Customer Reviews

X-Plane 9

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I am neither a pilot nor a "gamer" but I used to enjoy MS Flight Simulator, and when I went exclusively to a Mac several years ago my only regret was that I has to leave Flt.Sim. behind. X-Plane 9, which I just discovered, is even better than I remember Flt.Sim.

I bought an inexpensive joystick (Logitech Extreme 3-D Pro, about $35 at Amazon), and then installed X-Plane 9 on my iMac. The installation took about an hour but it went flawlessly. The joystick was recognized by the program, and I was easily able to calibrate it by following the very clear instructions.

I selected the Cessna 172 as my trainer plane and a local airport as my home field (again following the clear instructions). The first flight was not a thing of beauty but I was able to take off, circle the field, and make a safe, albeit shaky, landing.

This is not a toy and some of the "gamers" who complained about the lack of instructions or the problems in controlling their aircraft were probably using jets and/or multi-engine aircraft for their initial flights, and expecting instant gratification.

I have substantial learning to do (and it's a steep curve) but even at this early stage, I can say with confidence that this is a superb and flexible program which is well worth the investment of money and time for anyone who wants to enjoy a true flight simulator on their Mac.

This is a review of X-Plane 9.0 intended for the other reviewers listed here:

You will not find a finer product anywhere on the planet. This is not a GAME. This is a professional flight simulator that takes time and patience to master. If you want to fly around and shoot down other planes, don't buy this product. It is a teaching tool for those of us who are not pilots but wish, desperately, to share in the experience.

X-Plane 9.0 (as all other versions of the sim have been) is a BETA, and that is fantastic. Austin Meyer, the creator of the program, allows users to add their own input as to improvements, criticisms and more. Unlike other extremely unrealistic flight simulators on the market, you are not buying a finished product - you will be given FREE updates for the next 2 or so years. Updating is easy, and it is just like getting a brand new product with every release.

You must love to fly to love X-Plane. If you're looking for kicks, buy something else. It really shocks me how some people have an attention span of, oh, nine minutes or so. Why would you spend this much money on something that you are not willing to invest your time in? And, why are you buying flight simulators if you are looking for a cheap thrill? The very fact is that X-Plane features a genuine physics model, real weather conditions, real air traffic control systems and more. Read a book and learn how to fly. Then, start up X-Plane and you will relish in the fact that it isn't just eye-candy.

I have learned so much about flying by using this program. Don't be intimidated by it. Instead, invest time and energy into learning how to fly terribly complicated aircraft that are modeled PRECISELY after the real-life counterparts.

Avionic systems work when the pilot actually knows how to use them. Imagine that.

X-Plane 9.0 is not to be "played" like a game. It is to be used to learn how to actually operate an airplane. If you are not willing to perform 15 minutes of pre-flight checks before actually hitting the runway, don't bother with it. Of course, that puts you square in the "cheap-thrills gamer" category, leaving the rest of us alone to explore all that the program has to offer.

The support network for X-Plane is also outstanding. Some of the best aircraft designs that I have ever seen are created by people just like you - and for free. What other piece of software allows free updates for years to come, a virtual community of enthusiasts, an immense amount of free aircraft and scenery, and the ability to email the actual creator? If you don't like the way X-Plane operates, you have the ability to change it! Why would anyone want the cookie-cutter Microsoft Flight Simulator? Do they care this much about the community that uses their product?

Make no mistake, this is a real Simulation of flight.
4 hours is a long time for an install, and unneeded. The extra DVD's (disks 2 through 6) contain, as they are labeled, nothing more than the Hi-res imagery for the planet outside of the United States. Installing the first disk is all you need to do to get going, and Northern California is all you get to see if you've downloaded the Demo.

X-Plane is not a "Toy Video Game with Airplanes", it's a true Flight Physics Simulator. It doesn't have fancy looking interface designs, no happy guidance on how to fly. X-Plane is for the people who want a highly realistic simulation of actual aircraft physics. For this reason, many pilots prefer it over the competition's product. It's accurate, it feels like flying a real plane, and it doesn't fudge any numbers for the sake of simplicity.

If you take a design from X-plane, build it in real life, with the correct power engines, correct wing designs, and correct fuselage design, your plane will fly exactly the same in real life. (Cirrus' "The Jet" and the Carter Copter were actually designed using X-plane). If you know how to use autopilot systems in real life, they will all work here. If not, you've got a learning curve to tackle.

