Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | Thoughts on X-Plane?

DVA11901
Captain, B767-300

Joined on January 05 2014
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
Online Double Century Club
Triple Century Club
Everett 250 Club

"My name is Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot."
Saint Paul, MN

310 legs, 483.5 hours
236 legs, 378.2 hours online
307 legs, 477.0 hours ACARS
1 legs, 1.3 hours event

Posted onPost created on February 21 2014 08:39 ET by Thomas Katsampes

Howdy everyone - Wanted to know if anyone here uses X-Plane and what you think of it compared to FSX. I like the fact that it can run on LINUX, however does it work with ACARs, VATSIM, etc.?

My concern is that I believe FSX is no longer supported by Microsoft. That means no more patches, security updates, and what have you. And, no new releases. :-(

Thoughts? Thanks,

Thomas Katsampes (DVA11901)

DVA7343
Captain, B777-200
OLP

Joined on May 16 2009
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Triple Century Club

"It's not a job but an adventure "
Lugoff, SC USA

368 legs, 798.4 hours
39 legs, 73.8 hours online
358 legs, 777.7 hours ACARS
1 legs, 2.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on February 21 2014 09:27 ET by John Morris

Thomas I have X-Plane and fly it for another VA that uses a different client that works with not just XPlane but MSFS all versions as well. So I will continue to fly X-plane for them since we still don't have the piping set here yet. My thoughts are that even though X-plane has been around for quite a few years they are still no where near as a market base as MSFS has. That might change in the future. I did a research paper 12 years ago that looked at the market share of different companies in particular a company like Microsoft will spend millions of dollars to get customers to purchase one of there products be it MS Office or like MSFS when they released the first version, customer perception at the time was that this product would die a horrible death within a year.

Well moving forward to now... Microsoft has made most likely billions of of the MSFS franchise. And yes I call it a franchise because no other product line at the time this came out did you need more than a keyboard and mouse. With Flight Simulator it is almost required that you have either a joystick or a yoke, throttles and pedals. So now Microsoft wins and so does the maker of the hardware.

John Morris

Captain, B777-200

Posted onPost created on February 21 2014 14:07 ET by Thomas Katsampes

I see... well I guess I'll stick with FSX for now. Thanks for your perspective on that.

Thomas Katsampes (DVA11901)

DVA2887
Senior Captain, A320
OLP, 737-ATP, VFRADV
E-MAIL

Joined on January 30 2006
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Tri-Jet Triumph
US Coastal Club
Millennium Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
US Mountaineer Club
Toulouse 250 Club
Online Eight Century

Charlotte, NC

1,284 legs, 1,794.0 hours
838 legs, 1,045.6 hours online
1,266 legs, 1,772.0 hours ACARS
31 legs, 49.6 hours event
3 legs dispatched, 2.5 hours

Posted onPost created on February 21 2014 14:50 ET by Andrew Vane

Thomas, some of us older folk have invested so much in FS2004 with scenery, add-ons, payware aircraft for example that we will likely just stick with FS2004. That's me included. I have it running smoothly on a not state-of-the-art system. Graphically its great. If it ain't broke....

I do like the visuals of FSX but that would make my payware obsolete and I'd need to invest $500 in a beefier system. I do enjoy the FSX screenies all these teenagers with their supped up computer share. smile

Posted onPost created on February 21 2014 15:48 ET by Thomas Katsampes

Oh yes sure that makes sense... my question was really about moving from FS to X-Plane. I have a pretty good rig, but by no means state of the art. But my question is what happens down the road to all of us MS Flight Sim (pick your version) jockeys when Windows 9 or Windows 10 or whatever comes out and FS simply won't run anymore? For me it would mean I wouldn't be able to fly. Maybe the broader question is does the flight simulation hobby have the commercial support behind it that is needed to ensure the existence of future flight simulator simulator software as good or better than FS 2004 or FS X? We certainly did when Microsoft was actively supporting FSX but now that Microsoft no longer supports Flight Simulator, with new versions of Windows coming out, not to mention squawkbox or FSInn not being actively supported, who will take up the mantle to ensure we stay in the virtual sky?

