FlyBoyMike

Glad to see you guys got everything sorted and are back online!

I usually do my NGX and 777 flights on a weekend with a beer next to me. While in cruise, I then get up and walk over to my fridge and get more beer if I've finished my previous one, then proceed to descend and do my planned approach to the destination (all while drinking beer). So I'm certain that definitely isn't 100% correct either as I don't think this would happen in RL...

Couldn't agree more! Seems to me like some people treat their sim platforms a little too much like a wife or significant other. I use both :smile: But my time between them is usually about 75/25 (FSX/XPX) mostly for reasons already stated above. That will probably change in future though to more like 50/50 or even 40/60.

Sounds good to me! Might have to pick up the QPAC at some point. I like the price tag for what you get too, I'm sure Peter's A320/321 are also really good but don't really understand why his are priced so much higher considering the features are very similar to the QPAC. This is something that's always bothered me about his models, I have his A380 (only the Qantas model) and sure it flies really nicely, but I just don't fly it due to the lack of systems and clunky interface. I'd rather fly the FF 777 for that price. He also charges in Euros for all his models and 50-70 Euro for me is a lot of money when converted to AUD (check www.xe.com/ucc and you'll know what I mean!). I have a nice little app that does all those calculations for you including takeoff speeds, FLEX temp, and flap/trim position. You just need to give it area QNH, OAT, runway length, airport elevation and aircraft type. If interested send a PM and I can give a link to it (don't worry it's freeware, nothing shady).

Hi Jcomm, How do these models compare to the JARDesign A320? I know that one would have more systems implemented but are these ones nicer to fly particularly if flying manually during takeoff and landing? I've always felt that the A320 NEO seems a bit 'off' when hand-flying. Also, in their current state do they include managed CLD and DES modes? Or do you have to work out T/D yourself and use OP DES mode?

You're right. It does seem that way sometimes. In my case being a systems admin could very well be my 'techie' nature as I seem to always gravitate more towards that type of flying with a lot of systems involved. I still like other types of flying like the kinds you've described, I just don't do it anywhere near as often. Big jets (and complexity that goes with them) have always fascinated me I guess. There's a particularly nice 727 available on XPX which is very basic and 'raw' on systems (common in 1960's). I like to fly it occasionally just using basic radio navigation, never tried dead reckoning though. It's a real handful especially once you get used to FMS and automated systems doing a lot of the legwork for you. Ultimately you can still do this type of flying in the 777, just turn off FD's, AP, AT's and do raw data stuff. Guess a lot of people, myself included like to try simulate airline ops and play the captain role.

It's interesting how add-on's can change people's perceptions of simulation in general. It was only a few years back when I first got into FSX and simming, I also only used default and my knowledge of 'add-ons' was limited to POSKY 777, PA Airbus and whatever I could find free in the Avsim library. I still treated it very much like a 'game' back then as that's what it started out as. I then discovered PMDG and all these other 'payware' add-ons which at first were very daunting, but as I got more and more into them I just couldn't think about looking back, especially now. It seemed to get a lot more serious after that as well and no longer seemed like such a 'game' anymore, maybe because of all the time and effort put into learning (LOTS of learning) and doing things the 'proper' way. I think there's really only so much you can learn from default FSX. At the same time though it's not everyone's cup of tea and many people probably still prefer to treat as a casual 'game' without getting too involved.

At the moment I'm finding it difficult to stick to one platform 100%. Over the past year my time has been spent mostly with FSX particularly after the 777 was released, but I always keep XPX installed on my other drive and always end up going back to take a look at it especially when a new update or something new is released for it. I still don't want to ditch FSX as I still really enjoy flying the 777, NGX etc. I don't have a ton of scenery installed except for a few airports, ORBX AU regions, FlyTampa Dubai, FEX and a few GEX regions. I tend to try and look for updated free AFCADs for airports whenever I can which is the same approach I take with X-Plane. With X-Plane there's a lot of quality scenery particularly airports that can be downloaded for free from places such as xplane.org, you'd be surprised with how much you can find there. Google is also your friend when it comes to X-Plane scenery hunting. With X-Plane I find I don't have to spend as much money to get decent scenery and what is available for free tends to look nicer than what's available for free in FSX. If I want something decent in FSX scenery-wise, there's usually always a price tag attached to it. The downside is there's a bit of work involved finding all this free stuff in XP and filling in the blanks around airports etc. One major factor I see now in X-Plane is weather as there's still no 3PD weather engine equivalent to ASN or REX available for XP. The devs of FSGRW have plans to develop for X-Plane but apparently they've been halted due to limitations in XP that will supposedly get addressed. I'll admit that Australia looks rather plain out of the box. I remember being disappointed when I first flew over Brisbane and noticed that the river bank where the city skyline is supposed to be was just flat suburbia. I had to put a bit of work into getting the cities to look right in XP by adding custom OSM buildings etc. The large bay surrounding YSSY Sydney airport is also a major one as for some reason it doesn't exist and is all lowland covered with trees. Looks a bit like all the water has drained away or dried up. Apparently this will be addressed next update.

