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

Jon20 · 16 Aug 2015 at 19:51

Apologies if this has been asked countless times but what freeware/payware addons would people recommend? Haven't run FSX for a few years. I've got REX Essential Plus and the free Just Flight 757. Was thinking of getting FTX Global. Would Rex 4 Texture Direct be worth getting? Any others? Thanks.

robmol · 16 Aug 2015 at 20:45

The list is neverending....

Depends what sort of flying you want to do. I'd say Active Sky Next or OPUS for real weather as a good start, Orbx FTX Global, I use REX Soft Clouds (there is a decent free cloud pack called HDE v2)but many use REX texture direct which also has textures for apron, runway, sun, sky etc etc, then the countless amount of addon scenery/aircraft depending on what takes your fancy, UK2000 is the best for UK. As you can imagine the cost of all these soon adds up

Dappo · 17 Aug 2015 at 17:30

Some screenshots from recent flights:

robmol · 17 Aug 2015 at 17:42

Dappo said:
Some screenshots from recent flights:

Liar, those are photos!

Excellent shots

muttclugg · 17 Aug 2015 at 19:40

They are fantastic. Look like photos!

Gixer · 17 Aug 2015 at 20:31

Dappo, I take you are using SweetFX for your FSX? I've just swapped to DX10 and using SweetFX and if you do use it wondering what settings you use in it?

Jon20 · 19 Aug 2015 at 02:07

robmol said:
The list is neverending....

Depends what sort of flying you want to do. I'd say Active Sky Next or OPUS for real weather as a good start, Orbx FTX Global, I use REX Soft Clouds (there is a decent free cloud pack called HDE v2)but many use REX texture direct which also has textures for apron, runway, sun, sky etc etc, then the countless amount of addon scenery/aircraft depending on what takes your fancy, UK2000 is the best for UK. As you can imagine the cost of all these soon adds up

Thanks. Is it worth going to Prepar3d if starting afresh? Presumably the academic license?

picnic · 19 Aug 2015 at 10:46

Seems P3D V3 maybe here soon, I suspect that will require a repurchase if you've already got V2. Starting afresh I'd go FSX:SE, especially if you can wait for a sale and pick it up for £3.99, unless the features in P3D are very important to you.

Wynthorpe · 19 Aug 2015 at 12:08

picnic said:
Seems P3D V3 maybe here soon, I suspect that will require a repurchase if you've already got V2. Starting afresh I'd go FSX:SE, especially if you can wait for a sale and pick it up for £3.99, unless the features in P3D are very important to you.

And what will V3 bring to the table? Not followed it for a while.

picnic · 19 Aug 2015 at 17:21

Not sure but not 64bit if I heard correctly.

shadow_boxer · 19 Aug 2015 at 19:56

Great shots as always. I can't imagine it would be 64-bit.

Gixer · 10 Sep 2015 at 07:35

picnic said:
Seems P3D V3 maybe here soon, I suspect that will require a repurchase if you've already got V2. Starting afresh I'd go FSX:SE, especially if you can wait for a sale and pick it up for £3.99, unless the features in P3D are very important to you.

Why would you start afresh with FSX:SE? Is it purely because you're waiting for P3D to use 64bit capabilities?

If I am reading right every time P3D is updated you have to repay for a license?

I will say since messing around with my FSX and using DX10 preview function I would be tempted to just go P3D if I was starting afresh. Luckily for me I don't use IE as with DX10 preview enabled I can't have the latest IE installed otherwise the sim crashes. It is quite staggering the difference in smoothness and FPS swapping to using DX10 has made. I'm not saying it is perfect, certain airports still slow things down a little due to AI traffic but it's a marked improvement on my rather old system.

!bluetonic! · 10 Sep 2015 at 07:44

I've been using FSX and Steve's DX10 fixer for ages.

