How many of you have multiple sim & which is your favorite?

[Prostock]

How many of you have multiple Flight Sims and which is your favorite & why?

 

I pose the question because I've only owned two flight sims myself. CFS (Combat Flight Simulator the original) and FSX. I used to play CFS day and night back in the 1990's. That unfortunately faded away as CFS2 & CFS3 came out. My computer at the time couldn't handle 2&3 speeds which were dinosaurs compared to today's technology.

 

And then came FSX which I never really got into the flying aspects of the sim as I was more into downloading planes & scenery's. As some of you know, I've been looking for a new, faster & better computer....... Hence part of the reason for my question.

 

Sims I've seen & am getting more excited about every time I watch another You Tube video on each one. Opinions on each of the below please and how Fast a computer is needed to run them without issues.

 

Virtual Pilot 3D - Looks totally awesome compared to most I've seen. Is the sim good enough as it is or are addon planes & scenery available & needed?

 

X-Plane 11 Global - Another awesome looking sim I'm considering. Same question for this one. Is the sim good enough as it is or are addon planes & scenery available & needed?

 

 

 

Hoping this helps with my Computer dilemma. Trying every angle before I spend all that money on something that I'm hoping will powerful enough on a $1200 budget.

 

 

Thank you in advance. Brian

[cporses]

Firstly, steer clear of Virtual Pilot 3D. It is a clone of the freeware sim FlightGear available at http://home.flightgear.org/download. FlightGear is an impressive Simulator, so much so that some unscrupulous people are putting it on DVD's, renaming it and selling it.

I have tried many flight sims over many years. The choice is really dependent on what you want in a sim, and what type of system you have to run it. I always come back to FSX-SE and P3D, probably because of my familiarity with them, but also because of all the addons available, both pay and freeware.

X-Plane is very good also, I personally just couldn't adapt to the different keyboard/control setup. with the interest in XP11, there is a lot of addons also becoming available.

[jorgen.s.andersen]

FSX Acceleration (boxed version) and P3D v. 4.3.

 

Jorgen

[llivaudais]

Which, What, Why?

 

Boxed FSX/A and P3dv2.5 on Win7 and FSX-SE and P3dv3.3 on Win10.

 

I've installed Flightgear a couple of times in the past but it fell short in what matters most to me - the scenery. Airplanes are just a way to get where the mountains are...

 

I guess I spend 99.95% of my time in P3dv2.5.

I miss the airport/location labels in FSX but I like the cloud shadows in P3d.

I use the same photoscenery and terrain mesh in both and mostly the same aircraft.

 

Speaking of which - it's been years since I've heard anyone mention the FSX's Airport Labels feature. It must be nearly forgotten by now. This undocumented feature allows airport labels to display IF the coding is manually added to the Standard.xml file; it is NOT shown in the controls menu and you must use some hot-key combination that doesn't conflict with any other. My hotkeys are customized to allow me to use variations of "V" key combinations for Views.

 

"just" add this assignment to the standard.xml - customize your own key assignment

 

        
SHIFT+V
TOGGLE_AIRPORT_NAME_DISPLAY

 

 

The mountain labels were added as dummy airports so I could try to learn my way around England's Lake District.

 

Loyd

[DominicS]

As none of them individually give me 100% of what I desire from a simulator, I use them all and create an almost perfect virtual experience.

[Prostock]

Which, What, Why?

 

Boxed FSX/A and P3dv2.5 on Win7 and FSX-SE and P3dv3.3 on Win10.

 

I've installed Flightgear a couple of times in the past but it fell short in what matters most to me - the scenery. Airplanes are just a way to get where the mountains are...

 

I guess I spend 99.95% of my time in P3dv2.5.

I miss the airport/location labels in FSX but I like the cloud shadows in P3d.

I use the same photoscenery and terrain mesh in both and mostly the same aircraft.

 

Speaking of which - it's been years since I've heard anyone mention the FSX's Airport Labels feature. It must be nearly forgotten by now. This undocumented feature allows airport labels to display IF the coding is manually added to the Standard.xml file; it is NOT shown in the controls menu and you must use some hot-key combination that doesn't conflict with any other. My hotkeys are customized to allow me to use variations of "V" key combinations for Views.

 

"just" add this assignment to the standard.xml - customize your own key assignment

 

        
SHIFT+V
TOGGLE_AIRPORT_NAME_DISPLAY

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]204767[/ATTACH]

 

The mountain labels were added as dummy airports so I could try to learn my way around England's Lake District.

 

Loyd

 

Loyd - Is that screen shot from P3d? Good stuff so far guys. I just dl'd FlightGear as the first response suggested it was a clone of Virtual Pilot which looks awesome. I would purchase VP but with the negative feedback about the sim, I'm kind of shying away from it.

 

Would be interested in hearing more about these sims if anyone has them or used them.

 

Flight Gear

 

Virtual Pilot

 

X-Plane 10

 

Prepar3d

 

ProFlight Simulator

 

I currently have FSX-SE which comes with the Accelerator Packed, So, I'm assuming this is the same as FSX/A?

