FSX questions

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 05:01

Folks,

In my earlier post, I mentioned the 'sense of speed' compared between simulator and real world. Thanks to one of you folks, I then did a short yet serious research into the FSX, and found this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpLGXe8hunU

This is what I am looking for. I just need to know:
1) Are there any mission editor
2) Can you fire missiles upon target
3) What fighter jets are available
4) Are all the terrain modelled from the real world?

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 08:44

picnic said:
1) I think the SDK has tools that allow you to make your own missions, no idea how easy or hard it is. The SDK only shipped with the Deluxe version I think.
2) Not out of the box, I think there are 2 addons that do this now, one by Captim Sim
3) Loads, both payware and free
4) MS have a terrain model for the whole world, the resolution of this varies. For instance the Grand Canyon has a better default mesh. However there are standalone freeware and payware mesh products available. Also many addon scenery products also come with a higher res terrain mesh, for instance the Horizon GenX photo scenery for the England/Wales has a 5M mesh.

HTH

Fernick said:
Word of warning, FSX in DX10 'Preview' mode clips with the runways/taxis and flickering will appear on these textures.

However the preview isnt that much of a difference, just load it up with addons and you're good to go.

Where I might find all these add-ons, freeware and pay ware? Thanks!!

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 09:15

picnic said:
1) I think the SDK has tools that allow you to make your own missions, no idea how easy or hard it is. The SDK only shipped with the Deluxe version I think.
HTH

Oh NO! I plan to go for the Gold Edition from Amazon! Are you quite sure?

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 09:26

By the way, is not system (pls refer to my signature) sufficient to run FSX smoothly?
Also is it very hard core with lots of flight model things to worry about?
Thanks

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 10:22

picnic said:
I run FSX on a 1st Gen i7 @3.7Ghz, can't run that with the sliders all fully up but it handles the pretty stuff like GenX and the Orbx scenery ok. Struggles a bit with some of the more densely populated sceneries like Earth Simulation's Shawbury Fields. I only really fly GA so a more complex aircraft may add some compromises. Look at Soya's official FSX topic, it contains loads of links to places to get stuff, on how to do optimal installs of FSX etc.

As for the flight model, it's ok the real hard parts come with system complexity. It really does cover the full range from simple ultralights through to highly complex big tin, there are sliders that make it easier to hand fly.

Thanks for the pointer! Is that Soya on this site?
I saw one clip of a MiG-21, there are lots of buttons to press to start the flight, I quite like it.

Peter Tsang · 15 Sep 2011 at 17:00

I have bought it! HK$390, roughly US$30.00

I think it worths every cent of it, unlike some 'unfinished' fighter jet simulators, that sense of speed I am looking for is there in FSX and the Xpack.

I haven;t the time to set up the TrackIR and Joystick...when that's done shall come back and tell you what I feel abotu it.

Peter Tsang · 16 Sep 2011 at 02:27

See my sig, Sliders not all the way up but everything on Ultra Settings. Runs fine most of the time, However i have a HEAP of addons, HD REX, Traffic, Scenery, The best payware planes etc.

I also use a Saitek X52 Pro; Don't have room for a yoke! There is a LOT of hardware addons too, It'll burn your pocket dry

I didn't have much time as it was quite late in the evening when all the installation and activation done. Max'd out everything to Ultra to see how it goes. Q6600 was at ease on 2.4GHz. I like to see what sort of performance drag FSX does to the CPU. On the runway, it's like 30+ but once in the air, the frame rate bleeds to below 20. I guess though, there are rooms for frame rate boost by overclock'g it to 3.6GHz again.

But you see, what I feel it worths the money is the simulator's professionalism - the various parameters and the real world scenery. Also the real world weather. Somehow, what's the point of having all the missiles and avionics things but the aircraft flies at sub-par speed! I dare not say that the speed model in FSX is as real as you get in the real world, but at least visually it's faster.

Hey, btw, I see a MiG-21 in YouTube, where I might get it? I don't mind to pay for a little as it is done in great details. Talking about this one

-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnPV8tj-3Ns

And where are the patches? Is there a SP2 patch for FSX?

