator.

Of course there's always FlightGear for the budget minded...

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Well I snagged it.  It's only money right?   I'll fart around in it and poke it with a stick to see what I can make it do.   It definitely has some jarring problems out of the box I don't like.    That night life though.  <3.    I think I'll hold off dumping any many into addons just yet.    For now, to get to 30 FPS stable continuously.   Averaging about 22 FPS in dense areas.  Not happy with that.   It is Beta and not optizmized yet.   It is running smooth though, no stutters with high autogen on.


100454.png
Captain K-Man FlightBlog Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCulqmz0zmIMuAzJvDAZPkWQ  //  Streaming on YouTube most Wednesdays and Fridays @ 6pm CST

Brian Navy

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I'm sure you are well aware that the next release of P3D is likely to be 64-bit. I doubt most of your products will continue to work so you'll be in exactly the same boat, in fact I would wager to say that X-Plane will actually be well ahead of P3D 64-bit with addons when it is released (even if that was tomorrow). 

 

Not just number of available add-ons, but X-Plane might make better use of that 64-bit address space, compared to an updated version of old FSX code. I know people migrating from FSX/P3D usually think of 64-bit in terms of "no more OOMs", but we have things in X-Plane that wouldn't be possible in 32-bit address space, like the HD scenery mesh and extended .dsf loading for detail in the distance.

 

When DTG brought out their "Flight School" sim last summer, it was FSX code updated to to 64-bits. No more OOMs, so it was a proof of concept that FSX code could be migrated to 64 bits. However, it still had legacy issues like low-res ground textures, scenery pop-in, and blurred horizons. if P3D can't do better than that with a 64-bit version -- just eliminating OOMs -- then it will be more of a bug fix than a step forward. I hope they do manage an actual step forward with improved scenery abilities, because X-Plane could use the competition.

  • Upvote 4

X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator on Windows 10 
i7 6700 4.0 GHz, 32 GB RAM, GTX 1660 ti, 1920x1200 monitor

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Well I snagged it.  It's only money right?   I'll fart around in it and poke it with a stick to see what I can make it do.   It definitely has some jarring problems out of the box I don't like.    That night life though.  <3.    I think I'll hold off dumping any many into addons just yet.    For now, to get to 30 FPS stable continuously.   Averaging about 22 FPS in dense areas.  Not happy with that.   It is Beta and not optizmized yet.   It is running smooth though, no stutters with high autogen on.

 

 

Hang in there Brian XP11 will be amazing in the future

 

Make sure you go here to fix factory 737 which looks awesome

 

Zibo's amazing work 

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/111305-boeing-b738-800-modified/

 

Also a ton of beautiful paints in the skins download section for this bird 

 

Going to take a bit longer before developers are able to get stable products - XP11 RTM is what they are waiting for

 like the HD scenery mesh and extended .dsf loading for detail in the distance.

 

 

Quick question any way to get lights at night to show at a farther distance at altitude ? seems very low - wondering if there is a tweak to make lights appear farther out - thanks 


Rich Sennett

               

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Well I snagged it.  It's only money right?   I'll fart around in it and poke it with a stick to see what I can make it do.   It definitely has some jarring problems out of the box I don't like.    That night life though.  <3.    I think I'll hold off dumping any many into addons just yet.    For now, to get to 30 FPS stable continuously.   Averaging about 22 FPS in dense areas.  Not happy with that.   It is Beta and not optizmized yet.   It is running smooth though, no stutters with high autogen on.

 

If you want higher framerates then you'll need to turn some settings down.  But don't worry, tuning performance is a ridiculously simple process in X-Plane 11 (compared to FSX/P3D, and even X-Plane 10).  Just follow the steps in the manual:

 

http://x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/#configuringtherenderingoptions

 

Further optimization before release may or may not significantly increase framerates.  The developers are tuning for efficiency.  What they ultimately want is stable performance as opposed to wild fluctuations.

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Quick question any way to get lights at night to show at a farther distance at altitude ? seems very low - wondering if there is a tweak to make lights appear farther out - thanks 

 

I haven't heard of a fix for that. I suspect it has to come from Laminar, and it may not be an easy fix considering that X-Plane treats each light (and car headlights) as individual light sources. The current LOD is probably a compromise to avoid killing the frame rate.

 

A temporary fix might be if Laminar or someone else can figure out how to blend in a "faked" 2D texture overlay of city and road lights generated in the distance, blending in with the actual lit objects in the foreground. A longer-term fix might be just waiting until users have strong enough CPU/GPU grunt to extend the LOD with the current night lighting model.


X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator on Windows 10 
i7 6700 4.0 GHz, 32 GB RAM, GTX 1660 ti, 1920x1200 monitor

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I haven't heard of a fix for that. I suspect it has to come from Laminar, and it may not be an easy fix considering that X-Plane treats each light (and car headlights) as individual light sources. The current LOD is probably a compromise to avoid killing the frame rate.

 

A temporary fix might be if Laminar or someone else can figure out how to blend in a "faked" 2D texture overlay of city and road lights generated in the distance, blending in with the actual lit objects in the foreground. A longer-term fix might be just waiting until users have strong enough CPU/GPU grunt to extend the LOD with the current night lighting model.

 

Ah thank you - Taburet did a very good job of that in P3D 


Rich Sennett

               

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