X-Plane 1st thoughts

[Boomer]

Ok if your looking for ammunition to feed your anti X-plane sentiment I will save you some time & tell you to read no further. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
<o></o>
My 1st impression is that I like it! Of course that & $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. <o></o>
<o></o>
I have spent almost no time in the fixed wing aircraft, instead spending it in helos. <o></o>
I gotta tell you, I LOVE the helo flight model! It is very reminess of FS98 being twitch & difficult to control. Just like a real helo <o></o>
If you have a hard time with helo's in FS dont even bother with X-Plane! If however you have decent control you may find it an interesting step up. Once you get the hang of it you have much more control & fidelity in X-Plane. <o></o>
<o></o>
Graphics:<o></o>
While not on par with FS2004 IMO they are equal to FS2002. Ther biggest problem IMO is the talented skinners we have in FS haven’t made it to the X-Plane community. My this world could use some high quality bitmaps. <o></o>
Autogen (or whatever its called in X-Plane) is nice & dense & adds a pleasant touch to the effect. <o></o>
<o></o>
Aircraft:<o></o>
Here is where FSX is light years ahead of X-Plane! Default aircraft are much like our FS95 ones. Current aircraft available for download are much better but still not close to FSX. If your be all end all in flight sims is to look at the pretty aircraft then dont bother with X-Plane.<o></o>
<o></o>
Interface:<o></o>
At 1st I found it clunky & cumbersome but I spent several hours last night & now a few today (Im snowed in) flying it & its becoming 2nd nature. Of course my preconceptions of how the interface should be are based on 20+yrs flying FS. To the neophyte I dont think it will be an issue. <o></o>
<o></o>
Conclusion:<o></o>
I like it! Its an interesting step in another direction of flight simming. Graphics are decent & the flight model is believable. I am looking forward to digging deeper into what X-plane has to offer.
<o></o>
Here are just a few screen shots. <o></o>
1) <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Ketchikan</st1:City> <st1:State w:st="on">AK</st1:State></st1lace>, with real weather active. <o></o>
2) <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Scar Creek</st1:City> <st1:State w:st="on">BC</st1:State></st1lace>, also with real weather. <o></o>
3) After departing Scar Creek I saw a train wiz past & like a dog with a car made chase. As I was chasing the 1st train a 2nd one came from the opposite direction... Pretty cool!

Edit: If you wondering about the white spots in pic 2 & 3 its snowing. Pic 1 is rain.

[Boomer]

Ok I was surfind around some of the X-plane payware sites & found a plane I just couldnt resist. A Cessna 195. I have a special love affair with this plane because my grandfather had one when I was a kid. Or at least he had the LC126 (float version).

After flying it a bit I believe that they did a nice job on the plank flight model as well. Not much P factor on take off but she skids nicely. Otherwise all other control inputs are as you would expect with no bad tendancies.

Here are some shots of the epitome of X-plane aircraft (at least insofar as aircraft the interest me). I also cleared all weather so you could get a sense of what it really looks like.

As an aside, this float plane is pretty squirrely on the water. Dont know if its just this model or a general problem.

[SkippyBing]

Boomer,

Can you land the helicopter on the train?

[Snuffy]

I hope that's snow on the screen shot of the train chase, otherwise I'd be a little concerned about all those spots on my screen when I'm trying to fly.

Otherwise, some interesting screen shots to say the least.

[JimC1702]

Nice pics! All the shots I've seen of X-Plane seem to have a gloomy look to them, like it's dusk or something. Do you find that to be the case?

The water looks great.

Jim

[Boomer]

Skippy, honestly it didnt even occur to me to try to land on the train. I see that as a good thing I did go back & try after reading your post & no you can not. The trains & cars in X-Plane are much like the cars in FSX. They appear & disapear at junctions etc.

Jim, yes it is darker than FSX. When in X-Plane the visuals seem completely normal.
Which one is better I dont think it is a fair question to ask. The concept of "better" is strickly personal based on each individuals life experiances.

[Major_Spittle]

Boomer-

Great Review, Does X-Plane have Multiplayer support?

[datter]

What's the most recent X-Plane version? I think I tried the demo of version 7 and despite trying to be impressed... I wasn't.

[Boomer]

Version 9.0 is being distributed via CD but you can d/l an update to v9.22.

IMO Austin missed the mark with his demo. Instead of being time limited it should be geographically limited.
The problem is that for someone new to flight sims there is just so much to learn that in 10min you can not begin to grasp what is going on & having to restart every 10min while you are still trying to figure it out is a bore.
Same same with those transitioning from FS. It is so very differant that 10min doesnt give adequate time to fully grasp the product.

[Boomer]

Major,
Not that I have seen thus far. Frankly I have barely gotten into the sim & what it has to offer.

[IanP]

Squawkbox is available for X-Plane, so presumably there must be some form of multiplayer, to inject other aircraft from the VATSIM system?

[jimjones]

I have had X-Plane for a day now, worked with the sim for less than 8 hours.

If you have FSX, I see nothing in X-Plane that would be a huge incentive to buy it. The following are a few comments that may influence you to save your money for now. Don't take these conclusions as gospel, I may have overlooked ways to get things to work, and this is just one persons opinions.

Flew the Cessna and landed ok first try. A bit twitchy and pauses during flight.

Not many planes with full VC, but the ones that have it are pretty good. None of the tubeliners have VC and external models are just fair looking. Can't give learned comments of flight models, but they just aren't smooth or like FSX.

TrackIR4 works in VC but not externally.

External models and paints not nearly as good as FSX. No self shadowing.

