FSX-MS Recommendations for regional payware aircraft.

[Neal Abrams 0]

Greetings,

I'm looking to add a regional payware a/c to my fleet.  Hoping to get first-hand recommendations that are along the lines of PMDG quality and work well with my other addons.

Thanks!
Neal

[ckyliu 1,749]

Majestic Q400 is awesome and easily my top pick. It may not play 100% with GSX though, so do some research. Sounds like nothing else, flies authentically, gets good framerates and systems work as per the real thing.

If you want PMDG quality, their Jetstream 41 is enormous fun and one of my favourite sim addons. However it is quite heavy on system resources and has a steep learning curve.

You should also consider the Aerosoft CRJ, after a troubled release it's finally settling down nicely.

In joint forth place is feelThere's ERJ v2 and QualityWings BAe 146/Avro RJ package.

It should be noted that regional jets do not have the level of automation you get with a typical PMDG product, none of the above aircraft have autothrottles in reality (before the pedants call me out it was an option on the CRJ but almost no one specified it. EDIT: I just remembered the Avro RJ does have autothrottle).

Other regional aircraft addons are now either dated or not as in-depth as the above, such as Wilco/feelThere E-Jets V2 (E175/E195 dated graphics and middling systems), Digital Aviation F100 (FS9 graphics and no virtual cockpit), Flight1 ATR72-500 (graphics are from FS9 but systems superb) and Carenado Saab 340 (looks gorgeous but full of dummy buttons). 

Virtualcol and PAOB do various aircraft that are best avoided!

At 19 seats or fewer you've got Razbam's Metroliner, Carenado's Dornier 228 and Beech 1900D, Flight1's DHC-6-300 Twin Otter (you could argue that's more bush/STOL) and Flight1's BN-2 Islander, such types are generally devoid of an FMS but often support third party GPS integrations (GTN and GNS units from Flight1, RealityXP and/or Mindstar).

There are also classic options, such as the BAC One Eleven, HS.748, Fokker F27 and Vickers Viscount 800 from JustFlight, their later releases are more in-depth but from what I've read most are a little lacking in systems depth. David Maltby does a nice BAC 1-11 freebie package and Rick Piper does a nice HS.748, although both are FS9 ports so the graphics are showing their age.

There's few regionals in development and none are far enough progressed to be worthy of consideration, the one that springs immediately to mind is Milviz's ATR 72-600. I think Razbam's S340 is dead.

Edited July 17, 2018 by ckyliu

[Adrian123 1,015]

Aerosoft CRJ is very good. Never find the PMDG level and they don't pretend to be..

[blazer05 15]

Ckyliu had a very good answer for you - I second his recommendations.  I love both the JS41 and the Q400.

I also enjoy the HS 748.

Fun to learn and a bit of a challenge to master.

Franklin Duncan

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by blazer05

[scianoir 610]

Hi Neal,

I came on here to add my recommendations but found that Ckyliu had recommended the same aircraft I would have done in almost exactly the same order of preference! There is no doubt that the Majestic Q400 is outstanding in this group and not only does it have high systems depth but it also has a very reasonable VAS footprint which is always an important consideration in FSX. Its flight dynamics are also realistic including its somewhat challenging landing characteristics and the sounds are excellent. I love it!

With regard to some of the others mentioned, the Flight1 ATR-72, though dated, still has a lot going for it and having dug it out of my hanger recently for the first time in a few years I am still quite impressed by it. As far the Carenado aircraft are concerned, as always they look amazing, but if you want lots of realistic functioning systems and switches they are going to leave a bit to be desired. In saying that however, I particularly like their Fokker 50 with Bert's modifications and if you are prepared to fly it using the GTN750 rather than its own FMC it can give you a lot of pleasure (as can their SF340). Both the F50 and SF340 however have heavy VAS footprints which may be a consideration if you use a lot of resource intensive addon scenery.

I would avoid the Just Flight Viscount which unfortunately leaves a bit to be desired although their F-27 is somewhat better. Their more recent 1-11 and HS-748 releases are however of higher quality and I can enjoy flying both of these.

If however you are just going to chose one regional aircraft then you probably won't have any regrets by running with the Majestic Q400!

Bill

[ckyliu 1,749]

I feel my reputation as a regional aircraft freak is in tact, thanks gents 🙂

I'd forgotten about the Carenado F50 Bill mentioned though, it is rather sophisticated in reality so I suspect Carenado haven't really done it justice and as Bill indicates they've done their usual trick of subbing in a third party GPS for the FMS.

The GNS units are a pain to use and input flightplans to (they have two-tier knobs each side that also push in!), the later GTN touchscreen types by RealityXP and Flight1 are much easier. I believe the RXP one is generally considered cheaper and better, but the Flight1 is integrated in to more aircraft.

It's a real shame Flight1 haven't given their ATR a new visual model because as Bill said, the systems are still impressive (as is the flushing toilet 🤣 ), an upgraded product ported to P3Dv4 would be competitive with the latest and greatest (I hope Flight1 are reading this!), but as it stands it's very clearly FS9 era graphics to the extent that the external fuselage windows aren't even transparent, the virtual cockpit is somewhat better but it's flat and low resolution by today's standards.

Edited July 17, 2018 by ckyliu

[Neal Abrams 0]

Thank you all for your recommendations and the suggestions!  Very much appreciated.

Neal

[zmak 331]

I dont think JS41 works properly on fsx-se?

[ckyliu 1,749]

Very good point, PMDG never made it truly compatible although it can be forced in with a registry hack.

[zmak 331]

3 hours ago, ckyliu said:

Very good point, PMDG never made it truly compatible although it can be forced in with a registry hack.

Can you point me to it?

[Ecosse_821 24]

16 hours ago, ckyliu said:

Very good point, PMDG never made it truly compatible although it can be forced in with a registry hack.

I'd like to know that hack!   The lack of compatibility of the JS4100 is the only reason I have not migrated everything over to FSX-SE.

[ckyliu 1,749]

@Ecosse_821 @zmak You create an entry in your system registry for an FSX install location and point at your FSX SE which lets the installer proceed. However IAS hold may not work.

To save messing in your registry there are free tools you can use,  https://www.flight1.com/view.asp?page=library did one, https://www.tweakfs.com/store/free_tools.php is another. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by ckyliu

[KrisJ 43]

Hmm, nobody mentioned TFDI B717 which was just updated to P3Dv4?

Great regional jet both in sim and in reality.

 

And i agree Majestic Q400 is perfect if you want turboprop.

[ckyliu 1,749]

I don't really consider the mainline shrinks such as 717, A318, 737-600 to be true regional aircraft, although their manufacturer's tried to argue they were.

Having said that I believe the TFID 717 is supposedly quite good now, having originally been criticised for incomplete systems, and it could go most places an E-jet would.

Edited July 18, 2018 by ckyliu

[KrisJ 43]

So you say E-jet is regional but 717 not? 🙂

I forgot one more great regional plane - An-24 portover from X-plane by Felis. Incredibly interesting plane and works good in P3D v4.