Brand New To Flight Sim / Need Some Insight

[MG49 0]

Hello forum -

 

I sure hope I am posting this properly and not violating any forum rules or anything.  Sorry if I am and please let me know.

 

I am brand new to the world of flight sim and have been into it for just over 2 weeks now.

 

I started out with the beginner missions in fsx and did really well until I got to the one that's the intro to jets and now I realize there's a LOT to learn but I'm excited and in for the long term because it's the jets that I got into this for to begin with.

 

I've been seriously active in researching and learning, watching youtube videos of people showing their successful landings and takeoffs (some of these are AWESOME!), reading all the inserts that came with fsx plus everything I can find online, and so on, and I am definitely learning new things every day.

 

A couple of initial questions though:

 

1. I experimented with adding skins/liveries/repaints and when I finished the part where you plug it into the Notepad file I was "denied access" and couldn't complete it.  Any ideas?  Do I need to go back and set up my fsx on my computer all over again only this time set it up under administrator?  I am running Windows 7 with the minimum system requirements to be able to run fsx if that helps.

 

2. When I did download and plug in a totally new jet (the total plane which was an Aer Lingus and not just the repaint) to add to my aircraft I did it from one of those freeware sites and while the jet showed up in my list of aircraft when I went to actually "fly now" with it the outside view of the plane was blank wherever the aircraft was supposed to be, from any view.  Was this a bad file or something?  Also, where is the most reliable, safest place online to add liveries and new aircraft?  I don't mind paying for them if they're the real deal and won't screw up my computer in any way.

 

3. Any ideas as to how to best approach my learning to fly the jets?  Any recommendations for learning material?

 

Thanks for your time any help will be GREATLY appreciated:)

[MarkW 1,491]

1.  I don't think you need to reinstall FSX, probably just need to assign yourself Admin rights.

 

2.  Almost all liveries are available for free so I would suggest you don't pay....at least for now.  There are some high end liveries availablel for a charge but those can wait.  The best place to start is in the Avsim library or on the website of the Aircraft addon developer (i.e. PMDG, etc.).  Some auto install, others require you to do some copy/paste and editing of the aircraft.cfg file.  The blank paint is probably just an installation problem rather than bad file.

 

3. The best way is to go through all of the lessons and then I would suggest you download the videos from Angle of Attack.  The free ones.  If these suit your taste you can buy the series for some of the jets they have....but I think there are enough tutorials online that will help you where you don't have to pay.  I personally used the excellent tutorials way back from FS2000 that were made by Andrew Herd.  They are located on Flightsim.com and I hope Tom does not mind that I point these out to you.  Next, watch a lot of youtube videos and practice.  In no time you will be an amatuer Chief Pilot that thinks they are an expert....just like the rest of us!!! LOL.  Good luck.

[MG49 0]

Hey excellent Mark thank you for taking the time to reply I greatly appreciate it and will certainly start utilizing what you've given me to work with here.  Thanks!!

[jetsmell 45]

I am also new and would love to fly the jets, especially would love to fly them to an airport on auto pilot. But what I have been doing is flying gliders and Cessna 172's ( you have to crawl before you can walk ) and then I'll play around with a jet just for the fun of it. Good luck and you've come to the right forum because these guys know what they're talking about.

[ryanbatc 12,854]

For 1 I think you need to have Windows "show hidden files and folders." I think it's under windows explorer options (not Internet explorer)

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

For learning to fly jets, also check out the excellent tutorials and documentation for the various PMDG jets here:

 

http://precisionmanuals.com/pages/downloads/docs.html

[FloG 148]

Welcome to this great comunity!

 

For liveries, I really love aussiex.org, they got a very well sorted library for reapints (and some excellent freeware airports/sceneries as well), for most commonly used airplanes (both default, payware and freeware) so I'm pretty sure you will find something there. And of course, the Avsim library (although I have to admitt I don't use it for liveries as much as I use Aussiex).

