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

[Soya]

To all the folks adding the above and previous page screen shots. Nicely done and thanks for contributing to this thread.

Just a word on anything that is not related to FSX though, I don't mind on a rare occasion that people post screen shots outside of FSX but please just make it a once off occasion. This thread needs to stay on FSX related items, there are other threads on other sims and they wouldn't take kindly if I started posting my screen shots on their thread on a regular basis. Thanks

Soya - pardon me for asking, but I dont suppose you could list the latest addons/packs/airports etc you are using? Or are they already listed somewhere in this thread?

Sorry, missed your message till just now. A fair few are listed within this thread, especially the good ones. I usually post screen shots if I get anything new and if I do, just gimme a tell on what interest you in the shot and I will tell you what addon it is. To list all my addons is a problem 1) I don't really have an uptodate list 2) the list is rather huge in both payware & freeware and not everything is installed all at once.

Yeah I have, need to play around with it a bit more to be honest. I chose a few different schemes when I first got it and loaded those, but havnt touched it much since! It seems a bit overwelming at the moment, could do with researching some different example combinations to see what looks good.

That is the beauty about REX, there are so many options to explore but my advice is, keep it simple for now. Just install whatever you can understand and grasp, then over time try to experiment with different themes & settings until you find your favorites. btw I find that there is no single setting or theme that is the absolute best over all the others simply because many combinations & themes can look great. IMO fly for a week or so with a particular setting, then once you get a little bored of seeing the same clouds/sky, change the settings, or if you feel brave, use the random option.

I can confirm fsx looks much better @ 2560x1440 haven't had much time on it, but will post pics when I get a chance

Ever since I upgrade my monitor to a 30'' and watched FSX from 1920x1200 to 2560x1600, my jaw hasn't yet recovered from hitting the floor. It is one of the reasons why my screen shots are so clear and detailed, carefully reducing screen shots from 2560x1600 to a more postable 1280x768 keep much of the detail within the shot compared if the shot was taken at that lower res. In other words, you should find the details and clarity of your screen shots should improve at your higher res.

Not posted any screenshots in a while and seeing the C-17 I thought I'd have a short flight with the old Nimrod from the Bahamas (Nassau) to Orlando...through hurricane Irene!
*snip*

Lovely shots, looks a bit windy

Lovely looking Nimrod - who makes that model?

Cheers,

Rich

It looks like UKMIL's Nimrod, which I believe is freeware. But I could be wrong on both accounts.

 

[Soya]

Quick Sales Tip

Aerosoft been having weekly weekend sales, this week, all their German airport are at 20% off, not a bad discount as some of those airports are very nice, if you fly in that area ofcourse.

 

[Soya]

A very nice selection of shots there shadow, well done. Some 'odd' approaches mind you .

Here is my latest batch showing off the latest aircraft from Captain Sim, the nostalgic 737-100.

(unedited apart from resized & JPG'ed)

 

[Soya]

Some great shots above, thanks for adding to the thread to the newcomers.

Here is a followup from my previous post on the nostalgic 737-100. It features the very recently released 737-200 addon from Captain Sim, another fantastic looking model which comes with 6 beautifully painted liveries, alas it is only an exterior model, no VC yet but coming soon.

Enjoy the line-up shots:

 

[Soya]

Its been busy during this week for FSX addon releases. First Captain Sim's 737-200, also McPhat's World Airlines 2 for PMDG 747 plus during the weekend, FSDreamteam releases their highly anticipated KLAX airport.

Enjoy this series of shots of McPhat's latest World Airlines release, containing 5 wonderful High Definition repaints for the PMDG 747.
(shots are unedited apart from resized & JPG'd, REX2.0/ENB mods/Just Flight's Traffic X/Aerosoft's Schiphol & FSDT KLAX was used)

 

[Soya]

Hot off the press, my latest video, which came up by complete accident (left the PC running while recording) but smacked it together with some appropriate music and I think the end result is post worthy, besides, it shows of FSDT latest KLAX scenery.

