FSX is like... a thin glass.

[Pe11e 812]

This will be shortest, but yet the most honest review of FSX.

 

I admit, I can't imagine my free time without FSX, I'm an flight simulation addict, and I found myself wrapped in festival of addons, power of choice, the whole planet of FTX Global + landclass.................. BUT:

 

FSX is like an old car. You love it, you are passionate about it, but it can give you headaches over and over again. It will broke every now and then, you must mantain it, and you MUST avoid potholes on the road like a plague! In our case, potholes are bunch of addons, and system related games (overclocking, alternative drivers, etc).

FSX is fragile like a thin glass! You overclock system memory:

 

 

BANG, FSX crashes! (other apps/games are working fine).

 

 

You added a bunch of favorite addons, planes, textures, etc:

 

 

BANG, FSX crashes!


You keep ATC, flight planning and weather addon opened in the background while flying:

 

 

BAAANG, FSX crashes!

 

 

Your FSX is working flawlessly for months, then on approach:

 

FSX freezes!

 

 

 

 

WHAT? What in the world is wrong now? I didn't tell you recently that I love you, FSX, is that it? You miss some cuddling with bunch of addons? What do you want? Tell me!
Say what? I changed drivers for my Audigy 2? But my other games are woking fine, what do you...? Ok, never mind, I LOVE YOU FSX! Is now everything ok? We can fly now? Fine!


Seriously, after two years of struggling with FSX, somehow all these various precious moments in flying always wins, so I simply can't get off FSX, or delete it for good. I love FSX too much! Our wifes and girlfriends are sometimes broken, and we love them so much! You can't live with them, you can't live without them. Same goes for FSX!

 

In the end, this utterly amazing Enigma song is dedicated to FSX:

Enigma - I Love You, I'll Kill You:

 

http://youtu.be/ZsuUHbjXA7Q

 

 

 

My burden is off my back, so I can continue with my life.

Nothing to see here, move along. :lol:

[JSkorna 137]

FSX hasn't crashed for me in months, even with all those things you named.

[Pe11e 812]

FSX hasn't crashed for me in months, even with all those things you named.

 

Well, then you are telling "I love you FSX" very often! :lol:

On a serious note, my FSX install was running perfectly fine for months (as you said), but then I forgot to mention thing called Love, and FSX turned his back on me...

[mjrhealth 833]

FSX is teh best overclock stress tool out there. If you think your PC is stable after 24 hrs of stress testing, just run FSX, if there is "any" instability it will crash usually within the first hr.;

[g_precentralis 191]

FSX hasn't crashed for me in months, even with all those things you named.

Mine for years. Actually, I think it never crashed in-flight. I'm serious.

 

I guess that's because I'm not in position to push it to the limit due aged hardware.

[Pe11e 812]

FSX is teh best overclock stress tool out there. If you think your PC is stable after 24 hrs of stress testing, just run FSX, if there is "any" instability it will crash usually within the first hr.;

 

I hope you're right, because I reverted memory stepping to default, after few FSX freezes. But why other games are working fine for hours? FSX isn't tolarate at all, to any non-factory hardware settings, despite flawlessly working OS and other games.

[HiFlyer 9,374]

I kind of think when FSX finally crashes its because we loaded it up in ways it was never intended to handle, then kept loading it until it finally broke/breaks. To me, the shocker is not that FSX crashes, its that it puts up with so much crap before it does.

[Pe11e 812]

I kind of think when FSX finally crashes its because we loaded it up in ways it was never intended to handle, then kept loading it until it finally broke/breaks. To me, the shocker is not that FSX crashes, its that it puts up with so much crap before it does.

 

Yes, that is one side of the story. But we all know that 95% of simmers will fly with bunch of addons, well, let's be honest, FSX wouldn't be at this stage of a complete simulator without them.

Other side of the story is, FSX is very very poor at handling with bunch of addons and background programs (ATC/flight planning/weather). Very bad at memory management (memory leaks/dumping), CPU cores handling, and generally managing resources. 32bit application limit is not a big deal when that app is good at memory management, and especially with dumping memory. When you load default C172 on vanilla EDDM for example, it already used 700/800mb of memory! 700/800mb of what data? Default landclass, autogen and scenery is no way close to good looking and detailed to be able to "grab" that amount of memory! There are bunch of other games that have much detailed world (and quite big) and much better visuals, and yet memory usage won't pass 1/1.5gb at any stage, even after hours of playing.

[BeechPapa 32]

 

This is the visual metaphor I like to use for FSX and its addons. If you talked to that guy in the picture though, he might very well say something like "I've haven't broken a plate in years."... 

[mganz121 159]

@ BeechPapa. Brilliant! Can I please use this in the P3d forum?

 

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[HiFlyer 9,374]

 

 

This is the visual metaphor I like to use for FSX and its addons.

 

This is why I feel no attraction at all to even trying P3Dv2, at least for the foreseeable future. If Its going to be as finicky as FSX, then whats the point?

[BeechPapa 32]

@ BeechPapa. Brilliant! Can I please use this in the P3d forum?

 

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

 

Well, looks like P3D users feel our pain as well. No problem, go for it!  :smile:

 

This is why I feel no attraction at all to even trying P3Dv2, at least for the foreseeable future. If Its going to be as finicky as FSX, then whats the point?

 

I'm just scared of P3D because I finally feel like I have FSX at a point I'm happy with (and happier with everyday). I have folders and folders filled with tweaks and fixes. The thought of starting that entire process over with a new sim makes blood rush into my head and then I start to feel like I'm fainting... literally. I just can't handle it yet. 

[mganz121 159]

I think it's fair to say some are indeed having problems - old FSX habits and all that.

 

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[Pe11e 812]

 

This is the visual metaphor I like to use for FSX and its addons. If you talked to that guy in the picture though, he might very well say something like "I've haven't broken a plate in years."... 

 

Yep! This pic is quite a spot on description of FSX with bunch of addons. One tiny wrong move and everything is falling apart.

 

-----------

 

Anyway, I love to imagine, for example, Aerofly FS with all brilliant planes and realism with addons from FSX. Aerofly FS has brilliant visuals, and that comes with a cost - barely reaching 60fps with high settings on my machine (90fps in FSX), so add PMDG NGX, AI planes, payware airports and what not, you'll get 20fps sitting on the runway. And on top of all, God knows how Aerofly FS will perform with bunch of addons. P3D2 is new kid on the block, and it is far from stable even in vanilla state. X-Plane 10 is promising, but addon coverage is dreadful, and in default state it's awful IMHO.

 

So yes, I'm quite disappointed with FSX and its stability with bunch of addons, but frankly who knows how good or bad other simulations would perform. We simply need a sim that must be developed to work flawlessly with addons from the start. But again, addons must be developed properly to ensure a stability in sim. And that is quite hard, with so many variables (different systems and hardware), even thousands of beta testers can't ensure that the product will be completely stable on every system.

 

 

Don't be afraid my beloved FSX, I won't leave you! Well, not yet. :blush:

[David Vega 348]

FSX is teh best overclock stress tool out there. If you think your PC is stable after 24 hrs of stress testing, just run FSX, if there is "any" instability it will crash usually within the first hr.;

 

Interesting statement.  Some years ago one either used an "IBM PC" or an "IBM PC compatible".  I recall that the unofficial way to test how close an IBM PC compatible computer was to an IBM PC was to run Microsoft Flight Simulator 1 or Lotus 123.  No crashes meant good compatibility.  Based on that, guess the PCs we use now aren't that compatible.