Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition How to get the Best Experience

Introduction

Are you new to the Flight Simulation genre and don't know how to make it look like the videos and to create the most realistic experience possible then this is the guide for you. Also, if you just want to expand your knowledge then this should also help you. I have used a lot of different services that most others haven't given a nice try to.

I want to emphasize that this is all my opinion and the goal is to achieve realism... If your goal is not to make it just like the real world then this may not be the guide for you, but there will be things you can take away.

Where To Start?

This is a good question, and one I get a lot. "All the addons are really expensive, I can't get them all but I dont know where to start." This is a hard hurdle and everyone has different priorities. These are the areas I would recommend starting in.

Aircraft: This is a common place to start, and it isn't a bad idea. They give you the most direct ROI (Return on Investment), with the impact on the experience being something you'd always see.

Textures: Things like ORBX Global and REX 4 Texture Direct (more on these later) are a good way to get a large improvement for the amount you spend. Texture addons generally have effect over a large area or even everywhere.

Extras: If you want to make things a bit more realistic while still being able to use other aircraft, you could look into things like a better weather engine and ground services. This adds to the experience a lot, and is used almost all the time but it isnt quite as hands on.

Of cause you can start anywhere but these are the main places I see to benefit you. Refer to the later sections of the guide to learn more about them.

Aircraft

Aircraft range from dirt cheap to over $100 USD, and depending on your play style you could want multiple. This makes for a hard choice in selecting what you really want. The major brands that I personally recommend are A2A, Carenado, Alabeo, Aerosoft, PMDG, FSLabs and Majestic. All of these developers have different specialties so you look to them for that category. This is a big section, and I am sorry for that xD

General Aviation:

Carenado/Alabeo: These guys offer a very large range of reasonably priced aircraft (Usually around $30-$40 USD) that are relatively realistic. These developers go hand in hand for worrying about pushing out airframes rather than the best experience (still 100% better than freeware, it is just not as good as others). They are great for variety pilots. They have fully functional cockpits and a better than default GPS. Overall, good aircraft but not the best. I even fly them sometimes.

A2A: The kings of general aviation, with their Accu-sim series having mind blowing realism. Everything on these aircraft are modeled, from different propellers to different oils. Failures mean things and the systems simulate, they dont use algorithms to give the impression that they simulate. Due to their realsim, it means they are not so much of a get in and fly aircraft... You could have to troubleshoot why it didn't start and you need to make sure you turn it all off properly. The aircraft state saves including damage so if you want to keep the same airframe and care for it then that is something for you (can be reset).There are a couple of cons, the first being the price. They are $50 each for the Accu-sim series, and they only work on FSX (separate and more expensive purchase required for P3D). The other con is they dont come with a better navigation system meaning you have to spend more money on a 3rd party solution if you plan to use it with online air traffic control. They are amazing, I fly them over anything else. The C182 of theirs is something I have clocked 300+ hours in, but they are not for everyone.

Aerosoft: Aerosoft dont really have a usual price or quality for their general aviation stuff, all I can say is it is there. I will not fully recommend it as I haven't used it. If you want to look, please read reviews before you buy. They also do a lot of resale, so a lot of what they sell they didn't develop.

Commercial:

PMDG: The old kings. Boeing official aircraft including the 737, 777 and the upcoming 747 (the present one doesnt work with steam edition well). They have been dethroned from the most realistic developers but they are still a very reputible brand and unbelievably realistic. They are also the only good developer to develop Boeing aircraft. They have a fully functional virtual cockpit, FMS and more! With commercial aircraft we start to see where the high price range comes in though, which is a large downside of the category and this developer especially. With the 777 at $90 and the 737 at $70 locked to either FSX or P3D they sure do hurt the wallet. Along with that a $25 optional expansion pack is available for both to add an extra variant or two. They have full failure support too, so you can fail just about any system in the aircraft or have it give you random failures. You can then follow the real world procedure to fix said issue, With the fully functional FMS we start to see another cost emerge though, you will need to update your Navigation data to fly online. More on that in the navigation section. They are overall one of my favorite developers and usually my aircraft of choice. There indepth systems can be very daunting for new players though so be prepared to watch tutorials, read manuals and have months of trial and error.

