How do you keep FSX interesting?

The wacky unpredictability of whether or not I can make it through a routine flight without FSX crashing keeps it VERY interesting for me. That...and the endless problem I have had with FSX over 4 different PCs that I can maintain an excellent framerate until going on final keeps me on my toes.

 

Sorry for the sarcasm...I just got a gaming laptop a couple of months ago and despite the fact that it can play everything I've thrown at it flawlessly with great detail and stability EXCEPT FSX has me endlessly frustrated.

 

Still awaiting a great next-gen sim...I'm calling FSX a complete failure after over 10 years and 5 gaming pcs/laptops. Just poorly written I'm afraid...bad graphics engine.

The wacky unpredictability of whether or not I can make it through a routine flight without FSX crashing keeps it VERY interesting for me. That...and the endless problem I have had with FSX over 4 different PCs that I can maintain an excellent framerate until going on final keeps me on my toes.

 

Sorry for the sarcasm...I just got a gaming laptop a couple of months ago and despite the fact that it can play everything I've thrown at it flawlessly with great detail and stability EXCEPT FSX has me endlessly frustrated.

 

Still awaiting a great next-gen sim...I'm calling FSX a complete failure after over 10 years and 5 gaming pcs/laptops. Just poorly written I'm afraid...bad graphics engine.

 

WOW FSX IS A COMPLETE FAILURE Isn't it a failure IN YOUR CASE because you are buying the wrong computers?

 

I just did a quick look at some "gaming computers" on Newegg. Typically I discovered they have a multi-core CPU of about 3GHZ to 3.5GHZ speed. 8-16 gig of DDR3 Ram & 2 to 4 gig of GPU Ram. I bet they're great for Grand Theft Auto & all the other doper, bang bang, and car jack games. If you primarily play those types of games, you bought the right machine for them, and should accept they are not good for FSX.

 

However, those primarily interested in FSX buy a totally different machine. So if your main gaming interest is FSX, you have wasted a ton of money buying the wrong computer time and again.

 

FSX is very CPU speed dependent. It was written for a single core CPU that they thought would be running at least 10GHZ by now. Updates such as acceleration packs have allowed it to better utilize more than one core to an extent. But the main operation is still mostly dependent upon the CPU and HD handshaking almost continuously.

 

A fastest CPU you can afford & a SSHD are key to good FSX operation. Your Failure to realize that is not the failure of FSX. As we in Upper Appalachia say "Horses for Courses!"

Funny things happen in life. Many of us who started out flying are also engineers. And many engineers also fly. Physics is as physics does.

 

Good Luck

 

Thanks :)

I believe, if you got FSX for the scenery, you got the wrong Sim. I understand P3D is great for that, as is X Plane. FSX is to simulate flyinh airplanes. At lest that's how I understand it. It's not perfect at that, either, but it's pretty good, from what i can tell. No, I was never a professional pilot, just gliders and some light GA's, but flying those on FSX has been pretty close to what I recall. As for the heavy iron, No clue, but I am thoroughly enjoying the latest FSXBA FA-18C Hornet.

I use a Dell 1750, made for gaming, only 2.4 GHz, 4G RAM, Radeon 3600 GFX card, getting a bit long in the tooth (do computers even have teeth??), and would you believe it, it runs FSX-SE pretty well. Been running FS9 since I upgraded to this PC ($5,000 at the time!), and that really goes for a treat. I found the trick with FSX-SE is not to demand max 3D clouds out to infinity, and ultra-high scenery settings out of it. To me, an accurate horizon and smooth operation are plenty. Oh, I do like to see the runway and lights of it clearly, not to mention the cockpit switches and gauges, of course. After all that, anything else is gravy, and this machine actually does pretty well on that too.

Hardly an FSX.CFG tweak to be found, either. Just the runway lights settings you have to add in, everything else, Steam set for me. I'm sure I could get in and twiddle every setting in the CFG file and really mess things up, but why?

If it aint broke, don't fix it, and one of Murphy's laws: if you mess with something long enough, you WILL break it Both rules for me to live by with FSX. Add-ons, sure, but not a lot of scenery. It's not why I got the Sim. I got it to fly planes, and THAT it does fine for me!

