Finally. All of my FSX problems are gone!

[OldAirmail]

I was very surprised to find that I had bought FSX on 1/7/11. I'd bought it online from the Microsoft store as a download, so I had no disks. But not a problem, I'd save the install files.

I didn't think that it was that long ago. I know, I know - most of you have had a flight sim, in one form or another, FAR FAR FAR longer than that.


After buying it I started, like a great many I suppose, downloading anything and everything that looked even mildly interesting. Some was quite good, although much wasn't. Some was out and out junk.

And some of the last created problems. Not major, just mildly annoying. One piece of software that I downloaded left most, but not all, of the cars on the roads looking like they'd been painted on the road. BUT, it did make the roads, themselves, look good. I always hated how the unmodified FSX roads look like a dirt path form high up in the air.

Why weren't all of the cars flat??? I don't have the faintest clue.

I will freely admit that a good many of the problems were caused by myself. FSX was new to me, and I barely had a clue about what I was doing, or how I should do it.


And then I bought MegaSceneryEarth - Pennsylvania.


So I attribute the next problem to the cumulative errors of my (FSX) youth.

From high up, about 500 to a thousand plus feet, it starts looking very good. The only complaint that I might have is that the colors aren't as deep and vibrant as I'd like. Lets just say that it looks like a humid day. The higher you go, though, the better it looks.

But there's no denying that it's a big improvement on the FSX scenery, at least for me.

I don't know about others, but it didn't affect the FPS either. They stayed in the 45 - 60 FPS range that I'm used to.


So what's the problem?

ALMOST ALL of my buildings are 2 dimensional. Just like the cars on the road that I mentioned before.

I know that this is a problem with my FSX setup and not with MegaSceneryEarth. All you have to do is to go on YouTube to see that MegaSceneryEarth isn't supposed to be like that.

So what to do? There's a lot of small, picayune, problems in FSX that have accumulated over time, and one new problem that I don't want to live with.


WHEN IN DOUBT, MAKE THINGS WORSE!

Now there's a motto to live by!


Lets see.
I've got the original MS download files. Check!
I've got the product registration key. Check!
All of the software that I bought (not a heck of a lot) has already been burned to disks. Check!
If worse comes to worse, I have FSX backed up. Check!


OK, kiddies. Lets reinstall FSX.



The original MS download files? They don't work.
The product registration key? Not much use.
All of those payware files? Not much use.
That FSX backup? That doesn't work either.


OK, lets just go to Microsoft's website, and reinstall Microsoft Flight Simulator Deluxe.

Well......

A few problems there too.
MS hasn't got a clue who I am anymore. "You ain't got no stinkin downloads to your name", they say.
"Check the email that we sent you when you bought it online. There's a link there to download it." Fine. Except that when I bought my SSD I removed a lot of useless stuff. Like 2 1/2 year old email.

On top of that, MS no longer has Microsoft Flight Simulator Deluxe for sale or download. It seem, per their website, that the "Deluxe" version isn't compatible with Windows 8.

That's fine with me, I have ABSOLUTLY NO INTEREST in EVER getting Windows 8!


Get online with MS for a little Chat with the MS tech support in China.

Get transferred a time or two.

The best they can do for me is to tell me to download the "trial" version of FSX. Start it up. Enter my "product key" (which I DO have). The "trial" version will accept my product key (they say) and download the needed files for make it "Deluxe" again.

BULL DINKY.

There is no place, nor way, to enter a product key. And the "trial" version is the ONLY version that can be downloaded without paying for it.

.

The end result is that ALL of my FSX problems are gone!

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As much as I think that FSX is outdated, I do like it better than X-Plane. Let me change that. If X-Plane had a better user interface, I might like it better. But it does not. End of story.

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I could call up Microsoft and try to get them to send me a new link to FSX Deluxe (if they could. Remember - because "Deluxe" isn't compatible with Windows 8, and they don't want anything to do with it).

But in the end, I just ordered FSX Gold (Gold is still on their website) from Amazon. I want the physical disks in my hands. The total price from 2011 (on sale at the time) and the Amazon price today will ad up close to the original list price.

[OldAirmail]

A couple of odds and ends with a side note or two.

