X-Planes terrain. Im impressed!

**ThrottleUp** · 08-13-2008, 06:11 PM

Hey gang, I just got X-Plane 9. Unfortunately its a slideshow on my system. However I did scoot around in a Saab JA37 Viggen fighter plane for the sole purpose of checking out the terrain in this sim.

Im very impressed in fact I will go as far to say I think its superior to FSX. And this is straight outta the box - no addons. The sim arrives on 6 DVDs and installation took 3 hours...thats right three hours! Lets have a look! the mountains you see are the Himalayas & the Alps.

However I know I will never leave my dear FS9! X-Plane is impressive and does have some neat feautures (instant-change time-of-day for example) but it still felt very alien to me (if thats the right word). The planes are no match for MS flight sim though! Not thats I've seen many but the ones I saw were not. I have heard of a super-dooper detailed X-plane 757 in the works though. Hope you liked the shots

**peer01** · 08-14-2008, 07:03 AM

Thanks for the views. looks good

**baollie** · 08-14-2008, 07:27 AM

Good one! It looks real! But I would say the 3 hours (45G) installation on FS could give the same or even better result.

**andrewclaridge** · 08-14-2008, 07:44 AM

shot 1 is cool, but I agree with the previous comment - very well put!

And I've not seen any xplane shots with clouds, rain or any weather?

***JSkorna*** · 08-14-2008, 11:31 AM

Very nice!

**ThrottleUp** · 08-14-2008, 03:09 PM

Thanks guys for your replies X-Plane 9 shining point is its terrain. In a nutshell all the time we spend looking for add-on mesh & landclass for FS9 & FSX to enhance certain areas is a non-issue with X-Plane.

Straight out of the box you get the terrain you see in these screenshots - and this high quality is present throughout the X-Plane world..so the Himalayas, Canadian Rockies, Alps, Andes...*all* look hi-res and extemely detailed. End result - you can get on with the businiess of flying!

I have not posted pics of it but the other non-mountainous terrain is excellent too...the autogen (trees and buildings) I also feel is superior to FSX.

However I did not like its interface at all. Found it confusing and strange. Im sure X-Plane veterans will laugh at me but I cant help it. I feel it can be vastly improved, its a bit too fiddly sometimes!

And as I have learned the hard way....you do need a computer with some punch to run it!

Andrew - dude I wish I could run it with all its weather effects...my PC is reduced to a smoking heap! It turns into a PowerPoint presentation I kid you not! So the best I can do is point you to these X-Plane screenshots by another simmer that shows weather

http://tinyurl.com/5egqpx