Pat☺

The wacky unpredictability of whether or not I can make it through a routine flight without FSX crashing keeps it VERY interesting for me. That...and the endless problem I have had with FSX over 4 different PCs that I can maintain an excellent framerate until going on final keeps me on my toes.

 

Sorry for the sarcasm...I just got a gaming laptop a couple of months ago and despite the fact that it can play everything I've thrown at it flawlessly with great detail and stability EXCEPT FSX has me endlessly frustrated.

 

Still awaiting a great next-gen sim...I'm calling FSX a complete failure after over 10 years and 5 gaming pcs/laptops. Just poorly written I'm afraid...bad graphics engine.

 

Oddly enough, I got FSX:SE in March and 250 hours later I haven't had a single FSX:SE crash. Do you run the Steam Edition of FSX, too? DTG has announced that they're currently working on a nex-gen sim to fill the void left by FSX. No word on when it will be released.

 

APUtech

Hey Phantom!

 

Good to see you're still out there! I agree about the cost thing! It's amazing how fast prices have come down. I can now build a damn nice computer for not a lot more than a good GPU used to cost. And monitors! It seem they are giving them away for Green Stamps!

 

I'm the curious type. I'm always tweaking. Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug! Either way, I know most of my problems were/are self induced! I'm not a fan of Microsoft by any means. But I've never tried to blame them for my mistakes.

I'm calling FSX a complete failure after over 10 years and 5 gaming pcs/laptops. Just poorly written I'm afraid...bad graphics engine.

 

A good magician never blames his wand. Its a shame that you feel that way and you have wasted your money on machines that were never going to run FSX well. A fantastic gaming machine is not what is required by FSX as has already been pointed out along with the reasons why.

I don't believe it is a badly written piece of software when compared to the other sims, and its focus was clearly on aircraft flight dynamics over having pretty detailed scenery, which lets face it at a few thousand feet you not really going to need to see or can see someone picking their nose on a street corner. With the addition of add-on scenery it does however really immerse you in to some detailed landscapes and the airports are like a piece of art. Its our expectations that are quite often the issues not the software or its perceived lack of performance.

I will just say ... I am flying the PMDG 777 from Cairns, Australia to Manila RPLL at FL300 and ASN is showing storms with lightning..etc...and I have the tv going in the background with the Diamondbacks playing...so the FPS are between 20s and 30s with no OOMs or CTDs....on this 2800 mile flight or close to it....so Yes ...this keeps it interesting for me....and next I will try it on Prepar3d and see if that works....al v...good luck everyone...I am a happy simmer...with FSX of course which so many claim is dead.....???? but not in Tucson, AZ USA

Hey Phantom!

 

Good to see you're still out there! I agree about the cost thing! It's amazing how fast prices have come down. I can now build a damn nice computer for not a lot more than a good GPU used to cost. And monitors! It seem they are giving them away for Green Stamps!

 

You think YOU'RE happy I'm still out here.... :D

I remember delivering every Green Stamp I got to my mother to paste in her books, not to mention the drawer full of books, just waiting for us to go to the Green Stamp Redemption Center. "Pat, go to the store and get us X, Y, and Z. And don't forget the Green Stamps!" All it seemed I heard after I got my liscence. Even before, once I got my 5 speed and started zooming all over, come to think...

And the fantastic fountain down at Woolworths. And no, Macy's never told Gimball's! hehehehe. :p

 

The faster the tech moves, it seems like the less it costs, for which I am certainly grateful. I think it won't be long before implantable computers are the way to go, with VR direct to the optic centers, and radio-simulated telepathy...

Scary, aint it?

And I will probably still be using both FS9 and FSX-SE :D :D :D

Pat☺

I waltzed into my local computer shop last year and said "Build me a super-duper PC capable of handling all the high-end flight sims and strategy games out there", and they built this one for 1100 GB pounds (1600 US dollars)-

 

Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Intel® Core™ i5-4670 CPU @ 3.40Ghz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz

Mem: 16Gb RAM

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

 

And yes it plays FSX and everything else as smooth as silk, so the moral is don't be shy, just splash out on a good computer and it'll be like a Godfather to you, right Don Corleone?

 

"Right, I can make all your troubles go away"

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub1/family.jpg

You think YOU'RE happy I'm still out here.... :D

I remember delivering every Green Stamp I got to my mother to paste in her books.

