Recommended software for Flight Simulator 2004
Monday, 3. July 2006, 15:51:36
Microsoft's best software is Flight Simulator 2004; not Windows, not Internet Explorer (well, one should off his/her rocker to claim this, anyway), not Office!
There are great add-ons for FS2004. They usually are aircrafts, weather engines, flight attendeds, first officer, sceneries and various other cool stuff. Some of them are commercial, and yes people do buy those products. People who bought some of those add-ons can shed light onto your curiosity, put you out of misery so that you press the "Purchase" button with no hesitation. On the other hand, as a software developer, I may analize and understand some piece of software and grade how professional it is.
Here we go with some cool FS2004 add-ons.
PMDG 737 NG
Coolest aircraft ever! I mean, it's so realistic. Although I am knee deep into Airbus A320, PMDG 737 NG is the best aircraft model I fly. I guarantee and I think all PMDG customers guarantee 100% satisfaction! One important point; you may not import your FS2004 flight plans into FMC. But there is a tool for this in http://www.flightsim.no (I just do not remember where was it).
Playability: 5/5
Realism: 5/5
Virtual Cockpit: Yes (+cabin)
Overall: 5/5
Wilco Publishing A320 Pilot in Command
Well, I am disappointed about A320 PIC, because it's not close to real A320. A real A320, for example, in normal law, never stalls. It crashes, but never stalls. This add-on stalls. In a real A320, ELACs do not allow pilot or autopilot to make bank angles greater than 67 degrees. A320 PIC does allow. This add-on requires you to disable joystick from FS2004 Options menu. This should not be required. I still have some throttle problems and it makes me sick and I could not find what's the reason that plane does not accelerate after reaching cruise altitude. There is no 2-D view. Wilco thinks that "this is enhancement" but their 3-D cockpit implementation is not good so you usually delay performing something during climb and landing, in particular, sometimes get sick because the button you press is not actually at the place where it should be (off from the exact location).
Playability: 3/5
Realism: 2/5
Virtual Cockpit: Yes (+cabin)
Overall: 3/5
PSS A340
It looks promising, but I think I couldn't fly it properly
So I cannot grade it, but it seems OK.
FSNavigator
This looks like a cool product. It's a fully fledged flight plan "manager". You can build flight plans and you can command your plane from within FSNavigator, although this may cause trouble at some certain points of the flight, it's alright.
Playability: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Flight-1 Products
I have unfortunately bought FS2Crew for PMDG 737, and I'm disappointed. Because it broke my PMDG. I then managed to run it without PMDG patches (I guess). This product aims to make your simulation experience more realistic by placing dozens of pre and post flight operations. It's, however, overcomplicated. I have uninstalled this product but my PMDG did not come back.
Playability: 1/5
Realism: 5/5 (I guess!)
Lacks proper integration, does not uninstall properly (does not rollback things it has changed) and does not seem like written professionally. This could be seen during installation with dozens of OK, YES, I agree, OK, Next... buttons you need to press. All Flight-1 products are the same - press 25 buttons to install, and forget what you had previously as these products cannot roll them back.
ActiveSky
This is a really cool weather engine and it works perfectly, as far as I can see.
Overall: 5/5
FSPassengers
This is the coolest idea ever. Product, however, is bad. Something happens and FSPassengers seems like unloaded. When I click on something in its menu, it says I moved the aircraft and flight is aborted. I did not move it. I am not the only one who's experiencing this trouble so it turns out to be a big bug! It's, I think, written in Visual Basic, not that professional software but again - the idea is the coolest. Sometimes lacks aircraft load models and causes weird things.
Playability: ?/5 (if you can actually get it working, it's 5)
Has bugs, no fixes, company does not offer money refund. Their software becomes "completely useless" but they do not refund. So, I recommend you not to buy FSPassengers until they fix this problem.
I am not the authority about flight simulation software, but I enjoy using some of these products.
Have a nice flight!
There are great add-ons for FS2004. They usually are aircrafts, weather engines, flight attendeds, first officer, sceneries and various other cool stuff. Some of them are commercial, and yes people do buy those products. People who bought some of those add-ons can shed light onto your curiosity, put you out of misery so that you press the "Purchase" button with no hesitation. On the other hand, as a software developer, I may analize and understand some piece of software and grade how professional it is.
Here we go with some cool FS2004 add-ons.
PMDG 737 NG
Coolest aircraft ever! I mean, it's so realistic. Although I am knee deep into Airbus A320, PMDG 737 NG is the best aircraft model I fly. I guarantee and I think all PMDG customers guarantee 100% satisfaction! One important point; you may not import your FS2004 flight plans into FMC. But there is a tool for this in http://www.flightsim.no (I just do not remember where was it).
Playability: 5/5
Realism: 5/5
Virtual Cockpit: Yes (+cabin)
Overall: 5/5
Wilco Publishing A320 Pilot in Command
Well, I am disappointed about A320 PIC, because it's not close to real A320. A real A320, for example, in normal law, never stalls. It crashes, but never stalls. This add-on stalls. In a real A320, ELACs do not allow pilot or autopilot to make bank angles greater than 67 degrees. A320 PIC does allow. This add-on requires you to disable joystick from FS2004 Options menu. This should not be required. I still have some throttle problems and it makes me sick and I could not find what's the reason that plane does not accelerate after reaching cruise altitude. There is no 2-D view. Wilco thinks that "this is enhancement" but their 3-D cockpit implementation is not good so you usually delay performing something during climb and landing, in particular, sometimes get sick because the button you press is not actually at the place where it should be (off from the exact location).
Playability: 3/5
Realism: 2/5
Virtual Cockpit: Yes (+cabin)
Overall: 3/5
PSS A340
It looks promising, but I think I couldn't fly it properly
So I cannot grade it, but it seems OK.FSNavigator
This looks like a cool product. It's a fully fledged flight plan "manager". You can build flight plans and you can command your plane from within FSNavigator, although this may cause trouble at some certain points of the flight, it's alright.
Playability: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Flight-1 Products
I have unfortunately bought FS2Crew for PMDG 737, and I'm disappointed. Because it broke my PMDG. I then managed to run it without PMDG patches (I guess). This product aims to make your simulation experience more realistic by placing dozens of pre and post flight operations. It's, however, overcomplicated. I have uninstalled this product but my PMDG did not come back.
Playability: 1/5
Realism: 5/5 (I guess!)
Lacks proper integration, does not uninstall properly (does not rollback things it has changed) and does not seem like written professionally. This could be seen during installation with dozens of OK, YES, I agree, OK, Next... buttons you need to press. All Flight-1 products are the same - press 25 buttons to install, and forget what you had previously as these products cannot roll them back.
ActiveSky
This is a really cool weather engine and it works perfectly, as far as I can see.
Overall: 5/5
FSPassengers
This is the coolest idea ever. Product, however, is bad. Something happens and FSPassengers seems like unloaded. When I click on something in its menu, it says I moved the aircraft and flight is aborted. I did not move it. I am not the only one who's experiencing this trouble so it turns out to be a big bug! It's, I think, written in Visual Basic, not that professional software but again - the idea is the coolest. Sometimes lacks aircraft load models and causes weird things.
Playability: ?/5 (if you can actually get it working, it's 5)
Has bugs, no fixes, company does not offer money refund. Their software becomes "completely useless" but they do not refund. So, I recommend you not to buy FSPassengers until they fix this problem.
I am not the authority about flight simulation software, but I enjoy using some of these products.
Have a nice flight!
WIDGETIZE