Microsoft Flight Simulator X

[edyzmedieval]

I've recently seen the Deluxe Edition on the market, and I'm really keen to buy it. There are 2 things I am interested in, and one which I complain about.

1. How good is this game? Last simulator I played was 2004 and I liked it, plus I've lost countless night on FS 97. I want extreme realism and basically, if it's possible, all the buttons from a real plane.

2. What are the minimum system requirements? Since I still have to wait for my new rig (damned supplier wants all the money in a blast! ), would it work at least on medium on 512MB DDR2?

I'll be looking to get the Deluxe Edition, since it has some sweet new content in it, and here, it's 10 dollars more than the normal one.

[FesterShinetop]

http://www.microsoft.com/games/pc/flightsimulatorx.aspx

Scroll a little down, there is a link for the demo. Just give it a try!

Don't have it (yet) but basically it's a newer version of FS9, so if you liked that one...

As for your 2nd question, don't count on it, with only 512MB you'll be happy to run it on low settings I think, but of course I don't know the rest of you pc specs so just try the demo to be sure!

[Lorenzo_H]

I have the deluxe edition. If the normal version is much cheaper than the deluxe like it is here in the UK (normal=J10 deluxe=J45), then don't bother.

As for the game - make sure your PC is a hellova monster to run it on full beauty. I imagine the 512mb is not your main problem; but your graphics card. The game is indeed very detailed, and it has all the airports I've ever been to, major or minor. Don't worry, absolutely ALL the real buttons are visible and fully functional. These are easy to operate in the small props, but the 747 has so many buttons it makes me sick at my screen.

The best thing about the game are the intuitive missions which actually help you fly the planes (pilots use them for training). You will learn how to fly gliders, props and jets alike.

[edyzmedieval]

512MB DDR2 RAm
256 ATI Radeon X700
250GB HDD
Intel Pentium IV 3.2

I have 1 friend who's a Flight Simulator maniac, so I'll be looking to borrow a bit the full edition.

[Lorenzo_H]

It should run it, but perhaps not on full eye candy.

[edyzmedieval]

I am looking for at least medium settings. That's my aim anyhow.
I'll receive the memory perhaps next week, upgrading to 2GB. Hopefully that will speed up things.

[Lorenzo_H]

Everything looks ok then. give it a try.

[Beirut]

I've recently seen the Deluxe Edition on the market, and I'm really keen to buy it. There are 2 things I am interested in, and one which I complain about.

1. How good is this game? Last simulator I played was 2004 and I liked it, plus I've lost countless night on FS 97. I want extreme realism and basically, if it's possible, all the buttons from a real plane.

The realism is great. The default planes are as good as the payware planes in FS9, really great 3D cockpits. The flight qualities feel better as well. There is less of a feeling that you are riding train tracks in the sky. There is also simulated pilot head movement according to how you fly. Very nice.

The weather maker in FSX is better in FSX than in FS9. More variations and better turbulence. Also, Active Sky has just been released for FSX and that will put the weather over the top. Should be amazing.

2. What are the minimum system requirements? Since I still have to wait for my new rig (damned supplier wants all the money in a blast! ), would it work at least on medium on 512MB DDR2?

The minimum specs? No one really knows because FSX has yet to find any machine it can run well on. A patch was just released that improved things, but FSX is still a huge pig of a program. I ran it on an AMD64-3000/2GB RAM/7800GS AGP and I had to keep the options well under control to make it flyable. Don't get me wrong, you can have some great bush flights, but flying over cities can get tough and if you turn on the AI flights to create a busy airport, you're dead. Your FPS will drop from 25 to 2 in a heartbeat.

FSX is a great flightsim. I have FSGenesis terrain mesh and some custom planes installed and it looks really, really nice. But make no mistake, it's a CPU and GPU eating monster.

[edyzmedieval]

I was crazy enough to max out on everything. It wouldnt even load, and I had to restart my computer...

Thanks Beirut, it's really helpful. But about that thread with the More Flight Sim stuff, I've read that you've paid for extra content? What do you mean by this?

[Beirut]

Thanks Beirut, it's really helpful. But about that thread with the More Flight Sim stuff, I've read that you've paid for extra content? What do you mean by this?

I bought a bunch of new planes that are much better than the default planes; higher res, better cockpits and sounds, etc. I bought programs to improve the look of the coastlines and mountains, ground and sky colours, and scenery packages that cover specific airports in very high detail.

