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X-Plane11.26 Pretty Impressive

falcon409

falcon409

Moderator
Staff member
I was gifted the latest version of X-Plane and aside from a few early problems with controllers and TrackIR, I'm enjoying it a lot. One very important factor that might keep some replies in context. . .my take on whether or not an FDE is correct for a given airplane is this "If I can take off, fly straight and level, make turns, get to my destination and land, taxi and shut down. . .then the FDE is fine".

As for the rest, I'm only flying the default airplanes right now although I did download a few freeware offerings that I haven't had time to try yet. Setup is somewhat different, the end results are the same but X-Plane just goes about it in a different way. I love eye-candy and a few things that I found to be pretty awesome. . .two-tier major highways (with traffic on both levels) with overhead signs, realistic lighting, traffic that doesn't disappear after a short run and then reappear somewhere down the road. Railway system with functioning trains (cargo haulers and high speed rail). More detailed Cities with better framerates. Ground textures with no blurring that I could see and probably a few other things as well.

I don't plan on leaving FSX or P3D just yet, but I see where P3d is headed and what it could require in the way of eventual upgrades to be able to enjoy the future of the Sim and honestly a lot of the new technology is of little concern to me. . .and that's just a personal opinion. So it appears that I've found a new Sim to explore and enjoy and I never imagined that I would be saying that and the name X-Plane in the same breath, lol.
 
falcon409 said:
I love eye-candy and a few things that I found to be pretty awesome. . .two-tier major highways (with traffic on both levels) with overhead signs, realistic lighting, traffic that doesn't disappear after a short run and then reappear somewhere down the road. Railway system with functioning trains (cargo haulers and high speed rail). More detailed Cities with better framerates. Ground textures with no blurring that I could see and probably a few other things as well.
Click to expand...

I totally agree when I tried the demo. Very impressed with the road/rail traffic. Actually read the road signs and know where you are going! :biggrin-new:

Manfred's C-47 works to by the way of Aeroworx.

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/130227-aeroworx-douglas-c-47/
 
That's good to know Ed, as I was thinking of trying the Demo, just to see how the scenery, etc, worked with regard to frame rates on my system. I may have to give it a shot.
 
Love XP-11 for its scenery, environment and wonderful community support.

have a hard time each session figuring out whether to fire up P3D or XP-11. Both have their good and bad points.

BTW, download the Zebo 737, better than PMDG and freeware.

Bob
 
Thanks for the report! My old and tired Dell XPS is way past it's prime - and wheezes and coughs whenever I run anything remotely challenging on it. I'm about 6 months past where I thought I was going to replace it, but I just can't bring myself to do so as long as it still runs. However, after the new year, I'm thinking it's finally going to be time. As such, I've been weighing the pros and cons of sticking with the known entity derivation of FSX in P3D, vs. switching over to the X-Plane platform. Lately, I've been leaning towards X-Plane. In addition to YouTube reviews, posts like yours are very helpful for individuals in my situation.
 
I'm finding X-Plane 11 very refreshing after years of using FSX and lately P3D. If I had to pick a flight sim to fly without addons; X-Plane 11 would be my first choice by an extremely large margin.

With addons the simulators take on a different persona; with the result that I use FSX the most, X-Plane 11 comes in second and P3Dv4 a distant third.

This is only my personal opinion; everyone should try these three (or one of the alternate sims available) to determine their own preferences. The hardware you have as well as the type of aircraft and scenery you use will dictate how suitable any particular fight sim is to your needs.
 
In a moment of frustration with XP a few months ago, I started FSXSE and it just wasn't the same anymore. Much worse performance (< 30 FPS vs > 40 FPS on the exact same hardware with more eye candy) and everything felt so...static.
I know it's always a can of worms to discuss the flight dynamics in simulators (nothing comes close to reality), but the minor instability and sensitivity to wind in XP compared to FSX really adds to "being there".

The only thing FSX still has going for itself is better AI/ATC interaction.
 
What a great thread!

