Pro Flight Emulator thoughts

[BenW 0]

Chaps, Bored waiting for Radar Contact v5, I've had a bash at Pro Flight Emulator. I was initially put off because it doesn't seem to be that widely used in the community and the few youtube videos that show it are pretty poor. I also for some reason expected the voices to be robotic and or computer generated. I have to say once I fired it up I was delighted with the level of immersion. There are a gazillion different voice sets so now for the first time you can have an Irish Ryanair pilot speaking to a Scottish tower controller in Edinburgh who is also controlling Lufthansa pilots who sound German, KLM pilots who sound Dutch and Monarch pilots that sound English. The voice playback is pretty darn impressive and comes with a convincing level of 'scratchiness' to sound real. Also the other big bonus for me is that there's support for ground operations so that you're not just cast out onto the taxiway with a 'taxy to the holding point' as you actually get specific taxiway instructions and a handy copilot that gives you directions, 'left onto taxiway uniform, steady, next right, left into the gate' etc. Very cool. The only thing is that it's rather hellishly complicated to get your head around out of the box. It installs with an out of date manual and you have to do a lot of searching about online to get the information needed to make it work. What this thing needs is a dufus-proof step by step tutorial, as there are various ones floating about but they're all concerned with different things. I'd like nothing more than a monster big long tutorial that I can print out and take bit by bit until I've nailed it. There are two parts to the program as it uses Proflight 2000 to build the flight plan and there's a lot of duplication between the two and I still haven't quite worked out what does what really. So I shall persevere. Has anyone else any experience of PFE? ETA I've just realised that there's been a Holy Thread Resurrection Batman about PFE. Perhaps I should have posted in there. Apologies all.

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Chaps, Bored waiting for Radar Contact v5, I've had a bash at Pro Flight Emulator. I was initially put off because it doesn't seem to be that widely used in the community and the few youtube videos that show it are pretty poor. I also for some reason expected the voices to be robotic and or computer generated. I have to say once I fired it up I was delighted with the level of immersion. There are a gazillion different voice sets so now for the first time you can have an Irish Ryanair pilot speaking to a Scottish tower controller in Edinburgh who is also controlling Lufthansa pilots who sound German, KLM pilots who sound Dutch and Monarch pilots that sound English. The voice playback is pretty darn impressive and comes with a convincing level of 'scratchiness' to sound real. Also the other big bonus for me is that there's support for ground operations so that you're not just cast out onto the taxiway with a 'taxy to the holding point' as you actually get specific taxiway instructions and a handy copilot that gives you directions, 'left onto taxiway uniform, steady, next right, left into the gate' etc. Very cool. The only thing is that it's rather hellishly complicated to get your head around out of the box. It installs with an out of date manual and you have to do a lot of searching about online to get the information needed to make it work. What this thing needs is a dufus-proof step by step tutorial, as there are various ones floating about but they're all concerned with different things. I'd like nothing more than a monster big long tutorial that I can print out and take bit by bit until I've nailed it. There are two parts to the program as it uses Proflight 2000 to build the flight plan and there's a lot of duplication between the two and I still haven't quite worked out what does what really. So I shall persevere. Has anyone else any experience of PFE? ETA I've just realised that there's been a Holy Thread Resurrection Batman about PFE. Perhaps I should have posted in there. Apologies all.

Don't apologize mate. Sometimes those threads become so convoluted that it ends up with the same people talking to each other and people like myself don't bother to read it unless it's something that really catches our attention. This one did. Like yourself, I've been waiting for RC v5 and it seems only realistic to say "it ain't happening" - not in my lifetime anyway. So this was at timely post for me. I appreciated the very clear way you stated the pros and cons of PFE and have got me very close to whipping out the old credit card. If you succeed in finding that dufus-proof manual, please le us know as that would be the clincher. I wish I could find one for FSUIPC as well, as the one that's available is a carryover from FS98 days and full of irrelevant information about FS98/FS200/FS2002 stuff that my eyes have glazed over before I get to anything about FS2004! SighhhhCheersIan

[BenW 0]

Ian I quite agree with you about FSUIPC. It seems to work by black magic and is undoubtedly one of the cleverest things for FS9, yet almost completely baffling to use. PFE is also proving to be rather similar right now!

[vololiberista 205]

I have found the trick with PFE is to not touch the PF2000 module at all except for generating the flightplan (which you have to do).An annoying fact is the wypt nearest your destination has to be on another planet. That's the same in RC as well. This means almost always that for lining up with the ILS I have to do my own thing. Usually PFE recognises this and effectively gives permission. The only other problem I have with it is at LHR which has multiple AI holding points which sometimes confuses PFE. Emergency procedures are unfinished.PFE is a steep learning curve but worth it.vololiberista

[kiwiflyer45 123]

Ian I quite agree with you about FSUIPC. It seems to work by black magic and is undoubtedly one of the cleverest things for FS9, yet almost completely baffling to use. PFE is also proving to be rather similar right now!

