Flight Simulator Guide / Guides / FSX Review

Introduction

Since Microsoft released Flight Simulator 2004: A century of flight (a.k.a. FS9), a large group of people joined the flight simulator community. Perhaps because there are many add-ons available, both payware and freeware. Flight Simulator X (a.k.a. FS10) is the new version of this successful franchise. Because it has been 3 years since the release of FS2004, one would expect a significant improvement of various aspects of flight simulator. There are indeed major improvements, but other features are still exactly the same. Read on...

First, note that this review is based on FSX Deluxe version, because the Standard version lacks 6 aircraft, 5 high-detail airports, 10 high-detail cities, 20 missions, the Glass panel (G1000) cockpit and the tower controller mode in the multiplayer mode. In addition to that, the Deluxe version was sold many times more than the standard version. The screenshots provided are captured in a 1280x720 resolution, with the quality settings medium high to ultra high. Click on the screenshots to see the images at full size.

System Requirements

The fact that FSX is available on 2 DVDs versus the 4 CDs for FS2004 is a bad sign for your budget. You can expect that you have to save money for new hardware. In fact, if you really want to see all the new scenery and other eyecandy improvements and still keep your framerate within acceptable levels, you should get yourself the fastest PC currently available. If you can keep your framerate between 20 and 25 fps in FS2004 with the detail sliders at 100%, you need to set the detail sliders to medium low in FSX to keep your framerate acceptable.

NOTE: Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX. There has been a new release of DirectX 9.0c on October 10, 2006. It might increase your framerate a bit. Use Windows Update or go to https://www.microsoft.com/directx/

Official minimum system requirements:

* Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
* Processor: 1.0 Ghz
* RAM: Windows XP SP2 - 256MB, Windows Vista – 512MB
* Hard Drive: 14GB
* Video Card: 32MB DirectX 9 compatible
* Other: DX9 hardware compatibility and audio board with speakers and/or headphones
* Online/Multiplayer Requirements: 56.6 kbps or better for online play

FSG Recommended system specs (CPU, RAM, videocard and Internet connection):

* Processor: 3.4 - 3.8 Ghz
* RAM: 2 Gb or more
* Video Card: 256 - 512 Mb or more
* Online/Multiplayer Requirements: DSL/LAN Broadband connection


Default aircraft

The latest edition of Microsoft's Flight Simulator contains 20 (24 if you count the Garmin G1000 gps panel versions for the Beech Baron 58, Cessna Skyhawk 172SP and Mooney Bravo, plus Maule M7 260C Ski version) different types of aircraft, of which eight are new. The new aircraft introduced in FSX are: AirCreation SL450 Ultralight, DG 808S 18 Meter Sailplane, deHavilland DHC-2 Beaver, Grumman G-21A Goose, Maule M7-260C Super Rocket, Bombardier CRJ-700, Boeing 737-800 and the Airbus A321.

The new aircraft replace the Boeing 777-300, Boeing 737-400, Cessna Skylane 182S, Cessna Caravan C208 Amphibian, Schweizer SGS 2-32, Wright Flyer, Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny", Vickers F.B.27A Vimy, Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis", Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor, Lockheed Vega and deHavilland DH-88 "Comet". The majority of the vintage aircraft featured in FS2004 are left out, but the good old DC3 is still there. Not many people will miss the Boeing 777-300, the freeware and payware alternatives are a lot better. The other modern aircraft are more or less replaced by the new ones. However, if you really want to fly the FS2004 aircraft not included in FSX and you still have FS2004 installed, don't worry because you can copy them over to FSX and fly them in the new sim.