Enjoy, best watched in full 1080p.

 

[Soya]

Cheers for the positive comment on my screen shots & video, glad that fellow simmers enjoy my work.

A QUICK SHOUT FOR FLIGHT SIM ADDON DEALS FROM RAZBAM
http://www.fspilotshop.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=39

As for weapon addon for FSX, I believe Captain Sim recently released Weapons for FSX, an addon that allows nearly every aircraft (with some custom configuration) to have droppable weapons and fire missiles etc. Check http://www.captainsim.com/products/w001/

 

[Soya]

Men of War Assault Squad
*snip*

I think you posted that in the wrong thread, please remove screen shot. FSX related stuff only here please.

Some more random picks of stuff I done over the past @12-15 months.
Unedited just resized from 2560x1600 (hence the high detail) and carefully JPG'd.

 

[Soya]

Cool video, i'm liking the dynamic sky. Listening to the music i was singing...


I have climbed highest mountains
I have flown through the fields
Only to fly FSX
Only to fly FSX
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to fly FSX
Only to fly FSX

Cheers, glad you liked it. I'm working on another atm, a much larger and more ambitious video. I hope folks will like it considering the amount of time that goes into making these videos, especially this latest one I am working on.

Ok another problem - when I run FSX I get an error message basically saying my graphics card is not supported, it actually says "The graphics card does not meet minimum requirements for shader support. This product requires a geForce3/Radeon8500 class or better graphics card. Flight Simulator will now exit". However I've been running FSX since the day it came out with worse cards that than one I have at the moment (ATI 4850). Any ideas? FSX always causes me huge frustration!!!

Not sure, but I don't think the Gold edition has the 2 FSX service packs included, if not, DL and install them, mainly SP2. As that might be causing the problem or at the very least, will be avoiding other problems in the future.

 

[Soya]

If you got Accel then indeed, you do not need any of the SPs. If your problem still persists I would do a google search for your problem. I just pasted your error message and did a quick google search, seems like the problem is common and I'm sure there is a solution in one of the search threads.

Good luck.

 

[Soya]

My lastest FSX video, enjoy, best watched in full screen 1080p.

 

[Soya]

Thanks for the praise & comment on my video folks, much appreciated. I put much time & effort into that one but at least I feel satisfied with the result.

Great video Soya. How do you pan the 'video camera' for all those new angles?

I use the custom spot camera in FSrecorder. If you have FSrecorder installed it sets up 3 different custom made camera which you can edit at your delight. I used a modified spot view, similar to FSX spot camera, but with smoother movement and zoom. EZwalk is a good program too and freeware, but didn't use that in this particular video.

Will check the video out when I get home.

Any users of Traffic X? What's it like?

As a heads up - Just Flight are selling it for £10 this weekend

http://www.justflight.com/product.asp?pid=207

Not an endorsement from me, as I don't have it. Though for a tenner, I might just give k a quick spin.

Rich

There are many payware and freeware AI packages out there. IMO it is worth getting at least one of them as it can really liven your flight sim. As for Traffic X, been using that for a while and I am pretty happy with it, it has some great tools and you can even create your own custom AI flight plans with either the supplied AI models or your own installed airplanes.

Soya's video features Traffic X. It's one area of flight sim that I never bothered with but I think I will check it out.

Believe me, as I mentioned above, having some air traffic can really liven up your sim.

Considering Traffic X is only £10 atm plus the Military & Civil Addon pack is half price too (@£6 for both), that's just £16 for a very comprehensive AI package, not bad I would say.

In fact, I am ordering the Military & Civil pack right now.

