Flight Sim Advice

PESolution · 28 Nov 2015 at 11:32

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice on which flight sim game to get. I have a triple screen nvidia surround setup with an EDtracker and would like to utilise both.

I'm not a hardcore flight sim enthusiast and so making things look nice (through mods if required) is important to me

Thanks!

lurkio · 28 Nov 2015 at 13:12

x-plane ?

Qel · 28 Nov 2015 at 14:00

You could try Rise of Flight (WW1 flight sim), it has a free to play version available on steam which is a limited number of planes but if you like that the rest of the content is in the steam sale atm.

Sav112 · 28 Nov 2015 at 14:18

Not got my new PC yet but buying the odd steam game on sale. MS flight sim steam edition is on there just now on sale. It’s a new edition done for steam by a company with MS permission. They say it runs better and more polished than the last MS patch years ago.

DCS world is free and great! You get a standard few planes and need to pay for the more exotic ones.

PESolution · 28 Nov 2015 at 15:33

aren't there lots of graphical mods for MS flight Sim X? I remember once reading they were very expensive mind...

I really want to play one with modern day graphics, and when i look at flight sim x it just looks horrible

Nate--IRL-- · 28 Nov 2015 at 16:27

I'll throw my voice behind DCS world - can't go wrong for £0.

Nate

Sav112 · 28 Nov 2015 at 16:31

I think Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition considering it’s a revamp of the 2006 game still stands up rather well. I remember trying around 2006-7 and my top end Pc for the day could not really handle it. Now PC hardware is so powerful so everything can be ramped up.

I guy I watch on twitch (Squirrel) plays lots of sims from Trucks to Trains to flight and does play o another Sim but cant remember for the life of me what it is. Very professional made but it’s a pay monthly subscription to play. Considering FSMS is only £5.99 and if you invest a bit of time tweaking it can looks outstanding.

Litmoose · 28 Nov 2015 at 16:33

PESolution said:
aren't there lots of graphical mods for MS flight Sim X? I remember once reading they were very expensive mind...

I really want to play one with modern day graphics, and when i look at flight sim x it just looks horrible

Yes, Flight Sim'ing is very expensive, I have probably spent easily £500+ on addons. Without them no sim looks very good tbh.

If i we're to advise someone starting out, it would be to get FSX Steam Edition from Steam(probably go on sale soon for about £3) just to test if its something you'd be interested in before you start spending money.

You could also try X-Plane, i don't have any experience with this, but it think the default level of scenery is better than FSX, but it doesnt have a vast amount of addons compared to FSX.

You could also try DCS world which is free to play on Steam, its a combat simulator but it is quite advanced.

And lastly, which is the best IMO. Prepar3d, which is basically FSX which has continued to be developed by Lockheed Martin. But basic package cost £50 though, which is why i advise you try the others to test the water before you decide.

Also try watching Youtube vids to get a better idea of what's going on. Many tutorials can be found there. Here are a few channel suggestions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7SryNncikhgt5tp3rPn0RQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCcyPyTfN8LEVHQojHkR-aA

Sav112 · 28 Nov 2015 at 16:50

Prepar3d that’s the one. It looks great as I’ve said watching a streamer. But as far as I know its US servers and cost $20 a month to play for the licence up to $199 licence or even $2300 for military Simulation.

http://www.prepar3d.com/product-overview/

I’m happy to have DCS, MS FS steam Ed and Elite Dangerous for my flight fix when I get my new rig. Quite interested trying older games still supported by their Community like IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover that seemingly runs like a burst arse vanilla but with a few community patches (Team Fusion patch) they fixed it to play great. Although reading some of the recent reviews suggest that it does not work on Win8 and above yet.

Dano · 28 Nov 2015 at 17:07

Sav112 said:
Prepar3d that’s the one. It looks great as I’ve said watching a streamer. But as far as I know its US servers and cost $20 a month to play for the licence up to $199 licence or even $2300 for military Simulation.

http://www.prepar3d.com/product-overview/

I’m happy to have DCS, MS FS steam Ed and Elite Dangerous for my flight fix when I get my new rig. Quite interested trying older games still supported by their Community like IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover that seemingly runs like a burst arse vanilla but with a few community patches (Team Fusion patch) they fixed it to play great. Although reading some of the recent reviews suggest that it does not work on Win8 and above yet.

I've never had any issues running Cliffs on window 8 and above.

Sav112 · 28 Nov 2015 at 21:13

Dano said:
I've never had any issues running Cliffs on window 8 and above.

Cheers, good to know as I'd be playing it on Win10

breadturbo · 29 Nov 2015 at 00:44

For old games come play the master, BMS 4.33

littlepilot · 29 Nov 2015 at 02:12

The latest and upcoming flight simulator is Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D Version 3, it'll support most addons that were compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator X anyway now.
http://www.prepar3d.com/
Hope this helps

pingu666 · 29 Nov 2015 at 04:16

the steam version of fsx runs several times better on my dads pc than the old retail disk.

il2 1946 has a good feeling of flight, huge amount of varied content too

aerofly flight sim is also good

Boycey0211 · 29 Nov 2015 at 05:08

Visuals without mods?

-DCS World, the free components are reasonably easy to get to grips with, the paid ones take a lot of button clicking and I'd say are probably more than you want for casual.

- IL2 1946, yup its great but looks a little old now, I still rate it but it isnt 2015 graphics by a long shot.

- Rise of flight. Looks good but feels like youre trying to compete in a F1 race in a 1 liter pug 106.

- FSX, it is what it is. You can fly, it looks average unless you pay big bucks.

- IL2 BoS or BoM, look ****ing brilliant, fidelity is there, everything you could want in a sim. Except gameplay, there is none of that. If you want a 'showcase' game to show your fancy system off to people, then thats it but good for nothing else.

Uther · 29 Nov 2015 at 08:50

Il2 Cliffs run's fine on W8 and above once you install the Team Fusion mods.
DCS, free, a steep learning curve though.
ROF, also free, and fun.
BoS, Very expensive, looks nice but not much of a game, especially offline.

PESolution · 29 Nov 2015 at 16:30

thanks all for your good advice

Guess ill give FSX a whirl first on steam and then onto prepar3d

lurkio · 29 Nov 2015 at 17:19

OP , are you looking just to fly aircraft or fly and blow stuff up ?

PESolution · 30 Nov 2015 at 13:47

lurkio said:
OP , are you looking just to fly aircraft or fly and blow stuff up ?

if it looks pretty enough, and is challenging, then just flying is fine.

I'm not against blowing stuff up either though :cool:

ttaskmaster · 30 Nov 2015 at 14:49

TakeOn Helicopters is a reasonably good entry level one if you like the rotary-wingers...