FSX is getting old, now what?

[kingnorris]

That's real simming. Life at 35000 ft all the time would get cumbersome quickly

I admit it can get cumbersome, but like someone else mentioned,the startup, taxi, initial takeoff and landing procedures are the thrill for me.

Cruise alt, a/p engaged,does get boring. But I feel like a real airline pilot, minus the paycheck.....lol.

[Adam24]

You need o have some carenado planes, they will really make you love fsx! Almost all addons make FSX a 100 times better!

[AlexBl]

Loads of replies! Great! I really appreciate it! Thanks everybody!
I do not find simming boring, I just want to spice it up a little, maybe with some challanges, new planes or grahics.

My question has mostly been answered.
What you guys have said is basically "fsx is the one! Install addons!"
And I sincerely appreciate that I've gotten several addon-names. I seriously didn't know where to start with those.


Love you guys!
Very, very valuable info I've gathered here! This is the thing I love about forums.

Two things... "Sim Savey" (photo scenery of the USA on an external HD for about $309 USD).... and Vatsim. You get these too things and you'll NEVER get tired of FSX!

Whoah! Expensive stuff! Anyhow I appreciate your tip and I will check em out. Thanks Mith!

Been doing this for 20ys and still not "tired" Just completed a tour of Africa. There is something I'll bet you havn't done? The serengeti plains and kilimanjaro in the back ground in a Twotter. Its beautiful scenery and challenging landing on unimproved grass a dirt strips. Stll have a vivid imagine imagination for an old man. But then again, that's all we had as children was our imagination!

That's real simming. Life at 35000 ft all the time would get cumbersome quickly

That sounds great! Yeah, there is always stuff to do. I admit that. Thank you torkermax, I will chek out Africa a bit closer!

"Since this is my first post I should probably introduce myself.
I am a teenage guy who lives in Finland. I am planning on applyling for flight school next year for real world ATPL license and my dream is to be a airline pilot. "

If simming is not doing it for you (either 9 or FSX) ,then I would suggest you concentrate on your ambition to be a real world pilot,
although I believe a lot of 'real' pilots still use 9 and X as training aids.
Andy
Earthbound but still a sim fan.

Aw no. I do simming for fun and I do enjoy it. I actually just feel kinda funny about the mainstream gameindustrys huge development while the flightsimulators are still stuck in the 06.

You are not the only one!

Ah! Great! Good luck mate and see you up there in a few years!

With the Orbx scenery and FSGensis terrain mesh, I was quickly able to locate my homesite, if not my home, in FSX. Without these two, the stock FSX scenery didn't even come close. So I'll second (or third) those choices. I also have REX 2.0

Haven't been flying in a while, though, summer is difficult as Real Life tends to interfere!

Best,

Tom

That sounds terrific! I will check em out! Sound great!

Alex Bl when you say old do you mean technically? software? or doing nothing to make it really a fantastic experience. A good look around this site and the forums here not to mention the pilot shop would show you there has been a hell of a lot happening.

If you mean your bog standard FSX scenery etc, then yep its dull and sometimes lifeless but that was a marketing decision by MS and not a technical decision. If you haven't upgraded and changed that it is adequate, want some zing and lifelike realism then go to a good ad on scenery, you can't do the whole world to real life fidelity (you would need terrabytes of memory to hold the files) and the current graphic and vectored photographic renditions are pretty damn good.

I am a retired real world pilot and would have to perhaps suggest your doing the wrong sort of flying. Punting a 747 or whatever from A to Z at FL's is as boring as you can get after a few years trust me I know. Flying is about the challenge of throwing things about, enjoying the freedom of the skies and the miracle of flight and aeroplanes. Try getting REX weather and spicing up the traffic, experiment with different aeroplanes, old and new, go and find out all about them, a bit of fun on the internet as well, and see what they are like in FSX, generally pretty well just like the real ones were, some good, some difficult, some downright awful.

Use your imagination, remember its a game.

FSX is pretty safe for quite a while or until and new generation of DX arrives and changes everything.

Thank you for your reply oldcrusty! Yes, I do feel like fsx is old in scenery, I do enjoy the flying though. I just thought there was something newer out there, but looking at all the addons I am to install I will stick to fsx.

That is a good point! I will try to spice up my flying a bit. And I will take a look at Rex weather. Some great tips here! I sincerely appreciate it!
Thank you!

