Finally got around to installing FSX Gold on my system.
As it installed I was looking at file names and was reminded of the old CFS2 days.

Back the in the day a lot of graphic files, right down to the names, were compatible between CFS2 and FS2000 and you could take the better graphics (sun, cloud, and water, come to mind) from FS2000 and put them right into CFS2 and use them.

Has anyone done a close look at the WOFF and FSX directories? Any compatibilites?
Is there room for improvement anywhere assuming compatibility?

From my experience with FSX, you are going to spend enough time to have it work properly on its own without having to look for other files elsewhere...
First you will have to decide if you stay in DX9 or want to make the jump to DX10.

I would advise you to have a look at this document :

http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html

I used it as a base to install FSX and optimize both Windows 7 and FSX and I must say I never had a problem since a year (touch wood... my desk, quick ! ) I stayed in DX9 and with my settings run at a steady 30 fps. (But I fly prop planes in the countryside and never use liners in big places with lots of people and stinking with kerozene )

Very very little. Flight models (flight dynamics, not visual models) are partially compatible with CFS3, but WOFF has changed a lot in this area, I don't think they can be used. The only other area would be sound files, but that's pretty much it.

I've had times when OFF and FSX didn't like to co-exist. Sometimes my Hostas settings would reset in the sim not currently flown. Maybe it was just bad luck...IDK

I was thinking of the odd graphic file like sun or moon or something minor like that. Trees, water, etc.
Next rainy day perhaps I will take a peek.
Thank You.

Well OBD can sleep soundly knowing they have done an excellent job on WOFF.
Had about 10 minutes to spare and loaded up FSX and assorted aircraft at different airports and took litte 90 second jaunts.

After all the hullabaloo about FSX graphics I was quite underwhelmed at first blush at least at non-tree top heights.
Granted this wasn't exhaustive testing and it is not too say it looked bad, and I try to remember that it is years old (6?), but us WOFF'ers are missing nothing so far IMHO.

As if OBD needs another "atta boy" from me but I will say again S! to those hard working gents and keep up the great work!

FSX was released in 2006, that's already 8 years !
Imho vanilla FSX is absolutely ugly without proper scenery ( either ORBX FTX global / regional sceneries or Flight 1 UTX + GEX ) I don't know anybody who uses FSX "out of the box".
The original software is cheap but you will discover it costs a lot more to have it looking good at today's standards. But with these sceneries (specially ORBX being the last technology still in the works)plus some weather engine like REX or Active Sky, it can be good looking !



Second one is my old UTX/GEX combo :

The thing/"problem" about FSX is you may have end up purchasing add-ons for hundreds of euros/dollars to achieve a realistic experience both visually and in terms of flight dynamics...

It's not a problem if you know it before getting into it. It only takes a little research on forums or even ask a couple of questions on the said forums.

It also depends what you want to do with it. If your goal is to fly a couple of GA planes around your home region, it's reasonable. Payware quality planes and a regional scenery will cost you 100 Euros together. If you want to explore the world (which I do) it can get more expensive.

I wasn't surprised and I waited until I could afford it. I got FSX for 20 Euros, then UTX/GEX for Europe/North America/Canada/Alaska/West Indies and Central America / Africa and Middle East / South America and Asia cost me around 200 Euros. Add to this a few payware airplanes (although I use a lot of freeware) for a 100 Euros. Flight Environment X for water and sky another 25 Euros, Shockwave 3D Lights 15 Euros, Ultimate Traffic 2 25 Euros. So that's an addon total of around 350 Euros. ( 440 USD )

Next spending will be next year when I will fly Australia and New Zealand with ORBX scenery, that's another 120 Euros worth of scenery (but may be Santa Claus can participate... )

If you want to get into airliners and have realistic airports, it can get a lot more expensive, not talking about the guys (more than I thought) who build a Boeing cockpit at home !

The mistake is to compare it with other games, it's a whole different world for which you need to have some passion in order to be "not so reasonable".

Yikes! Much cash...
If the MS Fight sim community is anything like it was in the old days there is probably a lot of freeware mods to give FSX a graphics kick in the rear.
Not as good as the pay ware stuff probably but decent enough.

Freeware you will only find planes (some very good ones in the middle of many not so good) and airports/airfields. Sometimes a little scenery patch of a few square miles, but not many.
But then it's up to you to decide how much you are ready to invest, my point was only to warn people that you should think about it beforehand.
Note that if you decide to uninstall and forget it, it will only cost you FSX which is 20 Euros (and may be you can sell it on Ebay to cut your losses... )

Nah. My hard drive is 2 TB so I have plenty of room for it.
And being kind of a techno guy all the dials, the radar, and radio navigation beacon stuff fascinate me.
And I will spring for the payware stuff in my retirement.
I will certainly get into it in the future but for now with my limited time WOFF is still my girl.

EDIT: and as long as I am talking to you Elite Dangerous looks mighty damn cool. Went to YouTube and saw some review videos. That will be a purchase.

I can undestand, I also waited for my retirement to take a big plunge into FSX. Besides flying it takes also a lot of research time to find interesting freeware addons, install them, try to find for a couple of hours on your own why the damn thing doesn't work, ask on forums why it doesn't work and get some replies... telling you you're doomed, you have to make a complete reinstall which will take a couple of days !

* Never happened to me, but seen it often on forums, as there are so many addons available that some people want to have everything and boost up with fsx.cfg tweaks, and end up with file conflicts. If you are almost reasonable like me and make a proper first install (and windows configuration) following "The Bible" no big problem to be expected.
Some people have lost track that it is only a PC game and want to make a professional flight trainer out of it and are using a network of two or three computers with 6 or 7 monitors, and now adding I-Pads !

I've built a couple of custom airports (Wrangell is great for this) and modded some skins. FSX is highly customizable and rewarding to mod. Other folks' mods can be expensive as well as inefficient and resource intensive. Doing it yourself is a great experience, you gain new appreciation for devs.

This is why I use mostly freeware for airfields and planes. I only bought a few planes that I needed for my Air Hauler business or other ( C185 Skywagon Bush, Flight 1 BN2 Islander, Alabeo Waco and Golden Age Stinson SR8 for my Aeropostale 2014 adventure ) I also have a freeware Waco, but for the screenies the Alabeo looks really better and is cheap anyway.
I have no idea how to do it myself and no time or will to learn, there are already plenty of talented people. I have a Wrangell freeware airfield by the way, could it be yours ?