Why not take a second and complete the poll. It'll give everyone a good indication of the general concensus here at the V concerning the latest "Bill's Kill"....

If you have time, post a comment as to what you feel is the ONE best thing and the ONE worst thing about FSX...

I'm reasonably pleased with what I've seen so far*. With the tweaks shown in various threads here I've managed to get reasonable framerates moderate levels of detail - the caveat to that being I tend not to fly near major cities anyway. Certainly with a little tweaking, and a minor upgrade on my part when DX10 arrives, I think it will be very good.

Another plus I've found so far is about 75% of the payware FS9 aircraft I've added so far work faultlessly (Razbam Skyraider, IRIS P-40) or nearly so (AH Corsair).


*the Himalayan River Thames excluded!

I plumped for "Too early to say"......!

I find it impossible to run acceptably on my existing system at present, and I am hoping that over time the program will be "modified*/improved?" by Microsoft to make it accessible to more users......!

In the meantime, because my add-on Payware favourites, ie; FS Navigator, LAGO FSE, Abacus EZ-Scenery, etc, have not yet been released to be compatible with FSX, I am continuing to use FS 2004 for all my daily flights.

Cheers all...!

Paul...  8)...!

* A selection of slightly downgraded packs of folder objects/scenery/effects/etc to replace the existing hi-res/high detail objects, etc, in the existing folders which consume so much memory, resources, etc, on "lower-end" systems....?

Not everyone has gone through the whole FS series and is PC savvy. What about the folks who have bought it for the first time, just like any other computer game. Are they expected to accept that having been fed all the hype about its features, and having noted the minimum system requirements, it actually won't run on their PC? They wouldn't for any other computer game.

Different if there was a warning on the packaging, or a money-back guarantee from the manufacturer.

I think it will turn out ok but it needs a good bit of tweaking with the systems most of us have right now. I was not that impressed it took me a while to figure out all of the views it has. I do not like the default ground textures  but than I have had to tun down a lot of sliders to get a better frame rate my video card is just not up to FSX I use a FX5700LE 256 ram.  8)

Disappointed because I do think my system should be able to cope with this without all the messing about I have had to do to it. I never expected to be able to run this flat out but I did expect to be able to run with higher settings than I do. Having done all the messing about I now have frame rates almost as good as I get with FS9 (I run FS9 on max settings) but the trade off for frame rates is quality of scenery and overall graphics settings so it looks no better than FS9 with slightly worse frame rates. Potential for tweaking but should not have to go through all that IMO. I said this about CFS3 and I’ll say it now about FSX, for £60 it should run well out of the box on ANY system that is above and beyond the recommended specs on the packaging without having to have a working knowledge of how to edit a config. File or being able to understand the software needed to convert textures to a lower resolution and how to over clock my video card to be able to run the sim.
Best bits? None at this point, FS9 still looks and runs better.
Worst bits? I’m £60 worse off and have nothing positive at this point to show for it.
I have learned how to edit a config. File and over clock my video card though, even if I still don’t understand how to convert textures.

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Absolutely dead on. I'm reading the packaging right now (just like Auntie Aggie would do when she's looking for a Christmas present for little Johnnie, as she will do in a few weeks time ....oh.... no connection of course.....not the reason why FSX was rushed out right now in its present state with all these glitches.... ??? )

"Immerse yourself in this dynamic, living world.....patrol the skies above busy city traffic and waterways......more high detail cities and airports...etc" and then you see the minimum system requirements. But it doesn't then say that none of the above-mentioned features will actually work if your system is the same as that minimum spec (or in fact considerably higher) because they will all be turned off by the install procedure!

Or indeed that in order to get them to work in any shape or form that looks anything like the packaging, you'll need a degree in computer science to install drivers, manually edit configuration and set up files, re-format high-tech texture files and continually scoure the Internet for supposed 'tweaks' and updates. In fact spend all your time after buying and installing it trying to get it to run rather than actually using it!

OMG - just noticed - it's that person again.

pepper_airborne, put up some freakin screen shots of what you've achieved, with details on your system, settings and what you have done to get it running so well.

Otherwise please save us.....you've now had every opportunity to do so

STOP PRESS!!!!

Hold the front page. Now I see how pepper_airborne's system is running FSX and I'm green with envy. Here's his screen shot (the only one I think)



What do you think fellas.....something for us all to aspire to?

Come on pepper ....... give us all the dope. How did you get your system running as well as that?

