Hi all,I've become obsessed with FSX over the past couple of weeks, and I've been methodically working my way through the lessons and articles in the Learning Center. Loving it! But I have some questions. FYI, I have FSX Gold, Win7/64, a CH Eclipse yoke and CH pedals, and TrackIR with the ProClip.1. I haven't installed any addons, but a few addons from First Class Simulations came with my yoke: Discover Europe, Discover USA, Wellington, Around the World in 80 Flights. I have not installed any of these yet because I don't want to create any compatibility issues with other addons that are of more interest to me -- e.g., Rex2 and ORBIX/Pacific Northwest, which interest me a lot. My impression from reading these and other forums is that these FCS addons aren't on anyone's top-10 lists of addons. Should I install them, or is there a chance they'll create compatibility issues? Maybe I should buy and install Rex2 or ORBIX first?2. Along the same lines: is there any addon that might interfere with completion of the various lessons and checkrides? Right now I'm stuck on the private pilot checkride. I've read that some addons can alter terrain and complicate the lessons/checkrides. Should I wait to buy Rex/ORBX until I've finished all the lessons and checkrides?3. Are the FSX certifications a prerequisite for enjoying any of the content in FSX, or are they just for the sake of pride? Likewise, is FSX certification a prerequisite for participating in an online aviation world? So far I've just passed the very first certification.4. I run FSX in 2560x1600, and everything looks good -- except the menu screens, leaning screens, and the in-game map, all of which are small. They look like little 800x600 windows in the middle of my huge monitor. Can these be expanded or maximized? Thankfully, I can view and expand the learning screens out-of-game just by loading up the HTML files, but it'd be nice to be able to maximize them in-game too.Many thanks!

Welcome to Avsim. It sounds like you are having a lot of fun. Anyway, to have a go at answering some of your questions...FCS add-ons are what might be viewed as among the more 'cheap and cheerful' add-ons when compared to some of the really fancy airliners or heavyweight scenic add-ons you can get for FSX, but that does not mean that they are not fun, and it is unlikely they will clash with anything else or cause problems. Many of the products you mention have actually been reviewed by Avsim (you can access the reviews from the main Avsim webpage), for example, I reviewed Around the World in 80 Flights, and it is quite an entertaining and educational product, so you might want to at least give it a look, and there is no doubt that flying the included Lockheed Electra which you get in that one is a challenge, although you may want to make note of some of the tips in my review if you attempt it, since some of the flights are quite tricky to complete!The only time add-ons are likely to make the lessons and checkrides tricky in any way, is if the replacement scenery perhaps alters runway positions or stuff like that, for example, since FSX first came out back in 2006, many of the more recent airport scenery add-ons will update radio navigation beacons to reflect their condition in the real world today, or perhaps change runway designations (since these can change with magnetic drift) and therefore such add ons will sometimes attempt to place things more accurately. Because of this, there is a slim chance that this could potentially make some lessons differ a little if new scenery affects where the lessons take place, although it's very unlikely to be a disastrous change. Nevertheless, since some of the missions, lessons and checkrides are completed by getting to certain locations and triggering a response in the program when you arrive at that location, additions could potentially break a feature if a scenic change causes you to miss such a trigger point, although since add-on scenery can be disabled in the scenery library options, it is not an insurmountable issue; you can always temporarily disable any add-on scenery you have installed by simply unticking it in the scenery library settings whilst you completed any lesson it was affecting, then reinstate it after, so I would not worry about it too much.FSX lessons, certifications, mission badges and awards are merely for your entertainment and education. There is no need to complete any of them at all really, unless you enjoy them and want to do so, although many of them are worth doing, as they are often good indicators of your progress toward becoming a more knowledgeable pilot, and learning the basics well does provide a good springboard toward understanding the complexities of the more complex payware aircraft you can add to FSX, so it is usually time well spent in doing those lessons. There are certainly some missions out there which need you to complete a preceding mission in order for later missions to be available, but not that many of them.Some screens and pop up windows can be enlarged by grabbing a corner of them with your mouse, such as the aircraft's kneeboard and the pop up 2D cockpit panels, some other things cannot be resized other than by changing the simulations's resolution. However, it is possible to run multiple monitors or even link up several PCs and then drag windows onto those in order to see things better, which is certainly one way around things.Hope that helps a bit, and hope you contiinue to enjoy FSX. It's a really great flight sim, as you have probably already discovered.Al

Hi all,I've become obsessed with FSX over the past couple of weeks, and I've been methodically working my way through the lessons and articles in the Learning Center. Loving it! But I have some questions. FYI, I have FSX Gold, Win7/64, a CH Eclipse yoke and CH pedals, and TrackIR with the ProClip.1. I haven't installed any addons, but a few addons from First Class Simulations came with my yoke: Discover Europe, Discover USA, Wellington, Around the World in 80 Flights. I have not installed any of these yet because I don't want to create any compatibility issues with other addons that are of more interest to me -- e.g., Rex2 and ORBIX/Pacific Northwest, which interest me a lot. My impression from reading these and other forums is that these FCS addons aren't on anyone's top-10 lists of addons. Should I install them, or is there a chance they'll create compatibility issues? Maybe I should buy and install Rex2 or ORBIX first?2. Along the same lines: is there any addon that might interfere with completion of the various lessons and checkrides? Right now I'm stuck on the private pilot checkride. I've read that some addons can alter terrain and complicate the lessons/checkrides. Should I wait to buy Rex/ORBX until I've finished all the lessons and checkrides?3. Are the FSX certifications a prerequisite for enjoying any of the content in FSX, or are they just for the sake of pride? Likewise, is FSX certification a prerequisite for participating in an online aviation world? So far I've just passed the very first certification.4. I run FSX in 2560x1600, and everything looks good -- except the menu screens, leaning screens, and the in-game map, all of which are small. They look like little 800x600 windows in the middle of my huge monitor. Can these be expanded or maximized? Thankfully, I can view and expand the learning screens out-of-game just by loading up the HTML files, but it'd be nice to be able to maximize them in-game too.Many thanks!

First off welcome to the hobby of fsx!For your first question...REX wont mess with any of those. You can choose to turn ORBX on or off so if you decide you want to install one of those and one of them takes you to the Orbx PNW area you can just turn orbx off. ( I dont think youll want to install them once you ave orbx though. :D )2.I dont really know, I havent heard anything about this. Like I said if a lesson takes you to a orbx area and you run into problems ( which you shouldnt) you can just turn it off. REX wont mess with that as it doesnt change the terrain or landclass or anything.3. No and No. Theyre just for pride you dont need to do them.4. I dont know about this....just play around with the resolution number. I have mine so it looks good in fsx and the menus are good. youll find a good balance ....btw for the best performance choose the highest res number in the settings menu mines at 1400x1050x32.youll learn more about performance tweaks if you need to later on. Also you might want to think about getting some addon planes if your getting REX/ORBX...the smaller orbx airports are good for small planes but orbx has big airports too. I think the PNW orbx scenery upgrades like 200-300 airports which is real good bang for your buck. Do some google or forum searches for best GA plane or best airliner or something depending on what you like to fly.hope this helps and ask if you have more questions.leeyou beat me to it by a second Al :(

Thanks for those thorough and helpful responses! Pretty reassuring. I'll start plunging into addons this weekend. And I'll look at your review, Mostly Harmless. Thanks for the suggestion on that. :)And yes, I'm loving FSX. It's strangely engrossing. :)Thanks again.