Aerosoft: Aerosoft develop a couple of really nice less realistic aircraft but they are still way better than default. They are a great place to begin. The most popular one being the A320 Family. They are priced at $64 for the A318/19/20/21 or $52 for just the A318/19 or A320/21. A major selling point is they feature a shared cockpit feature. This means you can fly with your friend in the same aircraft following all the correct procedures. Along with that it also has the usual fully functional CDU which like PMDG requires to be updated. More on that in the navigation section. They dont support failures, but that isnt a big deal to a lot of people. It also features a audible checklist that is a big help to assist in leaning the airframe. They are a great stepping stone, and to a lot of people it is all they could ever want. If you are wanted a more realistic A320 experience then FSL is for you (more later). I used this aircraft a lot and I would recommend it to new players.

FSLabs: The new kings of flight simulation. The new A320X is extraordinary. Everything is molded on that aircraft. Easily the most realistic airliner experience available on any simulation platform. I dont remember the exact starting date but it is close to 9 years ago that this aircraft entered development and was only released in 2016. Because of this they have not skimped on anything. They didn't skimp on the price either though, at $100 it is very expensive indeed. It lacks extensive failure support, but that doesn't mean things dont go wrong. If you miss things out it will not take to the skies. The Fly-by-wire system is like nothing ever seen before and almost everything in the cockpit is clickable and does the real animation when you click it. This is not for new players though, and requires things like FSUIPC and Steves DX10 fixer to work correctly. It also would need to have its navigation data updated to fly online every 3-6 months. It is a very daunting aircraft and because of that, I would never recommend it to someone with less that 500 hours in airlines. I dont fly it much, just because I never got around to setting it up but the people that do swear by it. They also offer a Concorde simulation that is a bit older but still amazing, I have seen videos but never flown it.

Majestic: The developers of the other most realistic aircraft available and the only good simulation of a large turbo prop. The Q400 is expensive at $60 for the Pilot edition and $90 for the Pro edition it is not cheap by any means. The systems are hard to learn if you are coming in from jet airlines, and they are a bit older too. The pilot edition is a slightly less featured version and is what I would recommend to the regular sim pilot. The plane is still fully functional but just lacks come complexities. The pro addition adds things like shared cockpit and the HUD. If you would use these then the extra features are just a bonus and would usually not sell it to you if that didnt already sell you. As let on to before, the pro edition features full AMAZING shared cockpit between 2 pro aircraft. This is great for this aircraft due to the workload of flying it. It is a hard aircraft to fly, but once you master it, you will be so happy.

Textures

A good way to cheaply improve your whole simulator is to buy texture addons. These replace stock FSX things with more realistic and pretty counterparts.

REX is a very prominent company for this genre and is something I always use.

Worldwide Airports HD: This is a cheap addon in which you can improve the textures found in every airport that you dont have payware scenery at. At only $30 it is very good value. Great for global pilots on a low budget. There are lots of themes that you can choose from and customize to your liking.

REX 4 Texture Direct: This is another great value product at only $35. You can make custom themes from tons of different textues for the sky, ocean, clouds, sun, and airport (unless you use payware airports or Worldwide Airports HD). This is a must have for every simmer, and covers lots of things all in one cheap addon. Just a note though, some people do not like the textures, so look at pictures first. I like them, so I think it is worth it. It also does lots of other products jobs, just not as well. Clouds and the airports is usually recommended to get another addon on top of this.

REX 4 Soft Clouds: Again, another great value and at only $11 or $45 as a bundle with Texture Direct. This redoes the low level clouds in amazing detail and until recent was the best product available to do it. It is cheap, so I dont see it as something you should pass up. There are lots of different textures to choose from so you have lots of customization options.

Active Sky Cloud Art: Hifi Simulations' Activive Sky Cloud Art at $30 is a much more expensive option for cloud textues but syncs with the amazing weather engine Active Sky 16 (more on that later). This addon dynamically changes the cloud textures depending on what the weather is doing so that it more accurately simulates what you would see in the real world. It alternatively has many options for set themes if you dont have AS16. I would only recommend this if you have AS16 or are going to get it in the future though as it is a bit of a waste of money without it.

