Connecting flight simulation enthusiasts across Southeast Wisconsin and Northeast Illinois
About Us
The FSG@ Network is a volunteer-driven family of local flight simulation groups. It only takes three simmers to start your own group - and it’s free! Our mission: build home simulators, enhance flight safety and training, and foster camaraderie. Interested? Email us using the email form to the right of this screen.
Meeting Highlights
We pigged out on Well's pizza - and had a great time!
Meeting Venue
A proposal was made to rotate our monthly meeting among different restaurants in the region. If you’d like us to pursue that, email me at flightsimulatorgroupat@gmail.com
Friday Lunches
We held three Friday lunches in January, and as expected, they’ve evolved into after-lunch simulator sessions. That progression was inevitable. If you’d like to join us, email me at flightsimulatorgroupat@gmail.com.
Member Build Projects
The two previously discussed simulator builds are, by and large, complete.
Update - Mike’s FS2020 Build
Mike is now an X-Plane simulateer. That brings us to five X-Planers in the group.
Flight‑Sim‑Saturday-Flyoff
Off the table for now. Still think it’s a good idea.
By this point, I assumed you’ve probably seen this video “Top 20 FREE X-Plane 12 Addons You MUST Have in 2026 in my last post. If not, it’s worth a look - not because every addon applies to everyone, but because it highlights something important: the X-Plane ecosystem has quietly matured to the point where a very different kind of experience is now possible.
In the comment section of that video you’ll find links to all twenty addons discussed. For convenience, I gathered them together and began working through them myself.
But here’s the important part.
I’m not an airline pilot in the simulator. I’m not building content for YouTube. I’m not interested in cinematic flybys or managing complex airliner systems for hours at a time.
I’m a GA flyer.
What I want is simple:
I want to enjoy VFR flying in X-Plane the same way I do in MSFS 2020 or FS2024.
And that raises a fair question.
Can we actually make X-Plane better for that purpose?
The Real Difference Between X-Plane and MSFS
When people say MSFS “looks better,” they’re usually describing something very specific, even if they don’t realize it.
MSFS excels at visual recognition:
Satellite imagery and photogrammetry
Dense buildings and vegetation
Natural lighting and atmosphere
The ability to look outside and immediately know where you are.
For VFR flying, this matters enormously. Real-world navigation at low altitude is based on recognition - rivers, roads, towns, coastlines, and landmarks. When those cues are believable, flying becomes intuitive.
X-Plane’s weakness has never been aircraft or flight modeling. Its weakness has traditionally been the ground environment. Default scenery makes it harder to navigate visually, and as a result, many GA pilots, like me, drift toward MSFS for casual VFR flying.
So, the goal isn’t to make X-Plane look like MSFS.
That’s not realistic.
The goal is to make X-Plane feel equally compelling for VFR flying while preserving what it already does exceptionally well.
A Different Way to Think About Addons
The mistake many users make is treating addon lists as shopping lists. They install everything and hope the result improves the experience.
For GA flying, that approach rarely works.
Instead, the question becomes:
Which addons improve ground reference, visual cues, and immersion without turning the simulator into a maintenance project?
Once viewed through that lens, the list becomes much shorter - and much more effective.
The Foundation: Making the Ground Believable
Two additions fundamentally change X-Plane as a VFR platform.
AutoOrtho & SimHeaven X-World
If there is a single addon that transforms X-Plane for GA flying, this is it.
AutoOrtho replaces generic ground textures with satellite imagery, bringing roads, rivers, shorelines, and terrain into alignment with reality. Suddenly pilotage works again. You can follow highways. You recognize towns. Cross-country flights begin to feel intentional instead of abstract.
Without ortho scenery, X-Plane struggles as a VFR environment. With it, the experience changes immediately.
The key is restraint. Ultra-high resolution everywhere isn’t necessary. Stability and performance matter more than chasing maximum detail. For most GA flying, moderate resolution provides the best balance.
Ortho imagery alone can look flat. What brings it to life is accurate placement of buildings, forests, and land use.
SimHeaven’s X-World fills in that missing layer:
Correct town layouts
Realistic building density
Proper industrial and residential areas
Believable forests and vegetation.
Together, AutoOrtho and X-World close much of the visual gap that has traditionally separated X-Plane from MSFS for VFR flying.
XPlane 12 AutoOrtho and Sim Heaven Benefits and Costs in HD
Not by copying MSFS - but by restoring visual meaning to the landscape.
The Details That Make GA Flying Feel Right
Once the ground environment works, smaller improvements begin to matter more.
The Airport Enhancement Pack improves ground textures and clutter at airports - important for GA pilots who spend more time taxiing, parking, and flying patterns than operating from large hubs.
