Switching from P3D—what do I need?

Fatback · March 28, 2022

There are some good aircraft otw so I’m getting ready to move over. Guess I’ll need to buy a weather engine and some airports. How about mesh and other scenery addons?

MrBitstFlyer · March 28, 2022

You do not need to buy anything as the base MSFS has live weather, very good default airports and worldwide mesh - the quality of default scenery is far higher than sims before it like P3d. Of course, there are plenty of addons for it, but default MSFS surpasses a modded P3d.

Fatback · March 28, 2022

It can’t be that easy lol. Can it?

fogboundturtle · March 28, 2022

6 minutes ago, Fatback said:

There are some good aircraft otw so I’m getting ready to move over. Guess I’ll need to buy a weather engine and some airports. How about mesh and other scenery addons?

You need a sense of adventure and discovery. The only real addons you need to start with is the FBW A32NX. The rest is pretty darn good out of the box.

Ray Proudfoot · March 28, 2022

An ultra-fast Internet connection will help. 😉

Cognita · March 28, 2022

Download and install it and then take some time to fly and explore it for a while. As has been said, MSFS has very good worldwide mesh and good quality lighting, shading and scenery. And, it is updated regularly. Once you have a sense of the sim, there are a lot of scenery add-ons that you can purchase but MSFS does not require the same kind of expenditure and managing of multiple third party add-ons as other sims. There are already some really good quality add-on aircraft available and as you said a good number more on the way.

regis9 · March 28, 2022

One big difference in terms of addons between P3D and MSFS is the plethora of high quality freeware that is available for MSFS. The FBW A320N as mentioned above is incredible as it the Working Title CJ4 mod.

I’d suggest spending some time looking around flightsim.to to see what’s available for free. There’s certainly lots of good payware to choose from too.

DAD · March 28, 2022

12 minutes ago, Fatback said:

It can’t be that easy lol. Can it?

Yes it can. Start with the default stock MSFS. Get the FBW for free. And start roaming the new world. And wait for the other great aircraft otw

DD_Arthur · March 28, 2022

20 minutes ago, Fatback said:

It can’t be that easy lol. Can it?

Well....yes it can....and you don’t need ‘ultra fast’ internet nor a state of the art pc.

I don’t have either.

😉

Steve Dra · March 28, 2022

"...what do I need?"

AS others have mentioned (Fast internet by @Ray Proudfoot, FBW A320 by several, and signup (for free) at flightsim.to as @regis9 mentions)....then...

One week of uninterrupted time to read through these and other MSFS forums to catch up on what you've missed (and alot of it was slightly panful as MSFS updates have matured since the original release...you've been spared that)

You could spend that whole week just browsing thru flightsim.to with thousands of free mods (some ok, some trash, but a lot almost payware quality and a very few better than payware). You'll wan to get an account because once you start downloading there, it will keep track of your downloads for you automatically, and quickly show which are up to date and ones needed updating...very, very slick site and the one site to know if you only had to have one for MSFS.)

One mod that will also be invaluable (available on flgithsim.to coincidentally) is a good addon manager...there are several out there.

bean_sprout · March 28, 2022

Check out free repaints like this one: Lime and Grey Livery for Carenado Seneca » Microsoft Flight Simulator

ns

PWJT8D · March 28, 2022

Flybywire A32NX

Working Title Citation CJ4

Working Title G3000

Working Title G3X

Download the Working Title G1000 NXi for free in the MSFS in game marketplace

Flightsim.to is great for managing all of your freeware add-ons like scenery, aircraft and liveries.

Toolbar Pushback

I would also recommend a seasons add-on. There are two to choose from, Bijan Seasons and REX AccuSeason. As to not clog up this thread with a war on which one I own or which one I think you should own or what other people think, do your own research, plenty of info out there on these two packages.

This is a good list that I think gets you plenty of depth into MSFS. Of course once you get used to the sim, go nuts. Plenty of great payware aircraft and airports out there that you are used to from P3D. And some really great aircraft on the near horizon as well.