The only time I've OOMd in recent times is flying the Aerosoft A320 into UK2000 Heathrow (on Extreme Settings) with Aerosoft London Scenery on Vatsim with other traffic in the area.

Recent screenshots from Lisbon in the TAP A319:

At the recent Vatsim Midsummer Madness into UK2000 EGBB, I was okay with no OOMs.

If you want to see my results, I now stream on twitch.tv. (andrewreader)

As for P3D, I've never bought a license as I don't use it. But I'm always watching to see what they come up with next, but lets hope it sorts out memory management, so no OOMs.

Gixer · 10 Sep 2015 at 08:29

My issue wasn't OOMs. I too use Steve's DX10 fixer and also Shade GUI. The issue causing my crashing was an IE update K***** can't recall the number. I found the solution online. I uninstalled that update, which meant IE uninstalled too but hey presto no more random crashing!

I really do like DX10 and Shade GUI combo. The only oddity I cannot figure out is that my PMDG777 whilst flying in VC drops to 15fps. Any other view it is up to 30fps which is what I'm locked at through Nvidia Inspector. It's the only aircraft with the drop. I am yet to find a fix for that.

picnic · 10 Sep 2015 at 09:36

Gixer said:
Why would you start afresh with FSX:SE? Is it purely because you're waiting for P3D to use 64bit capabilities?

If I am reading right every time P3D is updated you have to repay for a license?

P3D charges again when there is a major update i.e 1.x to 2.0, that's no different to FS or X-Plane.

Why did I say go FSX:SE rather than P3D? Well first off most of us probably don't fit the academic license (once you have a degree can you ever be an under-graduate again? I'd argue no) so that leaves you forking out $200. I'm a developer so pay the $10'er a month job (I get 2 copies for that and just cancel one subscription and get a new one to upgrade) With these licensing issues and costs for most FSX:SE would be the thing to install now. Especially when you get it in a sale for £3.99. On a virgin system it installs such that it looks just like the boxed FSX except the fame itself is in a different location. However important files like scenery.cfg/fsx.cfg/dll.xml are in the same place thus most 3rd party addons work without any fiddling around at all.

picnic · 10 Sep 2015 at 09:37

Gixer said:
The issue causing my crashing was an IE update K***** can't recall the number. I found the solution online. I uninstalled that update, which meant IE uninstalled too but hey presto no more random crashing!

This is a new one on me, is this a DX10 only issue? Do we know more details? Could it be fixed in the same way as the uiautomation DLL?

Gixer · 10 Sep 2015 at 16:21

I tried the uiautomation.dll fix, that didn't solve it. This was where I found out my information

http://msflights.net/forum/showthread.php?2538-d3d11-dll-crashes-FSX

I checked my system log files to see it was d3d11.dll that was causing my crashing issue. Maybe I should have tried a newer Nvidia driver but my system works well with the current driver 340.43 and I only have an old GTX780. Also thought I read that some of the latest drivers were slowing 780's down, I'm unsure if Nvidia have resolved that issue yet either.

Gixer · 10 Sep 2015 at 16:22

I didn't realise you had to be a student to get the cheaper license. That's a bit naff. $200 is way too steep price wise for a simulator. I hope Lockheed see sense and bring the price down, more people would be tempted to swap over from FSX then.

Gixer · 10 Sep 2015 at 16:40

Few pics whilst trying to get my water settings sorted for DX10 and Rex

I'm still playing with sweetfx settings, I think I have sharpness a little too high at the moment still.

picnic · 10 Sep 2015 at 16:47

Gixer said:
I didn't realise you had to be a student to get the cheaper license. That's a bit naff. $200 is way too steep price wise for a simulator. I hope Lockheed see sense and bring the price down, more people would be tempted to swap over from FSX then.

P3D can only be sold to the academic/professional market and, as I understand it, they are forbidden to sell to the gaming/home market. Now Dovetail have that license I'd not be surprised if Lockheed are somehow asked to be more vigilant.