I've just downloaded the newest version and when I go to run with the 172 the panel appears upside-down, it's always nighttime, I can't fly, and the only terrain shown is water. Everything loads fine. I haven't compiled anything - do I need to?Any help would be appreciated.ThanksJohn

>I've just downloaded the newest version and when I go to run>with the 172 the panel appears upside-down,You didn't say WHICH c172 aircraft specifically you are using (there are various sets available). However, you can switch panels at runtime if you use the 's' key (default setting).>it's always nighttime,I think that's the default for startup, but you can modify the environment settings by going to the "weather" menu, in order to modify the time of day, go to the corresponding menu entry "Time", where you can choose between "dusk, dawn, evening, noon">I can't fly,You will have to follow the start up procedures for the corresponding aircraft, i.e. switching the engine on, extending flaps, pushing the throttle in etc. in order to be able to actually fly.Please note that there's some documentation available under $FG_ROOT/Docs, as well as on the FlightGear webpages or the FlightGear wiki.>and the only terrain shown is water.Most likely, you have specified a non default airport for which (currently) no scenery is installed, so in order to get to see any scenery at all, you will either have to start up at one of the default airports (i.e. KSFO) or simply go to flightgear.org and download scenery for your area of interest. If you don't download any additional scenery, you will merely have the default scenery (SFO area) installed.>Everything loads fine. I haven't compiled anything - do I need>to?No, you shouldn't have to.Just make sure to use an aircraft that's considered to be functional, with a matching panel (i.e. c172p with 2D/3D panel). And start up FlightGear at an airport for which you have scenery installed (if you are interested in VFR flying).>Any help would be appreciated.Just in case that you should need further help and don't get the necessary responses here, please note that this forum isn't really officially supported by the FlightGear developers, many of whom seem to prefer using the FlightGear mailing lists in order to provide support to users and developers.So, you are encouraged to subscribe to the FlightGear mailing list if you keep having problems, however please note that you will have to provide much more detailed information in order to enable people to help you, for example it would be minimally required to post what OS/version you are using, how you are starting FlightGear (i.e. via fgrun?), the hardware specs of your system etc.Also, note that lots of information is available by searching the FlightGear mailing list archives.

>> I've just downloaded the newest version and when I go to>> run with the 172 the panel appears upside-down,There's AFAIK only one aircraft with upside-down panel. Just use any of the other aircraft (or find the responsible XML file and change the flip-x property).>>it's always nighttime,>>I think that's the default for startup,Hehe. That wouldn't be a bright idea, would it? fgfs always starts from an airport in real time. If you are European and run fgfs at midday in KSFO, chances are high that you get KSFO by night. Either use an airport where it's actually day, or do what hfitz suggested -- set the time in the dialog. You can also set it in the fgrun launcher, or on the command line: --timeofday=noon. Put it into your local config file, if you please.