Flight Simulator is one of the famouse simulation games. I am a big fan of simulation games, such as driving simulations with Euro Truck or American Truck and flight simulations. I played the flight simulator for the first time in 2010, just for a few months. I stopped playing it because the game was quite heavy on the laptop I had at that time. It was hard to play the game using a keyboard and mouse. In a flight simulator, the landing is one of the most challenging phases.
16 years passed, and I just bought a used Logitech X3D Pro joystick. Therefore, as a flight simulation enthusiast, I got back into the game.
There are many flight simulation games available in the market. The one I am really interested in is X-Plane by Laminar. Here are the main reasons why I chose X-Plane:
Offline playing
I can play X-Plane offline as long as I download all the tools I need for the game, such as scenery and aircraft. You can add additional add-ons if necessary (aircraft tools, airport tools and services, etc.)
Free Demos
X-Plane offers free flight demos for all users to test the game before purchasing it. The free demo version allows users 15 minutes of use before the game becomes locked. Then, the flight will start again, and the 15 minutes will restart at the same time.
Affordable simulator game
Regarding the game itself, it’s quality; mainly, the game is very affordable. You can unlock almost everything for about $60. Then enjoy the game fully.
You can choose whether you want to play it on Steam, or you want a digital download. You can even buy a DVD copy of the game. I recommend this one if you live in the US or in Europe.
The purchase is straightforward. Once you make it, you will receive an email confirmation with an installation guide.
Once you install the full version of it, you unlock another scenery globally with more than 30k airports, additional aircraft, and some extra tools such as PMDG, “Flight Factor”,etc. Plus, your flight is not limited to the 15min anymore. You can fly for as long as you want with real-time weather.
In addition, you are part of the Laminar Research Family.
One challenge I faced when I installed X-Plane in it’s demos version is that my internet is very slow. My average download speed is about 300kb/s. Also, I cannot keep my Laptop on all days. I switch it every 12 hours due to my solar panel system as my power plan. So I need 2 days or so to download all 25Gb of x-plane data as a demo. The additional data, after you purchase it, is about 60Gb, including all scenery globally. Fortunately, you can download it one by one.
So how could I overcome that challenge?
When you run the X-Plane installation, a Windows pop-up appears to guide you through the installation steps.
As you see in the picture above, normally, you should wait until the download finished. The only available buttons are: cancel installation, buy X-Plane, and back. And the new X-Plane 12 installer does not even have a close button.
So here are the steps you should follow if you need to download the demo version in 2 days or more:
- Run the X-Plane installer and follow the prompt. In your first installation, when you decide to stop and switch off your laptop and your internet, go to Task Manager and look at X-Plane 12 Installer Apps, then End task.
One thing you should do before you end the task, in case you are afraid of it, is copy everything that has been downloaded as a backup in a new folder. The default X-Plane folder is located in C:\X-Plane 12. So copy everything inside that folder as backup just in case.
- To continue your installation and download, run the installer again and click on “update demo”. If you see that button Update Demo, it means that everything you downloaded the day before are not lost.
- After that, pick the destination where you put the previous data that you downloaded.
- Next, after checking the server, scanning existing files, and your disk space, the installer shows what is left to be downloaded.
- Then you can run the installation until the end.
One thing I want to highlight is that: If you cannot download all data continuously, Never hit the “Cancel installation”. Once you hit it, all data will be erased and you will download everything from the beginning. I recommend you follow the steps above.
All in all, X-Plane is one of the great games for those who like flight simulation. However, if you are a fan of Flight Simulator, you can play it because it has very good and realistic scenery too. The reason I do not choose Flight Simulator is my internet connection limit. And if you want to test and try flight simulation for Free, you can try FlightGear. I even started with FlightGear before switching into X-Plane.
As part of Laminar Research Family, I can use my skills as CAD designer for the research by designing some basic scenery and advanced aircraft tools.
One of my next challenges is driving simulation once I have all the gear for it.