The new blog will primarily be about graphics, GPUs, gaming, architecture, and whatever else strikes me as relevant.

Besides the first obligatory Intro post, I have posted a brief history of DirectX releases.

Hopefully some of you will find it useful.

Indeed, Larrabee has the potential to not only change the face of PC graphics, but ultimately the shape of the PC architecture as well.

This is something that, if I turned it down, I would be muttering into my coffee over for the next 10 years. So I have to go give it a go.

Just to be crystal clear - this is not a statement about Aces, Trains2, FSvNext, or ESP. This is a reflection of the opportunity. So please don't read anything into it other than what it is, that I am transitioning to a great opportunity. I fully expect great things out of Aces over the next several years.

Enjoy FSX in the meantime, and stay tuned to what Aces has planned.

The Flight Sim community is full of talented people, to those few that I got to personally interact with, I really appreciate being part of the community for the 2+ years I was here. Thank you!

And who knows, Larrabee will likely be interested in FS11 so I may get to interact with Aces and all of you all over again. Which would be just great from my perspective.

My last day in Aces is Friday, September 26th.

Good luck and good flying!

Phil

https://walhalla.mine.nu/fsx.php

very useful to bookmark.

https://www.fsdreamteam.com

with a few interesting FSX-only features.

79) Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

https://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=122773

that is a mix of FSX freeware and payware but mostly freeware. These at least these are not labeled FS2004/FSX I could add to the list if I included those.

and that is with a couple of hours or so of looking. and I noticed that the list of Kansas fields has grown since I put this list together, it is hard to keep on top of these. of course, that is a good problem to have.

and I skipped a lot of international scenery and paid attention to NA and Caribbean.

it looks to me like there is plenty of GA airport scenery for FSX available, with searching. for instance OrbX has a huge amount of GA for Australia, there are German and  UK airfields, etc.

so there is a lot out there if you search. you just are not going to find what you looking for by staying on a single site and expecting it to come to you, the Flight Sim community is way too dispersed now.

have fun flying!

https://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2008/06/25/high-detail-feature-list-and-then-some.aspx

SimTours is a great place to know about. Check it out here

https://www.simtours.net/

Not only do they have places with custom objects, they also list places with "anomalies". Great stuff.

Happy flying!

EB Games here ( on 9/30 )

https://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=72573

and Amazon here ( on 9/19 )

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Simulator-X-Gold-PC/dp/B001E95V5K/ref=pd_sxp_f_i/026-3989278-7823637

and Play.com here ( also on 9/19 )

https://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/6460165/Flight-Simulator-X-Gold-Edition/Product.html

Sim-Outhouse already called this out here

https://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=77634

so I am not breaking any news that isnt already broken :-). I'd take the dates with a grain of salt, it could be either of those or just a little later.

Basically this is a bundle of Deluxe+Acceleration, you get both sets of disks and install Deluxe and then Acceleration. Just to remind folks what is what:

Wikipedia lists what is new in FSX here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_X

and I list what is in Acceleration here

https://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2008/06/24/what-is-fsx-acceleration-what-does-it-contain-and-is-it-worth-it.aspx

Gold is convenient and cheaper for those who havent already purchased.

1. Panels for all default FSX aircraft with fewer than 2 engines

2. A total of 24 new fullscreen panels (48 including night versions), ideal for use on a 2nd monitor or PC

3. Three additional standard 2D panels plus a minipanel for the P-51D Racer, which were missing from Acceleration

4. Fix for the "W" key issue

5. Total of 300 new or modified gauges

6. Over 70 bug-fixes and improvements to the default gauges (see the PanelManiaReadMe for more details).

7. Modified version of the GPS which displays the screen only (ideal for use on a small TFT).

8. Very simple installation process

9. All default panels remain accessible after PanelMania is installed

10. Once installed, the PanelMania fullscreen 5:4 panel for each aircraft can be displayed by pressing SHIFT+8, or SHIFT+9 for the 4:3 version. They can then be repositioned to any monitor you like

 This seems like a must-have for 2D Panel fans, check it out here.

And a big thanks to DD for such an amazing piece of work.

There is a discussion of how to use the XSI mod tool here to create models for FSX. XSI Mod is a freeware tool from Softimage, see this page. There is clearly room for someone to take these instructions, deal with the animations issue, and make a plugin to automate this.

3D Canvas

Decapod has been making a plug-in for 3D Canvas, which is $70. You can see his work in progress here.

FSDS

See Abacus' Flight Sim Design Studio (FSDS) which is $50. It supports generating true FSX content. Even though it does not natively support all the advanced FSX rendering features, you can get the freeware FSDSxTweak to enable those in FSDS models. FSDeveloper.com has a wiki page about FSDSxTweak here.

Summary

There, 1 free and 2 reasonably priced tool alternatives to GMax.

Very cool stuff, this proves there is and will be life after GMax.

Note 1:

Thanks to Dave Nunez for pointing out the FSDS information

Ron notes the GA roster is already "FSX only", and explains why the 2 FS9 aircraft on the Corporate Aviation roster will not get the FSX treatment. Which is a totally understandable decision, BTW.

It's great to see clear communication like this, Ron is a straight shooter.