I used a Saitek like this one -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VH8UCHGLvU

Peter Tsang · 16 Sep 2011 at 10:08

Fernick said:
Also, get an external FPS limiter (FYI avsim is great also, resource here: http://forum.avsim.net/forum/121-ms-fsx-forum/)

FPS Limiter (Put the limiter config at 30)

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/322993-alternative-external-fps-limiter/

Why 30? I thought 60 would be better.

Peter Tsang · 17 Sep 2011 at 08:40

Thanks iKettles!

I've repeatedly mentioned the flight simulation called "Strike Fighter" and the issue about sense of speed. Here is what I've done: check it out -> It's a MiG-29.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/L2XT6SNcmFU?hl=en&fs=1

But then, I've got even better experience in a F/A 18 in FSX, I'll post the video up later.

Peter Tsang · 19 Sep 2011 at 10:36

I wish there is a flyable F-117 with Cockpit and Night vision plus bombs which I an drop a few...wishful thinking

Peter Tsang · 19 Sep 2011 at 15:10

I have tried downloading a MiG-15 from fs-freeware.net
But all the texture are gone when i put it into the Airplanes folder

Look->

Peter Tsang · 19 Sep 2011 at 15:40

Eames said:
Can you get the same result by limiting the fps to 30 in the game options, instead of downloading that thing?

Actually I have to down grade some of the graphics settings, but I figured out those are not eye-candy stuffs, so now the FPS is trying to reach 30.

Peter Tsang · 19 Sep 2011 at 16:16

shadow_boxer said:
Make sure you run it with direct X10 preview mode off.

Failing that, make sure you installed textures to the correct folder and have edited the aircraft.cfg file if you need to.

It works but it doesnt work with TrackIR4 verfy well, 3D pit is gone!

what should I put into the aircraft.cfg?

Peter Tsang · 19 Sep 2011 at 17:15

I wonder if anyone can help me,
originally i thought all the downloaded add-on can be plug-and-play.
i am very tired now,
but knowing it takes time for someone to read and reply, so even though i am tired i write and ask hoping that tomorrow i can get answers when i wake up.

i ran into all sort of problems when running downloaded addon
i've downloaded about 12
all the mig 21 have problems one way or the other
i just as instrucrted put them where they should go into and ran the sim
somehow the 2d pit is messy
somehow 3d pit is absent
i tried other aircrafts
they also have similar problems

the other frustrating thing is the external views of FSX!! what can i do to stop the camera from floating????? it's very annoying
also there are no zoom in zoom out, pan left pan right?????

and I have some landscape messed up with white patches??? any idea???

hope you can help
i go to bed now and shall come back tmr
thanks!

Peter Tsang · 20 Sep 2011 at 03:32

KatanaDV20 said:
Go here and see the outside views section:
http://barelybad.com/FSX/FSXintro.htm#VIEWS

As for the problems with the MiG - it depends what kind of file it is. If its an auto-installer its easy. But a lot of FSX addons need you to manually place the files into different folders. Not just that but there might be some aircraft.cfg and panel.cfg tweaking to do as well.

If you miss out ANY of this...it will be messed up. Go back and read the instructions carefully..you might have missed something. TINY mistakes will cause a problem...look out for spelling mistakes. For example in the aircraft.cfg the repaints have headers called "fltsim"...like this:

[fltsim.1]
[fltsim.2]
[fltsim.3]
[fltsim.4]

Very easy to make a mistake:

[fltsim.1]
[fltsim.2]
[ftsim.3]
[fltsim.4]

The 3rd repaint will not show.

I have done this and was going crazy! So its little things you have to look out for.

Actually after playing Thirdwire series, I'm quite familiar with this kind of INI file editing. The annoying thing is the manual tweaking. Also, like in CFS2, those external views are transiting and is very difficult to control.

I'll post video or shots tonight when I get back.

iKettles said:
You'll achieve the same effect, I'm not sure why people are using external FPS limiters. I personally favour the unlimited FPS option as texture popup isn't near as bad in FSX as FS9 and fluctuations in FPS are to be expected.

I don't know either. It seems that even though I have overclocked to 3.6GHz, it is still doing very low frame rates.

Peter Tsang · 20 Sep 2011 at 10:57

BTW, are there any patches for FSX Gold Edition? I've got SP1, is that all?

