Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 17:50

Another detailed shot when taking a short flight in a Cessna from Bournemouth to the Isle of Wight.

The detail really is stunning and is best seen from anywhere between 1500ft and 10000ft. Any higher and the weather gets in the way but as you can see it's as real as it gets. I've only installed the South of England version and that took over 20GB of space on the hard drive. I have the complete bundle which takes it right up to North England and Wales but am waiting on another hard disk to be able to take it all.

Another add-on I have installed is My Traffic X which recreates life like traffic at airports and in the air. Sometimes it's hard to get a word in edgeways with the ATC but it's a fantastic mod and with VFR GenX it really does bring this sim to another level.

Slinger · 25 Mar 2007 at 18:00

Does anyone know of any complete noob tutorials, ive never played flight sims before and would like to try. Ive got the demo of fsx, and dont know where to start with all the controls that are available.....

Pretty pls,

cheers

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 18:11

As long as you've got a good controller just following the lessons and missions should get you gently into the world of sims. FSX has been criticised for being too 'easy' but I found it led me in to a deeper level far sooner than other sims and I now rate it as the very best flight sim I've ever played.

redline · 25 Mar 2007 at 19:12

Great shots there spinneR~uk I may invest in the South West England edition of VFR scenery.

I long for the day when we can have scenery like that in 3D at a high enough resolution, so you can fly low and still maintain fidelity.

I will be a long wait though.

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 19:46

Since you mention South West I thought I'd take the Mooney Bravo from Plymouth to Yeovil.

Some shots of Plymouth and the surrounding area.

Approaching Exmouth.

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 19:47

Going a bit too fast while banking and descending to 2200ft.

Somewhere outside Yeovil on final approach.

This is going to be bumpy.

Edit:
Notice on the last photo how the sign for Runway 28 that FSX provides is about 4 metres to the right of the photo scenery? Apparantly Microsoft have cut quite a few corners in terms of placement but it's a small thing and doesn't detract from the game.

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:17

Just one more for now.

Ultralight leaving Gatwick heading North over the M23.

Where the M23 meets the M25 at Junction 7.

Golf anyone?

Pants · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:36

Any more pictures and i'm gonna have to get my wallet out!

Grumps82 · 25 Mar 2007 at 21:40

Wow,

The landscape looks impressive. Can someone fly over Dorchester in Dorset. Would love to see what its like.

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:16

Cobra-UK said:
Wow,

The landscape looks impressive. Can someone fly over Dorchester in Dorset. Would love to see what its like.

Here's Dorchester in Dorset. Unfortunately, I was getting poor framerates when doing this and when I unloaded FSX it was doing a scheduled virus scan. :rolleyes:

Still not bad though.

Ed · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:17

More...

Edit: The 300S is a bit of a sprinter so had I'd got something a bit slower and picked a better time of day instead of evening, the quality would have been much better. If you take your time over this you can even see the car parked outside your house.

Grumps82 · 25 Mar 2007 at 22:40

spinneR~uk said:
More...

Ah excellent. I can see my house in this pic.

Just underneath the right wing there is a white building, follow that across to the right an you see some big trees running vertical.

My house is at the bottom of the big trees towards the right.

That is quality, thanks for that :cool:

Ed · 26 Mar 2007 at 08:07

Cobra-UK said:
Just underneath the right wing there is a white building, follow that across to the right an you see some big trees running vertical.

My house is at the bottom of the big trees towards the right.

When I'm done working today I'll get the Ultralight over there and see how close I can get.

pegasus1 · 26 Mar 2007 at 12:05

How will this play with the rig in my sig at 1600x1200 ?
Cheers

Ed · 26 Mar 2007 at 12:59

pegasus1 said:
How will this play with the rig in my sig at 1600x1200 ?
Cheers

I'm running it at 1280*1024 and I've got a stock [email protected] and an ATi X1900XT. You should have no trouble at 1600. The problem with FSX is that you need to give it time to hone the settings to your machine. Too many people write it off at first because of the poor framerates but as I said earlier, I rate it as the best sim I've ever played and if you make the effort to refine the settings, it's more than playable, it's fantastic.

pegasus1 · 26 Mar 2007 at 13:20

spinneR~uk said:
I'm running it at 1280*1024 and I've got a stock [email protected] and an ATi X1900XT. You should have no trouble at 1600. The problem with FSX is that you need to give it time to hone the settings to your machine. Too many people write it off at first because of the poor framerates but as I said earlier, I rate it as the best sim I've ever played and if you make the effort to refine the settings, it's more than playable, it's fantastic.

I play LOMAC with settings at max and 8QAA/16AF with no problem and that game is dreadfully coded.
Im hoping i wouldnt have to make many sacrafices with FSX.
Are there any essential addons you would recommend

redline · 26 Mar 2007 at 14:17

Cobra-UK said:
Ah excellent. I can see my house in this pic.

Just underneath the right wing there is a white building, follow that across to the right an you see some big trees running vertical.

My house is at the bottom of the big trees towards the right.

That is quality, thanks for that

Now we all know where you live...we'll all be round this Sat, so get some beers in

Ed · 26 Mar 2007 at 14:46

pegasus1 said:
I play LOMAC with settings at max and 8QAA/16AF with no problem and that game is dreadfully coded.
Im hoping i wouldnt have to make many sacrafices with FSX.
Are there any essential addons you would recommend

The best scenery add-on for the UK is VFR GenX. It's direct competitor is Just Flight and it doesn't come close in terms of quality. The other add-on is My Traffic X which adds realistic air traffic to the sim. Think of sitting at Gatwick when you're going on holiday and seeing all the planes coming and going. Then think of all the other airports operating nearby. Then think of armed and civil forces that are in flight. Then think of the hobbyists in gliders and microlights. The traffic is vast and the ATC chatter going on is great. The collective add-ons really recreate the sim and make it special.

redline said:
Now we all know where you live...we'll all be round this Sat, so get some beers in

Bagsy the sofa!!!

Grumps82 · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:10

Lol, yeah sure. Come on round.

I'll get the beers in and make sure my Sweedish maids are about.

Gog · 26 Mar 2007 at 19:39

Spinner,

Any idea if VFR GenX works well with the airports from UK2000 Scenery - http://www.uk2000scenery.com/ (I think there's a demo on there somewhere)

If so, I might have to make my next purchase