With the increase in cost of add-ons, it's definitely become a lower bar to buy an entirely new simulator opposed to (sometimes) a single aircraft. I've found that by having multiple simulators, I spend more time flying and less time fidgeting and fussing with making MSFS/P3D happy. Enjoy each for their strengths, and the different interpretations of the physical world (both visual and laws of physics).

On timely note, is that Carenado and X-Plane seem to be a particularly good match (after picking up a couple of aircraft at 50% off, actively on sale). Aside from the Bernt Stolle era, their flight models have always been lacking in MSFS/P3D. MSFS/P3D really required a flight modeler to know what they are doing, while X-Plane's first approximation seems to land much closer to plausible reality.
 
Talking about Carenado...

Carenado planes in XPlane aren't really 100% 'Carenado' planes- the model and textures are ported over but then the systems, sounds, and flight dynamics of the plane is essentially built from the ground up by a small company called Thranda. They are actually a pretty good developer and also port Just Flight's products and make planes independently, most notably the Quest Kodiak which is regarded very well.


Thranda's work on everything besides the textures and model makes Carenado's planes in XPlane far better than their P3D counterparts.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/546425-carenado-in-x-plane/?do=findComment&comment=3937913
 
I'm another running the demo, which conveniently covers my favourite FSX area,, and feeling tempted. Overall the look seems to be reasonably close to Orbx Global, though not "full fat", and with some roads suddenly stopping. Presumably the v3 update will contain improvements. I've downloaded a couple of a/c, and 2D rather than 3D panels seem still to be common. Is that right?

My only major niggles so far are the ATC, as Bjoern mentions above, and the slow view panning speed. Has anyone any thoughts on these issues?
 
dhasdell said:
. . . . . .Presumably the v3 update will contain improvements. I've downloaded a couple of a/c, and 2D rather than 3D panels seem still to be common. Is that right?
Click to expand...
Not that I've noticed. I've downloaded 2 freeware airplanes and both have excellent VC's. I've also flown several of their base airplanes and again. . .all had very nice VC's.

dhasdell said:
My only major niggles so far are the ATC, as Bjoern mentions above, and the slow view panning speed. Has anyone any thoughts on these issues?
Click to expand...
I never thought I would say this, but I would rather have the very lacking FSX ATC than whatever it is X-Plane calls ATC. . .very cumbersome to say the least. As far as panning speed, I have TrackIR so I can't comment.
 
I got X-plane cheap in a sale and I find that there's a lot to like about it, particularly the scenery as it is out of the box. I do find the exaggerated effect of wind in a light aircraft on take-off very off-putting though! Maybe that's due to a setting that I don't know about though.
 
I have to agree with the OrbX PNW comparison that was made a few lines above.
XPlane 11 demo was a very pleasant surprise in that area, indeed. The default airfields were also quite enjoyable, but that's quite normal, since most of them are actually freeware realizations made by the community, and integrated into the official product.

Also, keep in mind the demo fully accepts addon planes or sceneries. The only limitation of the demo is the time limit, which forces you to restart the sim every 20 minutes or so.

The addon planes, freeware or payware, are the only disappointing part of XPlane for me. The payware side became recently a bit better thanks to the introduction of Carenado in the XPlane world, and Milviz is joining as well. But some areas are emptier than others. While there are a few good GA aircrafts, the military side is quite empty...

In fact, I wish we had XPlane autogen and ground physics coupled with P3D aircraft, all in one sim :)
 
dhasdell said:
My only major niggles so far are the ATC, as Bjoern mentions above, and the slow view panning speed. Has anyone any thoughts on these issues?
Click to expand...

1) Panning: https://forums.x-plane.org/index.ph...w-really-slow/&do=findComment&comment=1098649

2) ATC: http://124thatc.matacchieri.eu/ (Freeware, but does not support AI interaction)



Daube said:
The addon planes, freeware or payware, are the only disappointing part of XPlane for me. The payware side became recently a bit better thanks to the introduction of Carenado in the XPlane world, and Milviz is joining as well. But some areas are emptier than others. While there are a few good GA aircrafts, the military side is quite empty...
Click to expand...

