New to P3D

Hi,

I wanted to upgrade from FS9. I typed Flight Simulator 2017 into YouTube and saw a lot of amazing videos of aircraft ground vehicles and cargo loaders, plus fully integrated flight deck check list communications.

Am I to assume FS2017 and P3D 3,4 are one of the same?

Can FS2017 use FSX scenery add ons as well as aircraft?

I guess my huge collection of FS9 scenry packs and aircraft wont work?

What is the default UK and Australia/Singapore scenery like compare to commercial packages?

Thanks for your help.

There is no such product as FS2017 and it's wrong to assume so but I can understand the confusion. P3D v3.4 is a continuation of Microsofts Flight Sim FSX but for educational purposes and being developed by Lockheed Martin. There are some add-on compatibilities but it's not always guaranteed.

Best,

Phil

Hi.

Glad to hear you are looking to upgrade your flight sim.

When people type in things like FS2017 they are not real titles most of the times they are as you say P3D.

Many add-ons from FSX are compatible with P3D but check before hand. For example, PMDG has dedicated P3D versions.

Personally, the default ground scenery isn't half bad but I would recommend saving up for some payware scenery.

I've made a little list of things below that you might find interesting to purchase if you haven't already.

Aircraft

Aerosoft Airbus Collection - Great for new starting sim pilots comes equipped with checklists and a ai copilot who you can turn off at any time. However there are some limits with what buttons you can press other than that great aircraft.

PMDG 737,777,747,MD11 - PMDG by far my favorite very in depth aircraft all of which have their own unique personalitys and features that you must learn. However they are a bit on the pricy side but other than that amazing aircraft.

There are tons more aircraft but I'd recommend either of those for starting out.

Ground Services

GSX - GSX by Fsdreamteam is the product that delivers all ground services from catering to boarding and pushback no sim is complete without it. While not essitial for starting out it is a great addon to have.

Australia Scenery

ORBX - ORBX is fantastic for ground scenery I'll not bore you with all the details as there are a lot so ill leave this link and let you explore. - https://orbxdirect.com/category/oceania

Those are some basic things you might want to invest in let me know if you want any more info. Ill leave a link to my youtube as I have a couple information vids on P3D that you also may find useful. - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sj77m2aQLbA-v_pu6sErA

Enjoy!

P3D contains a Learning Center but not as detailed in instruction as FS9.

Vic

Hi.

 

Glad to hear you are looking to upgrade your flight sim.

 

When people type in things like FS2017 they are not real titles most of the times they are as you say P3D.

 

Many add-ons from FSX are compatible with P3D but check before hand. For example, PMDG has dedicated P3D versions.

 

Personally, the default ground scenery isn't half bad but I would recommend saving up for some payware scenery.

 

I've made a little list of things below that you might find interesting to purchase if you haven't already.

 

 

Aircraft

 

Aerosoft Airbus Collection - Great for new starting sim pilots comes equipped with checklists and a ai copilot who you can turn off at any time. However there are some limits with what buttons you can press other than that great aircraft.

 

PMDG 737,777,747,MD11 - PMDG by far my favorite very in depth aircraft all of which have their own unique personalitys and features that you must learn. However they are a bit on the pricy side but other than that amazing aircraft.

 

There are tons more aircraft but I'd recommend either of those for starting out.

 

Ground Services

 

GSX - GSX by Fsdreamteam is the product that delivers all ground services from catering to boarding and pushback no sim is complete without it. While not essitial for starting out it is a great addon to have.

 

Australia Scenery

 

ORBX - ORBX is fantastic for ground scenery I'll not bore you with all the details as there are a lot so ill leave this link and let you explore. - https://orbxdirect.com/category/oceania

 

Those are some basic things you might want to invest in let me know if you want any more info. Ill leave a link to my youtube as I have a couple information vids on P3D that you also may find useful. - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sj77m2aQLbA-v_pu6sErA

 

Enjoy!

Hi,

Thanks for your comprehensive reply.

I am coming to FSX/P3D as quite a newbie and this was the sort of thng I saw...

