Jump to content

Fairoaks to Goodwood (The long way around)


Recommended Posts

As I had some rare free time on the bank holiday I took a pleasure flight to check out some changes I had made to FSX. I am happy to say that the whole flight ran perfectly (FSX wise) and he restored my faith in it thanks to Steve's DX10 fixer.  Both scenery sliders are set to "Very Dense" to get the detail. My system almost maxxed out when leaving Southampton but surprisingly regained some VAS once I had left their airspace!
 
So here we are at EGTF Fairoaks after a filling breakfast at the Hangar Cafe, engine started we were using 06 today as dictated by by Active Sky Next.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-03-31-49.jpg~origi
 
On Taxyway A, just performing a couple of run up checks.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-06-00-98.jpg~origi
 
We're off, noise abatement requires me not to overfly the nearby properties at lower than 1100 QNH but with this 12kt headwind we climbed out with no problem 1500ft is our max altitude in the Fairoaks LFA. 
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-08-40-27.jpg~origi
 
We are heading for the M3 which we will use to help us find our way south, so you could say we are flying IFR?  :D
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-10-04-27.jpg~origi
 
Actually, we were tuned into the NDB at Blackbushe, I have flown there in the real world but just passing today.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-20-07-70.jpg~origi
 
We turned left to pick up the M3 again, below us is junction 3 and Basingstoke in all its glory.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-27-44-31.jpg~origi
 
Just past Dummer we can see the A303 split off to the right ahead, it's time to be thinking about our approach and touch and go at Popham.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-30-16-86.jpg~origi

The airfield is right on our nose, contrary to the rules we are going to do a TNG on RWY26 andwe'll fly in over the petrol station following the white approach arrows.

fsx%202015-05-04%2011-32-27-82.jpg~origi

The Cherokee 180 made light work of that one, we are already dialled into Southampton and a left turn is required.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-33-25-69.jpg~origi 

This is very familiar territory to me having landed here a thousand times!
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-46-41-75.jpg~origi
 
The railway sheds make for rising warm air so it can get a bit bumpy
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-47-27-62.jpg~origi

A greaser at EGHI, the FlyBe guys get a bit impatient if you hold them up, they're not particularly GA friendly here.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-48-44-67.jpg~origi

 

Still roughly on runway heading we see the Itchen and Northam Bridges below. 
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-50-09-77.jpg~origi

We turn inland and over fly Lee on the Solent with the Spinnaker Tower in the distance in Portsmouth Harbour.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2011-55-05-78.jpg~origi
 
We're tuned into the Goodwood VOR, I pretty much know where the airfield is from here but it's good to have confirmation from the instruments.
 

fsx%202015-05-04%2011-59-30-86.jpg~origi
 
We're downwind, the wind is still 12 -15 coming from the south so RWY 14R it is for us today.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2012-03-54-22.jpg~origi

Steep and dipping turn onto approach.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2012-05-08-17.jpg~origi

A bit low, but I'll take it.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2012-06-22-93.jpg~origi
 
On the runway, it's a bit bumpy...

fsx%202015-05-04%2012-06-52-66.jpg~origi
 
There's a lot of GA here, Lord March, the owner is an aviation fan.
 
fsx%202015-05-04%2012-08-34-62.jpg~origi
 
Here's our place, were off to the flying club for some banter.

 
fsx%202015-05-04%2012-12-25-67.jpg~origi

Shots are resized only, addons used are-

A2A Cherokee,
FTX England,FTX Fairoaks, FTX Popham, FTX Southampton and FTX Goodwood.

FTX HD Trees
Active Sky Next weather

REX Texture Direct 4

Steve's DX10 Fixer

 

Thanks for your patience!

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice ride, I'll see you in the clubhouse at EGHR. Don't forget its in the old control tower at the moment until the new Aeroclub opens in August. Hang around until Saturday morning and you'll see Boultbees new Mustang arrive from Duxford. I like the scenery there, is that compatible with default FSX ? if so where can I get it?

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Alan, FTX Goodwood is presently £9.72 at flightsimsore.com. However, it is built for Orbx's FTX England which is presently £13.3 in their sale.

 

If you tried installing Goodword in default FSX you may get elevation problems and it would look a little odd to have all that detail amongst the fairly bland scenery.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Ah right, OK mate thanks, I have a facsimile of Goodwood but although it looks ok it's not really anything like the real airfield that I know and love. That place is my second home, Hope the weather improves before Saturday as want to see that P-51 arrive.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Good to see you using FSX, as I thought you had gone over to P3D for the duration.  Also good to see you in the screenies room.
 
