Microsoft FSX

[x493x 446]

Hi, I was wondering if Microsoft FSX is worth getting.  Tell me your comments about it, the pros and cons. 

Also, I've tried the demo and can you steer the plane without the arrow keys? (I don't have a joystick either)

If you could help it would be most appreciated!

[GMT 389]

First of all, the recommended system specs are a plain lie. period.

I got acceleration and it says 1gb ram, 2ghz single core, dx9, 128mb gram and shader 1.1

my system reads 4gb ram, 2.5ghz quadcore, dx11, 3.5gb gram and dunno which shader, at least 2.0

ok, I gotta admit I'm playing in full hd resolution, but to get a playable framerate I have to tune down to almost 50% beauty, which, given the difference between the recommendation and my system, is a joke. literally.

other than that it's fun to play, of course not getting to the feeling of our fnpt2 simulator in "school", but for private fun it's enough.

you can maneuver the airplane with the arrow keys on the numpad, much better than the arrow keys.

so, a big pro is definitely the graphics, if (and that's the big con) you're system is powerful enough.

given that the game has an 08 copyright and my pc was lower high-end class in 09 when I got it, I guess you can get an idea of the game's hunger for resources

[Sniper296 83]

If you right click while in game and select mouse yoke you can fly with your mouse but a joystick or yoke will give a better experience, a 360 usb controller will also work well.

And GMT is right about hardware, I have to run scenery at its lowest (but aircraft detail highest) to get a steady frame rate although my laptop isn't a gaming laptop.

If you want realism then PMDG aircraft are a very good choice, flightsim.com avsim.com simviation.com and many others do some great free downloads.

The negative of the game is expanding the game can cost allot, hardware can range from $20 - $2000+, addons from Free - $60+

If you want to start small buy the game & acceleration and see if you can find a cheap joystick or game pad.

[GMT 389]

didn't even notice the double-post. fixed it.

ya I got the aircraft details on highest aswell as the global structure detail whatever on the first settings page of the grafics because this also affects the details on the airplane (had this slider on lowest but aircraft details on highest and still blurry 3d cockpit and stuff). does cost about 1 fps but that's fine with me. I only go below 20 on big airports like klax, kjfk, kord, vhhh, eddf etc, but I guess that's mainly due to the other aircrafts around (from what I learned, the vanilla AI aicraft really suck resources) and due to the cities aswell.

the terrain itself, from what I figured out fiddleing with the settings, doesn't count too much into my resource wasting (just speaking of texture and elevation resolution, not autogen scenary), with everything else tuned to lowest except the aircraft details, I had 70+fps in both lowest and highest terrain settings.

but I'm really p... off by the hunger for resources. especially since I play latest games on full hd resolution and highest graphic settings possible w/o ANY fps problems. (heck, even mafia 2 with console-maximized physx settings, go figure)

anyways, I got the pmdg 747 400x and it's amazing. I had the pleasure to do a few patterns in a 400f fullflight sim just for the fun of it and comparing the pmdg and the "real" sim, I'm considerably amazed by the detail-loving work the guys do over at pmdg. really can't wait for their 737 release as I'm mostly flying the vanilla 737 and am really missing all the extra detail and buttons and gizmos and stuff the real thing has but are disabled on the fsx version

[Red1530 1]

I would recommend you get the game. If you can get the Gold Edition. The Gold Edition contains the FSX Deluxe edition along with the Acceleration expansion pack.

[hittwice99 619]

I just bought FSX Gold Edition today, It will hopefully arrive by post tomorrow. I've read about frame rate and performance issues with the game, even on high-spec machines, so I'm hoping to find the right balance between graphics and performance. Anyway, it's sure to be a big step up from FS2002.