Microsoft did a great job with the development of the new aircraft, especially the general aviation aircraft. More detailed interior and exterior, better looking paints, more cockpit systems and better sounds. The ones that were already featured in FS2004 have all been more or less updated. Like in FS2004, all paints are fictional, except the Extra 300S in Red Bull colors. The AirCreation SL450 Ultralight is a nice addition to the default aircraft hangar. The model is very detailed and the slow speed makes it ideal to check out scenery. The Schweizer SGS 2-32 sailplane has been replaced by the DG 808S 18 Meter Sailplane which is also very detailed. Now you can call for a towplane that will get you in the air (hold CTRL and SHIFT and press Y). If you like to take off and land on the water, you'll be happy to get your hands on FSX. One floatplane, the de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, and one amphibian, the Grumman G-21A Goose, have been added to the default hangar. Both aircraft are very detailed and especially the Goose comes with a very realistic sound package. And then the Maule M7-260C Super Rocket: also very detailed, and you can even land on snow with the ski version.

The Boeing 737 was already included in FS2004, but has now been upgraded to a Next Generation version: 737-800. That means a modern glass cockpit with displays instead of classic gauges. In addtion, the -800 version has a slighty larger fuselage. The FSX Boeing 737-800 is only in one version, with winglets and eyebrowns. In direct competition with the Boeing 737-800, we find another new jet in FSX: The Airbus A321 - the largest in the A320 family. And finally, a regional jet airliner, the Bombardier CRJ-700, also known as the Canadair CL-600 Regional Jet CRJ-700.

Like in FS2004, the flightdynamics of the jets are not very realistic. Although I wouldn't call it easy flight-dynamics, the climb performance is still too extreme and it's still possible to land them fully loaded with fuel with realism settings on high. On the other hand, the flight dynamics of the helicopters have been improved. While it was extremely diffecult to land a Bell Jetranger with FS2004, or even keep it in the air, the FSX Jetranger is very stable and doesn't require too much skill to fly. The Robinson R22 Beta 2 was the easy one in FS2004, and still is in FSX. Of course, helicopters are the most difficult sort of aircraft to fly, not just in flight simulator games but also in the real world.

Below, you will find a list of screenshots of both new aircraft and aircraft already included in FS2004. Click on the thumbnails for the full-size screenshots.

New Aircraft in FSX

de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver	Grumman G-21A Goose	AirCreation SL450 Ultralight	DG 808S 18 Meter Sailplane

Maule M7-260C	Airbus A321	Boeing 737-800	Bombardier CRJ-700

Survivors from FS2004

Cessna C176 Skyhawk SP	Cessna 208B Grand Caravan	Beech Baron 58	Beechcraft King Air 350

Mooney Bravo	Piper J3 Cub	Extra 300S	Douglas DC�3

Bombardier Learjet 45	Boeing 747-400	Robinson R22 Beta 2	Bell 206B JetRanger III

Improvements

As said, many aspects of Flight Simulator have been improved. For one, the view modes are much better now. With a right-mouseclick you can switch between various different views, depending on the aircraft you're flying. 2D cockpit, virtual cockpit, wingview (!), many different tower views, topdown view, etc. You can even select a runway to view, in case you are not familiar with a particular large airport. The virtual cockpit and wingview modes are even moving along with aircraft movements caused by moving the stick, adding or retracting flaps, extending the landing gear, etc. When you get into turbulent weather in the virtual cockpit mode, the moving and shaking of the cockpit really adds a lot realism to the game. Even better is the fact that this feature is hardcoded in the virtual cockpit mode, that means that the effect works for all addon aircraft, even the old FS2004 default aircraft (if you copy them from FS2004 to FSX). On the other hand, it can be annoying too, because it can make your flight displays or gauges with important altitude and speed information move out of the screen. In that case, you can of course switch to the 2D cockpit mode or dock a seperate window with the gauges you need.

By the way, there is now an alternative for people without a joystick. In the view modes menu, you can enable the mouse yoke so you can control the aircraft with your mouse. Not a very realistic way to control an aircraft, but it's still a lot better than the horrible keyboard. Another new feature: You can now look around by using the mouse (hold the spacebar and move your mouse).