Danny,

Where is the option "Happy With FS9"

I put Pleased with it.... I love FSX but I really havent done a full out flight yet, sure, With my settings balanced as best I can, it lags, so what.... if I can fly where I like which is usually over an ocean or somewhere in nowhere land. I might run medium-low like settings, but hey, I'm happy 

Max FPS 15, Lowest, around 6

Cheers, Gunny

2002 is still avalible,
Thats what they used in my ppl ground school...

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Which are????

I have also checked the 4th button.
I was also a little bit of .
It´s only 2 months ago since i got my new Rig.
And i have already spend some bucks for upgrading.
So the 1st run of FSX went into a little disaster for me.
But now,with some tweeks done,it´s getting better and better.I know,it´s still not showing the whole potential.
And it will of course do so only after some more tweeking and upgrading.
But thats ok with me.This is my Hobby,and just as my Car is also my Hobby,i´ve also done alot "tweeking" for it to make it look and drive the way i want!

One of the things I remembered one of the game designers of FSX stated in one of his blogs was that most games out there don't really have much of a shelf life, and the point of making FSX break present day average computers (and even high end) to their knees is that they want to maintain that shelf-life where other games cant and so people would enjoy it longer.

Although I accept this theory, by all means its good for business from a theoreotical point of view, I saw a lot of holes that they might have just totally skipped up on.  Unlike regular games, FS should be exactly what the name advertises, a simulator.  One of the things that appealed to me about some of the older versions, ie: FS5 was that the developers focused on just that, the sim.  Back then there wasnt autogen, and the graphics can't compare to some of the games back then either.  But a lot of people out there use this as a training tool too, and as I do fly in real life, having microstutters 20 feet off the runway while landing is a bit unacceptable.  If you can imagine a perspective student pilot picking up FSX from the shelf to improve his or her training; having an average system quite above the minimum system requirements, this student spends $60 and be in shock.

Although I never spent my money on it, I believe back when Combat Flight Simulator 3 came out, there were some similar issues, and I noticed even today that a lot of the community didnt even try it in the end and stuck with CFS2.  I believe it wasnt backwards compatible, and a few other issues that didnt out weight the improvements.  But what do I know, I don't even own the game    But at the moment, the only real thing that was improved in the new FSX is the graphics, better helicopters, and autogen.  Some of the backwards compatibility got thrown off by moving the aircraft folder somewhere else.  Kinda disappointed me considering I wouldn't be able to run the Level-D 767 anymore.  Even more shocking was that elder scrolls oblivion runs smoother, different game but they did advertise their minimum system requirements at 2.0 ghz  .  Brings another point though, all bethesda's games don't have short shelf lives either.  Although they do require the latest hardware, at least they don't require hardware of the future to enjoy the experience.

I dunno though, I hope MS comes out with a patch or something.  I'm sure if the glitches can be addressed by those who developed this sim that the full potential will finally come out.

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What would this warning lable say, exactly? "Warning!  Not for bad computers!  Exetremely bad Scenery in London Makes Impossible to fly!  Slow framrates".  That would be an exelent, and, from what I have heard, accurate warning lable.

They should just have written something like that, it would have been ok:
Minimum requirements:
Pentium 3 GHz or equivalent
1 Gb RAM
DirectX9 video card with at least 256 Mb of Memory

Now that I think about it, instead of using such imprecise description, they should just use a benchmark, and write the minimum rating needed to run the sim at minimum settings with 25 FPS.

Well lets see....

its way to early to start complaining now.

Lets wait a month or two to find the bugs, and tweak your system

OR

wait until Vista and DX10 come out
see how your system runs..

Then start complaining!!

My only complaint is that i haven't got it yet

If you don't like it, then sell it
(you could sell it to me )

I tried a tip i found that said to set the FPS limiter to unlimeted and for some reason its now running between 20 and 30 fps when i try to lock it back to lets say 20 it drops down to 6-15 fps again ??? ???

It still jumps but it wont go lower than 10 fps now in most areas, im puzzeled as to why this happens but you might give it a try too

Bindoe, Bindoe, Bindoe.....

It is OK to say something bad about the new version.
Everybody will still like you.  

I have been keeping a very close eye in the screenshots forum and to this date,

HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING IMPRESSIVE!!

Big deal, people worked out their anti-aliasing and their image is clear. Some cool water textures and a few trees added that is about it.

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OOOHHHH,
Can I play?   

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Interesting idea but I think it would be no contest unless you stipulate no addons.