Thomas Katsampes (DVA11901)

DVA8931
Captain, A330-300
OLP

Joined on August 13 2010
50 State Club
Globetrotter
US Coastal Club
US Mountaineer Club
Events Triple Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Toulouse 500 Club
Online Millennium Club
Million Mile Club
Flying Colonel

Middle East

1,518 legs, 3,070.3 hours
1,376 legs, 2,801.8 hours online
1,430 legs, 2,926.4 hours ACARS
354 legs, 912.5 hours event

Posted onPost created on February 24 2014 03:20 ET by Aaron Dagan

Hi, guys,
That debate attracted me for a very stright-forward and bizar reason when lately I had to uninstall my venerable FSX off my main PC due to few "unfamiliar" errors and notices I got while uploading it. Anyway, I decided that its about time I should refresh my FSX,
which was installed parralel to my old-trustfull FS9 (on a seperate partition). While starting the installation process, I commenced that 2 months un-ended saga that my legal FSX is not willing to be re-installed.
Mind you, if I give shares to which version I used more frequently, I would give it 70-30 infavour to FS9, and here I fully agree with Andrew's views above.
My set-up includes Main desktop with WIN7-64bit Ultimate operated, 8GB ram and a proper NVIDIA Graphics card, with lots of sceneris, most up-to date payware aircraft, weather and navigation aids and more. The FS9 (together with my 2nd PC) take them
all easily most of the time without any comments or unpleasant notifications.
Despite having MS local support team involved for the last 3-4 weeks by now, no solution has been found as yet, not that I feel resented by MS products, but because I cannot take advantage of those products' abilities and qualities. I am flying all my current activities at DVA and others using my FS9 etc. hoping that some day my PC will be forgiving and will accept FSX again... biggrin

P.S.
I have also X-Plane 9 and 10 which I find technically advanced, reliable and MUCH more realistic in the modeilng section than MS
products will ever be....Yes, you have to pay for every additional add-on aircraft or scenery, and the basic operating system and keys are different, but then again, its a matter of one's decision and personal "taste".

Aaron Dagan

Captain, A330-300

Posted onPost created on February 24 2014 21:51 ET by John Morris

Aaron one of the things I like about X-Plane 10 is that it is 64 bit and is so smooth with no jitters like FSX

John Morris

Captain, B777-200

DVA9545
Senior Captain, B777-200
OLP, 737-ATP

Joined on March 03 2011
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Quad-Jet Quartermaster
US Coastal Club
US Mountaineer Club
Million Mile Club
Events Double Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Toulouse 500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Online Twenty Century

"YUPIIIII"
Goiás Brazil

2,495 legs, 5,044.8 hours
2,324 legs, 4,766.4 hours online
2,487 legs, 5,015.2 hours ACARS
271 legs, 683.8 hours event

Posted onPost created on February 24 2014 23:30 ET by Thiago Braga

Interesting Aaron. I`m very looking forward. Does DVA ACARS allow us to use X-Plane?

Thiago Braga (DVA9545)

Posted onPost created on February 25 2014 03:26 ET by Aaron Dagan

Thanks for sharing....FYI - as per available DVA docs, current ACARS versions do not support X-PLANE and are not compatible, only to MS products....maybe someone at DVA will initiate a revision for X-PLANE ?

Aaron Dagan

Captain, A330-300

Posted onPost created on February 25 2014 13:54 ET by Thiago Braga

I hope they`ll do it. I would like to switch over in a future.

Thiago Braga (DVA9545)

For flight simulation purposes only. Not a commercial website. In no way are we affiliated with Delta Air Lines, its affiliates, or any other airline. All logos, images, and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Delta Virtual Airlines is a non-profit entity engaged in providing an avenue for flight simulation enthusiasts.