Okay, so let me explain, i'm huge on the motorsport sims, and have been here for a while now but mainly in there. Well lately the Air sim bug has bitten, i cant stop watching videos on youtube about FSX, some of them the graphics are incredible!

So heres the thing though, i am completely lost as to where to start, i know theres a new flight sim coming out from microsoft but FSX has me interested, so where do i begin? i am completely new to the whole thing, i havent got FSX yet, as i have seen lots of add ons and stuff and am now confused, so would anyone be able to give me some pointers or guide to starting this?

I dunno how the graphics are so good on alot of the vids but they are amazing, what interested me amazingly more was the ability to fly to Cyprus, a country i love, is that also an add on to get Larnaca International Airport?

Gah im so lost lol

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

Steve

What do you use for your gaming computer? specs etc. That will give us an idea of what settings you would use which transfer over to eye candy.

i have the following:

Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX260 (1GB)
RAM: 2gb (due to a card dieing, being replaced so will be 4gb)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00Ghz (a wee out of date but runs Skyrim fine on high settings)


have i missed anything? lol

mr_hill,

To run FSX in all its glory it needs a CPU of 3.4 to over 4 Ghz. More RAM will help in loading huge amounts of scenery. FSX has an addition from Microsoft that is call FSX Acceleration. That acceleration addon will allow two CPU cores to be used to help FSX run better. Most of the YouTube FSX videos that you see with beautiful eye candy are showing freeware and payware addons for FSX. FSX look very nice out of the box, but is more realistic with all of the addons for FSX. A good place to begin when you purchase FSX is to also purchase FSX Acceleration, then get a worldwide mesh elevation addon. It will improve the appearance of FSX by making hills and mountains look like hills and mountains. Please see the screenshot below, for an example of mesh scenery and also my computer specifications. I am able to get 25 to 45 fps over most areas, except when flying low over very dense cities and airports.


Wired

I have AMD Athlon II X4 640, 4GB RAM, a lousy 1GB Sparkle GeForce 210, and FSX Acceleration. Out of the box flying over Seattle it slowed down to 12 fps, though it could run over 30 in less detailed areas. I bought FSX specifically (back then) to be able to fly PMDG JS4100, but to my horror that add-on wouldn't run above 5-7 fps! Only later after I found this website, used their tweaked config and externally limit frame rate to 20 fps using FPS Limiter I could finally fly JS4100 comfortably, even over highly detailed area.

IMHO, mr_hill, if you don't plan on ugrading your rig anytime soon, you had better buy FS2004 instead. With the right add-ons it can get very nearly as pretty as FSX. Realism-wise it surely isn't inferior than FSX, except if you really want a moving aircraft carrier, among others. I personally am an FS2004 user, only going FSX to fly those add-ons only available in FSX (PMDG JS4100, Aerosoft Seahawk & Jayhawk) or those that only run right in FSX (CaptainSim C-130).

BTW, Wired, where did you get this "worldwide mesh elevation addon"? That terrain looks beautiful.

magicalflyer,

I am using FS Global 2010. It is 19 GBs in size and takes awhile to install. It does not need to be installed on your FSX drive which is helpful if you are running out of space on that drive. With 8 GBs of RAM, FSX loads in less than 1 minute on my computer. On their website FS Global shows before and after screenshots, their mesh makes a big improvement over the stock elevations in FSX.

Wired

wow thanks guys! this info is fantastic so FS2004? am i able to obtain copies of it? as in is it still on CD format or is it available for digital download? If that will run better on my system and look almost as pretty with some add-ons that might be the one best suited to my system

mr_hill,

Just to let you know, FS9 or FS2004 will look much better, if you add a worldwide mesh addon, either freeware or payware. In FS9 or FS2004 I am using FS Global 2010 for FS2004. With my computer specifications FS9 will run anywhere in the world with 45+ fps. Please see screenshot of FS9 with mesh addon.




Wired

Looks fantastic! im definatly wanting to get my wings on and go flying now, these screenshots are fantastic aswell!

i am planning on upgrading my pc but when that will be i havent figured out yet, the processor is the main stumbling block as i have no idea what im looking for in a processor, graphics cards are fine i know about them but like processors i am lost theres all these I7's and what not now and its like gah

Thanks, Wired. 19GB, eh? Heheheh, I think I'll stick with default terrain for the time being .
mr_hill, I don't know over there, but here I still see some software stores sell FS2004 CDs. I think Amazon still have it, too.

awesome i will check them out

FSX should run OK if you don't throw all your settings at max. The only reason I would pick FS9 over FSX is the vintage aircraft it comes with (Lockheed Vega etc). Also keep in mind that the best aircraft and scenery addons these days are FSX only.

Explore for a while, but if you want to learn how to fly in FS you should stick to 1 aircraft and area. Once you feel confident enough in that aircraft, move on to the next, etc.

Depends on what aircraft/add-on you consider best, actually. My best add-ons, iFly 737, PMDG 747-400, CaptainSim C-130, and many others are available for both FS9 and FSX. Because I fly more often over Japan than anywhere else, I'm pretty happy to say that Simmer's Sky/Overland's products are available for FS9 and some for FSX.
Don't worry, there's enough "best add-ons" for both FS9 and FSX for everyone

welcome to our world Mr_Hill you have already got some good information here so i can't really expand on that respect.I fly FSX at the moment and i have to say it is an amazing and addictive hobby the once thing i have to say though is if there is plane that you like that a lot of the 3rd party plans are better then the stock so if you like for exeapl a tiger moth go get a pay where one as apposed to a free where (there are some good free where out there)I am pushing pay where onley becaus free where can be a bit hit and miss any way welcome to our world .

An i5 2500 would work just fin for your new cpu, If you are going to overclock it than a i5 2500k,
Go to PCper.com look at the leaderboards, it will really help you out.

cheers fellas, it certainly looks awesome! i cant wait to get up in the air with you guys!!!

Okay gents, i have FS2004, a friend of mine doesnt play it anymore and gave me his, but didnt really inform me of add-ons and stuff, i know there is an "real environment xtreme" add-on which i assume i need to make it look better?

also i cant find that mesh add on, do you have a link to it? or a freeware one thanks

I suggest you look for them at flightsim.com and avsim.com. There are too many of them to list here.

okay so there isn't one massive mesh file to download? so like they are all seperate files so to speak?

If I remember correctly, I think I saw that global mesh thingy at flightsim.com. It's a huge download, though. So I never download it. I'm a jetliner guy, anyway. Can't very well see the ground up there at 36000 ft.

http://www.freewarescenery.com/fs2004.html

There you go

Oh, and if you want some good freeware scenery enhancements, I suggest you look for these: High Definition Environment (HDE) for sky, clouds and grass, Simreal Airland for runways and taxiways, Real Stars for..well..stars, and FS2004 Water Environment Textures (filename fs9wat.zip) for waters. Better search them with google, except the last one which I'm sure I got from Flightsim.com, I forget where did I get them from. I believe those freewares is a good start before you decide to invest in Zinertek and ActiveSky. Don't forget to read and do the enclosed backup steps.