Where Do I Start?

[ardypilot]

So after starting about three threads over the years wanting advice on buying a new FSX capable PC, and then squandering the money on travel and alcohol, I've finally ordered myself a new system.

It's got an Intel sandy bridge Quad-Core i5 processor, 4gb's of RAM and a Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1GB graphics card, plus I'll be hooking it up to a 24" flatscreen. Should be pretty sweet for gaming, including a little simming.

Anyhow, the FS scene has changed heaps since I last was properly involved, and I'm keen to get back into it. What I'm asking is for a little walk-me-though guide on which version of FSX to purchase, how to tweak it for optimum realism/performance, and what addons are universally accepted as the top standard?

From what I gather occasionally browsing here, VLC is #1 on the list, with Mikes Hamilton addon at #2. I'm keen for lots of GA adventures in virtual NZ, and lots of warbird flying too. I guess that means REAL NZ Wanaka X better be added on too, and that L-39 in kiwi colours that everyone's got. Looks like I'll be grabbing a few Cessnas from Carenado too- what else can people recommend? Are there any decent P-40's around? I'd like to have the CT-4 airtrainer and airfroce Blunty if they're still around. What do most people do environment addon wise? And how do I go about converting REAL NZ Marlborough from FS9 to X?

Any help appreciated- the new rig arrives on Wednesday.

Cheers!

[Nzeddy]

Flight Simulator X Gold. Includes Acceleration, SP1, SP2 and the SDK if you want to make scenery etc

Any Orbx scenery. Orbx New Zealand South Island and Queenstown airport should be released later this year. http://fullterrain.com
Orbx AI Traffic, mainly for Australia and NZ.

REX2 with Overdrive. http://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com

Any RealNZ/Godzone scenery: http://www.windowlight.co.nz/

A2A Simulations Spitfire and the Cub with Accusim: https://www.a2asimulations.com/

ENBSeries - better lighting. Don't know if it works on ATI cards.

That should get you started.

[Ian Warren]

Welcome Back Obviously its New Zealand you want Andy , to the Tim 'Timmo' Barnes NZ terrain paint shop and body kit! http://windowlight.co.nz/store/index.php?m...;products_id=26 ,

I follow this name in great free , BOP - Bay of Plenty , four files

FSX - FSX Scenery
FSX Tarawera Scenery
Name: bopvolct.zip Size: 66,884,514
FSX Tarawera Scenery. Photoreal imagery and high resolution terrain showcasing Moutn Tarawera, Lake Tarawera, Lake Rerewhakaaitu, Lake Rotomahana, Lake Okataina and Lake Rotokakahi (Greek Lake). By Tim Barnes.

FSX - FSX Scenery
FSX Scenery--Whale Island

Name: bopisisl.zip Size: 10,423,377
FSX Scenery--Whale Island (Moutohora) is a small island off the Bay of Plenty coast of New Zealand's North Island. This high resolution scenery was created from a 0.25m pixel resolution Ortho-rectified Aerial mosaic owned by Environment Bay of Plenty (The Bay of Plenty Regional Council) and flown in 2007. The imagery has been slightly de-sampled for use in Flight Simulator X and utilizes the a custom high resolution 5m mesh derived from photogrammetry data off the photos. The textures are intended for summer daylight flying only, although due to the evergreen nature of New Zealand's native bush, the island's appearance remains relatively constant throughout the year. By Tim Barnes.

FSX - FSX Scenery
FSX Scenery--Whale Island Patch


Name: bopispat.zip Size: 1,372 Date:
FSX Scenery--Whale Island Patch (Moutohora), New Zealand, for use with BOPISISL.ZIP By Tim Barnes.

These of course at Flightsim.com .

To add to the files , Avsim.com are also holding on to Tim,s files\



FROM HERE ITS A SEARCH and BUILD , so many free wares out there

[dbcunnz]

A good aircraft to start with is the Aerosoft PBY Catalina you can land on the lakes as well as most airfields it may be slow but at least you get a good look at the countryside.

[Naki]

Welcome back to FS...sounds like a nice rig

Yes the Aerosoft Cat is very nice...others I woud recommend:

Carenado - I would go for the Cessna 185 & 210- both compliment each other and both have NZ schemes..both also need modfied FDEs though (which can be obtained on the web). The 210 is very nice since its Carenado's newest - either that or wait for the 337 which should be their best yet with a new FDE programmer on board for this one

There are some aircraft in my growing collection that perhaps IMV are just a bit better than the Carendo offerings (although Carenado have the visuals nailed). These include Ant's Tiger Moth (its free!) & Tecnam Sierra, Sibwings Cessna Birddog, the Warbirdsim P-51D Mustang and of course the L-39 (which after two years is still my favourite aircraft)! All these include various NZ schemes. Dont forget Deane's wonderful Cresco!

The Flight 1 Islander & Realair's Turbine Duke and A2A Accusim aircraft are also on my list to get (although the flightsim budget will dictate that I wont get all) and worth checking out.

As for P-40s..no good ones yet (unless you accept an earlier model P-40C by A2A) but Flight Replicas are making a P-40N but you maybe waiting for a while

BTW Realnz Marlborough IIRC comes with a FSX version straight from the box.

[Venge]

Haven't been sim flying much these days, however can not help but mention TrackIR. To me it was the one thing i could not do without.
Here is a couple youtube clips showing what it does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AO0F5sLdVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGMeINaGFOo...feature=related

[SeanTK]

A few addon recommendations from me:

Freeware.......