The DX10 fixer makes FSX a total new simulator.  I have been suffering stutters of llllllate but found this advice and took it. what an improvement in autogen.

 

Something you need to know first:Stutters can happen for SEVERAL reasons, they can be due to memory timing problems, CPU reaching 100%, GPU overheating / overload... there are literally 'hundreds' of reasons why you would experience stutters, this FIX is not a 'magical' solution to your stuttering problems, however there is a procedure that will fix 100% of your autogen induced stutters.This 'fix' assumes you have a HEALTHY machine and that you ONLY experience the stutters when panning around in high density autogen areas EVEN with bufferpools disabled.The fix involves editing the Autogen/default.xml file in your FSX root directory and making sure it is saved in UTF-8 format. This is a VERY simple step to follow, you only need to:1) Open the Autogen/default.xml file in notepad2) Once you open it, you'll notice the FIRST line of the file contains: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>3) Change the above line to this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>4) Save the changes and thats it!A word of caution: When you do this change, the next time you open FSX you'll see that the A/C in the welcome screen has no textures. there is nothing to worry about, this happens everytime there is a change to the default.xml file, and the second time you start FSX everything will be fine.FSX 'parses' XML files 'assuming' they are in the format indicated in the encoding field. The default.xml file is an ASCII only file, but its encoding is set to UTF-16, which is completely absurd. (ascii files in UTF-16 encoding take TWICE as much space), yet this file is NOT encoded in utf-16, just the XML header says so, and the XML parser in FSX will treat it as such. This 'fix' will also give you some aditional FPS! try it.If you want to see for yourself:1) Add to the [TERRAIN] section of your fsx.cfg file the following entries (this is just temporary) just for testing purposes: TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_TREES_PER_CELL=6000 TERRAIN_MAX_AUTOGEN_BUILDINGS_PER_CELL=60002) Start FSX and set the Autogen slider to EXTREMELY DENSE3) Go to PNW (the most autogen intensive product I have) and takeoff from KSEA airport, take a fast Jet, spin around while looking around the VC using the mouse. Preferably, 'record' a test flight with FSRecorder with a sampling rate of '1 frame' and re-play it while moving your mouse to look around the cockpit while the recording is playing. Do it with the default.xml before and after the utf change so you can objectively judge for yourself. Enjoy!

 

Bojote

 

That advice above and a defrag have totally improved my sssstutttters..  :)





 

Link to post
Share on other sites

A very nice trip Joe, really enjoyed it. You have FSX looking very sweet indeed, lovely clear pictures and the scenery looks very nice indeed. Do you like the ORBX scenery over the photo scenery? I only really fly GA stuff and I'm leaning towards changing - my wallet however is leaning the other way :)

I'll have to do a search on this DX10 stuff.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Graeme, I have to say that now, for me, photo scenery for the UK is so far out of date that I prefer FTX scenery. It's a whole new investment but it is a global solution too. It really depends on how important scenery eye candy is to you. I fly 85% low altitude GA so is high on my list. The above flight is typical of my cross country type flight. If you are flying at FL400 maybe not so important at all.

 

FTX does rely on a medium to high system spec if you want to run it with higher resolutions and loads of autogen, but that would be true of any autogen reliant scenery like the old Earthsim sceneries. (They have gone out of business now).

 

Steve's DX10 fixer has proved to be a game changer for me. I have a reasonably good spec but I was suffering with the dreaded VAS out of memory message you can get with high resolution scenery, but after installation of the fixer I am now taunting the system to fail. "Touch wood" it is coping quite nicely. Strangely though, Steve doesn't claim it improves performance.

 

Do your research, here is a link to Steve's DX https://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/how-to-purchase/ be careful changing your FSX.cfg, in reality there are only a couple essential changes needed. I followed Nick N's advice here.. http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html and if you have an nVidia graphics card get the free nVidia Inspector advice here... http://www.simforums.com/forums/drivers-nv-inspector-fsxcfg-complete-guide_topic36586.html

 

You may already know a lot of this so sorry if I am recycling old info.

 

Cheers,

Joe

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Joe adding to my last entry above, I am using Ultimate Defrag4.  It consolidates all the files together to allow a smooth read of the disc instead of hunting.

 

Here is a shot of the defragged disc for FSX:

defrag.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks great James, I have FSX on a dedicated 512GB SSD so defrag is no longer an issue.  ;)

 

I used to use a program called O&O defrag especially after installing photoscenery but I have to admit to never noticing any perceptible performance improvement!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...