Scenery

Scenery is expensive, very expensive. But if you get the right stuff for you it will make a massive difference. Depending on your play style, I would recommend different things. Note, with scenery, comes decreased performance almost always...

There are a lot of big brands, so I am not going to list them here but instead just in their sections of expertise.

All ORBX Prices are AUD (Cheaper than USD)

For every simmer, you should start with the basics:

ORBX offer a great range of full simulator enhancements. These are under the FTX Global product line. There are 4 steps to this lineup. Global, Vector, OpenLC and Airports.

Global: ORBX FTX Global is reqiuired to get anything else out of the series and at $100 it is not cheap at all BUT... It effects your whole simulator. It makes the vast rain forest filled mountains of New Zealand not look like deasert and the deserts of africa not look like rain forests in a nutshell. What ever Microsoft used back in 2006 to make the map didn't work to say the least. It replaced all the default ground textues with better ones and puts said textures where they are meant to be. The hidden gem though is what it unlocks.

Vector: ORBX FTX Global Vector is an addon to Global. It also works on the whole globe but it works to make coast lines, rivers, lakes, roads, railways and more all reflect where they are in the real world making VFR flying easier and the whole sim looking better. With this comes even more new textures making the experience better. For this you pay $80, which is a lot. Is it worth it? In my opinion yes, but it is not really needed at the end of the day.

OpenLC: Once you have Global and Vector you can narrow things down with the ORBX FTX Global openLC series (these names are getting long). At $50 each you can get both North America and Europe modeled to an even high level again. Each one featuring season support, every town and village modeled, sections of photo-real and enhanced night lighting. This is all on top of the more detailed base textures making different counties truly reflect what they should look like in the real world.

Airports: Owners of Global get treated to the hidden gem of almost 20 awesome full detail airports scattered around the world starting from $25 and going as high as $40. This is a hidden gem due to other ORBX airports requiring you to own region scenery (more on that later) to use them. These airports are some of the best on the market, ranging from large commercial airports like Stockholm-Arlanda to the tiny strip of Parry Sound Airport. The airports are almost just as they are in the real world and use unique textures and generally a large area of photo-real surrounding it. This is where you start to loose the appeal to the global flyer as you can not afford to buy scenery for every airport nor is it available but it is great for people that are happy to return to airports time and time again.

Keeping with ORBX, they also have North America, Europe and Oceania Region products available. These do not require global. But once you leave the area the textues will be default without it making an ugly transition.

Regions: These are like OpenLC but even more detailed again. With about 20 available at $55 each they are not cheap. They usually cover one distinct area like Northern California, The Pacific Northwest, England, Wales or the South Island of New Zealand. In these regions you get hundreds of upgraded airports (some of them are amazing, like almost as good as when you pay $25 for a single airport) and custom landmarks like bridges and buildings that are iconic to the area. More photo-real is a given too. It also does the job of Vector in the area but to an improved detail. Overall they are amazing and I own 5 of them.

Airports: Like global, you also are able to purchase lots of little or large airports found in that region, to use these you do need the region though, The same feature set is found and the same pricing too... They are perfect for simmers focused on a specific area because for some regions there are 10+ airports you can purchase giving you a nice collection to fly between along with the already great improved base ones.

Believe it or not after that rant there are lots of other developers too, ORBX are just the only ones I recommend of region scenery for the most part (some exceptions).

The other major developers are:

Aerosoft: Great commercial airports under there X series. These airports from all around the world are high definition, realistic builds of airports similar to how ORBX do things. Generally featuring area around the airfield and next to perfect airport textures. The developers are usually different, as seen often with aerosoft so because of that the price fluctuates and so does the quality and finish but they are usually between €15-€30. There is not much to complain about with them, they make lots of airports which is good because they give as many people as possible the chance to fly out of airports special to them.