X-Plane 12 with Airport Enhancement Package by X-Codr
Lighting adjustments, such as Bay’s Lighting Mod, improve dusk and dawn transitions where MSFS traditionally shines. The effect is subtle but noticeable during evening arrivals.
The Best Night Light Mod for X-Plane 12 | Freeware
AviTab becomes a practical kneeboard rather than a novelty, allowing charts, checklists, and navigation references to exist naturally within the cockpit.
And perhaps most overlooked of all, camera configuration tools allow the pilot to establish a correct eye position and sight picture - something that directly affects landing perception and consistency.
For GA flying, this matters more than visual spectacle.
What I’m Intentionally Ignoring
Many of the popular addons on “must have” lists are designed for different goals:
Complex airliner aircraft
Cinematic camera tools
Content creation utilities.
They solve problems I don’t have. My objective is flying, not filming.
A clean, stable environment always beats a complicated one.
The Honest Reality
Even fully configured, X-Plane will not replicate everything MSFS does visually. Photogrammetry cities and global streaming scenery remain outside its design philosophy.
But that isn’t the real comparison.
The question is whether X-Plane can provide:
Recognizable terrain for navigation
Believable environmental immersion
Enjoyable low-level VFR flying
Realistic handling and energy management.
The answer, increasingly, is yes.
And in some areas - particularly control feel and aircraft response - X-Plane remains exceptionally strong.
So… Can We Make It Better?
Yes. But the next step is not adding more visuals.
The next step is understanding what X-Plane already does better for GA flying - and learning how to lean into those strengths instead of chasing another simulator’s identity.
Over the years I've complained to my friends that X-Plane lacked the stunning visuals of P3D/ORBX and FS2020/FS2024. Last night's conversation with a fellow FSG@ member was no exception.
This morning, I came upon the video you see below. And now I'm having doubts. Is there really a way to make X-Plane as visually stunning as P3D/ORBX or FS2020/FSS2024?
Look for yourself - it's under 6 minutes long - and then tell me what you think.
Top 20 FREE X-Plane 12 Addons You MUST Have in 2026
I’ve always been fascinated by flying wings. To me, they've always looked graceful and efficient. As I write this post, two companies are discussing their new "blended-wing body" (Flying Wing) designs:
After the brothers moved to Argentine - of course they did - they continued their design activities until their deaths. But the Horten story doesn't end here. There's a new Horten Aircraft company and a new design to boot.
Interested in flying a Horten? You now have three fantastic choices: a.) like me, purchase a HO229, b.) consider becoming an investor or c.) pay some developer to bring a HX-2 version to FS2024, X-Plane or P3D?
Connecting flight simulation enthusiasts across Southeast Wisconsin and Northeast Illinois
About Us
The FSG@ Network is a volunteer-driven family of local flight simulation groups. It only takes three simmers to start your own group - and it’s free! Our mission: build home simulators, enhance flight safety and training, and foster camaraderie. Interested? Email us using the email form to the right of this screen.
Unfortunately, the January FSG@ Monthly Meeting was cancelled - Weather-Related.
Projected Meeting Highlights
Had the meeting actually taken place, we would have discussed the Onarga and Shoreland projects. They're going well.
Onarga Project
The simulator room is complete, and hardware purchases are underway as this post is written. The build process should begin within the next week.
Shoreland Project
Training is expected to begin on roughly the same timeline.
EAA Chapter 838 Donation
Most of the donated hardware has been picked up and is currently being tested - many thanks to Chapter 838.
Friday Lunches
We held three Friday lunches in December, and they now appear to be an embedded activity. If you’d like to join us, email me at flightsimulatorgroupat@gmail.com
Member Build Projects
The two previously discussed simulator builds - one based on X-Plane, the other on Microsoft FS2020 - are now complete. I’ve seen both, and they’re impressive.
Mike’s FS2020 Build
Mike’s setup is a three-screen FS2020 rig featuring a custom Stay Level Avionix instrument panel with Saitek yoke, rudder, and panels. Now retired, Mike is working toward his Virtual Private Pilot License (VPPL) and considers FSG@ his support group.
Scott’s IFR-Focused Simulator
Scott built his simulator to mirror the high-altitude, fast IFR flying he does in the real world. His rig is centered on RealSimGear's Modular Panel System, including an RSG Switch Panel and full RSG G1000 suite. Controls include Honeycomb's Alpha yoke, Bravo throttle, Charlie rudder pedals—and a striking 49" curved monitor.
Flight‑Sim‑Saturday-Flyoff - Planned for April or May 2026
This event will feature side-by-side comparisons of:
FSX
Prepar3D
DCS
X-Plane 12
Microsoft FS2024
It’s an ambitious project, and yes - it’s a stretch. But with a little help from our friends, we think it’ll be worth it.
