Navigraph Fenix

[Rolando Kumar]

Iam a university student, and thus it's quite expected that I'm running low on money, especially money reserved for hobbies and games. I wanted to start flying on VATSIM, so I started looking into how I can get a relatively realistic experience with real-life data.

If your hardware can support MSFS, then I strongly recommend shelling out 10EUR/mo to get the Xbox game pass, which includes the MSFS base game. The price is low, and you may not need to get Navigraph charts because they still update the game's AIRACs. And the default aircraft AFAIK are not that bad. Not to mention the abundance of other games you get along with your subscription.

For people that are about on the same boat as me, here are what you need to pay for: FSX:SE which goes for 4.99EUR on Steam right now, and Navigraph Charts. I'm sure that anyone looking at this right now knows of these costs.

In case you want to go completely free(without Navigraph), you can also use the Honeywell FMC to fly. From what I have been able to see, you can forget using SIDs and STARs, which either means that you use headings from (Possibly old) charts you find online, or you request headings from TWR. Both of which personally classify as an un-authentic experience, given that it is not a regular departure/arrival flow. Not to say that, setting a direct-to for a waypoint literally removes the flight plan. Very, very frustrating.

Also, if someone has other ways they use FSX to fly on VATSIM at a budget, please let me know. This is my current solution which definitely needs work. Anything (airplanes you use, different FMCs, sceneries/airports), would be greatly appreciated.

I understand that, and I'm fine with it. In fact, the people developing it stopped support in 2011 and even took down their forums. I know most things are outdated but there is a surprising amount of people still trying to make botches to the software to get it running. The link I gave to vasFMC has a pretty good guide about getting it up and running, including all installation software needed. Plus, since you quoted the point about HoneywellFMC, I thought I would include the 2 (currently standing) major players in addon FMCs. And I specifically mentioned that because I tried using the HoneywellFMC since it's more Boeing-like, but realized the functionalities are just not there.

By the way, you need FSUIPC and SimConnect to use FSXWX, because it injects the weather into FSX using both of them. And they're free and frequently used for other Aircraft/mods.

And about what you said about getting the Xbox Game Pass and using that to play MSFS, it's actually a good recommendation which I will promptly add to the post above. But, personally, I am also limited by hardware, given that I am using my university PC (Laptop-adapted 1050-level Quadro) and an old off-brand PS3 controller to play the game. So, for people with the specs but without the game, it's actually a great recommendation (for 10EUR a month including an abundance of games that are included), but it just isn't viable for my hardware. It still is a great recommendation though, and thank you for adding that, especially given that the AIRACs are relatively up to date (maybe 3 months old at the longest), which means you don't really need the Navigraph subscription.

I understand that, and I'm fine with it. In fact, the people developing it stopped support in 2011 and even took down their forums. I know most things are outdated but there is a surprising amount of people still trying to make botches to the software to get it running. The link I gave to vasFMC has a pretty good guide about getting it up and running, including all installation software needed. Plus, since you quoted the point about HoneywellFMC, I thought I would include the 2 (currently standing) major players in addon FMCs. And I specifically mentioned that because I tried using the HoneywellFMC since it's more Boeing-like, but realized the functionalities are just not there.

By the way, you need FSUIPC and SimConnect to use FSXWX, because it injects the weather into FSX using both of them. And they're free and frequently used for other Aircraft/mods.

And about what you said about getting the Xbox Game Pass and using that to play MSFS, it's actually a good recommendation which I will promptly add to the post above. But, personally, I am also limited by hardware, given that I am using my university PC (Laptop-adapted 1050-level Quadro) and an old off-brand PS3 controller to play the game. So, for people with the specs but without the game, it's actually a great recommendation (for 10EUR a month including an abundance of games that are included), but it just isn't viable for my hardware. I'm actually using the Navigraph subscription of a family member which I play with, so my total cost has come to 3.99EUR, since I only bought the game on sale. It still is a great recommendation though, and thank you for adding that, especially given that the AIRACs are relatively up to date (maybe 3 months old at the longest), which means you don't really need the Navigraph subscription.

1.2. Personal Account

Your Account is personal and must not be used by anyone but yourself. Further, you may only register an Account as a natural person, and not in the name of a business, organization, association, any other form of legal entity or similar.

Flightgear is a great product but it has it's drawbacks like lack of 3rd party add-ons ,no payware airports, it's sceneries and navdata are pretty outdated , it's okay to fly maybe VFR to and from small airports but would be a nightmare if you wanna fly jetliners,wish they can update it and welcome payware developers someday.

Cheapest way to fly on vatsim,I think, is Xplane.One purchase (maybe from steam and during discounts for lower rice) and you get updated global airports, abundant high quality freeware aircrafts like the amazing zibo/Levelup 737,Kingair EVO ,etc. You can fly on vatsim enjoying payware level freeware aircrafts and updated airports without paying for anything other than Xplane itself and of course navigraph subscription,one trick is to subscribe through discontinued monthly subscription.Skip one month if there's no obvious changes and you save 8Euros, subscribe again when there's a major change ?

On Steam, X-Plane 12 can be legitimately purchased for 15-to-17 USD if you are in (or have access to steam payment from) a country that benefits from Steam's regional pricing; which is a similar price to FSX Steam Edition.

I personally think X-Plane is a good choice for those who are budget-sensitive, since you can fly realistically and "live on" freeware alone (aside from the simulator itself) if you really want to. Default scenery is generally kept up-to-date and the texturing looks decent compared to other simulators, if you have enough storage you can load your sim with ortho4xp satellite imagery and OSM data to get a pretty outstanding result if done properly, and there is a vast plethora of freeware aircraft catering to different tastes that are vatsim-worthy - e.g. Zibo 737-800, Shenshee 720, timber61's Bell 429, and all of Felis' beautiful Russian/Soviet creations.

0: FlightGear is the first piece of the puzzle. It's free and open source software, and has an almost complete database of navaids, fixes and airports. The scenery is generated automatically from OpenStreetMap data (this same feature was released almost at the same time in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, but FlightGear managed it with a fraction of the financial resources!) As for aircraft, there are quite a few high-quality jetliners:

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