Any tips for getting the most out of MS Flight Simulator X (FSX) ?

[JoeFX]

I bought a copy of Flight Simulator X Gold Edition at the weekend... figured it would go well with my TrackIR 5 which I'd purchased for ARMA2 (also got DCS Blackshark).

I've been looking around on different shops/sites and there seem to be 100's of different add-on's for it, stuff like Terrain, Scenery, Airport/Airfield Packs, Improved Height Definition, Photo-realistic stuff etc. Most of what I've found costs a fair bit as well (i.e. more than the game itself), and in some instances there are four versions of the same thing (Vol 1 to 4), all costing £24.99 each.

It's hard to know what to get, and it looks all to easy to waste money and buy the wrong thing, so...

Any good tips on what add-on's to get, be them free or otherwise?


Also, what about hardware? At the moment I'm using a nice but cheap Logitech Attack 3 Joystick. Given that it's under £20, I think I might be missing out a bit. I've seen a few videos of the Saitek Pro Flight Yoke, but at £100 I was a bit underwhelmed with what I saw on the videos, I thought it looked a bit cheap and not too realistic. This looks a bit more like it though, especially with me having DCS Blackshark as well - Saitek X52 or Saitek X52 Pro (is the latter worth the extra £26/27 btw?).

... don't think I'm ready for Pedals or Switches yet, so I'll give those a miss for now.

 

[Soya]

Grats on getting FSX & TrackIR 5, they go extremely well together.

If you check my recent posts on both the screenshot thread and the MS FSX thread, you should find lots of info posts I made on getting the most out of FSX plus which addons etc.

In short: Spend time tweaking FSX, it is a beast to tame but worth it once you get to know it and sort it out. Must have addons, REX thats it, as for the rest, that would be a personal choice. Scenery, depends on where you like to fly, photoreal is nice but takes up lots of HD space, UTX & GEX are both worthy global scenery replacements and go well together, FTX is great but only for Aussie. Aircraft addons, again, depending on preference, find reviews on what you are about to buy first, make sure you read what you get as some aircraft can be seriously in-depth and complicated to fly, recommend you stick with default atm maybe worth looking at FSX Acceleration although the Gold edition may include that already not sure. Most important, shop around for good prices and especially wait or look around for discounts which tend to happen often especially on older (year+) addons. Plenty of nice free things around as well, check places like AVSIM and Flightsim, lot of stuff you can DL for free. Check out freeware aircraft by Dino Cattaneo, T45-Goshawk & his latest F-14 Tomcat.

Hardware: recommend Saitek X52, that is how I started, X52 with you TrackIR should allow you to control any aircraft/heli once you sort your button settings. Once you find you get more into it, you can expand your system accordingly, if that is your choice.

So 1) tweak and learn FSX a bit, be patient 1) get just REX for now, perhaps look into UTX & GEX, also IMO Alderney by Earth Simulations is the best scenery out atm 3) get X52, shop around for a good price 4) Have fun and delve into the FSX community as there are tons of forums/free DL/3rd party sites etc to get loads out of FSX.

Good luck and HF.

Soya

My system @1.5 year planning building up showing FSX, REX & Super Pro 80

Also lots of screenshots like the once below at: http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii172/Soya4me/TV Setup/FSX/FSX Resized/

 

[JoeFX]

That's ace, cheers.

The backgrounds on those screen shots look amazing compared to what you get out-of-the-box. Is that all coming from REX, or is that where your photo realistic stuff comes in (i.e. photoreal)?

I'm really new to Flight Sim's, so I think to get started I'm just looking for some better visuals and more true-to-life terrain. I did download a demo of 'GEN X' or something - the demo updated a couple of square miles of terrain near the Lake District somewhere. It looked a lot better than the default, but I don't think it was anything like as good as what you've got in your screenshots there.

I'm not too fussed about new aircraft add-on's at the mo', there seems to be plenty to go with in the Acceleration pack that game with the Gold edition.

I think I'll get a Saitek X52, but I'm still not sure if I should go with the Pro version - do you think it's worth the extra buck? I read that the throttle is a lot more sensitive/accurate on the Pro version, but then being new to it all, I'm not sure I'd notice/appreciate the difference.

 

[Soya]

REX is mainly sky/clouds/sea & airport textures but considering that is where you spend @80% of the time in FSX, the rest is just extra eye-candy which you can look into later.

Apart from REX perhaps look into Alderney by Earth Simulations, it is only £15 and it great way to start exploring some highly detailed area, for the rest, stick with demos and freeware DL. There is a lot of excellent freeware (check OZx), just need to search around, like I said, check my previous posts.

Stick with X52, unless you can find a very cheap Pro, IMO apart from a bit sturdy build, there ain't much difference.

 

[craig3000]

It's a demanding game but if you get whack it up full and stable its a very enjoyable simulator

 

[EdAllonby]

Hi. The new REX 2.0 is out today, which has much better weather improvements. I fully recommend FTX too, really looks great for Australia.

 

[robinson09]

Soya that set up looks ridiculously awesome. On the hardware side, how much have you paid out specifically for the flight sim stuff?