Well, being happy about the new view modes, I spent an hour looking for a way to change the tower view position - without succes. It's a shame to lose a simple feature like this! A lot of flight simmers like to replay their landing or takeoff in the towerview, which is the spotter viewpoint. You can now choose between the nearest tower or other towers in the area, but there's no way to set the position yourself. Perhaps it will be corrected in the near future, or maybe someone will develop a small freeware module to edit the tower view position.

The sound effects have also improved. In FSX, the engine sound depends on the angle at which you view the aircraft in the outside view modes. This works for the AI traffic too. All AI aircraft have their own AI sound folder now, so you can add sound to AI aircrafts independently from eachother.

Visual aircraft effects are much better than in FS2004. Every aircraft shows a vortex effect depending on the speed and angle. Touchdown smoke, snow, dirt and water landing effects are more realistic now. For example, landing on a wet runway will now show a (small) waterspray and snow is blown away as you move the throttle forward. Fire and smoke from an engine on fire is visible too! If your videocard is not too outdated, you'll even see moving wings on some of the default aircraft.

One of the biggest improvements in FSX is the scenery. Ground and water textures, buildings, roads, mountains, bridges, airports,.. it has all improved. If your videocard is recent enough, you can see the clouds, scenery and your aircraft reflect on the water. Roads are now filled with moving traffic, rivers and the sea with boats. Depending on your location, you'll see many different kind of animals like birds, whales, etc. Airports are filled with vehicles moving around, fuel trucks responding to you when you call for them (hold SHIFT and press F), baggage carts unload your aircraft when you open the cargo doors (hold SHIFT and press 1,2,3 or 4 depending on your aircraft) and a pushback truck moves you backward (hold SHIFT and press P). Note that it all depends on your location. For example, small airports don't have fuel trucks and other vehicles, birds are usually seen at shipyards.

The scenery system has been completely redesigned. Now you can fly through buildings if they're open on both sides! It's also possible to land on bridges, but not on all of them. It seems that autogen bridges are not landable, but others like the Golden Gate Bridge feels just like a runway. Helicopters can be landed on most airport buildings and non-autogen hise rise buildings usually located in big cities.

There are now over 10,000 stars in their correct locations, which is nice, because you can now move out of earth's atmosphere. While FS2004 was limited to a max. altitude of 99999 feet (aprox. 30 km / 18.9 miles), FSX will allow you to go to space: 100000000 feet (approx. 30480 km / 18939 miles). Since the average commercial jet can only cruise on approx. 41000 feet max. you'll need to use the slew mode if you want to see how the earth looks from space in FSX. Although this improvement seems meaningless because none of the aircraft in FSX can get to such an altitude, it does open possibilities for third-party developers to create spaceshuttles, sattelites, space stations, etc.

Besides the new land and sea traffic, the good old AI system is still there. This aspect of flight simulator seems to be unchanged, as well as the ATC. A new fancy window is now used in FSX for ATC communications, but it works exactly the same way as it did in FS2004. AI aircrafts are still behaving like idiots, they sometimes approach too close together, resulting in many go-arounds, disappear if they have to wait too long and are still moving like geese when they taxi.

The aircraft themselves have changed, because like in FS2004, FSX is using the default flyable aircraft for AI traffic, along with 3 AI only (non-flyable) aircraft: Piper Cherokee 180, de Havilland Dash 8-100 and McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing MD-83. It's just the software code that controls them that hasn't been changed. So you'll see the wingflex, new touchdown effects, etc. on AI traffic too. Ground vehicles are also responding to AI traffic. When the AI plane arrives at the gate, jetways (when available) will attach, the cargodoors will open, baggage carts will start unloading and a fuel truck arrives. When the AI plane is due for departure, the jetway will undock and the pushback truck will move the AI plane backward. Interaction with ground vehicles doesn't work well all the time. For example, AI planes stop when ground vehicles block their path on the taxi way, but sometimes it takes too long for the ground vehicle to move on and the AI plane will disappear.

Finally, I am suprised that the crappy replay/flight video function in FS2004 is included in FSX too. When you're used to the advanced recorder module developed by Mr. Neusinger (freeware, available here) in FS2004, the FSX replay feels like you're driving a new car without wheels. Good thing that the recorder module I just mentioned is now compatible with FSX too.


