Introduce myself and a question or two

[Guest neslesman]

First let me say hi and introduce myself. I'm a newbie to computer games/sims (but not computers), went out on a limb and bought myself a copy of FS2004. Haven't had so much fun outside of a bedroom in years. I've been totally fascinated, am having a ball and satisfying in no small way my lifelong ambition and fascination for flying and aircraft. I don't fly in real life and don't have any connection to aircraft or the industry, just have an inherent interest. I'm a "near retirement" sales and marketing professional that's enjoyed a career in a number of technical products and services.So, that said, I can't get enough of FS2004 and Avsim. What a great resource and group you have hear, I had no idea that there was such a community involved around four CD disks. I've been taking advantage of the tons of information available here on Avsim and have even successfully downloaded some simple add ons, much to my wife's and our pets' chagrin. Am looking forward to eventually becoming a contributor but I've still got a lot of learning to do.Introductions aside, my question is this. I've been all over the site and the many forums as well as other sites and as yet haven't found a simple general rookie discussion about FSUIPC and it's uses, simplicity, applications etc.. I have a general idea of what it is all about but as yet haven't found a newbie tutorial or general discussion for beginners. I would appreciate if anyone could point me in the general direction of that kind of information, I know it's out there, I just haven't found it. Another part of my question evolves around the fact that I don't have a very powerful computer and I have to be careful not to over use it's scarce resources. It's only an AMD Athlon, 11?? MHz, a gig of memory, lots of hardrive and an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro graphics card. I'm already facing some issues with frame rates and the usual settings compromises so I wonder if FSUIPC and what it could lead to would be too much for my system. My other immediate interest is in getting the Jepperson charts that I can use in FS3004 and wonder if they might be a bit of overkill for the system as well. Hard drive space isn't an issue.So there ya go, Hi from a Canadian West Coaster(Vancouver)that loves fishin', and a few questions. Keep up the great work here, aint't the WWW a marvelous thing.

[graemeb 14]

Welcome to the world of flightsim! If you want to find out more about FSUIPC (absolutely essential add-on in my opinion), check out Pete Dowsons website:http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.htmlEssentially, FSUIPC acts as an interface that allows lots of other external programs to access variables within FS2004. It has a lot of other features as well, and has zero impact on system performance.You can download and install it for free, but if you want the advanced features, you will need to pay for it. You can try it out and read the manual to see what all the features can do. For me the best features are the joystick button/axes assignments, which are far more flexible than the default.

[Guest abent]

Hi,Welcome. The general concensus is that FS is a cpu hungry application. CPU power, and a lot of it, goes a long way towards a smooth flying experience. You video card should have little problem but my guess is that the bottleneck is your cpu. I have 2 systems one is a P42.8, TI4200 128MB card and 1Gig DDR. I use this one for design as I find it inadequate for FS, though I like reasonably high frames.My other machine, that I game with is an amd3500+ X800 and 1 Gig DDR.The amd machine is, conservatively, twice as fast. I run heavy payware aircraft, ActiveSky (A weather generation program), Ground Environment (improved texture sets for FS) etc and get very acceptable performance out of it. I'd look at upgrading your cpu.Again welcome to the fantastic world of flight simulation.Adam

[Guest firehawk44]

Welcome Neslesman! You'll learn a lot here at AVSIM, my favorite Flight Simulator website. Since you're new, you might want to visit the forum just above this one entitled "All About US". There you can learn more about the members and post more information about yourself. Lastly, before the forum administrators get on ya, make sure you sign your posts as it is one of the forum rules. Again welcome and best wishes.Jim Young

[Guest neslesman]

Sorry about the lack of a signature. I read that, reminded myself of it and then forgot.Thanks for the responses. My suspicions about my slow processor speed have been confirmed. Instinctively I didn't think a sim game would require a skookum processor but now that I see all that is in FS2004 I'm not surprised. I'm gravitating toward a new system anyway but for now I'm still getting enough performance to make things fun. I'm going to take the go slow approach for now so that I can make an informed decision when the time comes.Thanks for that on FSUIPC, glad to hear it's not a resource hog unto itself. I'm intrigued with the possibilities and will get the trial for now to whet my appetite. The charts are also on my wish list.Les

[Clutch Cargo 384]

Hey Les welcome aboard! As you explore deeper and deeper into this addiction... ooops I mean hobby, or do I mean game (it's just a game right guys?), you'll find this is a great meeting place for all your general flightsim needs. From there, there are lots of other forums that pertain to specifics such as FSUIPC, certain aircraft, add-ons, types of flying... the list goes on an on.A few tips: there is sooooo much out there it can be quite overwhelming. Take your time and enjoy the setup you have but start putting those pennies away for that new system as you will most certainly want one so you can eventually add all great add-ons out here and for the next version of flightsim. HA!Happy flyin'Clutch

[Guest RonB49]

> The charts are also on my wish list.Have you considered paper charts? Stop by your local airport and visit the FBO (Fixed Base Operator, the guy who runs the general aviation terminal) or pilot's shop; you'll find they are not expensive and take up no computer resources. Heck, if you strike up a conversation with some of the local hangar bums, they may give you their outdated charts. R-

