Hi AllTrying to quickly get up to speed with FS2004. Lots of questions, but my main bug right now is that I can't figure how to start off a flight without the engine running when I get in the cockpit. It is running even when I am a a gate or park.It seems very quiet at the international airports too! AI traffic is set to max. Do I need a 3rd party AI traffic program?The FAQ post in the 'tips & tricks forum' has been very useful!regardsGraeme

Turn off all cockpit systems and save it as the default flight. Any flight in any aircraft will begin in that way, "cold and dark". As for third party traffic add-ons, search the forums and you'll find many opinions regarding payware/freeware programs that cater to commercial traffic, general aviation or both.

Learn to use the search function in the forum and you will get up to speed much quicker!Allcott

That was kind of unnecessary - in the time you typed that message you could have helped out the original poster by just typing www.projectai.com

Thanks all for the useful suggestions.It's much more fun to post than use the search!Graeme

>That was kind of unnecessary - in the time you typed that>message you could have helped out the original poster by just>typing www.projectai.comPerhaps you are not familiar with the expression:"Give a man a fish and he will feed his family for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed his family for the rest of his life."As there are MANY alternatives to Project AI it was `kind of unnecessary` for you to suggest one answer as if it was the only one, yet leave out all the other possibilities- the ones covered by threads in the forums? My answer was actually more informative than yours. You should now provide full information. Might take you several hours, but you don't want to appear a hypocrite?And to our original poster, it might be more fun to type, but it's less of a burden on your fellow simmers if you READ. All the answers you're looking for are already in the various forums here. Good luck with your searching, and I'm sure if you have a specific question on what you discover during your reading, then haripj will be around to answer you.Allcott

Gentlemen-What's wrong with stating the one you prefer (e.g. www.projectai.com ) then suggesting that a forum search will offer other excellent alternatives?Seems like a more complete answer, especially if one is attempting to "teach."

bc_dark.zipYou can find this at avsim under utilities...just search cold and dark...all the systems and engines are off when u start...so much easier than anything else.