Why I don't use addons

[bobbyjack 61]

OK, someone asked me for some reasons for not using addons, so here goes. I think that person might have thought I was a bitter old man with some kind of grudge. Sorry, nothing that fun. My reasons have nothing to do with addons themselves,but eveything to do with how I use the sim.I started simming 3 years ago. I had a P4 with onboard graphics. Could not run FS9. After adding an ati 9550, I could get things looking pretty good most of the time. Any time I added any scenery, things went south. That was not the fault of the scenery, but my own. Money is very tight, I mean really tight. I have no doubt that addons are fantastic, but there's the money thing. I probably couldn't buy just one, I'd have to get lots and lots.So I went another route. I did download a bunch of addon planes, but only free ones. I also downloaded a lot of free utilites. I created my own virtual airline, built several airports all over the US, created my own flightplans, and had a great time.Last year when a small airliner took off from the wrong runway that was too short and crashed, I went there in FS9 in a similar jet to see what things looked like. Not to replay the crash, but to get a feel for how it might happen. I have flown a B29 over Nagisaki, and an Avenger around Battan. It is great fun to fly places to which I'll never get to go.So now we have FSX. I didn't even get it untll last fall. I was able to buy a new rig to fly it but it was a no go. I have upgraded twice and now it runs OK. The nice thing about buying hardware is that my video and music composition software run killer now. But it is extremely difficult to build airports, and get ai there. Took acouple of months, but I finished one airport. But untill Editvoicepack is done, atc can't name my airline or my airport. So that part is not as much fun right now. Do I blame MS? That would be silly.Would FSX look better with addons? I'm sure it would. Could I buy those addons? Yes I could. Is it life and death for my simming? No.Payware planes have better flight dynamics. I am not a pilot; I wouldn't know flight dynamics from a hole in the ground(possibly a poor choice of words). I'd love to have a yoke and peddals, but I'll no doubt be stuck for ever with my Extreme 3Dpro joy stick. But I am having a blast.I have not bought any addons, but I read these forums every day. I fly every day, and I consider myself a serious simmer.Bob

[slashed2 53]

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Some get caught up in an ever ending quest for the perfect flight others are happy with what they have. Either way, if you are having fun what does it matter, flight simming is what you make it and to be honest it doesn't matter a fig what other people think.Some think the only way to seriously sim is to fly an airliner while others believe flying an F18 is the only possible way to fly seriously. It's all a matter of opinion and there isn't a definitive answer out there except enjoy it no matter how you seriously sim.26 years ago I was using a keyboard on a piece of machinery with less memory than my watch and thought I was flying seriously, all that has changed is the view really. Good on you and enjoy it for all you can.

[virtualstuff 758]

>If it ain't broke don't fix it. Some get caught up in an>ever ending quest for the perfect flight others are happy with>what they have. Either way, if you are having fun what does>it matter, flight simming is what you make it and to be honest>it doesn't matter a fig what other people think.>>Some think the only way to seriously sim is to fly an airliner>while others believe flying an F18 is the only possible way to>fly seriously. It's all a matter of opinion and there isn't a>definitive answer out there except enjoy it no matter how you>seriously sim.>>26 years ago I was using a keyboard on a piece of machinery>with less memory than my watch and thought I was flying>seriously, all that has changed is the view really. Good on>you and enjoy it for all you can.>>So true just have fun :-)http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

[Guest Zevious Zoquis]

I think perhaps some folks (including myself) misunderstood your earlier post. When you said you didn't use add-ons, I took that to mean ALL add-ons, freeware or not. Afaic, an add-on is an add-on. There's a fair bit of freeware stuff that is on par with (or at least very close to) good payware so if you have tried some of the great freeware thats available, then you aren't "missing" as much as maybe some of us thought you were...

[loop_n_roll 7]

The beautiful thing about simming is how many ways there are to enjoy it.

[WTE_Pharoah 7]

agree. its all about having fun with FSX. I personally couldn't do without a/c addons just for the variety. There are quite a few free addons which are very well done (including helicopters from hovercontrol.com).

[bobbyjack 61]

Nun of which is to say that I would never buy an addon. It's just not where I'm at. I just felt I had to chime in. There are some people who are very upset because they can't get their addons to work. Or they've never been able to get FSX to work. I think they have every right to be upset. But when they make a blanket statement that if you like FSX you are not telling the truth...well, I just had to say something.