This video shows a nice custom plane over the FZ02 Portland scenery. I have the scenery and it's very, very nice.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ocwWDoZJta8

[Mikeus Caesar]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i've also been considering buying this great looking game. The only thing putting me off is the price, which for a game is pretty high, at least for a poor unemployed wretch like me who has just left school. You will be able to convince me to buy it though if you answer me one thing - are there any planes such as the C-119 Flying Boxcar, or Antonov An-10?





I don't know why, but there's something about old cargo planes that i quite like. And if they happen to be in FSX, then i would definitely get a kick out of that. Apparently my home village can be seen and flown over, which would be a good larf.

[edyzmedieval]

Just try the demo first, or ask a friend who has it...

[Lorenzo_H]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i've also been considering buying this great looking game. The only thing putting me off is the price, which for a game is pretty high, at least for a poor unemployed wretch like me who has just left school. You will be able to convince me to buy it though if you answer me one thing - are there any planes such as the C-119 Flying Boxcar, or Antonov An-10?





I don't know why, but there's something about old cargo planes that i quite like. And if they happen to be in FSX, then i would definitely get a kick out of that. Apparently my home village can be seen and flown over, which would be a good larf.

There aren't any old cargo planes, unfortunatly. There is one or two newish ones though.

[Beirut]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i've also been considering buying this great looking game. The only thing putting me off is the price, which for a game is pretty high, at least for a poor unemployed wretch like me who has just left school. You will be able to convince me to buy it though if you answer me one thing - are there any planes such as the C-119 Flying Boxcar, or Antonov An-10?





I don't know why, but there's something about old cargo planes that i quite like. And if they happen to be in FSX, then i would definitely get a kick out of that. Apparently my home village can be seen and flown over, which would be a good larf.

What are your system specs?

You might want to consider buying FS2004 which can be had for cheap, runs well on most machines, and there are a million freeware add-ons that really make it shine.

I'm running both sims but I spend far more time in FS2004.

[edyzmedieval]

Beirut, I'm going for it. Will buy the dandy thing probably tomorrow, along with a nice joystick, and next year (January), if I like the game, I will add up with the expansion pack and probably some extra content.

Will it run smoothly on a

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHZ
3.3 GB DDR2 RAM
256MB nVidia 7900GS

?

[Beirut]

Beirut, I'm going for it. Will buy the dandy thing probably tomorrow, along with a nice joystick, and next year (January), if I like the game, I will add up with the expansion pack and probably some extra content.

Will it run smoothly on a

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHZ
3.3 GB DDR2 RAM
256MB nVidia 7900GS

?

Hey Edyz,

It will run well as long as you match your flight style to your specs and your expectations.

If you want to fly the heavies (747 et al) out of major airports near big cities, you're doomed. Or at least mostly doomed. Forget about fancy airport AI with moving baggage carts and all that. Ain't gonna happen. However, you should get some decent flights with good eye-candy out of major airports if you lower the settings appropriately. You'll need to grab some tweaks so you can play with the .cfg file settings. They will make a very noticeable difference.

On the other hand, if you handle the settings well, and fly the right plane (not an FPS killing add-on), you should get some very nice bush and mountain flights with excellent eye candy.

Don't forget that FS9 (FS2004) will run very well on your rig and still has lots of life in it. You'll be able to do things you could never pull off in FSX. It's subjective, but reasonable(?) to say you'll get ten times the performance out of FS9 than you will out of FSX. And vice versa. FS9 is still an excellent sim.

Have you flown FS9 yet?

[edyzmedieval]

FS2004, yes, but only a long time ago, and not on my rig. I don't own it.
I tried FSX last night on it (don't ask), on ultra high everything and 1900x1200. The thing is it didn't even try to go on ultra high, it looked like a 640x480 game.

Will it run on this:

3.2 GHZ Intel Pentium IV
2GB DDRII RAM
ATI Radeon X700

?

If FSX will not prove viable, then FS2004 will be on my shopping list.

[Beirut]

FS2004, yes, but only a long time ago, and not on my rig. I don't own it.
I tried FSX last night on it (don't ask), on ultra high everything and 1900x1200. The thing is it didn't even try to go on ultra high, it looked like a 640x480 game.

Will it run on this:

3.2 GHZ Intel Pentium IV
2GB DDRII RAM
ATI Radeon X700

?

If FSX will not prove viable, then FS2004 will be on my shopping list.

