A little light blog fodder for the holidays
I've been playing Microsoft Flight Simulator for about a decade now, and it's one of those extensions of my love of aviation that simply never gets old. I, of course, have less time to play than I used to, but I always love it just the same.
I'm the kind of simmer that doesn't settle for anything less than a replica befitting a type rating.
So,
when it came time to buy a new computer last January, I had to think
long and hard. I had always been a diehard Windows user, though I'm
drawn to the Mac interface. My only hold out was Flight Simulator. My
beat up old Dell couldn't run Flight Simulator X (FSX), which I had
purchased, installed, then uninstalled ages ago. Flight Simulator 2004
(FS2004) was still running smoothly, so giving up Windows was a
non-starter if FS had to go with it.
But I broke down and got a new iMac (2.8 ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB SDRAM) anyway about a year ago. So what made me give up a Windows based system?
Two words: Boot Camp.
Boot Camp allowed me to install Windows XP using a partitioned hard drive. Problem solved. Though, I was still hesitant I could get any decent performance out of the software. I installed FSX on my Mac and was sorely disappointed. I had opted for a more power from my computer, but FSX was still barely playable.
FS2004 ran quite well on Windows via Boot Camp, but didn't give me the latest version and newest features, yet still gave me my flight simulator fix.
Though, everything changed a few weeks ago after trolling the tubes, I was finding that many people found FSX disappointing and was having performance issues even on the most powerful PC systems. Was it my Mac? Or was it FSX?
The results were surprising. Very intrepid FS tinkerers have come up with many tweaks and fixes. By adjusting the backend configuration settings in the fsx.cfg file and some scaled down textures, I was able to get FSX running like a dream with some of the highest visual settings (autogen max) and smooth performance (30-50 fps). The shot below was taken with the Project Opensky 777-200 over Seattle.
Be careful though, changing these setting may harm your software and you do so at your own risk.
Flight Simulator X for Mac - 100% possible. Happy simming!
I've been playing Microsoft Flight Simulator for about a decade now, and it's one of those extensions of my love of aviation that simply never gets old. I, of course, have less time to play than I used to, but I always love it just the same.
I'm the kind of simmer that doesn't settle for anything less than a replica befitting a type rating.
So,
when it came time to buy a new computer last January, I had to think
long and hard. I had always been a diehard Windows user, though I'm
drawn to the Mac interface. My only hold out was Flight Simulator. My
beat up old Dell couldn't run Flight Simulator X (FSX), which I had
purchased, installed, then uninstalled ages ago. Flight Simulator 2004
(FS2004) was still running smoothly, so giving up Windows was a
non-starter if FS had to go with it. But I broke down and got a new iMac (2.8 ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB SDRAM) anyway about a year ago. So what made me give up a Windows based system?
Two words: Boot Camp.
Boot Camp allowed me to install Windows XP using a partitioned hard drive. Problem solved. Though, I was still hesitant I could get any decent performance out of the software. I installed FSX on my Mac and was sorely disappointed. I had opted for a more power from my computer, but FSX was still barely playable.
FS2004 ran quite well on Windows via Boot Camp, but didn't give me the latest version and newest features, yet still gave me my flight simulator fix.
Though, everything changed a few weeks ago after trolling the tubes, I was finding that many people found FSX disappointing and was having performance issues even on the most powerful PC systems. Was it my Mac? Or was it FSX?
The results were surprising. Very intrepid FS tinkerers have come up with many tweaks and fixes. By adjusting the backend configuration settings in the fsx.cfg file and some scaled down textures, I was able to get FSX running like a dream with some of the highest visual settings (autogen max) and smooth performance (30-50 fps). The shot below was taken with the Project Opensky 777-200 over Seattle.
Be careful though, changing these setting may harm your software and you do so at your own risk.
Flight Simulator X for Mac - 100% possible. Happy simming!
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