 

[Soya]

Hey folks,

Sorry for my late replies and addition to this thread but I got stuck in traffic:

Seriously though, a few things to catch up on. There is always a regular sale on at http://www.fspilotshop.com/index.php ATM they have all FS2Crew product on for sale (seen as there is interest from the above postings) and it is worth checking out their Razbam range of aircraft as they are ALL selling for just $5 (about £3.30) each. Check their best selling list and you will see that Razbam atm is their highest selling aircraft, at $5 that is not surprising, so pick up a bargain (I would be careful though as some of Razbam's aircrafts, like so many others, are rather old and compared to many recent high quality addons and IMO just don't look visually appealing. I personally wouldn't install it on my sim even if it was free, but their Corsair A-7 volumes, the intruder & prowler plus their latest release, the kestrel is deffo worth a look)

Also worth mentioned in regards to add-ons, I recently got this http://cr1-software.com/addons/ford-trimotor/ it is not stricly payware as it only asks for any amount of donation in order to DL this aircraft. I donated $10 (all going to a good cause) and had no regrets, it a lovely old classically modeled Ford aircraft, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys flying some VFR. On the freeware front I would recommend taking a look at these guys http://www.eaglerotorcraftsimulations.com/ a couple of nice freeware aircraft/heli for FSX.

On the matter of video cards, as I mentioned before in this thread, I used to run FSX on ATI cards but ever since moving to Nvidia, I would never go back to ATI when it comes to running FSX. The main 2 reasons, Nvidia can handle the Shader2.0 in FSX much much better, however, if you own an ATI then you should install Bojoto's Shader3.0 as they will give better results in your sim. Nvidia owners SHOULD NOT install shader3.0, I tried it and I felt it looked worse and it has its problems too. The other reason Nvidia has the edge with FSX is also due to the handling of large cloud volumes, I always noticed with my ATI cards that when it was very cloudy in FSX (especially if I turned up the cloud radius to @100 miles+) the sim would start to stutter fairly badly. I am NOT saying ATI cards are rubbish btw, I think they are great cards and with all modern games etc they stand side by side with the Nvidia range, but when it comes to a 6 years old written program called FSX, Nvidia is deffo the card to have.

While talking about Nvidia, use Nvidiainspector follow this link as guidance http://www.simforums.com/forums/nhancer-settings-for-new-drivers-updated-v1932_topic36586.html and check this thread as well http://forum.avsim.net/topic/338299-nhancer-and-antialiasing/

On the matter of tweaking and re-installing FSX, like many tips given in this thread, you will find you will get to know both your PC & FSX better after a certain amount of time. Some helpful things to do are 1) Fully backup your FSX directory from time to time in case you got a major ****up 2) regularly backup your fsx.cfg, scenery.cfg & dll.xml (worth spending time to getting to know these files really well!) 3) if your sim is running satisfactory, always be careful when adding changes to your PC, changing drivers or adding new FSX stuff can sometimes screw things up in your sim, so whenever you do change or add things, check your sim and be satisfied it is still running smoothly. Nothing is worse then changing and adding a whole bunch of things then finding out your sim is screwed cause it can be hell to fix it or do a roll back!

I know it is not possible for everyone, but if you have a PC dedicated to games or simming, us it ONLY for that purpose. Having a clean installed OS with just FSX will run much better and smoother then a PC that has tons of stuff running on both task manager and installed on a full HD! The less background tasks that are running, the more CPU & memory you will have to run FSX.

A note on AI traffic, whether Traffic X or other program, if you switch on your AI slider from 0% to 1%, your CPU will already take a hit. Depending on AI program/models & your hardware setup, switching on AI will hit your CPU thus your FPS. If you do use AI, try to experiment what a good % of AI is for your setup. On average between 20-50% is acceptable for most setups, especially at very large airports, this is more then enough for most PCs. On more powerful PCs, I found that switching between 50% & 100% hardly makes a difference unless I am in the middle of a very large airport, so I tend to change my AI slider on the go in order to maintain a balance between AI & FPS. (btw changing your traffic slider in setting during a flight will NOT change your TBM from 4096 to 1024, only if you change the other TAB settings!)

