FSX/FSX-SE? Need help with FSX controls

[Dragos Popa 0]

Hey, I'm a new FSX user coming from X-Plane 11. Just thought I'd give FSX a go. I'm not having much luck though, after a while I got a grip with the throttle controls, and views and stuff like that. I'm still having issues with turning any knobs or switches in the cockpit of any plane.... What am I missing?

[Jim Young 2,356]

I just put my cursor over the knob or switch and right or left click and/or use the middle button to move, for instance, the speed knob up or down quickly.  Super simple.  This is for any default aircraft in FSX.  Putting my cursor over a knob or switch and then using the middle button is used the most as almost all switches use have that capability (this is on the default stuff now; don't know about payware and all the thousands of add-ons that work with FSX.  Thought it was like that in XP11 too (I own XP11 since it was first released but still cannot get it to recognize my Saitek throttle.  FSX/P3D recognizes it immediately and I can almost instantly begin a flight.  It does recognize my Mouse though in the tutorial and tells me how to fly with the Mouse but I would rather use my Cyborg X throttle like I do with FSX).  I'm assuming you have a Mouse with a left/right button and middle switch?  If not, you can place the cursor over the switch or the knob and, when you see a plus or minus sign, click on the knob and it will go forward or backward depending on whether you clicked on the plus or minus sign.  The FSX has a great learning center that provides more information on exactly how to move switches and knobs on the default aircraft.  At the setup screen, in the left column there should be a link to the Learning Center.  If you want to use the Learning Center w/o opening FSX, just to to your FSX/FSWeb/Learning Center folder.  If you ever decide to purchase a payware aircraft for FSX, you will need to check in their manual on how to change the knobs or switches but think most of them use the same philosophy that Microsoft used for the default aircraft.

If there is no movement of a switch or knob, it means it was never programmed by Microsoft techs to work and you will have to purchase a payware aircraft.

The AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide provides more information and settings you will need to run FSX almost immediately. But, if you want to use DX10 Preview, we recommend you get Steve's DX10 Fixer as it fixes anomalies with the original DX10 Preview program developed by the Microsoft Aces Team.  See the link to the guide in my signature.

Hope you enjoy FSX too.  It's always nice to diversify and be able to use several of the different flight simulators as each are unique.  I understand XP11 is really nice and I have seen some outstanding images in our screenshot forum.  Some are even much nicer than P3D or FSX images but P3D and FSX are able to produce some outstanding images too.  I still have FSX/Acceleration installed on my computer and I will continue to use it as some add-on developers have not upgraded their outstanding FSX products to be fully compatible with P3Dv4.   

Hope you enjoy your membership here at AVSIM! 

Best regards,

Jim