FSX first look :: Archived

[401RCAF_Sly]

Hi Guys

First play with full FSX release and everything seems pretty familiar, the improvements seen in the demo seem to have been carried through to the full package pretty nicely.

I had a problem installing, kept getting a 1335 Error cant read ~~~cab file.
there is a little about it on the MSoft knowledge base here support.microsoft.com/kb/258496
My own solution was to clean out the crap and defrag prior to install.. update firmware drivers for DVD drive and do a minimum clean boot.

A word of warning..I could run the demo with everything maxed out and get higher frames than FS9... not the case with full version, on med/high settings it pulls my Athlon FX53+ NVid 6800 ultra down to 8-12 frames.

Just about to dive back in and have a play with settings for the first time

looks like it should be fun

Sly

[Kitform]

Damn, you beat me too it.

Was going to go get it this morning (Saturday) but couldn't be bothered...lol

Decided to go in the morning (Sunday) when the crowds will be less.

[Kafco]

~S~All,

Had trouble getting it to load up at first. It was an XP problem, not FSX.

It's a memory hog, alright. Have to move the sliders to the left a lot to stop the slide show action. (XP Home SP2, P4 3.2Ghz, 1.5Gb ddr ram, 256Mhz video, 160Gb hdd.....great machine for ALL other sims.) There will be community solutions as we gain experience.

Moved a Vultee BT-13 "Vibrator" (old man's plane) from FS9 to FSX. Had some easily solvable gauge problems but otherwise OK. I rebuilt the panel in FS9 with gauges I knew would work and then moved it to the plane in FSX.

Sure has a lot of "eye candy" but with the sliders so far over my FS9 is actually better. That will change as we learn the tweaks.

This will be fun.

Regards,
Ken

[Kitform]

Just loaded up FSX, hot from the shop.

Loaded no problem at all, with sliders set to high, I'm getting frame rates in the region of 50fps (1600x1200x32).

[Kitform]

FSX in multiplayer mode is only available through GameSpy lobby.

I'm damned if I can make a manual connection to CC's server.

Unless someone knows different...

[Adrian_Wainer]

I have got the FS X deluxe. My computer is not connected to the net so I could not register it, so take any comments I make with that in mind, in case it works in a differant manner once registered. With my Athlon XP 3200 processor, 512 MB GS6800 AGP GPU, 1.5 Gigabytes regular DDR memory, and regular 250 Gigabyte harddrive machine [ nb I use the world regular to say they are average components, ie not high performance ] I was getting between 2 and 6 frames with all the sliders turned to the max. The Maule is a beauty and great fun to fly. The mission in to Dutch Harbour is really fun and really difficult, [ I crashed landed on to the runway everytime! ( in the mission )]. There seems to be a huge improvement with the helicopter dynamics in that I found the FS2004 Jet Ranger impossible to land and to hover but I got the FS X Jet Ranger to land a few times and it is quite easy to establish a hover. What I found interesting about the Dutch Harbour mission, is when I tried flying in to the same airport outside of the mission, by directly selecting an aircraft and airport in create flights with the weather turned to clear, the visability was good unlike in the night bad weather scenario of the mission but I was getting all sorts of apparent air current effects? so that the aircraft was being blown in to cliffs and experiencing turbulence and I tried the same aircraft ie the Cessena Caravan in FS2004 and it was without these interesting effects.

www.unalaska.info/

www.unalaska-ak.us/ind...20A7E94C8}

www.airnav.com/airport/PADU

akweathercams.faa.gov/index.php

204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0610/06367NA.PDF

204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0610/06367GE.PDF

204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0610/AKALT.PDF

204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0610/AKTO.PDF

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ka_Airport

www.wikimapia.org/#y=5...=0&m=a

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenAir

www.penair.com/

www.penair.com/timetables.html

www.penair.com/fleet.html

terraserver-usa.com/im...nalaska%7c

terraserver-usa.com/im...nalaska%7c

www.aero-web.org/datab...htm?id=529

www.airlinefocus.com/a...links.html

www.airlinefocus.com/p...0-dut.html

airlinefocus.com/penair-goose.html

www.airlinefocus.com/p...o-dut.html

www.airlinefocus.com/p...0-dut.html

www.airlinefocus.com/index.html

pafc.arh.noaa.gov/tvwx.php

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai...index.html

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai....htm#AkPen

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai.../DUT-a.jpg

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai.../DUT-b.jpg

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai.../DUT-c.jpg

www.alaska.faa.gov/fai...MS/DUT.gif

US Navy? sea plane at Dutch Harbour

vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-b...SOPTR=2572

US Navy C-47 / Dakota at Dutch Harbour World War 2

vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-b...OMODE=grid

PBY /Catalina at Dutch Harbour WW2

vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-b...OMODE=grid

PBY /Catalina on finals at Dutch Harbour WW2

vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-b...OMODE=grid

PBY and other US Navy Aircraft on Hardstanding at Dutch Harbour WW2

vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-b...OMODE=grid


Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[RM_bizkid]

I guess there will be lots of tweaks to improve frame rates, but even running on medium low settings, the graphics for me are far better than FS2004. Frames in the low 20's still seem smooth. (AMD XP 3200, Nvidia 6800 GT) Took this evening screenshot over Vancouver. Liked it enough to make it my desktop (for now anyway lol)

[Kitform]

Just had to post this for the water effects...




Full size image HERE
Its about 1.3 meg in size and 1920x1200x32 resolution
Screen grabber still degrades the quality

[RM_bizkid]

Incredible picture quality. And...look at those frame rates. Just awesome.

[JG300-Stoopy]

- Kitform

Screen grabber still degrades the quality

That's true Kit. Have you tried using the "V" key? FSX will save a much better-quality BMP screenshot (without your Windows toolbar) to the "Flight Simulator X Files" folder in your >My Pictures" folder inside your "My Documents" folder.

It's a nice BMP and you should have NO degredation in quality that way....MGrab and other screenshot tools always come out too dim for me with the FSX Demo. Worth a shot.

[Kitform]

Thanks for the tip Stoopy, I'll give it a try.

Bitmaps tend to be huge though and turning them into jpegs for online display will probably reduce the quality again.

[JG300-Stoopy]

Yeah there's a down side to everything I guess...but I've been doing GIF's lately, they seem to keep their crispness pretty well, and compress down to a reasonable file size as well.