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Unbelievably Bad

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 21 / 29
Date: April 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this program for my new MacPro, and couldn't wait to get it installed. I am a licensed pilot and have spent many hours flying many different flight sims, including an older version of XPlane for the PC. It took over an hour to install, and the installer kept going backwards in time remaining.

I bought my product in a box, but it's not a finished product, it's some sort of a beta version, filled with more bugs and glitches than you can shake a stick at. Trim goes crazy constantly, the throttle goes crazy (on three different sticks/yokes) and cockpit functionality is generally hit or miss on nearly everything. Flaps will work on one aircraft while only in a certain view mode, while other planes require a different view mode to operate flaps, speedbrakes or trim. Some aircraft seem to have no flap or airbrake functionality. The cockpits seem to be crappy ports from another version, and for something touted at oh so real, flight dynamics are all over the map with each plane.

The interface itself is quite silly, having to push buttons above and below numbers instead of simply inputting them. The Autopilot in most aircraft is the stupidest thing I have ever seen, mostly not working in one or more ways.

In general, this thing is a mess. Again, it's not a product, it's some sort of betaware. Updates look nightmarish, new aircraft and scenery seem to require programming skills and the forums make this all very clear. Unless you want to spend a significant portion of your life making this thing run right, stay away.

XPlane 9 just got uninstalled from my machine - back to the PC.

Don't let these others make up your mind

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: May 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a review of X-Plane 9.0 intended for the other reviewers listed here:

You will not find a finer product anywhere on the planet. This is not a GAME. This is a professional flight simulator that takes time and patience to master. If you want to fly around and shoot down other planes, don't buy this product. It is a teaching tool for those of us who are not pilots but wish, desperately, to share in the experience.

X-Plane 9.0 (as all other versions of the sim have been) is a BETA, and that is fantastic. Austin Meyer, the creator of the program, allows users to add their own input as to improvements, criticisms and more. Unlike other extremely unrealistic flight simulators on the market, you are not buying a finished product - you will be given FREE updates for the next 2 or so years. Updating is easy, and it is just like getting a brand new product with every release.

You must love to fly to love X-Plane. If you're looking for kicks, buy something else. It really shocks me how some people have an attention span of, oh, nine minutes or so. Why would you spend this much money on something that you are not willing to invest your time in? And, why are you buying flight simulators if you are looking for a cheap thrill? The very fact is that X-Plane features a genuine physics model, real weather conditions, real air traffic control systems and more. Read a book and learn how to fly. Then, start up X-Plane and you will relish in the fact that it isn't just eye-candy.

I have learned so much about flying by using this program. Don't be intimidated by it. Instead, invest time and energy into learning how to fly terribly complicated aircraft that are modeled PRECISELY after the real-life counterparts.

Avionic systems work when the pilot actually knows how to use them. Imagine that.

X-Plane 9.0 is not to be "played" like a game. It is to be used to learn how to actually operate an airplane. If you are not willing to perform 15 minutes of pre-flight checks before actually hitting the runway, don't bother with it. Of course, that puts you square in the "cheap-thrills gamer" category, leaving the rest of us alone to explore all that the program has to offer.

The support network for X-Plane is also outstanding. Some of the best aircraft designs that I have ever seen are created by people just like you - and for free. What other piece of software allows free updates for years to come, a virtual community of enthusiasts, an immense amount of free aircraft and scenery, and the ability to email the actual creator? If you don't like the way X-Plane operates, you have the ability to change it! Why would anyone want the cookie-cutter Microsoft Flight Simulator? Do they care this much about the community that uses their product?

Exelent PROFESSIONAL flight sim.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: May 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

X-plane is an actual professional flight sim with an amazing flight model and physics (it uses blade element theory which bases how the airplanes fly on what their geometry is). The only difference between the home version of it and the FAA approved flight training version of it is that the home version most likely wouldn't be connected to a full motion platform. In fact the Cessna "the Jet" airplane included is the actual model that Cessna used to test its real life counterpart! Though it does take a long time to master ( its not very first time user friendly) it definitely make up for it in how many things you can do. There are also hundreds of additional aircraft and sceneries you can download, and it comes with "Plane maker" and "World maker" aplications so you can make your own. The graphics in X-plane 9.00 are close to (and in many peoples opinions better) than that of Flight Sim X. And unlike Flight Sim X you get free updates until the next full version (Ex. 9.00-10.00) The updates always include bug fixes and new content based on users feedback. Overall I think X-plane is a very good flight simulator, it does have a steep learning curve and can be intimidating, but from the moment you take of you won't regret buying it.

