GWJ FBO: Flight Simulation Catch-all

Evo wrote:

Jeff, does your version of FSX have the Rod Machiado lessons in the game? You should take those if you haven't already. It does a good job of teaching you the basics, which will make you a better pilot in FSX and any other game you play. It also has some very basic stuff on navigation, using approach plates, ILS, and flying heavies. If you don't know how to coordinate turns, choose a climb rate, or trim the plane properly, you should do the lessons. You'll be a much more efficient pilot for it.

I'm not sure if Machiado's stuff is in it or not. Wasn't his in FS2004? Whatever the tutorials are in FSX Standard, I'm going through them, as well as all the missions.

I also ordered the book I mentioned a few posts above, and I think that's going to be where I gain a lot of knowledge. That will arrive tomorrow.

Oh, and Evo, I got REX 2.0 ... installing now

Jeff-66 wrote:
Evo wrote:

Jeff, does your version of FSX have the Rod Machiado lessons in the game? You should take those if you haven't already. It does a good job of teaching you the basics, which will make you a better pilot in FSX and any other game you play. It also has some very basic stuff on navigation, using approach plates, ILS, and flying heavies. If you don't know how to coordinate turns, choose a climb rate, or trim the plane properly, you should do the lessons. You'll be a much more efficient pilot for it.

I'm not sure if Machiado's stuff is in it or not. Wasn't his in FS2004? Whatever the tutorials are in FSX Standard, I'm going through them, as well as all the missions.

I also ordered the book I mentioned a few posts above, and I think that's going to be where I gain a lot of knowledge. That will arrive tomorrow.

Oh, and Evo, I got REX 2.0 ... installing now

There should be an icon on the main dashboard that says "Lessons" which is separate from the Missions menu. It should be in your version, as I think the only thing the Deluxe pack has over the standard is some additional missions, aircraft, and airport scenery.

Evo wrote:

There should be an icon on the main dashboard that says "Lessons" which is separate from the Missions menu. It should be in your version, as I think the only thing the Deluxe pack has over the standard is some additional missions, aircraft, and airport scenery.

I just checked. From the main menu there's a "Learning Center", and in there a tab for Lessons. Sure enough, the Machado lessons are there. Thanks!

OMG ...

REX 2.0 is awesome. If you have FSX, you've got to get this add-on.

I just did a flight that was recommended in the FSX manual. You take off from Jacarepagua in Rio, and head east. I had REX handling the weather and set the flight time to daybreak. I flew over the city, then out over the ocean where the sun was coming up. REX's weather system is stunning. The combo of the rain, the incredibly lifelike clouds, and the sunrise reflecting over the water was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a video game. If I knew how the hell to take screenshots in FSX, I would show some. When I press "PrntScrn", it just shows up as a black screen in Paint. The Kneeboard thing says press V, i tried that, but if it's taking shots, I don't know where they are stored.

edit: I have kind of a dumb question.

Ok, let's say I'm flying the Cessna. If I use the F10 view, which is the static cockpit, the dash takes up like 80% of the screen vertically, and I can't see forward. Is this normal? The F9 view (3D cockpit) isn't much better for a forward view.

What view settings do you guys normally fly in (FSX) and do you change often? Also, if your view is set to outside the plane, is there a way to see a few gauges on the screen (like the altimeter)?

Jeff-66 wrote:

edit: I have kind of a dumb question.

Ok, let's say I'm flying the Cessna. If I use the F10 view, which is the static cockpit, the dash takes up like 80% of the screen vertically, and I can't see forward. Is this normal? The F9 view (3D cockpit) isn't much better for a forward view.

What view settings do you guys normally fly in (FSX) and do you change often? Also, if your view is set to outside the plane, is there a way to see a few gauges on the screen (like the altimeter)?

Glad you like REX. There's a good keyboard command sheet here (PDF) that has most of the view commands. I prefer to fly in F9 VC view, I believe in the view menu (when you press ALT while in game) there's the option to bring up certain static panels like the radio stack or the altimeter, which will overlay the VC. You can click and drag them around the screen and resize them to your preference.

If you don't want to mess with any of that, you can bind keys on your joystick to pan the camera around the cockpit (should do that by default with the joystick hat, if it has one), and to move your viewpoint up and down and zoom it in and out. You can see what those are by default in the keyboard commands I linked above. Once you get familiar with moving the camera around in the cockpit, you won't need the static gauge overlays for the most part.

If you want to avoid all that crap above, just get TrackIR.

Evo wrote:

If you want to avoid all that crap above, just get TrackIR.

It's on the way. shipped yesterday. Can't wait!

