i always swore by the 2D cockpits and never had much to do with the 3D virtual cockpits. couldn't understand what people saw and got so excited about UNTIL i watched a couple of cessna 172 videos todd put on the forum a couple of days ago. i could hardly believe what i saw. it was amazing! i got a much more realistic feel from watching them. i tried it out myself and it's a whole new experience! not that there's anything wrong with the 2D panel. i just get such a new realistic experience. you can also zoom in on the instruments to read them better. it just plain cool. haven't made my mind up yet though but everyone should try it once just to see what it's like. william

Welcome to 1 step closer to realistic William! ;-) Sometimes it's hard to break our old way of doing things. I have been siming ever since subLogic's 1st version but I have always had the mindset to hope in the future it only keeps getting better. So I guess I never "SETTLE" on a version and always CAN'T WAIT for "WHAT'S NEXT!". The virtual cockpit introduction made me in "HEAVEN" once again with a new feeling and another advancement. Now I look forward to VC only but there is still some work to do as developers can break their old programming habits which I STILL have a problem with OOP since I started with (5 ? "Hello "; 10 Goto 5). Anyway, I know the feeling and wish more of us junkies find it to move on! :-)Carmine http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/Images/wave.gif

I tend to agree when we are talking about small GAs like the Flight 1 172. That panel is simply stunning in the virtual cockpit! Now for larger aircraft we have some issues and not only with frame rates. I think there will have to be the ability to ZOOM the cockpit alone and the scenery alone. Zooming now sets both closer and this simply sucks. I want to set the distance without messing up my perfered outside view settings. Hopefully the next FS version will expand this and other areas...Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/Animation1.gifCaution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |

Randy, why don't you youse the default eyepoint commands in VC mode via your keyboard? There are commands to bring you- closer to the cockpit- farer away from the cockpit- move you to the right,- to the left- up- downwithout altering the outside view. These are completely different adjustments than those, which can be made with the joystick coolie.

you rekon thats good, you wanna try them with a couple of other utilities to realy spice it up. the first is active cam which can add buffeting which is realy cool, but the real icing on the cake is a tracking device; by moving your head you can look around the cockpit, believe me this is better than you can think, the fact that the moniter stays where it is doesn't lessen the apeal. There are a couple of programs that can do this, one includes all the stuff including camera etc. and is designed for Flight simming i think. the other was/is designed to let people use head movement instead of the mouse, this uses any web cam you may have and is a lot cheaper than the full blown setup, it can be set up to work perfectly in FS and also can be set up to work in GPL so you can look around while in th edriving seat (and that is pretty cool aswell, you can zoom in to get a nice close view and look left or right to look in your rear view mirrors).

thanks for the reply. is that tracking device something like 3D glasses? sounds cool though. will look into it. thanks. william

thanks randy, i haven't checked out the heavies yet, only the GA aircraft. i was just panning down in the cockpit to read the instruments then zooming in and then zoom back out and pan up to see the upper panel and outside view. i'm new at this virtual cockpit thing so i shouldn't offer much advice. thanks again. william

well said carmine and thanks. william

The tracking device is a small infrared camera that you place on top of the monitor. You then put a small reflective dot on your glasses, forehead or, preferably, on a cap. As you move your head the spot is tracked and the VC view changed accordingly. Really neat, especially for GA VFR IMO. The only "problem" is that you need to sit still since any headmovement will move the view, but that

>i always swore by the 2D cockpits and never had much to do>with the 3D virtual cockpits. couldn't understand what people>saw and got so excited about UNTIL *-* Snip, snip *-* williamHmmmm, I've been having sort of the same experience. As part of trying out new planes (some payware, some not) I got introduced to 3D cockpits which have had much time and effort put into them. I've come to the conclusion that those, such as the new Beaver, are really nice to fly from; a bonus might be that one can see better from the 3D system. I only recently learned about 3D and the hat switch; how does one zoom IN on the panel? :D

Funny I have sworn using 2D panels as less as possible because it

wow! we've come a long way haven't we. the soviets had a tracking device like that for their fighter pilots. the pilots could "steer" the missiles with it. william

use the plus+ and minus= keys to zoom in and out. i pan the cockpit down then zoom in to read the instruments then pan up and zoom out. works good. william

i think the 2D panels are fine myself but i get a more fluid flight and seems like better framerates with the 3D cockpit. i also feel like i'm actually in the plane when using 3D. it's mesmerising. william