And the fantastic fountain down at Woolworths.

 

Hey, Pat don't forget the Blue Chip stamps, also! Both redemption stores were about a mile and a half from where we lived. Where do you think all of my great stuff came from when I was a kid? Soda fountain at Woolworths five and dime and also Thrifty Drug Store. Super hot fudge sundae for under a buck! ;)

Hey, Pat don't forget the Blue Chip stamps, also! Both redemption stores were about a mile and a half from where we lived. Where do you think all of my great stuff came from when I was a kid? Soda fountain at Woolworths five and dime and also Thrifty Drug Store. Super hot fudge sundae for under a buck! ;)

 

Hey Rosita Come Quick!! They're giving away Green Stamps with Tequila!!

AROUND THE WORLD BY PRIVATE JET!

 

We've been Smithsonian members for years. Mainly because we enjoy their magazine. However on occasion they come up with a mailer called WORLDWIDE TOURS AND CRUISES. It's a brochure for super high priced travel with their instructors. This year I see one tour I hadn't remembered from before, AROUND THE WORLD BY PRIVATE JET.

 

These trips start at $76,950 for the Classic and $79,950 of Islands Around the World. Per person. Since that's at least $70,000 or more a year than we generally spend per person for personal travel, I've come up with a cheaper substitute. I'm "flying" each leg of the trip and doing sight seeing trips in each area. Each of their trips is 24 days. But I expect I'll complete mine in about a week each +/-. And hopefully won't suffer too much jet lag.

 

The Smithsonian group have a 757 configured for 78 guests plus their staff. While I'm making due with a Lear 45. But it's pretty interesting "flying" to where they are flying, then going on Wikipedia and Google Map to see what they are seeing. The Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania is the most interesting site I've visited so far.

 

The Smithsonian figures anyone who can afford to spend $80G apiece and be away for 24 or more days has already seen the obvious places like Paris, Rome, & Tokyo. So they're flying into places, some of which I haven't even heard of before. VERY INTERESTING!

The OpenLC NA and remaining continents will help FSX interesting another decade, coupled with REX/ASN and good sceneries there are (it's good looking stuff). Been a bit worried though about the NA delay. Anyway if Orbx doesn't do it I will go with Flight1's UTX/GEXes.

With all the above and an imagination there is no end to the fun. For me right now - I'm Building a totally home made 747 cockpit. (no bought components - I'm even even making the Korry switches by hand).

 

Also looking into creating my own scenery objects, just to pass the time, while my 3D printer is working.

AROUND THE WORLD BY PRIVATE JET!

 

We've been Smithsonian members for years. Mainly because we enjoy their magazine. However on occasion they come up with a mailer called WORLDWIDE TOURS AND CRUISES. It's a brochure for super high priced travel with their instructors. This year I see one tour I hadn't remembered from before, AROUND THE WORLD BY PRIVATE JET.

 

These trips start at $76,950 for the Classic and $79,950 of Islands Around the World. Per person. Since that's at least $70,000 or more a year than we generally spend per person for personal travel, I've come up with a cheaper substitute. I'm "flying" each leg of the trip and doing sight seeing trips in each area. Each of their trips is 24 days. But I expect I'll complete mine in about a week each +/-. And hopefully won't suffer too much jet lag.

 

The Smithsonian group have a 757 configured for 78 guests plus their staff. While I'm making due with a Lear 45. But it's pretty interesting "flying" to where they are flying, then going on Wikipedia and Google Map to see what they are seeing. The Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania is the most interesting site I've visited so far.

 

The Smithsonian figures anyone who can afford to spend $80G apiece and be away for 24 or more days has already seen the obvious places like Paris, Rome, & Tokyo. So they're flying into places, some of which I haven't even heard of before. VERY INTERESTING!

