How big is the install on Mac? The downloaded doesn't say.
unzip and double click the installer
X-Plane 12 Early Access
31–40 of 94 posts
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#32How does X-Plane compare to the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator?
If you are primarily looking out the window, MS wins because they spend a lot of effort making sure to model the entire world in great detail. No shame in that, it's a great way to enjoy a flight sim and MS did an amazing job with it. And in fairness, they really upped their game with the weather engine and flight models as well. It's a fine product.
Otherwise, X-plane 12 is pretty compelling as well and it probably wins in the flight model department in terms of just modeling a lot of weird and niche stuff out of the box. Most people will never notice but it's there to appreciate for those that can appreciate these things.
And with the right scenery, it doesn't look half bad either. E.g. orbx has scenery for both sims and I suspect things look pretty close with that. And there are some nice free add-ons that will get you closer to the MS experience but probably not all the way. E.g. Simheaven.com is getting ready with an xplane-12 release; completely free.
X-plane 12 is a pretty big upgrade if you were using or familiar with x-plane 11:
- volumetric clouds and weather updates
- the rendering is gorgeous in comparison
- lots of refinement in flight models, audio, ATC, weather engine, etc.
- Lots of nice new default planes
- Amazing work on the sound. Seeing a jet take off is one thing. But hearing the rumble is another thing.
Give the free demo a spin. Easiest way to find out if it's worth your money. Works great on recent Macbooks with the M1 processor.
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#33I didn't use a flight sim in 20 years or so. But do they have a library of safety incidents, which you can then replay?
If they don't I'm sure you can add them, X-plane is fairly open I've heard.
I have MSFS 2020, I know of at least one user created 'mission' that puts lets you try and land on the Hudson like Capt Sully
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#34It comes with a 15 minute demo of the Portland area, so can be tried on your system easily. It's also cross platform.
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The experience in VR is much much better in X-Plane. Sadly it doesn't have the amazingly realistic cities and world textures of MSFS but the controls work so much better. Especially X-Plane's "ergonomic yoke" which uses the tilt sensor in the controller instead of having to hold up your hand in thin air. MSFS is far behind this. And why call out VR specifically? Well, VR is in my opinion absolutely groundbreaking in…
First, thanks for the info -- you answered my question, too. :) > VR is in my opinion absolutely groundbreaking in flight simulation. I completely agree. I'm not a pilot nor interested in becoming one. My Dad owned his company and flew a plane for work[0]. He used the 1980s version of Flight Simulator to get licensed for IFR flying. I was impressed with the latest, but if there ever was a use for VR, it's this. You'v…
Have you tried something like a TrackIR? It gives you the ability to do what you describe in a cockpit, as well as using your head to fix your eyes on a point of the horizon/landscape/object during maneuvers. I haven't tried a flight simulator with a VR headset, but TrackIR increases immersion so much that I never felt like I was missing the experience.
Admittedly it can take some tweaking to get the response curves calibrated to what feels natural, and it never feels as natural as simply looking around (but I'd argue putting on a headset comes with ergonomic issues of its own).
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#36I didn't use a flight sim in 20 years or so. But do they have a library of safety incidents, which you can then replay?
I'm also curious about this. I love challenging situations in flight sims and it would be fun to replay real scenarios, or even have a tool where you could just set it to randomly pick one or a couple problems off a list and cause them to manifest at some point in the flight.
I haven't done much simming recently sadly, WarThunder VR support has been broken for over a year and sadly my CPU isn't strong enough for X-Plane 11, but I'll probably be picking up one of the new AMD chips this fall so I'm excited to get back into it.
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s not entirely true. They gameafy some aspects for sure, but that’s just about accessibility. You can run it like a full sim and there are great videos of real Boeing pilots talking about it. Even the old flight sim was so advanced MSFT had contracts with the French military for their mapping tech from the game specifically. This is back in the day now.
Here's a great example of why the flight model is... lacking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GX9lTvKuqU It's perfectly fine for most things, but _really_ bad with things that could actually kill you. Meanwhile, in X-Plane land: https://developer.x-plane.com/2022/02/x-plane-12-flight-mode...
Fans are tribal. Recent reviews shows practically no difference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzokcKkEyuE
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#38I've never used X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator. Can anyone recommend a good $200 (or less) joystick?
It kinda depends on what kind of aircraft you want to fly.
Thrustmaster t16000m is more geared towards military aircrafts.
If you want to fly Airbus, TCA Officer Pack Airbus Edition (which under the hood is the t16000m) is very good and works well with FS2020's Airbus A320 (even better with the free FlyByWire A320 mod)
If you want to fly general aviation aircrafts, the Logitech Yoke is pretty good. The Honeycomb Aviation stuff is much better but cost double your budget.
Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#39Re: X-Plane 12 Early Access
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s not entirely true. They gameafy some aspects for sure, but that’s just about accessibility. You can run it like a full sim and there are great videos of real Boeing pilots talking about it. Even the old flight sim was so advanced MSFT had contracts with the French military for their mapping tech from the game specifically. This is back in the day now.
Here's a great example of why the flight model is... lacking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GX9lTvKuqU It's perfectly fine for most things, but _really_ bad with things that could actually kill you. Meanwhile, in X-Plane land: https://developer.x-plane.com/2022/02/x-plane-12-flight-mode...
There is no comparison to X-Plane land <3