16 minutes ago, Chock said:

One thing you should be aware of, is that despite the fact that you can buy a lot of add-ons with little hassle directly from Steam, which makes the installation process for those add-ons a no brainer, it is nevertheless sometimes still worth buying them from another place and installing them manually.

Why? Because quite a few Steam versions of products are chopped down in comparison to the full versions bought directly from the developer. A good example of this is many of the add-on aeroplanes. You will find a few of them come with less varied liveries in their Steam DLC version than they have in a version bought from another source. This is presumably to do with licensing of logos in liveries etc, and whilst it's not an insurmountable problem, since repaints can be added manually, it is nevertheless the case.

Also, you can cut yourself off from loyalty discounts from developers when buying through Steam, as the registration process via Steam bypasses you having to deal with the developer when installing Steam DLC. A good example of this would be: buy an add on Cessna from Just Flight and you'd gain about 140 points in their reward scheme, which is worth a discount of about a Dollar or so off future purchases from them, but buy the same thing from Steam directly and you'd miss out on those points, but what is also true, is that if they subsequently added an expansion to that product or a V2 version, they might offer a discount for previous buyers of the original, but you'd miss out on that too going through Steam to buy it because there would be no detailed personal record of your purchase in the developer's database. 

Another thing is that some TPDs can be slow to update their Steam versions of products with a patch, whereas their direct sales versions generally get patched pretty quickly. So whilst FSX-SE is worth having for sure, buying DLC from Steam for it is not always the best option since these will usually install without problems even when not sourced directly from Steam, thus it's worth shopping around for stuff. On the upside however, Steam DLC for FSX-SE is very often subject to Flash Sales which makes the stuff so cheap that'd you'd be mental not to buy it at that price, for example, I think I got the Virtavia Rockwell B2 Bomber for FSX-SE the other week for about three quid or some such, and there was no way I wasn't going to buy it at that price. If I'd had the original boxed FSX instead of the Steam version, I'd not have been able to take advantage of that, so there's another reason to have the Steam version of FSX too.

I agree with everything you have said here but I will also add my own additional thoughts.

At first I bought through Steam but I will never do that again, I will only purchase from the developer or a secondary supplier because I absolutely hate the fact that everything you purchase and install from Steam goes into a DLC folder and not into the typical folder that a normal install would - example, all the Steam add-on aircraft (and scenery) are in the Steam DLC folder with the Steam product number, if there was even a name associated with the product it would help to locate the aircraft (or scenery). Where as add-on aircraft as well as scenery installed from a developer or supplier get placed in there appropriate named folder in the aircraft or add-on scenery folders in FSX.

Over the past year I have actually uninstalled Steam purchases and repurchased from either the developer or supplier for these reasons as well as the reasons stated above by Chock.

49 minutes ago, vortex681 said:

Essentially, FSX:SE is just FSX Gold

Actually, there is no such VERSION of FSX called "Gold".

FSX Gold is a marketing package = and package only.  It contains both FSX Deluxe and FSX Acceleration. Of course the user must select one or the other to install.

Agreed, FSX:SE is the only version to have.

 

14 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

Actually, there is no such VERSION of FSX called "Gold".

You're splitting hairs here! However, I quote from DTG here: "FSX: Steam Edition is a re-release  of the FSX Gold Edition (including Service Packs 1 & 2) which in turn is comprised of FSX: Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration Expansion Pack.". If FSX Deluxe is a version, then it must be correct to call FSX Gold a version as they're both Editions. Also, Acceleration is just an expansion pack and cannot be installed without the Deluxe Edition.

Good information. I'll keep all that in mind. I did stumble into the MegaSceneryEarth site and fell in love with what I saw. Since I already have FSX:SE I don't need to worry about anything. I do know I'm probably now going to concentrate on making my area as best as it can be. The other states will come later on. Although I am considering the neighboring states...but that's it, no detailed cities or anything.

