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FSX or Xplane?


clarke135

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Hello everyone! I'm about to get back into the flight sim community and start flying in a virtual airline again.Little bit of background info on me: I left the community in 2015 because my computer crapped out and didn't have money to buy a better computer. I flew for a virtual airline on FSX. It was heavily modified with freeware aircraft and scenery. I learned very well how to add aircraft and scenery in FSX. I started trying to fly on VATSIM but computer couldn't handle it. Now, present day, I have the money to buy a very nice computer and flight sim equipment. But, should I stick with FSX or should I try X-plane out? X-plane would be new territory for me. I'd have to learn everything new. All the controls. But I've heard that FSX is pretty much dead now and X-plane is much better. Is it? Is it more realistic? Is it easy to add freeware/payware aircraft and scenery? How do you all deal with the updates every year? Are there servers busy? I want the simulator to be realist both in how the aircraft fly but also the scenery. Let me all know your opinions. Thank you!
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I think it's fair to say that for realistic airliner operations, things lean in favour of P3D V4. That's not to say you couldn't do it on X-Plane, but the supporting infrastructure offered by either FSX-SE or P3D V4 is something which it's hard to ignore if airliners are your thing. By that, I mean there are (numerically speaking) many more realistic weather add-on program choices for P3D and FSX than there are for X-Plane, likewise there are many more realistic flight planners, many more realistic ATC add-ons and many more crew add ons too, and it's this which will tip things in favour of P3D and FSX as the sensible choices for realistic airliner operations simulation, and more specifically P3D rather than FSX for reasons I go into below.

 

With some searching about, you can find all those supporting add-ons for X-Plane, but the standards they reach aren't a match for what can be found for FSX/P3D, where by contrast you're literally spoiled for choices when it comes to all of that peripheral stuff to support realistic airliner ops. Similarly, there are probably more realistic airliner add-ons for P3D than there are for X-Plane. That is not to say you can't find some excellent ones for X-Plane because you can, (for example the Flight Factor Airbus A350 is a great add-on for X-plane) many X-Plane airliners can rival anything available for FSX or P3D, but sadly, as realistic and impressive as these are, they are somewhat crippled in being able to give of their best by the aforementioned lack of all the very best in supporting programs for things such as weather and ATC etc for X-Plane, and it is this which lets them down unfortunately and is ultimately what make P3D a better choice for airliner ops.

 

Visually, there can be no doubt that X-Plane looks way better than FSX or P3D, and it's this which makes it a great choice for VFR flights, it's vastly better for that than P3D is, so if you'd said you were interested in flying around checking out beautiful scenery in a Cessna or some such, I'd have recommended X-Plane as the way to go. But when you're interested in simulating flying at 38,000 feet in IMC conditions and under IFR, it's the ATC, flight plans, weather simulation, crew interactions etc which really matter, which is a shame because the night lighting in X-Plane is way cooler than it is in FSX or P3D and the runways are sloped in X-Plane whereas they remain flat as an ironing board in both FSX and P3D, which is perhaps the one aspect of airliner ops which isn't realistic, since entering runway slope in the FMC of an airliner in FSx or P3D is completely pointless lol, whereas in X-Plane it would actually have a bearing on matters. But that aside, I'd still say P3D V4 is the way to go for airliner ops for all the other reasons I mentioned. now of course if you're going to be wanting to fly with online ATC, then that's something which is less of a concern for choosing X-Plane, but weather-wise, you're still looking at far better choices being available for P3D, so it's still ahead on that score.

 

You should note that FSX and FSX-SE are stuck in 32 Bit form, and that means they risk running out of virtual memory which is an important consideration when you start throwing all those supporting add-ons at your flight sim, so I'd avoid FSX or FSX-SE, and go with P3D V4 since it has 64 Bit architecture and is therefore unlikely to be troubled by anything you throw at it in terms of add-ons. Most high end developers are gradually abandoning FSX in favour of P3D these days for this reason, although it will be some time before they dismiss it completely, but in practical terms as time goes by P3D is going to be the way to go.

