Simviation Forums

Before I start, I hope this is the correct place to post this. It seemed to be the most logical place to get going with FSX..

I have searched google and such but have not yet found any answers to suit, so please bare with me if these have been asked before.

First off my PC seems to be on the fritz so I decided I will probably build a new one. In this thread: http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB ... 1271197328


Before I go about all this I have a few queries regarding FSX..

I have searched for a list of recommended addons but to no avail, is there such a thing? If not, what are addons you would recommend?

I have looked at Real Environment Xtreme and it looks very good, so I think I will get that.
What really stumped me is, ground scenery. I have searched the downloads section, various other sites both freeware and payware which resulted in me getting very confused with all the many downloads.

I would like to know what are good scenery addons to make the environment/landscape/world look as good/detailed as possible. I dont mind if they are payware (of course, I would prefer freeware if they are pretty much as good).


Aircraft wise, is there any noticeable difference between freeware and payware?

I have read about another addon called My Traffic X, is this http://secure.simmarket.com/b.-renk-myt ... -pro.phtml it?


I think I listed all my queries.

Any help is much appreciated and thankyou in advance.

There is a difference depending on what you get.
Some payware people create their aircraft to the real aircraft.
some payware models are real, crappy.
Some freeware models are great, but you will not get the same flight dynamics and sound as you would from payware.
Good companies for high quality(imo) are PMDG,A2A,VRsimulations, Aerosoft, and Justflight
I only tried A2A so far, but I will have a VRsim jet soon.
For addons here is what I recommend in no particular order
freeware:
T-6 Texan

First of all, Welcome to SimV!

For freeware A/C, anything by Tim Conrad (most of his creations are at FlightSim.com) or Dino will be excellent.

[quote]First of all, Welcome to SimV!

For freeware A/C, anything by Tim Conrad (most of his creations are at FlightSim.com) or Dino will be excellent.

Thanks very much for your responses, they have been very helpful.


The enhanced autogen looks good so that is a definite.

I went to the flight1 website where you can buy more of Nick N's and Anthony Vos's stuff and found loads of terrain packs.

I should mention that terrain/environment worldwide (if possible (also including north and south poles?)) is probably what I want to improve first and foremost.

I found a program which looks similar to REX called Flight Environment X, are there any major differences, will they work with the other packages below?


Terrain wise I found:

Ground Environment X EU and US/Canada and..

Ultimate Terrain X again for EU and US/Canada.

What about Africa, Russia, Japan etc?

Is it just a matter of preference to which is best? Or are there major differences?


This is a World and USA landscape package from Abacus, Im not sure if it does what GEX and the others do or if its something completly different?

http://www.abacuspub.com/default_fs.html

It wouldnt get a direct link but it is on the main page.


Would it be possible to install a freeware worldwide terrain package and then install the EU and US/Canada GEX ones on top of it to get a more detailed EU/US?


My main aim is to improve scenery, I will probably go with freeware aircraft unless I desire anything more.

Hello Hydra and welcome to the FSX forum.

Your confision reminds me about myself when I discovered the universe of Flight Simulator. That was a long time ago

I will try to provide exaplanations in a very simple, non-expert way, so that you can get a precise understanding of this universe from your newbie point of view

As you have already discovered, there are two kind of addons:
- freeware
- payware

The freeware addons are made by some people who enjoy offering their work to the community, or have fun building them, or both. This people use some of their free time to build those addons, and their skills vary a lot, so the quality of the addons vary a lot too.

This is why you will find addons that will not correspond to what you were expecting, and you will also find addons that will really blow your mind away.

Since it's difficult to discover everything by yourself, a good technique that I often advise to the beginners is to go through the screenshots section of the forums. There, you will see the addons that the various users have installed, you will be able to see if you like those addons or not, and if you like them then you will be able to ask to the author of the topic where he got them, and further details as well. That's the best approach, in my opinion


Now to the payware. The payware planes are made by professionnals, most of the time real teams working together on a project. As a consequence, the quality of the payware product is supposed to be much higher than a freeware one.

I said "supposed" because some payware companies sell products with very bad quality (especially one precise company, but I don't remember if the forum rules allow me to name it), so you have to be carefull.
EDIT: forget that.

The video you posted is simply fantastic, exactly the sort of things I would want. I take back my statement about wanting to go freeware aircraft

Daube,

Great advice about going through the screenshot forums! I found a good many of my favourite addons by looking through there

My personal recommendations mainly include freeware as I haven't purchased any payware yet (University doesn't go well with the finances)!

However, I have some of the demos and freeware addons from FTX and they are amazing! Their payware stuff looks even better Go to: http://www.fullterrain.com/

If you're wanting to cover Australia, AussieX covers Australia (plus a few other areas) in payware quality as freeware! Their scenery is especially good Go to: http://www.aussiex.org/

There's much more to add but it probably depends on what kind of flying you're wanting to do!

Matthew

In regards to freeware planes that will "really blow your mind away" (forgot to mention them early):

Ivan's MiG-21
Section F8 F-86 Sabre
Ant's Tiger Moth (you can find more repaint by searching Tiger Moth)
iFly's 747-400

You need to read the manual in order to fly the A/C listed above.