**** YOUR Recipe for using FS2004 ****

[Ricardo41 5,935]

The question you ask cannot be answered, at least not without writing an entire book about flight simming. The best thing a beginner can do is to read the forum and to use the search function - that will quickly yield all the necessary information (and inevitable disagreements) about which programs to use.ricardo

[larshgf 2]

Ricardo,Just want a few lines about experienced flightsimmer's way to set up af good flight experience, that all. It's not necessary to write "a book". It might be cut down to 5-10 lines somrthing like this...1. Make a flightplan in FSBuild2. Start FS20043. Load the flightplan in the PMDG 737NG's FMC4. Load the flightplan i RadarContact v35. Prepare som AI-flight 6. ...maybe something more here.... etcAnd then a few lines about your experience with this "setup" or "recipe". That would be very fruitfull for a lot of newbie's, including me ;-)BRLars

[Gridley 257]

I use ken salter's FSautostart.It automatically stops a bunch of stuff I don't use (system services, etc.), then defrags memory.Then automatically starts:1.)Chris Wright's AutoStar app to properly position the planets in the sky for the current date - AutoStar starts FS9.2.)ActiveSky 2004.53.)FSAI smooth (to minimize go-arounds)4.)FSScreen (to share the love!)As far as destinations, I usually start by deciding how long I have before the kids wake up, or I need to get to bed. Then I decide if I'm going to fly to home, or away from home, or someplace entirely different. Then I pick a plane that can make that trip in the allotted time. Then I use FS9's flight planner to find a route at the recommended cruising altitude of the plane I've picked, print it. And enter it into RXP garmin...Though, I have a few favorite local routes which I know by heart and have saved - KLGA to KLEB in B1900D. KLEB-KMMU in the meridian or Cheyenne. I've also become quite fond of florida lately ;). I occassionally hit the random button on FSSkyWorld for something different. I've got OceanFX water textures with Vater.zip reflections installed on top. I use GA-traffic for GA-AI and Ultimate Traffic for commercial (set to 90%). I have USAroads, but also FSGs american data which I use for streams, rails, and bridges...That's my recipe.Best,sg

[Reset XPDR 1,271]

My usual regime consists of:1. Run ServerInfo to see what action is happening on VATSIM2. Visit my VA site (Air Source) and pick a flight/aircraft in an area of interest3. Start FS2004, AS2004, FSBuild, my VA's ACARS program4. If VATSIM is the go, connect up using SB3 else use default ATC and UT traffic5. Visit relevant VATSIM ARTCC site to obtain preferred flight plan for route and arrival/departure procedures6. Build flight plan using FSBuild then load into FMC7. If VATSIM, file flight plan, request IFR clearance, taxi, takeoff, etc as available, else file VFR (not IFR to avoid MS nuances) flight plan with MS ATC8. Fly the flight, land, shut down aircraft, thank ATC (if human!)9. File PIREP with my VA10. GOTO 1Gary

[larshgf 2]

Scott,Thanks for you recipe. I'll have a look of your programs.And BTW - Having passed 51 your quotation with "chardonay and strawberries" sounds good to me .... :-)BRLars

[larshgf 2]

Thank's Gary,When using VATSIM you do not need RadarContact or another ATC-program. I never tried "live" ATC myself, but I guess that's "as real as it gets". I revently started to use FSBuild which gives a lot of possibilities regarding export of the flightplan to many different other FS add_on'sBRLarsLars

[Guest skyman78]

Lars- I dont really have a recipe per say but i did find this while searching for a file and thought it might be helpful to you. I hope so. http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forum/archive.php...-of-flight.html Best of luck,Rod

[Calypso50 0]

Rod,The link you suggested just answered about 50 questions I didn't know how to ask...perfect.ThanksBill

[Guest Kingair315]

Personally, I'd not begin with a Jet aircraft. Most real pilots learn to fly in a Prop first, then graduate to Jets. Things happen tooo fast in a Jet, when learning.What I did, and have had all my children, and grandchildren do, is begin with the C182 without retractable wheels... I took off, flew out about 8-12 miles, at 2000 ft, turned around so the ILS from the field was active. Then, I saved it as "first flight" and made it the default.Each time they load the FS, they practiced -Landing- and taxi to parking. Then reset the flight, and land again. This saves the time to fly out, find a straight in approach, etc... You can practice 20 or more landings in a reasonable time. They got really good at landing. Then, I added some cross wind, and they practiced again...If you then want to try the same in a Jet, You can switch to a Jet after loading... and land again, and again, and again... Then, add cross winds, etc.To me, using the FS ever since Bruce owned it, aerobatics are still the most fun, but landing is second, especially with challanging winds. Flying using all automatic or autopilot settings, becomes boring quite fast. When you have flown one Jet, you have flown them all. It's a challange to learn it all, but it is the great variety in GA which makes it really interesting.Then, if you get bored with Props, go follow a Hurricane from the first reports you get, using Real Weather. Fly into and out of the eye. Move to another state, and learn all the fields there. Fly all the routes you ever tried in a car or Motorcycle. Fly in Alaska, go land on one of the Glaciers. Land in Red Square as one guy did years ago in a Cessna. Fly to all the "easter eggs" like Niagra Falls, the Pyramids... or use my latest hobby, make screen shots from the Flight Sim, learn to paint, and do paintings of what you saw flying. :-)-----Those who have seen my messages for years, Know how addicted to the FS I've been.... Now, I have another addiction which takes as much time ! Between FS and this, it takes most every waking hour. Just Click to see what I've done lately, Bobhttp://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsouthwestQ5fartist

[tanker 15]

