Looking for opinions.  Trying to fly to Melbourne for the F1 race this weekend.  Obviously YMML would be the obvious choice but reading online it gets very mixed reviews whereas FT YSSY seems to get overwhelmingly positive reviews.  

Am I better off spending my money on YSSY and just getting to Australia and calling it a day or is Orbx YMML worth it?  

Appreciate the input, I have 6 hours left on my way to NZAA to decide 🙂  

Yes, I am this much of a geek....   

YMML is really nice in 4K ultra textures combined with ORBX Melbourne City

YSSY no experience other than default Deluxe

Michael Moe 

Which sim are you using? 2020 or 2024?

Fly Tampa Sydney is a great addon, however very outdated in terms of how the airport looks today. Now its nothing major, most of the buildings are still there but there have been quite a lot of changes around SYD. In 2024 few minor compatibility issues such as grass not showing etc but nothing show stopping. I still use it every time I fly. I hear that there is a major facelift and update coming from Fly Tampa soon. 

Orbx YMML is pretty good too, now not the best and the old days of ORBX quality, but its the best we can get currently for YMML. And from what I can tell, is the current layout of that airport. 

Being a Sydney sider, I'm going to default opinion against them Melbournians, and say YSSY all the way. 

5 minutes ago, rick celik said:

Which sim are you using? 2020 or 2024?

Fly Tampa Sydney is a great addon, however very outdated in terms of how the airport looks today. Now its nothing major, most of the buildings are still there but there have been quite a lot of changes around SYD. In 2024 few minor compatibility issues such as grass not showing etc but nothing show stopping. I still use it every time I fly. I hear that there is a major facelift and update coming from Fly Tampa soon. 

Orbx YMML is pretty good too, now not the best and the old days of ORBX quality, but its the best we can get currently for YMML. And from what I can tell, is the current layout of that airport. 

Being a Sydney sider, I'm going to default opinion against them Melbournians, and say YSSY all the way. 

Thanks @Michael Moe!! 

@rick celik I am on 2020.  So your obvious bias aside LOL Are they similar from a performance and visuals perspective?  If YMML is on par with YSSY I would go with that one for the race but in P3D YSSY was one of my favorites!  

I have both and in fact run ORBX YMML in FS2024 as well.  Performance is similar, I think ORBX YMML has more detail but obviously an update is needed to match current airport layout .....

3 minutes ago, YMMB said:

I have both and in fact run ORBX YMML in FS2024 as well.  Performance is similar, I think ORBX YMML has more detail but obviously an update is needed to match current airport layout .....

Awesome, thank you, that's good to hear!  I am going to do the City and Airport Bundle and based on the other Orbx thread also back up my 2020 community directory before moving to 2024!  

I wish Aerosoft had the airport and the scenery or I would purchase them there.  

39 minutes ago, psolk said:

Thanks @Michael Moe!! 

@rick celik I am on 2020.  So your obvious bias aside LOL Are they similar from a performance and visuals perspective?  If YMML is on par with YSSY I would go with that one for the race but in P3D YSSY was one of my favorites!  

I would say they are about the same in performance, but the visuals imo are better for YSSY, ground and terminal textures. Good luck and enjoy your flight into wherever you choose! 

FT YSSY is a fantastic scenery. ORBX YMML is also pretty nice....FT is just better imo.

10 minutes ago, rick celik said:

I would say they are about the same in performance, but the visuals imo are better for YSSY, ground and terminal textures. Good luck and enjoy your flight into wherever you choose! 

 

2 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

FT YSSY is a fantastic scenery. ORBX YMML is also pretty nice....FT is just better imo.

Great, now I'm going to have to get them both and have a layover...  🙂

1 hour ago, rick celik said:

Being a Sydney sider, I'm going to default opinion against them Melbournians, and say YSSY all the way. 

+1  🤣

To the OP: OrbX stuff is also, usually, pretty poorly optimised so if you go for it be P3D for some kind of performance degradation especially if using AI traffic.

On 3/13/2025 at 4:52 PM, speedyTC said:

+1  🤣

To the OP: OrbX stuff is also, usually, pretty poorly optimised so if you go for it be P3D for some kind of performance degradation especially if using AI traffic.

You were right about the OrbX optimization!!  Wow.  Thank goodness for Lossless scaling, it's the only thing that made YMML usable.  Nice scenery and I will say one of the better sceneries I've been to in terms of depicting elevation changes.  I landed on 27 and you could really get a sense of the little hump or hill as you peaked the runway and really felt like you were taxiing back uphill.

On the other hand FT YSSY was just as good as I remembered, still stunning and far better performance. 

I did KEWR-KSFO then KSFO-YSSY but then remembered I had previously done KSFO-NZAA so now I had an aircraft stranded at NZAA so then I did NZAA-YMML and now YMML-YSSY where I will be back "in sync" and can do YSSY-KSFO  and then KSFO-KEWR to be "home" again 🙂 

I am funny about leaving my 777 stranded away from home lol

Thank you guys for all the suggestions and the heads up on YMML. 

@Christopher Low YSSY-YMML and return is your type of 777 flight!  Pretty much by the time you are at cruise you are preparing for descent lol.  Should be right about an hour gate to gate 🙂 

Edited March 15, 20251 yr by psolk

3 hours ago, psolk said:

  Pretty much by the time you are at cruise you are preparing for descent lol.  Should be right about an hour gate to gate 🙂 

According to OAG the YMML - YSSY route is the 6th busiest globally.
Getting to and from the airports far exceeds the flight time.

On 3/14/2025 at 7:15 AM, YMMB said:

I have both and in fact run ORBX YMML in FS2024 as well.  Performance is similar, I think ORBX YMML has more detail but obviously an update is needed to match current airport layout .....

how did you get orbx ymml to 2024 didnt think it was on the compatible list

 

https://forum.orbxdirect.com/topic/222983-msfs2024-compatible-products-published-on-orbx-direct-and-central/

Edited March 15, 20251 yr by pete_auau

I've got both and would recommend FT YSSY over ORBX YMML. Melbourne gives me average performance and the visuals aren't as nice. 

2 hours ago, pete_auau said:

how did you get orbx ymml to 2024 didnt think it was on the compatible list

It's possible to use MSFS2020 addons in 2024. The way I do it is to install to 2020 first (using Orbx Central, Aerosoft One, Contrail, iniManager etc) - then move the addon folder over to the MSFS2024 community folder. Or use addons linker. 

Most 2020 addons that I've tried so far seem to work quite well in 2024. 

Edited March 16, 20251 yr by Cpt_Piett