I have been flying MSFS since version 1 on an IBM XT . Since that time I have managed to keep my mouth shut for 27 years on Bulletin Boards, Flight Sim Clubs, Forums, Blogs et. al. My recent purchase of the PMDG JS4100 has broken the silence in not one, but two posts here. My objective is to grab PMDG

Taken from another thread...It might help:

There was a thread in which Armen told us about X-Mouse. Which basically allows you to look around the cockpit by pressing the "wheel" on your mouse alone. It's awesome! I have used it only for the past few days and I am loving it.Download and install X-Mouse HEREThen in FSX controls, assign ENTER (instead of SPACE) to "Mouse - View Direction". You will see 3 of them but just change the first one. And in the X-Mouse control window, assign ENTER to the Wheel Button on your mouse. Now you can look around the flight deck by pressing the wheel. You can even zoom in while looking around the flight deck all by using the wheel on your mouse.

If I would have written the thread with your exact text, I'd have titled it "The Good, The Better, The Best":( Just my two cents... or 45 US dollars.

I bought it last night to give it a shot and I'll tell the plane is amazing, no dout about it!BUT couldn't fly much due to a hell of a headache trying to see things around! Leo Soares

hi guys wasnt a fan either of 3d since been flying 2d for long time but noiw iam converted to the 3d option and find no troubles in viewing looking around etc since i just use the space and mouse to look around so i dont know what other people complaing about so the pmdg guys keep them coming in 3d mode

For me the easiest way to use the vc is having a joke with a pan switch where I can just move it around and it acts like swiveling my head. And a button nearby to reset, center, my view.

Without doubt, for me, the JS41 looks like the best aircraft ever produced for FS. I came very close to buying it, but have waited and read the many posts on this forum. Ultimately, for me, I can't buy an aircraft without a 2D panel. I'm aware of everything that's been done to make using a VC easier for dinosaurs like myself and in no way criticise anyone for their preferences - so please, don't shout at me for mine. Yes, maybe I'm missing out on something, but, at the end of the day, if a product is not pleasant for me to use, then there's no logic in purchasing it. Once again, I genuinely wish PMDG the very best of success with this product and hope that people see my post as general feedback from a satisfied MD-11, B744 PMDG client, with no ill will intended to anyone.

Well everyone is in-titled to there own pov.I could not disagree with you more on the very old style 2D panels.With ITracker a VC becomes close to reality as possible, looking round learning forward a bit to check a gauge etc. How can anyone think a static panel is real in anyway and the view from 2D is well...........Each to there own :( "The Good, The Better, The Best"+1PS the only use for a 2D panel is when people use more than one screen.

Gavin, Someone here made a modified aircraft.cfg with more views and one of them is a simulated 2D view.FRED

Yeah, I also don't see what's so bad about a 2D panel bot being available. I mean, with TrackIR this plane is loads of fun (even more than it is already), but even if you don't feel like sitting with a cap on your hand for a bit, the plane is still very easy to fly even without TrackIR. I suppose it's just what you are used to. I have always liked the VC and if I can, I fly from it, rather than from the 2D pale (except for doing FMC and A/P operations, and luckily, these are exactly the panels PMDG included in 2D mode!). If you have always flown from the 2D panel, and suddenly try out the VC, then yes, you will have trouble - AT FIRST. After a few days or weeks, you will get used to it and you will like it. But you have to force yourself not to go back to the 2D panel when you are getting into trouble. Stay in the VC and solve the problem from there. Really, it is such more fun to sit in the VC and turn you head, after which you "reach out" for a button to solve trouble, instead of pressing Shift+... and press a switch. Because it's so simple, it's also entirely unrealistic and rather... well. Boring, I guess. You lose the great interactivity you can have with your plane.Just my opinion of course, but I think people should try the VC out for longer than 3 hours before condemning it. You have to first get used to it, and that doesn't happen in 3 hours.

PS the only use for a 2D panel is when people use more than one screen.

Or people who have a 2-3 years old middle range computer... :(

Or people who have a 2-3 years old middle range computer... :(

Or a 5 years old laptop with a 15" screen B) But still able to smoothly run the 737 and 747 in FS9 :( Ah, NG-2 ! ...When will you see the light ? :(

I love the JS4100 it has to be one of the best/challenging aircraft ever created for FSX. But I think part of the "bad" would have to be the lack of a "shareable cockpit". With its high work load, complex checklists and ultra realistic procedures we need to follow to properly fly this beauty, a shareable cockpit would have been ideal- as is done in the real world. The FSX shareable cockpit has to be one of the best features ever incorporated into a simulator, IMHO. But unfortunately we are limited to using only the default aircraft and just one payware aircraft that I am aware of. Here's to hoping that PMDG incorporates the shareable cockpit feature into some of its future releases!

just to add to the thread waiting for fscrew2 to come out in this would make thing abit easier lol

Gavin, Someone here made a modified aircraft.cfg with more views and one of them is a simulated 2D view.FRED

I wonder if that post will help you guys? I think it was by the user "3-2-1 now."I haven't tried it myself but you might want to look at it. Either that or the post about X-Mouse above and the ability to look around the cockpit using your mouse.My computer is around 2 years old and I am loving the use of VC! Even if the 2D panel was there, I probably wouldn't use it much!But like it was mentioned everyone has their own opinions. "The good, The better, The best." +2