I am a user of FSX.  The discussion in the fsx forum about the age old battle of fsx vs fs9 brought up some long standing questions:

1)  What is the maximum amount of autogen trees and buildings per cell that can be forced into fs9 via a config file tweak?

2) What is the maximum mesh resolution in meters?

3) What is the max texture resolution in centimeters?

4) Max cloud res

5) Can the Fs9 cameras be made to operate similarly to the FSX cameras?  In other words, can I set up several "VC style" views that can be accessed via the menu bar or hot-key, like in FSX.  this is useful in multicrew a/c especially.

I'm not a noobie to FS9--I used it for years until upgrading to a new machine, and FSX, vc only style.  Sometimes I have been frustrated with FSX and wanted to go back, but realized that this is largely due to a mental fixation with having sliders "to the right".  I suspect that even with the most extensive upgrades to FS9, that it wouldn't even come close to the visual detail of FSX (with all of my addons) even if, god forbid, I were to lower my sliders substantially.  On the other hand (in FS9), it certainly is charming to have ALL sliders to the right and depart MegaAirport in a thunderstorm and be getting glass smooth frame rates.  How good can you make FS9 look and what would that compare to in terms of the sliders in FSX?  Note that several times I have reinstalled FS9 in a moment of frustration at FSX and because of the splotchy looks and lack of autogen, and the lack of camera flexibility in the VC,  I just couldn't stay with the retrograde for long.

FSRecorder has tons of custom assignable cameras, for spot, VC, and tower views, all at the touch of a button. And it's free.  Combine that with F1 view, and you have your walk function as well.  I always felt that the FSX cameras were a step backwards from the FS9 ones in that you can't create new custom views on the fly. (at least in no way that I'm aware of)

FS9 can look almost as good as FSX.

But it takes spending money on the right payware addons for it, and even then, you're only getting FS9 to the point of what FSX looks like out of the Box.

Put a couple of addons in FSX(free or pay) and you'll have something that FS9 can never touch due to it's texture resolution limitations. (provided you have the hardware to handle it.)

It's all down to what you can be happy with in the looks vs. performance battle.

For me, FSX will always look better no matter what I do to my FS9, (and I've done it all now I think.) However, I also know, that FSX is never going to run as smooth and reliably on my machine as FS9 will.  In order for it to do so, I have to lower the settings to the point that it looks like FS9, minus any traffic and weather.

In FS9, all my sliders are maxed, I have nonstop traffic at all gates, and the weather is spectacular with HDE, and it runs glass smooth for me with no graphical or performance glitches.

If I could get that in FSX, I would switch in a second. 

Neither is better than the other, as they both do the exact same function, for different levels of hardware. It's all in how much realism you can afford, and what makes you happy.

Some people are perfectly happy with the never ending tweaking of their sims.  Others just want to fly, and not worry about FPS & stutters.

I'm one of the latter.

Yeah with the right addons, the average FS9 can come pretty close graphically.  The graphical gap between the two sims don't see all that large to me; at least, if we throw in a few addons for FS9.  Sometimes it can even look better, depending on how you look at it.

Having done some of my own flying in real life, I find that FS9 looks pretty stellar as it is with the right tweaks.  When comparing what I see outside the window of my own crate and the monitor for my sim, I often cannot think of what more to improve on graphically when I have my favorite addons installed. 

My one and only complaint is that FS9 does not have those ripply and reflective water effects you see in FSX at low altitude. Its a bummer really 

Fozzer wrote on Dec 24^th, 2009 at 8:18am:


very realistic if you have been living in the UK recently!

Zaphod (the stationary.)

Merry Christmas to you too Fozz, and to all at SimV.

Zaphod.

ShaneG wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 9:49pm:
Is it just me or do planes in FSX look slightly more elongated than those in FS9.  When I first downloaded the FSX demo and flew the Baron, it just looked a little longer than it needed to be - probably just me  .

I have ground environment for 2004 and wonder what payware you gentlemen would suggest to enhance scenery for X10? What about Ultimate Terrain USA/Europe?

ROM:  Yes, thank you, still here and still amazed at this wonderful thing called Flight Sim. I have had a yoke and pedals for some weeks now and  as noted in here by others, it adds great pleasure to the sim experience.  Still have problems downloading and I suppose this is due to my majoring in english Lit in college. I can undersdtand "Finnegans wake" but am damned if I can figure out how to download aircraft and scenery. I had a young relative  here who just did two years in the US Air Force academy and he couldn't figure it out, either (I am not kidding).  I have a Dell XPS game machine and a very good video card which I rec'd for my 78th birthday, so it isn't the machine. Just simple tech ignorance on my part. And possibly a little senility tossed in.