Which Flight Sim should I get?

[Richard Mead 1154591]

Hi there.

 

I've recently stumbled across VATSIM through an internet search, and after reading through most of the website, decided to sign up. But now I'm confused as to what Flight Sim to get.

 

It mentions X-Plane and Microsfoft Flight Sim 2002, 2003 and 2004. But I was thinking about ordering Microsoft Flight Simulator X (which is out of stock at the moment).

 

I've seen a couple of people in the forums say that X-Plane is an Aircraft sim and MFS is an Airport Sim, so I was just wondering...Which is the best one to use, and which version runs the best.

 

Thanks in advance for the help

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

flight simulator X is also supported.

 

what are your PC specs? very important

[Larry James 901346]

Hi there.

 

I've recently stumbled across VATSIM through an internet search, and after reading through most of the website, decided to sign up. But now I'm confused as to what Flight Sim to get.

 

It mentions X-Plane and Microsfoft Flight Sim 2002, 2003 and 2004. But I was thinking about ordering Microsoft Flight Simulator X (which is out of stock at the moment).

 

I've seen a couple of people in the forums say that X-Plane is an Aircraft sim and MFS is an Airport Sim, so I was just wondering...Which is the best one to use, and which version runs the best.

 

Thanks in advance for the help

 

Hi, Richard. You’re right about those versions of Flight Simulator, plus FSX. It’s not obvious to know which Flight Simulator the pilots are using. You probably won’t know unless they tell you. From reading messages on the forum it appears the most popular are FSX, FS9 and X-Plane, then the others. To me it appears to be in that order of popularity. But again, you can’t easily tell unless someone mentions which one they are using. Then you still only have the information about the ones who chooses to discuss their version of Flight Simulator.

 

Some people just fly and don’t discuss their version or preference. So you can’t really count everybody. Also I probably see more FSX discussions because since it’s my preference it catches my eye quicker. Another person might see FS9 as more popular because FS9 discussions are more apt to catch their attention.

 

Personally, I’d recommend FSX. With FSX being the latest Microsoft release, I think you’d do best to start out with a version that you can grow with.

 

Very few people will have hardware over 10 years old. So you most likely have the necessary hardware. Also, Microsoft has always included a feature that includes sliders for computers of lower performance.

 

You might look at some of the videos on youtube to see some of what you can grow your Flight Simulator into.

 

Welcome to VATSIM!

 

Edit: By the way look at:

 

VATSIM FSX:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vatsim+fsx&aq=f

 

VATSIM FS9:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vatsim+fs9&aq=f

 

VATSIM X-Plane:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vatsim+x-plane&aq=f

 

 

-- L. James

 

--

L. D. James

[email protected]

http://www.apollo3.com/~ljames

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

I recommend FSX, there are some good guides for tweaks to make it perform well.

[Christopher Mauro]

If your computer is like mine (a worn out piece of iron), then I recommend FS9. FSX is something I always consider for high-end computers such as ones with a GTX 480 and a 5.0GHz processor. (yea, I did exaggerate..)

It all depends on the specs on your PC.

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

FSX, once tweaked, works fine on my computer. GTS 250 + 3.1Ghz dual core.

[Richard Mead 1154591]

flight simulator X is also supported.

 

what are your PC specs? very important

 

I got Directx 9 if that helps lol!

 

I've copied this STRAIGHT from the System Information bit, so I'm not sure how helpful it'll be

 

AMD Athlon II X2 245 Processor, 2900 Mhz, 2Cores, 2 Logical Processor

 

Oo, and I have Windows 7

 

You can probably tell I'm not a very computery person can't you

Oh, and I think I'll get FSX

[Wycliffe Barrett]

FSX

 

leave xplane well alone unless of course your going into aero engineering.

 

Wycliffe

[Larry James 901346]

flight simulator X is also supported.

 

what are your PC specs? very important

 

I got Directx 9 if that helps lol!

 

I've copied this STRAIGHT from the System Information bit, so I'm not sure how helpful it'll be

 

AMD Athlon II X2 245 Processor, 2900 Mhz, 2Cores, 2 Logical Processor

 

Oo, and I have Windows 7

 

You can probably tell I'm not a very computery person can't you

Oh, and I think I'll get FSX

 

You can easily run either version that you have in your list including Flight Simulator X.

 

By the way, what makes you think you have DirectX9? DirectX11 comes with Windows 7. You can check the version by typing dxdiag in the Start Menu's search field.

 

DirectX11 and DirectX10 is downward compatible to DirectX9. But both have enhancements over DirectX9 which benefits FSX.

 

-- L. James

 

--

L. D. James

[email protected]

http://www.apollo3.com/~ljames

[Larry James 901346]

FSX

 

leave xplane well alone unless of course your going into aero engineering.

 

Wycliffe

 

Hi, Wycliffe. Lots of developments happen in the computer world in a very short period of time. Very few applications on my computer are older than 3 or 4 years without updates. Since it’s unlikely that Microsoft will be updating Flight Simulator in the near future, I’ll be surprised if XPlane doesn’t start to take a lot of MSFS’ customers.

 

Of course, Microsoft appears to have out done themselves with the release of FSX, in view of them still selling out 4 years after its release.

 

Since they can’t keep the stores stocked it really seems that someone should revisit the situation of having abandoned FS.

 

-- L. James

 

--

L. D. James

[email protected]

http://www.apollo3.com/~ljames

[Richard Mead 1154591]

.

 

By the way, what makes you think you have DirectX9? DirectX11 comes with Windows 7. You can check the version by typing dxdiag in the Start Menu's search field.

 

DirectX11 and DirectX10 is downward compatible to DirectX9. But both have enhancements over DirectX9 which benefits FSX.

 

Ah, sorry I just presumed it was that, because I'm running a game thats using Direct X and it can't go any higher lol!

[Larry James 901346]

.

 

By the way, what makes you think you have DirectX9? DirectX11 comes with Windows 7. You can check the version by typing dxdiag in the Start Menu's search field.

 

DirectX11 and DirectX10 is downward compatible to DirectX9. But both have enhancements over DirectX9 which benefits FSX.

 

Ah, sorry I just presumed it was that, because I'm running a game thats using Direct X and it can't go any higher lol!

 

I see. Your DirectX9 compatible game works because the higher versions of DirectX are downward compatible to DirectX9. Of course this means when you upgrade your Games, you are sure to have support for new features that are included with the upgrades.

 

-- L. James

 

--

L. D. James

[email protected]

www.apollo3.com/~ljames