 

I like FSX-SE but would like something with more eye candy. Scenery & Addons play a big part in my enjoyment of a sim. Being able to add missions and challenges is fun also.

 

 

Thanks again for the advice. Brian

Edited September 1, 2018 by Prostock

[jorgen.s.andersen]

You are correct, FSX:SE is the same as FSX/Acceleration, except you don't have to add the uiautomationcore.dll fix any more, plus I believe a couple of other small fixes.

 

Jorgen

[Prostock]

You are correct, FSX:SE is the same as FSX/Acceleration, except you don't have to add the uiautomationcore.dll fix any more, plus I believe a couple of other small fixes.

 

Jorgen

 

FSX-SE is a great simulation. I've been looking around on You Tube at some of the other sims and they look allot better but Looks V.S. Owning, hence having put out the cash, Is two different things. I'd rather not gamble when it's more cost effective to check with guys who already own them.

 

I just down loaded Flight Gear, have not installed it yet, hoping for a few more honest reviews on the above mentioned sims I posted before I Install it.

 

Wondering exactly Where I should Install it on my PC. Hope there's a readme with it. Concerned about the Program Files (x86) problem with Windows 10.

 

Would be interested in hearing more about these sims if anyone has them or used them.

 

Flight Gear

 

Virtual Pilot

 

X-Plane 10

 

Prepar3d

 

ProFlight Simulator

 

I currently have FSX-SE which comes with the Accelerator Pack

 

Thanks again

Edited September 1, 2018 by Prostock

[llivaudais]

Re the screenshot of airport labels -- no, FSX only; the feature was removed by LM in P3d. They also removed (as best I can tell) the landing gear up and down assignments - just as I learned about them. They kept toggle landing gear, of course, but didn't keep the individual up/down functions.

 

Why would that matter? With Voice Attack it would be better for a "down" command to ONLY drive gear down and not just make it opposite of whatever it happened to be at the moment.. Spoken "Gear Down" would never accidently bring the gear up if it happened to already be down. Yeah, I know there are lights on the panel to tell you that sort of thing but when hectic hits...

 

Loyd

[Prostock]

Re the screenshot of airport labels -- no, FSX only; the feature was removed by LM in P3d. They also removed (as best I can tell) the landing gear up and down assignments - just as I learned about them. They kept toggle landing gear, of course, but didn't keep the individual up/down functions.

 

Why would that matter? With Voice Attack it would be better for a "down" command to ONLY drive gear down and not just make it opposite of whatever it happened to be at the moment.. Spoken "Gear Down" would never accidently bring the gear up if it happened to already be down. Yeah, I know there are lights on the panel to tell you that sort of thing but when hectic hits...

 

Loyd

 

Thanks Loyd - I like the label Idea, I'll have to give it a go. On the rest of your info, Not quite following what you are saying here or if you're just replying to someone else. I was asking specifics about Sims.

 

Just For everyone's information. I downloaded & installed Flight Gear....... I mean Seriously? I thought I was back at one of the arcades at my local pub in 1982. Man, what a disappointment!!!

It was said to be a clone of Virtual Pilot, I don't think so.

 

Anyway, I guess I'm just going to have to You Tube everything. Thanks

[RichardDavis]

Also tried Flight Gear. Well, maybe, some people like it, but I prefer P3dv2.5.

[il88pp]

About flightgear. Not a clone. Maybe you should read the answer you got (answer one). Instead of claiming the opposite.

 

You tend to not read the answers given. Same in your three threads about mesh. What mesh is, and which file(s) to download was explained a few times, yet you kept repeating the question. (and downloaded other files then advised.)

 

i also notice you ask for 'opinions'. So not facts about the software and advice, more sort of an opinion pole.

As if you aren't interested in any advice at all.

[DominicS]

Thanks Loyd - I like the label Idea, I'll have to give it a go. On the rest of your info, Not quite following what you are saying here or if you're just replying to someone else. I was asking specifics about Sims.

 

Just For everyone's information. I downloaded & installed Flight Gear....... I mean Seriously? I thought I was back at one of the arcades at my local pub in 1982. Man, what a disappointment!!!

It was said to be a clone of Virtual Pilot, I don't think so.

 

Anyway, I guess I'm just going to have to You Tube everything. Thanks

 

If that is your impression of one of the most sophisticated sims available, I suggest you do a bit more research on your area of interest.

 

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?311943-Flightgear-impressions/page2

 

 

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?312430-Screenshot-of-the-month-contest

[amberdog1]

I'm a FSX flyer mostly. I use FSX Dlx with both SP1 & 2. I have FSX-SE as well. I have Xp-9 boxed, looking at getting XP-11 or P3D. The reason I tend to use FSX is ease of use, tons of add-ons both free and pay that are out there. You can get photo real scenery. My other reason is I can get up and going without a lot of money. I do use Active Sky 16 & cloud art for weather generation. All of my planes are freeware, and I have 6 airports freeware too. Its a hobby so start out slow and build...

Happy:pilot:Flyin AD

[DominicS]

Thread closed...