"Now what?" is probably going to be in either XPlane 11 or 12..........10 was close. Bottom line is FS9 and X are looking like what you would see in Train Simulator or Mechwarrior Mercenaries.........they are great software but with old and tired graphics. FLIGHT, aside how useless it is, and even with a few little bits and pieces added is the same story. X-Plane is the way forward for the use of what is possible today and about the only entity that can be trusted to deliver a simulator.

So, you are agreeing with neary everybody else here that I should stick with fsx for now? Or would you go for x-plane?

Take it from an old man with 20 years FS experience, FSX is still the best. Follow the advice above to upgrade with the best add-ons.

As you are seriously aiming to be an airline pilot, I recommend PMDG's Boeing 737NGX. It's the best and most challenging airliner available to date. It will take a lot of study to master.

Good luck.

Thank you! Yes, as they say, it does seem like fsx is the one. Although it is almost six years old.
I will check that plane out! I love a challenge in the late summer night! Thank you!

Since you're mostly into airline flights here are some recommendations to remove the 'dull' from FSX. I'll assume your budget is unrestricted -- if not, I'd get these in order of their listing:

Aircraft: PMDG 737NGX series. Get both packages - the -600/-700 and -800/-900. Read the manuals, learn the systems, fly the tutorials. Turn on crash-detection Master these and you'll have a leg-up in your ATP training

Challenge yourself: Learn and practice difficult approaches in the 73x such as MHTG 02, SBRJ 02R, LOWI CTL 08. There are many others -- Google is your friend. Even with that super-duper joystick, these should make you sweat.

Fly online: interact with IVAO/VATSIM ATC as much as possible.

Weather: Active Sky 2012 (for real-time weather) and REX-Essential (for textures) -- these will make your flights more visually interesting and technically challenging

FSDT Sceneries: As many as you can afford. Absolutely top-quality. Also GSX (which works at any airport with an AFCAD) to make your time at the terminals more fun and also for its spot-on pushback and follow-me-car features.

Aerosoft sceneries: Again, as many as you can afford. AES is also very nice but can be a bit pricey in the long-run if you want it to work with lots of airports.

Also: FlightBeam's KSFO. Excellent.

More accurate terrain: FSGlobal, Ground Environment X (North America, Europe)

I guess the major point is that if you want to get more out of FSX, you're gonna have to put more into it. Start with a complex aircraft like the NGX. That'll keep you so busy that for a while you'll hardly notice the scenery. But weather and scenery addons do definitely enrich the FSX experience by a huge factor.

That should give you some stuff to do, at least for the remainder of your summer vacation.

Thank you dear Jev! This is exactly what I want. Loads of names of addons and stuff for me to check out! Thank you very much! Much appreciated!
This is very valuable to me! Thanks Jev!

Good list, Jev!

@OP/Alex:

I would also recommend the FS2Crew to go with your 737ngx to occasionally liven up your flights in a realistic manner.

I realize you are a teenage guy, and probably on a budget, so you may just start w/ the first 3 above...

I hope you realize your real-world ATP ambition...for many of us, this is no longer possible, for one reason or another, one reason being a bit past the teenage years......

Thank you! Yes, I do have a budget to follow, don't we all, so I will most probably take your tip into consideration.

Well, I am gonna be a pilot one way or another. Hopefully as a full-time job, but otherwise a hobby. I have flown a cessna 152 since I got to ride with a flying-teacher. This was amazing and I instantly knew that this is what I want.
I am planning on going to a soar course this summer. It isn't that expensive and still sounds awesome! Plus that it looks good if i have at least some experience when applying for flight school next year.

[ricardo_NY1]

I would agree that you stick to FSX at this point, but per the question, FSX is getting old. 3PD are producing for it because there is no other alternative. It's only a question of time before X-Plane hits in the bulls-eye. They were pretty close with XP10. And when they do, the graphics will blow FSX away. In many ways, they already do. In my opnion, "Now what?" lies with Laminar.

[fxsttcb]

...FSX is getting old. 3PD are producing for it because there is no other alternative.

Clarification. Lockheed Martin's P3D is not producing anything for FSX. It is it's own commercial enterprise based on MS's ESP core code. ESP is also the same basis for FSX. Their product is evolving, adding things that will not work in FSX, and cleaning up the core code.
As of yet it, IMO, it isn't worth the price over FSX.
With a more computer freindly(multithread optimised) and bug free release, it will sell me more than a single month's "Developer" trial.

Laminar and LM do seem to be moving forward while MS stagnates in the simulation vein.
If MS does make "Flight" more competitive in the "simulation" sense, it will be a tough nut for either of the newbies to crack.

Until then I'll be still enjoying FS9/X as my primaries. I have just as much fun "trying" to create for it. You may too...Don