Can you load up the game and start flying immediately? Almost. You'll have to program your joystick. Tell the sim what sliders should do what, what buttons should do what. After that, yes, you can "just go". X-Plane isn't going to give you an intro on how to take off, you need to either know how, or figure it out. (Throttle + Flaps = Flight)

You can even design your own aircraft, design your own airports, and update world maps. (I don't actually know how to change the world, but I've made a few aircraft designs in my years, none all that impressive, mind you, but still)

The community website (www.x-plane.org) is full of new designs, (admittedly since V9 is only a month or so old, the pickings are fairly slim), and many v8 designs still work nicely, or so I've heard. This sim is the best value for the money, and the most serious item around. If you've got a motion control platform, you can configure it to move with the sim. You can run multiple copies on a network for multiple screens, multiple aircraft, and instructor stations, if you've got a pile of money to buy it all.

The new high-res graphics are killer nice, and flying over NYC brings my computer to it's knees, but NYC isn't exactly a village now, is it?

If you want a video game, look elsewhere. If you want to know how to fly, you've got but one choice. X-Plane.

-CameronB
Gayla's Husband

As other reviews have mentioned, this definitely isn't a game. I purchased it to practice before beginning flight school. There are some "game"-like features, such as a combat mode, but they comprise a very small portion of the sim. As far as realism, this game seems to encompass just about everything. I will sum up this review by listing a few pros and cons.

Cons:
From ground-level, the ground around you (apart from the runway) seems blurry. This, of course, is because it is to be viewed from a distance, but it would have been nice if they added a transition effect so that you can appreciate the sim's graphical capabilities from any altitude.

The plane-to-earth speed ratio seems slightly out of proportions; after taking off and flying for about three minutes it is possible to look back and still see the runway looming behind you. I don't seem to have much of this problem with the larger planes. Cessna Skyhawks are rather slow, but this seems to be pushing it.

It is possible to land on large bodies of water.

The trees are not solid, so when when I was expecting to crash terribly in my little Cessna, I was unpleasantly surprised.

No air traffic. (You can turn on the combat mode if you can't help yourselves, but then all the planes will come after you. Then again, it is something to see a 747-400 trying to knock a Cessna out of the sky).

Flight dynamics didn't seem as realistic as promised.


Pros:
Amazing, blow-you-away, high-res aerial graphics.

Ultra-realistic flight environments and full-function cockpits (it is possible to fly the planes using only your mouse).

A plethora of performance-tweaking functions, including 16x anti-aliasing.

The water looks SPECTACULAR.

The entire world to fly over, including almost all of the airports in the world.

Great customer service.


So, overall, this is a very solid sim. I haven't encountered any bugs so far, and the game instantly recognized my CH Products Flight Sim Yoke. It runs beautifully on my computer, with super-high frame-rates and resolution. I highly recommend this to anyone wishing to experience the joy of flight from their home.

Here are my system's specs: 2.8 GHz iMac with 2 gigs of RAM and a 512 MB nVidia GeForce 8800GS Graphics Card.

I have been growing up with the Flight SIMs since SoloFlight back in the '80s on a Commodore 64, so I can honestly say, as many would agree that the flights SIMs have come a very, VERY long way. But I must contest those who state that this is the most realistic flight SIM in the world---not that it isn't, but it certainly isn't REAL. I'm sure Austin would agree that there's quite a bit of evolution still in store before this can possibly match the real world. But with that said, I can offer my hopefully un-biased approach to FlightSim X and X-Plane 9.

Graphics - Smoother in X-Plane, and flows better with most video cards, seamless in nature, and quite attractive, especially without having to download add-ons to see tire marks on a runway. Runways, for that matter actually imitate real runways in that they are allowed to have a "grade", or slight slopes. FlightSim X still has flat runways, and limited graphics on them. Weather is also something to be happy with in X-Plane, though, especially the fog, rain, thick clouds, etc. Flying above the clouds is very cool, indeed. Now where the graphics of FlightSim X outdoes the graphics in X-Plane 9 is by way of natural sunlight. X-Plane has a much colder (more blue) cast to it's sunlight, along with low contrast on landscapes which give the appearance that a cloud is always hovering over the area you're flying in or taxi-ing across. Flight Sim X has the opposite effect, where an overcast sky might still allow the ground to look like it's baking in the sun. So, ups and downs, we're not there yet in either SIM, but getting closer.

