http://www.dirks-software.ca/fs-force/index.htmIf so what are your first impressions? I think I'll download this evening and give it a go.Victor

Well, I only tried to takeoff with it so far, and with PMDG except for tiny stick shakes every 2 seconds, felt nothing else.Maybe because PMDG N1 is at 94%.

I tried it with great hopes and expectations....so far they have not been fulfilled. I installed, turned off the FF and turned off the trim on the joystick, set profiles for quite a few ships with my focus being on helicopters. I got very little in the way of any FF, even with dropping the skids hard, a bump every now and again. little to no resistance while in flight, even cranked up a Tstorm with high winds. I was hoping for a little vibration as well, but nada. I know you can go in and tweak the profiles, but I expected more from a default one.It is a great concept and I'll probably try it again, but I am short on time and had hoped to get a glimmer of what it would do without totally having to tweak it.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

Hello All,Way back when, I had a MS force feedback joystick just for grins . . . A. it really didn't impress me much. B. I thought it's construction was rather flimsy and lastly, before this stuff would work, it would have to be like feeling a real stick or yoke in a 'real' aircraft for me to give up my AETI yoke and controls.A friend has a MS jstick, (a new FFB unit) and we tried the program last evening with his stick . . . wasn't impressed . . . could have been doing something wrong, but I doubt it . . .oh well.Clay

I'm not sure why some of you are not getting what I'm getting, but I am one who tested it, and later bought it. Using a Microsoft FF2 joystick, and followed Russell Dirk's instrucs. FS Force has its own folder, and from there I just ran the exe. file. I turned off force and trim assignments in MSFS, and the program does as advertised. I have more feel to the stick, more tension, more control, and I feel runway dividers, braking force, gear up/down, gear buffeting when first released, touchdowns (absolutely incredible), and crashes are much amplified. I have my stick set to maximum forces, as I always have, because "pre-FSFORCE", the stick was next to unresponsive. The stick doesn't feel wimpy to me anymore. It feels substantial.I'm very surprised that the above comments don't see a significant improvement after trying the program.

Hi MosheThere should be more happening than that.With my MSFF2 the following happens in the default 737When n1 passes 80% you can feels the engine vibrations, as you go past 50 kts the ground bump effects come in, which speed up as the aircraft gains speed, at rotation as you continue to gain speed the resistance on the stick increases.You could try bringing up the profile manager, check under the aircraft list to see which profile is assigned to the PMDG ( probably jet medium).Go to the profile section , click the appropriate profile then click editUnder the ground ops tab check which profile is seleceted, I use Run up vibes heavy.CheersJohn

That's really too bad, I can't think of another recent offering that's been as heavily pre-sold (hyped?) as this one, I guess I'll wait to hear a few more comments from others before trying it out. I know there's a free trial period of 10 flights, but it's not worth the trouble setting it up if results are as poor as reported above...Best,Joel

I was hoping that this would be a good add-on. I've d/l'ed it. havent tried it but read the install. Thing is, who wants to fly a 737 with a stick espically when you have a yoke? I think the program has merit but the cost is out of the ball park for the use. $9.95 sound reasonable otherwise theres no real demand from me. My 2cents.NPI guess I'm just now warming up to the fact that there are still authors out there who can make unbelievable addons like the recent Boston scenery who still do it for the fun and not $ reward.

Okay, Joel, then here's another opinion for ya. I was one of Russel's beta testers too, and I've found it to be quite and enjoyable product to use. I love how configurable it is and I think the stick reactions feel a LOT more realistic than the default FS forces. But I'd have to say my favorite part is the trimming. Using his module you can really feel the pressure lessen as you get "in trim". I use FFB and a stick to fly any of my FS aircraft for which it'd be appropriate, and it's really improved my flying of a few of them. Most notably, I've found myself flying the Captain Sim F104 a lot more. It's a very quirky plane to fly, but using FSForce I've finally achieved some level of proficiency flying this beast because I can properly feel its reactions and trim it well. Remember though, having realistic trim forces is only half the equation. You also have to have a stick that's up to the job. When I first started using it, I borrowed my son's Logitech Wingman Force 3D. Using that stick, I'd have to say I was unimpressed. The forces were mushy and lacked any real punch, and I wasn't feeling much of any bump on landing or taxiway vibrations. Then, remembering a good experience I'd had a few years back, I searched Ebay for an old original Logitech Wingman USB FFB stick. Man, what a difference! This stick is one solid piece of hardware. And the cable-driven FFB system is very strong indeed. With this stick, I've really come to like FSForce quite a lot. And the best part of it was that I got the stick for $10 US! In fact, I bought two of them so I'd have a backup in case anything happened to it. Bush flying is a lot more fun now with this setup. And that's coming from someone who just plunked down some serious change a few months ago for a Vmax Yoke!Anyway, that's my $.02. Oh, and don't get me started on how much this setup has improved my enjoyment of RealAir's SF.260 ;-).thanks,

I installed it and just got a slight vibration every 2-3 secs. nothing more. But when I turned off the default flight simulator force feed settings. It worked. I think thats what some of you are not doing. Im not sure if it says so in the read me file or not, (I rarely read them), but I think thats what you have to do to get it to work right. It worked for me. Unfortunatley, even when getting it to work as it should, I was not too impressed with it. Its very nice, but not worth $40 bucks IMO.Robert

Stan, everything you just described I want to experience! I love FF and use it all the time, some aircraft have better forces than others depending on the programing in the aircraft cfg. For instance the Super Otter has a ton of stiffness in the stick by default and upon loading it with FSForce, it was pretty limp. I'll give it another try, but I just didn't have the time to sit and tweak it all since nothing happened with the default settings.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

I tried, I got a Saitek Cyborg 3D Force Joystick, definetly a huge improvement from the default force feed back, no more now when in the skies all of a sudden sharp left or right, and the ground handling is way nicer, I am not sure if I would 45 CAD though, that seems really high, I paid 50 CAD for FS 2004, so to pay 45 bucks just for an addon?, doubtful I will, but I will wait and see.

Okay, turned off the FF in FS, and now I feel more forces, but as you said, still not impressed at all. Maybe at 5$ it would be nice.

Hello all again,I guess I didn't wish to sound as sour grapes as I did, however, my main point was that before I would give up the precision of my AETI (precision flight controls) yoke and pedals, it would have to be very close to the real thing . . . and in my opinion, it is NOT.Perhaps it is the hardware that is lacking . . . but until there is a yoke with the quality of AETI (again precision flight controls), using FFB then I will have to stick with what I have. And, the price is a bit high in my estimation. Best to all and didn't mean to offend anyone . . . but knowing me, you also know I just call them as I see them.Clayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (rtired)"Drac"

Hi,Those fellow pilots who felt only one bump every 2-3 seconds, have they switched off FF in the sim? I had this problem as a betatester also. After doing that I had great fun, felt much more realistic when flying. Although strange that betatesters have to pay for the software they have tested or is just me :-badteethRob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://www.emotipad.com/emoticons/Flying.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"