I tried the FSX demo, and whilst I like the added detail of the scenery 17 fps is a non-starter so I've decided I'd like to get some more detailed scenery for FS2002.

I'd really like to be able to get the UK in better detail, both in the terrain mesh and photographic textures. Looking around FS Terrain seems to be the cheapest and simplest option and covers Europe and the US, I think I could live without Global if it's the same detail but just for the whole world.

I'm a bit confused as to what FS Scene actually does?

The other option for terrain would be this, expensive, just the UK but looks beautiful.

As for the photographic scenery it seems the option is the Visual flight package or the Just flight packages, neither of which are cheap.

Has anybody used any of these? Or have I missed some, what do you recommend?

A few points which may save you a lot of money but cost you time:

- 17fps is just fine for a civilian flight sim and quite good in FSX terms.

- You can download free terrain meshes from www.simviation.com

- If you get FS2004, you can use TileProxy to get photoreal scenery for free.

Quote from TiJay :

- 17fps is just fine for a civilian flight sim and quite good in FSX terms.

No it isn't, far too slow to fly even a microlight with any degree of satisfaction.

Quote :

- You can download free terrain meshes from www.simviation.com

Wow, I'd never seen the terrain meshes before, only the scenery downloads, looks like I just need to find photographic scenery now

Quote :

- If you get FS2004, you can use TileProxy to get photoreal scenery for free.

Well FS2004 isn't cheap and I'm also worried how big a performance hit it will be after FS2002?

FS2004 is well worth getting, a fair bit better than 2002.

There was a whole list of scenery on a webpage that I used to use when I was a flightsim head, can't find it now, but it listed every bit of scenery by country, and was a really good resource.

Some of the Japanese sceneries you can get are AWESOME though

edit : WOOT I found it > http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004.php

Quote from TiJay :

- 17fps is just fine for a civilian flight sim and quite good in FSX terms.

No it isn't! I'd say 25 is the absolute minimum, in the worst case (landing over a city, with other aircraft in view, and a bit of autogen, possibly in bad weather). That would mean ~60fps in normal VFR conditions at a reasonable altitude in a relatively barren area.

Just my opinion. And I still prefer X-Plane

I like flight sims, but I just suck at flying. Whenever I try to land in FlightGear, I end up smashing the nose into the runway, and flipping over.

Quote from wheel4hummer :

I like flight sims, but I just suck at flying. Whenever I try to land in FlightGear, I end up smashing the nose into the runway, and flipping over.

I used to spend WAAAAAYYYY to much time in FS, not only in FS, but also doing liveries, I even did the liveries that were supplied with a payware product.

Sorta glad I kicked that FS addiction, because it was a solitary "hobby" at the best of times

The FSX demo isn't equipped with the SP1, which is available with the full version.
It brought a TRUELY MASSIVE fps improvement, especcialy to multicore machines.

Quote :

No it isn't!

Yes it is! When you're crusing at 2000ft or above you don't need split second reactions, and when landing you're typically at 160kts max, which is slow and if you're making sudden adjustments to be able to land, you're doing it wrong.

Quote from TiJay :

Yes it is! When you're crusing at 2000ft or above you don't need split second reactions, and when landing you're typically at 160kts max, which is slow and if you're making sudden adjustments to be able to land, you're doing it wrong.

Yes of course one doesn't actually need the framerates to be able to land safely but to have a bit of fun and an all round enjoyable experience flying light aircraft at low level you do.

Got to agree with TiJay on this one.

I'm getting a steady 17 fps and its fine, even with VFR scenery, and it's even good enough for online multiplay (although thats with basic weather/ no road traffic etc)

I'm getting about the same fps on FS9 with all the sliders set to max and loads of add-ons (Flight Environment/Flying Club/Cargo Pilot to name a few of my fav's)

I tend to flit between the two depending on want i want at the time, fantastic scenery/gorgeous cockpits, or "real world" flying with great weather and traffic.

To be honest AJP i would'nt even bother with FS2002 it simply can't compete with the other two. FS2004 can be had for £20 on ebay, not too much is it ?

Alternatively, Flight Gear is an open source flight sim worth having a look at.
And X-Plane is a cracking chunk of software, ($49 USD at the moment, bout £25 yeah ?.) Its the only one with FAA accreditation for training. But, its a 60 Gig program ! and my puter aint big enough or smart enough to play it.

If it's all to much you could always try SimTractor

TBH I never download X Plane because it was just so huge. I tried Flightgear but found I couldn't work out how to setup multiple controllers, so without rudder control it was a waste of time.

I just had FS2002 Pro lying around and put it in and it just worked, that's why I'm using it, then I got more stuck into it again.

What I'm not really certain about is what does FS2004 offer over 2002, I can get over a few planes seeing as I use a handful atm anyway. I have no real interest in (modern) heavies and currently use FS mainly for light and chopper low flying fun with no navigation, though in the future I may like to learn to navigate and do some short hop flights. I have no interest in ATC and other aircraft, I have AI aircraft turned off.

What FS2004 offers is a platform that is still supported by addon developers with little performance difference from FS2002.

If you want to improve your experience with new addons, you'll need 2004. You can also use higher res terrain meshes and ground textures in 2004.

FS2004 won't give you a slight FPS hit and is pretty much worth getting. I can get all the settings to maximum and play with ~30 fps.

^^ What Tijay and Lible said

Try this place for add-ons, the list for FS2004 is tu-wentytrillionb'zillion times bigger than for FS2002.

http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds/main/menuchoo.htm (free registration required)

If your thing is GA flying or stunt flying then check out the freeware Christen Eagle biplane or the PA28r201, both are easily good enough to be payware, then there's all the scenery meshes etc mentioned above.

When i first picked up a copy of FS.....95 i think it was ??, i wasnt bothered about all the extra bells and whistles either, to be honest i just played it for a bit of light relief, nothing too serious. Same happened when i got 98/2002 and at first FS2004, but the more i played 2004 the more i realised the depth of this "game" and how addictive it is. I'm getting to the point where i'm drawing out some plans for building a fullscale cockpit in the spare room (kindov)
Now all the bells and whistles add to the realism and fun, and it would be boring without them. Lets face it, i'm never ever gonna get the chance to fly a real airplane in the real world, but MSFS is the nearest thing i'm gonna get to it, the mind boggles at what FSXI will bring ! (lots of PC upgrades me thinks)

www.avsim.com is another huge download list for FS2002/4/X.

AFAIK, there are 3 types of "scenery".

Mesh - This is the, er, ground surface elevation level for lack of better explaination without looking it up. I'm tired and on lunch at work... Better mesh will give better elevation changes to your ground surface, mountains, etc.

Terrain textures - this would be how the terrain looks (just like the textures in LFS). Some good free ones to search for would be "Silver wings" and "Birdseyeview". Birdseyeview was a payware that was released as freeware. The freeware release could have been a limited time, I don't recall. I think I used Silver Wings until I heard of the Birdseyeview released.

Scenery - More detailed specific areas like airports, cities, and objects. The Heathrow scenery download for example, would give more accurate buildings, runway surfaces, AI traffic, etc.

Another site: www.wspilots.com This is where I fly. They have 3 servers - free flight, a world tour, and a monthly rotating tour. Also an addon download section, and a forum full of quite knowledgable folks with FS (4 or 5 of them LFS licensed per my suggestions, I may say ). The 3 servers I believe you can connect to with any of the FS versions 2002, 2004, or X.