Downloading the FSX Demo ( .8GB, apx.) from MS took just over an hour and a half! Half an hour more than the MASSIVE "MegaSceneryEarth - Pennsylvania". And when I say massive - I mean almost 18GB!

By the way, there was no problem downloading the 18GB of MegaSceneryEarth files to my E:\ drive (a fast spinner), and registering it with FSX. The 250GB SSD C:\ drive didn't seem to fill up to any degree after activation of the scenery.

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I may owe X-Plane 10 an apology. FSX sucks until you tame it a little. My yoke worked, rudder pedals didn't, and the Saitek throttle lever slewed the plane UP AND DOWN!

Needless to say none of my buttons worked. I was, almost, back to using the mouse and keyboard to fly! No way could it have been worse than X-Plane.

There are some things that can be done very easily in FSX that I can't find a way of doing in X-Plane. Probably I just don't know enough. It may be, however, that X-Plane(ers) simply don't do some of the things that I depend on.

X-Plane DOES makes it very easy to do a few things though. But it's kind of like comparing cats and dogs. Four legs, a head, and a tail. But just try to train a cat to obey hand signals, or a dog to purr.

.

I had a free Philadelphia International Airport scenery that was very good. After installing MegaSceneryEarth, that area was blank. As in totally blacked out. As in gone, not there. I suppose that it could be reinstalled OVER MegaSceneryEarth. Don't know.



Does anyone use the MegaSceneryEarth files? If so, what's the best way to add other airport scenery?

I think that MegaSceneryEarth works with texture files for better trees, buildings, and bridges. True?

I also think that I've read that you can place the order of scenery in such a way as to have such things sit on top of another scenery for better appearance???


One complaint about MegaSceneryEarth - Pennsylvania. There are 17 large files that make up the scenery for the state. BUT NOTHING that tells you what part of the state each file belongs to.


A big bonus that I wasn't expecting was all of the charts, maps, and other info.


All in all, you get your moneys worth with MegaSceneryEarth. Now if I could only use it.

[Jetranger]

I used to have all that Mega Scenery Stuff, I had Mega Scenery LA, San Francisco,, all kinds of stuff , way back when I had Flight Simulator 2002 Pro.

at 1st I liked it, thought it was neat, then I realized it only looks good, Wayyyyyy up High,,, get down low, in a small plane,,, around mountains lakes, rivers,,, it all goes to S%$# in a hand basket,,, dull FLAT, boring,,

its satellite photo imagery

Then I got out of Flight Simming for a while, like 5 years

Then I came across FSX Gold / Acceleration,,, bought it at a store,,,

installed it,,, the computer I had at the time wouldn't handle it,,,, so,,, I bought me a New Computer and severely Upgraded it to handle it.

I like to Fly Props small & Large now mainly,,, Crusing around at 25,000 to 40,000 ft all the time,,, got boring and old,,,

Tho I do still have older jetliners I like to Fly, from the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's era,,,

I left my FSX kinda pretty much Stock, tho I added FS Scene to it,,, and a few ORBX Scenery and some really decent Freeware Scenery,,,

But anymore I stay away as much as possible from any Photo-real Scenery or All Satellite imagery,, it just makes everything to Flat and weird looking,,, when cruising down low,,, and I think from what I seen it kinda somewhat throws the colors off, depending on what season your flying and where.

My set up works fine really , I don't use that REX whatever or any active active Sky stuff,,, I keep seeing tons of questions and problems posted on Forum boards about that stuff not working,,, and how to fix this or that,,,,

Think their trying to JAM way too much into the Flight Simulator product,, bout' like trying to eat 5 meals all at once,, something ain't gonna work !!!

Jet.
http://www.fscene.com/

http://www.fullterrain.com/

[OldAirmail]

I'm not all that sure that I care for MegaSceneryEarth.

Up high it looks good, but I like GA planes. Low and Slow, not at 35,000 feet.

On the other hand I hate highways that look like dirt lanes.

FSX has, what amounts to sand bars, smaller than a football field in the Delaware River with houses and roads that run down to the waterline.

The sight of high rise office buildings in the area where I live irritates me too.

I'd like something that a little better, visually.


Unfortunately I only used MegaSceneryEarth for about ten minutes before I decided to do a "quick" reinstall. Or so I thought.


I ordered FSX Gold from Amazon. The good news is that the package was shipped from a place that's only an hour and a half away. The say say I'll get it on Tuesday.