I believe that RNAV approaches are usually flown using LNAV as roll mode and VNAV as pitch mode. There's a section about this in chapter 5 of the FCTM. On page 37 in that chapter there's an illustration showing the steps for doing an non-ILS approach with VNAV.

Hmmmm interesting...to me they ALL look good! :lol: Hence one of the reasons why I use both I guess. Also, are those FSX shots with DX9? Should maybe also do a comparison with FSX DX10 (Steve's Fixer) and XPX using the North America HD sceneries + mesh from AlpilotX (which are free), would be interesting to see. I will say though that in XP details in distance look more defined and lighting seems a bit more 'natural'. It is a tough one, even though I've been getting into XP more lately I still find it difficult, and find little reason to let go of FSX especially since installing the DX10 Fixer which seems to give an overall performance boost.

I'm thoroughly enjoying X-Plane 10 at the moment. I've had it for over a year now and mostly still stuck with FSX throughout that time but lately a lot of inroads have been made in relation to add-ons so now I've been gravitating more towards it and spending much less time with FSX. There's a particular complex B757 add-on that's really been taking up my time lately, and yes, enough for me to take time off from PMDG 777 and NGX. The platform isn't perfect but somehow the shortcomings we all know about which used to bother me and most other people don't really seem to matter so much now as the technological benefits simply outweigh them. I still like to fly PMDG jets, but now I just feel ever time I load up FSX and use it for a bit it just feels really tired and dated in a lot of ways. A year ago I would have still had a different opinion, so yes, absolutely agree that with tech advances it really is time to move on.

It's interesting to see the type of questions they asked compared to the AVSIM interview where they basically started with 'Why don't you fix all the problems people want fixed in X-Plane?'.

You've hit the nail on the head with that one! For a long time I just couldn't quite put my finger on it, whenever I'd fire up FSX with PMDG 777 or NGX and do a flight it just doesn't have that 'immersion' factor it once had flying high up in the FL's, and this was after using X-Plane for a while. Then I realised that those fancy textures from REX (I use FEX, but same idea) are nice but they just give you the illusion of realism from a distance, or when on the ground. For example, I recently installed a 7-day trial of ASN, fired it up first time at the gate with my 777, looked up and thought 'oh, this looks really nice!' I then took off on my flight and that feeling turned into 'hmmmm...actually it's not really doing much for me anymore'. It was particularly apparent when I flew around a few TS's that were very well depicted by ASN, but as I got closer to the big towering cloud formations they just looked like big 'cardboard cut-out' sprites, which they REALLY ARE! I know what you mean about the overcast layer in FSX, it's just bizarre, I can see all the squared off areas that makes the whole thing look like a formation of white, fluffy tiles. And that's the whole thing, despite it's flaws, X-Plane has ACTUAL 3D volumetric cloud masses which make the whole 'illusion' of passing through them that much more realistic IMO. Yes FSX skies are covered all the way out to the horizon, and even though X-Plane has that weird blurry horizon, oddly enough it doesn't bother me so much anymore and when night falls you can't see it anyway. Like yourself I'll continue to use FSX for my PMDG fix as I don't want to see that investment go to waste, but in 2014 FSX no longer has the same impact on me it once had a couple of years ago.

Couldn't have said it any better! I just completed a flight in the FF 757 landing in VTBS at night and it's those nighttime/dusk/dawn approaches, with all the twinkling city lights and moving traffic, that are just phenomenal and cannot be reproduced in FSX. I don't have DX10 Fixer and thought about getting it but don't see the point. You have to spend so much more money to make FSX look good whereas XPX has it all out of the box, if you want some really nice scenery it's right there for free from AlpilotX, if you want that kind of quality stuff in FSX/P3D you have to pay for it. Btw Jcomm, are you still using SkyMAXX Pro textures and default XP weather in that screenshot?