Quick word on add-ons, IMO the most essential payware add-on has been and still is REX2.0 overdrive, full stop! If nothing else, just buy that and you will enjoy your sim 100 times more.

Last but not least, I managed to find one of my first ever screen shots, before all these tweaks/addons/mods etc. It really shows how much more 'basic' my sim was when I started.

Cheers all.

 

[Soya]

I think Soya's got that Friday feeling. Both great shots in their own right. However I remember when the sim was in just black and white too

Scarily enough I still remember playing a wire frame sim back on my Atari 400/800xl.

Thanks for the links Soya. Can you confirm if you use the vSync fix in the cfg file or just force in nVidia Inspector?

Not sure if either works but I use the Vsync fix in the fsx.cfg file. Can't remember the exact syntax offhand but it was Botojo that discovered the correct settings for Vsync.

I first remember FS with FS95, I remember there was a mission to land a cessna on an aircraft carrier - kept getting the voice message "watch yourrrr alllllltitoood"

Anyway this is quickly becoming my favourite addon so I couldn't resist posting some screenies. Its the RealAir Spitfire, theres a HD texture addon pack which I'm currently downloading too, should be fantastic! The sounds they've put on this are spot on, I found myself doing tower view flybys over and over to hear that awesome noise.
*snip*

Lovely shots, having HD textures is a much nowadays in FSX. In fact, I find that if the textures on the aircraft are not properly done in HD then the whole aircraft will suffer. Many new models aircraft have come out over the past year, most of them great models but their skin textures can let them completely down. And also the reflection layers in the paint can make a real difference (I believe its called alpha layers, bump & spec maps? not sure as I'm not a repainter) but having an aircraft with carefully created texture & reflection skin can look 10x better then a standard repaint. Especially now that most people have GFX cards that can easily handle higher textures and have plenty of onboard VGA memory.

 

[Soya]

I tend to use Windows Movie Maker, its fairly basic, easy to use but does have a few draw backs (it seems to occasionally crash on my W7 64 PC so gotta save my work often) many others use Sony Vegas, but I find that video package rather expensive for just making a few spare time videos!

 

[Soya]

I have reinstalled Windows today and set up FSX as per NickNs guide. Do you all really think that it is necessary to do all his tweaks? I don't get all the stuff about displaying hidden files all the time etc etc. I think a lot of it is really unnecessary but I'm not qualified to back that up.

Anyway, I used the online tweaker tool and now my wave animations have disappeared. Any ideas what cfg entries would have a bearing on this? Am I likely to have to reinstall the REX theme?

Nick's guide is pretty much for anyone new to FSX & has little OS/PC knowledge plus it presumes that the user has no knowledge on their current setup. So it cover pretty much everything as there are so many possible variations & problems that could occur. Depending on how well you know your system, FSX & the needs of your sim, you could easily avoid/skip many steps. After re-installing FSX on my new PC earlier this year, it was the 3rd time I re-installed FSX in total. Even though I followed the majority of the guide, I knew by the 3rd time what I needed and what I didn't, I even included some shortcuts and some of my own tweaks to ensure FSX would run as good as it can on my system.

TBH, I still am occasionally learning something new or seeing a way to improve, I guess it is an ongoing process but in short, if you are not sure, follow the guide, otherwise do you what you think is best.

As for the waves, my guess is that the online tweaker tool has reduced your wave settings to minimum which would explain that your water is just a blue flat surface with no animation or reflection. Easiest way to check is to open FSX, check the settings and see what level the wave settings is at, my guess would be x1Low. Do remember that changing any settings manually under the FSX menu will force TBM to reset at 4096, so you need to manually change that in FSX.cfg once you exit the program or use a piece of freeware program that is floating about that keeps that setting at 4096 no matter what. I personally don't like running any unnecessary background programs while FSX is running as it uses up some of my PC's resources.

http://www.simforums.com/forums/nhancer-settings-for-new-drivers-updated-v1932_topic36586.html
Have you followed this? It had really nice results for me on a 560.

