Flying MasterChef

Forgot to mention.... I live right between KCVG and KDAY. My local is KHAO and in flight school our school airport was 8B1. :)

I may actually start to fly online with the things I am reading here. ? Greg

Sorry for the double post...found this page after posting this in another area. Guessing this is the correct one so could an admin please delete my other post? Howdy all! I am Greg Swagler. I am a chef, drummer, sound engineer, and VP (Virtual Pilot) as well as many other things people have called me over the years (LOL.) I live in Hamilton, Ohio. I have been using flight sims since waaaay back in 1987 when I was in flight school at Hawthorne College in Antrim, NH. Actually, I was using flight sim games back on my old TI-99 4/A computer and my Amiga in the 80's. I have been using MSFS on a regular basis since FS9. Switched to FSX when it came out and was quite big into the sim community back then. I got into airport design with my Virtual Airlines but never got to finish the 3 I was working on thanks to my being so freaking perfection oriented. I always found something to fix...thus never just completed the full thing. My vision was never realized because I always wanted better, LOL. I did a great deal of online flying with friends but never used VATSIM or any other service. I ran a flight sim design school with a few friends where we taught model design, airport design, etc. I had a pretty decent system but found that the best I could ever get was about 10-15fps on a good day. This was really getting annoying. I was finding less and less enjoyment. I lost 2 hard drives in the same week, one being my flight sim drive with almost 500gigs all flight sim. I was about to rebuild....Then, as happens, life took over. I've been out of the flight sim world for about 7 years. I just found some time to get back in and WOW, all the changes!!! I reinstalled FSX and renewed / updated all my aircraft and scenery licenses and started to renew my collection of planes and scenery...now I have a computer that can almost handle it all... As I was flying around I noticed (I run all sliders full right) I was still only able to get 20-25fps. This is in sparse areas. UGH! While watching videos on how to improve things I found the ADX videos. WOW!!!!! Seeing as how these were using Prepar3D I started doing some research on it. Spent a couple weeks researching all I could on FSX vs Prepar3D. So I got Prepar3D v4 and found that while it really is just a better engine running FSX I was at least now able to get 30-50fps with stock scenery and most of the sliders up to full. That's a start. I was not really impressed at all with the STOCK scenery as it really is just a rehash of the FSX stuff. To me, the textures still suck, land classes suck, night environment suck. The couple local stock airports I flew around suck. I mean, my God, if you are going to keep upgrading a product how about at least TRYING to get major airports right. KCVG (Cincinnati) has had a 3rd runway now for many years. Yet, in a 2018 version of a flight simulator, they don't show it. I mean, the airport itself is so crappy looking (again, this is still stock right out of the box) but at least make the runways correct??!!!???!!! As I was watching vids for Prepar and still looking up information I came across XPlane 11 videos. I had played around with XPlane back in the day...and was NEVER impressed. So I never really even gave it a thought when getting back into things. But, watching the videos from XP11.....I have to say, they have come a LONG way. Years ago I did graphic design for GUI's for various company's software. So GUI, to me, is HUGE!!!!! FSX is not horrid, but then again, maybe it's because I was used to it. I have to say, the GUI in Prepar3D v4 is downright pathetic. Again, it's 2018...how about update the GUI to not look like something from 1988. UGH!!!! Then I see the GUI for XPlane11. OMG!!! This is absolutely gorgeous!!! So very intuitive. It could benefit from some of the information available to change that Prepar3D gives, but the look and feel... And the wow factor starts from the very first screen. Nice full screen shot at night with all the lights. Then, digging in, (and I just saw this on videos...I am tapped out $$ wise so not getting it, yet.) I love the way you set up controllers, select planes, and weather. The airport MAP is a dream!!! Being able to see a terminal with all the gates so you can pick the gate/ramp you want to use. That's perfect!!!! Prepar3D is still stuck on using a list that means absolutely NOTHING to the human brain!!!! I selected 5 gates at KCVG trying to get to a certain terminal and never did find myself at the one I wanted to be at. And I didn't feel like loading up the AFCAD to figure it out. The MAP information and visual setup of weather in XP11 is simply GREAT!!! Prepar is lacking seriously!!! I paid way too much I think!!! However, I made my final choice based on a few things. And boy I wish Prepar3D had curved runways... Since I think maybe 5 runways in the world are NOT curved...XP11 at least figured that out. While they may wreak havoc on AI, and I LOVE my AI, they really do add to realism at many airports....especially smaller ones. I chose to spend my $ on Prepar3D based on what I was seeing in the videos of actually flying around. The night lighting in XP11 is far superior out of the box however, I do own most of the REX software so I can fix that. I have not installed it yet, so my issues may all vanish once I do. I also purchased a ton of the ORBX add-ons. (Pretty much drained my FUN savings account for the year.) So I am committed. I just wish, and really can't understand why they have not, the Prepar3D team would spend an hour fixing the GUI!!!! Hell, hire me...I'll fix it. And since nothing is sacred anymore... they should open up XP11 and do what they did!!!! PICTURES work so much better in the human brain than words. That's a simple scientific fact. (Great video on this if you look...) There are many PRO's that I can see with Prepar3D. But I will be honest....the cons really do irritate me. While some things are always going to be subjectively good or bad.. some things are such simple and easy fixes.. Why not do them. STOP looking like FSX!!!!! In closing, LOOK wise, it really does look like they simply slapped some lipstick on a pig and released it as new. I know there are improvements...but out of the box..I gotta say, I was hoping for a LOT MORE...especially given the number of years, technology, and PRICE!!!!! All that said.. HOWDY ALL!!! ? I really am happy to be here and am looking forward to being a part of this community. It's been said on many forums that ProPar3D really doesn't have a community anywhere...and from what I can see that is true. Maybe one will form here as part of this community. Greg

I agree it would be great for commercial companies to jump in and do some kind of licensing for this. And yes, the as-is models would be really rough on usability, especially if you flew into an area where 25 others were all using commercial (say PMDG) models. BUT, if PMDG and other companies realized that many people are flying online in communities like this, they could release a version of their aircraft created JUST FOR this type of thing. I have no idea on the poly counts of these things, so my numbers are just for comparison reference. Say you have a PMDG model that has full VC, animations, and 20,000 polys. Well, that's great to fly, but I simply want to SEE that model when I am flying with YOU that own it. PMDG could make a basic no frills AI type of model of the same plane with say 3,000 polys. (again, no clue as to how many these things use...just showing a difference comparison for reference.) I could buy a pack of PMDG "AI" models so that when you and I fly together, I see what you are actually in. I would think (and could be very very wrong) that they should be able to take their great planes, strip them down to bare but decent quality models fairly easily. Then sell them for just a few bucks. GREAT way for them to increase their market as people would stock their AI with these models....and at some point may decide they want to go ahead and buy plane XXX to fly themselves. Just my .045 cents!!! - Greg