JeremyWM

Absolutely! It took a few years, but I think Xplane 10 is finally in a position to make a run at the tired old dog that is FSX/P3D. Yes I lump those two together because despite what LM has added, p3D is still rooted in 8+ year old code. I still love FSX and run it, but certainly not because of the base MS flight sim product. It is ONLY because of A2A, PMDG, REX, and Air Hauler that I ever start it up these days.

There's actually a thread on X-pilot from a guy who's working on a very promising addon called X-passengers, which should fill the niche for a passenger simulation program. There is a pack of textures called Winter World that I believe you can download from X-plane.org which serves as a good alternative. It's easy to use. You drag and drop the replacement textures into the X-plane folder whenever you want to have snowy ground cover and then take it out again to remove them. You just have to remeber to back-up you originals. HD Mesh and OSM from Alpilot and Simheaven, airports and cities from X-plane.org, payware addon aircraft, and Xplane 10.31 and you have pure flight simulation bliss IMHO. P.S. Winter World has been updated and is now available from X-pilot.com as Winter_Package 1.1

The CRJ-200 from Javier Rollon and X-aviation is the only aircraft that I know which features 2-D pop out panels in the same way as FSX. I was a bit irritated by the lack of them in X-plane when I first started trying to get into the sim myself, but after some time getting used to things I really don't miss them anymore and to me having 2-D old school MS Flight Simulator panels isn't realistic in my mind anyway. After all, what pilot has a row of 2D flight panels floating around their head as fly in the real world. I think 2D panels is one of the reasons why real life flight instructors sometimes have problems with simmers who come in looking to learn to fly, because they're always staring at their instruments instead of looking out the window! :P If you've got 5 displays to use, put them to work making one gorgeous panoramic view of X-plane instead! ^_^ Then make sure to download the PilotView plugin from the .org and make up to 9 custom views so that you can easily and quickly move your "head" around the cockpit to see sections of the plane you need to.

Well the simplest answer I can think of at the moment is a "noisy" key on your joystick if you use one or on the keyboard. By noisy I mean a key that's loose or broken which can randomly go on and off. I know that you said you set-up a key to turn time compression off, but have you checked to see if you have a key or joystick button assigned to turn ON time compression? My Cyborg joystick started going wonky with one of the throttle controls awhile back, where it now just flits on and off all the time, which is what made me think that might be an issue. Unless it IS something weird with EFASS. It is a newer program and especially since it features a number of direct interfaces with X-plane, such as a moving map and custom weather engine, there certainly could be some strange issues with how it works with the sim. But this is the first I've heard of this particular problem and seems unlikely that it would effect X-plane in such a way.

Though I haven't used PFPX, I do know that it is a VERY complex program. It is meant to emulate real aircraft and flight procedures to high degree of professionalism, so if your looking for a quick flight planner to get in and go, I'm pretty sure this isn't it. Also it has a strange set-up where it only comes pre-loaded with 15 or so aircraft profiles that you can choose from when begining a plan and you can't add in your own custom aircraft easily or at all. As far as I can tell, because PFPX features such detailed aircraft profiles, even going so far as to have specific engine specs considerations, fuel usage up to cruise altitude, on and on and on, it doesn't allow for complete freedom to add your own aircraft. I remember seeing someone in the forums who wanted to use PFPX with the PMDG J-41 for FSX. There was no way to add it in, so he had to just fake it using the Saab twin turbo prop that comes as a preloaded selectable aircraft type and then fudge some of the numbers to try to get it close to the J-41. Aerosoft will be releasing updates which include new aircraft compatibilities (I think) but I'm not sure how many or how often. From what I've seen EFASS is the best flight planner you can get for X-plane right now. Not only that, but it features a wealth of features, even it's own weather simulation engine that replaces X-planes default system, and best of all it's totally free! I would at the very least download and try it before you go and spend big bucks for PFPX. For me I'm still a bit old school. I still use FS Commander for my flight planning needs. It has all the features I want plus I can use it with every aircraft I own. Or you could always just use one of the online tools such as Simroutes, Routefinder, and the newer one which I prefer- SimBrief.com. SimBrief has quite a lot of features and it's another free resource. The downloadable .FMS is for the default X-plane FMS/GPS unit, but for the CRJ-200 it's actually quite simple just to make your own loadable file. A simple text document with the route written in the standard route format like this - KSEA NORMY MODDA STEVS Q150 OPPEE MOLTN2 KDEN - and saved as a .icao file should work just fine for the CRJ if you load a company route in the sim. You just have to place it in the JrollonPlanes/ SavedRoutes folder found in the main X-plane location. For the 777 I have no idea what the format is however, but I hope I helped a bit. :)

