Personally, I would buy the standard and then buy a good payware airplane... or 2... or 3. You get the idea. I don't know what you are into but I like the JF Arrows. Also with the standard you can use the WT CJ4 mod already, and the Bonanza mod... with the NXI in it you are set. 

 

Edit: Those mods are free, the JF Arrows are not

Edited September 20, 20214 yr by jpe828

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. After a bit of twiddling (MicroSoft Store did not exist on my PC) I have the premium version downloading and installing. Don’t have the fastest gun in the west (internet) but I’ll getter done.

Any suggestions for addons, both airports and aircraft, that hark back to my 5.2 days? 
 

Cheers,

Mark

5 minutes ago, newtie said:

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. After a bit of twiddling (MicroSoft Store did not exist on my PC) I have the premium version downloading and installing. Don’t have the fastest gun in the west (internet) but I’ll getter done.

Any suggestions for addons, both airports and aircraft, that hark back to my 5.2 days? 
 

Cheers,

Mark

After you've gone into your Content manager and downloaded the additional packages (world updates etc).

Grab the free G1000 Nxi mod in the marketplace or content manager forgot where.

Go here and grab all of these https://www.workingtitle.aero/

I'd use the free Addon Linker to easily disable and enable and organize your addons https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker

The above site is awesome for all the freeware these days.  (There are a few other sites). 

Mods can go in your Community folder if you don't want the Addon Linker thing.

Payware planes options are still a little sparse.  PMDG DC6 has good reviews, Just Flight Arrows are decent.  A1R has a lovely Ryan STA for sale.  Carenado stuff - it's about the same as P3D expect they're only available on the marketplace - meaning you can't edit the files like we used to.  I've got their Mooney and Seminole - they're decent but not up to A2A standards.  (Nothing yet from A2A).  Aerosoft has the CRJ - seems to have some of the same flight bugs from p3d versions and has mixed reviews.

For scenery before you spend money check out that flightsim.to site above for freeware.

Nerbulus has a cool red flashlight mod I prefer over the bright white default light: https://flightsim.to/file/918/red-flashlight-night-mod

Good luck to you hehe

 

Just make sure you fly all the default MSFS aircraft thoroughly  before buying the PMDG DC6. 

If you enjoyed it in previous versions, the MSFS version will blow you away, and it will quickly become the only airplane you'll wanna fly. LOL

At least that's been my experience. And I never owned it in previous versions, nor did I think it was a plane I would enjoy flying as much as I do now.

Finally, become very familiar with the website flightsim.to.  Freeware developers  have taken to MSFS like a fish to water and there are thousands of free mods that are outstanding.

Heck....even I've rejoined the freeware dev community and have pushed out 5 repaints for the DC6 already.😁

My favorite payware airplanes are the FW P149 and the Aviat Husky.

The Husky is in the Marketplace, and the P149:

http://atsimulations.com/focke-wulf-149-msfs

Freeware:

https://msfsaddons.com/2020/10/23/bonanza-turbo-v2-a-free-and-highly-improved-mod-of-the-default-bonanza-g36/

and in the Marketplace (free): G1000NXi

Edited September 20, 20214 yr by Bert Pieke

54 minutes ago, newtie said:

Any suggestions for addons, both airports and aircraft, that hark back to my 5.2 days? 

There are Orbx airports that you may have had in P3D..  my fav: KORS.

1 hour ago, newtie said:

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. After a bit of twiddling (MicroSoft Store did not exist on my PC) I have the premium version downloading and installing. Don’t have the fastest gun in the west (internet) but I’ll getter done.

Any suggestions for addons, both airports and aircraft, that hark back to my 5.2 days? 
 

Cheers,

Mark

General consensus seems to be:

Best airliners:

• Aerosoft CRJ
• PMDG DC6

Best GA:

• Just Flight Arrows
• Just Flight Warrior II
• freeware Grumman Goose

Other well received addons:

• Corsair
• P149
• Jabiru (especially if you are Australian)
• Tomcat
• Stearman
• Grumman Widgeon
• Carenado Seneca

My personal other aircraft recommendations:

• Fiat G91
• Aeroplane Heaven Cessna c140
• Aeroplane Heaven Mk1a Spitfire

Other useful mods:

• littleNavMap
• addon linker
• the PM50 gtn750 and 530/430
• Neofly career addon

Edited September 20, 20214 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

Go for it I'm enjoying it, is it perfect no but neither is life, I brought the deluxe for the C172 as I fly that IRL, great Sim for practicing nav, love it and it's getting better and better, I'd never go back to P3D

Are there a good guides on how to buy (from Steam) and install MSFS?  I mean, any updates, world update etc. and in what order? And how to put only the main files on C:\ and any updates, planes, scenery, mods etc. on an extern SSD?

 

Edited September 20, 20214 yr by jlund

If you are going to go for one JF Arrow, do the Turbo. First of all, T Tail. Second of all, I think they are a more capable airplane in many ways... and you can go faster if you head up high. 

5 hours ago, newtie said:

Any suggestions for addons, both airports and aircraft, that hark back to my 5.2 days?

