FrozenPolarBear

@coastaldriver In FSX I flew mostly PMDG 777 and KA350 when I wanted to switch to props, which both are technical enough for me 😁 @coastaldriver @Bjoern Yeah, flying controls. I didn't fly on rails in FSX, at least I tried not to pretty hard. And in XP yesterday I successfully landed every time. It was just during testing VFR flights in C172 in clear weather during the day on major runway, but if you are saying that XP is more unforgiving that FSX, I probably flew FSX much closer to real flight than I needed in FSX. I only crashed few times before I connected yoke/x55, because flying with mouse is completely new for me and also in my brain mouse pitch is reversed. So I dig few holes around runway before I gave up on mouse flying during my peripherals tests 😄 . Now I'm trying to figure out some comfortable response curves, because even on yoke and x55, I can do all maneuvers within 1mm around center threshold. That doesn't even seem difficult to do, especially if I can do it for each plane individually. Flying without AP I haven't noticed too much difficulty (default C172) - usually disconnect AP 3 miles from runway and then hand flying the landing from there. It probably helps that I have all trims physically on yoke and pitch on TPM, so I can do it in real time without letting off controls and fiddling with trims using a mouse. I need to test some crosswinds to see if I can handle hands-off flying in more challenging conditions in XP models. Right now graphics are more than good enough (remember, I'm coming from FSX 😆), that much deeper in ToDo list. RIght now I downloaded KA C90B from IBAV8N, going to install it and check it. I need to play offline, so ATC would need to be completely part of my PC. I'll check some 3rd party or maybe wait what XP will offer in next release (I haven't even checked the actual XP12 one yet). Mission generator/career mode is also on the list (if some offline version is available). Who knew I would have such a blast installing/setting up a new FS, feels like 5 years old on Christmas. SIM flying is just compensating my long term unfulfilled dream becoming airline pilot and this excitement with new FS starting to feel silly. I should calm down and also stop spamming this thread with long posts. But I'm grateful for all your replies, encouragement and hints. AV community has been always great regardless the portal (try to ask something on Apple forums if you want to really appreciate AV people 😄)

True, definitely better than FSX. No really, it feels subjectively like 10x less tedious process to setup XP than I remember in FSX. Yeah, now I'm scolding myself to wait until now to switch. But as I said, FSX was customized fully (almost) to my liking and that was long and tedious process. That was the main reason for staying with FSX so long. Thank you for such long experience share. I got pretty excited too today when I first started it (as you can see above). But it is keep going. All other Saitek panels works as well, button customization for each plane is great idea (at least for me). I even tried to plug my X55 Rhino set and it worked for first try flawlessly. Axis calibration window right from the start automatically.. good things just keep coming 😊 Now I'm searching for something which turns Saitek switches from "buttons" to real two way switches (it is aparently a thing, which I again found on X-plane forum section). Flying experience I can't comment yet, as it really feels different and I did just few minutes of test flights with default C172. That's not anywhere close to draw conclusions. So for the name of this topic, moving to xplane time was like 4 years ago with new PC, I just didn't realize it.

Ok, it is happening. Downloaded over night, so today I rolled up my sleeves and pick first thing. My cursed Autopilot Saitek panel, which worked flawlessly in Win7 DVD version of FSX, but on my new PC I bought 4 years ago with Win10 (yes, I switched to win10 just 4 years ago😜), I have never managed to make it work. I gave up after two weeks of fighting with that stupid Win10 usb power management (probably the worst Win feature ever) and then with various FSX plugins for that panel, which no one has ever worked. Today, on this very forum, bam, 2 minutes, link to xplane org, some awesome dude name sparker, bam app for fixing that usb power management, download Saitek plugin for xplane 12 from the same saint who puts everything essential to one thread, 5 more minutes and it bloody works!

@Bjoern Thanks for your reply, last two days of diving into XP topics here and there mostly convinced me, including your and @mjrhealth encouraging post. I will give it a shot and download it over night today 😏 Regarding to the demo, in case XP 12 would disappoint me (now I don't believe that would happen especially compared to FSX), I wouldn't regret those few bucks. I would regret the time spent customize it. Just those two days of my free time checking XP12 related topics was way more expensive than XP purchase price 😇 . And I think on this forum I don't need to explain how long takes tinkering with freshly installed FS 😁

@mjrhealth Thanks for detailed reply 👍 Yeah, I'm aware about mostly non existent ATC in XP, so I'm ready for add-on solution. But if XP is going to add some good ATC soon, that's great info and something I wasn't aware of. I also heard praises for Zibo 737, it is basically in any thread related to XP. That King Air is a pleasant surprise. Now most of plane models goes to MSFS, but I browsed through XP airplane models availability today and it is looking good enough for me. Graphics. Here I'm pretty much expecting improvement here from FSX, like we're talking over 10 years difference 😁, but I'm not too much for VFR, so any improvement from good old FSX is a bonus. I was mostly asking airplanes models and physics to compare with FSX, which according to your reply is like night and day difference. So I think I'll dig a little more about other XP features (flight plan from external site, Saitek compatibility etc ) and if there is no problem, I think I'll give XP a shot. Thanks again

Don't want to open a new thread, as name of this one is quite fitting. I'm using FSX for long, long time and I was thinking of newer FS engine. For a reasons I can't use MSFS2020 and 2024, so my question is: is it worth to move from MS FSX to X Plane (11 or 12)? I'm talking moving all - old Saitek Pro flight kit (would it work?), some similar add-ons for XP. Are there also good 3rd party planes? Like in FSX I'm using B777, B737 (both PMDG), King Air 350 (IIRC Carenado).. My recent PC HW is not issue for X plane. So is recent XP 11 or 12 so much better than FSX to justify time (I bet that would take a lot) and money investment? I read quite a lot about it, but it is mostly just fight between recent MSFS version fans and XP fans (which is not my problem). I need to compare it to nicely customized FSX.