Things I love about FSX

[Lionheart]

Hey guys,

Thought I would start a post on the cool things about FSX.


My fave is Chrome!!! Brilliant and radical. I am really loving it.

I also like the unlimited texture sizes we can use now, and the FSX Compiler, how it can burn a huge model in seconds.


:ernae:


Bill

[Roger]

Bill,
Tell us a bit about how you create chrome in FsX, if you wouldn't mind?

[Pepere]

Although not perfect (yet) I love the whole flight experience without restraint other than the laws of physics... Plus the ability to addon almost at will......

David

[jankees]

bumpmaps, metal finish, better ground texture resolution, close up water textures, easy installing addon scenery, better sound....

[Tako_Kichi]

The things that keep me flying FSX rather than FS9 are (in no particular order):

Amazing water effects (even in stock FSX)
Spec and bump mapped textures (when done well)
3D gauges and high detail VCs (I only fly with VC and TIR now)
Super smooth 'gameplay' even with frame rates locked at 25 FPS
Fluid, no lag, MP connectivity when connecting directly with another player/host (I hardly ever use Gamespy and only rarely use FS Host now)
I still have FS9 on my drive but it only gets used for testing purposes or when someone wants to fly MP and does not have FSX.

[Lionheart]

Bill,
Tell us a bit about how you create chrome in FsX, if you wouldn't mind?

Goodness, lol... Its a hard one. I can tell you its similar to plexi glass and uses a bump map even if its smooth, but when its done its amazing.

I have lost my chrome settings before with Alpha Channels and all and it took me a day to figure it back out. Same with Plexi.. One long, stressful day, but when I had it dialed back in properly, it sure looked good in the sim.

If you or anyone 'seriously' wants to know, I'll go in and run the RPG's on the Alphas and chrome materials and post it all.



Bill

[Roger]

If you or anyone 'seriously' wants to know, I'll go in and run the RPG's on the Alphas and chrome materials and post it all.
Bill

Thanks Bill,
Yes I seriously like to know:ernae:

[MudMarine]

The thing I love the most about FSX.........it's easy to pick on! :costumes: Seriously........hmmmm........I'm thinking........uuummmmmm........sorry this is taking so long.............It's a step in the right direction, after UTX fixed the New York state desert textures; I'd have to say the autogen detail, water and sky.:d

[stiz]

The fact its a modelers playground :jump:

[MCDesigns]

The fact its a modelers playground :jump:

Agreed along with more advanced animations! I also love the increased ground texture resolution and increased tree autogen. I am a low and slow flyer and these were the 2 things that really turned me off in FS9.

Last but not least, landing on moving surfaces, man I have wanted this since CFS2.

[N2056]

I agree with Stiz...it really is a modelers playground :d

It's the first version that has allowed me to achieve the vc detail I always wanted, and like Bill pointed out, the compiler is quick even with complex models. I really don't miss waiting 20 minutes for a model to burn from Gmax each time you want to check it in the sim! :isadizzy:

Now it's less than 2 minutes :ernae:

[FAC257]

Faster, smoother more functional VC cockpits over FS9
Better feeling of flight over FS9
More aircraft detailing in models and textures over FS9
Head bob in cockpit
Bump mapping
Autogen
Vehicle traffic
Birds
The Moon
Water graphics
Default flight planner ability to add non-navaid waypoints
Wet runways and taxiways when it rains
Higher quality, fancier add-on utilities vs FS9
Higher quality, fancier pay-ware aircraft vs FS9
Use of texture.cfg file makes adding new repaints far easier than in FS9
Not needing to use my flashlight anymore in this forum because we really aren't the darkside any longer. :)

My list is probably much longer. These were the ones that come to mind easily.

Actually, about the only two things left, that I have consistantly not liked about FSX from the very beggining are the really poor prop animations and horizon "clipping" in the clouds. The prop animations are the only area IMO where FS9 is still better than FSX. The horizon "clipping" for lack of a better term is where you can still see the horizon through really thick clouds in some circumstances.

BTW
I would have added: Far easier to re-install than FS9 and that re-installs needed are farther between than FS9, which I firmly believe, but that might be controversial. :)

[heywooood]

the number one thing I love about FSX is the third party developers - the guys who take FSX SDK and wring it out to provide more models of higher and higher quality along with scenery and atmospherics and enhanced gameplay with missions and whatnot.

