The 'Official' Screenshot & Tips thread 4 FSX enthusiasts & flight simmers.

Jason2 · 27 Jan 2013 at 00:07

Vuvuzela said:
http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/publi...content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html

Thanks mate. Is there none for non-UK airports?

!bluetonic! · 27 Jan 2013 at 09:13

Jason2 said:
Thanks mate. Is there none for non-UK airports?

You can subscribe to something like Jeppesen to get it all in one place or visit the various aviation authorities of the world such as http://www.iaa.ie/

Although expensive, it was Aivlasoft EFB that made everything 'click' for me when it comes to IFR flying.

And I've stumbled across this link too (there may be others):

http://www.dauntless-soft.com/products/simplates/

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 09:48

!bluetonic! said:
You can subscribe to something like Jeppesen to get it all in one place or visit the various aviation authorities of the world such as http://www.iaa.ie/

Although expensive, it was Aivlasoft EFB that made everything 'click' for me when it comes to IFR flying.

And I've stumbled across this link too (there may be others):

http://www.dauntless-soft.com/products/simplates/

Blue, how do you run the EFB during flight; separate monitor / separate system??

!bluetonic! · 27 Jan 2013 at 10:42

ghutchison14078 said:
Blue, how do you run the EFB during flight; separate monitor / separate system??

I'm always trying new things to improve FSX with hand-me-down work PCs, so...

My first set-up was an 8 Core Xeon MacPro 1.1 with 2 Graphic cards running 4 monitors. But with FSX, Mumble, FSInn, Chrome and either EFB or Plan-G running, it was struggling on Win 7 64 bit.

So I branched off onto a second PC which is a 4 core Xeon 3.2 Ghz under 32bit Win7.

Each PC now has 2 monitors. The first PC runs FSX and Fraps if needed and the second PC runs everything else. It certainly has given my main PC some breathing space.

But if you have a good enough spec PC and multiple monitors, I doubt it would be an issue.

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 10:55

!bluetonic! said:
I'm always trying new things to improve FSX with hand-me-down work PCs, so...

My first set-up was an 8 Core Xeon MacPro 1.1 with 2 Graphic cards running 4 monitors. But with FSX, Mumble, FSInn, Chrome and either EFB or Plan-G running, it was struggling on Win 7 64 bit.

So I branched off onto a second PC which is a 4 core Xeon 3.2 Ghz under 32bit Win7.

Each PC now has 2 monitors. The first PC runs FSX and Fraps if needed and the second PC runs everything else. It certainly has given my main PC some breathing space.

But if you have a good enough spec PC and multiple monitors, I doubt it would be an issue.

Have considered doing something similar myself as I'm starting to find the limits of my current CPU in FSX, decided to hang off till later this year to see if Intels Haswell or Ivy Bridge-E cpus do anything for FSX performance, I realize that FSX is also limited to 32-bit ram usage so perhaps a seperate system is the way to go for heavy addons

By "everything else", what external addons do you run on the secondary system, also do you use fsuipc & widefs

!bluetonic! · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:13

ghutchison14078 said:
Have considered doing something similar myself as I'm starting to find the limits of my current CPU in FSX, decided to hang off till later this year to see if Intels Haswell or Ivy Bridge-E cpus do anything for FSX performance, I realize that FSX is also limited to 32-bit ram usage so perhaps a seperate system is the way to go for heavy addons

By "everything else", what external addons do you run on the secondary system, also do you use fsuipc & widefs

Secondary PC Addons:-
Plan-G
Aivlasoft EFB 'Display Unit'
Mumble Voice Client
FSInn UI
Chrome for Vattastic
I'm also going to try and start recording the audio from VATSIM using 'Virtual Audio Cable'.

I have a registered copy of FSUIPC but didn't need to buy WideFS to network the other things up.

So far so good with the downside being you need 2 PCs fired up to have a better experience of FSX.

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:25

What texture / weather / traffic addons do you use; if any?

I'm currently running the latest REX Ess+ OD for textures

OpusFx for weather engine

and MytraffixX pro 5.4b

Would it be possible to run such external addons on a seperate system, or do addons like this have to run on the master FSX system?

p.s. Aivlasoft EFB is top of my wish list atm

!bluetonic! · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:32

For REX, it does a 'one time copy' per change of textures to the FSX folders and then updates the weather, so I don't know if you can or can benefit from running over a network.

I have got 'Traffic X', but it seems that AI traffic is the biggest fps killer for FSX, so I leave that alone, and only benefit from multiplayer traffic when connected to VATSIM.

I'm not sure about the others..

Have you tried the free 30 days of EFB yet?

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:39

!bluetonic! said:
Have you tried the free 30 days of EFB yet?

Not yet, might go "borrow" my girlfriends laptop and experiment running the trial version on networked system

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 11:43

ghutchison14078 said:
What texture / weather / traffic addons do you use; if any?

I'm currently running the latest REX Ess+ OD for textures

OpusFx for weather engine

and MytraffixX pro 5.4b

Would it be possible to run such external addons on a seperate system, or do addons like this have to run on the master FSX system?

p.s. Aivlasoft EFB is top of my wish list atm

So somebody here is running opusfsx, are you happy with it? I'm hearing really good things about it. How you do run Rex for textures and opus for weather engine? What settings in Rex do you switch off please.

