Well, I've Had It With FSX. Opinions on FSX vs. Alternatives?

I've been with Flight Sim since the very beginning. When I upgraded my computer to be able to run FSX it was a happy day! At first it ran great. Over the years I purchased about 75% of what is on this site and run those planes in FSX. Then the little issues started. So, I got a new computer, top of the line and ran it on that. Slowly I introduced each addon , building a superior Flight Sim. But, Microsoft dropped support, adn the platform became unstable over time...not sure why but it did. So, I just replaced the Hard Drive and re-installed everything just as I had it before. Now, I was able to run it last night with no problems, but today, the issues started and slowly it got to the point I cannot even start the Sim. Some of you here tried to help me, I read everything I could google on it. Added the UIAutomation.dll posted the event viewer...EVERYTHING! Wont even run. I have hundreds if not thousands invested over the years and hate to lose all that, but I am considering moving to something like X Plane because I just dont want the aggravation anymore. FSX was a place to go relax after a rough day. Now its just going from a rough day to a rough frustrating night.

I downloaded the Demo for X Plane, but does anyone here have experience with it? Does it have the same issues? Would I at least get support if it did?

Thanks

I am kinda old-school (ok, ok, I'm old too...) but I prefer FS2004 to FSX, although FSX SE does work pretty well on this old computer (Old DELL 1750). Just me though. May well be i've just added so much to FS9 and so little to FSX-SE...

Pat☺

I've got X-Plane 10 but don't like it as much as FSX, so I keep it in reserve to switch to if ever my FSX packs up completely.

The only serious issue I've had with years of using FSX is that after I upgraded my PC from Win XP to Win 7, FSX wouldn't run any more, it froze at the loading screen!

But luckily I was just about to buy a new PC anyway, and FSX runs fine on that.

The two things I don't like about X-Plane 10 are firstly the appalling stock city/town scenery, (although I think it can be remedied by buying addon scenery)

Secondly I didn't like the aircraft aerodynamics because it was impossible to trim them, they seemed to have no natural stability and no matter how carefully I tried to trim them for straight and level flight, a bank would slowly begin to develop as if the plane was balanced on a needle point.

However, I'm not an X-Plane expert and maybe I should have asked for advice in their excellent community forum.

What I do like about X-Plane is that crashes are nicely animated, for example if you land too hard, wheels and bits will fly off, whereas crash animations are something FSX lacks.

Also, installing X-Plane 10 is beautifully simple and the sim runs as smooth as silk, whereas FSX can be more tantrum-prone.

Oh, and X-Plane has been continually evolved and developed for many years through to X-Plane 10 (the latest) unlike FSX which has remained basically unchanged for many years.

One more thing- the learning curve in X-Plane can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be (like FSX). For example I'm a fun flyer and like to just jump in the cockpit and slam open the throttle and away I go, piece o' cake :)

Mine is a similar tale but with a fairly happy ending. Like you I was having issue after issue with FSX some forums were suggesting that it was because I'd installed the service packs incorrectly others said it was the way I'd tweaked the setup. All in all it was frustrating that I couldn't use the addons I'd purchased on a good computer (i7 2600K, with 16GB of ram and a fairly good graphics card GTX 660) without the program crashing or framerates dropping like elevators with snapped cables.

So I did what you are contemplating and I got X-Plane 10. It has a very very good flight model and night flights over busy cities are jaw dropping gorgeous but X-Plane 10 isn't without it's own issues, though none of them as severe as not being able to start the program.

X-Plane 10 was missing a bit of the fun factor for me too, doing VA jobs on FSX was a breeze but never got into this on X-Plane.

Because of this I stopped simming altogether until December just gone when i noticed on steam that they had released FSX:SE which was essentially gold edition, acceleration pack, service packs 1 & 2 built in, bug fixes and multiplayer back again. I was lucky as it was on sale and got it for £4. At that price I thought why not. Now it is £20 but knowing what I know now, I'd happily pay £20.

On the same PC 99% of the issues I had before are gone. I'm flying all the aircraft I used to and some new ones because i never originally had acceleration. The only bugbear I now have is the 4GB memory limitation thats causing big stutters when I have aerosoft KLAX running.

I am now fully back into flight simming thanks to the steam edition and enjoying it for probably more hours each night than i should.