Sure ACES provided a great backbone and really the lighting and reflections in FSX can at times be pure magic...but the community of pixel wranglers we got 'round here really bring it to life and thats the best thing about it to my mind :ernae:

free ware or payware you guys are kicking it up old school style

[CodyValkyrie]

I love the addons. I never go a day without learning something about an aircraft.

[harleyman]

I like the whole look if the Sim over say,FS(..I love the groung traffic and annimations at airports.....)

What you developers are able to do with this Sim really is outstanding...

And I just love to fly low and slow too so the ground visuals really do it for me too....

[mike_cyul]

I agree with everybody here. :)

If there's one special thing for me, it the vast increase in detail possible with the modeling. Whenever (...if ever...) we finally get unlimited polys, true cockpit shadows, and perfected physics, I'll be a truly happy modeler.

Mike

[Sean Doran]

Theres only a couple of things that keep me from putting back in my FS9.

Bump maps (They do amazing things)
water textures
Aircraft like the 377 and Accusim.

[empeck]

The fact its a modelers playground :jump:

Agreed. And no 4mm limit for VC's :D

[jimjones]

Most of the things stated above, but highest on the list is high definition photoreal scenery.

[Bjoern]

+ Autogen
+ Smoothness
+ Efficient models
+ Mission capability
+ VC only
+ Color intensity
+ Bumps, speculars
+ Efficient texture management

[txnetcop]

+ Autogen
+ Smoothness
+ Efficient models
+ Mission capability
+ VC only
+ Color intensity
+ Bumps, speculars
+ Efficient texture management



Ditto what Bjoern said plus:
+ FTX scenerie packages http://fullterrain.com/
+ Aerosoft's Tahiti and Lukla
+ Default Solomon Islands
+ Adam Mills textures
+ MOCAT's scenery packages...I go on all day about these
+ Plum Island makes FSX just sing-thank you Bill Womack you is my hero

I love the new aircraft that have come out for FSX especially Bill Ortiz and Piglet's. Tim and Bill just seem to be even more inspired. Their aircraft are top drawer! I can't believe the difference in the way the Epic handles from FS9 to FSX it just makes you appreciate this controversial flightsim even more. I have a force feedback stick and you can really tell the difference even when they are set identically in each sim. FSX wins it. Of course GW3 will never leave my computer though-atmosphere counts too ya know:costumes:

FSX:applause::applause::applause:(standing ovation)
Ted

[Chuck_Jodry-VJPL]

Things i love in decending order

1 : The Animation Manager ( no more name conventions )
2 : The FX Tool
3 : The Compiler ( Fast )
4 : Flexible Mesh Animations
5 : Mission Design , interactive scenery objects ( go boom )
6 : The Materials , all the stuff thats cosmetic
7 : Higher Poly Limit.

[Henry]

Scenery, Vc's never fly with a vc in fs9 never liked them
but love them in fsx,
camera's, aircraft sounds, animations etc etc
H:applause:

[FAC257]

I was the same way with FS9 VC cockpits. I very seldom used them because they felt awkward and very unnatural. With FSX I don't use anything but VC.

[Lionheart]

One of the things that I do in real world flying (when I get the chance) is watching the terrain, and cars...! I will check traffic for some reason, lol.. I scan my gauges, scan the horizon, etc, but then I check the ground traffic. Sounds crazy, but it fascinates me, and now, FSX offers ground traffic vehicles, all automated, and that really brings some huge realism to the FSX world. That really impresses me. And they dont just have say 3 cars with diff textures.. They have all sorts of cars, from new semi's, busses, to sub compacts to Japanese nice rides to old clunkers that need some paint.

That is one cool option....!



Bill

[N332DW]

... all the wonderful toys

[dswo]

High-resolution ground textures, moving ground traffic.

[Lionheart]

Hey Roger,


Here you go.

Its a bit crazy. You have 5 textures, 2 alpha channels that all need to be dialed in, (I use the stock Scenery Environment Map texture), and there are about 4 pages of Material tune zones for the 5 inputs of textures.


Here are the RGB (Red Blue Green) recipe's for what I used on the Epic LT.

Chrome_T......................... 41,44,41
Alpha ...............................13,13,13

Chrome_Specular_t............ 0,0,0
no Alpha

Lightmap_L .......................0,0,0
no Alpha

Smoothed out Bump Map......Regular settings

GlobalEnv_AC_Chrome (Stock FSX DDS graphics)


Thats all just for Chrome. :isadizzy: :kilroy:

(remember, you asked..... )


I feel sorry for people just learning to do their own planes... At least people like me learned on simpler platforms and learned the basics.