FlyTampa: One of my personal favorite companies, their airports are amazing, They generally do the most iconic commercial airports, and when they do them, they do them correctly. Their airports stretch around the globe, with my favorites being Dubai, Sydney, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.They are one of the most expensive developers at €20-€30 each but the finish is amazing. The fields always have an in depth config so you can customize them to get the best performance. They are hard on your PC.

Imaginesim: These developers are very well known for high quality American airports (and some international) all of which are large commercial airports. Overall a great finish as well. Priced at about $30 USD each they are about average on the pricing and they have a heap of options there for you. Personal favorites are KATL and KLGA.

Taxi2Gate: Taxi2Gate are a lot like FlyTampa in that they spead their development all over the world. High quality again and great finish. Usually about €20-€30 each which as you can see is starting to look like a pattern... I am finding it increasingly hard to say much about each developer but my personal favorite is KSEA and VHHH.

LatinVFR: As in the name these airports are great for VFR but they are hard on the frames. With sceneries from the Americas ranging from €15-€30 these are great looking airports and are great for VFR and Jets but you dont seem to get the best performance out of them. At least from what I have tried. Things I have used are KSNA and KSAN.

FSDreamTeam: These guys are again up the top like may others, focusing on some of the biggest airports there is. With mainly airports in the USA, they are astonishing in terms of quality. At $29 each they are not cheap but they are good. Although I dont own any, I have been lent 2 by friends and I can say that they are really good and they are something I have been meaning to add to my collection but I just haven't gotten around to it.

And I'm also gonna plug a small developer here that I love and promote my own county whist I'm at it. Godzone/Window Light/RealNZ//What is their actual name??? is a great developer for New Zealand scenery. With NZDN and NZNS both being amazing and adding to the small NZ market I really want a couple of you to look that way. The airspace is challenging and different. Along with airports he does Photo Real scenery for a large portion of New Zealand that he releases I think once every couple of months but it is a closed subscription (only opens it a couple of times a year, dont know why). http://windowlight.co.nz/godzoneWP/

Weather

This is small and simple, as I only recommend one weather engine and that is AS16.

AS16: This adds a realistic simulation of real world weather. "My sim already has real world weather" you say... Have you ever looked out your window in the real world while flying over your house in sim. It is completely different. AS16 is perfect but it is much better. On top of that it adds correct wind simulation, turbulence, wake turbulence, advanced weather editing, and complex themes to test your skills. Along with all that it works with Active Sky Cloud Art to update the cloud textures to better match those that you would see in the real world with the same conditions. Its expense at $50 but it really is a must have. Great for online flyers and flying with friends as you will have the same conditions.

Online Air Traffic Control

If you want to fly with realistic ATC, there is no addon that can really do it well. Dont waste your money.

The answer is simple:

On a budget/New: VATSIM Care about realism more/Experienced: Pilot Edge

Ill now break down each service so you can decide, full disclosure I am a paying customer of PE and a controller on VATSIM.

VATSIM: It is free, it is global, it is 24/7, anyone can fly, anyone can control (with a bit of training). If you want to fly, there may not be ATC where you want to go. You will encounter 8 year olds and 80 year olds, both with no idea what they are doing. This is where I started and I will not deny that it is a great starting point but it is personally not the service for me. There are other options like IVAO but they do much the same. The fact is, if my little brother wanted to become a pilot on VATSIM he would just have to will out the joining form and follow a tutorial on how to connect. He then persists to not know what he is doing and pisses off everyone. If you cant put up with that, aviod this place overall. There are some cool things, Across the Pond and World Flight are events that happen once or twice a year where you get hundreds of people flying the same place as you at the same time, unrealistic but fun. Also you get these annoying things called text pilots that are too scared to talk so they type everything... Unicom is also forced text. Controllers control top down, so if I am delivery rated I only cover delivery. If I am Center rated I cover everything below my position all on the same frequency and under the same name (I.E Oakland Center, for clearance, for tower, for approach all on the same freq). You get a cheat list of all the active frequencies. The voice codec is ass. Obvously I make it sound bad, but that is the reality. If you enjoy it, god speed to you and so did I for a couple of hundred hours but now I have progressed to a point where it is not good enough.