 

Airliner-wise, good choices for realistic P3D V4 airliner ops include: PMDG's 737 and 747, iFly's 737 and 747, Majestic's Dash 8 Q400, Quality Wings' 787, Flight Sim Lab's Airbus A320, Aerosoft's Airbus A318/A319, Aerosoft's Bombarier CRJ. That's by no means a definitive list, but it's a decent starting point for the popular choices among simmers into their airliners.

 

In closing, there is nothing stopping you from having both sims and enjoying their relative benefits, but for airliners, you'll be best served by P3D for sure.

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Fsx is not dead at all. New freeware addons come out on this forum every day. And payware addons still come out regularly as well.

 

P3d is not an entertainment game. It's only for people that have a job in aviation.

Read the licence agreement closely.

 

Just get fsx. Knowing so much about installing already you'll have much more fun on that. And with fsx you can get on any online flying site. Not so with p3d.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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P3d is not an entertainment game. It's only for people that have a job in aviation.

Read the licence agreement closely.

 

There's also provisions for Academic use, but that doesn't include the "hey, I'm learning something so I can ignore the license, and tell everyone else to ignore the license" nonsense.

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There's also provisions for Academic use, but that doesn't include the "hey, I'm learning something so I can ignore the license, and tell everyone else to ignore the license" nonsense.

 

I read the other thread on this that got locked. I think if LM wanted only academics to use P3D they would've made it a little tougher to buy the academic version. I'm sure they are very aware of the types of people purchasing the academic version. Let's get serious here, they are selling it as a simulator and also as a game at the price point of a game for the gamers. It's about making $$$ and filling in the necessary legal BS their end so they can sell it as both simulator and game.

 

Edit: Before anyone jumps on my post should also say I'm not a policeman or a lawyer and I'm not on a policeman or lawyer website. Expressing my opinion as a gamer on a game site. I also don't own or have any intention on buying/using P3D.

 

For the OP, I'd go straight to FSX. It's complete unlike X-Plane which appears to still have many years before it reaches FSX's level of completeness and number of add-ons that's IF it ever happens at all. Been happening with XP for many years already...kinda been quite a long wait just to get to where it is now. lol

Mark Daniels
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Quite right Mark, well said. It is most certainly NOT our place to pass judgement on those who buy P3D Academic, or any other. These comments have been flogged to death on all forums.

 

Anyhow... to summerize:

FSX & FSX:SE's development has long been frozen --However, their add-ons have not.

X-Plane: ongoing development

P3D: Ongoing development.

 

It is very dependant having a decent PC to run the newer sims.

AS far as realism goes... this can be debated as to what is considered 'realism', & is very depandant on the aircraft 'flown', as well as the additional sim hardware.

 

What is actually more important is immersion!

WE have built 2x simulators an Avro Shackleton & an MB326, & we have hit the 'sweet spot' when we see real pilots 'bracing' themselves in their seats, anticipating touchdown. Thats the immersion factor kicking in!

Robin

Cape Town, South Africa

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You know well FSX, I will not change tho other sim. If you have the discs and addons is the easiest way for you.

 

If not, FSX-SE cost less than half the price for P3D or X-plane.

 

Development frozen but the simulator is still good enough an not death. All problems are known and you are not depending on updates that sometimes disable addons.

 

Addons for everything you can need.

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P3d is not an entertainment game. It's only for people that have a job in aviation.

Read the licence agreement closely.

 

Quite apart from the fact that the OP didn't ask for a treatise on the EULA of P3D, and can presumably determine if they meet the criteria by reading that EULA themselves, perhaps you should take some time to read the licence agreement closely yourself. At no point anywhere in its licencing does it say that it is 'only for people who have a job in aviation', for either the Professional or the Professional Plus version of P3D.

 

Various criteria of the EULA determine whether one should, or could, purchase either a developer licence, an academic licence, or a professional licence, but at no point whatsoever in any of those criteria which are listed does it state that you 'have to have a job in aviation'; being a K-12 student (for example) is one of the things which meets the licensing criteria of the Academic version. Now granted, not that I've actually checked, but I'm fairly certain at the airport where I work, there are no children of school age working as air traffic controllers, pilots, aircraft engineers or any of that sort of thing, although next time I'm on the bus from the staff car park to the terminal, I'll start singing 'the wheels on the bus go round and round' and see if anyone joins in. :D

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