Not a lot to say really, If your buying/ looking at this your likely to already have the boxed retail version from 2006, this is a download version of the famous Microsoft DVD rom flight simulator x. As suspected due to the huge amount of power it required back in its day of release, it has certainly stood the test of time, and this version was DOVETAIL GAMES until Microsoft bought the rights back in 2019. (by the way they have a new 64bit revamp of fsx called FSW or Flight Sim World, if you're lucky like me and bought Flight School which is also based on fsx from Dovetail you will be given FSW for free!, so far it's good, but needs a lot of work as time/season/weather are all locked to specific themes, we want real-world weather again and hopefully they will bring that back)
So what's different from the retail (Microsoft) version? Well, first thing to notice is you get ALL the planes that you'd get with the Gold and Deluxe versions of FSX, which is nice, oh and the extra cities. Secondly Dovetail have tweaked things slightly, DX10 preview actually increases framerates now rather than dropping them, the clouds have been replaced with better ones, the sky is better, they seemed to of ruined the Sun textures and now it appears very small in the sky however if you have a multi-monitor setup you will be using a much closer FOV or zoom setting so the sun might seem better then, also there's "Nicks Sun MOD" which is a good replacement of the default fsx sun. Addon scenery and aircraft dramatically enhance the basic flight simulator, pushing the limits nearer what current computer hardware is capable of. UK scenery based on real-world aerial photography, detailed 3d airports for the UK, both civil and military, finally, the pride of place, pmdg provide a fresh update, steam compatible of their procedural Boeing 737 800/900/600/700 ngx aircraft
Most of the difference is for steam edition to the old boxed edition there seems to be a pleasantly surprised at how many more fps your getting! It is noticeable too. It is still 32bit though. Multiplayer used to work but never tend to try it out since I use third party addon apps, but I hear it's mostly full of folk being silly, there are communities online that can give you access to their slightly more mature servers if realistic flying is your thing.
The only side to this which is showing its age a little are the physics, they are amazing even by today's standards, but there isn't much that can be done about that, other than buying premium quality plane addons from Carenado, etc, this often nullifies and quirks with the fsx physics as these addon companies really know their s***! But as mentioned FSW is basically the FSX core, but rebuilt from the ground up, and other than the many limitations it has right now, the flight model feels freakishly real. Highly recommend this download. it was released not long ago and many third-party developers are busy updating existing addons and creating more steam compatible addons from scratch. Microsoft no longer supports flight simulator, as they are busy working on there near 2020 version, this is an ideal way to explore the world of flight safely. crash as many aircraft as you like, you won't get hurt and you won't be hit with multimillion repair bills!
So, if you're new to this kind of thing, then FSX without any shadow of a doubt is the perfect place to start if your and actual airline pilot something like Xplane11 might suit you more, however!!! and that's a big fat loud, however! lol... I do a lot of flying many times on fsx, too much in my life and do come across real pilots who are working or retired. procedural means everything works, every switch, dial and system beautifully modeled in detail, so everything acts like the real thing, even if you do something silly! extensive documentation based on real-world counterparts helps you with the details with all this being available relatively cheaply Base game), a whole generation of new real-world flyers may have kick-started their career with software like this. But people who are mad like I am, who spent around £200 on addons and whatnot can make this into your dream job from home, just exciting, dive in, it's easy to start, but beware, once hooked the clock will spin away the hours rapidly as you try just once more landing a 747 jumbo jet or an airbus on a busy Heathrow airport.
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It's just an amazing sim so realistic and generally fun to play, unlike most simulators! graphics are out of this world with Orbx and paid add-ons, even on a low-end computer. But you will find so much freeware available to download. It has a wide range of places to go to 24,000 airports in total. Great fun, no manual but I worked out the buttons. The flight sim is really realistic and is actually used by pilots. I have had it for about three years ' coming now and I reckon I could fly a real plane if they needed real-life help support.
10/10 MUST HAVE!