Controls - X-Plane's got tons of them, which is an improvement (or curse in some people's eyes) over the last few SIMs. I still think there's more to offer down the road, though, but I can deal with what we have now. Joystick detection in X-Plane is not very reliable, but once detected, X-Plane knows you again.

Flight Characteristics - Won't go into the details of how each work, as there's tons of other sites with that info, but I must lean toward FlightSim X as being more realistic in how the planes fly. X-Plane has a unique approach, which many tout as being the best possible, but when an airline pilot tells me that a C-5B Galaxy in X-Plane flies like an empty beer can, I have to agree that X-Plane seems to lack weight or momentum characteristics. I don't know if that's been addressed in the latest version of X-Plane, but all the Heavy Metal and MegaPlanes planes I have installed don't seem to fly like they would in Flight Sim X. In Flight Sim X, all of these attributes are considered, and you can even edit them to make the plane so heavy that it can't even take off. Plus, in X-Plane, if you simply jerk the yoke to the right or left, even the biggest planes react violently, where their real-world counterparts I doubt seriously would do the same. A C-5 is not agile, and because of that, C-5 pilots have procedures they use when taking off or landing in adverse conditions. However, in X-Plane, the B-52 and the C-5 I bought and installed are quite forgiving and don't seem to have much trouble performing some minor aerobatic maneuvers.
One redeeming feature of "blade-technology" is that you're more likely to succeed when trying to execute an Auto-Rotate emergency landing in a helicopter.

Detail - This is where X-Plane rules over Flight Sim X. If you want all your controls (well, for the most part), and the ability to control the environment, you can do more in X-Plane 9. Although, again I still think the sunlight effects need work, the weather, wind-sheer, updrafts, turbulence, etc. are better defined in X-Plane 9. If you fly along too slowly for a landing with a tail wind, and the lift gets low, you'll see the effects of your wing dropping, or something else happening.

Overall - I'm fairly happy with X-Plane 9, bugs aside (yes there are quite a few), and when compared to Flight SIM X I can honestly say Microsoft will have more work to do in their next release, hopefully sometime before 2010. I can't wait! But for now, I will enjoy both X-Plane 9 and Flight Sim X as much as I can.

I am running this game on a PC that cost right around $500 including a video card. 2.7 dual core, 6GB RAM, 1MB 9800GTI. It runs great.

Who is this game for?: This is a flight simulation, not a game. If you enjoy "pretending to be a real pilot" without buying a $500K plane and taking the time and money to get trained and licensed, this software is for you. If you want to jump in, take off, and do aerobatics without reading the manual or understanding anything about airplanes, this software is not for you. (yes, there is a manual online, but you have to either read some tutorials or know how to fly a bit from experience)

Visual: Really pretty when flying. I am getting 80+fps in the air and around 40 sitting at an airport. There is a GREAT free scenery download from the [...] website that adds some rudimentary familiar objects in certain cities (like the Washington monument in DC). While I think the game looks better than FSX over all, low level flight reveals a lack of specific 3D models out of the box (again, like the Washington monument in DC). The free scenery package mentioned before helps, but up close the models are rough to say the least. At low level flight, FSX looks better. At altitude, X-Plane 9.5 looks better.

Sound; Not a lot good to say here for X-Plane. Air Traffic Control in FSX is much more interesting. However, ATC works GREAT in X-Plane for what you need it to do in directing your aircraft. The actual sound of the voices however is robotic.

Controls: X-Plane shines here. While all the options may look intimidating at first, once you dial in your preferences you are set to enjoy the "game" in a customized way. You even get wonderful control over the graphics rendering and can customize it to get the most out of your system.

Tutorials and Missions: Well, they really don't exist in X-Plane. You can, however, set up your own "situations" and have complete control over the entire environment in which you fly and land. It just takes a little imagination.

Learning Curve: No worse than FSX. X-Plane actually makes more sense to me for some reason. However, with any flight sim the learning curve is long. Not only are you learning to fly and NAVIGATE, you are learning the software.