Been getting into XPX more and more these days especially after getting SkyMAXX Pro and the FF 757. I still go back to FSX and have been last couple of days to fly the PMDG 777 and 7-day trial of ASN, actually a very nice weather engine I must say, something I really wish we had in X-Plane as others have already mentioned. If ASN (or FSGRW?) was available for X-Plane today there would probably be no reason for me to use FSX. Although I might still miss all my PMDG jets...

I always thought of that one as an 'okay' simulation of the 777 that was decent and got the job done, went ahead and got their 300ER as well when that came out, but yes there are a few strange systems bugs and anomalies present particularly around the FMC which seem the manifest themselves. After getting the PMDG 777 and doing a few comparison flights between the two I find that systems accuracy is fairly off on the FF one. One thing I will say though is that it DID make my transition to the PMDG a lot easier as I was already familiar with majority of the normal procedures. Unfortunately because of the inaccuracies in the FF model I had to kind of 'unlearn' some of my procedures I trained myself to do in order to properly fly the PMDG 777, also gained a greater understanding of some of the procedures and learned more via the PMDG 777. Their 757 is a big improvement on the 777 and it shows that they've learned a lot on the way. But I still can't help feel that there are some niggling bugs in the 757 again around FMC functions, VNAV managed descents etc...but trying to raise these points over on their forum at the ORG will give you the usual 'read the manual' response from one their regular support guys (even though I I do read through them). Overall I'd say I'm not completely unsatisfied with their 777, it does what it does, just the price could have been less for what it is...

So I went ahead a downloaded ASN since they offer a 7-day trial which I didn't know about. Am in mid flight with the PMDG 777 and yeah.....think I might have to go ahead and uhh, get this one :smile:

I'm currently using a plugin called 'X-Assign' that allows to save multiple profiles for different controllers and it works a treat. You can download it from the x-plane.org. Yeah mine is not as nice as that. Been using a Saitek yoke for months now and haven't flown Airbus since I got it, but since seeing all the updates for the A320 NEO decided to get back into it, thought you could get away with flying a 'Bus using a yoke but it just doesn't quite work. It's the same with Boeings and joysticks, been doing it for years with my NGX before I got the yoke and afterwards wondered why I never got one in the first place! :lol:

This might sound strange and I could very well be imagining things here, but for those who say the A320 NEO is difficult to hand fly, are you using a joystick or a yoke to control it? Reason I ask is that I dusted off my old Logitech 3D joystick I used to use before I got a yoke to do a quick test to see if it feels any different, and strangely enough...it does actually feel a lot better manually flying it using a joystick (Airbus are meant to be flown with a stick anyway). I'm in the middle of a quick test flight EDDF-EGLL and just flew the BIBTI2L SID departing rwy 18 manually to FL340.

Is his A320/321 the same as his A380 where it's rather difficult to enter FMGC routes and have to rely on the basic (REALLY basic!) XP routing?

Ahhh that's what they must be by default. Whoops! I would have reassigned them previously at some point but been a long time since I did my key assignments!

I find the best way to do it is to press 'A' which should be bound to the speed brakes down by one increment function. You should hear 'spoilers armed' when it happens. Pressing 'S' will disarm them and can raise speed brakes one increment as well if pressed again.

Just downloaded it this morning but looks like I'm all out of activations for my key :( Can't test it out yet till they reset my count.

There are a few quirks with TOD and VNAV, some of them might be bug-related but it does work and have successfully done it myself. It's definitely worthwhile taking the time to study the FCOM particularly the 'Automatic Flight' and 'Flight Management, Navigation' sections as it all makes it clear there. Also keep in mind that Froogle dived into that thing without reading the manuals just to check it out, I did the same thing first night I got it and also couldn't land properly. The graphics I'm actually really impressed with, they've done a fantastic job modelling the cockpit IMO. I don't know why, and even though it may not look 'photorealistic' like PMDG it just looks really 'nice'. That coupled with X-Plane's fantastic lighting effects (HDR of course) and the clarity/smoothness of all the instruments. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk