Well ladies and gents, today I got a chance to fly a bit in FSX up at Airventure, and let me say........WOWOWOWOWZEZZZERRRRSSS!!!!


Okay, maybe a bit of an over-reaction, but the experience was much better than almost any flying I've done in FS9.  The version at Oshkosh was an early build of FSX that hasn't been optimized yet, so it looked like hell and ran slow (in FSX terms, which in FS9 terms is: it looked amazing and ran very smoothly).  The only performance issues present were long loading times, and an over-all unpolished feeling to the graphics, but all the flight dynamics and everything seemed to be in place and working well.

I'll start off with the interface.  The version they had allowed you to do anything you'll be able to do in the final version (at least it seemed like it), so I figured I would start a flight in a G1000 equipped C172 out of my local airport.  So I go to the create a flight screen, which is set up in pretty much the same way it is in FS9, with choosing your airplane, airport, weather, and time.  I went to choose and airplane, and this was set up a bit differently, they still had the same three options to choose your airplane by (manufacturer, type, whatever, etc...) but they added an area below that displayed a whole list of the aircraft you can choose from, each accompanied by a thumbnail of the aircraft and it's particular paint scheme, which is very handy, so you don't have to click on an aircraft just to see what it looks like in case you've forgotten.  So I find my default C172 with the G1000, in a nice brown color, and I choose it, no problem.  Next I choose an airport to fly out of, the weather, and time, and for the most part, the selection process for each is exactly the same as FS9.  So I load up the flight and of-course it doesn't work, I can see the cockpit, and the instruments and everything, but I can't see out, but I did get a good look at the G1000 and it looks really great.  So, since that didn't work, I decided I would have better luck with a pre-made mission.  So I press the usual "alt" key, which works almost the same as FS9, except now it doesn't pause the flight when you press it to choose whatever you want.  I went to the mission select screen and chose a mission in much the same way you select a pre-made flight in FS9, with a breifing and so on.  I chose "Approach to Sitka" (or something like that),  an intermediate mission, because all the easy missions were basically just for teaching the basics of flying.  I loaded the mission and was plunked down in the cockpit of a C172 flying over the mountains of Alaska.  It took me a second to get my view sorted out, but once I did, I was greeted with a view of the mountains that far surpassed anything in FS9, in the details, and just overall appearance.  As I was flying, there was a helpful in-game voice that was coaching me through what needed to be done to complete the mission.  So I made a quick turn towards the airport, and started flying.  The flight dynamics seem similar to FS9, but more realistic, flying the FSX C172 seemed much more like actually flying a 172 than it ever felt like in FS9.  The first thing I noticed that really amazed me was the water.  It looks better than any water in any flight simulation game on the market (in my opinion), it is similar to the water in LOMAC, but it moves and sparkles much more realistically (see my screens later).  I continued flying over and around some mountains, towards the airport in the distance (I could tell it was the correct one becuase it had a huge green arrow over it).  As I was flying, I cycled through the views to see what they were like, and I was surprised to find that there was no 2D panel view. I don't know if that was becuase the game wasn't finished yet or if it has been done away with completely, although the other three views from FS9 were still there.  If there is no 2D panel though, it shouldn't really be a problem, as the VC guages and views are smooth as silk now, and I had no trouble reading them or following them.  As I approached the airport I began to prepare for landing.  I dropped two notches of flaps, and tried to maintain 65 kts, which felt much more realistic in FSX than it ever did in FS9.  I continued on and landed, and was presented with a "mission complete" notice, but I was still able to continue flying, so I took back off to see some of the autogen, which is much more dense now than it ever was in FS9.  One of the microsoft guys there said FS9 was limited to 500 autogen objects on-screen at once, but FSX allows up to 5000 at once, which is very noticable, as you can see in my last screen-shot, with the hill in the distance, covered in trees and buildings.  By now, I had a few people around me waiting to get their chance, so I let them have a go.

Overall, I was very impressed and have happily pre-ordered and paid for my deluxe copy of FSX.

Flying through a valley towards the airport in the distance, notice the higher resolution mesh...


Approaching the airport, notice the water, and the giant, green arrow...


Just after landing, I've taken off again, notice the density of the autogen on the hill up ahead...


Thanks for looking at my longest post ever!

Thanks, compression did kill the shots, but so did the fact that I took a picture of the monitor, me having my flash on (I'm dumb), and the fact that there were no optimizations in place, so they chose to make it run reasonably smooth, but at lower resolutions, and the autogen, weather, and textures all looked really terrible, but once it's released, it should look 10x better.

Awsome pictures Mobius!

But it may prove more expensive which in that case they will have a bargain.

Nice read and thanks for taking the time to post it.  8)

Thanks for the comments guys.

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Because, I'm guarenteed to get it on the day it ships; if you don't pre-order, you have to wait for the next day to pick-up your copy, if you can find one.  I pre-ordered it from  a Gamestop store, so I highly doubt they will be going out of buisiness, and if the price does change, they will adjust it to reflect the final price, whether it goes up, or goes down.   I figured I would pre-order now for a couple of reasons, mainly so I can get my copy early, and I also sold a couple of games, and I had store credit to use, and I would rather use that up instead of carrying a slip of paper around worth $45.00.

The reason you couldn't find the 2d panel is simple... FSX has an entirely new camera system!

Each of the regular "Cycle Views" now have "Sub-Views" that're controlled by the "A" key.

IOW, to switch from VC to 2d panel you'd simply press the "A" key... 

By default - meaning if there aren't any specific camera views set up in the aircraft.cfg file - "Spot View" will cycle through the following using the "A" key:

1) Normal Spot View
2) Fixed Spot View
3) Right Wing View
4) Left Wing View
5) Tail Camera View

I can see now that it's going to take some getting used to before FS9 users are comfortable with the new system!  8)

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Ahem, confirmation please.

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See the above reply.  I'm not sure what would "convince you," but I should think my bona-fides in the industry would bear out my observations...  

Fr. Bill Leaming
3d Modeler & C++ Gauge Programmer
Eaglesoft Development Group
http://eaglesoftdg.com

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BTW, the "V" key is used to take sequential screenshots that will be stored in your Logbook...

The "S" and "A" keys navigate the configured camera views.

Fr. Bill Leaming
3d Modeler & C++ Gauge Programmer
Eaglesoft Development Group

Yeah, sorry about that Foz, the scenery and ground textures in the version I tried looked really terrible anyways, because it wasn't finished yet, but they still looked better than FS9.  I did get a good look at the ground details when I almost ran into the hill in-front of me in the first shot, and I think everyone will be happy with how they look.  And all the pictures are too dark because I was stupid and excited and I left my flash on, oops.