Looking for 'study' plane: NGX still the best?

[warbirds 555]

Should I buy the PMDG 737 now or wait for their upgraded version?

[JYW 2,980]

37 minutes ago, GHarrall said:

I was intrigued with the FS labs Airbus. I thought the initial reports were that the performance of this add on was shocking? Really low FPS etc? Is this not the case now?

That was certainly my experience of it when I bought it for FSX, Glenn.  The performance was dreadful and I have to say, the VC texturing very disappointing for the price point.   However, as I said this was FSX, and this was many months ago.    Perhaps a 64 bit environment will prove to be the kingmaker for this addon.  The re-freshed textures for P3Dv4 are certainly needed.  In the interest of balance though, neither of these complaints are to do with the complexity and completeness of the aircraft.  It is as complex and complete as people are saying - the true study aircraft.     Whether I will bring myself to take a gulp and repurchase it for P3Dv4 is as yet undecided. They'd need to add some other elements that I expect at this price point - namely, custom key assignability for the FCU.   That aspect, and the performance was what led to my unistalling it only a week or two after the outlay.

@J van E - I completely understand what you're saying about re-purchasing the NGX for P3Dv4.   I had to take a gulp before doing that too!   It doesn't feel too great to shell out the full price again for the same aircraft, in a new platform (that's not a PMDG policy challenge, just a description of how it felt!).   However, I simply had to have the NGX in P3Dv4.   It is a stalwart.   A classic,   A must-have.    The VC is no longer state-of-the-art but it's still very good, and wonderfully immersive.   I also owned the 777 and 747 QOTS II for FSX and have not yet been able to bring myself to shell out the considerable investment to get those birds into P3Dv4.   Just the NGX.   I do miss the other two though.

As an alternative to the NGX and FSL, if you haven't by chance bought the Majestic Q400, it definitely fits the study level description IMHO.   Immersive, fantastic FPS and performance, unprecedented FDE, and nice short routes to fly it with - including lot's in your favourite country - Norway!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Anders Bermann said:

Indeed! The FSLabs A320 is just amazing. Best money can buy. 

Just watching Airline2Sim preview of it, give an inkling of the details...

 

Just had a look at the entire video and I enjoyed every second of it!!!

 

43 minutes ago, JYW said:

As an alternative to the NGX and FSL, if you haven't by chance bought the Majestic Q400, it definitely fits the study level description IMHO.   Immersive, fantastic FPS and performance, unprecedented FDE, and nice short routes to fly it with - including lot's in your favourite country - Norway!

Yes, it is an interesting plane but it isn't compatible with v4 yet... and by the time it will be I think the Airbus will be available too. Think I rather spend my money on that one.

The NGX is indeed great but as I said I am more of an Airbus guy so waiting for the Airbus seems more logical. If the NGX would have cost me some 40 bucks max (as an upgrade) I might have done it but not for the current full price.

[JYW 2,980]

1 minute ago, J van E said:

Just had a look at the entire video and I enjoyed every second of it!!!

 

Yes, it is an interesting plane but it isn't compatible with v4 yet...

Ah of course, sorry, true!

[Zuendholz 50]

 

2 hours ago, Nyxx said:

The important thing we have all forgot to point out to J is you dont get one aircraft with the FSL A320, you get two.

The IAE version is like a sports car, no thrust needed to taxi, louder and sound more aggressive.

The CFM version is like a saloon car, very little noise, you need trust to taxi etc.

Fly one for a week and jump into the other and its really is noticeable in lots of ways.

 

So we are colleagues . But you know that you have Delta, BA and a lot more VAs in vAMSYS already? 

Personally I love the IAE, the sound is just amazing. Flying with BA, Aegean or WOW makes a lot of fun. The CFM is still cool. You just need to give a little thrust to start taxiing, but it remains its speed (depending on your payload) with idle thrust. It is amazing, how FSL achieved to overcome the horrible groundfriction from FSX/P3D and added an entire flight and grounddynamic of their own.

[Zimmerbz 168]

3 hours ago, 238932 said:

I have to agree with what many said already in thhis tread, the FSL a320 is the absolute best money can by in flightsim. Countless hours of fun and something new learned every time I fly.

I had the aerosoft one before and although I am a massive airbus  fan I got bored of  it after a few flights because there is nothing to do with them, just go from A to B. 

wsith fslabs, its system depth and failures system  you can  have a new scenario every time. The concerns from OP about the  textures quality  is down to  the  very compresserd videos you find on youtube  or the P3D setting set way too dark. for my part  in my sim the cockpit looks absolutely glorious and  it will only get better with the next update.

Sure you have to wait for  P3Dv4.1, but the developper for aerosoft EHAM let  slip in a post that it was already in beta before the post was quickly edited by mathijs. And fslabs have been working on the v4 version for quite some time now  so I don't think it will be more  than a month  between the 4.1 release and  the fslabs 320 release.

I'm dying  a little every day waiting  to finally get my hands on the fsl 320 for v4. Just go for it OP its the best buy you'll ever make  for your sim especially if you're an airbus fan.

I will agree with everyone that the FSL bus is incredible.  I'd wait for that one.  However, I have no basis on this but I bet FSL won't be available until the end of the year.  It is so silent in their forum and it seems like it keeps getting longer and longer from the V4 release.  I hope I am wrong though because the plane(s) are awesome. 

[carlito777 712]

Even though the FSLabs A320 is great, there is nothing that is as polished and finished yet fun to fly as the NGX. This is still the pinnacle of all study level aircraft for P3D. And the reasoning that you don't want to buy it because you already own the FSX version is a sunk cost fallacy. 

[lodestar 186]

+1 for FSLabs, nothing else compares with this plane. If you have V3, you can buy it now and enjoy it until V4 version is released, it will be a free upgrade. I'm also waiting for FSL and Majestic for V4. 

About V4, i'm reading FSL forums every day, and they have entered V4 beta a couple of days ago. And from previous posts, V4 release should be a couple of weeks after beta is started. just sayin 

[JYW 2,980]

I just wanted to briefly revisit this thread because I was pretty negative about the FSL A320 in my post above.  Not the product itself, or functions or features, but the dreadful performance I'd experienced in it.   Although I'm a P3Dv4 and XP11 user these days, yesterday I couldn't get the A320 out of my head, so I installed FSX:SE, installed just Orbx Global, OpenLC EU (no Vector!!) and my 10 favourite addon airports (along with the usual utilities like FSUIPC, OpusFSX, Traffic 360), and installed only the FSL A320.   The key thing was, in the past I was not able to use DX10 because of vsync problems.   Nvidia / NI's new fast sync setting (along with 4x SGSS) has changed everything!   40 FPS sitting in the VC with the systems running, at UK2000 airports!   

So the issue originally for me, wasn't with the product, but with my own inability to employ DX10 - which is of course not FSLs fault.  In that regard, I owe them an apology.   The A320X is absolutely stellar - hand flies like a dream, the sounds are the most immersive I've heard (except the engine sounds, which I've replaced with the BSS FSL A320 pack!), and systems wise, it's like a dream come true.

Here are some pics I posted in the screenshot forum, of my new experience with the FSL!    Yes, I was wrong to criticize it.   It is the ultimate study sim.   It needs some care and attention to set up.  And it needs some more features to be built in, like more key commands, etc.    But it's an absolute must have, and this is in FSX:SE DX10.    I can't wait to see it in P3Dv4. 

Cheers.