They say that steam edition may not be compatible with all previous add ons but the only one I've seen thats not supported is TacPack.

FTX Global and vector are fine. And i just got shockwave 3d Lights which is also fine. FSUIPC even has a new version out that supports FSX:SE

Maybe the steam edition will do the same for you? Keep an eye out on steam as they have sales every now and then around holidays.

I don't think you can blame FSX for problems resulting from the installation of "75% of what is on this site." People tend to overlook how amazing it is that so many different software programs must work in harmony in FSX and any other complex application. Software conflicts are surely just a matter of time if that many add-ons are installed, one after the other. Sad fact is, some just won't work together, no matter what is done.

As for X-Plane, "flying over lunar landscape" scenery just isn't enjoyable to me after FSX. And the configuration and tweaking necessary on my rig, for X-Plane, was a much greater workload than adjustments required for FSX best performance and best appearance. One example: I didn't think it was much fun to have to spend two tedious hours in X-Plane settings for my Saitek gear to work right. In comparison, I bet it took all of 15 minutes to get my X52 flight controls set up for FSX.

And that whole personality cult thing about X-Plane's creator gets kind of ... tiresome. I don't worship at the altar of Saint Austin.

There are some good x-plane/FSX comparison videos on youtube. The general consensus seems to be that x-plane has better flight dynamics, with the out-of-the-box 172 being particularly realistic. On everything else, FSX looks better.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dovetail come up with in FSXI (or whatever they choose to call it).

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dovetail come up with in FSXI (or whatever they choose to call it).

What is that sim? And how serious is that "venture"?

What is that sim? And how serious is that "venture"?

Dovetail Games has not announced what it will be called, nor what features will be in it. All that is confirmed is that they have the team assembled and are working on development.

The fact that DTG paid a reported ~$11 million USD to Microsoft for this license is a pretty fair indicator that they are entirely "serious..." :)

Dovetail Games has not announced what it will be called, nor what features will be in it. All that is confirmed is that they have the team assembled and are working on development.

 

The fact that DTG paid a reported ~$11 million USD to Microsoft for this license is a pretty fair indicator that they are entirely "serious..." :)

Good.

I've been hearing often about the licensing and I am surprised something old and obsolete costs so much to buy r take over. Is Windows-95 too licensed still?

Yes, there are spectacular addons for it but the platform itself is an old junk, and if it has ANY value to it it is owing to addon developers, otherwise it would have gone down the trash can. All licensing should have been suspended already (it paid itself about 100 times).

It is Microsoft that has to pay developers like PMDG/FSDT/Aerosoft/HiFi etc a percent on monthly basis for keeping the old $2.30-worth software alife lol )))))

(kidding!, with a small hint of truth).

There are some good x-plane/FSX comparison videos on youtube. The general consensus seems to be that x-plane has better flight dynamics, with the out-of-the-box 172 being particularly realistic. On everything else, FSX looks better.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dovetail come up with in FSXI (or whatever they choose to call it).

It will be based on the Microsoft Flight engine not FSX. I will bet anyone a million dollars who thinks otherwise.

It will be based on the Microsoft Flight engine not FSX...

I've scoured DTG's site and found no statements other than a sim is in development...Don

Dovetail Games has not announced what it will be called, nor what features will be in it. All that is confirmed is that they have the team assembled and are working on development.

 

The fact that DTG paid a reported ~$11 million USD to Microsoft for this license is a pretty fair indicator that they are entirely "serious..." :)

Wow this is the first ive heard of this and its very exciting! Dovetail games dont do things by halfs. Their train sim games are trully excellent not to mention they built a fishing simulator game on the unreal 4 engine! Yes thats right, a fishing sim on the extremely high end, usually reserved for triple A, blockbuster fps games engine. Overkill maybe, expensive maybe. But high quality, yes, show of comitment, yes.

microsoft have done a great job over the years but ive no doubt dovetail are the best team to top it. They are knowelegable amd pasionate with a great attention to detail. Flight sim was always a side project for microsoft whereas flight sim will be the main project for dovetail. Im excited.

Well, no-one has said that a flight sim will be the main project for Dovetail?

They are famous for Train simming, a fishing game, & the re-release of an 8 year old simming game.

I also raise my eyebrows, with flying games being released by probably the largest game distributor around!