I had assumed (seemingly incorrectly) that P3D had all of the ground handling people, vehicles, cargo, baggage, pushback and in-flight deck communications all built in - a semless all-in-one package without the need to buy add ons.

So, would I therefore require GSX for all the nice ground vehicle fx, and the assigned aircraft package for the communications?

Would the ground vehicles appear at all airports as defualt?

I saw one 'FS2017' YouTube video that had proper cabin announcments for an SIA flight stating the correct airport name on arrival. That sounded great.

Can you also select which gate to arrive at (reserved)? I once landed at Frankfurt in FS9 and was sent on a huge tour of the airport to find a parking spot that was a long way from the terminal!!!

So is there a major difference in P3D and FSX?

Thanks again for your help.

BTW - I was looking at the ORBX scenery. regarding the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland - does this cover every single town and village and road, along with the terrain? Or would MegaScenary Ireland be better? (see one of my other threads re this).

I have the PlaySims VFR scenery for the whole Brisitsh Isles, and it's very amazing. I hear FSX/P3D are even better in resolution.

Shame there was never a VFR for Northern Ireland, but the terrain map is there and very accurate.

All the best and happy flying

You should be very critical about Youtube videos, especially in the flightsim department. Most are made with hundreds of $ of simulator addons, runing on several thousand $ hardware, including tweaked shaders (colors and contrast),plus pre- and post processing.

The difference between those videos and the simulator when you install it, is the same as between a fashion photograph and meeting the girl without her makeup and in plain clothes. (no matter if it is P3D or FSX - there is no such thing as an FS2017)

If you are coming from FS9 then you basically know everything about P3D operations as a simulator - it is practially still the same as FSX, and that wasn't too far off FS9 in the first place. All the basic handling (and the shortcomings) of the simulator program are still the same as you know them, it just looks better.

So no, you can't reserve an arrival gate, P3D ATC will still send you on the same round trip.

I agree with evm. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY CHASING PROFESSIONALLY MADE U-TUBE VIDEOS! I WILL ALSO SAY, DON'T BELIEVE ANY OF THE Frames Per Second CLAIMS YOU READ EVERY DAY ON THE FORUMS!

As to the ORBX Ireland software. I have it as well as the various UK software packages. I feel they are good value!! Do they have every single village or roundabout? I can't say. But having traveled extensively in the UK, I find their representations very good.

Having said that. Some people, apparently Brits especially, really are in love with "photoreal" scenery. Which is basically shots from a satellite as you see in Google Earth. Sadly they are very flat and one dimensional. You might your favorite pub, just where you expected it to be. However you'll probably decide you'd need to lay down and crawl because it is so short.

If you want to fell like Gulliver flying over Lilliput, "photoreal" may be just your speed. Personally, I like more 3D in my scenery packs!

If you'd like an idea at where they stand, I'll share one of my 'realism' videos and the prices for everything.

PC Specs:

Windows 10 Professional6th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor16 GB RAMNVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti

Total = £500

Addons:

- FSX:SE = £20

- UK2000 Edinburgh FREE = £0

- FSEarthTiles VFR Scenery = £0

- OpenVFR Autogen Scenery = £17.99

- PMDG Boeing 737 NGX = £45

- Active Sky 2016 = £35

- REX Soft Clouds = £10

- ENB Series by REX = £0 (REX Scenery required to access)

- HDE Sky Textures V2.0 = £0

- FSPassengersX = £30

My simulator is far from perfect, but it's a start and costing me £658 in total which is still a fair bit! For me however it's worth it as I do enjoy my flight simulator and trying to make it as good as I can. Do look around for freewares, there are some half decent ones out there.

----------------------------------------------------------

Check out my YouTube Channel for more Simulator and Gaming content!

https://www.youtube.com/c/drawyahgames?sub_confirmation=1

If you'd like an idea at where they stand, I'll share one of my 'realism' videos and the prices for everything.