Flight Dynamics: I am not a pilot but I have had some stick time. Unfortunately, I have not flown any of the planes in the boxed version so my opinion here may not be worth much. That being said, planes "feel right" for the most part. Big planes are sluggish, small planes are nimble. Hot planes are tricky, trainer type planes are forgiving. The planes "feel" better than FSX so I would say the flight models are better. On the negative side, the light planes get hammered in moderate winds which is not realistic. Were it realistic to the level portrayed in X-Plane, several small planes would crash on landing every day. I really don't mind the "kite" feel of the small planes on landing as it adds a few degrees of difficulty for enjoyment. And I think there is a switch to turn down the effects, but I have not sought it out.

Instrument Flight: Flying on instruments is pretty realistic in X-Plane. All the tools are there for the learning. Since you can set the frequency of random (or even specific) failures, it is challenging (fun) to get your bearings once your Nav system tanks. All of the radio and navigation frequencies I have used so far have coincided with the real world information I have found on those airports.

Needed Extras: Since updates are free, not a lot is needed. If you are flying local, the supplied maps and navigation information might suffice, but there are several FREE and totally legal sources for maps and navigation on the internet. These are resources geared to real pilots and fit very well for use in X-Plane. If you are flying any lengthy distance, you will need to bookmark and/or print the relevant materials prior to your flight. I just use a laptop on the side to reference the sites I need. You WILL need a joystick or yoke. Rudder pedals would be nice but are not required (especially for joysticks with the twist feature). I play this on a 42" plasma so I will say a good monitor is nice to have.

Add-Ons: There are tons of free aircraft and scenery to be had. Some of the planes are quite fun and some are real quality builds. Like FSX, there are also a lot of third party "pay" planes and scenery to be had for a moderate cost.

I have both FSX and X-Plane and I haven't even installed FSX on the newer computer. For what I desire, X-Plane has it beat hands down. Yes, I wish it had some missions and tutorials, but I have found wonderful substitutes for those online. I want realism and there is more of that in X-Plane than FSX. I just landed at San Francisco in heavy fog and wind and will next be "bush flying" in Alaska. The replay value here is unlimited and will keep you coming back.

In our instant gratification society, a simulation like this is probably a niche product. I was flying shortly after install just to get the feel but after a week I have barely scratched the surface on what I wish to learn about "real" flying. It's not a game, but it will make you hold your breath and white knuckle an approach and landing in a rain storm with high winds at night. You will breath a sigh of relief when your wheels touch down. This sim can get the adrenaline pumping.

Lastly, I am not sure Bill's company will come out with another Flight Simulator any time soon as they appear to have shut down that division. There is NO doubt that X-Plane will be putting out bigger and better sequels and in the interim, they are providing their clients with free updates.

Splitter

X-Plane is a simulator and not a game. It is not "plug-n-play" nor is it very user friendly. I have been flying X-Plane for years and still don't have it all figured out. It is rather detailed-expect to have to take some time to learn how the program works. That said there are many many pilots, aviation companies and people who just fly sims that think it is great.

The dvds from Laminar Research, the X-Plane parent company, support Windows, Mac and Linux. Some licensed or repackaged dvds from other companies may not support all three platforms and some may not have all the scenery disks. Be sure you know what you are buying. You do not have to download all 80G of scenery (or however big it is). You can select what places you want scenery for when installing. If installing the whole thing, expect to spend a few hours, even with a fast machine. A fairly up to date manual to get set up and fly can be found at the official website: [...] under the support heading.

To start out, you need to be sure that any necessary drivers are installed, the manual mentioned above can help with this. Then you will need to manually configure your graphics and Joystick, yoke, mouse or other input devices. The graphics settings can be found in the Settings>Rendering Options menu. Start with low graphics settings and then work up. If the processor(s) are being taxed by graphics set too high, and the flight model is suffering, XPlane always tries to keep the flight model realistic first. Too high graphics settings may cause lots of fog, even on clear days, or worse. Most major changes to graphics only change upon restarting X-Plane. To configure input devices (it will support a dozen or so simultaneously) go to Settings>Joystick & Equipment. You will need to calibrate your hardware and select which axis and slider control what. You will then need to center your Joystick/Yoke & pedals and select the amount of realism, deadspace and such. Then you will need to tell XPlane what you wish buttons to do. After setting your graphics and configuring your control devices you should be able to fly.