An ATI X700 is very weak for FSX. I thought you had a 7900GS card?

[edyzmedieval]

My laptop includes the 7900GS while the 4 year old desktop incorporates the X700. The only problem with my laptop is that it has only a Core 2 Duo 2.0GHZ. I don't know if this is fast, but surely, it doesn't work too good with FSX unfortunately.

[Husar]

Have you tried the game on the laptop?
I'd expect the laptop to outperform the desktop, wouldn't worry too much about the Core 2 Duo, especially if the game is somewhat optimized it should outperform the Pentium 4.

[edyzmedieval]

Yes, I tried it only on the laptop, and it works like a 640x480. The outside looks kind of bad, and I put everything on max. I have no clue what to do next.

[edyzmedieval]

I tweaked FSX now and it works good now, especially with Service Pack 1 which gave me some more FPS.

Now, the question is. I want to buy some payware add-on packs.
I have an option between 3 packs, which are expensive, I admit, but since I'll hopefully be getting a rig, I want to get them.

- FS Global 2008 (35 quid)
- Switzerland Pro X (will be released later on this year - it will be absolutely incredible but... 130 euros!!!!)
- Flight Environment X + Ground Environment X - about 90 $

Anyone giving me any tips? I really want the Switzerland Pro X, but I highly doubt I will want to spend my earnings on that.

[Beirut]

Hey Edyz,

The key, if you want to stay within budget, is to target the type of flying you want to do and where you want to do it. Because unless you have several hundred dollars to invest, you won't get even close to having it all.

In FSX I prefer bush flights up the west coast of North America, from California to BC, to the Yukon and Alaska. So I buy add-ons that will improve that area. I buy scenery packages that work well with low altitude flying and planes in the speed range that will allow me to appreciate the scenery.

On the other hand, if you are interested in flying heavies (747 et al), then you don't need good low level textures nearly as much as you'll want nice cloud textures to fly through and fancy major airports to land at. (As long as your rig can handle it.)

Just make sure your ends fit your needs.

*By the by, here's a good tweak for you. In the FSX.cfg file (it's in C:\Doc & Settings\User name\ Application Data\ Microsoft\'FSX) add these lines to the end of the Terrain section: (Back up your .cfg first!)

TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=4500
TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=3000

It will allow you to chose how many trees and buildings you want the sim to render at any one time. I think 6000 is the max number. (It's also a number you will never use.) I prefer less buildings and more trees. Fool around and find the best balance for what you want. Start low (1000) and work your way up until the frame rate suffers

[edyzmedieval]

I use Flight Simulator as a method of recreation, take a break from school and stuff, when I have some more time, but also to prepare me before as I would like later on to take my PPL (Private Pilots Licence). FS is excellent for starting, and is almost as in-depth as I would like.

Basically, I fly jets mostly, especially the Learjets, which suit my tastes perfectly. The biggest heavy I like is the Airbus A321 or alternatively the Boeing 737. 747 is too big for my tastes and it's more difficult to fly.

Flying over Switzerland will be one of my main routes because it's a small country with big airports, so for jets it's perfect. Flying Zurich - Geneva and Geneva - Bern are already saved in my FSX copy, and I use them to polish up my skills at landing and sometimes instrument flights (I do that in Hawaii or Austria), because of the weather variety which is great for flying in different conditions.

On the other hand, once you finish the missions, you can add lots more and for example I have the KLM Missions pack, which takes me from Amsterdam to different parts on the world, and for this, the global scenery pack (FSGlobal) is worth every cent.

I honestly don't know.

[edyzmedieval]

Beirut, can you recommend some good FSX fan sites with active forums?

I want to exchange some impressions and info until I buy some scenery packages and aircraft.

[Beirut]

Hey Edyz,

Avsim.com

Good people and a good library of freeware.

[edyzmedieval]

Beirut, I seek your golden advice on flight simming again.

Recommend VERY good payware packages which are focused on scenery, mesh and texture enhacements.

[Templar Knight]

Question for Beirut: Does Active Sky X have live data feed? If I take off from London or Paris will the weather in game be the same as in real life at that moment?

Also does it have a live weather radar for the flight deck?

[edyzmedieval]

AFAIK, Active Sky X indeed does have live data feed, as I have/had ASX.

[Templar Knight]

cheers, one more thing to get when I get my new comp

Anymore addons you recommend? F2S Crew? Traffic X?