Those of you with FS9, why'd you buy FSX?

[Mountain Man 142]

I've seen a lot of folks on this and other message boards make something similiar to the following comment:"I have FS9 fully tweaked with all the add-ons and it runs great! Then I bought FSX. It doesn't have half the features offered by FS9's third-party add-ons, and it runs like crap! I'm going back to FS9."My question is, why'd you even buy FSX in the first place? Surely you had to know that out of the box, it wouldn't have all the features of FS9 + add-ons, and if you didn't expect the hardware requirements to be steeper (as they have been with every new release of MS Flight Simulator going back for a decade or more) then you were either ignorant or naive.Honestly, I really can't say what you folks thought you had the right to expect. In my case, the last flight simulator I actively played was Flight Simulator 98, and I've not played it in over 6 years, so FSX is a major upgrade for me. I never expected stellar performance on my aging rig, but I'm pleased with what I've gotten after some expected tweaking, and the graphics look good enough for me. Plus, the new flight modeling is very nice, as is the excellent way in which all the information is laid out in the program interface. I've particularly enjoyed the virtual flight school with Ralph Macado, and while I know this feature was introduced in an earlier version of the software, it's new to me.So all in all, if anybody coming from a fully decked out install of FS9 is disappointed that FSX isn't a major upgrade for them, I really can't say I'm surprised, but for those of us who haven't made a habit of buying every one of Microsoft's bi-annual releases, FSX has a #### of a lot to offer.

[yellowjack 28]

I guess is rather like the decision my grandfather had to make: Do you keep your trusty horse or buy a new fangled automobile and what do you do with all the horse add-ons if you buy a horseless carriage.Personally I like the challenge of mechanical things so my trusty old horse named Effssnine will be put out to pasture very soon. I can however, see the attraction of keeping the familiar and well loved horse.One thing is as sure as the earth is round (note play on FSX) is that the car is the way of the future so it is just a matter of when and not if the transportation infrastrucure changes to suit the automobile and it becomes harder for horses to co-exist.;)

[Guest Jimbofly]

Actually on balance it has more features than FS9 + all the addons.James

[Manny 1,293]

>>My question is, why'd you even buy FSX in the first place? d that FSX isn't a major upgrade>for them, I really can't say I'm surprised, but for those of>us who haven't made a habit of buying every one of Microsoft's>bi-annual releases, FSX has a #### of a lot to offer.Because...we expected a better product that would allow us to add addons like we have done earlier. Many of us look at MS Fsim like a base product so we can add on to it. An OS of Flight sim is how we look at FSim. Not necessarily as a finished application. With a few exception I do not fly default aircrafts. With a few exception I do not fly into default airports.Its the addons that make flight sim come alive "as real as it gets" for many of us.There are many who look at Flight sim as a complete product and use it as such. And FSX meets that requirement IMO for the most part. Particularly if you have a new PC with a good processor. IF you have an older PC, you may have to dumb down a bit and you are still OK. So for simmers who are not too much into addons, there is not much room to complain like you yourself have pointed out. FSX per se is an amazing product IMO.But for many of us MS Fsim is a fixer upper. We then add on finer terrain, High resolution coastal areas to areas where MS understandbaly would not provide. We start adding almost real life like airports...100 times superior to anything MS can throw at us. (This is not a reflection on MS ACES. They have to provide for thousands and thousands of airports..So their priority is understandably different). We then add on far detailed aircrafts, better sky, better clouds, better water... yes.. no matter what MS gives us..we will want more. We are greedy that way. This Flight sim culture is nothing new. We did expect.. atleast I expected a lot more room for these addons. Manny

[Guest allcott]

I bought it because I wanted to. I have owned several cars, but I can only drive one at a time. I also take the bus occasionally. I also fly planes. Real ones.Guess which costs me the most, for the least material benefit? And guess which gives me the most satisfaction and pleasure?I bought FSX because without it, I have no opinion. No basis for comparison. And because I can.Allcott

[G7USL 117]

Well said ;-) It's nice to know an INDIVIDUAL.

[Guest jmendes]

I first bought FSX just to "see what it was like" I have ton of 3rd party airplanes for FS9, and to be honest, I was going to wait until they started coming out in FSX as I had such an investment in the FS9 planes.When I first installed FSX I was a bit frustrated...but then, after making just a few tweaks, getting used to some of the new commands, etc., I'm finding I'm spending more time in FSX then FS9. I feel the "outside world" looks much better in FSX.People have been complaining about frame rates. After applying some of the tweaks I've seen in this forum, and not being a person who "needs to crank everything to the right" I am very happy with how smooth it runs. Note, I do have a 3 year old computer, with an older ATI 9600 video card (128MB of video RAM). I have very fast drives and 2GB of memory though. I personally feel that people look at the literal number that pressing Shift-Z shows for frame rates, rather then just look outside the cockpit window. In the air, 10 fps - 15fps looks fine to me - I doubt people could tell the difference between that and 25 fps if they didn't look at the number.There is a limited number of 3rd party planes available, and after you've used a number of great ones in FS9, the default planes will never do. I'm finding I enjoy the Liberty by Eaglesoft Development Group. When Flight1 and PMDG get their planes updated, then I will completely move over to FSX.~ Jim

[Guest cwright]

I bought FSX because the demos showed that it represents a huge advance over FS9. I am extremely impressed by the retail and performance, despite the stunning views it can create, is very acceptable on my moderate PC. Best regards, Chris

[Geofa 108]

I used to have fs9...it is gone now.....Besides all the improvements listed in this thread:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchIf I had to name one overwhelming thing is the change in the flight feeling. Fs9 always felt like watching a movie of flight-very pretty and nice-but when it came to landing the plane at the end-it just let me way down-and the pitch unstability left me always not really enjoying the experience- not a lot of fun hunting up and down constantly like a yo-yo while trying to fly with precision. Fxx now starts to feel real in crucial aspects of real flying-like maintaining alitude, flying with precision, and landings that feel realistic from xwind/ground effect feeling, not to mention uneven air. In my area the word is out if you are more than 100 ft. off your altitude in Detroit's class B airspace-you will be busted. In fs9 that could have been a problem-not with fsx-at least in the Baron which is greatly improved.I'd never go back if just for that reason alone-but then again-the thread above lists a lot of other pretty compelling ones.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

[greeneg 0]

I agree that the potential is there, but so far, I would ( and do) still prefer my FS9 in its current form. I actually bought it on impulse ( I had to go to Costco for something else) and just had a moment of weakness. ( C'mon, we've all had those)One pleasant surprise is that the performance on my system is much better than expected: I still have the sliders turned down and no addons at this point, but much better than the demo abberation that was put out prior to the retail release. At least, I can use it.At this point, FS9 is far superior IMHO. Having said that, I do expect FSX to only get better as we all learn more about it and how to manipulate its variables.And of course, the future does hold the DX10 and Vista enhancements so there would seem to be hope there also.Ed GreenKCLThttp://www.panelshop.com/Banners/DEV.jpg

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