X-Plane 9 terrain. Im impressed

[ThrottleUp]

Hey gang, I just got X-Plane 9. Unfortunately its a slideshow on my system. However I did scoot around in a Saab JA37 Viggen fighter plane for the sole purpose of checking out the terrain in this sim.

Im very impressed in fact I will go as far to say I think its superior to FSX. And this is straight outta the box - no addons. The sim arrives on 6 DVDs and installation took 3 hours...thats right three hours! Lets have a look! the mountains you see are the Himalayas & the Alps.





















However I know I will never leave my dear FS9! X-Plane is impressive and does have some neat feautures (instant-change time-of-day for example) but it still felt very alien to me (if thats the right word). The planes are no match for MS flight sim though! Not thats I've seen many but the ones I saw were not. I have heard of a super-dooper detailed X-plane 757 in the works though. Hope you liked the shots

[kiwibarguy]

Great shots, thanks for posting!

[AlisterC]

Beautiful shots! Might look at it one day once there is something nice to fly in it. Let us know if you get that fancy 757

[Daniel]

Wow that looks really good
Thanks for sharing some shots

[Anthony]

Slideshow or not, that's wicked.
That is one very nice looking slideshow
Cool shots as well.

[ThrottleUp]

Thanks guys for your replies X-Plane 9 shining point is its terrain. In a nutshell all the time we spend looking for add-on mesh & landclass for FS9 & FSX to enhance certain areas is a non-issue with X-Plane.

Straight out of the box you get the terrain you see in these screenshots - and this high quality is present throughout the X-Plane world..so the Himalayas, Canadian Rockies, Alps, Andes...*all* look hi-res and extemely detailed. End result - you can get on with the businiess of flying

I have not posted pics of it but the other non-mountainous terrain is excellent too...the autogen (trees and buildings) I also feel is superior to FSX.

However I did not like its interface at all. Found it confusing and strange. Im sure X-Plane veterans will laugh at me but I cant help it. I feel it can be vastly improved, its a bit too fiddly sometimes!

And as I have learned the hard way....you do need a computer with some punch to run it

[gojozoom]

I need a high-end PC....NOW....
Thanks for sharing anyway.

[Timmo]

One thing I did notice in the screen shots on their website are blank terrain triangles in the distance (i.e. some of the triangles that make up a hill arent being drawn)- Have you noticed this?

[NZ255]

Can you post some of NZ?

[Ian Warren]

I compare this more to the EF2000 program released in 1996 , good back then and combat mixed with mission and practice type .. think be bit hard to swap from FS to XP

[benwynn]

Looks very very good, maybe they should propose a merger with Microsoft Flight Sim You wont get me changing in a hurry..

[ThrottleUp]

If there is one thing I will wish for it would be the ability to use X-Planes terrain in FS9/X. When it comes down to the wire the terrain is the only thign I really like about X-Plane.

[Charl]

QUOTE (ThrottleUp @ Aug 16 2008, 09:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If there is one thing I will wish for it would be the ability to use X-Planes terrain in FS9/X. When it comes down to the wire the terrain is the only thign I really like about X-Plane.

Ah but the showstopper in X-Plane is actually the flight dynamics...
We are all so used to the MS version, we think that is how aircraft behave.
In the middle 50% of the flight envelope maybe, but that is only where X-Plane starts.
This sim is beginning to sound more and more attractive...

[Alex]

I've heard that the weather in X-Plane is superb...

Alex

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Charl @ Aug 16 2008, 09:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah but the showstopper in X-Plane is actually the flight dynamics...
We are all so used to the MS version, we think that is how aircraft behave.
In the middle 50% of the flight envelope maybe, but that is only where X-Plane starts.

Thats were the FSX Boeing Strat is a glowing diff for the flight dynamics and change in work load rather than the push button defaults and i believe the SCFA Connie was the first with dynamics and engine management , only wished it had been finished properly .. think new paywares are addressing this area as much as the airports getting a fix and makeover.

[ThrottleUp]

QUOTE

Ah but the showstopper in X-Plane is actually the flight dynamics...[/quote]

You are quite right! Unfortunately for me XP9 bought my PC to its knees and in the PowerPoint slideshow that resulted I could not appreciate the hyper-accurate flight modelling at all. Its plane-maker & airfoil-maker will surely help people understand basic aerodynamics. Lets hope FS11 improved on the MS dynamics.

**Yikes I was messing about in my PhotoBucket album moving stuff around and it trashed all the links to the pics** Will repost!