Here's my usual procedure:1. Use FSAUTOSTART to start FS9 and shutdown unneeded processes and programs.2. Under create a flight, I select the airport I want to fly from (usually the last airport I landed at) I ususally start with the default Cessna, clear all weather, and select the time and season I want.3.With FS9 open, I select FSNAV and do my flight planning. Once I know the distance to be flown, I select an appropriate aircraft. I export the plan the FS9 using airport ID's for the file name (KDAY_KCVG)4. Back to FS9, I select the aircraft and set the fuel, then slew the aircraft to an appropriate starting point (gate or ramp)5. Now I start AS2004 and import the flight plan from fs9.6. I set up my throttle quadrant and flight yoke7. I load the flight plan. I set the course and the approprate radio settings, start the engines, set the lights, pitot heat, etc8. call for clearance, set the altimeter and I'm ready to request taxi clearance.Dale

[Jerel 0]

>> I've got OceanFX water textures with Vater.zip reflections installed on topI installed Vater already on top of Flight Environment. It looks very good. I downloaded the OceanFX package and wanted to know how to install Vater on top of OceanFX package?Thanks,

[Guest Glaudrung]

Lars,there's one thing in your question that isn't very clear. Do you have any experience at all using any kind of flightsim?I'm asking this because you don't want to jump in this pool at the deep end. I give you that advise first.If you didn't use this kind of software before, I would suggest to take it one step at the time.First of all you have to be absolutely sure you like simming the serious way before spending a wad of dollars/euro's or Danish Crowns on addon's.Start with the basics and for that you don't need anything else but the program from Microsoft. When fully installed you have, to some degree or less, everything you need to start. (basic planner, basic aircraft, basic weather and weather themes...)From there on, you can start your way up the ladder at your own pace.Start easy and master those basics. It may sound dull and boring but that's the only way to go on this learningcurve.If you do have any previous experience, you can start by limiting the abundance of choices by making a whishlist, starting with the things you don't like in the default program.Do you hate the flightplanner, go find yourself an internal or external planner you like. There's a whole bunch available and there should be one you like. (you can't go very wrong with FsNavigator cause it's easy to use and framerate friendly).By doing it this way, you can expand your collection at your own pace and with those addon't that really interest you.And, last but not least, keep reading this (and other)forums. They are a real treasurehunt. Even I read a lot of stuff here and I'm simming for about fifteen years now.Luc 'Glaudrung' BrusselmansBelgium

[Guest Skiff]

My basic method is:1) Decide what plane I want to fly. I tend to go for the realistic, high workload aircraft (LDS 767, PMDG 747/737, and Flight1 ATR), so the plane I want to fly, and how long I want to spend flying, dictates my route. To be fair, when flying online (which I've not done much recently, unfortunately), I tend to base my choice off of what areas have ATC coverage.2) Choose my airports of departure and destination. Recently I've been all over the ATR with FS2Crew, and have been doing a bunch of flights in and out of KORD to airports in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. I've also started flying in Europe as well, which has been fun. Sooner or later this Yank is going to have to fly in Europe on Vatsim.3) Once I've decided on where I'm flying, it's off to simroutes.com and other flight planning sites to find the most realistic route for the flight. After that, it's myairplane.com or other chart sites to get the appropriate SID, STAR, IAP, and airport diagrams.4) Load the appropriate fuel planner for the aircraft I'm flying, and determine the optimum altitude and fuel requirements.5) Run "EndItAll" to shut down the non-essential services.6) Start ActiveSky6 and let it do its initial update. While this is happening, I usually get my yoke and pedals arranged appropriately, and get my charts organized.7) Start MSFS, and choose my location, date, and time and load the default Cessna.8) After I'm in the Cessna, I slew to the gate/ramp location I want, and then load the actual aircraft I want to fly.9) After the aircraft loads, I set the fuel load and get started!

[Guest Rayed]

Here is my recipe, I use it since I got FS9 (never bothered with previous versions as they seemed to rough for me).I set up all the sliders in FS9 so it performs 90% of time at 30 fps - most sensitive settings are 3D clouds/visibility then autogen, then mehs complexity.I do not tweak fs9.cfg directly, as this is usually not needed, most "tweaks" do not work at all and can mess up things a lot.I do not buy any addons if I am not 100% sure I need them. This usually takes month or so to evaluate it - based on demo (if possible) or on my friends reviews, as I don't trust anyone else ;)If any addon (no matter what it is) would drop my frame rate below 30 fps consistently (of course I am realistic and in some cases like very busy airports with overcast conditions and 100% AI traffic I can handle 15 fps for very short period of time), I consider it not working and don't buy/load it.If some addon does not have a demo or one of my friends with similar system don't give me good review (again frame rates), I don't buy it.When I get an aircraft addon, I fly it. 100+ hours minimum before I even consider buying another one. If I get bored with new plane too quick, I assume that I am bored with FS9 and I go play something else, hang out with my wife and kid etc... :)I also did all lessons in FS9, they are fun and I didn't buy anything new for first 6 months. I downloaded a couple of freeware sceneries though.The bottom line is - just fly around as much as possible, you don't need to tweak FS9 2 times a day and buy new addon once a week to enjoy it.

[Clutch Cargo 384]

Here is my "baker's dozen" recipe for flying:1. Look through the forums2. Start FS20043. Look through the forums some more...4. Make some coffee5. Ooops, forgot to download that latest freeware aircraft.6. FS finally started, decide on plane to fly.7. Check out forums again... what's the latest, did I miss something!8. got a plane, now decide Where to fly.9. Dang, got the plane but don't have the paint I want for where I want to fly. Search libraries.10. Drink more coffee... getting a little strung out here.11. Load up weather, FSHotSeat FX, FDSFX Sound-set, AI aircraft, 12. Finally ready to go but...13. Time for bed - too exhausted - do same thing tomorrow (but check forums one last time).Gawed I enjoy this hobby! ;)