Glad I'm not the only one baffled by the documentation for FSUIPC. LOL Don't get me wrong - I love what it does do with the weather options. But I would love to use the key mapping program so I could use my GoFlight modules with LevelD 767 and Flight1 ATR etc. But I have no clue how to do it and when I've tried to figure it all out I just end up with a headache! If someone would write a simple to use tutorial that leaves out all the redundant stuff about past simulators it would be great...

[Johan_Dees 84]

great program, only what I miss is that it doesnt nag about altitude or heading.. at least in my version, atc tells all once, and whatever I do, they never bug me again.. so if you miss an instruction, you can get lost easily. Any help on this one?

[ronzie 21]

Regarding the problem with waypoints and RC, don't forget RC has several departure and arrival options including some user overrides. If on departure if your first waypoint is within 30 nm RC assumes you are flying a SID and assumes you will navigate on your own to the first waypoint outside of 30 nm. You can also force this behavior if you do not want departure vectors. For arrival at about 40 nm out approach assigns a runway. After you ack that with the first vector you can request an IAP approach where you navigate on your own. Both options to navigate on your own are best for complex approaches using FMC or published procedures flying through difficult terrain. I'm just trying to understand the complaint so there is no misconception by users not familiar with RC are PFE. RC does not require any setup of FSUIPC except on the first tab to insure multiline messages are enabled and in the modules fiolder advanceddisp.dll is not enabled. If a user wants to use other FSUIPC functions then a user paid full registration is required. A discussion on both applications is here as well:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/281223-do-you-want-to-take-fs9-atc-too-the-next-level/

[Nandan Patel 10]

Do you speak to PFE like in VoxATC or RC? Or is it just like default ATC but with more soundsets? Cheers.

[Glynn 405]

Do you speak to PFE like in VoxATC or RC? Or is it just like default ATC but with more soundsets? Cheers.

HelloNo it is many times better than the default ATC and with the right software you can speak to any of the ATC addons.PFE with its latest patch is now rock solid and creates a very good ATC environment.Worth having all three just to change things round from time to time, PFE tends to create a more laid back atmosphere whereas RC's controllers can be on your case a bit to much.

[Nandan Patel 10]

So you do talk into a mic and the PFE controllers repsond correct?

[Andydigital 93]

The clue is in the name of the product, Proflight Emulator, that is why you have to convert the plans and then compile an adventure, Profight was never designed to work with any sim newer than FS2000, PFE Emulates PF2000 and makes it work with fs2004 and FSX.

[Glynn 405]

So you do talk into a mic and the PFE controllers repsond correct?

HelloI use Shoot 1.6.4 and my own profiles for RC and PFE, works well

[psolk 3,037]

Here is my process for PFE start to finish...1. Launch ASE2. Launch FSBuild once ASE is finished loading3. Create Flightplan in FSBuild4. load FS and save flightplan I just created (for some reason FSEarth requires me to do this or the FP will not show up in my Google Earth window, not PFE related)5. Load PFE Going from memory now so please forgive me....6. Click on FS9/FSX Plan converter7. Select FP in new window8. Click convert FS FSP to PF20009 Click Icon on center of screen that says Click to start PF 200010. Once PF2000 loads just select your FP and hit compile, nothing else...11. Once complete go back to PFE, select FP and if you like adjust waypoint altitudes/SID/STAR and Oceanic... That is the most basic tutorial of what I do to get you up and running, hope it helps!-Paul

[nam1394 10]

I was a Proflight 2000 user from FS98 and would really like use it again as PFE. However, I have read about some issues in various forums and it would be nice if a current user give me some insight on it. Some of the posts are old, so I don't know if these issues are still there after the latest patch or not. 1. You can't request a runway change on take off or landing?2. When in cruise sometimes you don't hear center instructing you to start descending, so unless you have auto reply you will miss it?3. Kaspersky reports that there is a virus when you start the flight from PFE?4. Uninstalling PFE would delete some .dll files from windows system folder? I really want to buy it but the price isn't cheap especially with the sound enhancement.

[vololiberista 205]

PFE is not voice activated. Though I beleive there is an addon to enable this. Another item i havnt grasped yet is the initial departure vectoring. seems it just lets you fly the flight plan regardless wether there is a procedure or not? (No intial vectoring).

Not quite! For example if rwy 27L is in use at LHR, PFE allows you to add a SID e.g. MID3G to an alt of 4,000ft So my take off clearance will include the SID designation. Depending on the a/c one can either fly that manually or programme it into the FMC and/or Flight Director. MID is the first facility on that particular route. PFE ATC will also authorise higher altitudes once crossing 4,000ft it will even give no speed restrictions etc. So it's entirely up to you to fly the departure accurately including a noise abatement profile. One of the tricks with PFE is to redo the given altitude levels (within PFE not in PF2000) depending on the a/c type, weight etc. For example in the VC10 I'm already at FL390 when crossing the French coast!!vololiberista