24 replies to this topic

[AnthonyF]

what do you guys think about X-PLANE? just curious

[Navy2]

what I think?  

[AnthonyF]

why you don't like it? ive heard people and ive seen reviews and people are saying its "as real as it gets"

[Captainmk]

It probably has better Dynamics and stuff like that, but I don't like it at all, it doesn't have much potential either. It's like comparing GIMP with Photoshop, FS2004 being the Photoshop.

[Navy2]

AnthonyF, on Apr 1 2007, 04:24 PM, said:

why you don't like it? ive heard people and ive seen reviews and people are saying its "as real as it gets"

Thats MICROSOFTS SLOGAN!

[AnthonyF]

yea and it says you need 60Gigs for "real scenery" or something like that. i downloaded the demo which by the way took literally 13 hours to download, and i tired it and i didn't really like it i had to prorgram my yoke cause ti dosent work automatically and it didn't even work. i was thinking maybe it was just because of the demo but i don't really like it. but i mean the videos ive seen on youtube about X-PLANE is good.

[Chris598]

It's a matter of personal preference, really. FS is better IMO (due to a larger amount of addons= more replay value )

[Mango]

Chris598, on Apr 2 2007, 09:12 AM, said:

It's a matter of personal preference, really.

That's absolutely correct Chris !  

[dolbinau]

captainmk, on Apr 2 2007, 09:29 AM, said:

It probably has better Dynamics and stuff like that, but I don't like it at all, it doesn't have much potential either. It's like comparing GIMP with Photoshop, FS2004 being the Photoshop.

Not really?

--

The only thing that keeps me from using X-plane is the lack of realistic panel systems (Due to I believe there being no panel window pop-ups).

[kewlceo]

Both FS and X-Plane are great in their own right, with FS being as real (looking) as it gets, and X-Plane being as real (feeling) as it gets. Dolbinau's point about panels makes FS stand out as the winner for flying the heavies, whereas the dynamics of X-Plane make it an awesome trainer for those wanting to fly GA in real life. Just my two cents.

[Strato-Cruizer]

How much more realistic can x-PLANE be . I mean i bet you could fiddle with the flight dynamics to make FSX/FS9 just as realistic?

[dolbinau]

Strato-Cruizer, on Apr 3 2007, 07:42 PM, said:

How much more realistic can x-PLANE be . I mean i bet you could fiddle with the flight dynamics to make FSX/FS9 just as realistic?

Well, there's the thing, to create a flight model for an FS9 aircraft you literally edit a bunch of numbers. With X-plane:

Quote

X-Plane goes through the following steps to propagate the flight:

1: Element Break-Down
Done only once during initialization, X-Plane breaks the wing(s), horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer(s), and propeller(s) (if equipped) down into a finite number of elements. The number of elements is decided by the user in Plane-Maker. Ten elements per side per wing or stabilizer is the maximum, and studies have shown that this provides roll rates and accelerations that are very close to the values that would be found with a much larger number of elements.

2: Velocity Determination
This is done twice per cycle. The aircraft linear and angular velocities, along with the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical arms of each element are considered to find the velocity vector of each element. Downwash, propwash, and induced angle of attack from lift-augmentation devices are all considered when finding the velocity vector of each element.
Propwash is found by looking at the area of each propeller disk, and the thrust of each propeller. Using local air density, X-Plane determines the propwash required for momentum to be conserved.
Downwash is found by looking at the aspect ratio, taper ratio, and sweep of the wing, and the horizontal and vertical distance of the "washed surface" (normally the horizontal stabilizer) from the "washing surface" (normally the wing), and then going to an empirical look-up table to get the degrees of downwash generated per coefficient of lift.

3: Coefficient Determination
The airfoil data entered in Part-Maker is 2-dimensional, so X-Plane applies finite wing lift-slope reduction, finite-wing CLmax reduction, finite-wing induced drag, and finite-wing moment reduction appropriate to the aspect ratio, taper ratio, and sweep of the wing, horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer, or propeller blade in question. Compressible flow effects are considered using Prandtl-Glauert, but transonic effects are not simulated other than an empirical mach-divergent drag increase. In supersonic flight, the airfoil is considered to be a diamond shape with the appropriate thickness ratio... pressures behind the shock waves are found on each of the plates in the diamond-shaped airfoil and summed to give the total pressures on the foil element.

4: Force Build-Up
Using the coefficients just determined in step 3, areas determined during step 1, and dynamic pressures (determined separately for each element based on aircraft speed, altitude, temperature, propwash and wing sweep), the forces are found and summed for the entire aircraft. Forces are then divided by the aircraft mass for linear accelerations, and moments of inertia for angular accelerations.

5: Get Back to Work
Go back to step 2 and do the whole thing over again at least 15 times per second. Aren't computers great?

.

[jnb]

PDX_Pilot, on Apr 2 2007, 09:29 AM, said:

Thats MICROSOFTS SLOGAN!

Thank you for clarifying that it's just a slogan.

[4L3X]

I had it once, it was interesting, more of an experimental simulator. But it still depends what you prefer.

[rabbitweasel]

I really don't like X-plane. I only did try the demo though. From my experiences, the visuals weren't that great. I can't really compare the realism to real life but assume it's more realistic from what others say. What really is a turn-off for me is that the X-plane addon community can't even begin to compare to fs. Xplane has some addons but not that many. In fs, the megacity Atlanta scenery covers right where I live. In xplane there is the decent 60GB scenery enhancement but not many others. The xplane community is just too small. Guess we can owe that to M$'s size. Fs vs. xplane is like M$ vs. Apple.

[Flying_Pie]

I think X-plane is just as good as FS, the only issue is I hate the user interface. it's just hard to get around and stuff (for me at least) compared to FS

[bigflyersmallbyer]

X-plane is an FAA approve simulator. But that does not mean FS9/FSX is crap. X-plane has stuff FS9 does not vice versa.

UT EUROPE+GEPRO+ACTIVE SKY+VATSIM+LEVELD/PMDG747 is a realistic approch..

[WF10]

where can you download the demo???

just wondring, thought I'd give it a go...

[dolbinau]

WF07, on Apr 5 2007, 09:24 PM, said:

where can you download the demo???

just wondring, thought I'd give it a go...

http://www.x-plane.com/demo.html

[WF10]

my god, it's taking hours, it says it's ganna take like six hours....

Do ya know what, I can't be bothered, I've cancelled it!!! Bullied to that...

Edited by WF07, 05 April 2007 - 06:57 AM.