FSX Addons

Richard Speir

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FSX Addons
« on: August 15, 2014, 01:19:46 PM »
Hello everyone,

I'm interested in getting some addons for FSX, I've done some basic google searches but I'm skeptical about some of the hits I've got. I've heard that with such a niche market, there's quite a few scams out there. So, I figured I'd come here and ask for your opinions about some trusted sites to get addons. At the moment there is a catch though, I just dropped $300 on hardware, so I'm mostly interested in decent free-ware products, but I will take pay-ware suggestions into consideration for the future.

I'm a computer science student, so programming is something I'm good at (editing sector files is easy, for example). However, I'm mostly involved in software development, I'm not a graphic designer/artist, so when people talk about meshes etc., it's a bit over my head. Any insight into what the addons are actually changing would be appreciated.

A few things I'm interested in/my play style:
  • Weather - Better looking and currency (I.E real world)
  • I fly mostly in Florida - With school taking most of my time, I enjoy short flights from KJAX to KMIA (and back), sometimes with stops in KMCO. Scenery for these airports would be nice, or is there a Florida package out there?
  • Embraer ERJ-145 - Cockpit functionality/ability to start cold and dark. I've seen a video on the Feelthere product, it seems great. If I understand correctly, it comes with the 135/145/145XR. However, at €32.35 (from fsx-download, not sure if it's a good site), I'm only getting 3 new aircraft and it costs more than I paid for FSX (worth it?). I'm really only interested in the 145, is there a decent free-ware alternative?.
  • Anything else you guys suggest - Free-ware or pay-ware.
I'm not asking for anyone to do the grunt work of searching sites with thousands of addons to find what I'm looking for. Like I said, I just need a point in the right direction to sites that you guys trust for this kind of stuff.

Thanks, as always!

-Rich

Matthew Bartels

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FSX Addons
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2014, 01:58:58 PM »
Quote from: Richard Speir
Hello everyone,

I'm interested in getting some addons for FSX, I've done some basic google searches but I'm skeptical about some of the hits I've got. I've heard that with such a niche market, there's quite a few scams out there. So, I figured I'd come here and ask for your opinions about some trusted sites to get addons. At the moment there is a catch though, I just dropped $300 on hardware, so I'm mostly interested in decent free-ware products, but I will take pay-ware suggestions into consideration for the future.

I'm a computer science student, so programming is something I'm good at (editing sector files is easy, for example). However, I'm mostly involved in software development, I'm not a graphic designer/artist, so when people talk about meshes etc., it's a bit over my head. Any insight into what the addons are actually changing would be appreciated.

A few things I'm interested in/my play style:
  • Weather - Better looking and currency (I.E real world)
  • I fly mostly in Florida - With school taking most of my time, I enjoy short flights from KJAX to KMIA (and back), sometimes with stops in KMCO. Scenery for these airports would be nice, or is there a Florida package out there?
  • Embraer ERJ-145 - Cockpit functionality/ability to start cold and dark. I've seen a video on the Feelthere product, it seems great. If I understand correctly, it comes with the 135/145/145XR. However, at €32.35 (from fsx-download, not sure if it's a good site), I'm only getting 3 new aircraft and it costs more than I paid for FSX (worth it?). I'm really only interested in the 145, is there a decent free-ware alternative?.
  • Anything else you guys suggest - Free-ware or pay-ware.
I'm not asking for anyone to do the grunt work of searching sites with thousands of addons to find what I'm looking for. Like I said, I just need a point in the right direction to sites that you guys trust for this kind of stuff.

Thanks, as always!

-Rich

Weather - Active Sky Next
Airplane - Feelthere ERJ is not the greatest out there but it is your only option for that series. It's not awful bit there are better developers out there.
Scenery - MegaScenery Earth Florida complete state. Taxi2Gate KMCO. FlyTampa KMIA.
Other- anything by PMDG, FlightBeam, or FS Dreamteam.

Avoid - anything by blueprint

Ryan Parry

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« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2014, 03:18:22 PM »
What Matt said, but for weather you can't go wrong with Opus. If you're into realistic flight planning then check out PFPX.

Matthew Bartels

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« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2014, 04:58:40 AM »
Quote from: Ryan Parry
What Matt said, but for weather you can't go wrong with Opus. If you're into realistic flight planning then check out PFPX.

Opus is great and it is what I use with REX textures, but will move to ASN soon because it does what opus can and more.

As far as the cost of addons, welcome to the wonderful world of them. The FSX base program you will find is the cheapest thing in your library