So...I quit simming

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

I forgot to ask!! I am at the point of setting up my switches and keys on the PC-12. Does anyone have a LUA or key presses used on this plane. Could not find any info over at Linda website.

 

I have one, though there are some switches I couldn't figure out or may be unreachable by LINDA.  PM me your email if you'd like it and I'll send it over.

 

Gregg 

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

True confession time: I've made only 3-4 flights in the last year, and none in the last 9 months.

 

I was wondering where you were off to.  :smile:

 

 

 

I realised that it had become a chore, and that it wasn't fun any more, and I wondered why.

 

Yes.  That and the unpredictability of the results.  Sim crashes...grrrr.

[shivers9 1,174]

I have one, though there are some switches I couldn't figure out or may be unreachable by LINDA.  PM me your email if you'd like it and I'll send it over.

 

Gregg 

Thanks Gregg....PM sent.

[neucoas 82]

Great post Holdit!! I agree 99,9%, but not this

 

 I remember my wife asking me after a multi-hour session "did you have fun flying?" 

 

In my case, 'd be "Have you finally stop flying???!"

[SKEWR 364]

Very good topic.

 

Over the years, I've simmed then quit. Always to come back to simming again. At first I'd feel guilty (even though most of the issues were work related and the last being a health issue), but then the itch would come back to sim.

 

This time seems different though. ~6 months and no desire to return.

 

As another poster in the thread mentioned: Always ask yourself why. For me it came down to a few things:

1) During the Win10 upgrade, my FSX no longer worked. I had already purchased FSX:SE so I installed that instead. As I began reinstalling all the addons and manual configurations, I noticed I HATED the process. I'd done it so many times. When I play WoW, or SWToR, or even StarCraft, all I do is install and go. Reinstalling=Not fun.

 

2) P3D: I purchased P3D and after going through the issues I mentioned in (1), I was expecting more. Where were the memory fixes? Where was this awesome new lighting? Why doesn't my sim look and run like Rob Ainscough's? I'm fairly proficient at tweaking settings to reasonable levels (For example; I don't touch LOD, never turn traffic to 100%, etc..) so why is it not running as I expected it? P3D was supposed to be the "Chosen One", but it's just not... for me anyway.

 

3) Cost: I know things would look better if I had 3 big 4k monitors and Titan Black's in SLI, but can I justify the cost for this sim? I'm not near the poverty line, but is it worth it to get the best of the best new equipment to run a 10 year old sim (or an updated 10 year old sim counting P3D)? While I have a yoke, pedals a throttle quadrant,VRInsight EFIS, and TrackIR as relatively inexpensive ways to enhance my simming, should I add ~$8000 for that triple monitor setup with the best PC I can build now? For me, I can't justify it.

 

In conclusion, for me, the combination of reinstalls, P3D not meeting my own "reasonable" expectations, and potential costs have made simming not FUN anymore. I realize these circumstances aren't the same for everyone, but it was enough for me to hinder the enjoyment of simming. BUT... I already know I'll be back. It's a matter of when not if. For most of us that are on this site and sim, we'll always be back!

[Christopher Low 5,353]

 

P3D was supposed to be the "Chosen One"....

 

Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One, and look what a little sh** he turned out to be.

[jjjallen 37]

I was using a fairly mild overclock on the CPU but none on the graphics card.  Did some Googling and found a bit of information...tried some of it.  I dunno. 

I gave up OC'ing video cards and memory long ago but am an avid CPU OClker.  Just by pre OCLked stuff.

[twharrell 38]

Gregg, I would encourage you to not give it up. I understand your frustrations, though. I think this hobby can get too overwhelming because of all the choices we have. For me, I decided to limit my flying to the 2 aircraft I enjoy the most flying the region I love the most. And being that region is the western US, I get my ATC fix with PilotEdge, which is expanding its coverage soon. My time is usually limited to 2 hours max so I make the most of it. I have a lot of airports and aircraft I don't even install any more. It's hard to pass on good sceneries but limiting my virtual world has helped a lot. That being said, a break can be good sometimes, but maybe rethinking what you want out of flight sim is what you need. Simplify and enjoy.

 

Todd

[jimmy64 43]

So many great responses here. I've had similar thoughts on occasion even if I didn't want to admit it to myself. I  have a similar philosophy toward the sim now as Bert, less is more. Now in 3.1, I have just 4 add-on aircraft by different developers. A2A's Comanche, Realair's Turbine Duke, the Majestic Q400 and PMDG's 777-200. I don't plan to add any more, rather just learn these beauties. Gone are ORBX regions, well the 1 anyway PNW. I have FTX Global and UTX2 so that takes care of enough eye-candy. The alternative is to spend a fortune for partial coverage and have to wait for all to be updated, no thanks. It's a flight simulator to me, not a recreated alternate world. I have a few add-on airports for some added realism while at the terminal, Flight1's GTN for the Duke and REX/ASN for some great weather. I've quit chasing extreme high settings, mid-high are adequate and very smooth at 30 locked. I've also eliminated building autogen (houses) and car traffic, both set to 0. FTX Global has photo real houses above 1000 feet or so anyway that look fantastic. I have scenery and vegetation maxed to make up for the lack of fake houses. My set-up is running smoother than it ever has, and I'm happy now with it, for what it is, and not unhappy for what it is not. Someday soon Vox n MyTraffic will arrive but I'm enjoying PilotEdge in CA while those guys are catching up. 3.2 will arrive in due time but I don't care. There is far less frustration when not taking every single incremental step. I'll probably get the last iteration of the 3.XX series and sit on it for a long time. Greg it would be nice to have ya back up there and I'm sure that in time you will be, until then...