No thank-you Pascal. If it wasn't for your work with the data ref editor in X-plane it would be far easier to just continue to dismiss XP as the ugly, inferior flight sim to FSX/P3D. I think you even challenged Laminar themselves directly to improve the sky rendering in the default setup of the sim, as I think your ideas are probably going to be part of the next release version. I really wonder sometimes who are the artists (or who is the artist) over at Laminar. I know Austin himself doesn't have a clue what looks good. Xplane has an amazing graphics rendering engine, but it seems so under utilized at times. As for Orbx, my opinion is that their airports are absolutely stunning! However their large area projects are far less so. I have FTX Global and to be blunt, I feel like I wasted my money. Some areas do look very nice, much nicer than the default FSX with it's greens and browns "desert problem." But over all it's just a bit underwhelming unless you also add some of their other addons like the PNW packages. I live near Olympia, WA. This state is beautiful. I've also lived in San Francisco, CA. One of my favorite flights to do is the hop between Seattle and San Francisco; a trip I've made many times as a passenger. Flying that same trip in FSX with FTX Global however, is like flying over a mostly green pock marked carpet with the occasional town or city rendered as a flat little oasis of generic textures with some randomly places little 3D buildings. Not too impressive and as always the classic FSX blurries follow me wherever I go. Xplane certainly has it's faults, but it's getting better all the time and gaining momentum. Anything from TruScenery equals Orbx IMHO as well. :)

I wouldn't be suprised if the community work that's been done ends up being put into an official release from Ben and the Laminar team pretty soon, with as good as some of the results have been. I agree the tools need polish though. I've seen a fair amount of weirdly "electric blue" screenshots from some who have gone a bit crazy with the effects at times. Glad to see you're on top of all the latest tools and techniques to make XP as good as it can be Turbine. Me personally, I am most excited about Xplane 10 with all thats been happening with it and then I often go back to FSX for much of my sim time as well, just because I have almost every A2A Accusim aircraft made so far including Captain of the Ship for the B-377, the PMDG J-41, maaannnny Carenado aircraft, the Realair Duke, Air Hauler to give realism and meaning to the flights, and FS Commander for the flight planning. It's pretty much simheaven when everything is working well in concert. I just don't feel like I have much impetous to move to P3D when it's so similar to FSX in so many ways and has quite a bit of compatibility issues from what I've read in the forums. That screenshot you show really does look nice however. :)

Huh, strange. I wonder why it was that it wasn't showing any cockpit shadowing. Basically thats what I noticed that really made the differance in favor of P3D was the dynamic shadowing and the much more interesting cloud formations, though as ryanbatcund mentioned, I think the super high rez clouds make them look a bit odd. I feel that they tend to look more like flat billboard sprites when presented in such high resolution. I have good ol' FSX with REX Essential Plus and I never use the highest resolution cloud texture set for that reason. Have you ever used Aerosofts Sky Tools for XP? It might give you some control to give Xplane a bit more "visual Pop" if you will. The default lighting in Xplane always seems to lack contrast and often ends up looking a bit boring and homogenous. Thats why I mentioned Fly with Lua with the Religh Scattering script as well. The first time I saw these shots, I was totally floored at the realization of the graphic rendering power kept under the hood of Xplane 10. http://graphie.org/ressources/forums/images/xplane-raleigh/ATR72_244.jpg http://graphie.org/ressources/forums/images/xplane-raleigh/ATR72_197.jpg%C2'>

I'd love to see this same comparison shot with X-plane using SkyMaxx and with HDR/Dynamic shadows. Putting REX sky in FSX against plain jane XP clouds and FSX will always win. Add SkyMaxx (reasonably priced payware from X-aviation.com) with the Fly with Lua hack for the distant blue haze/horizon effects and Aerosofts color tools which are both free and I bet X-plane could make a much better showing in this comparison. Also the dynamic shadowing goes a long way towards realism. In P3D I noticed you have it on but in the X-plane shot there's no cockpit shadowing. I know that XP does nice real time lighting and shadow effects. Are you unable to turn on HDR and Dynamic shadows for XP? Nice comparison shots. I'd love to see more. I do believe X-plane can do better than this though, with HDR, shadowing, SkyMaxx, Fly with Lua, and Aerosofts Sky Tools. :) Anyone else have both who would like to show some more comparison shots? Hopefully this topic can stay as civil as it is right now without diving into another VS. flame war, because I would love to see some more shots and to continue the discussion.

