Best Flight Simulator? (already out or upcoming)

[TareX]

I finally have a decent gaming machine, and would love to invest in a decent flight simulator... Problem is, they all seem to be old for the hardware. FSX is almsost 6 years old, and X-plane 10 despite being less than 2 years old, is not as good as FSX... am I missing a game here?

PS - I didn't skip Microsoft Flight, it's just that every review says it's a downright disgrace to the series...

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Combat:

DCS Series, Rise Of Flight, IL2 (old, but can be modded and is an awesome game still).

Commercial:

FSX with mods.

 

[sze5003]

Fsx looks like crap on highest settings even with some mods it looks fine then.

Take a look at digital combat simulators. They have the a-10c game, blackshark 2, some tank game , and a p51 old style version too.

I have the a10c, and flaming cliffs 2 I am thinking about getting blackshark 2. You will need a good hands on throttle stick and I recommend a track ir too.

 

[Anteaus]

Don't let it's age fool you. For civil flight FSX with addons is still prime time. It was very hard on systems at release and can still tax a system when cranked up. Check out Flight 1 and PMDG. The FSX base game is only the starting point.

X-Plane 10 is pretty good, but it falls short in overall cockpit quality and lack of static scenery once you get out of the demo areas. Some aftermarket developers like PMDG are flirting with XP10, but until it gets serious support it will never beat FSX in the overall experience. XP10 does arguably have better flight fidelity, but I'm not sure how much that matters to most simmers.

MS Flight was a joke

 

[TareX]

Don't let it's age fool you. For civil flight FSX with addons is still prime time. It was very hard on systems at release and can still tax a system when cranked up. Check out Flight 1 and PMDG. The FSX base game is only the starting point.

Yep, found a post the summarized what I'll need to do... but I hope at the end with all those done, it's worth it:

1. All the Ultimate Terrain packages - Europe, USA etc...
2. All the Ground Environment packages namely GEX Europe, Africa and Middle East and USA
3. FTX and ORBX products for any region possible, especially great for Australia (ORBX)
4. Pro-mesh packages especially for Germany and United Kingdom
5. Austria Pro - Nice annotation of the scenery for Austria
6. FSX Global adds a nice dimension to landscape feautures suck as Mountains, Hills etc...
7. REX Essential is a must - great addon for textures (Environment - Dusk, Dawn and many many more...)
8. FS Open Clouds generates the most realistic flying experience and it work great with REX Essential Textures
9. PMDG - Not Negotiable!!! - I have every PMDG aircraft and for realism you cannot go wrong
10. The latest My Traffic addon (2012) - great for AI aircraft, realistic schedules available - By far the best AI traffic program, I've tried them all!!
11. TSS Sounds for all my aircraft be it AI or default FSX aircraft, FSX lacks a realistic AI sound program but TSS seems to be the best (Turbine Sound Studio)
12. GSX - Ground Services X is great if you want to add realsim for loading of cargo and baggage (any aircraft at any airport)
12. FS Passengers X - a must for a realistic passenger simulation - GSX and FSPX work nicely when configurated together
13. 3D Lights Redux - Not negotiable, adds great lights to your aircraft and AI aircraft, needs a little tweaking though especiall with the panel.cfg file

Source: http://forum.simflight.com/topic/71743-best-addons-in-2012/

 

[TareX]

Take a look at digital combat simulators. They have the a-10c game, blackshark 2, some tank game , and a p51 old style version too.

I have the a10c, and flaming cliffs 2 I am thinking about getting blackshark 2. You will need a good hands on throttle stick and I recommend a track ir too.

So which combat sim should I get now, in 2013? They all look decent, with albeit quite dated release dates... I have a super powerful rig if that changes anything... (extra points for a little bit accessibility.. it's been a long time)

 

[BlitzPuppet]

So which combat sim should I get now, in 2013? They all look decent, with albeit quite dated release dates... I have a super powerful rig if that changes anything... (extra points for a little bit accessibility.. it's been a long time)

Up to which path you want to go down. I wouldn't recommend P51 unless you're a diehard P51 fan, they really don't serve any purpose online and they have no opponents to dogfight just yet (FW190s are in development).

KA-50s are easy starter helis, that's what most of us started with.

A-10s are Hard, I haven't taken the time to sit down and learn them yet but I really need to.

Keep in mind the DCS sims are "Study Sims" and are very realistic. If you're looking for more of a hop in and fly I'd look at Flaming Cliffs 3 which is made by the same company.

 

[sze5003]

I enjoy combat Sims more than civ ones. What do you have ready ? A hotas stick at least ? Even if not you can use another stick but you will need to program yourself. I use a saitek x52 pro because I find many profiles for it.