Dassault Etendard
http://royalefrenchnavy.gratisim.fr/FSX_Creations.htm

Anything by Tim "Piglet" Conrad
(notables include: An-32, PT-19, PC-7 version 2, PC-6, etc, etc.)

Rob Richardson's Fairey Gannet

Aircraft by Thomas Ruth (Boeing 727 for example)

Enstrom 280 by Eagle Rotorcraft Sims

Samdim's FSX version of their Mudry Cap-10 (@ Avsim)

Any Restauravia aircraft
http://restauravia.com/page11.html
(Magister, Zephyr, and Mystere especially)


Payware.....

I'm sure you already know everything that applies to NZ.

Flytampa sceneries (I enjoy the Grenadines)

FSDreamteam sceneries (Hawaii stuff is good)

Anything by Carenado.

Aerosoft Katana (fsx native version), Hughes H-1, etc, etc.

Flight1 BN-2 Islander

Lotus Simulations L-39C

PMDG Jetstream 4100

Cera Simulations Bell 212

[ardypilot]

Thanks guys- I'd forgotton about that extra photoreal and the Flight 1 Islander. Will add those to the list! REX looks really promising too!

Are there any setup guides for setting up the density sliders etc inside the FSX program or tweaking the .cfg as was nessicery in FS9?

Also, where can I can download links for the RNZAF CT-4 and Strikemaster?

Cheers again.

[Nzeddy]

QUOTE (Trolly @ Sep 1 2011,11:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are there any setup guides for setting up the density sliders etc inside the FSX program or tweaking the .cfg as was nessicery in FS9?

Also, where can I can download links for the RNZAF CT-4 and Strikemaster?

CT-4: http://www.airforce.mil.nz/gallery/downloa...nerdownload.htm
Strikemaster: http://flightsim.co.nz/DOWNLOADS/BAC167v1.zip
Online FSX Tweak: http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html

Forgot to mention, FSWC. Awesome water editor for FSX: http://www.strikingsoftware.com/fswc.shtml Works very well with REX2+OD!

Also, don't install FSX in the programs files folder or it will cause admin problems. Just install it outside of the programs files folder and you should be sweet. So E:\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X for example.

What OS you got? 32 or 64bit?


If you want to fly outside NZ and want to try out so awesome Orbx scenery then get the Pacific Northwest DemoV2 which includes a payware quality airport for FREE!: http://fullterrain.com/product_demos.html

[Naki]

Also check out this web site for NZ repaints etc

http://www.nzfsim.org/index.php

[AlisterC]

I can sing the praises of this site too. HIGHLY recommend what Eddy said: "Online FSX Tweak: http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html"
That and SP1 and SP2 should be all you need on a new system.
My older PC I am using high performance textures for water, trees, and autogen to help out with that side of things.
Enjoy!

[ardypilot]

Great, thanks for all the tips guys!

[cowpatz]

Hang on a minute Andrew.

GA pilot = flying + Alcohol = No $ + poverty

At least from my hazy recollection of it. Did you get a small lotto win?

[ardypilot]

QUOTE (cowpatz @ Sep 3 2011,10:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hang on a minute Andrew.

GA pilot = flying + Alcohol = No $ + poverty

At least from my hazy recollection of it. Did you get a small lotto win?

*Part time GA pilot + Part time job + monthly contributor to NZ Aviation News = a little pocket money

[Naki]

Great article of the 162 in the Avaition News by the way ...very comprehensive...what other articles are you doing?

[ardypilot]

Now the rigs arrived- who knows where I can pick up the cheapest copy of FSX itself? Anyone selling it 2nd hand?

And thanks Paul. This month I have a Mountain Flying article (Part 1 of a series) on page 17 and am also reviewing the Tecnam P2008 later in the week weather permitting. More air to air photos to follow!

[dbcunnz]

QUOTE (Trolly @ Sep 6 2011,11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Now the rigs arrived- who knows where I can pick up the cheapest copy of FSX itself? Anyone selling it 2nd hand?

And thanks Paul. This month I have a Mountain Flying article (Part 1 of a series) on page 17 and am also reviewing the Tecnam P2008 later in the week weather permitting. More air to air photos to follow!

New http://www.trademe.co.nz/Gaming/PC-games/S...n-405001239.htm

[dbcunnz]

QUOTE (dbcunnz @ Sep 6 2011,11:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

New http://www.trademe.co.nz/Gaming/PC-games/S...n-405001239.htm

or try this one http://www.firstgames.co.nz/shop/pc/flight...r-x-gold-editio

[ardypilot]

Sweet, bought a copy this morning from the above mentioned store. Cheers Doug!

Now how do I go about optimising my display settings? As I mentioned, I've got a quad core with a 1GB ATI 5750 card. At the moment, with FPS set to 35, it runs fine in windowed mode but lags a little when ALT+ENTER'ed to full screen.

I've set up all the settings for filtering and antialiasing through the ATI control centre rather than let the application control the settings. I remember doing something simular with my nVidia for FS9. Is this correct?

Also, what are the settings members reccomend here for textures/autogen/water effects etc? I was expecting no lag at all!

Cheers,
Andy

[Naki]

I set my antiliasing from the game itself wihin FSX.

Off the top of my head - set autogen at normal (normal is quite satisfactory and the same as high in FS9), water at low or medium & vehicle and ship AI (its over the top to the right anyway) to about 16 - you may want to experiment a bit to find something that suits you & the PC. Your system should handle all the other sliders at the right .