I have no doubt that you and your team of administrators have worked diligently to create a forum for any and all things flight sim, with a strong effort towards inclusion no matter the platform, Tom. My point is that the flight sim community in general can sometimes be uninviting and insular. The flight sim population at large has often, and at length, cast dispersions on X-plane, despite the fact that X-plane has been a very good simulator for many versions, despite it's shortcomings or differences to MS Flight Simulator. I believe AVSIM to be the largest, most venerable forum within the flight sim universe. It wasn't the fault of the administrators, but the prevailing opinions of it's large user base that created what I believe to be an inaccessible atmosphere, but this has been changing for the better recently, in my opinion, and that was what my post was about. Thank-you Tom Allenworth, and all who are involved with AVSIM, for creating and continuing a wonderful forum for flight sim enthusiast of all platforms, ages, and particular interests to meet and engage with one another.

Another excellent resource is Zones Photo for X-plane. They have free downloads for thousands of square miles of high quality orthophoto scenery for much of Europe and some small island in the Atlantic. http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/

I have a number of nice repaints for the LES DC-3 and some paints for Carenado aircraft in X-plane. Currently they're hosted on the ORG (unfortunately) as well as the X-Pilot forums, but I would love to get them available for download on AVSIM. Bar none, AVSIM is the most venerable and important forum in the flight simulation community. I'm very excited and delighted to see the interest in bringing X-plane into the fold in a much greater way now. For a time it seemed that AVSIM was an uninviting Draconian fortress which only catered to Microsoft flight simulators and looked at X-plane with derision. I'm glad to see things have been changing for the better, despite a handful of people who incessantly dump on X-plane whenever they get the chance in almost every topic about X-plane. As far as uploading files to AVSIM, I think the biggest hurdle, at least for me anyway, is the confusing interface for the downloads section. Not to be rude, but that part of the site seems a bit antiquated, and almost seems like a whole different website compared to the nice modern, intuitive AVSIM forum in general. I have a hard time even finding certain downloads, that alone uploading my own files. I think the nicest download section for X-plane files right now, is the one for X-Pilot.com. However I notice by a quick perusal of their forums, that they too only have a few hundred uploads, despite being a popular X-plane forum. For whatever reason, X-plane.org is still the undisputed king of X-plane forums. I find it to be an ugly website run by administrators who often behave unprofessionally and vindictively towards anyone who might even give a hint of criticism of the org itself or the products on the org store. The key to getting more uploads and lively discussion topics for X-plane on AVSIM is to work on getting people from the org more active in the AVSIM community. Easier said then done it would seem.

Just in case you are not impressed with the Seattle KSEA area starting location in the demo (I know I wasn't here's a link to the freeware New Zealand scenery showing whats truly possible in X-plane. My suggestion would be to get a Carenado GA aircraft, the full-copy of X-plane, and download this freeware and enjoy some low-and-slow flight simulation bliss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFnh-77I5QE This is where you can download the free scenery: http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-new-zealand-pro/

No problem. Honestly if I had purchased X-plane 10 when it was first released I would have probably shelved it for quite sometime myself. I did the same with version 9. I thought it was truly awful at first and put it aside for about a year. Then when the Mitsubishi MU-2 came out, I bought it and gave Xplane a second look. If you want to get an idea of some of the best X-plane has to offer right now, you should take a look at some of the videos done by redpiper1 on Youtube about X-plane. He does some beautiful videos which really show off the best of what the sim is capable of and he also give you a list of the add-ons used in the videos as well, so you know what to shop for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUfa7iEZX6c

How could you know if X-plane 10 was sufficient to your personal requirements for a flight sim if you've never actually tried it, Huascar? I don't know about what is sufficient for you, but I know that the X-Aviation LES DC-3, the Jetstream 32 from Javier Rollon, the FlyJSim 727, any scenery from TruScenery or Aerosoft, the many great free airports available on the .org, and the New Zealand scenery freeware certainly have my attention. Geofa: Yes absolutely, constructive criticism is always something that should be allowed to come to the discussion floor. X-plane has become better for it. Constant bickering and ignorant slander based on limited experience and seemingly personal crusades are not however. Often these forum strings devolve into the kind of dismal chastising that you refer to when someone else, often one of a well known band of dissenting commenters, brings up the same tiresome gripes about X-plane versus FSX and it snowballs from there.