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Addons would have to be allowed. that is the reason for this.
yes, default out of the box, FSX offers more, even though it won't fly nicley. 
Doug, you mean I can't use the following! 

Microsoft Flight Simulator Installation
World Mesh, Terrain & Environment
SIMULATOR BUILD.

1.      Microsoft Flight Simulator  “A Century of Flight” 4 discs
2.      FS 9 “Update Patch”
3.      FSUIPC Module
4.      FS9 “No CD Patch"
5.      FS Global 2005 78 Meter World Mesh
6.      38meterRealScene Mesh
7.      FS Genesis Landclass
8.      FS Genesis 38m Cordillera Mesh (Update in folder)
9.      FS Genesis 38m Yukon Territory Mesh & 2nd Disc
10.    FS Genesis 9.6m Grand Canyon Mesh
11.    FS Genesis 38m Mexico Mesh
12.    FS Genesis 9.6m Hawaiian Islands Mesh
13.    FS Genesis 38m Atlantic Canada Mesh
14.    FS Genesis 19m Alps Mesh
15.    FS Genesis 10m Monument Valley
16.    FS Genesis Worldwide Buffer Mesh Lod4/5/6 ALL
17.    Ultimate Terrain USA 
18.    Ultimate Terrain Canada Alaska
19.    Ultimate Terrain Europe
20.    Flight Environment
21.    Sound Environment
22.    Ground Environment
23.    FS Configurator
24.    Vancouver FSAddon
25.      Aerosoft Freight Scenery
26.        Aerosoft Freight Dogs the Scenery
27.        Misty Fjords FS Addon
28.        Caribe Mesh (Antilles & 3 other islands)
29.        Ultimate Traffic (All updates & schedules)
30.        New Zealand 20m by Red Baron Ent.
31.        New Zealand TOPO Scenery for 20m
32.        New Zealand Godzone Airport Rotorua
33.        New Zealand Godzone Airport Tauranga
34.        Roads & Rails of new Zealand
35.        Flight Scenery Rhode Island
36.        Rhode Island Patches
37.        FS Addon Orcas Island (afcad update) (manual install!!)
38.       Aerosoft Martha’s Vineyard Scenery (Beech aircraft installs also)
39.       Active Camera (New and patch}
40.       Vistas Australis & .Net Framework Software
41.       Airport Environment V7
42.       FS Autostart
43.       Radio Tower Lighting
44.       Snow Ice Runways
45.       Touchdown Effect
46.       France VFR Flight Riviera [Base pack
47.       France VFR Flight Riviera  [autogen pack]
48.       Salt Lake City FSAddon (texture patch)
49.       Newark Imaginesim (Afcad package) (not good)
50.       Aircraft Sound Enhancements
51.       Nav light package      [must do!!]
52.       Airport Lighting V2 BEST! [there are 3 others but all halo.bmp}
53.       Aerosoft Cape Canaveral
54.       Aerosoft France 1
55.       Aerosoft France 2
56.       Aerosoft Germany 1
57.       Aerosoft Germany 2
58.       Aerosoft Germany 3
59.       Aerosoft Germany 4
60.       Aerosoft VFR Berlin
61.       Aerosoft Mega Frankfurt Airport
62.       Aerosoft Life in Elba (fly the lakes)
63.       Aerosoft Manhattan
64.       Aerosoft Islands of Malta
65.       France VFR La Reunion
66.       Fly the Lakes “Cloud9”
67. Bremmerton                                                                  
68.       S10 Chelan Muni      (patch?)
69.       All Coastal Ship Enhancements
70.       Gerish Greys Trees V3
71.       Vancouver Airport
72.       Lago - Georender Emma Field
73.       Lago - Georender 1  Ranger Creek-Flying Ranch
74.       Lago - Georender 2      Bryce Canyon
75.       Lago – Georender 3      Diamond Point
76.       Lago - Georender 4       Darrington Muni
77.       Lago – Georender 5      Forks
78.       Lago – Georender 6      Strom Sky Harbor
79.       Lago – Georender            Harvey Monroe
80.       Lago – Georender            Wenache Skykomish
81.       Lago – Georender            Honolulu
82.       France VFR Corsica
83.       Wonderful Rio
84.       Mt Rainer Scenery
85.       Aerosoft VLNK
86.       Flight Zone LFRD
87.       France VFR Mayotte Island
88.       FlyTampa Midway
89.       FlyTampa San Francisco
90.       FlyTampa Seattle
91.       FlyTampa Tampa
92.       FlyTampa Dubai
93.       FlyTampa Miami
94.       FlyTampa San Diego
95.       FlyTampa Boston Logan
96.       California Coast Scenery “CCCOAST4”
97.       Simflyers Pearson Toronto
98.       Imagine Sim New Orleans
99.       Bridge replacements
100.     Republic Airport KFRG
100.     Swiss 2004 (nova Gold installed at this time]
101.     Weather Scene
102.     Thunder Bay Ontario
103.       Ontario Three Airports (1 package)
100.       Etretat                              
104.      BaiedeSomme                                                      
105.      Dieppe                                                            
106.      Italy Roads
107.      Italy Waters
108.      Italy Landclass
109.      All versions of Ultimate GA
110.      Teteboro                                                            
111.      Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands roads
112.      St. Thomas Afcad & Landclass
113.      France 38meter Mesh
114.      France VFR Quibeon
115.      France VFR Ouesant
116.      IWI #3 1&2&4 need to be figured out!
117.      Puerto Rico All Adons
118.      Grand Case St Maartin TFFG
119.      St. Martin Boats
120.      ENVMap
121.      Auckland Scenery Add on                  
122.      BORA BORA
123.      French Polynesia Archipelago
124.      Real New Zealand Tekapo & Wanaka
125.      5S9 Valley View Oregon
126.      Dover Airforce Base
127.      Sitka ,Alaska 
128.      Tongass Fjords 
129.      Dave’s SITKA ADD ON
130.      Tongass Fjords & FS Cargo & Tongass updateV1
131.      Maine
132.      4th of July
133.      Sottish VFR
134.      Chambery
135.      Meigs 06
136.      Scandanavian 2 Airports Aerosoft 
137.      Salzburg RGFlight
138.      Austrian Airports
139.      KJFK Addon 
140.      Georender Yosemite 
141.      LaGuardia 
142.      Grove Washington StAte.
143.      TREEGEN
144.      Long Island Airports 
145.      FlightZone Portland

