Dear all,My is irfan, i am new member here. i want to know and want to learn how to operate flight sim, but i am still confused how to use it. any one can help how to operate flight simulator?and i have some questions,1. what is the different between flight simuator 2004 and flight simulator X ?2. what is the different between flight sim and PMDG ?3. What is an add on? is it an additional software that attached to flight sim?is there anyone can share to me about tutorials flight simulator 2004? and i would like to know all about flight instrument and use of it.Thank you very much for your support and appreciation.irfan

Hi IrfanFirst of all, welcome to AVSIM's forums, nice to have you here. That's a lot of questions you have, so let's have a go at answering them..Flight Simulator 2004 was the ninth version of Flight Simulator to be produced, and so it occasionally also gets called FS9. FSX was the tenth version and so the X in the name is the Roman numeral for ten. FSX does occasionally get referred to as FS10, but not very often.FS9, or to give it its proper name, FS 2004: A Century of Flight, rather unsurprisingly, came out at about the the time its name suggests, although actually in 2003 since it was intended to celebrate the centenary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's first powered flight in 1903.FS10, or Flight Simulator X to give that one its proper name, came out in 2006. This of course means that FSX is the newer and more advanced version of Flight Simulator, but it also means it is the one that requires a much faster and newer computer in order to run smoothly, which is one of the reasons why FS 2004 (FS9) still remains popular with many users.The main differences between the two versions are mostly fairly small (especially when you are just getting into using them), so I would not really concern yourself with the differences at this point, and if you are considering getting into using one of them, then I would recommend starting with FS 2004, since it is cheaper and works better on an average computer. FSX is great, but you can leave it for later!PMDG is a company, the name is an abbreviation of Precision Manuals Design Group. They are a company that make separate add-on aircraft which you can buy and install into Flight Simulator. Which of course answers your question about what an add-on is, although add-on things for Flight simulator can be more than aircraft, and can include scenery of various countries and airports, additional features for the simulator, sounds, paint schemes for your aircraft and all that kind of thing. You'll find that there are both freeware and payware add-ons, payware ones you have to buy of course, but there are many more freeware ones and if you click on the 'file library' link at the top of the main AVSIM page, you'll see that there are thousands of them in AVSIM's searchable library, which you can download for nothing.When it comes to payware, there are many different ones, all different prices of course, and some are better than others. PMDG is generally thought of as the best payware company by most flight simulator users; they make very realistic add-on airliners for flight simulator, which are much like the real aeroplanes in the way they behave, and so they can be difficult to get used to, but very rewarding to master. There is a shop link also at the top of the AVSIM main page (AVSIM Store) where you can buy some add-ons, but you can also go to many other commercial websites and buy stuff too of course.AVSIM also has tutorials, which are written and submitted by forum users and are extremely helpful, although the AVSIM tutorial section is fairly new and so it has yet to have a lot of tutorials in there, but there are already quite a few. Look in the top half of the AVSIM main forum page for the Tutorial section. It's also worth looking at the knowledge base tutorials which are included in Flight Simulator itself. These have numerous lessons which can show you everything from the basics of getting started in a training plane such as the Cessna 172, right up to flying the airliners included in FS, such as the Boeing 747 (in FSX) or the Boeing 777 (in FS9). When you have mastered all that, you will probably then want something very realistic to fly, and that will be the time to pay PMDG's website a visit (or any of the other payware makers who also create very realistic add-on aircraft).Hope that helps a bit.Shout up with any more questions you have and make sure you join in the fun on the forums, you'll find lots of people willing to help you.Al

Welcome, Irfan!Al pretty much covered it all, but I'd like to recommend an ILS landing tutorial (http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=COF;action=display;num=1111322151) that I constantly referenced in my early days of flying. There's plenty more out there, too; Google should point you in the right direction.