As mentioned before, Blue told me about Aivlasoft and it's brilliant. The best 60 quid I have spent on my fsx setup.

Shashman · 27 Jan 2013 at 12:09

Back in the day I used to use a user-compiled traffic pack called Morten's Traffic Pack. The package came with a whole bunch of AI utilities too, but it was a hefty package!

Then I began tinkering with AI traffic myself, and then that developed into installing traffic manually which was hugely labour intensive (finding the flight plans, repaints and models on Avsim, Flightsim, etc). There was also World of AI who released simple to use auto installers that did it all for you, but there wasn't as much choice in terms of airlines as doing it yourself, but it was much simpler. This was about 4 years ago, mind you, and I'm completely out of the loop as to which groups are releasing what these days!

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 12:30

Vuvuzela said:
So somebody here is running opusfsx, are you happy with it? I'm hearing really good things about it. How you do run Rex for textures and opus for weather engine? What settings in Rex do you switch off please.

As mentioned before, Blue told me about Aivlasoft and it's brilliant. The best 60 quid I have spent on my fsx setup.

I started using Opus because I wasn't happy with the close / zero visibility effect that REX produced (living in Scotland I need this for realistic flight

)

Just load up REX and install the textures you would like to use as normal, then in the Configuration Manager there is a "Enable Rex Weather engine" just uncheck the box; Opus will now take over as weather engine using the lovely textures provided by REX for sky, clouds and water.

Opus itself is very straightforward to use, load up the program and the GUI is obvious enough to let you configure it all

I find the weather engine "integration" smoother than the REX engine when weather changes, the clouds behave more realistically at close distance and the turbulence simulations are spot on

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 12:57

I have a traffic package too but when you fly on Vatsim its not possible. Well it is possible but a busy airport like Gatwick or Heathrow with loads of people on just makes it pointless.

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 13:06

ghutchison14078 said:
I started using Opus because I wasn't happy with the close / zero visibility effect that REX produced (living in Scotland I need this for realistic flight )

Just load up REX and install the textures you would like to use as normal, then in the Configuration Manager there is a "Enable Rex Weather engine" just uncheck the box; Opus will now take over as weather engine using the lovely textures provided by REX for sky, clouds and water.

Opus itself is very straightforward to use, load up the program and the GUI is obvious enough to let you configure it all

I find the weather engine "integration" smoother than the REX engine when weather changes, the clouds behave more realistically at close distance and the turbulence simulations are spot on

OK I'm sold

Rex is a bit funny with weather intergration. You could have clear skies and then all of a sudden when REX loads you have clouds :confused:

thanks for that.

I will be online in 10min or so for a fly.

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 13:11

Vuvuzela said:
I have a traffic package too but when you fly on Vatsim its not possible. Well it is possible but a busy airport like Gatwick or Heathrow with loads of people on just makes it pointless.

I definitely want to make the jump into Vatsim this year; tuition would be welcome when the time comes

So, what is on everyone FSX WishList for 2013??

Hardware and / or Software

Personally,

Software:
Aivlasoft EFB
PMDG 777 and 747 v2.0
new UK2000 Airports (whichever ones Gary releases this year)
Horizon GenX VFR Photoscenery for Central Scotland (which will complete the mainland UK at last)

Hardware:

Going to upgrade to 27" or 30" monitor (1440p or 1600p)
500Gb SSD so I can have FSX, all addons and scenery on a single SSD drive

I quit smoking in April last year and have been saving the monthly cash I would've spent on ciggies so I have funds ready for splurging on FSX goodies...its my new addiction

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 13:43

Software.

Orbx Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
PMDG 777

Looking forward to Prepar3D V2. Once that's out, I will stop using FSX completely. At the moment I'm using both.

Hardware.

Maybe a new chip, not sure what is coming out in the next 6 months or so?

I have a FSX/P3D on a separate SSD. It does make a big difference

A new Airport from Orbx.

http://fullterrain.com/product_egsg.html

ghutchison14078 · 27 Jan 2013 at 13:47

Vuvuzela said:
Software.

Orbx Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
PMDG 777

Looking forward to Prepar3D V2. Once that's out, I will stop using FSX completely. At the moment I'm using both.

Hardware.

Maybe a new chip, not sure what is coming out in the next 6 months or so?

I have a FSX/P3D on a separate SSD. It does make a big difference

Yeah Prepar3D v2 should be interesting, hopefully our masses of FSX addons can be fully ported over to v2.

By all account v2 isn't expected to be released until 2014/2015 is it??

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 14:11

ghutchison14078 said:
Yeah Prepar3D v2 should be interesting, hopefully our masses of FSX addons can be fully ported over to v2.

By all account v2 isn't expected to be released until 2014/2015 is it??

I've ported most of mine plus all the latest add-ons now have a option for Prepar3D.

Nobody really knows but rumour is it will be out in the summer.

Vuvuzela · 27 Jan 2013 at 14:24

I'm trying the demo for Opus. I have unticked "Enable REX weather Engine" but still getting default clouds?
I did install new textures and when it said fly now I said yes? Anything else I need to do?

What option do you use is FSX? User-Defined weather?

!bluetonic! · 27 Jan 2013 at 14:37

I'm still awaiting the FSL Airbus..

Also with clouds and weather, there could be conflicts of weather engines in FSInn, FSX and REX. I've disabled the other two and let REX take care of it.