[NGXfanatic 85]

I have just recently returned to the hobby after a rather lengthy hiatus (from November 2013), and it is P3d v3 that pulled me back in.  I also attribute my return to Facebook, which I only joined early last year.   It is there where I have met some folks who helped me rekindle my interest, including a new buddy who I frequently hang out with IRL.   I'm very happy with what I see in p3d, as I feel it is what I feel FSX should have been with the proper support and service packs/hotfixes.   To me, it feels like a new sim!

 

I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations, as I know where you are coming from.   When I first quit there were a few factors that led me down that path, but it was mainly a feeling of burnout.   From 2008-2012 I was very addicted to the sim, which even included a period during 2008-2009 where I split my time between FS9, for the PMDG 737, and FSX for the PMDG 747 and LevelD 767.   I spent lots of times fiddling with FSX to get it working right and encountered the insanely frustrating constant crashes and other headaches, but at that time I enjoyed the "work", as I learned a lot about computing concepts and best practices.  Yes, that constant tweaking and troubleshooting gets old after a while, but I felt I had learned my way around any and all issues FSX would throw my way and I would take them in stride, so I learned to accept them.   I even felt a sense of satisfaction when I solved these issues, like it was a hobby unto itself.   However,  from 2012 and onward what was once a daily addiction became less of an obsession, and I eventually would go a month or so without touching FSX.   And yes, I felt guilty, considering all the time and money I had invested my rig, in tweaking FSX and windows just right(according to NickN).  

 

After a few months away from the sim, around late 2013 I was suddenly reinvigorated by the announcement of a few long awaited addons, namely, PFPX, the PMDG 777, and Active Sky Next.   I thought this is it, these addons would finally breathe some new life into FSX.   I was so excited I built a new rig (the one I'm on now), following NickN's advice and purchasing almost exactly the same parts.  I overclocked this Haswell 4770k to 4.4ghz, and had the rig of my dreams, with the greatest addons for FSX of all time at my disposal.   But then, just like that, I fell into a funk, and lost all interest in flight simming.

 

I would still check into AVSIM at times to see what was happening, but I had zero desire to actually startup FSX.    Perhaps it was just the winter blues or burnout from the same old same old routine for the past few years.   I remember starting up FSX around spring 2014 and noticing it wouldn't initialize.   I ran though all the tried and tested methods I had learned over the years to try to get it to work, but nothing took.   I have had situations like this before where I ultimately found the culprit preventing FSX from starting up, but this time I could not for the life of me figure out what went wrong.  But most importantly, I just didn't care.  I was not going to reinstall windows and FSX as I had many times in the past, and waste weeks and weeks putting humpty dumpty back together again, I just didn't have it in me!  But again, I still felt guilty and sad, since I had so much invested.  I said it to myself, and I will say this to you now:  this is a lifelong and very satisfying hobby, and you may very well find that spark to bring you back.  It's not a question of if, but when.   I always reminded myself of that.     

 

I'm not quite back to the level of obsession I once enjoyed, but I'm taking my time to savor each new thing I see in PD3, including the incredible level of innovation in the addons and the P3D platform itself, considering that it is still based on the nightmare 10 year old code that is the half finished FSX.  I even got a new  970 GTX vid card to replace the previous 780 GTX.   Next on my list will be a Saitek throttle quadrant.   And I hope to return to my old passion for taking the PMDG NGX on real life like flights using real routes, and sharing my adventures on the AVSIM screenshots forum as "NGXdiaries" once again!   

[greggerm 312]

The good thing about flight simulation is that it's always there when you get back.

 

Enjoy today with whatever you see fit!

[Guest]

Many have stepped away and have come back ... I did ... but NOW is a good time for flight simulation, it's why I came back, I finally started to see change (taking the good and bad that goes with that).  

 

Not sure what is going on with Dovetail (hopefully something good this year), but you have P3D moving forward, Xplane moving forward, everyday there seems to be a new 3rd party product coming out.  Rumors of other "new" sims on the horizon based on different graphics engines.

 

I sadly spend most of my time testing, answering questions, and providing my experience ... and definitely not enough time just flying.  My regular routine of coding, hiking, racing, real world flying (yes it's taking me forever to get hours in) ... sadly not much time to actually just fly a virtual route and/or really discover the ins/outs of a virtual aircraft.

