The A2A Simulations Community

Hi chaps, Lewis suggested I ask for your advice and wisdom. I have been an avid and grateful BoB2 enthusiast for many years. I should like to return the favour by actually buying (ie paying for!) an A2A product. Being an air combat enthusiast FSX never had any interest for me. However I am mightily impressed by the AccuSim Spit videos, and I want an Accu-Sim Spit! I intend to treat the Accusim Spit like my own 2011 private Spit restoration, and I'll time-travel back to 1940 for air combat using Bob2.

I know nothing about FSX, and it's the "getting started with FSX" I need help with. I should say I am running XP/SP3 and latest Dir X 9.0c.

Amazon.UK will sell me the 2006 issue of FSX for XP for a tenner (10 sterling). I understand I can patch that to SP1 & then SP2 with free d/ls, in order to run the WoP Spit & then Accu-Sim.

Or, I can have the Deluxe (2006) version for XP for £18. For another tenner I can also have the Acceleration Expansion Pack which I believe patches "Deluxe" to "Gold".

Or, I can have the Gold version (2008) for the same price, but the Amazon offering is marked "Win 7" and it's not clear if this will run under XP as well. I think "Gold" has extra planes etc. (which may not bother me a lot).

The relevant Amazon page is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fsx&x=0&y=0

So my basic question is, which version should I go for?

And if I can have a 2nd question, are there any recommendations regarding photo-realistic scenery so I can get an extra buzz flying my Accu-Sim Spit over the English Lake District?

Thanks very much

_________________
Intel Core2 E8400 (o/c to 3.9 Ghz), MSI P35Neo2, 2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix, Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic, SB Audigy, Direct X 9.0c, XP SP3, TM Cougar + U2nxt, TM Elite pedals, TrackIR 4 Pro+TIR 5.0b s/ware, Iiyama PLB2409HDS-B 24" monitor.

FSX Gold is the version you will most likely want. It will work on Windows XP. It is just FSX + Acceleration. There is nothing that will keep it from running on Windows XP.

As for photo real scenery, I would recommend VFR Generation 2.0 and the 3D Autogen Trees for the associated package. If you want to populate the area with a nice set of airfields, you will want the UK Airfields for the associated scenery. The entire UK comes in three separate packages, as well as the Autogen and UK Airfields.

In reality, if you owned all three VFR Generation 2.0 packages, all three 3D Autogen Tree packages and all three UK Airfields packages you would cover the entirety of the UK in photo terrain with trees and detailed airports.... which is precisely what I have done. This is rather damn expensive though.

To learn more head to http://www.earthsimulations.com. Please mind they are not the only people who sell UK Airfields and VFR Generation 2.0 scenery.

_________________

I'm running FSX Gold Edition on a Windows XP. Specs below in my sig. Personally I wouldn't bother with anything else. The Gold Edition wasn't much dearer than FSX with Acceleration for me, so it was a no brainer. I've had my fare share of problems with FSX, but that's all due to the very low end hardware really. If your system is a pretty high end one, get the Gold, get the Accusimed Spit, and enjoy the wonders of A2A

_________________
Tony

Intel core i7-2600 3.40GHz, 16GB DDR3-1600 Ram, GT430 1GB Graphics, Windows 7 Premium 64bit, FSX Gold Acceleration. REX 2.0 overdrive, TrackIR 5, Saitek X52Pro, CH Rudder Pedals, Saitek Cyborg X.

CodyValkyrie, Tigerclaw, many thanks for your swift and helpful replies - everything I needed to know to get started. FSX Gold is on order, I'll get that installed, d/l the Accu-Sim Spit and keep my head down while I learn to fly it. I promise not to ask why the fire button doesn't work! And thanks for the recommendation regarding high-res scenery etc which I'll follow up once I'm flying.

Best wishes

Alan

_________________
Intel Core2 E8400 (o/c to 3.9 Ghz), MSI P35Neo2, 2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix, Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic, SB Audigy, Direct X 9.0c, XP SP3, TM Cougar + U2nxt, TM Elite pedals, TrackIR 4 Pro+TIR 5.0b s/ware, Iiyama PLB2409HDS-B 24" monitor.

I just found this on YouTube - Spitfire over the Lake District, using VFR Gen X v3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzEiJ5jcbWc Looks astounding to me, coming from a virtual world without photo-realistic scenery - I can even see the footpath I've walked up to the top of the Langdale Pikes! Looks like it's a must have - but before I plunge into v3 rather than v2, is there anything I should know? CodyValkyrie, will you be upgrading your v2 to v3?

_________________
Intel Core2 E8400 (o/c to 3.9 Ghz), MSI P35Neo2, 2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix, Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic, SB Audigy, Direct X 9.0c, XP SP3, TM Cougar + U2nxt, TM Elite pedals, TrackIR 4 Pro+TIR 5.0b s/ware, Iiyama PLB2409HDS-B 24" monitor.

Bigfish,

Using VFR Gex X Ver 1, 2 or 3 has only one draw back and that is for some reason the landmasses in FSX GPS facility become invisible making map reading impossible through FSX. This problem affects WOP3 Spit only in as much as that when you call up the Map (shift+5) all you see is sea...with all the symbols etc including airfields though, so is no longer any real help to find your position unless you are good at mental arthmetic and can triangulate your position mentally! However, freeware add ons using Google Maps can help navigation - eg 'Plan G', a flight planning tool with a sort of 'GPS'/Map function outside of FSX helps navigation...

Gen X Vol 1 to 3 covers all of England and Wales, Vol 4 covers the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides), Vol 5 covers Orkney and Shetland and have been released, however the other 3 (I think) vols covering the mainland of Scotland are not yet available.

There is a similar VFR Scenery product, 'VFR Real Scenery' (available via Just Flight) where the GPS/Map facility is unimpared but I think the scenery colours are not so good - England and Wales are covered in 4 Vols and Scotland is ignored...

I have both products and think VFR Gen X is better, plus will cover the whole of the British Isles - eventually....including Ireland.

Regs,

Nick

_________________
Regards,

Nick

Forgot to mention that Gen X tends to flatten bridges unless they have been given a 3D 'addon'.

Comparison between Gen X and Real Scenery can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4LVjHlThU

Regs,

Nick

_________________
Regards,

Nick

Hi Nick D and many thanks for your advice. I watched that comparison and I agree the Gen X colours look better - I thought the Lake District renders in a much more interesting and "real" way than the green tones of the other product. And thanks for the warning about map navigation. I suppose I could just use a (paper) map on my knee, which should add to the immersion factor! I've tried this in WWI flying Over Flanders Fields (conversion of MS CSF3) but ground detail wasn't really up to the job. With Gen X and Mark 1 eyeball through my Spit canopy it should surely be possible. I can see the "forking path" effect beginning here - I haven't even installed the AccuSim Spit yet, and already I'm away on a discussion of the pros and cons of scenery. Guess that's what makes it so much fun. BTW I just watched a video of a flight over Gen X central London which was astonishing - London Eye going round etc.

_________________
Intel Core2 E8400 (o/c to 3.9 Ghz), MSI P35Neo2, 2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix, Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic, SB Audigy, Direct X 9.0c, XP SP3, TM Cougar + U2nxt, TM Elite pedals, TrackIR 4 Pro+TIR 5.0b s/ware, Iiyama PLB2409HDS-B 24" monitor.