Let me start by saying I have been on the to make the transition from FSX to X-plane (XP) for a very long time. As I would look at the sales website I would come very close each night to clicking the buy button. Well, I did it and my 80$ nightmare began....
DUNDunDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN....
So, the discs came in and I screamed in geeky glee as I ran to my computer ripping open the DVD drive lovingly sticking disc one in to start the installation. About an hour later everything was installed and I went to start the program for the first time and it crashed to my desktop. I took me 10-15 minutes of reading through the forums at X-plane to finally get the program up and running. Cool! I am about to fly! .... NOPE!
I then spent another 2 hours working through the clunky, bug ridden menu system. Yeah, you can change alot of settings but you will spend hours doing it. So after getting everything put to a baseline just so I could hope in the seat of a 737 I come to find out this plane is not default... WHAT? The 737 is literally the backbone of the commercial aviation industry. No really, IT IS. Ok, I think there will most likely be an addon somewhere to download but its getting late and I want to fly. So I grab the 747 by the horns and prepare to see what a "REAL SIMULATION" is like. I loaded up my 55 gigabytes worth of killer scenery that Austin Meyers (games creator) uses as a selling point... Tampa Intl, no buildings, no traffic, not nothing but runways ONLY. NO TERMINALS! Ok I think to myself did I install it wrong? I ask the forums and was told I have to look to the addon community for that... Great. I get a sour feeling in my stomach at this point and realize I have just been ripped off. I will list below the problems with xp10
PLANES:
1) Missing textures, you see outside where your not suppost too.
2) Some important gauges do not function such as TRIM setting indicator on 747. MOST planes havr similar issues in regards to being not finished.
3) Most planes do not have a real 3d virtual cockpit.
4) Switches and systems are not available that pilots use everyday to conduct safe efficient flight.
5) NO FMC's There is no real flight management computer at all. You must buy that from soemone else or use a crappy freeware version that some random person made.
THE WORLD:
1) Airports have no buildings, traffic, movement... Just runways ONLY. You must spend hours finding addon scenery in a sea of crap. there literally is alot of crap scenery being posted.
2) Clouds, Sunlight.. If its day time it ALWAYS looks overcast. Its very dull. At night is when XP shines.. Just fly at night.
3) No way to conduct VFR flight as there are no landmarks to help identify where you are. All scenery is Auto generated and looks like a bunch of little squares that really do not look "plausible" as Austin says.
4) Turbulence, wind, wind-shear etc is not modeled correctly. your plane feels as though its a marionette with a really hyper kid pulling the strings. It wobbles around un-realistically.
Austin Meyers/Laminar Research has used deceptive advertising to promote this product in my opinion. The people who do "enjoy" it I feel as though they are apart of some cult and know no better. They come to accepting that the developer handed them an extremely expensive unfinished, un-polished product. Laminar Research makes its community finish and fix what they half-ass created. They do this with every version of X-plane.
If you pay attention to the video on the main webpage for X-plane10 you will notice that it is mostly shot at night, and for good reason. You will also notice that the airport looks really good, thats because there are only 2 or 3 that were modeled like this.
If you attempt to go to the forums and say anything negative about X-plane 10 you will be berated and eventually banned. They will silence, remove your posts to keep things looking like everyone is just in love with this thing. My threads were polite, and I spoke about what I directly saw in X-plane 10... I later that night received my ban. After 3 vicious Emails I personally received and 2 moderators threatening to ban me I finally gave them a solid reason. The information on my profile was then made public (without my permission) and I have been further subjected to harassment since then. I am still receiving the random hatemail, but the threats have stopped. All of this over a GAME. Seriously, these people are like Scientologists! ha!
In closing, it is true.. FSX is getting older and older... Lockheed martin has produced from the ashes of FSX a sim called "prepar3d" it was built on the FSX engine. Prepar3d basically took FSX and optimized it and fixed what was wrong with it. I suggest you check it out and see what you think. With prep'd working with all the exsisting addons for FSX (or MOST of them) I think prepped will take the reigns as the next evolution for us flight simmers.
If you have any Questions comments or whatever, feel free to ask. You have been warned. :)
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