Im just curious what the difference, if any, is between Flight Sim X and the Steam Edition. Just curious if the Steam edition is better.

Visually nothing. It was built using the VS2013 compiler instead of the old VS2005 library that was used when FSX was first released. It was optimized for compatibiltiy for Win7 & 8. Load times are slightly faster. The Steam FSX also includes the FSX Acceleration add-on.

6 hours ago, flyinmaninmn said:

Just curious if the Steam edition is better.

My own view is that it is not.
As well as what DBH114 posted above, some reduced settings were made into into default settings, presumably in an effort to convince purchasers that they had not wasted their money.
One of the most irritating was that scenery objects at airports, specifically static aircraft, would pop into view as you were landing and then, if after takeoff, you looked backwards, they disappeared at the same small distance.

If you have an FSX Edition that includes Acceleration, then you do not need to waste your money on FSX Steam Edition.
Mind you, I wasted mine, all 5 GBP of it in a Steam sale, just to see what it was like.
Once I had seen it, I returned to FSX.

Edited September 22, 20241 yr by Reader

FSX is a 32-bit program, so it is limited to being able to use a maximum of 4 GB of RAM.  Add-on aircraft, weather, AI aircraft, and detailed scenery can quickly consume much of the addressable RAM.  FSX was not particularly efficient with removing data from the RAM when that data was no longer needed nor was it good at consolidating the data in order to maximize the remaining available RAM.  When FSX needed to load data for approaching scenery and there was not a sufficiently large block of available space in RAM, the sim would crash.  The Steam Edition, although still a 32-bit program, does a better job of managing that limited RAM, consolidating data within the 4 GB limit and the result is a far reduced tendency for the sim to crash.  That and compatibility with Windows 7 and beyond are the biggest benefits of the Steam Edition.

1 hour ago, stans said:

 compatibility with Windows 7 and beyond are the biggest benefits of the Steam Edition.

The FSX Disk Edition is compatible with Windows 8, 10 and 11, so that does not appear to be a valid
reason to buy FSX-SE.

I often think about purchasing the Steam edition just to bypass the need for DVD's, since I had to purchase an outboard DVD player for the new computer.  However, still using FSX Gold.  Even have my original FSX plus Acceleration collection.  

It was interesting to hear about some quirks with Steam that I did not know about.

Is there a special way FSX-STEM is to be installed or let it do it's thing. I know that with the newer windows FS9 needs to be installed directly in C.

I have FSX-SE account , but still use FS9 only because i cant figure out how to get LEVEL-D 767 running in FSX-SE

Just to follow up, do i need to have firewall of during any installation.

I have my steam library on another drive rather than C (Operating System) i think its better practice to do this way re folder permissions. You can just fire up steam and hit the install button. I dont use anything special re firewall, it will all work automatically.

 

 

30 minutes ago, Dazkent said:

I have my steam library on another drive rather than C (Operating System) i think its better practice to do this way re folder permissions. You can just fire up steam and hit the install button. I dont use anything special re firewall, it will all work automatically.

 

 

providing  you have  2  or  more drives 🙂 

The only big difference between Boxed and Steam editions is that FSX-SE does not have the SDK. This would make editing an AFCAD harder (the most common use of the SDK, IMO). But you can use the P3Dv1 SDK for that.

Thank you for the input. I know i should have no problems installing FSX-SE, it's Level-D that is a headache.

I'm on a new computer with Windows 11, a new video card and the updated CPU.  I had much better success with Windows 7 even with the less powerful CPU and video.  I'm not flying FSX Gold with drastically increased settings, in fact I struggle using the same settings with the A2A stable of planes, and 1 specific Carenado plane (D18S).

I wonder if the Steam memory management would address this situation to a more positive experience.  

I've also made an attempt to uninstall many W11 apps and tried to reduce the overhead, whatever that is.  Maybe I'm not managing W11 correctly enough for FSX/Gold.

Opinion welcome.

On 10/19/2024 at 10:22 PM, kttd said:

I'm on a new computer with Windows 11, a new video card and the updated CPU.  I had much better success with Windows 7 even with the less powerful CPU and video.  I'm not flying FSX Gold with drastically increased settings, in fact I struggle using the same settings with the A2A stable of planes, and 1 specific Carenado plane (D18S).

I wonder if the Steam memory management would address this situation to a more positive experience.  

I've also made an attempt to uninstall many W11 apps and tried to reduce the overhead, whatever that is.  Maybe I'm not managing W11 correctly enough for FSX/Gold.

Opinion welcome.

Ok, this is an old post. I did the same with FSX-SE on a new rig on Windows 11. In Windows 10 the memory management of FSX-SE was by far better. So I blame Windows 11. I don´t know why, but I can see it clearly in VAS Monitor! Steam does not start FSX-SE in a Compability mode 8 or 7. Windows 11 Home 25H2 doesn´t even have a compability mode for Windows 10. I think they need to update Windows 11 for FSX-SE in order to run it properly. ..... I don´t see that coming....

Now you are telling me the same happens with FSX Gold. That would have been my next step (got it already on the table out of the cupboard).

Did you or anybody else try the compability option too?

I'm not running FSX/A gold in any compatibility mode myself.  I'm only checking run as administrator.  No issues with any payware except A2A and simconnect.