For the jets, you can of course read through those manuals Oliver posted a link to, but since those are by PMDG, they are pretty much like for the real thing, and to be honest, when Istarted out flying jets in FSX, I did not want to take the time and read through a lot of pages - so my recommendation is:

Try to get a "feel" for the C172 at first, and when you feel you can master that plane go through the flying lessons (so you can pick up some piloting skills, such as radio navigation, which might be of some importance for airliners) and also fly the "Transition to jets" mission, so you have a rough idea how those default jets work (although they are nothing like a real aircraft). Then simply start a free flight and play around with the autopilot - don't hesitate to do something wrong, the worst thing that can happen is that you will have to restart your flight!

One last advice: Stay away from FSX's default Airbus A321, that plane is horrible to fly, I was hardly ever able to land that plane, because it always engaged the "emergency go-around power" (Alpha-floor protection is what they actually call that, I believe).

 

Anyway, you have definitely come to the rigth place, the people here are a nice helpful lot, so don't hesitate to ask if you have any trouble!

 

Enjoy your new hobby,

Flo

[BilboBaggins 82]

As you get interested in flying jets, you'll find that there's more and more "automation" surrounding control of flight, and communications.

 

The best way to prep for that is to really learn to use the default Garmin GPS built into FSX.  Learn everything about how to plan a flight using FSX's Flight Planner, and then how to program the Garmin before taking off, and while in flight.  Learn how to read and understand the flight plan loaded into the Garmin, and how to execute the Procedures that will route you through to different approaches in your flight to final.  Learn about ADFs/NDBs, VORs, Intersections.  Learn how to use the Direct To button.  Read the tutorials in FSX on how to use the G1000.  Learn to fly using just NDBs and VORs.  Learn how to plot a flight path using low-altitude or high-altitude intersections.

 

And then do the same in-depth work for the AutoPilot system.  Master how it works on a particular, simple aircraft, until you can fly almost an entire flight on autopilot, and know how it all works and how to change configurations and interactions with the GPS flight plan as you proceed on a flight.

 

A lot of that will come into play and make handling the jet aircraft more interesting and manageable as you "graduate" to them -- and help you learn how to fly them more realistically.

 

There's also a lot of foundational info that you should just immerse yourself in.  Use Google Earth to investigate the airports you are flying out of and into.  Learn about how the weather systems work in FSX.  Find real-world Pilot's Operating Handbooks for one of the aircraft in FSX, and read them in detail and apply the numbers and recommendations therein to your control of the aircraft in the sim.

 

Learn to not just jump in and Fly a plane, but to go through the steps of Flight Planning, Fuel and Payload setup before taking off.  Create a whole story for yourself for a particular flight or route, and engage in it from beginning to end.  Try learning _one_ airport with multiple runways well enough that you don't have to use the Show Progressive Taxi to get to the right take-off point.  Limit fuel to what's necessary to the trip, and make choices about whether to fly to the gates or refueling for subsequent takeoff upon landing.

 

Don't be afraid to play with the FSX map (alt-A-W-M).  Don't be afraid to hit the Pause button a lot, and fiddle with things while in Pause mode.  Don't be afraid to use the Alt-View menu to look at all the possible views in a situation while flying, to understand what they are and how to get to them quickly.

 

Learn to understand what FSX ATC is doing when they're routing you during IFR flight -- it may seem random at first, but they are vectoring you to airports given current wind and traffic conditions and setting you up for the right altitude and approach.

 

Choose one particular flight, from one airport to another that's only say, 20 minutes to do.  Fly it repeatedly, so you understand the geometry of the whole situation, both vertically (VNAV) and horizontally (LNAV).  Why certain altitudes at certain points in the flight matter.  How other traffic around you is behaving in the air.

 

Don't be afraid to play in detail with all the Settings Options, one at a time, to see what they do.  Your best way to avoid instability is to understand your favorite route and area, with your favorite amount of air and ground traffic, at your favorite time of day, with your favorite weather.  Change one "variable" at a time, and understand the results.  Even little things, like playing with amounts of car traffic, ships and ferries traffic, airport kamikaze ground services traffic, can be fun.  Check out KJFK and surrounding environs at dusk with low, medium and high car traffic, for instance, to see the differences (or better, KLGA, as there's one taxi situation where you actually have to taxi THROUGH the highway traffic to get to the gates.....).

