FSX - advice/help.

Andy__C

Andy__C

Andy__C

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Guys - hoping to grab some advice/experience from FSX/flight simmers.


I have recently built a PC for my grandfather who is close to reluctant retirement as a civil pilot.

The main use of this PC is for flight simulation - so Gramps can carry on his interest in the hobby, he's actually really keen for this!

The PC is currently an i5 2500k, 6970, 8gb etc... so well spec'd hopefully to run what we throw at it (I can overclock as necessary).


I'm looking for advice on how to best set up FSX for him.


My Grandfather is fairly computer literate with regards basic operations - but is really not into tweaking/fixing/modding etc.

I think he wants to click the icon and go. He's not expecting too much so I'd like to really wow him if possible with the level of graphics/detail/realism here and really exceed his expectations.


I've been flicking through he FSX screenshot thread and there are some really nice looking shots there but I'm a little lost with all the detail with regards addons/mods/



In due course there will be the hardware added - yokr, stick etc... but my Grandfather doesn't want to be inundated with a mass of tech straight away - would rather find his ground and work his way up as it were.


I think he's looking mainly for 2-4 seater plains, UK based, flying mainly out of Cardiff - Rhoose airport.


I assume we start with the basic FSX package - I'm looking for advice on what are the best add-ons for this?

I can set all this up for him before hand - so that stage of tinkering is fine.


Any help would be much appreciated guys.
 
Sorry, gotta post quick so here goes:

1) REX 2.0 (provides better weather and water) (not free)
2) Horizon VFR (uk scenery, terrain etc. if flights in the UK will be regular) (not free)
3) ENB series Mod (nice lighting effect) (free)
4) Shader 3 Mod (very useful for ATi cards, trust me :)) (free)
5) Hardware, but a yoke and throttle or a stick like x52 pro.
 
I would say the best mod by far would have to be REX -

http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/index.html

Adds HD Clouds, much better water textures and animations and a lot more. Definitely makes the experience more realistic.

If he's looking for realistic weather simulation then take a look at this -

http://www2.hifisim.com/node/1044

With this he can get up to date but also historical, real world weather data that can be implemented into FSX.

Once you've got it set up on his system, run the fsx.cfg file through this -

http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html

It will automatically add tweaks and can make quite a big difference in terms of performance.

Some people say that Nvidia cards are the best for FSX as they can deal with anti aliasing better and can take advantage of the older code. However, I'm sure the 6970 will be fine!
 
Firstly I'd say overclock your CPU as far as you can (assuming you've got a reasonable aftermarket cooler).

Begin with FSX and Acceleration pack. Install all FSX programmes on their own dedicated drive. (Do a search for NickN installation guide for FSX and follow that).

Add REX 2.0 for weather/water etc.

Horizon VFR scenery is supposed to be very good. For UK (& the rest of Western Europe) I use Ground Environment X and Ultimate Terrain X (both payware).

If he fancies a bit of a flying down under in Oz then get FTX: Australia SP4

link

It's on offer until midnight tonight IIRC for £36.32 (50% off) and is probably the best scenery for FSX.

ENB series again is a must for me.

As for a smallish aircraft, have a look at Cessna C208B Caravan by Carenado, very good model in my opinion.
 
Is your grandfather local to you? There is a bunch of flight simmers who meet up in Bristol generally once a month. Bad timing though as the group is on a 3 month summer break with the next meeting in Sept. However meeting a bunch of like minded soles, many who'll have a PC or laptop where they can demonstrate stuff, is a great way to see what's out there and may interest him. Have a look at www.bristolflightsimgroup.org.uk
 
Thats all great, really helpful and just what I was looking for - thanks fellas.

I've just spend the last few hours reading/googling from your info.


REX, VFR, ENB, Shader 3 and the Cessna C208B have been added to the favourites ready to pull together.

I went for the ATi not knowing that Nvidia has an overwhelmingly better rep for FSX - I was swayed by the fantastic looking eyefinity/TrackIR combo, and not wanting to bugger around with extra card for SLI.

Thats down the line anyway. I just want my grandfather to get a taster and develop his own want for the extra's rather than plonk a few £k's worth of kit infront of him and overwhelm him.... I may have been better off going for Nvidia but thats my bad.

The PC has a H60 - so I'll definitely crank the 2500k up, I'd read that FSX was CPU hungry so added a decent cooler.


Quick Q - Is there an install order for these? Do I risk mucking up one by installing the other?


@ picnic - yes, we live about 20 mins apart - getting to a flight sim show/event has been on our list - I wasn't aware of that group - will keep an eye on their site. Thanks.
 
Just to add a couple more to the list:

1. For UK airports look for Gary Summons' UK2000 range. There's free versions of most airports so you can essentially try before you buy (the Bristol Xtreme is very good btw).

2. Although Horizon VFR is very good (and more to come with V3), I actually prefer a combination of GEX for textures and UTX for landclass. It's not photorealistic but imo more palatable with lower level flying, which is quite common for me as I generally fly UK VFR with realistic weather :)

As said before, follow Nick Needham's installation guide to get set up.
 
Gog said:
2. Although Horizon VFR is very good (and more to come with V3), I actually prefer a combination of GEX for textures and UTX for landclass. It's not photorealistic but imo more palatable with lower level flying, which is quite common for me as I generally fly UK VFR with realistic weather :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I completely agree and prefer this too.

As too what order, doesn't really matter. Obviously FSX and acceleration pack first. Important to restart FSX after installing each and every addon as it needs to build the FSX configuration file. This is the most irritating part for me as it takes a good couple of days to do full clean installation of FSX!:mad:

PS good idea to go slow too, installing too much to quickly only to have poor performance or worse critical errors is a nightmare and extremely frustrating when it comes to isolating the problem!!

Also can look at getting a few freeware aircraft from sites like simviation. (Not the best quality but you can get a few corkers there)
 
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