FSX Essentials?

**bilbosmeggins** · 01-20-2009, 06:45 AM

Hi all.

I'm new to FSX, so am slowly easing myself into things. The thing is - I am absolutely amazed at the complexity, and diversity of all the "bolt-on" goodies available. It's a bit of a minefield trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff. What would some of you more experienced folk consider to be "must haves"?

My own essentials are few at the moment, but, for the record, I couldn't live without the Trackir. Breathes new life into the sim. As regards planes, I have to say that I am totally in love with my Carenado C152 II . I know it sounds daft, but I actually feel like I've got myself my very own plane. All the other planes seem to remind me that it's not real, but not my little Cessie. Also downloaded the Moonie, but have yet to fall in love with it. Big shout out for Horizon's VFR scenery too. Wales is now an absolute joy.....

**mavrocket** · 01-20-2009, 08:10 AM

I would recommend a nice weather engine, such as Active Sky Advanced and a scenery enhancement program like Ultimate Terrain X and/or Ground Environment X. You also might want to check out Flight Environment X or Real Environment Extreme for picture perfect clouds and skies.

If you enjoy Carenado's 152 and Mooney, I highly recommend the U206 and Skylane II RG be added to your hanger, as they are also wonderful to fly.

**bilbosmeggins** · 01-20-2009, 08:25 AM

Hi

I did actually purchase UTX, but the jury is still out on that one for me. Maybe it's the cars that are upsetting me. I witnessed some driving across fields, a good 300 yards from the nearest road. And some of the welsh roads now resemble moto x tracks, with lorries happily traversing them. Maybe I need to disable UTX a while so I can see what it was like before, 'cos I can't remember it too well.

I have been thinking about a weather add-on. Do they cause much of a hit on the system?

Who are the U206 and Skylane II RG publishers please? Just in case there are more than one version of them.

Cheers, Andy

**mavrocket** · 01-20-2009, 08:39 AM

The U206 and Skylane II RG are both published by Carenado...you have to be careful and get the new FSX versions however. Here's the links.

RG:
http://www.fspilotshop.com/product_i...oducts_id=1745

U206:
http://www.fspilotshop.com/product_i...oducts_id=1725

As far as a weather engine slowing down your system, I haven't experienced any slowdowns using Active Sky, however I do have a decent system. Someone else will need to reply about any slowdowns they have experienced. I'm sure doing a search of the forums here or at Avsim will help out on that front.

**quantumleap** · 01-20-2009, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by bilbosmeggins

I witnessed some driving across fields, a good 300 yards from the nearest road.

This could potentially be an installation issue with the default traffic not being excluded, a configuration issue, or an issue which can be further investigated.

Head over to the official Ultimate Terrain support forum on SimForums for help in finding out what is going on.

Jeff

**Bucky** · 01-20-2009, 02:03 PM

Must have

Active Sky
Ground Environment Xtreme
Real Environment Xtreme
Flight Environment Xtreme. This are REX are the same but I prefer REX.
Ultimate Terrain X
FS Genesis
FS Build. This is great for making flight plans and then importing them in FSX
Overland Airbus & Boeing packages. If you love the aircraft but want simply panels then Overland is for you
Radar Contact 4. 100x better then the default ATC
Any thing from Carenado

**Distorted Humor** · 01-20-2009, 02:31 PM

I will go another route, as I prefer Freeware stuff when it good.

There is a Navion that very good and a hoot to fly that is on most free download sites.