Hello,Does anyone wonder why us "simmers" become Simaholics? After spending the initial $40.00 to $70.00 on MSSX, then we buy Scenery at $30. to $40. a pop, then more on aircraft and then more on weather software and then Flight Planning software, etc, etc, etc. WHEW!! After we are somewhat happy with what we created, it has cost us $500.00 to $1000.00!!!! This does not include the PC that we have to have that has enough power to handle our creation!!!Is there a doctor in the house???!!!

Hello,Does anyone wonder why us "simmers" become Simaholics? After spending the initial $40.00 to $70.00 on MSSX, then we buy Scenery at $30. to $40. a pop, then more on aircraft and then more on weather software and then Flight Planning software, etc, etc, etc. WHEW!! After we are somewhat happy with what we created, it has cost us $500.00 to $1000.00!!!! This does not include the PC that we have to have that has enough power to handle our creation!!!Is there a doctor in the house???!!!

The next step is rw aviation...are you ready-along with golf and boating (and an amortization of what your car costs in the same way one figures what an aircraft costs) ?! ...scary stuff... :(

Geoff mentioned real-world aviation. Go to your local airport and arrange a test flight with an instructor. Go up, have fun, then once you're back on the ground, work out how much it'd cost to get your pilot's license. Then figure the cost of renting a plane for a few weekend hops, then adding an instrument ticket, and eventually buying into a share of a real plane.I guarantee you you'll never bellyache about FS addon prices again. :(

I actually started off with simming, then went to real-world aviation to start earning my license, soloed when I was 16, then just flat out got bored with flying. I took a ride in an R-22 with a Navy pilot (flight instructor at a local school) and almost instantly lost an interest in airplanes. It was so completely different it was amazing. It actually felt like "flying". Unfortunately, helicopter career traiing were/are so expensive my two jobs would have never been enough to cover the cost. I guess I never really "lost" an interest in fixed-wing aircraft it was just that I became so enamoured with helicopter flight it made the fixed-wing experience just seem "lacking". So now I spend so much money on FS add-ons I probably could have paid off a real MD500. LOLStrangely, I do not fly helos in FS at all.

Geoff mentioned real-world aviation. Go to your local airport and arrange a test flight with an instructor. Go up, have fun, then once you're back on the ground, work out how much it'd cost to get your pilot's license. Then figure the cost of renting a plane for a few weekend hops, then adding an instrument ticket, and eventually buying into a share of a real plane.I guarantee you you'll never bellyache about FS addon prices again. :(

Couldn't agree more Bill and Geof...FS is a steal compared to one day or even one hour in the real world. :(

Couldn't agree more Bill and Geof...FS is a steal compared to one day or even one hour in the real world. :(

Yes it is but then again the FPS is great :( :(

I drifted into flight sim some years ago from the model railroad world. I was a very high end--quality wise-- modeler building a detailed layout illustrating logging practices in West Virginia in 1910. At the level of modeling at which I worked it was not uncommon to spend $800-$1000, per month!! $50.00 airplanes and other programming expensive? Give me a break!!

Yes it is but then again the FPS is great :( :(

And the buildings don't popup either. :(

And the buildings don't popup either. :(

True, but in the RW you can't shut Crash off! :( Stephen

True, but in the RW you can't shut Crash off! :( Stephen

Eeuuww, that's true. :(

I drifted into flight sim some years ago from the model railroad world. I was a very high end--quality wise-- modeler building a detailed layout illustrating logging practices in West Virginia in 1910. At the level of modeling at which I worked it was not uncommon to spend $800-$1000, per month!! $50.00 airplanes and other programming expensive? Give me a break!!

Just a few months after finally "completing" my 1,500 sq/ft basement "Empire," I had to tear it down and box it up for a move to my new home. Twelve years later......it's still sitting in the basement in boxes......all $35,000+ worth of it! :(

Just a few months after finally "completing" my 1,500 sq/ft basement "Empire," I had to tear it down and box it up for a move to my new home. Twelve years later......it's still sitting in the basement in boxes......all $35,000+ worth of it! :(

Why not set it up again? My dad had a small RR in our basement when I was a kid! I loved every minute of it! Especially turning off the lights hehe

"Setting it up again" may not be all that easy. A high end layout is not like that Athern train set you buy and snap together. My layout required more than five years intensive (I'm pretty compulsive) work to complete. For those who have never experienced an advanced model RR, it took 8-10 guys to operate my RR. Operations are modeled after the real word--like flight simming using VATSIM, not a canned program like RC (as good as it may be) and take several hours to complete. Operating requires a dispatcher (think ATC that will come down there and make you sorry if you don't obey), and train crews (think pilot and co-pilot and more besides). Operating can also be compared to solving a gigantic puzzle. Great fun.Maybe we better talk about flight sim now?

Flight simming may be cheaper than RW flying, but accessing flight sim cash is tougher.My wife's extremely encouraging when it comes to flight training. She won't blink if I drop a couple hundred bucks for a flight lesson at the airport.But if I try to convince her I need to spend $150 on something like this......she shakes her head and tells me she'll glue some knobs on a box for me for half the price.

Couldn't agree more Bill and Geof...FS is a steal compared to one day or even one hour in the real world. :(

When I learned to fly in the 50's, it cost me $6 per hour for a Cessna 140, instructor and gas. I figure that today it's about 4 times the cost after correcting for inflation ($6 then equals $45 now). If only I could take the money I have now and do things for what I paid then. Thanks to FSX, I can.