I'm having a time taking screenshots. If I press Print Screen, and paste into Paint, it's black. I just tried a 3rd party screen cap tool, and I get bizarre results with that. I press the hotkey for a snap, and my results are about 3/4 black, and 1/4 my desktop. Googled around and read the Help and it says pressing V in the sim will take a screenshot. I read somewhere they're supposed to be saved in the My Pictures folder, but I don't see them there.

edit: nm, found them. I had relocated My Documents to D: and it still left a My Docs on C: and the game stored them in the old location.

TrackIR is awesome - I cannot imagine playing without it

I think that when you are in the static cockpit you can drag it down as well (and resize it from what I remember).

try hovering your mouse near the top of the panel to see if it changes to a resize cursor

I received my Saitek X52 yesterday. It was like going from a Piper Cub to an F16, to use a plane analogy. A wonderful piece of hardware, though it's going to take a while to figure everything out. The number of buttons, hats, triggers, sliders and dials on this setup is incredible. One of the hats on the main stick has come in very handy for looking around the cockpit till my TrackIR arrives.

One amusing thing about it -- the disc that came with it had profiler software version 4.xx, dated 2002. I downloaded the latest, but why the hell would they put 8 year old software in the box?

If anyone has any X52 profiles they'd like to share, I'd love to try them. Specifically for FSX and IL2-1946, but any other sims you might have would be welcome. I'm not so much looking for links to profiles, but rather for ones created by you goodjers.

Here's a shot of me flying at dawn, I forget the location:

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/cb/a9/0d/3021212/0/800/fsxss01.jpg)

Filthy enablers, the lot of you. I go through horrendous flight sim kicks every few years or so. With the "advent" of things like TrackIR my least favorite aspect may be a thing of the past. All of these pictures your sunsabishes are putting up are not helping.

Well if it's just pictures that you need, here's some moving pictures of some clips I captured.

This was pre-UP2.0. Some other goodjers were flying with me at the time for some of these clips.

Played some FSX last night with the scout package i bought from real air. Still loads of fun and if you are looking for some great planes that are simple I highly recommend them. I'm not much of a jet user and I find that these planes have just enough sophistication that I can get immersed in the world without having to know what a million switches and knobs are. Also the cockpits in them blow away anything that come with FSX.

Take a look at it if you are interested - http://www.realairsimulations.com/fl...

One thing that I still find poor is the stock scenery with FSX. Does REX 2.0 improve the terrain or is it just clouds/rain/water...? Any other terrain packs recommended?

lactose wrote:

Played some FSX last night with the scout package i bought from real air. Still loads of fun and if you are looking for some great planes that are simple I highly recommend them. I'm not much of a jet user and I find that these planes have just enough sophistication that I can get immersed in the world without having to know what a million switches and knobs are. Also the cockpits in them blow away anything that come with FSX.

Take a look at it if you are interested - http://www.realairsimulations.com/fl...

One thing that I still find poor is the stock scenery with FSX. Does REX 2.0 improve the terrain or is it just clouds/rain/water...? Any other terrain packs recommended?

There are some ridiculously good terrain packs, but they are also 'somewhat pricey' up to crazy-ass expensive.

I got Ground Environment X, and it works well with Real Environment Extreme.

There's also: FTX- amazing stuff. There's a free one they do that gives you the entire island of Tasmania. It's a must see.

MegaSceneryEarth -- VERY expensive, but also very impressive, IMO. The state of California alone is $200. I picked up my home county, Volusia county, FL, for $7.50 and have very much enjoyed it.

Others might be able to tell you of more.

I've been kicking around reinstalling FS-X and going for some flights. I used to love taking a Learjet on short hops from DIA to surrounding airports, but the most fun I had was doing a tour across Australia on a multiplayer server.

I picked up Wings of Prey last week and had a chance to sit down and play some of the tutorials last night. It's a lot of fun and looks great. I'm looking forward to digging into Realistic and Simulator modes. Anyone interested in setting up a night to play online?

Surprisingly, for myself, I've been able to stay away from extra content for FS:X...for now. Some great shots.

Here's one of my favorite flights. Take off from Jackson Hole airport and fly north along the Snake River, flying along the Tetons.

IMAGE(http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7787/20103316354554.png)

I set the weather to real world, but the visibility was about 100 yards. Opened it up for the SS.

Rob_Anybody wrote:

I picked up Wings of Prey last week and had a chance to sit down and play some of the tutorials last night. It's a lot of fun and looks great. I'm looking forward to digging into Realistic and Simulator modes. Anyone interested in setting up a night to play online?

