Simviation Forum

Jul 2^nd, 2007 at 5:18pm

Flying Trucker Ex Member

Hi folks...

Well I looked up "X Plane" on the internet, so I have a fair idea what it is, but what I would like to know is if it is more detailed than FS X?

Can any of the aircraft from our downloads here at Siimviation (FS 2004 & FS X) be flown in "X Plane"?

I would like to know what program will give me the best graphics and detail for scenery and aircraft.
Perhaps it is neither one of these?

My specs are:
Windows Vista Home Premium
2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core (2 installed)
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
320.06 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
238.75 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
3328 Megabytes Installed Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX (Display adapter)

All comments most welcome.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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Reply #1 - Jul 2^nd, 2007 at 5:40pm

spitfire boy Offline
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Flying Trucker wrote on Jul 2^nd, 2007 at 5:18pm:

Hi folks...

Well I looked up "X Plane" on the internet, so I have a fair idea what it is, but what I would like to know is if it is more detailed than FS X?

Can any of the aircraft from our downloads here at Siimviation (FS 2004 & FS X) be flown in "X Plane"?

I would like to know what program will give me the best graphics and detail for scenery and aircraft.
Perhaps it is neither one of these?

My specs are:
Windows Vista Home Premium
2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 x 2 Dual Core (2 installed)
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
320.06 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
238.75 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
3328 Megabytes Installed Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX (Display adapter)

All comments most welcome.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

I used to be an avid X-Plane-er, but I'm afraid it's scenery isn't up to scratch - downloads can be obtained which considerably improve things, but judging from past experience they eat framerates.

Also, all X-plane aircraft are saved in a '.acf' file format, and I doubt very much they'll work in FS. Any X-plane addon you see was created via a utility that comes with the sim, called 'plane maker'. It works in a completely different way to, say, Gmax - it's a fully integrated aircraft production proramme - performance details are enterd into the craft in Plane-maker, rather than externally.

One big advantage that X-plane has is 'blade element theory' - which is complicated, but basically, you create the plane, and the sim tells you how the plane would fly if it were real, rather than you telling the sim how the plane should behave.

The author of X-plane (a guy called Austin Meyer) has specifically stated that X-plane is geared towards aircraft detail, rather than scenery detail.

All in all, both sims have advantages and disadvantages. I'm lucky enough to have both! Grin

P.S. guess who else's name is Doug? Wink

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Reply #2 - Jul 3^rd, 2007 at 1:11pm

Katahu Offline
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I own X-Plane as well, and I agree that it's focused more on dynamics rather than detail. In fact, so much attention is paid into the dynamics that most PAYWARE addons for X-Plane look pretty much like their FREEWARE counterparts for FS. The link below shows you all the addons for X-Plane.

http://x-plane.org/

Even the Global terrain Package provided by Laminar Research is still not enough to even match Vista Australis scenery. Much of the textures are repetitive, roads are jaggy, autogen is not very consistent, and the water still doesn't reflect at all; although you get to see some animated waves in X-Plane.

So, if you're into dynamics and number crunching, then X-Plane is right for you. But if you want visual details and scenery accuracy, the FS series is right for you.

Here is an article that gives you a clear comparison between the two sims.

http://www.simpilotnet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=9...

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Reply #3 - Jul 3^rd, 2007 at 9:55pm

Flying Trucker Ex Member

Good evening...

Thank you both for your inputs and comments.

I found that site Katahu very informative and well worth the read.

After reading that site am I correct in assuming that Real Air is much better than X Plane or FS X?
I do not know what Real Air is but am going to check it out this evening on the internet.

Again thanks for the inputs and comments. Wink

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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Reply #4 - Jul 4^th, 2007 at 1:55am

GunnerMan Offline
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RealAir is a FS payware company. They make adon aircrafts for the MSFS franchise. There aircraft are very highquality and very fun. It is not a sim in itself.

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Reply #5 - Jul 4^th, 2007 at 5:57pm

Flying Trucker Ex Member

Okay thanks for the replies.

I did a little more research and found the following:
(1) Aero Files...a high quality texture booster pack for FSX
(2) Zinertek-Ultimate Night Environment X
(3) Zinertek-World Environment 2007
(4) CLS-Environment Boost
(5) Pilots-FS Global 2008
(6) Aerosoft-My Trafic for FSX

Could anyone give me an opinion on the purchase or use of any of these?
They all seem to do a little something different, I am not sure if the purchase of one product would do everything.

Does anyone recommend any of these or is there something else on the market that would enhance FSX?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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Reply #6 - Jul 5^th, 2007 at 1:08am