 

PC Specs:

Windows 10 Professional6th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor16 GB RAMNVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti

Total = £500

 

Addons:

- FSX:SE = £20

- UK2000 Edinburgh FREE = £0

- FSEarthTiles VFR Scenery = £0

- OpenVFR Autogen Scenery = £17.99

- PMDG Boeing 737 NGX = £45

- Active Sky 2016 = £35

- REX Soft Clouds = £10

- ENB Series by REX = £0 (REX Scenery required to access)

- HDE Sky Textures V2.0 = £0

- FSPassengersX = £30

 

My simulator is far from perfect, but it's a start and costing me £658 in total which is still a fair bit! For me however it's worth it as I do enjoy my flight simulator and trying to make it as good as I can. Do look around for freewares, there are some half decent ones out there.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Check out my YouTube Channel for more Simulator and Gaming content!

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/drawyahgames?sub_confirmation=1

Hello Everyone!

Thanks again for your valued input and clarifying things for me.

So really, FSX is just a slightly more polished version of FS9.

I noted your coments re the YT videos.

Thanks to DrawyahGames as well for the good RyanAir clip.

I have the PlaySims scenery collection for the British Isles but it was a shame there was never anything for Northern Ireland, and Central Scotland was also missing in the FS9 series.

I do like the photo gen stuff. I understand PlaySims used photos from an aircraft and not satellite, and on FS9 their scenery is amazing; with FSX it should look sharper, and I understand FSX has nice traffic and water FX.

ORBX is a bit of an outlay for now so I will have to wait and see.

I read that it's not totally impossible to get some scenery objects and airports to work in FSX from FS9 - it's a case of trying them one at a time? But if FSX has better resolution then there would be no quality gain from the lesser quality FS9 airports?

Re weather above - did FSX finally add a random weather generator for flights? I never did like FS9's 25mile limit.

Thanks again.

If you are into photoreal, you should consider X-Plane. There are quite a few freeware offerings and DIY procedures to get good photoreal scenery into that sim, including objects on top of it.

In the MS FS department, I have the MegaSceneryEarth Ireland package - I am not sure that I can recommend that one, but it covers Northern Ireland too. If you want, I can post screenshots of a place that you are interested in.

Weather: FSX has a real world weather feature, that is still working (or rather working again since FSX:SE), and there are quite a few good weather generators addons too.

I read that it's not totally impossible to get some scenery objects and airports to work in FSX from FS9 - it's a case of trying them one at a time? But if FSX has better resolution then there would be no quality gain from the lesser quality FS9 airports?

FS9 content in FSX is a risk - just as FSX content in P3D is. If content is not compiled natively, it can force the simulator to do constant error handling, resulting in loss of FPS, micro stutters and crashes.

Many people will tell you that their old content (scenery, tools and aircraft) "works just fine". And there might not even be anything wrong with it at first glance. But don't be surprised if your simulator develops strange habits, like long frames or micro stutters. The more incompatible content there is in the sim, the more apparent these issues will become, until -worst case- the whole sim becomes unstable.

Great feedback from you all.

Had considered Xplane11, and an online search found that you can apparently make your own free photo scenery (hate to imagine the compile times). And it seems to have a sort of GSX built in, but I've red negative things about its AI and ATC.

I have amassed a lot of scenery and terrain and airports for FS9, and didnt really want to re purchase it all again and rebuild from scratch, but understand the conversion comments re sim unstable issues.

There are a few things for FSX that have dropped in price now, especially some of the UK scenery.

Not sure what to make of the MS Ireland package now I've read some poor comments about scenery issues with it - not certain were they ever fixed?

Good video BTW DrawyahGames.

What ORBX packages are you guys using? Voz was very good in its time. Very well mapped out, though it lacked beaches :)

Is there any such easy to use DIY photo scenery creators for FS9/FSX like the one for Xplane?

Thanks to everyone for all your support on this matter - I will take some time now and digest all the information before making a choice of smulators.

All the best :)

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?17223-Build-Your-Own-VFR-Scenery-With-FSEarthTiles

That's one of my articles eh, do watch the video tutorial that goes with it, and remember to download the program from the SECOND link.

----------------------------------------------------------

Check out my YouTube Channel for more Simulator and Gaming content!

https://www.youtube.com/c/drawyahgames?sub_confirmation=1