As far as "Gold" was concerned, I had originally assumed was FSX - Acceleration + SP 1 & SP 2, better than Deluxe...Personally I dig SE. When It comes to the addons, it is VERY tempting to get it from steam, convenience sells a lot of people these days. However, based on what you all have told me, it, to me, would be much much better to hunt all these down and buy them individually. That and, if not mentioned, keeping backups of individual add-ons is much easier. Some offer physical delivery, which is one of the things I'm considering...especially MegaScenery. 

 

On 09/11/2017 at 10:50 AM, vortex681 said:

You're splitting hairs here! However, I quote from DTG here: "FSX: Steam Edition is a re-release  of the FSX Gold Edition (including Service Packs 1 & 2) which in turn is comprised of FSX: Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration Expansion Pack.". If FSX Deluxe is a version, then it must be correct to call FSX Gold a version as they're both Editions. Also, Acceleration is just an expansion pack and cannot be installed without the Deluxe Edition.

Not at all. Suppose someone requests tech support and states they gave "FSX Gold". That does tell us what software they have installed.

The folks at Steam are flight dimmers, they simply sell products.

Best wishes.

 

2 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

Suppose someone requests tech support and states they gave "FSX Gold". That does tell us what software they have installed.

Exactly. I would automatically assume FSX Deluxe + the Acceleration expansion pack. I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to install the expansion pack as it provides such a lot (including both SP1 and SP2).

4 hours ago, vortex681 said:

Exactly. I would automatically assume FSX Deluxe + the Acceleration expansion pack. I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to install the expansion pack as it provides such a lot (including both SP1 and SP2).

Well, you'd be wrong on several counts.  I've worked with hundreds of flight simmers... more than that probably, and there are plenty out there with Deluxe installed.

You're also wrong about the install you quoted, one can't install Deluxe plus Acceleration. People have tried, and in each case they have to uninstall and reinstall FSX.. and in more than a handful of cases I know of they have to reinstall Windows to get FSX working.

FSX Gold simply isn't a "version" of FSX, it's just a marketing package. Open up the Gold package and read the little insert and this will be clear.

My very best wishes to you.

 

 

 

Right. So I'm pretty settled on how I want the state of Nevada to look. But I'm drawn between these two. 

1)  <<< Basically Improves all of Las Vegas (According to the description)

2)  <<< This looks like it kinda ignores the city and instead foucuses on improving KLAS as a whole. (It look ok. But I'm leaning on improving Las Vegas.

The goal If I start going with scenery is Super Realistic Las Vegas & Nevada utilizing MegaSceneryEarth - Nevada and US Cities X - Las Vegas :)

Edited September 13, 20178 yr by cmpbellsjc
Removed active links to vendors as it's against AVSIM TOS.

14 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

You're also wrong about the install you quoted, one can't install Deluxe plus Acceleration.

Yes you can - in fact you must if you want to use Acceleration! The Gold Edition consists of FSX Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration expansion pack (I have it on my desk in front of me). The DVD cover actually shows the two separate DVD cases for each product. You have to install the Deluxe edition followed by the Acceleration expansion pack - Acceleration is not a stand-alone package.

Guys, I didn't start this thread for you to go back and forth about whether or not Acceleration can work with deluxe edition or now. Please stop this now.

Now I asked what would be better to get. US Cities X - Las Vegas or FSDreamteam's KLAS. One does up the city...the other does up the airport. From what I've seen.

11 minutes ago, capt_blackwood said:

Now I asked what would be better to get. US Cities X - Las Vegas or FSDreamteam's KLAS. One does up the city...the other does up the airport. From what I've seen.

They work in concert (with a few files removed/turned off) The choice is yours as to what you find more important. 

 

2 minutes ago, ZLA Steve said:

They work in concert (with a few files removed/turned off) The choice is yours as to what you find more important. 

 

I'll start playing with that when I can. It's like turning mods on and off for any of the elderscrolls games.