FSX-MS Hello everyone.

[colbert 0]

Great to be here. I have a very noob question which I hope someone will answer. I bought FSX when it first came out back in the day and I am running it on Windows 10 with an Nvidia GeForce GT710 graphics card and it runs well.  My question is that given that everything has moved on in the intervening years and so do I need to install the Service Packs 1 and 2? Thanks in advance.

[Chock 17,769]

Hi and welcome. Yes, you probably should install the service packs, although there is something else you will probably need to do too, and a few other things you could try...

Many add-on aeroplanes for FSX these days take advantage of the additional engine parameters which were added to the way FSX simulates stuff, when the Acceleration expansion for FSX came out a few years ago. The Acceleration add-on puts a few other whistles and bells into FSX which you may or may not be interested in, but it is pretty much necessary for that engine tweak stuff it adds if you want to use some of the fancier add-on aeroplanes there are available these days. For example, many of the excellent payware A2A aeroplanes, such as their B17G, won't work properly in a version of FSX which does not have the Acceleration add on installed, and they are not the only ones, lots of other add-ons are like that, even some of the freeware ones you can find too. You will notice on the product page for this add-on aeroplane that it specifically mentions that it is for FSX with Acceleration:

http://www.flight-replicas.com/NorthStar_Home.htm

You could probably install that aeroplane in FSX without Acceleration, and it would load up in the sim, but the chances are that the engines might not even fire up.

That being the case, another option you could try, which might actually be cheaper and easier to do, is to get yourself a copy of the digital download Steam Edition of FSX (usually referred to as FSX-SE). That version is considerably improved over the original DVD boxed version of FSX, since it is already patched with the service packs, has a number of other improvements which make it run better on modern PCs and more importantly in your case, it also includes all of the Acceleration stuff too,  so it is a 'one stop shop' if you like and you will not have to worry about some add-ons not working in it. The Steam Edition of FSX usually costs about 20 quid, but since it is conceivable that you might pay 20 quid for a boxed version of the Acceleration add-on to effectively 'patch up you old copy of FSX to a modern standard', it is probably smarter to just go for the Steam Edition, since that would 'sort everything out' with no effort on your part, and as noted, it will run much better than a patched version of the older boxed FSX. The Steam Edition of FSX quite often goes on sale for less than its normal 20 quid price tag, so if you are not in a rush, you could try awaiting one of Steam's sales.

[colbert 0]

Thanks for your reply Chock. 

[charliearon 3,017]

I have FSX Standard Edition.  I also have both SPs installed.  They are Very necessary for just about any addon aircraft out there.  Most freeware  aircraft developed for Acceleration will work well with just a few exceptions.

[edpatino 1,960]

On 2/27/2017 at 0:48 PM, colbert said:

My question is that given that everything has moved on in the intervening years

You should try now Prepar3D, it has a lot to offer over FSX, but you'll probably need to check your hardware too. Regarding addons, probably you are just in time to invest wisely.

Cheers, Ed