Missions

One of the best things about FSX are the missions. In the DeLuxe version, you can choose from 50 different missions categorized into 4 different skill levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert. If you are new to Flight Simulator, it's best to start with the first 10 beginner missions to learn how FSX works and to practice flying in general. It will start with basics like takeoff and landing in an ultralight and introduce you to helicopers, soaring and jets. The other 10 beginner missions are a bit harder, and add more of a challenge.

While you're in the mission, a voice will tell you what to do and how to do it. Sometimes it's just a commentator, sometimes he or she acts as a co-pilot and handles the ATC communications for you. The commentator voice is a very clear male voice with a US accent. The other voices sometimes have a UK English, Australian or European accent. Besides the voice, you have a mission compass and mission pointer to help you find your way, but you can make them invisible with the <U> key for more realism.

Whether you like small probs, helicopters or large jets, there are enough missions to choose from. Before you start a mission, it's best to read the mission briefing first. In the briefing, you can read information about the mission, what weather conditions to expect and what kind of skill level you need to complete the mission. If you need more detailed information, click on the "Details" tab. Click on the "Maps & Charts" tab to get an idea of the area you'll be flying in or to check approach procedures. Note that FSX will preload the mission while you're in the mission briefing to speed up the loadtime when you click FLY!, which is nice, because you might forget everything you've read in the briefing while you wait. Although the mission briefing is meant to prepare you, the advanced and expert skill level missions are not always what you expect. Engine problems or other surprises may occur.

In the mission selection screen, you can choose to allow changes in the mission. You can try the mission with other aircraft, change the time/season, weather and even use the slew mode. Of course, it is not recommended to try the loopy larry mission with a big jet, nor can you land a jet on an oilrig or carrier! (believe me, I tried) Flying a mission with another aircraft can give you an advantage, so thats why you won't earn any rewards for them. To earn rewards, you have to disable the mission changes. The rewards you've earned are visible in the "Pilot records" section. For every mission you complete, you'll earn one or two rewards. Not only missions are recorded, free flight and multiplayer flying are too. Every landing is recorded, and you'll earn rewards for a specific number of landings.



Multiplayer mode

Another important improvement in FSX is the multiplayer mode. While the FS2004 multiplayer mode was a bit basic, FSX opens a whole new world of interactive flying. You can now be a tower controller with a real world look-a-like radar screen, radio frequency, weather info screen, etc. In addition to that, if you have a headset and broadband connection, you can speak with other aircraft/players like they do in real. Either you use caps-lock to speak on the default frequency or use ground/tower/approach frequencies so you can hand them over to another controller in the session, like real air traffic controllers do. So now you can assign other players to ground, tower, approach or even to other airports in the area.

On the radar screen, you can see the position of any aircraft in your airspace, along with transponder information such as callsign, altitude, speed and heading. You can even simulate real-world procedures for ILS and visual approaches by using the compas in the radar screen and using your headset to give heading, altitude and speed instructions to any aircraft in your airspace. Too bad the compas is not visible anymore at night, because the background is black. In that case, you can use the radar station in the Virtual Cockpit mode instead; the compas is still visible on those displays. Make sure you set the texture quality for the VC-mode on high, otherwise the display is too blurry.

Players can choose to use VFR or IFR at the start of their session. The controller will be able to see their flightplan info in the session info screen if they programmed a flightplan. As a tower controller, you can switch between view modes like you do with an aircraft. In the VC view mode, you're inside the tower and you can look around using your joystick or mouse.

Unfortunately, players can also choose to ignore all ATC communication and just take off, land or intentionally impact another aircraft whenever it suits them. As a host, you cannot kick other players, you have no choice but to let it happen. You even have no way to ban players when the session is already running. I have no idea why, maybe Microsoft forgot to program such a feature or they trust people's best intentions, but it makes being a host and controller very annoying! FSX really needs a patch at some point to correct this flaw.

