I'm new to FSX-SE so I wasn't prepared for this.

I flying alone fat, dumb and happy in my Quest Kodiak on my way from Novato CA to Lake Tahoe.  Everything is nice.  It's the middle of June and only some cirrus way up at about 35,000 feet.

I'm about half way there and all of a sudden the screen goes black.  Then a popup appears telling me Steam has a new driver to install.  Then, as I'm collecting my thoughts, the popup disappears.  I click on the screen and it turns into a smaller black patch covering a third of my screen.  I click on the FSX icon on the task bar and my flight reappears.

But the magic is gone.  I go from fat, dumb and happy to slightly peeved.  I don't know if the new driver is installed or not or even what it is for.  I hate being told what to do by people who don't outrank me like my wife or a general.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try again.   

Noel

Hi Noel,

Hah - anything can break the immersion - like the wife yelling upstairs “what are you doing” - LOL - I don’t let Steam run unless I’m using Steam (I see it’s required for you)... Better luck tomorrow...

Regards,

Scott

I can play a whole saturday, but when on approach, someone has to call on phone, or ring the doorbell.

It just calls for a shotgun..

You might check that the 'Steam Overlay' is disabled for FSX. Also, you can set Steam to not do updates while running an application.

The life of our simulation experience is like this..

CTD, blue screens or your family, neighbours, etc interrupting your flights happens almost certainly during approach, I am convinced this is because there is an evil demon that loves to see me upset lol.

Simbol 

Sue showed me how to turn off Steam.  

New computer (my old one died).  Windows 10 newbie.  Just had Steam for a couple of weeks.  I'm at the bottom of the learning curve.

Noel

Johan,  I hate telephones.  I don't answer mine if I'm reading or watching TV or simming or otherwise engaged.  I just let it ring.  Every evening I check for messages and if it's important I'll call back.  Chances are it's a telemarketer anyway.

My wife, however, can go from sitting in a recliner to 60 in ten seconds when her phone rings.  Amazing how spry an old woman can get when the phone rings.

Noel 

If I'm doing a live stream or shooting a video of my flights, my phone goes on silent. Then nobody's going to get a hold of me when I'm flying.

With the low cost of hard drives I am surprised that so many still use one drive for simming, gaming, work, college etc.

I strongly recommend having a 2nd drive with Windows purely for simming to eliminate all the background nonsense

17 hours ago, birdguy said:

Johan,  I hate telephones.  I don't answer mine if I'm reading or watching TV or simming or otherwise engaged.  I just let it ring.  Every evening I check for messages and if it's important I'll call back.  Chances are it's a telemarketer anyway.

My wife, however, can go from sitting in a recliner to 60 in ten seconds when her phone rings.  Amazing how spry an old woman can get when the phone rings.

Noel 

Noel, the last time I flew was to Dayton, Ohio for the last "Hamvention" to ever be held at the old Hara Arena.  That that was two years ago. In compliance with regulations, I put my cell phone in "Airplane Mode". It was nearly six months later that I discovered that I'd forgotten to take it out of "Airplane Mode..."

It has been bad enough having to endure ordinary robocalls, but lately I've been getting them in Spanish...

Why doesn't your wife keep her phone with her?

Who can figure out wives or women Fr, Bill?

I once wrote a book titled, "Everything I know About Women."  Put I couldn't find a publisher willing to print 300 blank pages.

Until last August it had been over 20 years since I flew commercial.  It's not that I don't like flying.  I do.  But being processed into the federal prison system before I can board puts me off.

I normally travel by Amtrak.  No security checks.  No long lines.  Just sit in the depot until the train arrives and then walk to the platform and get on.  Once in New Orleans, however, I was asked to show my ID card.

In August my youngest daughter took me to San Francisco for a father-daughter weekend.  I grew up in that city and she wanted me to show her the neighborhood I grew up in.

She flew out from Denver.  I rode Amtrak out from Albuquerque.

But I had to fly back to Denver with her so I could visit with my grandson.

Going through TSA wasn't that bad.  I had checked my bags.  I was wearing only a T-Shirt and shorts without a belt.  All I had in my pocket was a wallet.  I thought I would have to take off my shoes and go through the metal detector-X-Ray machine but the TSA guy asked me how old I was.  83 I told him.  He told me I didn't have to take my shoes off and he walked me around the X-Ray machine.

But being herded like a head a cattle into a 500 mile an hour toothpaste tube with minimal leg room isn't my idea of 'Getting There Is Half The Fun."

This was all a long way of getting to my question.  What is an airplane mode?

Noel

5 hours ago, birdguy said:

This was all a long way of getting to my question.  What is an airplane mode?

Noel

It is a setting you can enable on your smartphone, tablet or mobile device  in order to leave on (so you can use it for other things) and don't emit signals while you are on the plane:

However this is an interesting article:

Regards,
Simbol

 

Cool article find Simbol.

Now I know if I ever go on an airliner, I'd be guaranteed a signal due to multiple cell towers! (EVIL LAUGH>>)

The P key ... Friend or Foe ? is it an Immersion buzzkill or relationship saver , ill go with the latter having had 30+ years of marriage to assess the merits of using the P key under real life conditions. Saying you're on short final doesn't work with women or children ,  only pisses them off  .