Straight off the bat you want to get hold of this thing. Otherwise you'd miss having that info. And bookmark that site, as it appears to be the main point of web contact for freebie stuff which is worth a look, particularly scenery.

Aerosoft's CRJ is worth a look if you like flicking switches in a modern jet, similarly, PMDG's DC-6 ticks that box for old bangers if you prefer them, but bear in mind that there is a Junkers Ju52/3m on the way, in approximately two weeks, which is coming in at a measly £15 price tag, and that's looking like it will be really worth having.

Carenado's PA34 Seneca is worth a look if you like twin GAs with all-weather capability. Worth a look too is the Black Box Simulations Britten-Norman Islander, which is pretty nice. For GA singles, the one most people seem to rate is the Just Flight PA28, which is available in several flavours. Bear in mind that many of the default aeroplanes are great too, particularly some of those in the Deluxe version of MSFS, and some of them have been further enhanced by TPDs, so you don't necessarily need to get your hand in your pocket. The default steam-gauge Cessna 172 in the super-duper version of MSFS is one of these which is very good.

Old-school GA-wise, the AT simulations Piaggio P.149 is probably the best of the bunch, although the Aeroplane Heaven Cessna 140 is also a commendable effort. However, there's a great freebie DeHavilland Dragon Rapide just been released the other day, there was a thread about it here on Avsim a day or so ago, and that one is definitely worth having, especially since it is free. Honourable mention should also go to the Blue Mesh Designs Caudron C.430 Rafale, which is a great fun vintage race aeroplane.

If you want a fun fast jet with a nod to some switch-flicking without being too heavy in that regard, the DC Designs F-14 Tomcat is fun although there is a freebie Dornier AlphaJet on flightsim.to which is fun as well, so you don't have to spend any money to kick the tires and light the fires. For Aerobatics, the YSIM SubSonex JSX 2 and the Mario Noriega Caproni Vizzola C22 Ventura are both worth checking out. 

If you like choppers, there are one or two freebies out there, so you can of course try them out at no expense, but personally I would strongly recommend checking out the payware FlyInside Bell 47G, as it is a very impressive add-on with nice scaleable realism options that allow the transition to whirlybirds to be entirely painless. If you prefer fixed-wing low and slow though, definitely give the Top Rudder 103 Solo a look, as that thing is just such good fun to explore with at low level. Or, for some mad as a box of frogs fun, have a look at the Touching Cloud JW1 Sky Pirat Jetwing, which is based on a real machine and is good fun if you like the idea of whizzing around pretending to be Ironman.

Fans of old warbirds are pretty well-served with MSFS and there are quite a few WW2 fighters out there, all of which are worth a look, there's isn't really a bad one among the entire bunch. If WW1 is more your thing, the choice is a bit more spartan, however, of the things which are available, the Big Radials Nieuport 17 is certainly worth a look. Expect big things from Big Radials, incidentally, they're quite a new development team, but you wouldn't know it from looking at their P40B and that Nieuport, both of which are really impressive.

The vast majority of these recommendations have been reviewed on my youtube channel, but as with everything - and especially reviews where you might end up spending money - be sure to not just take one person's word for it if they say it is bloody wonderful, especially when they might have got it for free; watch or read a few opinions before stumping up the cash. And on the subject of that, don't be too keen to splash the cash around immediately either. There are loads of freebies and mods and stuff and many of the included aeroplanes are perfectly adequate too, although be aware that some of these mods to default aeroplanes can be the source of sim instability, so be prudent in your choices of what to throw in that Community Folder and be ready to take stuff out of it if you experience any issues with the sim. It's a pretty word not allowed good sim without anything added to it to be fair.

Last but not least, be aware that if you have Multi Crew Experience, which is, and has always been one of the best flight sim add-ons ever, then this works with MSFS (if you patch it to the latest version) and it makes things in MSFS a lot more fun with ATC and co-piloting shenanigans.

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 20214 yr by Chock

I'm not so much a plane expert, thus here are a few airport suggestions.

There aree a few new devs (or coming from XP) with stunning airports like NZA Simulations (AU and NZ), Pilot Plus, or Pyreegue. FSDreamteam, FlightBeam, SimWings, and Gaya still provide good quality. Concerning ORBX it's a mixed bag and you should have a closer look upon their forum for a product. Notably, some of their smaller airports are just mean conversions from P3D which will or will not please you.

There's a new class of products called "CityScapes" or similar (from several providers) replacing the former "regions" which are obsolete in MSFS. These mostly insert distinctive POIs missing from the AI-gerated cities. Sydney by ORBX and HongKong by SamScene3D are outstanding.

If you are into sightseeing, there are some nice airport sceneries (freeware or payware alike) in the Bahams or in Japan (the letter having been much neglected in P3D).

Kind regards, Michael

If this was a beauty contest Carenado 170B. It is super easy to fly too.

 

JPLogistics Cessna 152 mod should be on your list.

14 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

If you have at least 16 GB RAM and 8GB VRAM, you should be good to go.

I'm running MSFS 2020 since launch with 8 gigs of ram and 4 gigs of vram. Framerates capped at 30. All settings medium. Since the latest performance optimizations I have few if any stutters.