MSFS Australian Scenery vs Orbx Australia V2 for FSX

I've converted a few of my favourite aircraft to FSX. I only fly around the local (Victoria) area VFR and I'm finding the quality of the scenery and smaller airport coverage very average (!!!).

The available options are to upgrade to MSFS with what I believe gives quality scenery coverage of Australia, or invest more in FSX by purchasing Orbx Australia V2 scenery.

There are limited aircraft available in MSFS, but I'm sure that will change in the future, whereas FSX already has all the aircraft I could ever ask for.

Has anyone compared the quality of the MSFS vs Orbx scenery?

Gordon,

I only fly in Victoria.

If I go with the Orbx it's $45 if I upgrade to MSFS it's $119.

There are very few free addon aircraft for MSFS at the moment.

Merlin, I have in-laws in Bendigo and Ballarat who I've only visited once, 20 years ago. In MSFS I can take off from the freeware YBLT Ballarat airfield and fly over my father-in-law's 80 acre place and see the house, the dam, the bridge over the creek, and the olive groves - you sure can't do that in FSX even with Orbx.

Take a look at the standard of the freeware scenery for Victoria at flightsim.to (sorry there's some NZ and Canada ones in there too): https://flightsim.to/discover/victoria

I use Jordan's Victorian Airports and Airstrips packs, they are outstanding.

There are plenty of default GA planes in MSFS to keep you busy - I've had MSFS since it launched and I haven't flown them all yet!

Tim,

You make a convincing argument to invest in MSFS!!!

(Another issue: I can't seem to get imported airfields FSX to show in Free Flight selection. They are definitely saved correctly in the Scenery Library but don't show in the selection of airfields.)

I can’t comment on how good the Australian scenery is as I haven’t really flown over that way, but what I will say is.. sign up to the Xbox game pass! It will cost you just £1 / $1 for a month’s trial so you will be able to try the (standard edition) of MSFS for a month! It’s a good way to test your pc specs and see how well it runs too.

Just remember to cancel the Xbox gamepass before the month is up.

Regards

Streve

Tim,

You make a convincing argument to invest in MSFS!!!

Let me expand a bit on what Tim said. Like many others, I was thrilled to be able to fly over my own house and neighborhood in MSFS when it first came out, but I came to realize that it is much more than that. The astounding fact about MSFS is that anywhere in the world I choose to fly, the buildings, towns, farms, roads, dams, and other structures I see are all real -- even isolated mountain shacks. This means that MSFS can be used to explore the real world, taking me to places I have never been to and never will, with assurance that what I see in MSFS is close to what I would see if I actually traveled there. At present it is the only flightsim program that can do this. None other comes remotely close. If this doesn't qualify as a revolutionary advance, I don't know what does. "Eye-candy", my foot!

When I first got my hands on MSFS (as an alpha tester) I was amazed that a tiny, little known airstrip near to where I work was included in the sim! I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in fsx or any of the previous sims.

If in any doubt though, try the Xbox gamepass trial as a said earlier. MSFS is more demanding than FSX so you want make sure you have a good enough pc.

Regards

Steve

Tim,

You make a convincing argument to invest in MSFS!!!

(Another issue: I can't seem to get imported airfields FSX to show in Free Flight selection. They are definitely saved correctly in the Scenery Library but don't show in the selection of airfields.)

As everyone else has said, there's no comparison between flying over photoscenery in MSFS and flying over landclass tiles in other sims. Sorry I can't help with the FSX scenery issue, but installing scenery into MSFS is a simple unzip the scenery folder then drag-and-drop it into your Community folder - that's all there is to it.

OK!

You've convinced me.....

I've just ordered a copy of MSFS2020, should be here soon.

Now I have to look at the Aircraft conversion process to bring my favourite Piper Warrior over to MSFS2020.

(Yes, I see JF have a payware version ...but more $$$$)

I can't see why anyone flies FSX any longer. I would think if your system could "handle" FSX, there shouldn't be any problems running MSFS. I had FSX, P3Dv5, and deleted both of them when I downloaded MSFS and I haven't looked back. There are a lot of planes for every need you could have, with more coming week to week for MSFS. Go for it!

I still fly FSX because that's the only place I can fly the Captain Sim 727, the PMDG MD-11, and the PMDG JS4100. I also still fly P3D5 so I can fly the Maddog, the TFDI 717, and the PMDG 747, 737, and 777! Most of the latter will likely come to MSFS, but the 727, MD-11, and JS4100 probably never will.

I had bought hundreds of $$$ of ORBX scenery for FSX (including Australia v2 and several airports). Got P3D V5 due to 64bit and 99% scenery I got for FSX was a 100% FREE upgrade to P3D. All my FSX A2A/Carenado/RealAir aircraft work just fine also.

Has anyone compared the quality of the MSFS vs Orbx scenery?