The BAD NEWS is that it's going through the US Post Office. I used to like the post office. I still like Postmen.

But as far as the USPO is concerned - not any longer. Back before last Christmas I had a package sitting in a Post Office 30 minutes from my home. I could easily have walked there!

IT TOOK 4 DAYS BEFORE THEY DELIVERED IT.

[Jetranger]

Mega Scenery is great if basically all your wantin to do is Fly High all the time, across the Atlantic / Pacific, or any ocean or Country / Land Mass, then its great if ya like flying at 25,000 feet or higher most of the time, maybe for Training or something.

I prefer my little ol' FS Scene program added to FSX, along with some ORBX Scenery and some FREEWARE Scenery / Airports, it all works fine enough for me.

What I won't do ever again, is try to get like 4 or 5 or more programs that have to be STARTED UP, along with FSX, before Flying,,, see way too many posts on flight sim forums, that they have trouble with this or that, why won't this work or load, properly, etc. etc. etc.

I wrote a post about all these programs earlier this year,, that claim their for FSX, and many are,,, BUT - BUT - BUT - are those other Programs , always Compatible - with other Programs ?? that's the key question,,, ??

If a user has 5 or more Other programs installed to make Flight Simulator more realistic,, are they truly ALL going to work in Conjuction with each other

Bout like trying to plug wayyy too much into a portable generator or a wall outlet,,,, Gonna blow a circuit or fuse eventually and end up scratchin yo' nuts tryin to figure out what happened ?

Anyhoo's try FS Scene its easy on Frame rates easy to install , coinsides with FSX and has very little Satellite imagery,, just enhances the lods, and terrain and water & sky, mountains and greenry ,,

Then again if I wanted realistic landscape,, I just call up my pilot friend and Go Flying,,,, in real life in a real plane

What makes me madd about FSX Flight Simulator,,, is they must of been in a real Hurry back in 2006 to crank it out, and hired some real Dufuses & Bozo's who knew nothing about AIRPORTS or Flying,,,, the way I see some of the Airport Buildings positioned at the Airports, all turned the wrong way, trees in the middle of a tarmac or runway,, buildings sitting right smack dab in the middle of a parking spot,,

with doors facing toward away from the tarmac and out towards the grass or river,,,

IF I didn't know any better, somebody was TEXTING / Talking on the phone to their girl friend on some 900 number , back in 2006 and wasn't focused or paying attention to how or what they were doing , when positioning some of the objects at airports, by the looks of it,,,

Its comical to see, its like - WTF

I had heard think it was in one of my Flight simulator magazines I used to get back then,,,, that MS did hire some outside college kids to help place scenery in FSX to help speed up the production to get it out on time, as they were trying to meet their release deadline date to the market at that time.

Think I recall even seeing a sorta Help Wanted ad,, for their Aces Studio back about 2005 ,, part time scenery designers to work with the studio as an intern or contractor,,,

and we see what we got,,, its not badd,, but for all the touting and promotion of FSX and the original cost of it back then, like almost 45.00 to 50.00 bucks,, and then ya still had to have more scenery improvements too ?/

Luckily I got my FSX GOLD Acceleration for only like 20.00 bucks,,, 4 years ago,,,

and then it would barely work on the computer I had at that time, which worked great with FS 2002 PRO edition,,,, BUT NOT with FSX !

that was in 2008 on a computer a year old too !

Ohhh well,,, what I gots good enough fer me at the moment,,, works good enough,,,,

now if I can just figure out how to take off & land,,,, theres NO steering Wheel or gas pedal

Jetranger

[OldAirmail]

Before I bought MegaSceneryEarth - Pennsylvania, I bought Madeira X from PC Aviator.

I've checked out other Madeira scenery and "Madeira X" is the best one that I could find.

This is the standard LPMA airport.


And this is the "Madeira X" LPMA airport.




These are from Madeira X, and THIS is the detail that I would like to see wherever I fly in FSX.

(THESE ARE NOT PHOTOS)







With "Madeira X", the closer you get, the more you can see.


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Before I killed off FSX I was planning on doing a little spot on Madeira X.

This is the path I took as I flew through the canyons. VERY spectacular.


The whole island shown so you can see how mountainous it is.