I tend to agree for military aircraft, although Norrin's Jaguar and Mirage III do have potential.

On the civilian side, however, you have quite a few jewels available.
 
In XPlane I mostly use the mouse for panning. Double click with the right mouse button.
It's not as practical as the hat switch, but it does the job reasonably well.
 
I had X-Plane 11 but deleted it recently as I wasn't using it. By default, the scenery looks better than FSX (particularly at night) but the addition of add-ons such as ORBX and Night Environment to FSX more than compensate IMHO. I didn't like the poor ATC and default weather, the lack of seasons, unpredictable AI and odd ground handling. I also found the flight model, which is supposed to be so superior to FSX, was no better than a good FSX add-on from the likes of A2A or RealAir - the slight instability in GA aircraft which many think is more realistic rarely happens in the real world unless it's particularly turbulent.

I suspect that I would have liked XP if I'd had nothing to compare it to but, for me, it just didn't offer enough to make me want to abandon FSX.
 
Tried the demo and hated it. Looked ugly, felt unwieldly. Had roads in places floating off the terrain. Frame rates really not good, way too much work (from what I've read) to make it as user-friendly as FSX or P3D.

Uninstalled and gone for good.

Just my tuppence worth!

Gary (miserable ol' git :) )
 
I tried x-plane a couple of years ago, I think it was version 5.5 or something like that. I loved playing around in the aircraft editor and seeing if my weird creations could fly!

The current version looked great on my first flight with the Cirrus, and had an excellent frame rate:

NQVbQ6w.jpg


But on a later flight with a Beech Baron it looked worse than FsX close to the ground IMHO. Not sure if I want to continue using x-plane or that I will make the switch to P3D.
 
Ferry_vO said:
I tried x-plane a couple of years ago, I think it was version 5.5 or something like that. I loved playing around in the aircraft editor and seeing if my weird creations could fly!

The current version looked great on my first flight with the Cirrus, and had an excellent frame rate:
But on a later flight with a Beech Baron it looked worse than FsX close to the ground IMHO. Not sure if I want to continue using x-plane or that I will make the switch to P3D.
Click to expand...
What I'm finding, after dissecting it for the past few weeks now is that there are things I really like about it, things I'd like to see changed and things that drive me crazy.

I like the attention to detail in the ground level eye-candy (excellent buildings resolutions (HiRise and Residential), and a wide variety of each), Highways that actually look like highways with overhead road signs and highway lighting. Overpasses that actually have traffic on them and traffic that doesn't disappear nearly as often as it does in FSX/P3D. Railroad traffic, which I think is just fun to watch, lol. Also, many highways that, in FSX go sideways through mountainous areas, actually have been leveled by various means so that the traffic looks more realistic.

Many larger airports have been rendered quite nicely and I'm not speaking about the major hubs but smaller Regional airports or local GA Airports. There are certainly many airports that lack any enhancements at all, but I guess that's to be expected.

Of the things I'd like to see changed:
Seasonal changes in the Sim, right now X-Plane is only one season (green, lol). I found that pretty amazing that they had not implemented seasons.
The ability to change aircraft on the fly. Right now, if you change aircraft the Sim gives you two options "cancel" or "Start a new flight", if you choose the latter the Sim reverts back to your original starting point with the new airplane.
Slewing is not an option right now. . .something else I found amazing. At some time or another everyone uses the slew mode but currently the only way to implement that is by downloading a "plug in" (don't even get me started on that subject).
Finally, the 1 texture limit . If you look at the liveries folders for any of the airplanes, you'll find that there is one basic texture for the entire airplane. . .same with scenery objects (my Restaurant for Cherry Ridge had 4) and most, is not all of my custom buildings have at least that many.

Lastly, Things that drive me crazy:
The need to have a "plug in" to do just about anything in the Sim other than take off and land, grrrrr (that's all I'm gonna say about that)
The worst ATC ever.
There's probably more but my minds gone blank for right now (it's a senior moment thingie).
 
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