No comparison to the realism of MSFS with its on-line "borrowed", temporary scenery. I thought it was going to be usable off-line as well. What the future holds for it, I don't know???

Will always be able to use P3D V5/ORBX scenery offline no matter what.

I had bought hundreds of $$$ of ORBX scenery for FSX (including Australia v2 and several airports). Got P3D V5 due to 64bit and 99% scenery I got for FSX was a 100% FREE upgrade to P3D. All my FSX A2A/Carenado/RealAir aircraft work just fine also.

 

 

 

No comparison to the realism of MSFS with its on-line "borrowed", temporary scenery. I thought it was going to be usable off-line as well. What the future holds for it, I don't know???

 

Will always be able to use P3D V5/ORBX scenery offline no matter what.

You clearly have missed the whole concept underlying MSFS, which is streaming of satellite data for the area being flown over, which is the only way the earth can be depicted in this level of detail. No personal computer would ever be able to accommodate the vast data base required. So yes, of course, you must be connected to the internet -- this is the whole idea! As for the future, MSFS is at least a 10-year project.

You clearly have missed the whole concept underlying MSFS, which is streaming of satellite data for the area being flown over, which is the only way the earth can be depicted in this level of detail. No personal computer would ever be able to accommodate the vast data base required. So yes, of course, you must be connected to the internet -- this is the whole idea!.

You clearly have missed the whole concept of my post.

I'm well aware of the features and benefits of MSFS, I have both. My point is it is temporary. We all know how Microsoft operates...

"We no longer support MSFS. Welcome to MSFS version 2. You will need Windows 15 and all your Market Place purchases are tied to MSFS v1 and therefore not compatible to v2"

As for the future, MSFS is at least a 10-year project.

MSFS is all ready 2 years old and 8 years will pass very quickly. Long live FSX and P3D.

You clearly have missed the whole concept of my post.

 

I'm well aware of the features and benefits of MSFS, I have both. My point is it is temporary. We all know how Microsoft operates...

 

"We no longer support MSFS. Welcome to MSFS version 2. You will need Windows 15 and all your Market Place purchases are tied to MSFS v1 and therefore not compatible to v2"

 

MSFS is all ready 2 years old and 8 years will pass very quickly. Long live FSX and P3D.

You said earlier, quote, "I thought it was going to be usable off-line as well." Pardon my misunderstanding, but it is hard to see how someone familiar with MSFS could think this. As for it being "temporary", it is no more so than FSX, P3D, FS9, MS98, or any other sim. What makes you think that FSX and P3D will escape the obsolescence you are predicting? By 2030, with no further development, they are likely to be be but a distant memory!

You said earlier, quote, "I thought it was going to be usable off-line as well." Pardon my misunderstanding, but it is hard to see how someone familiar with MSFS could think this. As for it being "temporary", it is no more so than FSX, P3D, FS9, MS98, or any other sim. What makes you think that FSX and P3D will escape the obsolescence you are predicting? By 2030, with no further development, they are likely to be be but a distant memory!

There is an offline mode and the ability to locally cache the streamed scenery, so not hard to see where the idea comes from.

The difference in the long term life of MSFS compared to other sims comes down to how they work. Provided you can keep the right computer, and possibly a VM, running, those other sims can run just the same as they do today or did in the past with no outside input well into the future (see the people still running FS2004 20 years after it was released, for example). With MSFS there is the very real possibility that at some point down the road that the servers providing the scenery will be shut down and/or the sim itself could be removed from the MS and Steam stores entirely. Similar situations have happened already elsewhere in the gaming world with games losing content or being removed from stores entirely. Whether this is an issue or not is up to the individual and how they value their investment and control over what they run.

There is an offline mode and the ability to locally cache the streamed scenery, so not hard to see where the idea comes from.

 

The difference in the long term life of MSFS compared to other sims comes down to how they work. Provided you can keep the right computer, and possibly a VM, running, those other sims can run just the same as they do today or did in the past with no outside input well into the future (see the people still running FS2004 20 years after it was released, for example). With MSFS there is the very real possibility that at some point down the road that the servers providing the scenery will be shut down and/or the sim itself could be removed from the MS and Steam stores entirely. Similar situations have happened already elsewhere in the gaming world with games losing content or being removed from stores entirely. Whether this is an issue or not is up to the individual and how they value their investment and control over what they run.

Well, my "investment" so far is $120 for MSFS Deluxe edition and a few dollars more for add-ons (most of mine are freeware, of which there is an abundance of wonderful stuff). I can't think of a more satisfying 120 bucks to "invest" even if MSFS2020 goes kaput tomorrow (which is very unlikely as it is a blockbuster success from all the evidence I've seen). I delighted in FSX for 15 years, but not now that I've "seen Paris" (i.e. MSFS). It is a fantastic sim, regardless of how long it lasts, but I predict it is here to stay for a long, long time. Just my opinion.