I want a convincing tree line with some photoscenery , and not having to need internet or streaming because i just have my phone 

Another X-Plane 12 sale on Steam. 🙂

1 hour ago, JetCat said:

Another X-Plane 12 sale on Steam. 🙂

Ye just dont tell anyone about all the steam related issues you get with it.

For me it would be more realistic ground textures or default ortho textures by Laminar.

10 minutes ago, Pugilist2 said:

For me it would be more realistic ground textures or default ortho textures by Laminar.

You won’t see orthos because of some limitations and also due to the horrendous costs. But you will see more realistic ground-textures. Don’t ask me when 😊

I think a major improvement in a realistic environment would be advantageous. How our surroundings look like would draw in more XP users, developers and general interest in the simulator.

10 hours ago, Franz007 said:

You won’t see orthos because of some limitations and also due to the horrendous costs. But you will see more realistic ground-textures. Don’t ask me when 😊

Yes, I know MisterX6 is working on them!

I just joined XP's Official Discord channel. 

It's a "rare" event - me joining a Discord channel - but I've recently joined both BATC and now XP Official.

Looks well organized from my first visit this morning ...

I heard they're taking suggestions for future updates & features, but searched there and haven yet found where to post mine.

For me I'd choose:

1) Fix the twin prop rolling bug ASAP please !

2) Make clouds in default weather be illuminated by surface and aircraft lights, not just by moonlight which is great to have too and was recently introduced. They're overdone in MSFS but are there. xEnviro appears to do it too.

3) Allow for the default Pushback menu to define distance to pushback, so that I don't have to stop it almost every time I use it, before my aircraft hits an obstacle. Yes, I know I could use plugins for that, but I want that aspect of the simulation as simple as possible 🙂

4) Make default ATC capable of interacting and controlling AI-injected aircraft.

Meanwhile, each flight in X-Plane 12.1.3 + xEnviro + Traffic Global + (Toliss 32N or Zibo 738) is really rewarding. 

Default ATC pleases me, I'd say practically as much as BATC in FS 2024.

Weather by xEnviro isn't perfect, has it's quirks and nuisances too, but most of the time still does a better job than default weather, although I agree default weather is already very plausible under most circumstances. OFC when Austin release the fix to the way variable winds are simulated it'll get even better 🙂 

These days I am almost 100% of the time making "paired" flights 🙂  I fly a not too long hop in the FENIX A320 in FS 2024, and then go flying the same in the Toliss 32N. The Zibo will soon become again a "frequent flyer"... but I haven't yet anything in FS 2024 since it'll probably take a while before PMDG makes their fleet available for that version.

There's the Citation 525 and a couple helis waiting for time to study the manuals ... The Citation is more in the wait for the TDS GNS 🙂

4 hours ago, jcomm said:

[snip]

I heard they're taking suggestions for future updates & features, but searched there and haven yet found where to post mine.

[snip]

There's a channel called #xp-feature-request where you can either upvote requests that have already been posted or post your own if it hasn't already been suggested.

XP12 is, for sure, my main sim.

As long as I do nothing to drop my frame times below the threshold of 30FPS (by using all default aircraft, or ones with a low CPU load), it’s absolutely marvelous!!

I do jcomm’s “paired flights” too, except in my case I’ll often plan the flight in Aerofly FS4 (because I feel it does a superb job of creating a flight plan), note all the details for putting into Simbrief for XP12, then fly the flight in Aerofly FS4 (so that sim doesn’t feel bad, I anthropomorphize a lot 🙂 ) in AFS4 before flying the same flight in XP12.

I’m loving the “all default” XP12 New Year’s resolution I made EXCEPT I already broke it by installing “extended night lighting” plus JUST the Orbx TrueEarth POIs into XP12 - neither of these impact my FPS around my worst case LAX and Seattle playgrounds, both enhance my experience, so they’ll stay for now.  They’re free and/or paid for.

As for MSFS2024, I loved it during the beta but it’s nothing but frustrating for me now…perhaps someday when I upgrade my PC or something - but for now, if I can’t take off and land at LA or Seattle without a stutter, that’s not the sim for me.

Off to fly a KBFI to KMHW Boeing “Test flight” over the Cascades (did it earlier in AFS4, now it’s XP12’s turn).

 

 

 

On 1/11/2025 at 8:26 AM, Pugilist2 said:

For me it would be more realistic ground textures or default ortho textures by Laminar.

I can’t wait for the “more realistic” ground textures a la Mister X, but am hoping for NO orthos, at least as an option.

For me, no orthos means I can fly around Chicago Midway without encountering sickly green roads and textures, or suddenly cloud covered hills and mountains, or even sections of my home state of Wisconsin where you can go from Summer orthos to early Spring brown orthos and back again vs. seasons that are consistent.  They may not look as “real”, but they also don’t suddenly and jarringly snap you out of your simulated reality?
 