Uncompromising and impressive.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: June 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Make no mistake, this is a real Simulation of flight.
4 hours is a long time for an install, and unneeded. The extra DVD's (disks 2 through 6) contain, as they are labeled, nothing more than the Hi-res imagery for the planet outside of the United States. Installing the first disk is all you need to do to get going, and Northern California is all you get to see if you've downloaded the Demo.

X-Plane is not a "Toy Video Game with Airplanes", it's a true Flight Physics Simulator. It doesn't have fancy looking interface designs, no happy guidance on how to fly. X-Plane is for the people who want a highly realistic simulation of actual aircraft physics. For this reason, many pilots prefer it over the competition's product. It's accurate, it feels like flying a real plane, and it doesn't fudge any numbers for the sake of simplicity.

If you take a design from X-plane, build it in real life, with the correct power engines, correct wing designs, and correct fuselage design, your plane will fly exactly the same in real life. (Cirrus' "The Jet" and the Carter Copter were actually designed using X-plane). If you know how to use autopilot systems in real life, they will all work here. If not, you've got a learning curve to tackle.

Can you load up the game and start flying immediately? Almost. You'll have to program your joystick. Tell the sim what sliders should do what, what buttons should do what. After that, yes, you can "just go". X-Plane isn't going to give you an intro on how to take off, you need to either know how, or figure it out. (Throttle + Flaps = Flight)

You can even design your own aircraft, design your own airports, and update world maps. (I don't actually know how to change the world, but I've made a few aircraft designs in my years, none all that impressive, mind you, but still)

The community website (www.x-plane.org) is full of new designs, (admittedly since V9 is only a month or so old, the pickings are fairly slim), and many v8 designs still work nicely, or so I've heard. This sim is the best value for the money, and the most serious item around. If you've got a motion control platform, you can configure it to move with the sim. You can run multiple copies on a network for multiple screens, multiple aircraft, and instructor stations, if you've got a pile of money to buy it all.

The new high-res graphics are killer nice, and flying over NYC brings my computer to it's knees, but NYC isn't exactly a village now, is it?

If you want a video game, look elsewhere. If you want to know how to fly, you've got but one choice. X-Plane.

-CameronB
Gayla's Husband

Fun but frustrating

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

After a week of playing the downloaded demo, I bought the 6 DVD set. The install took 4 hours, and what did I get? Only the ability to continue to play after 10 minutes without quitting and reopening. No more airplanes than those that came with the demo...no more airports that had scenery than those that came with the demo. And not a shred of documentation. Questions posted at the XPlane Forum were met by terse, one sentence answers from users who apparently find any "newbees" a nuisance and not worthy of helping. Buy this at your own risk...

Improved from X-Plane 8, but still not excellent

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: June 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have been growing up with the Flight SIMs since SoloFlight back in the '80s on a Commodore 64, so I can honestly say, as many would agree that the flights SIMs have come a very, VERY long way. But I must contest those who state that this is the most realistic flight SIM in the world---not that it isn't, but it certainly isn't REAL. I'm sure Austin would agree that there's quite a bit of evolution still in store before this can possibly match the real world. But with that said, I can offer my hopefully un-biased approach to FlightSim X and X-Plane 9.

Graphics - Smoother in X-Plane, and flows better with most video cards, seamless in nature, and quite attractive, especially without having to download add-ons to see tire marks on a runway. Runways, for that matter actually imitate real runways in that they are allowed to have a "grade", or slight slopes. FlightSim X still has flat runways, and limited graphics on them. Weather is also something to be happy with in X-Plane, though, especially the fog, rain, thick clouds, etc. Flying above the clouds is very cool, indeed. Now where the graphics of FlightSim X outdoes the graphics in X-Plane 9 is by way of natural sunlight. X-Plane has a much colder (more blue) cast to it's sunlight, along with low contrast on landscapes which give the appearance that a cloud is always hovering over the area you're flying in or taxi-ing across. Flight Sim X has the opposite effect, where an overcast sky might still allow the ground to look like it's baking in the sun. So, ups and downs, we're not there yet in either SIM, but getting closer.

Controls - X-Plane's got tons of them, which is an improvement (or curse in some people's eyes) over the last few SIMs. I still think there's more to offer down the road, though, but I can deal with what we have now. Joystick detection in X-Plane is not very reliable, but once detected, X-Plane knows you again.

