FSX: first thoughts

Earlier this week I got my copy of FSX.

I must say my first impression was of disappointment. Having the low-end PC I have right now, I sure wasn't expecting to be able to get the same quality we have seen in the past few months in screen shots all over the internet. Nevertheless I was expecting to be able to, at least, get the same quality as with FS9. That wasn't the case. To be able to play at a decent frame rate (I usually limit FS to 20FPS and pray for it to maintain around 17-20FPS) I had to make it look almost flat, with very low quality textures... A complete mess.

Chatting with Chris (sorry about all the ranting, buddy) he managed to calm me down a bit and made me understand that FSX is a lot like FS9: you really have to find the "sweet spot". Try different settings, balance all aspects of the graphic options. It's actually a trial-and-error process. My suggestion: lower ALL setting down and start building from there. I'd also like to give you a tip: if I have to choose between higher textures or higher mesh, I usually go with the textures. Good textures (and the FSX ones are really nice) can fool the eye and make the scenery look better, even with lower mesh quality.

Oh yes... I did try the helicopters. But I will leave that for another post.

Keep hovering!!!