Peter Tsang · 20 Sep 2011 at 13:51

picnic said:
If you installed Acceleration it includes the latest patch, SP2 (don't put SP1 on after acceleration)

no wonder strange things happened!
i think i'll have to reinstall it!

Peter Tsang · 20 Sep 2011 at 17:36

picnic said:
If you installed Acceleration it includes the latest patch, SP2 (don't put SP1 on after acceleration)

I have just reinstalled the whole thing!
What happened before was all wrong!
Don't know exactly what happened to Acceleration registration, it was installed but the activation never went through. I wouldn't recognise it until just now because the main menu is different from the previous installation.
and this time, I used up all 2 keys which come with the box. So i guess the activation has been done and now I am running Acceleration and not the FSX Deluxe!

So i went to test a few miG-21 I downloaded last night. Still no luck with the MiG-21. But I do have luck with Harrier.

But what greatly disappointed me is the landscape. Where do people obtain those vibrant landscape from that was displayed in the other thread?

I took off from HONG KONG INTERNATIONLA AIRPORT and I looked around the places yes, there are buildings but the land mass which they all stand on is so poorly rendered?? Hills and mountains have sharp edges and not as advertised??!!

Can you tell me what I need to do, settings have been set to Ultra !

Peter Tsang · 21 Sep 2011 at 02:28

shadow_boxer said:
Its not about settings mate. Pretty much all the screenshots over in the other thread are payware scenery. You have to buy and download them. Unfortunately this is where things start to add up.

Here is a good guide which a lot of people follow to set FSX up, includes settings for optimum performance/eye candy.

SETTING UP FSX and HOW TO TUNE IT

Thanks shadow_boxer, it is what I'm desperately looking for. And by the way, this is another thread I find fabulous to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hqZz985JIA&feature=related

Fernick said:
Ultra won't put your settings to the ultimate max, here is what i have mine at:

Dont forget, addons do a LOT for this game. Payware is essential to make it look stunning and amazing, with some generally amazing creators for FSX. Just check some publishers out.

Thanks Fernick! Might I ask what is your system spec for running the above setup. Also what sort of frame rates are you getting there? Are all of these Real Environment Xtreme 2.0, My Traffic X, FSceneX, Ground Details FSX, FS Global payware? Sorry for so many questions, I'm just back to MS flight sim since the Stone Age was ended, so a bit off. ;p

Soya said:
Plenty of good freeware addons too, just need to look around or check out the links in the official FSX thread, plenty of useful tidbits in there.

you're right!

Peter Tsang · 21 Sep 2011 at 15:45

shadow_boxer said:
No problem. I've followed that guide now for a while (done a couple of reinstallations) and it always gives me a good platform to start from.

Assuming your running it from your system in your sig. (NVIDIA GTX560Ti) remember to use NVIDIA inspector and tweak the settings, google it. The guy who wrote that guide also wrote this guide and it seems to work well for me.

Yeah, unfortunately all of the above are payware. As to which ones to buy it depends on what type of flights you do and where in the world you want to fly.

Firstly, I'd say have a look at REX v2.0, it does clouds, water, taxi/runway textures, Sun etc. Absolutely brilliant and a MUST for any FSX user.

For freeware scenery, check out BlueSky Scenery, it's freeware and photoreal textures of various areas in the US. Another decent freeware one is NL2000, which again is photoreal of the Netherlands.

For payware scenery, you can't beat ORBX. Other good ones include UK2000 and Ground Environment Xtreme/Ultimate Terrain Xtreme (Europe and USA).

As for aircraft way too many to list. But sounds like your into jet/fighter aircraft. An excellent freeware model is the Rollus Mirage 2000 (youtube it), Iris F-15 & Mig-29 is OK, F-14 by Dino Cattaneo and the Aero Vodochody L-159. Just a few of the top of my head.

Thanks a million. Actually I have spent some time reading this official thread :http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18172358

I am beginning to worry if my system can handle all these payware and freeware. They are great but FPS hit could be severe. Also i start to realize that I only have 20GB left in my SSD! LOL

Looks like I have to invest a bit more.

i5 or i7 which one should be sufficient? Also, is stuttering really bad if I use mechanical drive?