What he said, that guide should give you perfect non jaggies results. I have mine set at 8SQ. DO NOTE: every time you reinstall a new graphic driver, the settings do get modified and you have to redo it for FSX, otherwise you will see jaggies again.

 

[Soya]

Soya, my water is set to one slider down from the top. I don't know what it is. I might try creating a new theme in rex and updated the installed textures.

That would be 2xHigh, so the setting is not the problem. If you say your wave animation disappeared 'after' you ran FSX.cfg through the online tweaker tool, it obviously added/changed something that made your wave animation disappear. Easiest solution is to recall your backup of your FSX.cfg and compare the two. The other thing I might think it could be that it added a shader 3.0 call in your tweaked cfg file, if you have not got the shader 3.0 installed, then it would most likely cause a problem, again, this is only a guess. You could try to reinstall a new REX water animation theme, it may work, but unlikely with the same FSX.cfg file.

Good luck.

PS. I mentioned this way back in the thread and more recently. The graphical difference between an ATI & Nvidia is negligible in FSX, ie the visual quality is about the same, BUT when it comes to smoother FPS, Nvidia hold 1st place when it comes to FSX, especially when Shader2.0 is used. Overall smoother FPS is seen, NOT necessarily faster FPS!

 

[Soya]

My 2cs,

Careful with using Shader3.0 if you are using a Nvidia card, I personally found it caused more problems then solved. The 3.0 shader is best used if you have a ATI card, still, if you have good results, then use them by all means.

TBM defaults at 1024, this of course will give faster FPS, probably best to use for general flying especially if your PC is already struggling on FPS. You will of course not be able to view or appreciate many finer detail that high res textures will give, whether they be cloud textures (if you are using higher then 1024 in REX that is) high detailed ground textures (some photoreal like NL2000v4 will need at least 2048 to fully enjoy) or HD livery textures on aircraft (like McPhat HD liveries need at least 2048, their UHDT, which I believe will be used on the upcoming PMDG737, will need 4096 to fully appreciate).

If you are using Nvidiainspector to force AA & AF, make sure you have Trilinear and AA NOT ticked in FSX, otherwise it will not force the setting from NI properly. And again, whenever you adjust or change your video driver, you need to redo your NI settings for FSX as it often resets it.


The get the best visual results in FSX (apart from addons/hardware setup) the first thing would be resolution, the higher you can run the resolution with acceptable FPS, the better FSX will look. Second (although it really ties in with the resolution) would be AA & AF settings, this will smooth out your image and textures. Thirdly, TBM, use either 1024, 2048 or 4096, depending of course if your addons/textures/liveries support it, the higher the better visuals. Lastly, your monitor, the better quality monitor/HDTV but also the better you setup your monitor (from connection HDMI/DVI/VGA etc to menu setup) the better quality visuals you will get.

That's all for now.

Cheers.

EDIT: One more thing, again, as I mentioned before. If you install FSX properly the first time around, IMO, there should be no need to reinstall it again in the future (unless something has really ****** up) but that is why I have suggested before, once you get it running properly and satisfactory, make a backup of both the install directory plus all the relevant files outside that directory. Ever since I carefully installed FSX on my new PC at the start of this year, even though I have had some annoying problems. I had NOT had the need to do a re-install. I personally would hesitate to suggest to anyone to re-install FSX unless you didn't install it properly the first time around OR if you got some major new hardware, ie an entire new PC not just a new graphic card.

 

[Soya]

Hey folks,

Found some time to post some shots of my recent ventures, shots are slightly edited, check this link if you want to see (or compare) for unedited shots http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii172/Soya4me/TV%20Setup/FSX/2011/Pick%20and%20Mix/Part%206%20Unedited/?albumview=slideshow

Hope you enjoy them:

 

[Soya]

Enjoy these 'Over the Fence' screen shots:

(unedited apart from re-sized down from 2560x1600 & carefully JPG'd)