 

Great idea Rupert! al v

It's worth remembering that FSX addon planes cover everything from the Wright brothers onwards, and for modellers out there the pics in these threads at the Mission4Today forum will come in handy as they mostly display fullscreen in high definition and blow our socks off-

 

WW1 AIRCRAFT

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=16323

For example Albatros DIII

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/CMSF/Albatros_DIII_dog_zpsm1erbopa.jpg~original

 

 

 

 

VINTAGE 1920's/30's AIRCRAFT

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&t=16352

For example Ford Trimotor at East Boston 1929

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/CMSF/Ford_Trimotor_East_Boston_1929_zpshrds6jhm.jpg~original

 

 

 

 

WW2 AIRCRAFT

http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewforum&f=92

For example P-40E at the Curtiss plant, Cheektowaga, NY, Aug 1941

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/CMSF/P-40E_Curtiss_plant_Cheektowaga_NY_Aug_1941_zpshcfmpps0.jpg~original

I've recently aquired FTX Northern California, Monterey, Redding, the Alabeo Titan, and REX4. I've been exploring the Northern California region in my GTN 750 equipped Titan from my "base" at KMRY. I love KMRY, it's the best airport addon I've ever installed and I'm gonna be hanging out there for a while I can tell already. I bought Palm Springs too but I haven't installed it yet so one of these days I'll do that and plan a flight between KMRY and KPSP.

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_04.jpg

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_06.jpg

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_07.jpg

I've recently aquired FTX Northern California, Monterey, Redding, the Alabeo Titan, and REX4. I've been exploring the Northern California region in my GTN 750 equipped Titan from my "base" at KMRY. I love KMRY, it's the best airport addon I've ever installed and I'm gonna be hanging out there for a while I can tell already. I bought Palm Springs too but I haven't installed it yet so one of these days I'll do that and plan a flight between KMRY and KPSP.

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_04.jpg

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_06.jpg

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/titan_07.jpg

 

I really like the Jackson Hole software too. It's neat to see some ski trails I've skied on.

How do I keep FSX interesting? I deviate between FSX and X-Plane. When I'm in need of a change, I'll swap FSX for X-Plane and use its incredible range of features (many absent from FSX). Then...when I'm temporally done with X-Plane, I'll go back to FSX and enjoy flying around the PNW (Orbx) in the A2A Cessna. It works for me and I get the best of both worlds.

 

Cheers

 

Dom

One addon: FSPassengersX.

 

My flight today from Singapore to Hong Kong was completely ordinary until we landed too hard, busted a tire and had to evacuate the aircraft on the runway. You can customise the failure rate, type of failures, etc. It's great!

One addon: FSPassengersX.

 

My flight today from Singapore to Hong Kong was completely ordinary until we landed too hard, busted a tire and had to evacuate the aircraft on the runway. You can customise the failure rate, type of failures, etc. It's great!

 

That sounds cool! I'll put it into my To Do List!

 

Thanks!

FLIGHT 19

Here's a challenge, follow the Flight's intended route over the Bermuda Triangle, taking off from Ft. Lauderdale (1), and flying through points 2 and 3 and back to Lauderdale.

My take on the incident is that when they approached some of the Bahama islands, leader Taylor thought he was over the Florida Keys because they looked exactly like them, so he assumed his compass had got thrown off by the earlier practice bomb runs at Hens and Chickens Shoals (B) and became hopelessly disoriented.

(PS- I don't know if the Shoals are in FSX, I haven't found them yet)

5 December 1945, Fort Lauderdale, Florida at about 2:10pm Eastern Standard Time.

"A warm day with billowing clouds soaring overhead in the current of a gusting southwest trade wind. The temperature was 67 degrees. The general weather conditions were considered average for training flights of this nature, except within showers."

http://www.nasflmuseum.com/flight-19.html#sthash.22n3Z02x.dpuf

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub2/FSX-flight-19a_zpstdvvry0n.jpg~original

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19

 

 

Some other Avengers

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/sub2/TBF__Avengers-fwp_zpsr6kmsuca.jpg~original

How do I keep FSX interesting? I deviate between FSX and X-Plane. When I'm in need of a change, I'll swap FSX for X-Plane and use its incredible range of features (many absent from FSX). Then...when I'm temporally done with X-Plane, I'll go back to FSX and enjoy flying around the PNW (Orbx) in the A2A Cessna. It works for me and I get the best of both worlds.

Cheers

Dom

 

I once tried flipping between FSX and X-Plane but hadn't got the brainpower capacity to have to memorise whole different sets of keys and buttons and stuff for each sim..:)

Great idea on the Bermuda triangle flight SKB. :)