Updates and bug fixes can be found under the downloads heading at [....]. A warning about updating: Almost always updating X-Plane does ugly things to the preferences. The preference files can be found in the X-Plane folder under Resources>Preferences. It is best to delete or save them safely somewhere else if updating. Sometimes 3rd-party plugins (found in X-Plane 9>Resources>plugins) that worked before an update will no longer work correctly after an update. You may have to remove them. Be sure to not delete the plugins that installed with X-Plane. If you have room on your harddrive, you may wish to keep your pre-update version of X-Plane until you are sure you like what has been updated. X-Plane is always a work in progress. It is getting better and better, but some of the steps are a little rough.

Generally, unless you are experiencing a problem with something Austin Meyer, the author of X-Plane, is currently working on, he won't be very helpful with bugs and problems. If you chance to find a bug in something he is currently working on, expect a quick reply. He has a small staff which keeps costs low but also limits what he can do by way of product support. So what can be done to troubleshoot problems? The central meeting place of X-Plane users worldwide is [...]. With a little looking around the site and asking questions, bug fixes and solutions to nearly any X-Plane problem can be found.

The default planes that come with X-Plane are an odd group. Some are very nice and others are a bit crude. All were chosen and included to showcase various aspects of the program. At [...] a few thousand planes are available for free. Some of the free planes are very well done while others are half-finished projects or rejects. Download them and try them. Some of the half-finished planes just need a few tweaks in the included Plane-Maker program. A fun and well made plane designed in Plane-Maker that was nearly produced as a real-world plane is the free Evenblade twin turboprop by Sean Tabor. Benedikt Stratmann's free Boeing 737s are also excellent, but a bit daunting if you are not used to the complexity of flying an airliner. There are also links to many websites selling planes at [...]. Many of the payware sites have free planes also. Most of the planes have 2-D cockpits, but more and more are offering 3-D cockpits or both.

X-Plane can be a pretty hard program to set up and use. Get the manual from [...]. Download a few planes and some detailed scenery packages you really like at [....]. Once you get the hang of it, it is a great program.

I started in Flight Simulator version ONE many years ago on green screens if I recall correctly. I have had every single version up to and including FSX. I love FSX and rate it 5 stars. When stupid M$ dumped FS, I was disgusted. When I heard a rumor that M$ was going to change FS to a live interactive gaming model and charge fees or membership to use it, I became double disgusted with that bald headed baboon.

So I decided to try XP version 9. It is also an awesome product and I thoroughly enjoy every flight. Cirrus' "The Jet" is my favorite flight model and I have flown it extensively throughout the U.S. The scenery is not as good as MS but the flight model is much truer to real life. All the complaints I have read about appear to be people not knowing how to correctly load or run the simulator. Since March of 2009, I built myself a powerful pc with lots of ram (12 GB) and 8 processes available. It is an i7-920 overclocked to 3.8. X-Plane runs flawlessly and really does not take up all those resources by far. Bottom line, XP is different and not as clear as to how you get it going out of the box. Tougher learning curve. The new soon to be released version 10 looks extremely exciting. For now, however, I rate it 5 stars with version 9.6. If you have some technology knowledge you cannot go wrong. I also own Saitek pedals and the Logitech extreme 3D pro to enhance my flights. They both work well with both Simulators.

I first heard of X-plane at a class I was taking at Dobbins Air Force base in Georgia called Starbase. We learned how to fly with it. I had so much fun I thought it would be so cool to have it at my house. I bought it with the logitech pro flight stick. It took 4-5 hours to load but it all paid off the next morning when I played it. I am continually hearing myself saying "Wow" or "Holy cow, look at that."and calling my brothers to come look at my new plane or watch me take off from an air craft carier or something else cool. All in all this is the coolest flight simulater on the market and I am looking forward to X-plane 10.

As a student Pilot I find X-Plane to be a great training tool. The breadth of locations and ability to add additional aircraft makes this simulator far superior to MS Flight Simulator. If you are looking for a "game" you may find it too detailed and not interactive enough. If you are looking for a simulator and want to fly into specific airports with specific planes this is a great choice. If you have the skills (and/or patience) you can even build your own plane!