NO airport buildings at all. No hangars, no towers. Zilch. Lots of fancy lights and runway/taxiway signs. Runways look ok. Ooops there was one airport, a default one in Europe with nice buildings and stuff, but that is the only one I saw.

Autogen trees and buildings are present. Not too bad, but I like FSX better.

No windowed mode. When first started the sim did not fill the screen. After expanding the resolution to 1280 x 1024, exiting the sim and restarting, the screen was completely filled.

City buildings are generic and in no way look like the real ones. X-Pane indicates cities and airports can be built, using MSFS ones. Did not try this.

Interface takes some learning. Have not found a way yet to display coordinates while in flight, frame rate or to slew.

Did not see any included photoreal terrain, but the Grand Canyon textures were interesting.

A few things that are appealing are the flock of birds that alight on the runway and takeoff as you approach. If you hit them, you may crash.

Clouds have an affect on ground colors. Although they may not be a direct shadow from the clouds, the ground is darkened in places.

There is a key that allows the flight path to be displayed in 3D a few different ways after your flight as well as a way to replay a flight with a convenient play bar to position it to any point in the flight. Reflection of buildings, clouds, and planes on water are good. Have control over wave height and width but did not investigate affect. eDimensional 3D has a button to turn it on, but did not test. Clouds and weather are believable. X-Plane loads and exits and changes of planes and scenery happen very quickly, much faster than FSX.

Did not try space ship stuff or build planes, since that is not my interest.

There are five DVDs, the first contains the sim and most of the USA, except for a bit in Florida. The first disk occupies about 11 GB. The entire world should be covered with 3D terrain and airports.

X-Plane undoubtably has a future and will approach FSX capabilities, and I will continue to fly this sim to learn it, but for now FSX will continue to be my sim of choice and will probably be flown 99% of the time.

[Boomer]

Last set, I have to get back to my FSX project.

In my travels I noticed a carrier off the coast. I took up a Phantom to see if I could land on it. As I lined up I started getting commands on my line up in a computer voice.

1st attempt I had to wave off but my 2nd go I caught a wire. Interestingly all you have to do is taxi on top of the catapault & it automatically arms. The shot isnt as smooth as FS but it does accomplish its purpose.

[Lionheart]

Hey Boomer,

Nice pics man!

I didnt know XP9 had a carrier or a Phantom!! Going to have to check it out.

:ernae:

Where abouts was it located?


Ive had my eyes on that nice little payware Piper Super Cub. Good price too...


Bill

[JimC1702]

I wonder how many copies of X-Plane have been sold since Microsoft's announcement?

Jim

[SkippyBing]

Bill from memory if you're near the coast there should be a carrier and destroyer nearby, check on the inflight map. Alternatively go through the menus and there should be an option for special flight positions or some such, one of which is on the carrier and another is on approach to it. The last time I used X-Plane the carriers didn't follow routes as in FSX, they just kind of meandered around, same for the AI.

[Boomer]

Bill, I saw it off the coast of Catalina island. Just west of KLAX. There is a oil rig there too.

If you want a real challenge, set the wave height to 10ft & try to land on the cruisers helo pad. Boy that thing is pitching around!

[lifejogger]

Very nice reveiw and good picts of X Plane, I have also seen pits of it over at The Old Hangar. I have visited the X plane website many times and have come close to buying it but not yet.

[Daube]

That's the kind of review I was looking for: with FSX eyes, but also with objective arguments.
Thanks for that Boomer, your review has been more instructive than everything I've read about XPlane so far. Don't hesitate to post more comments and screenshots about what you discover in this sim, when you'll have some time of course :ernae:

Thanks also to JimJones for his similar review, which is complementary to the Boomer's one. :ernae:

[deimos256]

with the sacking of aces i have pulled XP9 back out, i must say i loooooove the water, in my opinion they got it spot on, except the one single color of it no matter where you are, helos are definately way more challenging, and while i get great performance out of FSX, XP9 is so much smoother, the lack of planes really does suck, especially since i love warbirds, the only payware i have for XP9 is the warbirds package that has the p-51d, spitfire MKIX, b-17 and a couple WWI biplanes, its nowhere near the quality of FSX but the prices reflect that in most cases. Im definately going to be splitting my time between the two sims.

[jimjones]

Last set, I have to get back to my FSX project.

In my travels I noticed a carrier off the coast. I took up a Phantom to see if I could land on it. As I lined up I started getting commands on my line up in a computer voice.

1st attempt I had to wave off but my 2nd go I caught a wire. Interestingly all you have to do is taxi on top of the catapault & it automatically arms. The shot isnt as smooth as FS but it does accomplish its purpose.

Nice shots of the carrier. Still looking for it. Like you said maybe its moving around too much.

[deimos256]

Nice shots of the carrier. Still looking for it. Like you said maybe its moving around too much.

start off at KEWR and fly east, past the verrazano narrows bridge and past that should be not only a carrier but also an oilrig, go under environment and click local map and look for USS Laminar.

[kjb]

I wonder how many copies of X-Plane have been sold since Microsoft's announcement?

Jim

I know I placed an order. It hasn't shown up yet. I tried it about five years ago and wasn't overly impressed.

[Lionheart]

i must say i loooooove the water, in my opinion they got it spot on

Yep, I agree...

Same on the frame rates.. Very smooth.


I am sure they'll have AI traffic pretty soon.




Bill

[Boomer]

I was starting to get a headache from Max so I took my B430 up & happened upon an oil rig.

The rigs have 2 helipads & 2 of the cranes are animated.