The graphics are pretty darn good. The game release dates do not matter, they have just recently updated the games to version 1.23. Flaming cliffs 3 is their newest game. But it has no interactive training sessions and you will need them.
For those missions I would suggest you pick up A10c warthog as it has some training or black shark 2 because there are trainings available for download.

Both black shark 2 and A10c have fully clickable cockpits. I'm thinking of getting bs 2 just for the interactive trainings so I can ease into it then go on to a10c. I have everything set up for my a10 you just need a lot of time to get into it..a lot. I was off last week and setting up my track ir and saitek profile took a while, getting used to the simulation you need a lot of time.


Even flaming cliffs 3 there is nothing to get you into it. No training other than videos you can watch but once your up in the air it can get confusing but not too bad.

 

[TareX]

Even flaming cliffs 3 there is nothing to get you into it. No training other than videos you can watch but once your up in the air it can get confusing but not too bad.

Is Flaming Cliffs 3 even out yet? What if I get FC2, would that have any tutorials?

 

[sze5003]

Yeah FC 3 is out. Fc 2 does not have trainings either except for videos. There are missions that do have some text in them that talks about small stuff.

I like the a10c because it's got interactive ones and makes you feel more part of the game. Same for BS 2, someone by name of Big foot over at dcs forums created excellent interactive training missions for it.

 

[TareX]

I've seen some FC3 videos... in all of them it was more like a joy ride on a fighter jet. Are there actual missions/campaigns in the game?

 

[sze5003]

Yeah there are campaigns and there is a mission editor plus multiplayer. But it's a sim not a game like hawx so you do need to learn more about each plane's systems and combat computers in order to be effective..each one flies differently and will have different key commands depending on the differences.

 

[shortylickens]

Fsx looks like crap on highest settings even with some mods it looks fine then.

Take a look at digital combat simulators. They have the a-10c game, blackshark 2, some tank game , and a p51 old style version too.

I have the a10c, and flaming cliffs 2 I am thinking about getting blackshark 2. You will need a good hands on throttle stick and I recommend a track ir too.

If graphics are the first thing on your mind then you really dont need a simulator.

 

[sze5003]

Yeah a lot goes into these Sims in terms of realism that there isn't much room on hardware for graphics like crysis 3. I think the dcs sims look great. It's getting in to them that is a problem. Only hard core sim pilots get them because they removed the training modules except for the a10 game.

Someone integrated their own training in black shark 2 and they are excellent from what I saw. To enjoy these you need the time so for someone who works all day and gets home kinda late it's tough. But once you get the hang of it you grow a whole new appreciation for them.

 

[Craig234]

nm

 

[Rifter]

DCS is by far the most realistic simulator you are going to find, have fun reading the 1000+ page manual though. It took me weeks just to figure out how to drop and program the bombs, I still cant land well i die most of the time but i can take off alright now.

FSX is also good with some mods as mentioned already.

 

[sze5003]

DCS is by far the most realistic simulator you are going to find, have fun reading the 1000+ page manual though. It took me weeks just to figure out how to drop and program the bombs, I still cant land well i die most of the time but i can take off alright now.

FSX is also good with some mods as mentioned already.

I have not seen the manuals in the digital version of the game. But you are right about landing. If I could get that right I would do more time trying to figure out the combat.

 

[shortylickens]

 

[TareX]

Ok, so to sum up, in order to get the best combat sim experience, for a beginner like myself, I need to:

1) Get A10c (or black shark 2?) just for the training
2) Get Flaming Cliffs 3 to fly on missions...etc

Is there anything that lies middle-ground between a simulator and a horribly cheesy game like Hawx?

 

[reallyscrued]

Ok, so to sum up, in order to get the best combat sim experience, for a beginner like myself, I need to:

1) Get A10c (or black shark 2?) just for the training
2) Get Flaming Cliffs 3 to fly on missions...etc

Is there anything that lies middle-ground between a simulator and a horribly cheesy game like Hawx?

I believe something like that would sell boatloads if marketed correctly.

You'd think that's a huge void that game studios are not taking advantage of. When you come across something of that sort...let me know. I'll be all over it.

 

[sze5003]

Ok, so to sum up, in order to get the best combat sim experience, for a beginner like myself, I need to:

1) Get A10c (or black shark 2?) just for the training
2) Get Flaming Cliffs 3 to fly on missions...etc

Is there anything that lies middle-ground between a simulator and a horribly cheesy game like Hawx?

No no no. All those games have missions and campaigns. BS 2 has its own campaign and separate missions, so does A10c. Flaming cliffs 3 does not have interactive training. It does have missions and campaign too.