[Mace 1,902]

That is wise to take it slow. The CPU scene is about to change a lot I thinkRhett

[RogerPotie 0]

Les,Some web sites to look for free charts (mainly USA and maybe Canada)http://naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_tpp http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004.php http://www.AeroPlanner.com http://www.airnav.com/airports/get http://www.casaraontario.ca/~flightinfo/FlightInfo.html Canada http://www.eurocontrol.int/ais/links/europe.htm http://www.fscharts.com/ http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/6912/ approach charts lessons http://www.navdata.at/ http://www.navigraph.com/navigraph/osc/mai...play=node&id=20 http://www.stopoverstore.com/product/index.cfm/nid/415 http://www.vacc-sag.org/?PAGE=airport_info

[jagabom 21]

Welcome aboard. Just don't forget to climb aboard once in awhile too.:-rollJimCYWG

[Tim Arnot 5]

Hi Les, welcome aboard. You'll soon discover FS is more of an addiction than a mere hobby... ;-)Like others have said, take it slow and steady, and don't be in a big rush to get to the 'heavy iron'. It is really worth persevering with the 'lessons'; they're not as in-depth as what you'd do if you were learning to fly for real, but they'll give you a pretty good grounding. Some things will come easily, other things (like landing, for instance) you'll probably find really difficult. Don't worry, it'll come to you in the end. It takes most real pilots 50+ flying hours to get their licence, and a lot of that time will be spent just flying circuits - touch and go, touch and go, touch and go for hours at a time. Sure it can get boring, but it really gets those skills ingrained so that later you'll be able to do it without thinking.If you get into trouble and you feel you just can't 'get it', come back here - there are quite a few real world pilots on these fora who can help you 'get over the hump'.Being in Vancouver, you're in a marvellous part of the country for bush flying. Take a look at some bush planes (I like the M7 Maule from here on Avsim, but others have different preferences - Beaver and so on). If you don't mind paying for some addons, take a look at Vancouver+, Misty Fjords and (coming soon) Tongass Fjords from http://www.fsaddon.com/ They just revolutionise that region IMHO. If you have a decent topographical atlas, it will give you almost everything that a sectional chart will, especially if you're using small remote airstrips. But by all means try to blag some expired charts from your local FBO, or buy current ones - they're not expensive.

[Manny 1,293]

Allways remember, your wife and your pet dog and children if you have any. They are important too.:)Manny

[Guest CowlFlapsOpen]

just to add to the already good advice that is posted here, I stopped by my local FBO and picked up some sectional for about $8 US each, learned a lot from them. Plus , as a bonus, the woman ehind the counter and were chatting and when she learned i was interested in learning to fly eventually, she gave me a pile of used books on flying they had laying around. I've really enjoyed them although they are older. Finally, I obtained a complete set of all US airport diagrams and approach charts on a DVD for something like $15 from Sport's pilot shop (on the web). I print the charts for the airports I am visiting in the real world and in the sim world.-jeff

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

You did not say what airplane you are flying, but if you are starting out with the Cessna 172, I would suggest downloading the free Real Air Cessna 172 which has much improved handling. No impact to your framerates, but a better and more realistic "feel".www.realairsimulations.comI, like you live on the West Coast (Duncan, Vancouver Island area) and have found a number of good freeware scenery enhancements for SW BC that make flying in this part of the world more enjoyable. Search for Vancouver and Vancouver Island in the Avsim library. Getting improved scenery mesh will give you better detail on all the mountains, again without noticeable impact on framerates.

[Guest neslesman]

Tremendous information everyone, thanks indeed. I've already taken advice on paper charts. An old high school buddy of mine in Winnipeg has been teaching flying for 30 years and he's bringing out out to BC a bunch of redundant stuff next month that he's acquired over the years. With all those links Roger provided I should have enough to keep me busy for a long time.Yes I'm flying the 172 and will look into Realair. Interesting comment there on the BC coast. Some of the most enjoyable flying I've done so far, sim and in real life as a float plane passenger has been right here in my own back yard. The Beaver, "180" and the Grumman Goose bring back many fond memories of great fishing and business trips. I've already got YVR much improved from the default as well as some Fraser Valley scenery. Have to admit it was very strange to see the Fraser River come to an abrupt end at Hells Gate canyon only to start up again a few miles on. There is a good photo gallery here ( http://www.martinmars.com/gallery.htm ) of our own nearby Martin Mars Water Bomber fleet. That's one that I haven't yet seen in the many aircraft files that are out there and there's quite a story behind them. They still have spare brand new engines in their crates/barrels that as yet haven't' even seen a minute of service. I'll have to figure out how to size photos, otherwise I would have posted it.I'm definitely going to take the "go slow" approach on this new found hobby, both with hardware and the many add ons and features. There is so much out there that it can be overwhelming so I just keep reminding myself that I've got the rest of my life to enjoy it all and learning to fly proper and well will be keeping me busy and happy for quite a while I'm sure. Yes, landings are intimidating but like any endeavor they will take time and practice, if it all came fast and easy there wouldn't be so much to look forward to.Again, thanks all for the warm welcome. I'm looking forward to many hours of enjoyment here and in the air (so to speak).