Flight Characteristics - Won't go into the details of how each work, as there's tons of other sites with that info, but I must lean toward FlightSim X as being more realistic in how the planes fly. X-Plane has a unique approach, which many tout as being the best possible, but when an airline pilot tells me that a C-5B Galaxy in X-Plane flies like an empty beer can, I have to agree that X-Plane seems to lack weight or momentum characteristics. I don't know if that's been addressed in the latest version of X-Plane, but all the Heavy Metal and MegaPlanes planes I have installed don't seem to fly like they would in Flight Sim X. In Flight Sim X, all of these attributes are considered, and you can even edit them to make the plane so heavy that it can't even take off. Plus, in X-Plane, if you simply jerk the yoke to the right or left, even the biggest planes react violently, where their real-world counterparts I doubt seriously would do the same. A C-5 is not agile, and because of that, C-5 pilots have procedures they use when taking off or landing in adverse conditions. However, in X-Plane, the B-52 and the C-5 I bought and installed are quite forgiving and don't seem to have much trouble performing some minor aerobatic maneuvers.
One redeeming feature of "blade-technology" is that you're more likely to succeed when trying to execute an Auto-Rotate emergency landing in a helicopter.

Detail - This is where X-Plane rules over Flight Sim X. If you want all your controls (well, for the most part), and the ability to control the environment, you can do more in X-Plane 9. Although, again I still think the sunlight effects need work, the weather, wind-sheer, updrafts, turbulence, etc. are better defined in X-Plane 9. If you fly along too slowly for a landing with a tail wind, and the lift gets low, you'll see the effects of your wing dropping, or something else happening.

Overall - I'm fairly happy with X-Plane 9, bugs aside (yes there are quite a few), and when compared to Flight SIM X I can honestly say Microsoft will have more work to do in their next release, hopefully sometime before 2010. I can't wait! But for now, I will enjoy both X-Plane 9 and Flight Sim X as much as I can.

An undeserved bad rap

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am neither a pilot nor a "gamer" but I used to enjoy MS Flight Simulator, and when I went exclusively to a Mac several years ago my only regret was that I has to leave Flt.Sim. behind. X-Plane 9, which I just discovered, is even better than I remember Flt.Sim.

I bought an inexpensive joystick (Logitech Extreme 3-D Pro, about $35 at Amazon), and then installed X-Plane 9 on my iMac. The installation took about an hour but it went flawlessly. The joystick was recognized by the program, and I was easily able to calibrate it by following the very clear instructions.

I selected the Cessna 172 as my trainer plane and a local airport as my home field (again following the clear instructions). The first flight was not a thing of beauty but I was able to take off, circle the field, and make a safe, albeit shaky, landing.

This is not a toy and some of the "gamers" who complained about the lack of instructions or the problems in controlling their aircraft were probably using jets and/or multi-engine aircraft for their initial flights, and expecting instant gratification.

I have substantial learning to do (and it's a steep curve) but even at this early stage, I can say with confidence that this is a superb and flexible program which is well worth the investment of money and time for anyone who wants to enjoy a true flight simulator on their Mac.

X-Plane 9 failure to load

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: May 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Beware of this game. I can't even get it to load on my Mac Pro. Time and effort are being expended with X-Plane Tech Support to no avail. At this point in time, Monopoly is more fun. Good luck if you've purchased this version ... you will need the patience of Job.

Real Pro Flight Simulator for the Mac

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: May 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The level of realism of this game is incredible. The new version significantly improves graphics with detailed scenery and very smooth motion. On a Macbook Pro 2.6GHz with 4 GB RAM and 256 MB graphics memory, the game performed really well even with graphic details and game reality levels set to high.

This increased level of realism comes at a price however. And I mean not just the monetary aspect. There is a steep learning to this game. Especially, the flight controls need to be calibrated for your joystick. I cannot imagine playing this game without a good joystick.

There are lots of settings windows to calibrate the flight simulator. And the menus are confusing.

Overall is is a great game for the mac. Its far better than Microsoft Flight Simulator for the PC, this game almost makes MFS look half a century old.

Must buy for Mac gamers.

Don't waste you money!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 23
Date: May 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is the worst game ever for Mac.

I'm not a pilot but enjoy playing flight simulation games.

It's full of bugs. As another reviewer mentioned, it's kind of an alpha version or worse.

Warning! X-Plane 9.0 for Mac doesn't work at all. Full of graphics bug, maintaining any plane's control is almost impossible, my $[...] Saitek joystick doesn't work... I'm very frustrated and dissapointed.

In resume, make yourself a big favor and don't waste your precious money on this crap. Stay away from this game and you'll not regret it as I did.

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