Quote from Hangar45 Admin on December 18, 2017, 10:02 am

(Original thread started on 06-09-13)

What add on programs would you recommend that someone starting to fly (like I will in a week or so) should get either freeware or purchased that will make the experience more immersive and enjoyable?

 

(Posted by Mike Badger on 06-09-13)

Where to begin, I use Real Environment Xtreme for its amazing textures http://www.fspilotshop.com/real-environment-xtreme-rex-essential-plus-overdrive-p-3929.html

 

I use Active Sky 2012 for the weather engine itself http://www.fspilotshop.com/hifi-technologies-active-sky-2012-p-4005.html

 

Anything from Orbx http://www.fullterrain.com/ pick the areas you like to fly. Their stuff is mostly out west here in the states but everything they make is jaw dropping.

 

Of course anything from the following as well:

http://www.flytampa.org/

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/

 

http://flightbeam.net/

 

http://www.imaginesim.com/ (there stuff is decent)

 

http://drzewiecki-design.net/ (good stuff they are working on a huge NYC project including the most important business jet airport Teterboro)

 

http://theairportguys.com/ (good GA fields as well as Myrtle Beach)

 

If you have an iPad I highly recommend ForeFlight maybe overkill since I use it when I fly real airplanes but the great tool from http://fsxflight.com/ allows me to connect it to FSX as if I were sitting in the real thing. It is a great EFB for the sim being able to call up all charts when flying online is critical. I think this is a good start.

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 06-09-13)

Depends on where you plan to fly. My flying will be done within the U.S. so I have the following:

FS Global the Americas - terrain mesh

Ultimate Terrain X - adds roads, railway, etc

Ground Environment X - better ground textures

Scenery Tech North American land class

and of course REX

 

On my new system, the major changes will be adding FTX Global (not available until at least July 2013) and doing away with Ground Environment X as they are basically doing the same job.

 

Next I will NOT add any major airports as they are normally heavy on frame rates. I will add smaller airport addons like Key West. I had a few larger airports and found that I never fly to them. I like the smaller regional airports as they are usually more scenic and if in the mountains more skill is required.

 

Mike made a good comment in his post above about Teterboro being an important biz-jet airport. If you notice a lot of biz jet traffic centers around regional and executive airports like Mike pointed out, not the major hubs. Not saying that you won't see a Lear landing at some of the major airports but you will notice most traffic is to the smaller airports. This saves time as it is easier to get in and out of smaller airports, saves on landing fees etc. That is one of the reasons I stated I would not be adding any major airports. Mike mentioned one other that I will be adding, Myrtle Beach. I've noticed that several developers are starting to add regional airports to their lists including Orbx which is a plus for our type of flying.

 

I will also add:

Accu-Feel

RAAS

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 06-09-13)

Thanks for the replies. I think I have a program for PMSounds so that should help but what about ATC (I'm not ready for Vatsim right now)

 

Mike, I guess I should have said that I already have the NA ORBX add ons as well as REX. I thought that REX was a weather engine so why would I need Active Sky? Regarding the iPad (I have one) do you need a subscription for the charts?

 

Shane. does Ground Environment X and Scenery Tech North American land class replace ORBX for the West coast? Accu-feel adds the correct sounds for the tires right? And RAAs is the runway incursion program.

 

(Posted by Mike Badger on 06-09-13)

Not sure on ATC as they are all pretty basic I only fly on Vatsim so have no experience with any of the addon ATC programs. You could run a search on the Avsim forums there is so much info on those boards.

 

You will still want a terrain mesh for all the correct elevations, FTX Global replaces all the terrain textures. So it will replace the two you listed. You will still want a program like FSGenesis for mountains and such so that they actually look like they are supposed to.

 

I forgot about Accu-feel but that is a good one too.

 

I use Active Sky for its weather engine which in my opinion is a lot better than REX. I use REX for just the textures. I already had Active Sky I would hope that REX releases future patches to fix their engine itself.

 

Yes you need a subscription of ForeFlight I think their base package is $80 (the only it lacks from the $150 subscription is geo-referenced data on approach plates.) might be a little steep but I live and breath by it.

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 06-09-13)

I think that Orbx has first priority when you run it over GEX and NA landclass so Orbx textures will show. As for Accu Feel, yes it adds brake squeal, tire squeal at touch down, wind sounds etc. For the terrain mesh I suggest FS Global for the terrain mesh which gives you the correct elevation making hills and mountains look much better than default.

 

As for ATC I use VOX ATC, you will need to set up a headset with microphone as you will read back instructions , request clearances etc so you will be doing the talking not pushing a button in response to ATC here is the link: http://www.voxatc.com/Home.aspx

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 06-10-13)

I'd like to say that most of what Mike and Shane suggest is exactly my thoughts too and most of those are available for my FS9 install which gives me a very nice experience I must say (and you saw it for yourself last October).

 

I'd say that I'd highly recommend a few airports that would be considered larger airports, but are actually suitable for the LJ45 because they have big GA/bizjet traffic levels.

 

These are:

FS Dream Team Las Vegas AND Fort Lauderdale

 

FlyTampa Tampa, Buffalo, Saint Martin and if available, Chicago-Midway

 

Key West by Latin VFR. You can find these and others on sale at Sim Market.

http://secure.simmarket.com/latinvfr-key-west-keyw.phtml

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 06-15-13)

Eric, thanks for that link.

Shane, will FTX Global replace FS Global mesh?

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 06-20-13)

Hey Alan, no, FTX global will not replace FS Global mesh. They are two different products/ two different companies. FTX Global provides new textures while FS Global mesh provides the terrain height for better rendering of mountains etc.

 

(Posted by Mark Speechley on 06-20-13)

Alan, reading through the responses so far from everyone else I would have to say they are pretty spot on.

 

I would wait for FTX Global before outlaying more cash to see what you need in the terrain addons.

 

I have a lot of addons esp ORBX but I have to say that you can soon drop your frame rates if you are not too careful, with some of your purchases. Then as we all know, it's big dollars to update the CPU.

 

Just out of left field here is a suggestion some may not know about:

http://www.dbsim.com/FollowMe/dbs.followme.htm

 

'Follow Me' calls up a vehicle of your choice to guide you to your runway or from the runway to your parking. Very helpful if you do not want to turn on progressive taxi or the airport is so complicated.Works on FS9 and FSX but had no luck so far with P3D. I stand corrected if anyone knows better.

 

Two others I have out of the ordinary are from:

http://www.flightsimtools.com/contrails/

 

1/ Contrails Pro. Absolute beauty. Whilst flying you can see so many more of your surrounding planes flying around you.

 

2/Addon converter X. This is for the FSX people who have been downloading planes that were designed for FS9 but not ported well with graphic glitches.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 06-20-13)

Thanks Guys. So far I've ordered these:

LatinVR Key West

LatinVR Bermuda

RASS[/li][li]AccuFeel

 

The first two were on sale and who wouldn't love to fly to Bermuda. I'm going to order FS Global Mesh. I'm running PM Sounds which is good as it gives me the "80 knots" call on take off roll but not the V1 and VR speeds. Is that at all possible?

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 06-21-13)

I think that it is Alan but you have to write a script for it. I've not done it nor do I know how to do it.