Pilot Edge: Its expensive ($19.95/mo base or $34.95/mo Western Expansion), its limited to the Los Angeles ARTCC without the expansion (100% coverage civilian + 3 military fields for DCS) or Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Denver and Albuquerque ARTCC's (Primary Airports (always staffed): KASE, KDEN, KPDX, KPHX, KSEA, KSFO and KSLC - Bonus Airports (staffed on 2 week rotating basis): KABQ, KEGE, KGEG, KMRY, KOAK, KRNO, KSAC, KSJC, KSMF and KYKM - It’s also possible to receive enroute VFR and IFR service to ALL of the airports within the airspace. Airports not listed above are treated as non-towered.) Anyone can fly but the trial period is only 2 weeks and the idiots are usually weeded out by then. They usually get scared off or get written up (you have a record, they store everything you do wrong) Controllers are paid and extensively trained. The coverage is only from 8am - 11pm PST but the network is available for the CTAF radios 24/7. There is no text, so you need a working microphone. You dont get a list of all the active frequencies so you have to, like in the real world, The voice sounds amazing. There is usually between 2-4 controllers on, due to this they cover multiple frequencies BUT unlike VATSIM to increase realism they simulate that they are different positions and require you to change frequencies and follow the correct procedures doing so. For example if you switch from a SOCAL controller to another SOCAL controller you would just say your altitude and callsign but if you switch from SOCAL to LA Center you may have to tell him/her more. He also wont give you information his position wouldn't know, so even if he is controlling approach and you are talking to center you cant ask what runway you will be landing. He will give you a roleplayed prediction like they are landing the 24's but then just to throw you off when you talk to approach they may give you another runway. The voice sounds really nice too. A side thing is they have free of charge training ratings you can do for both VFR and IFR that are all contained in the base package area meaning you can be assessed on your skills by the controllers all included in the cost.

You can see where my loyalty lies but the choice is yours.

Purpose

Want to add purpose to the sim? Flight simulator really has no real goal, and that can make it hard for people to play. I like to hour build and learn the new aircraft and see cool places. Others want more.

The best ways I have found are:

Virtual Airlines: If you have an interest in simulating the operations of a real or fantisy airline this is a great way to go about it. There are a heap on them online all with varying levels of seriousness. In the end they are all the same though, all use the same systems basically and promise more than they offer. They are great for flight tracking and some do a good job at making it really realistic. Along with that, depending on the airline there is sometimes a large community of people who you will meet that will fly with you. These are free.

Air Hauler 2: This is much more of a *game*. It is great for GA pilots, as you will start with a small Cessna and depending on if you are good enough or not you could go bankrupt or have a massive fleet of 777Fs with AI pilots hauling in a ton of cash for you. I really enjoy it as it brings you to places you would have never gone before. The way the game works is there are different jobs you can take hauling cargo between places. You get paid to do this and then with that you can buy more hubs, pilots, and planes. You can even do passenger routes but I never got that far. It is one of those things that require a lot of commitment and it is something I personally want to get back into. Priced at $53 it is not cheap, but it does add a whole game to it.

Extras

There are lots of little addons that you can get that really add to the experience. Wiether it is in the cockpit talking to a co-pilot or having ground crew.

Here are my recommendations:

GSX: This is a must have for commercial pilots. This adds ground crew to do things like catering, refueling, boarding, cargo, deboarding, pushback, follow me, de-icing and more. At $34 it is rather expensive but the amount it adds makes it worth it 110%. It helps add purpose to being on the ground and makes things go on around you.

FS2Crew This is an awesome addon. These addons allow you to have a co-pilot in some of the best payware aircraft like the PMDG 777 and 737 and the Majestic Q400. The first officer will do things that the real one would do like reading checklists and saying things that he would in the real world. If you dont want to talk to it they even have button control options which I have used a long time ago, not as good as voice but it is still very nice! They add so much depth to the experience, and help you further comprehend what you are flying. Pricing ranges from €30-€40 and they also have voice sets available for €20 each.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=831596433

How to get the Best Experience