 

You could go through all that for years and never buy an add-on, and have plenty to do.  The more of that you do to begin with, the more guided and informed your purchase of add-ons subsequently will be, and the more you will value and understand what they all do.  The more you will be able to handle, patiently, the various configuration constraints FSX requires to run well on your particular system.

 

Keep everything well below the limits, for starters!  Keep the frame rates smooth (don't fight for a particular FPS number to impress people, just something that makes take-offs and landings fun), and only increase settings a bit at a time so you can recognize the results.

 

And above all, have fun! Don't rush! Don't try to do it all at once!  I enjoy FSX most when I'm concentrating on one aspect in fine detail.  You can have a great evening just sitting and fiddling with the Garmin and never getting off the ground.  Stay focused.

[odourboy 1,289]

Epic post Fleeting!

[MG49 0]

Wow what an incredible group of people here in this forum!!

 

Can't tell you how much I appreciate every single of one of you generously taking the time to reply and provide all of this valuable insight through such detailed posts.

 

One of the things I did to address the first two problems (1 & 2) I was having in my initial post was uninstall and then re-install fsx completely only this time I specifically assigned it to C:\FSX directory instead of allowing it to install into the default which was that Program Files x 86 (or something like that) because I was getting A LOT of advice from folks on flightsim.com as well as many articles there pointing me in that direction.

 

According to everything I was told and the articles I read the indications were STRONG that this is the best way to install it to avoid problems later on, particularly with respect to compatibility with future add-ons (aircraft, liveries, etc.). I'll circle back on this and let you know how it ended up.

 

I know that being a newbie it's probably premature to be messing around with liveries/repaints but when I started seeing some of these airlines I grew up with that aren't around any more (Eastern, Pan Am, etc.) available as add-ons it got me pretty pumped I couldn't help it lol.

 

As for this Andrew Herd and his articles.....wow....everything I've read about this guy is that he is highly respected in these communities for writing really informative and helpful articles on flight sim but that he stopped writing some time ago and people are missing his contributions.  I looked on flightsim.com using his name in the search but what came up was people posting wondering where he is and how much they loved his articles.  Any ideas about how to specifically get to his articles?

 

Ok thanks again good people I am taking into account seriously and following everything you all are posting here and utilizing it:) 

 

PS. @Fleeting - Wow SERIOUSLY epic post indeed to the point where I am copying/pasting it to a separate word file to keep referring back to THANK YOU!!

[BilboBaggins 82]

No problem! Glad if it helps. Been involved in flight simulation (but not the real thing) for many years, it grows on you after awhile. . Never been better than now.

 

[BillW 210]

Be sure to set aside some time for actually flying an aircraft. As time goes by,you'll see what I mean.

[BilboBaggins 82]

Better frame rates, for sure.

[1mikel151 71]

You could go through all that for years and never buy an add-on, and have plenty to do.  The more of that you do to begin with, the more guided and informed your purchase of add-ons subsequently will be, and the more you will value and understand what they all do.  The more you will be able to handle, patiently, the various configuration constraints FSX requires to run well on your particular system.

 

Keep everything well below the limits, for starters!  Keep the frame rates smooth (don't fight for a particular FPS number to impress people, just something that makes take-offs and landings fun), and only increase settings a bit at a time so you can recognize the results.

 

And above all, have fun! Don't rush! Don't try to do it all at once!  I enjoy FSX most when I'm concentrating on one aspect in fine detail.  You can have a great evening just sitting and fiddling with the Garmin and never getting off the ground.  Stay focused.

 

Great words of wisdom. So many (new and old) get caught up in the 3rd party addon frenzy we don't stop to enjoy it for what it is, instead of what we think it can become and then we wonder why we have all these issues with the sim.

[Air1 136]

Take your time to learn the fundamentals first and move on as you become more comfortable. But above all, have fun.