Another flaw: As a host and controller, you can not prevent being joined by another player who enters the session as a controller. If that player is up to no good, he can just take over your position as a controller and start giving directions to aircrafts, which is very confusing for other players in the sessions and if the 'fake' controller is slightly better with his ATC skills or his headset is louder, the other players just ignore you and will think he is the tower. In my case, it happened a few times while I was testing this feature in FSX. I was doing my work as a controller (apparently not good enough) and then, suddenly, another voice said he was the tower and completely ignored me.

Frustrated by this incident, I looked at the multiplayer pages in the learing center to see if there is a way to prevent this from happening. But it seems that Microsoft's Flight Simulator team finalized FSX in a hurry; the help pages are brief and incomplete. Even more reason for a patch any time soon. At least you can protect your session with a password, so other players can only join if they know the password. Of course, this is only relevant if you have a large group of serious flight simmers in your friends list, otherwise your session will become quite boring.

Another thing that bothered me in the multiplayer mode when I was hosting a session was that there is no way to change the settings (realism, weather, time and season, etc) while the session is running. So you have to prepare the session well before you start it, because the only way to change settings is to end your session, disconnecting you and all the players connected to you from Gamespy. Of course, you can login to Gamespy again and restart your session, but the disconnected players from your previous session might not like it and stay away from your server.

Sharing your aircraft

Besides the tower controller mode, Microsoft introduces another new feature in FSX. Now you can share your aircraft with other players. This means you can join or host a session, choose an aircraft and enable sharing. You can either share your aircraft with anyone willing or protect it by a password in case you want to share the aircraft with someone in your friendlist only. As the joining party, you have limited access to flight controls. You can, however, push buttons, set flaps, gear, trim, etc. If both players have a headset and broadband connection, it's possible to talk to eachother without pressing and holding capslock. None of the other players in the session can hear you until you press and hold capslock. The option to protect your aircraft with a password is no luxury, other players can cause a lot problems with the flaps, gear, trim or mixture handles. So you don't want a stranger to join your aircraft.

Conclusion

Taking everything into account, the improvements, the bugs and extreme system requirements, I have to conclude that FS2004 will probably remain on the harddrives of the majority of the flight simmers for some time. First off, not everyone has the budget to buy the newest hardware. Secondly, people with a lot of payware addons in FS2004 have spent too much money to trash FS2004 already. In addition, FS2004 looks better with addons than FSX, while the framerate is higher. There aren't many addons for FSX yet and many addons for FS2004 are not or not entirely compatible with FSX.

On the left, you can see an image containing 3 screenshots - click on it for a full-sized view. If you compare the FS2004 default scenery with the FSX default scenery, there is significant improvement. However, with addons, FS2004 looks much better.

Nonetheless, if your system is not too old, there is no reason to wait. The missions are really addicting and the multiplayer mode is great! Keep in mind that the minimum system requirements are a little misleading. If you try to fly with FSX on a 1Ghz, 256 Mb RAM, 32 Mb Videocard system, you'll see a slow diashow. Don't try FSX if your specs aren't at least 2-3 Ghz cpu, 512-1024 Mb RAM and a 128 Mb videocard. Still not very good specs, but at least you can fly with the settings at a minimum.

There is a lot of discussion going on at the popular flight sim forums. The majority seems to be disappointed in FSX, primarily due to the performance problems. I personally agree with that, at least partly. Other game developers seem to be able to develop games that have more advanced graphics, but can still run on older systems. I remember the release of Half-Life 2, which had state of the art graphics, but no framerate impact at all. I don't know if it's because of a different software engine that is needed for a flight simulator type of game, or maybe because of lousy programming, but I am sure that Microsoft's FSX will become the new standard for desktop flight simulation anyway. When Windows Vista and DirectX 10 are out and the majority of flight-simmers have upgraded their computers, FSX will make the memory of FS2004 being the best sim in the world fade away...