Tom Wright

Great topic! I too am just getting into X-Plane so this is really helpful! I don't have many airports yet, but definitely agree with the posts about MisterX6, they're amazing!

The view controls take a while to get used to, but actually I find it much easier to move around the cockpit in X-Plane than in FSX. Many liken it to having EZDOK built in. With the default key commands I think the virtual cockpit in SHIFT+9 and then you can use the arrow keys to move around, and the mouse with a right click to pan. You can adjust the field of view in the rendering settings. In regards to the controls, I too have found that generally aircraft have a more lively feel to them than in FSX, but don't judge it by the default aircraft. Like in FSX, the default aircraft aren't very good.

Thanks for the info. That will be another big game changer when ASN comes to X-Plane. I seldom fly in FSX without it.

This is what confuses me with XP! So what about the NOAA plug in? Do I need that with it as well?

Does SkyMaxx do weather or do you need RWC?

Wow, looks like I'd be mad to get a 970 now then! Looks like I'll seriously consider getting a 1070 when it's released.

Whilst it sounds wonderful, any idea on how much it's likely to cost? I've been eyeing up the 970 to replace my current card, which at the moment is on Amazon for around £270. I don't really want to go much higher than that!

Don't laugh, but I have a GTX560Ti. Surprisingly X-Plane 10 on medium(ish) settings, with anti aliasing at FXAA is absolutely fine. Until I hit cloud, then the fps nosedive. Would I see an improvement with SkyMaxx, or is it time to just bite the bullet and upgrade?

I might try SkyMaxx as I am really trying to give XP a decent chance this time as the IXEG 733 is fantastic. I know this is not the place to compare FSX/P3D with XP but if that's one thing the former has going for it it's the ability to at least fly in decent overcast conditions without reducing to a Powerpoint presentation!

I agree with the clouds. I don't have SkyMaxx and am wondering if I'd see any improvement if I did, but the default clouds for me are an absolute killer. I only have AA at FXAA too.

We use Symantec Ghost for this at work.

Thanks guys, at least I'm not alone!

Hi All, Is it just me or does anyone else find that the mouse cursor is really laggy when moving it over the cockpit switches? Primarily in the IXEG 737 but I think it's a general XP thing rather than aircraft specific. Seems to be when the cursor changes from a normal arrow into the hand, it hesitates and slows down. Particularly noticeable if you move the mouse quickly over a panel with lots of click spots, like the overhead or the MCP, the mouse seems to slow down. Is it just me?!

One thing that stands out to me in X-Plane which I still haven't seen in any aircraft for FSX/P3D, is how smooth the gauges are. Even in the best payware aircraft for FSX, you always get a sense that you are just looking at a digital representation of a mechanical gauge. Whereas in X-Plane, particularly the new IXEG 737, you really feel like you're looking at a smooth electro-mechanical gauge, the way the needles move and the numbers scroll so fluidly. Steam cockpits are just amazing in X-Plane.

A UK based simulations developer called Dovetail Games bought the distribution rights to FSX from Microsoft about 18 months ago, and re-released it on the Steam platform. There are some bugfixes, and some stability improvements under the hood, but it's largely similar to the original FSX. They are also developing two new Flight Simulators being released later this year, as a very long awaited continuation of the MSFS line, details of which emerged earlier this month.

NVIDIA inspector is not about increasing performance per se, but it allows you to fine tune your rendering settings much more specifically than the FSX internal settings and indeed the NVIDIA control panel. You do not have to use either if you want to use DX10 mode with/without the Fixer, but it does give you more control and for a lot of people, myself included, a much better balance of visual quality and performance than just the default in-app settings.

There's a whole host of freeware available through the Steam Workshop which is essentially all user-submitted. There's also payware add ons available through Just Trains and Armstrong Powerhouse to name a few.

Everything I've read about DTG's plans so far make me feel positive about the future. I'm confident that they know what they're doing.

So it's P3D v3 basically!

Reading through these topics I'm struggling to understand what people actually want! Before any sort of announcement everyone was terrified it was going to be another rehash of Flight. Now that we can be pretty certain that it's not, people are disappointed that it isn't? I for one am quite happy to read that it will be based off of FSX, albeit improved and refined. Isn't that what P3D is anyway - why do people like that so much as to put up with the nudge nudge wink wink I'm not enjoying myself honest license that comes with it? Flight was based off of FSX too, it wasn't really anything that new. I'm sure even starting from FSX, it won't take DTG long to enhance it to the level of Flight and beyond. They probably felt that it had a more solid foundation to build upon and was more tried and tested than Flight was, since the latter had such a short run. Even Train Simulator is based off of the old MSTS code, and that in its current form is almost unrecognisable from its roots now. Just because a new product uses a legacy one as a foundation, doesn't mean it's not going to be much different or simply a rehash. There are obviously a lot of elements in the code for a Flight Simulation product which are always going to be transferable.

My take from the announcement is that DTG-FS is basically going to be the FSXI that there never was, plus it's going to be 64 bit and DX11. That's what everyone's wanted for years right? So why all the negativity?!

+1 Concorde is fairly unique in that for the vast majority of a typical flight the throttles are fully open!

Not by a long shot. Windows 7 still makes up for more than the Win 10, Win 8/8.1, Vista and XP users combined. Just because it's a free upgrade doesn't mean millions of users weren't reluctant to switch straight away.

I highly doubt it will be a Win 10 exclusive title. They really would be shooting themselves in the foot with that one, since Win 10 doesn't even cover 12% of the Windows user base yet. They may very well drop support for XP and even Vista, but I would expect Windows 7 to be supported at the very least.

All of them.