So, that brings us to the claimed forthcoming flight sim release that probably use the Flight! engine.

This could be a concern to me, as we all know that, towards the end, Flight! became free, & even then, there was a lck of interest. Another thought.... What if DT's release IS based on Flight! & all the add-ons will be available in the form of paid DLC's from Steam? We actually have no clue what will happen.

Think about the developers out there, releasing products for FSX, P3D & even updates for their products to work with FSX:SE, as well as 1 or 2 products for FSX:SE only.

Now there comes a brand new sim. What will they do? There has been already talk about the apparent dissatisfaction that some devs have with the small returns they get with DT, now, if a new sim is 'closed' & supported by DLC's only, it will be a most interesting journey.

So we wait, always searching for the Holy Grail!

Well, no-one has said that a flight sim will be the main project for Dovetail?

They are famous for Train simming, a fishing game, & the re-release of an 8 year old simming game.

I also raise my eyebrows, with flying games being released by probably the largest game distributor around!

 

So, that brings us to the claimed forthcoming flight sim release that probably use the Flight! engine.

 

This could be a concern to me, as we all know that, towards the end, Flight! became free, & even then, there was a lck of interest. Another thought.... What if DT's release IS based on Flight! & all the add-ons will be available in the form of paid DLC's from Steam? We actually have no clue what will happen.

 

Think about the developers out there, releasing products for FSX, P3D & even updates for their products to work with FSX:SE, as well as 1 or 2 products for FSX:SE only.

 

Now there comes a brand new sim. What will they do? There has been already talk about the apparent dissatisfaction that some devs have with the small returns they get with DT, now, if a new sim is 'closed' & supported by DLC's only, it will be a most interesting journey.

 

So we wait, always searching for the Holy Grail!

Flight was free from day one, DLC was extra. News flash for you, head on over to MS Flight at AVSIM to see what some "hackers" have accomplished with FLight. If they can do it any developer will have no problem doing the same. FSX is dead. Time to get over it and move on.

I don't really care whether Dovetail's future release is built on Flight, FSX, or something else, I just want an awesome PC flight sim for a reasonable price.

A year or so after FSXs release, UBISOFT came out with HAWX, which has scenery and framerates way better than any FSX add-on I've seen. Just try the downloadable demo in Rio to see it.

Yup, Flight was free, with an island & a plane, or was it 2? Everything else was DLC's. No free stuff at all. Yup, I am watchin, with interest, with what you call 'hackers' are doing, with good results. I'm sure, as well, that Dovetail's eventual sim, IF it has the Flight! core, will be pretty much locked down from 'hackers'.

Yup, the program, in it's various forms, is 9 years old. There are many, many developers out there, free& payware, who still think it's quite alive still.

I don't really care whether Dovetail's future release is built on Flight, FSX, or something else, I just want an awesome PC flight sim for a reasonable price.

 

A year or so after FSXs release, UBISOFT came out with HAWX, which has scenery and framerates way better than any FSX add-on I've seen. Just try the downloadable demo in Rio to see it.

Iain, Hawk is a combat game & as such, cannot or should not be compared to a non-combat game, irrespective of how much more faster or how pretty it is, & I'm sure it is

I much prefer spending my time on FSX too, for the same reasons you state. I was merely comparing the ability of HAWX to provide fast-moving realistic 3 dimensional scenery - and if FSX could do this as well as HAWX does it would be fantastic.

Of course HAWX has the advantage of only needing to cover limited areas of the world, I couldn't image how much disk space it would take to cover the whole world Hawx style (not to mention development effort to stitch it together).

Yup, Flight was free, with an island & a plane, or was it 2? Everything else was DLC's. No free stuff at all. Yup, I am watchin, with interest, with what you call 'hackers' are doing, with good results. I'm sure, as well, that Dovetail's eventual sim, IF it has the Flight! core, will be pretty much locked down from 'hackers'.

 

Yup, the program, in it's various forms, is 9 years old. There are many, many developers out there, free& payware, who still think it's quite alive still.

Flight would have done just fine if the bean counters and MS people who refused to

listen to flight simmers, hadn't gotten involved.

They should have developed it for the whole world, the same as the previous versions,

and not turned it into a "arcade" type of game. Seems I recall one of the planes didn't

even come with a cockpit.. But I forgot, and I never ran Flight because it didn't do what

I wanted for a sim. It was a mistake for MS to cut the Aces crew they had and can what

would have been FS11.

