X-Plane 11 My Verdict

[Nigel H-J]

I can only really speak for Stansted as I'm an Airfield Ops Ranger there. As I have access to the whole airfield, I notice things on the UK2000 scenery like ground markings etc.
I'd say the layout itself is spot on but it's just the smaller details I notice that 99% of others wouldn't see as being an issue.

I did message the folks at UK2000 offering my assistance in enhancing things with the STN product and they replied saying if they needed anything, they'd be in touch.

Still a good buy, all the same

Thanks for your reply Chris, just wondered whether they may have missed something out on the airports. It is always to my mind a bit sad that those who can offer advice and help through their intimate knowledge are often told that. Such a shame but guess it may be down to just putting in what is necessary and needed at the time.

Regards
Nigel.

[Bjoern]

After having tried HD Mesh for the demo area and some freeware planes, I shoved $59,99 (or around 52€) over the table, mostly as kind of a development support package.


Downloading some of the global scenery at the moment (no transfer speed issues for now).

[Airspeed]

Believe it or not, I've tried the demo version.
Seattle international and the local highways looked very sparse, so I slid the number of objects and reflection intensity partly to the right.
Improved the appearance a bit, but came with a warning that I had exceeded my computer's ability. It was showing about 14fps.
Still no traffic on the roads, so was puzzled by that.
Pension day this week, but I've bought a couple more things for the museum, and I think US$59.99 will pass AU$81.00. Might have to try more demo flights for another fortnight. Not yet convinced anyway, especially as the CH yoke setup seemed to go smoothly, then I had to reverse throttle axis; then when taking off, the throttle was back to front again.

[Charlie Bravo]

Believe it or not, I've tried the demo version.
Seattle international and the local highways looked very sparse, so I slid the number of objects and reflection intensity partly to the right.
Improved the appearance a bit, but came with a warning that I had exceeded my computer's ability. It was showing about 14fps.
Still no traffic on the roads, so was puzzled by that.
Pension day this week, but I've bought a couple more things for the museum, and I think US$59.99 will pass AU$81.00. Might have to try more demo flights for another fortnight. Not yet convinced anyway, especially as the CH yoke setup seemed to go smoothly, then I had to reverse throttle axis; then when taking off, the throttle was back to front again.

What spec PC are you running mate?

[Bjoern]

Had half a flight in the Zibo 737-800 last night. It qualifies as the best freeware airliner I've ever seen in any flight simulator so far.
Granted, most of the groundwork was done by Laminar, but the system and sound enhancements are breathtaking.
Not to mention the immersion of flying through clouds. Wet windscreen, cloud particles that actually convey the impression of movement...oh my!

Also gave HD Mesh a whirl. It's even better than default!
Nicely enough, you don't need the Global Scenery installed to use it, so you may recuperate some hard disk space.

And to put X-Plane's portability into perspective, I accidentially ran it from the backup installation on my external hard drive and got constant "Out of memory" crashes. Other than that, no registry path hiccups or anything. Without those crashes, I probably would never have noticed.

Honestly enough, I haven't been this enthusiastic about a flight sim since Falcon BMS.

[Bjoern]

Believe it or not, I've tried the demo version.
Seattle international and the local highways looked very sparse, so I slid the number of objects and reflection intensity partly to the right.
Improved the appearance a bit, but came with a warning that I had exceeded my computer's ability. It was showing about 14fps.
Still no traffic on the roads, so was puzzled by that.

Try texture size at medium or less, anti-aliasing off or at a low setting like 2x, reflections at minimum and visual effects at medium or less.

[Airspeed]

Thanks for the responses Gents!
My setup:
Windows7 HP
Intel i7 CPU [email protected] 3.19GHz
RAM 6Gb
64bit OS
GE Force GTX560
Game rating for FSX "Excellent 3D Vision mode"
X-Plane is not on the rating list, but is on the list of progs that I can set specifically.
3 Screen grabs of settings follow:



EDIT:
In the flying tutorial, instructor says to use full power and maintain 74Kts. I was taught to climb at 500 fpm to 1500, then level off. Full power at 74Kts. gives a rate of 2000fpm!! Attempts to reduce ROC push the airspeed way over the request.
I think I've sorted the CH yoke quad settings, now I'm trying to get buttons 9 & 10 to do as I asked.
In general, the number of options to do anything is quite staggering.
FPS varied between 20 and 37; but it's presenting so much data that it's a bit overwhelming. I don't really need FPS to 2 decimals, changing 10 times per second.

[Nigel H-J]

Had half a flight in the Zibo 737-800 last night. It qualifies as the best freeware airliner I've ever seen in any flight simulator so far.
Granted, most of the groundwork was done by Laminar, but the system and sound enhancements are breathtaking.
Not to mention the immersion of flying through clouds. Wet windscreen, cloud particles that actually convey the impression of movement...oh my

Brilliant aircraft isn't it Bjoern, It can certainly be classed as a payware product though I have found one obstacle in my way and that is the elevator trim so hoping that you may have the answer. I set 2 switches on my throttle quadrant for elevator trim but they do not work and have to keep trimming with the switch on the control column which is a bit of a bind. Does this happen to you? or have you been able to assign this function to your joystick?

Regards
Nigel.

[Bjoern]

Brilliant aircraft isn't it Bjoern, It can certainly be classed as a payware product though I have found one obstacle in my way and that is the elevator trim so hoping that you may have the answer. I set 2 switches on my throttle quadrant for elevator trim but they do not work and have to keep trimming with the switch on the control column which is a bit of a bind. Does this happen to you? or have you been able to assign this function to your joystick?

Elevator trim works for me but I only have a T16000M (and an XBox 360 pad when on the road with my laptop).


Maybe check for conflicting assignments?
X-Plane also seems to forget controller ordering once in a while, so what's "Key1" today might be "Key4" tomorrow (as has happened with my mouse vs. keyboard).
Inadvertedly reassigned controller profiles might also be a culprit.

[Nigel H-J]

Elevator trim works for me but I only have a T16000M (and an XBox 360 pad when on the road with my laptop).


Maybe check for conflicting assignments?
X-Plane also seems to forget controller ordering once in a while, so what's "Key1" today might be "Key4" tomorrow (as has happened with my mouse vs. keyboard).
Inadvertedly reassigned controller profiles might also be a culprit

Thanks Bjoern, guess I'll have to keep trying and maybe assign it to my hat switch though it is faulty and don't really want to use it for the trim.

Regards
Nigel.