FSX keyboard controls on X-plane. Will it work?

[Keith Smith]

FSX was written in 2007. X-Plane 10 is considerably newer and requires more horsepower, particularly video. XP9 might be a better comparison.

If you're happy with FSX, though, that's what I would keep on using. If you eventually upgrade, then check out XP10.

[Steven Winslow]

Don't laugh, but X-Plane 9 is still a very viable flight sim. Lots of custom scenery available and lots of great freeware and payware aircraft. And it's only $39! I still fly on PilotEdge mainly in V9.7. I'm on a Mac and still waiting for the 64-bit plugin for V10.

http://www.x-plane.com/store/desktop/

[AtomicFrawg]

I tried to download the demo, but encountered the downward spiraling download we used to see years ago. The connection would start out strong, but over about 10 minutes would drop down to around 24kb/sec. When the estimated time was 10 hours, I passed<G>. The regional version was only $30, so no harm. It will still be good when I upgrade in the future.

I may play around with it some more. I get 50-70fps with FSX, and I'm using MegaScenery for SoCal.

I don't understand why such a difference between programs. I have a 2.33Ghz Dual Processor CPU with 8Gb of RAM running on Windows 7 64bit Pro. My video card is an Nvidia Quadro FX-3500 with 512Mb of onboard RAM, but X-plane pokes along at 20-30 fps.

The onboard video card is causing the issue. If this is a desktop and have the slot, I would suggest a 750GTX and above. If you look hard enough I believe you can now pick up 680's for a good price. Next is the CPU...........The more I look at the system the more I think this is a laptop.

[Lorenh]

I'm sure the main problem is the video card. I have a new one on the way, a GTX 650 (I think I remember that correctly). The benchmarks for the new card show a speed improvement factor of 20x my current card. Plus it can use Directx 10 and 11. I'll post results here when it arrives.

[Lorenh]

Installed my new GTX680 video card and all is working well. Frame rates in the high 30's to low 40's with good detail. Now I just have to learn how to fly in X-Plane. Time to shop ebay for a joy stick.