MSFS never lost money as far as I know, so seems to me, the bean counters ruined the

day more than anyone.

I don't want to be stuck to a sim which has to be online in order to run. I have Steam,

but for that issue, I don't know if I would ever consider it my #1 sim. I have it more to

tinker with than anything else.. And it was cheap when I bought it.

FSX is not dead at all.. It's just getting a bit long in the tooth. But there is enough good

3rd party stuff that it's a long way from being a dead sim.

For me, at this time, if I were to dump FSX for a new platform, only one provides what

I need. And that's P3D. I'm not running it yet as I need a new video card, and the

$200 price that I will have to pay for a true legal version kind of gags me. "I don't

qualify for the Academic license, unless I want to cheat"..

But sooner or later, I've almost positive P3D will be my next sim. For one thing, the

planes I want to run will be available for it, which is the most important thing.

That's another reason why I lagged on P3D.. The PMDG planes weren't out yet.

But the 777 is out now, and the 737 will be pretty soon. Ditto for the upcoming 747.

And the A2A planes and many others are available for it. Ditto for ASN for wx, etc..

I've been with Flight Sim since the very beginning. When I upgraded my computer to be able to run FSX it was a happy day! At first it ran great. Over the years I purchased about 75% of what is on this site and run those planes in FSX. Then the little issues started. So, I got a new computer, top of the line and ran it on that. Slowly I introduced each addon , building a superior Flight Sim. But, Microsoft dropped support, adn the platform became unstable over time...not sure why but it did. So, I just replaced the Hard Drive and re-installed everything just as I had it before. Now, I was able to run it last night with no problems, but today, the issues started and slowly it got to the point I cannot even start the Sim. Some of you here tried to help me, I read everything I could google on it. Added the UIAutomation.dll posted the event viewer...EVERYTHING! Wont even run. I have hundreds if not thousands invested over the years and hate to lose all that, but I am considering moving to something like X Plane because I just dont want the aggravation anymore. FSX was a place to go relax after a rough day. Now its just going from a rough day to a rough frustrating night.

 

I downloaded the Demo for X Plane, but does anyone here have experience with it? Does it have the same issues? Would I at least get support if it did?

 

Thanks

Hello there; I am sorry to here of your plight with FSX....I first had flight sim 25 years ago and after a break of some years; recently updated to FSX, for me, it is fantastic with default scenery and FSX aircraft; a few hiccups, but with the valuable and very much appreciated help from all those great forum posters; my setup now with four screens is unbelievable. I have only one scenery alteration; Playsim/Horizon UK Photographic the rest default FSX and at this present time; works extraordinarily well. My PC was built specifically and only to run FSX to my budget; I regularly Disc clean up, use Bullguard internet security software and keep only necessary files/information for Flight Sim in the PC. All I can say is it is absolutely fantastic for me.

Strange, I've had FSX Gold / Acceleration inmy computer now for 4 years with very few problems, I've got just around 4,775 Aircraft and 350 sceneries installed.

I've got Track IR5 and Registered version of Fraps.

and some custom tweaks for sky and shaders I did myself.

Tho, I don't use REX, or Active sky, or any of those programs.

I often read on forum boards of a user trying to cram everything out there into the sim, and then can't get it to work like - they - say it should ?????

Kinda like cramming a whole bunch of food in yourself at once, is it all really going to mix well ??? you may not feel to good afterwards, kinda like a computer that's been trying to digest whatever somebody throws at, rather it was properly wrote or not without hee-cups.

Notice all the updates and patches for this and that for this program and that program, and heres another one too,,,,, Really ?????

I wonder if anyone has truly attempted to try to install every single program out there into FSX all together with each other and see if it truly works without hee-cups , glitches, and burps ????

what is there like 25 programs out there now all supposedly for FSX.

All of em' really work Well in conjuction with each other as claimed ???

Remember the ol' saying - KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid !!

That fits me, I'm Stupid !!!! :)

I've had FSX for about 7 years and it's so beautiful straight out of the box that it's never crossed my mind to overload it with tons of fancy addon scenery and weather etc.

All I've added is a strip of southern england scenery and a bunch of freeware planes, and it runs smooth as silk..:)