Doug, please, I am not one to brag at all.
I have had all this and never once really mentioned it to anybody. If anybody knows my sim, they know what is included. I was just making a point as to why I am happy with my sim. A simple copy and paste is all it is from my install list. Basically I am backing up what I have said about FSX, that FS9 is the same with all the above included. Allot more money.

You know what, If i sound like I am bragging, then so be it. I sure have spent enough on this hobby so 
I deserve bragging rights! 

And by the way, I know allot of people who have asked me what I have in my machine, so maybe this thread now needs to be moved to the Payware forum. 

Whats 4th July...

and wot's Sottish VFR  

I know ......  it's when you fly drunk in good weather 

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Don't know if I will be doing that as I may need to PAY for an FSX Upgrade Patch of some sort 


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A fireworks package that lights up the skies in 20 major cities in the US on certain holidays.


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Fair enough Doug.

I have been lucky enough to own my own company and invest in the only hobby I enjoy besides photography. What I have spent pales in comparison to lets say a car enthusiast buying a Lamborghini 

Just look at is as cybercash! 


Now would you like me to post my "Payware Aircraft" list 

Dave

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OK, it's your money. What you spend it on is none of my business.

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Speaking of which, this was delivered last Friday about 30 minutes before I took the shot. No, it's not mine. http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/da-DSCF0029a.jpg

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Please spare me that. I would rather not know. Trust me.

Well, I can't really say I'm disappointed. My computer is a pretty good set up, I finally got it to run FS9 will all the eye candy full bore, but it's by no means a super gamer. I can keep a fairly decent 25 FPS but only in the lowest resolution. But running this way allows me room for higher textures and scenery and autogen at 'normal'.

The lower resolution might be too big a trade off for most, but at least I can run it at a level I can enjoy the picture at.

As far as complaints, like I said, I can't really critique the game in as much as I don't fly in the areas a lot of people in other countries do so I can't comment on mesh quality and the like. Matter of fact without actually checking I pretty much limit my flights to the west coast and Hawaii areas.

I'm sure M$ will come out with patches and such to make everyone happy, maybe 3rd party developers will pony up with their fair share of after market addons.

If there were anything I would complain about is the way they changed the texture formats for the aircraft. Makes it hard for repainters. On that subject..anyone know if theirs a prog available like dxtbmp that will save the textures back to the file in the correct format?


Keni

Thanks, Hagar.

Much appreciated, sir. I'll have to see which version I have.

Keni