I'll probably play if it's co-op. If it's VS mode, I doubt I'd be interested.

Druid, that sounds like a nice flight. I'll add it to my to-do list.

One that I took last night was fantastic. Take off from Jacarepagua in Rio at daybreak, and fly out east over the ocean for an incredible sunrise.

Rob_Anybody wrote:

I picked up Wings of Prey last week and had a chance to sit down and play some of the tutorials last night. It's a lot of fun and looks great. I'm looking forward to digging into Realistic and Simulator modes. Anyone interested in setting up a night to play online?

I should be around later this evening depending on work - look for me on steam 'bail0ut' and vent

Cause I enjoy posting pictures n stuff.... Here's one from WoP - amazing framerate from this game.
IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4404275755_54304776d5.jpg)

Nyxs Optare wrote:

Cause I enjoy posting pictures n stuff.... Here's one from WoP - amazing framerate from this game.

I played some earlier. It's a gorgeous game, and the first mission was fun. Here's a few of my shots:

Here you can see some of the nice shadows and lighting, and the beautiful terrain.

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/93/31/83/3024716/0/800/wop01.jpg)

Here's a peek at my shot up left wing:

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/37/cc/92/3024717/0/800/wop02.jpg)

That 2nd shot TOTALLY looks like my plane most of the time.

anyway for me to import my terrain from WOP to FSX

lactose wrote:

anyway for me to import my terrain from WOP to FSX :)

No kidding. You have to pay big money to get terrain like that in FSX. When I fired up WoP today, I thought, 'damn, these visuals are going to spoil me.'

Btw, I got my book today:

IMAGE(http://img2.pict.com/37/9e/28/3002836/0/fsxbook.jpg)

This thing is like a freakin' phone book. 700+ pages!

lactose wrote:

I should be around later this evening depending on work - look for me on steam 'bail0ut' and vent

Shoot, sorry I missed you lactose. I didn't really even touch my computer last night. I'm going to try and get online tonight though, probably around 8:30'ish EST. Steam id is "Rob_Anybody82"

Rob_Anybody wrote:
lactose wrote:

I should be around later this evening depending on work - look for me on steam 'bail0ut' and vent

Shoot, sorry I missed you lactose. I didn't really even touch my computer last night. I'm going to try and get online tonight though, probably around 8:30'ish EST. Steam id is "Rob_Anybody82"

I'll look for you a little later , but I have a hockey game at 8:00 so I won't be on until 10 at the earliest. I'm out after that for a week but would be willing to play some multiplayer FSX as well - formation flying in Cessnas

Ack, change o' plans. Probably not going to be on tonight. Some friends just got into town and they want to get together. I may be on later in the evening, depending on how late they want to stay out.

Anyone have a G940 that is getting force feedback in Wings of Prey other than setting spring centering in Windows (which is not even really FF)? I know there is no official profile in-game but maybe I am missing something.

On a side note, I'm trying to get UP 2.0 installed now. Last time I could not get 6DOF on my TrackIR4 to work in game, just 4DOF. We will see. And I really wish IL2 supported triple-wide.

In WOP i need to work out the settings my trusty Microsoft FF2. Feels like I am constantly fighting the stick. Is this because of the centering... seems to only happen when I set it to simulation. No amount of trimming helps

I can get the x and y axis plus head tilting working on my rig (Windows 7 64bit) - have not got zooming or panning working but I tend to use those the least so not a big deal.

Could your settings be off in the TrackIR program, I think by default some of the axis are disabled.

I am really tempted to pick up the logitech, but there are some new sticks coming out from saitek and thrustmaster that I want to see first. I have never liked the saiteks but apparently the thrustmaster one is going to be very realistic.

I got the TrackIR today. Holy crap that thing is awesome. The increased visibility for combat in Wings of Prey is wonderful. The motion of the camera movement is very smooth and natural. I'm now a believer

I'd say that if you're into flight sims and don't have one of these, get one. You won't regret it. If it's out of budget at the moment, make sure to make it your next b'day present

MisterStatic wrote:

Anyone have a G940 that is getting force feedback in Wings of Prey other than setting spring centering in Windows (which is not even really FF)? I know there is no official profile in-game but maybe I am missing something.

On a side note, I'm trying to get UP 2.0 installed now. Last time I could not get 6DOF on my TrackIR4 to work in game, just 4DOF. We will see. And I really wish IL2 supported triple-wide.

6DOF works great with my TIR 4.0

Also I have a present for you

Stylez wrote:

6DOF works great with my TIR 4.0

Hmmm - which of the mods are you using? - the list has quite a few and I don't think I tried all of them.