 

But heck, last night I was just testing out P3D core 1 (0 based) possible issue or not ... and found myself just enjoying a short hop from Orbx KFHR to KBVS ... ASN weather was just stunning (zero visibility until I dropped out around 1000 feet) and the winter chill ... and the flight didn't cost me a dime.

 

I think the next couple of years are going to be the best over the 30+ years I've been flight simming.  Every day, always something new to fly, new challenges, new discoveries, I've barely scratched the surface.

 

Take a break, but hope to see you back.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

EDIT: Flight simulation is always going to require one have the ability to turn a blind eye, there will never "Be enough" hardware within the next 2 decades to prevent that ... if you find yourself using the term "kills the immersion" frequently then it probably is a good idea to step away for a while and return later with a fresh start and new set of go fast components.

[Alan_A 1,650]

Great thread.  I go through this sort of thing periodically.  The pattern for me usually is - I'm happily simming, then by degrees I add too much complexity.  Might be aircraft that require more planning and setup and switchology than my schedule can accommodate.  Might be that I get too far into procedural flying when my heart is more in informal backcountry stuff.  Might be that I layer too much payware into the sim and have to spend my time managing it.  At some point I realize that the hobby has become a meta-hobby - that is, a hobby about a hobby.  I read forums and watch videos and install things and tweak settings and don't actually fly.  After which I walk away.

 

The way back for me is usually to simplify things - take a Cub or some other off-road airplane up for a spin.  Do illegal stuff in a warbird.  Maybe limit myself to intermediate big iron like Aerosoft's instead of the hardcore PMDGs (which I love, the quality comes through in all the details, but I can't make the time for them).

 

On the program side - Rob probably won't like this, but in the middle of the summer I dropped out of P3D and went back to FSX, Steam-flavored this time.  When I started with P3D 2.0, the smoothness and lack of tweaking were wonderful, but at some point things changed and it became its own tweakfest.  There are things I miss about it but in Steam I can get more flying done.

 

Finally - on my latest install, I'm trying to keep the add-ons to an effective minimum.  FTX Global and Vector, but no regions.  Zinnertek airport textures but no add-on airports.  REX textures and ASN.  Just a few aircraft - mostly complex simulations of simple airplanes like the A2A GAs and warbirds - authentic and requiring discipline, but designed for single-pilot operation and easy to get off the ground in a hurry.  Also a couple of bigger ones, but with crew assist (like the A2A B-17 and 377 and the Aerosoft buses) so the task load doesn't get too heavy.

 

As long as I can keep it in bounds, this will work for me for a while.  Except... I suddenly find I'm tempted to try VoxATC... or PilotEdge... and get some charts and approach plates out...

 

And there I go off the rails again...  B)

[Guest]

 

 

When I started with P3D 2.0, the smoothness and lack of tweaking were wonderful, but at some point things changed and it became its own tweakfest.

 

The only "tweaking" of P3D I've done is to offer options for others that are "killed by immersion" issues  ... my normal P3D setup on my main FS PC is tweak free ... only time I've touched my Prepar3D.cfg in over a year is after some 3rd party add-on changes it without asking.

 

But tweaking is certainly not required, self induced in most cases ... they see a video and think "my setup should look like that" ... so they move those sliders over and check a few more boxes and performance drops and the tweaking starts.  But like you said, go back to the basics ... the tweaking usually starts when the add-on list gets longer and longer (as or right now I have 112 add-ons install into P3D ... prepar3d.cfg is tweak free ... happy flying when I get a chance, like tonight twin otter in alaska with PNW and ASN and precipitFX -- just went flying, aimlessly flying and enjoying all that I paid for.

 

Like I said, it's a great time to be flight simming ... but drive and flight sim ... yea I actually have seen someone do that

 

Cheers, Rob.

[Wobbie 938]

Great post, Rob.

Our hobby is not about having the greatest PC, the latest payware add-on, the latest software etc.

It's all about the fun we get flying, not tweaking!!

We tend to spend so much time moaning, tweaking & buying that we seem to have forgotten what the sim ( no matter which one) is all about. It's all about immersing ourselves in our own fantasy world for a while. Yes, eye candy is great, but we forget about having fun. Having the latest payware aircraft or scenery is great, but do not forget the freeware guys. These are the backbone of our hobby & often their products are more fun than payware. Being a Boeing or Airbus expert is great, but often the good old props can be more 'hands-on', for a change.

 

I was also getting a bit bored with my flying. I took some time just to relook & read a lot of the old forums & found a lot of plans & scenery that I had forgotten about. Then the fun started all over again.

 

It is not about trying to get the highest frame rates, flying the tubes by the book, making sure that your scenery has every blade of grass. Yes, that is ideal for some, but, maybe take a step back & think what got us into the hobby in the first place... fun!.

 

What I did recently, was to re-load my old FS9, a couple of scenery tweaks, a bunch of good old Bill Lyons's add-ons, some of Milton's planes & it all came back to me. Sometimes, immersion can be more fun than realism. Nothing like flying a Kellet or a Goose in 'Golden Hawaii'! (try do that in FSX or P3D!)

:p0503: