newbie question

[Guest]

Hey everyone:I just picked up a copy of MSFS 2002 - Professional. I have been flying with FLYII for a while. Just had to try out this sim. What add-ons and/or upgrades are a must, and which ones would you recommend?Thanks

[Guest Lindy]

Oh gee, what a question. There are so many addons and sceneries, it's almost impossible to point out the best things. :-eek If you enjoy mostly GA flying, you should check out the BFU and Bush Flying forums here at Avsim. As a general start, I'd recommend you get Gerrish Grey's replacement trees and replacement autogen buildings files. You'll find them in the library. Tons of people use FSUIPC and swear by it. I haven't tried it yet myself, but you might want to check it out. And to make you feel a little more at home (being a Fly!2 transplant), Mike Stone has a nice Piper Malibu in the library, and there's a cool repaint of it in there too. :DBasically get used to using the sim as default and when you're comfortable, go into the Library and start looking around.I'm also a transplanted Fly!2 user and I've certainly found a second home here with FS2K2. (I spend most of my time flying in the Alaska/Canadian bush sceneries.)Good luck and welcome aboard.-Lindy :-wave

[Guest]

All of these reccomendations are for GA, my personal niche, but theres a huge concentration of commercial stuff. Definitely anything by FSD or Bill Lyons (check out his Custom Classics, they're incredible deals and help support the GES, that is as far as payware goes, for freeware almost anything by Mikko is a winner, especially his Stationair II. Scenery-wise, I'd wholeheartedly suggest Georender 1 & 2, and Emma Field, along with the Hurricane/Escalante scenery at www.georender.com. Theres lots of good freeware GA scenery out there, but I'd wholeheartedly suggest those, as they are simply the best GA/Bush airports in existence for FS2002. Lastly, if you're into realism, a must get is the RealityXP flight line avionics (www.realityxp.com). I know its a lot of payware, and if you're not used to it there is quite a bit of good GA freeware out, but personally I find that when I need a real complete package, or something totally new I have to go for payware.ScottEdit: Forgot to mention, theres an incredible Meigs Scenery package out at flightsim.com thats freeware (you can sort of see it in my sig). And also, mustn't forget LAGO FS Scenery Enhancer, its got most of its application as commercial, but you can definitely spruce up your local GA airport with some of the objects.

[Guest]

HI and welcomeI agree with Lindy.. First get used to the sim in its default state. Get it working nicely and learn how the thing works straight out of the box. After a week or three start adding stuff.FSUIPCAutogen replacements. Trees and buildings by GerrishReplacement Lights, raindrop and clouds By FSW.real_moon.zipLandclassTerrain meshPosky aircraftPss 747 and 777 panels (payware)....er..... and many many more thingsBut most of all.... have fun!:-)Pete

[Steve Cannell 4]

Welcome Starman1. Well I'm into commercial airliners so I'll recommond what I believe to be the best offering for FS2002. The PSS A320 Airbus http://www.phoenix-simulation.co.uk/It's priddy much all I fly. Don't forget to read the manuals and fly the tutorial flights. :-)2. To enhance FS2002 clouds and weather get two freeware programs available in the avsim library : - Fs Sky World 2002SE (fantastic clouds)- ActiveSky (download real weather data)3. Now here's two more must have freeware addons to enhance your AI aircraft experience.Go to Project AI http://www.projectai.com/and download all their auto-installers of frame rate friendly aircraft, liveries and scheduels.Also in the avsim library you will need a program called AFCAD. What this does is allow you to add additional gates at airports for all these new aircraft to land. You can also find in the library pre done files to save you all the work.CheersSteveCYYZ

[Gavin 99]

HiI'd like to recommend Bill Grabowski's ERJ-145 panel package. Go to www.fsnordic.net for download and support site. There's a nice TU-134 package there also. If you want to try Russian aircraft, go to www.flightsim.ru for a beautiful TU-154B, many liveries available. You may need to learn a little cyrillic to navigate the site - not too difficult. The DASH-7 package is great too, available here at AVSIM.Come to think of it, there's a lot of good freeware around. I get a lot of 'leads' from this forum.My favourite payware aircraft are PIC767 and Dreamfleet 734-400, worth every Polish Zloty I spent on them!Have fun!!Gavin

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for your recommendations. I have been studying for a test which I take this Sunday. When I get back I will start adding on. Again, thank you all.StarmanTTrey