On 7/9/2018 at 9:43 AM, ErichB said:

Is there a spreadsheet or website somewhere which lists all available  high quality payware/freeware airports / aircraft for Xplane?

Take a look at this site (community airports):
https://x-plane.cleverest.eu/

Edited July 11, 20187 yr by torfih

9 hours ago, torfih said:

Take a look at this site (community airports):
https://x-plane.cleverest.eu/

These are the official gateway airports, they are all included in X-Plane by default or will be soon anyway. Not much sense to download from there and create a mess with duplicates that will never update themselves automatically.

Look there, it's not about the quality, but I think it's quite comprehensive:

http://apxp.info/

Pascal

Well after a couple of weeks I am happy to report that the magic has not worn off! I am just loving this sim! It's official. I've filled the divorce papers against Prepar3D. I never imagined that I could love another but I was won over on looks alone. Sure Prepar3D might be deeper but I am a shallow old dog. Per my original commitment I haven't bought any addons but I am loving the Zibo mod for the default 737 and certainly for my level of study its every bit as good as the NGX. I have on many occasions said the flight dynamics thing is nonsense but I do have to eat my words in this regard. Flying is X-Plane 11 feels more real to me than flying in Prepar3D especially in choppy conditions. Now its not all roses. I noticed that when flying in clouds during a thunder storm the lighting is like a strobe light. once pulse every second or so. If anyone knows how to fix that I'd love to know. And the draw radius for HD shadows doesn't even extend beyond the VC. That's a real immersion killer.

But what I cannot over is the quality of the freeware stuff. Its Awesome. I installed MisterX KSFO and its just as good as payware for Prepar3D. Also I installed Ortho4XP for Florida and it's better than ORBX LOL! But since I have limited space it eat up 85GB of SSD space and it got me to the limited 16Gb of system DRAM.

It also runs very well on my haswell system and tuning the setting is a piece of cake. I love that you can see the rate at which the GPU and CPU are processing frames on the screen so you know exactly which to adjust.

I'll stick with this until Prepar3D V5 comes out. I suspect that will be a major cross roads for a lot of flight simmers and I personally don't think it viable to operate 2 or even 3 Flight sims unless your willing to spend a lot more.

 

Edited July 17, 20187 yr by Guest

48 minutes ago, Avidean said:

Now its not all roses. I noticed that when flying in clouds during a thunder storm the lighting is like a strobe light. once pulse every second or so. If anyone knows how to fix that I'd love to know. And the draw radius for HD shadows doesn't even extend beyond the VC. That's a real immersion killer.

I think the strobe lights issue is intentional. It should simulate the self-reflection of strobe lights when in fog or in clouds. AFAIK, real pilots may turn off strobe lights when in fog or in clouds to avoid the blinding reflection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-collision_light#Strobe

Regarding the HD shadows, are you referring to internal cockpit shadows, or outside aircraft shadows? Maybe a screenshot would help. There are simple tweaks to improve shadows quality and radius, although the more detailed the shadows, the bigger the load on GPU.

 

Edited July 17, 20187 yr by Murmur

8 hours ago, Avidean said:

I'll stick with this until Prepar3D V5 comes out.

Out of curiosity, what makes you think this is going to be a major crossroads?. I've not heard anything about what will go into the next version, but I can't see it being anything that fundamentally changes the sim. I perhaps suspect PBR, dynamic lighting improvements, but I can't see them changing the scenery system because of the need to maintain backwards compatibility.

I wish LR would also break backwards compatibility and finally remove the 1x1 mesh limitation. This would be such a big welcome move for developers, and it would show in their products.

I often ( well, actually not that often... ) divert into P3D, now v4, using monthly dev licenses, that always last more than I actually have P3D installed i my rig...

I do this because I prefer airliners in flight simulation, because light aircraft and "sight seeing" is what I do when I fly ( for real in my glider )  but then, even if I can't still find an airliner as detailled for an Airbus as for instance FSLabs A320 is ( and yes I have both the FF A320 and the Toliss and I like both... ) the problem comes when I start hand or even A/P flying the thing in P3D, and that "plastic" / "robotic" / "inertia-less" feel reminds me that I'm in good-old MSFS land...

I miss some stuff from MSFS / P3D in XP, mostly picky stuff like being able to set a date, having a precise representation of the Moon, even some details of the available weather engine I use for P3D ( but will soon become available for XP11 too... ), but truth is, well, I can't really say I opt for P3D ...

Then again, when I start testing the prop aircraft in X-Plane 11 ( and I am looking fwd for 11.30 ! ) I usually get rush back into DCS or IL-2, the same applying when I am up for a rotary wing ride... Only problem with those sims is the limited scope, scenery and mission wise....

But I can understand your thoughts very well Dave! 

A suggestion - get that payware MOD for the default C172. It's really worth the buy!

7 hours ago, jcomm said:

A suggestion - get that payware MOD for the default C172. It's really worth the buy!

What does it offer, considering one has XP Realistic installed?

Oh and btw., how's the uninstalling business these days?

1 hour ago, Colonel X said:

What does it offer, considering one has XP Realistic installed?

Oh and btw., how's the uninstalling business these days?

Well, been a time since I last used it, but starting with the corrected effects of a strange right bank tendency that came with the "new" propwash effects as well as trying to overcome teh limitations imposed by the not so perfect ground physics, some engine limitations and more precise regimes and performances, more detailled systems simulation including failures, etc...,  it was certainly worth the buy.

I keep uninstalling everything, the most resilient usually being the OS 🙂 Those usually last for at least some 4 yrs... Simulators come and go at a more or less monthly pace - my Moon side maybe 🙂

Edited July 18, 20187 yr by jcomm

On 7/2/2018 at 3:27 PM, Avidean said:

Sorely tempted as I am, I'm going to stick with my plan of what I can get out of this sim with freeware only.

Seven and a half months into using XP11 on and off, I have finally caved a bought some payware.

Couldn't resist that ORBX True Earth GB North, Central and South sale!

I'll have to buy a TB SSD now because I have nowhere to put them.😭