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X-plane
- Thread starter Mo Tiggas
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You could try running Micorosoft Flight Simulator in Boot Camp. You'll need a copy of Windows though.
X-Plane is a simulator. MSFS is a game. It all depends on whether you want to learn & be challenged or you just want to play (not that play is a bad thing). Different purposes altogether.
But....
They're both great, but are those the only two out there that people have enjoyed? Running Microsoft FS on a mac never gives me what I need. I guess that's the one and only argument for a PC (oh, and they're about half as expensive)
They're both great, but are those the only two out there that people have enjoyed? Running Microsoft FS on a mac never gives me what I need. I guess that's the one and only argument for a PC (oh, and they're about half as expensive)
X-Plane is truly an amazing piece of work - I've been an avid user for many years, and with every new release am simply awestruck!
Check out it's latest incarnation here...
The water effects are phenomenal, and the landscapes are pretty close to perfect - in fact, it's all based on data provided from radar topography on NASA's shuttle missions. With various add-ons to scenery, aircraft and even online air traffic control, it's little wonder X-Plane's code has been given FAA approval...
And if you really like the graphics in Microsoft's FSX, then you'll be happy to know there's a huge amount of converted sceneries provided with the consent of their respective authors, and all useable in X-Plane.
There's a massive online community, which has free downloads of thousands of aircraft (ranging from Cessnas through to 747's and beyond - including the space shuttle and X-15), and hundreds of airports and cities - all found here. Paris, Auckland and Sydney are beautifully photorealistic, to name a few...
To top it all off, it's got amazing weather properties - downloaded using metar data. If it's raining in reality, it's raining in the game.
It all sounds like an advert - but it's bloody addictive. Just get yourself a decent joystick, download the demo, and practice those touch-and-go's.
A word of warning though - the scenery data alone sits at over 60GB!
Check out it's latest incarnation here...
The water effects are phenomenal, and the landscapes are pretty close to perfect - in fact, it's all based on data provided from radar topography on NASA's shuttle missions. With various add-ons to scenery, aircraft and even online air traffic control, it's little wonder X-Plane's code has been given FAA approval...
And if you really like the graphics in Microsoft's FSX, then you'll be happy to know there's a huge amount of converted sceneries provided with the consent of their respective authors, and all useable in X-Plane.
There's a massive online community, which has free downloads of thousands of aircraft (ranging from Cessnas through to 747's and beyond - including the space shuttle and X-15), and hundreds of airports and cities - all found here. Paris, Auckland and Sydney are beautifully photorealistic, to name a few...
To top it all off, it's got amazing weather properties - downloaded using metar data. If it's raining in reality, it's raining in the game.
It all sounds like an advert - but it's bloody addictive. Just get yourself a decent joystick, download the demo, and practice those touch-and-go's.
A word of warning though - the scenery data alone sits at over 60GB!
You are right about that one!
I am thinking about getting the EFIS-app and Saitek's yoke and throttle.
Sigh....EFIS. Sims have gotten so accurate that they're even simulating the stuff that takes the 'flying' out of flying!
Sigh....EFIS. Sims have gotten so accurate that they're even simulating the stuff that takes the 'flying' out of flying!
That is something a real pilot may say.
Heh - I've been accused of worse.
I don't claim to know much, but flying *is* my day job, so I'll chime in from time to time.I'm just joking around - EFIS is fantastic. It cuts down on my workload in amazing ways. But it also removes me from the airplane, which can be an issue sometimes.
I've been asked to build a "flight sim" PC for my old air cadet Squadron. I have what I conscider quite good specs for the budget, but I am at a loss wether to use M$-FSX or X-Plane.
It will have, Quad core intel Q660, SLI, capable motherboard, 4GB DDR2 Ram, Dual Nvidia 9700's (512MB) in SLI, and a mirrored RAID HD of appropriate size, 80GB for FS, larger for xplane, and Vista Ultimate OEM. They'll be using quite a guud pedal/stick/throttle setup built into a decommissioned cockpit of a hunter aircraft and its only job will be to run whatever FS is installed. The staff at the cadets want to use the tro current (general gaming PC's 2-3) years old to keep running FS2k4 and use that to train up the cadets, then move them up to the better/newer FS in the hunter.
Any advice would be apreciated. They have a budget of about £700 UK, and at the moment (excluding the sim software) I'm running at about £611
It will have, Quad core intel Q660, SLI, capable motherboard, 4GB DDR2 Ram, Dual Nvidia 9700's (512MB) in SLI, and a mirrored RAID HD of appropriate size, 80GB for FS, larger for xplane, and Vista Ultimate OEM. They'll be using quite a guud pedal/stick/throttle setup built into a decommissioned cockpit of a hunter aircraft and its only job will be to run whatever FS is installed. The staff at the cadets want to use the tro current (general gaming PC's 2-3) years old to keep running FS2k4 and use that to train up the cadets, then move them up to the better/newer FS in the hunter.
Any advice would be apreciated. They have a budget of about £700 UK, and at the moment (excluding the sim software) I'm running at about £611
X-Plane is so lovely....!
But as I don't have a yoke (yet...) it's a bit too complicated for me ATM
Just one question with it (before buying the whole stuff... X-Plane 9 with all sceneries and a yoke):
I have a Mac Pro '08, 8 x 2.8 GHz, 8 GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GT with game set to 1920 x 1200. Am I right in saying that it can't run smoothy with all settings set to totally max (i.e. "insane settings")?
But as I don't have a yoke (yet...) it's a bit too complicated for me ATM
Just one question with it (before buying the whole stuff... X-Plane 9 with all sceneries and a yoke):
I have a Mac Pro '08, 8 x 2.8 GHz, 8 GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GT with game set to 1920 x 1200. Am I right in saying that it can't run smoothy with all settings set to totally max (i.e. "insane settings")?
X-Plane is so lovely....!
But as I don't have a yoke (yet...) it's a bit too complicated for me ATM
Just one question with it (before buying the whole stuff... X-Plane 9 with all sceneries and a yoke):
I have a Mac Pro '08, 8 x 2.8 GHz, 8 GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GT with game set to 1920 x 1200. Am I right in saying that it can't run smoothy with all settings set to totally max (i.e. "insane settings")?
There is no computer made that can run X-Plane at it's highest renderings.
The best PC gaming computer with 3 nVidia cards in SLI can't do it.
I also have the 2008 Mac Pro with the 8800GT.
You have to experiment with the settings.
X-Plane is optimized for 1024 x 768.
I use "Extreme Res!" with "4x" anti-alias level.
My forest density is "filled in." The rest of the settings are at default.
AND I am very pleased to be able to get those settings!
They are a vast improvement over my Power Mac G5.
By the way, X-Plane relies more on the computer's cpu than the video card.
Like most (all?) games, X-Plane does not make use of all of the Mac Pro's multiple cores.
I have noticed that I am getting a little better performance out of the 8800GT with OS X updates.
They must be updating the 8800GT driver also.
I am hoping that Snow Leopard will help improve the renderings of X-Plane.
I was hoping someone would reply to you. Maybe someone still will.
I'm not qualified since I've never flown FSX.
But I have seen quite a few comments which normally go like this:
X-Plane is a more realistic flight simulator than FSX.
FSX is aesthetically more pleasing than X-Plane.
You could also look for or ask for comments at the forums of x-plane.org.
My vote would be X-plane but I am only a home user not a instructor. But it is harder to flu so I would guess it is more realistic. Also it does have a FAA approved version.