In some ways, I view flight sims much like my model trains where a famous modeler from the past said model railroading is like a play where the trains are the actors, the operating schedule the plot, and the scenery the set.  Like a play, I don’t require the perfection of orthos to give me the illusion I’m flying, but rivers and roads and forests placed where those actually exist in the real world is already (sort of) in default XP12, and I’m sure the new scenery techniques will only improve things.

Oh XP12 isn't going anywhere. The only aircraft I really want to fly in MSFS2024 right now is iniBuilds and Fenix. Everything else (Haven't bought Avro RJ from JustFlight yet) in 2024 right now is just putting me in a bad mood. In new SU1 Beta, I figured I'd give the Asobo 737MAX another try to see if anything got better. I took 30 minutes at least setting up the FMC, APU, etc.... Then right as I was about to push back, I hit Space to reset the cockpit camera to a default view as I have done for ages. I didn't realize that by hitting Space, the aircraft would literally launch itself there. I was reviewing the flight plan at the time, so when I heard the pitch trim wheel making noises, I got spooked. Imagine my reaction when I look outside and found myself I don't even know how high, but.... at least 12,000-15,000 feet above LaGuardia in NYC. I ragequit and went to check out 12.1.4 beta. 🙂 I know it's a beta, but I have literally never had anything so wild happen to me. 

Edited January 30, 20251 yr by BostonJeremy77

4 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Oh XP12 isn't going anywhere. The only aircraft I really want to fly in MSFS2024 right now is iniBuilds and Fenix. Everything else (Haven't bought Avro RJ from JustFlight yet) in 2024 right now is just putting me in a bad mood. In new SU1 Beta, I figured I'd give the Asobo 737MAX another try to see if anything got better. I took 30 minutes at least setting up the FMC, APU, etc.... Then right as I was about to push back, I hit Space to reset the cockpit camera to a default view as I have done for ages. I didn't realize that by hitting Space, the aircraft would literally launch itself there. I was reviewing the flight plan at the time, so when I heard the pitch trim wheel making noises, I got spooked. Imagine my reaction when I look outside and found myself I don't even know how high, but.... at least 12,000-15,000 feet above LaGuardia in NYC. I ragequit and went to check out 12.1.4 beta. 🙂 I know it's a beta, but I have literally never had anything so wild happen to me. 

Did you mean Xp12 or MSFS in your first phrase above? 😁

I honestly like both, for different reasons.

In Xp12 or MSFS the key is selecting the right addons to please our needs and wishes.

At this point I can summarize what I prefer in each platform like:

- Default ATC in X-Plane 12;

- Overall flight dynamics / feel of flight in X-Plane 12, specially the rotaries, but not only...

- Scenery and weather consistency with RW data in MSFS 2024;

- Many of the integrated facilities that make building a flight and flying it very straightforward in MSFS 2024

- Default Aircraft # and types that can give the more casual siummer a lot to play with without spending additional $$$ in MSFS 2024;

I use the Tolisses and some helicopters in X-Plane 12, the FENIX and the default Inibuilds 330 and 321N in MSFS 2024. In X-Plane 12 I enhanced it with SimHeaven Europe, AutoOrtho, Traffic Global and xEnviro. In MSFS 2024 the best enhancements for me are BATC or FSHUD (presently more BATC than FSHUD) for ATC and AI traffic injection, and RealTurb v2 with or without Active Sky FS to further enhance the weather depiction and some effects.

Both platforms please me, sometimes I keep more time playing one than the other, but then I alternate.

Yet, if I had to choose just one, right now my choice would go with MSFS 2024 honestly, probably because I started playing the Career mode and I find it really amusing :-)

 

 

I found I can only afford one girlfriend so I stick with xplane The problem is having more than one gets very expensive when you have to keep paying for makeovers, than you always looking at the other one trying to see if she dressed nicer.

41 minutes ago, mjrhealth said:

I found I can only afford one girlfriend so I stick with xplane The problem is having more than one gets very expensive when you have to keep paying for makeovers, than you always looking at the other one trying to see if she dressed nicer.

Yeah... that was my philosophy for ages - hence the UNINSTALLER tag 🙂

But I had to surrender to the evidence that the various platforms, and I presently use 3, can be used together without a big investment, provided I focus on specific use for each one and don't fall in the temptation of buying each and every addon that tempts me...

Then today they're a lot more easy to setup and maintain than in the old times of tweaking and fine tunning where most of the time had to be spent on those tasks rather than enjoying virtual flight...

X-Plane and MSFS 2024 are extremely easy to setup and configure. I still prefer X-Plane's interface regarding controller configuration which is by far the easiest and most intuitive, but with time I have familiarized myself with the peculiarities of the MSFS interface...

Today's SSDs are cheap and have lot's of space available. We can easily have all the flightsims we want... Then it's just a problem of having time to learn and play them all.

I seldom start Condorsoaring because an online task / competition can take hours, and I can't get away from the desktop during the whole flight, just like IRL 🤣, contrarily to when flying airliners in X-Plane 12 or FS 2024 where I can go shopping, lunch there and return to the "cockpit" to carry on with my flight 🙂

Edited January 30, 20251 yr by jcomm