Before I buy X Plane...

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Could any X Plane users give me some pros and cons of X Plane? I've been using FS and FS2004 over the years, and as a real pilot, I come to the conclusion that FS just plain sucks. The aircraft models are inaccurate, you never get the full panels, and customizing is a pain. First, what are the realistic hardware specs I need to run X-Pane? I've built my own rig with a Pentium D dual core, 1 gig RAM, a GeForce 7600GS. Not the hottest system, but not bad. Second, are the add on aircrafts such as PMDG 747 compatible? Third, any real pilots (or non pilots) out there who can tell me the model accuracy, graphics, environment of X-Plane? Thanks and happy flying!

[Kevin Dewitt 937920]

Download the demo and see for yourself www.x-plane.com

[Peter Nolin 954217]

There is a timelimit that disables joysticks after 5 minutes. I have presented some alternatives to Austin and luckily he will change the "copyprotection" in the next release.

 

At this very minute - no, there are no such thing as a PMDG like aircraft.

But again, we are lucky cause there will be. As of now you will have to settle with Stramanns 737. It's really nice.

Both the x737 and a boeing 747 will be equipped with this new FMC which is in developement. Demo were meant to be out in january, but..

EADT team

 

Personally I've been a MSFS junkie for many, many years. Last august I decided to give X-Plane a go. Not just 1 hour but a couple of days. Now I can safely say that MSFS is forever gone from my drives.

 

I'm not a real pilot. But I don't have to be, XP is known for better physics and it feels more accurate. Altough I doubt it is as real as people say. Let's face it, I landed the spaceshuttle flawlessly on my first try...... And I have yet to come across an aircraft I can't start and land at my first try.

But it was the same in MSFS. I fly many sims and maybe I'm just a good simmer. I also fly R/C planes regulary.

 

And there are TONS of screenshots at x-plane.org and xplanefreeware.net (these are the places where all X-Plane users talk to eachother if someone wonders why it's so quiet here)

[Julian Diamandis 926992]

There was a PMDG type thing being made at http://www.eadt.eu/

 

 

I have had a look through the manual but I haven’t been converted to X-plane yet. But might be worth looking at. I tried the demo, but I just couldn’t settle with the 6 min demo. I needed more time to look at it.

[Peter Nolin 954217]

And it's finally released. There are some not-so-good videos to check out.

It's a 747 (unfortunately no 737 yet) with a real FMC, flexing wings, real fanblades and "real" landinggears that hang like real ones do.

 

Kinda pricy to be in the X-Plane community but it's the first plane ever with a real FMC.

[Jeremy Castellanos 1007109]

Could any X Plane users give me some pros and cons of X Plane? I've been using FS and FS2004 over the years, and as a real pilot, I come to the conclusion that FS just plain sucks. The aircraft models are inaccurate, you never get the full panels, and customizing is a pain. quote]

 

I just have to say, AMEN to that.

[Wayne Conrad 989233]

These are my early observations based on about 5 hours of dinking around with X-Plane. I haven't gone online with it yet.

 

My advice would be to let X-Plane p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] by for now if what you want is PMDG 747-400 style systems modeling and FMC. But would those planes really benefit from what X-Plane has to offer? X-Plane is not a button pusher's sim. X-Plane looks to be the cat's meow for general aviation flight, however. You can do real slideslips. There's actual ground effect. The instruments are smooth, and the flight model has that fluid feeling that flight really has.

 

I never did get rid of the blurries in FS. I had decided my graphics card had a mip-mapping problem. Nope. When I got X-Plane I saw crystal clear graphics with high resolution textures and a gazillion roads and buildings drawn as far as my eye can see (at GA altitudes, at least). And higher frame rates. With the same hardware.

 

With X-Plane, you get world scenery that includes roads, rivers, shorelines, and terrain mesh. It looks to be equiavalent to what I had to pay extra for in FS2004. The land use data is about 10 years old, if that matters to you. But the money math sure works in X-Plane's favor: $150-or-so for FS9 + US/Canada/Alaska terrain mesh, land use, roads, rivers, lakes and shorelines. Or about $50 for X-Plane with the whole bloody world built in. Money-wise, X-Plane is a no-brainer.

 

The airports pretty much suck. I understand scenery can be converted from FS9, but I haven't tried that.

 

The GA airplanes are plentiful and free or cheap. I think that's because X-Plane makes it much easier to implement an airplane, and also because X-Plane users aren't as focused on glitz so developers aren't spending all of their time making the right rear cargo hatch open and close with specular highlighting and oil dripping from the hinges.

 

XSquawkbox looks to be rudimentary to the point of being painful. For example, I understand that the only way to send a private message is to type ".msg ". For each message.

 

Austin (The chief of X-Plane) has a programmer's idea of what makes a good user interface. For example, the only way to enter a number on a configuration dialog is to click on little up and down triangles for each digit. No way to just type in the number.

 

PlaneMaker is wonderful. You can easily modify the panel--or any other part--of any airplane, whether stock or aftermarket. The plane you bought doesn't come with DME? Add it. In minutes.

 

X-Plane isn't just better or worse than FS9, it's better and worse. Where it sucks, it sucks pretty bad. Where it shines, however, it's a blinding supernova.

[Keith Smith]

Austin (The chief of X-Plane) has a programmer's idea of what makes a good user interface. For example, the only way to enter a number on a configuration dialog is to click on little up and down triangles for each digit. No way to just type in the number.

 

Almost. There are keyboard shortcuts increment or decrement NAV1/2, COM1/2, and ADF1/2 radios. Also, Xsquawkbox allows you to type a freq to set com1. Lastly, it's possible to write a plugin to present a text interface for typing in a frequency and setting a radio.

[Wayne Conrad 989233]

Keith, True. What I'm referring to is entering numbers when, say, dialing up weather. It's an obnoxious user interface that makes you click on little up-and-down triangles to enter a number when there are keys labeled zero-through-nine on your keyboard.

 

It's not a show stopper. It's just part of the "balance of goodness" with X-Plane. Overall, X-Plane so much better at being a flight simulator than is MS Flight Simulator that it's worth learning to live with the quirks.

[Keith Smith]

Wayne,

 

Gotcha. Yes, the built-in ATC interface is _painful_. Luckily, when using XSquawkbox on VATSIM, you simply type '.metar xxx' to bring up the weather, and then TAB to make the window sticky if you want it to stay on screen.

[Wayne Conrad 989233]

[Peter Larsen 885332]

Converting scenery from FS9 to Xplane is easy, there a program for that but i can't remember link, anyway i have used it and it does work.

[Jeremy Castellanos 1007109]

Converting scenery from FS9 to Xplane is easy, there a program for that but i can't remember link, anyway i have used it and it does work.

 

It's called FS2XPLANE.

 

 

And yes it does work with custom addon scenery. I don't have the link for it either but if you look for that in google or whatever you choose to then you will find the download page. It's made by Marginal.