What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

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limbo696
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What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by limbo696 »

Hi guys. I recently bought the Steam Edition of FSX having never played it before. My primary goal is to get a Pilotedge account so that I can master all of the air traffic control procedures. (I was always terrified of contacting ATC when I flew for real.) I am seeking advice how to best enhance this experience given the confusing multitude of mods and maps available for FSX. I tried searching around in the forums here and I did not find an easy answer.

First, I assume I need to download some sort of scenery for the southern California region and Nevada and possibly up to San Francisco. Can anybody recommend scenery to download for this area for free or for a reasonable price? I really have no idea where to start here.

For planes, my plan was to use the default Bonanza for a good while and then eventually proceed to a Leer jet that come with the program. Are there are any nice planes I can download that would be reasonably fast in these categories that are better modeled than the FSX plane defaults?

What else may enhance my experience on Pilotedge? Thanks!
Last edited by limbo696 on Fri Jan 23, 2015 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
stevekirks
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by stevekirks »

First thing I would do is pick up unofficial updater for fixes and frequencies:

http://www.gbmitch.net/main2.html

...then install a good free weather app like:

http://www.fsrealwx.net/

...then install an update for KSNA John Wayne Airport.

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php ... d=33029464

...because it's a great place to start doing pattern work and it's used in a lot of the training docs.

Once you're set up, go through the ratings:

http://training.pilotedge.net/page/ratings
Steve Kirks (sKirks on Twitch)
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bbuckley
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by bbuckley »

I know this topic is a little dated now, but it seemed most relevant. I'm fairly new to PE but I have used MegaScenery FL and the MegaScenery UltraHiRes Orlando TAC. I do have MegaScenery SoCal installed and now I'm thinking of adding the MegaScenery UltraHiRes LAX and SAN TAC areas. Small cost. I plan to install the items Steve K recommends above. BTW, I'm just finishing the build of a high end PC and will have a second PC / monitor that I could use for PE client and wx etc.

I was wondering what other thoughts or recommendations people have for the optimum PE visual experience? I have not installed any Airports and I notice the buildings and markings are not great in the standard FSX airports.
Thanks!
Commercial / Instrument / KMLB
stevekirks
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by stevekirks »

I bit the bullet about a year ago and got Orbx Global and Vector. I wanted the Cecror part for VFR navigation accuracy but your MegaSceney might cover it. I have all three sims installed and find it tough to nail down the visual parts because they all have strengths. The FSX clients leaves a lot to be desired when viewing AI traffic and I'm not sure how to fix that. When it comes to scenery, if your PC can handle the load, then something like activesky for weather and Rex for textures. latinVFR makes a great KSNA too.

Overall, if I could pick one thing to improve it would be the airport approach and departure scenery. In X-Plane by default you can't to the visual approach to the 19s because there's no Stratosphere. So think about the flying you'll do and find improved packages for those airport areas.

Hope this helps....
Steve Kirks (sKirks on Twitch)
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Nelson L.
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by Nelson L. »

While I'm by no means proficient with ESP, based off online forums and tweaking videos (I can't fathom why I would watch FSX tweaking videos in my free time when I'm exclusively XP... the things we humans do), there are numerous memory, video, etc... tweaks that should be made to the FSX config files. I would suggest doing those first (AVSIM and youtube are fantastic resources) and then getting detailed airport scenery for places like SNA (as mentioned above). Steve basically nailed down the essentials of the inferior platform (joking* :) ) - ActiveSkyNext, Rex, Orbx (or MegaScenery I guess?), and a good aircraft (i.e. A2A), although I'll assume you're fine in the aircraft department.

*Maybe only a little!!!
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stevekirks
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by stevekirks »

Nelson L. wrote:While I'm by no means proficient with ESP, based off online forums and tweaking videos (I can't fathom why I would watch FSX tweaking videos in my free time when I'm exclusively XP... the things we humans do), there are numerous memory, video, etc... tweaks that should be made to the FSX config files. I would suggest doing those first (AVSIM and youtube are fantastic resources) and then getting detailed airport scenery for places like SNA (as mentioned above). Steve basically nailed down the essentials of the inferior platform (joking* :) ) - ActiveSkyNext, Rex, Orbx (or MegaScenery I guess?), and a good aircraft (i.e. A2A), although I'll assume you're fine in the aircraft department.
Nelson--I've got the Steam edition of FSX like the person above and I've found that no tweaking was needed. I can get solid 30FPS on most aircraft with modest scenery settings on an old PC with a small Nvidia GT640 card. Even my PMDG777 will spit out 20FPS on this machine with FSX.

X-Plane will also give my 30+ FPS but by the time I'm over Ramona on the way to John Wayne, it will drop. Again, modest settings and mostly due to my video card.

Overall, the biggest annoyances for scenery for me have been the autogen buildings in FSX in the approach path are not realistic and sometimes the lighting is bad. When I want some fun night flying, X-Plane is the only way to go.
Steve Kirks (sKirks on Twitch)
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Nelson L.
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by Nelson L. »

Ah, I'm not familiar with the Steam version of FSX, especially with P3D evolving as it is. On the topic of FPS, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding FSX being limited to 32-bit and being quite "old" is really only using your CPU and your RAM? At least for the original FSX, the GPU was really just sitting there - although I think I read somewhere that the Steam version utilized the GPU more.

On the topic of night flying in XP - if you own the 732, take it out for a spin at night, turn on the night lamp overhead (the one that swivels), turn off the overhead dome lights, and adjust the angle of the overhead lamp to shine on the "glareshield" (not sure if that's what it's actually called). Turning the dome light off gives a "darker" feel to the plane, while the partly illuminated glareshield gives you perception on landing and approach.
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bbuckley
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Re: What scenery do I need and other mods to get started?

Post by bbuckley »

Thanks for the inputs guys. I think I'm going to go with the MegaScenery UltraRes LAX / SAN TAC areas in addition to the HiRes SoCal region and then install a good airport package for KSNA (either LVFR or an ORBX pkg if they make one for KSNA) to get the photorealism at 1,000' and up and the better 3D modeling low, at and around the airport.

Does ASN add much functionality or performance for wx over FSRealWx Steve mentioned originally?
Commercial / Instrument / KMLB
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