Good reviews/advice on a flight sim?

[Jim Harris 1]

Greetings and I hope this finds you safe and well.

I'm currently working on a project for my Dexter Industries GoPiGo robot where I control it with a joystick.  Ergo, I dig up my (old) Saitek X52 HOTAS controller that I've had sitting in a box for a while.

That, planked down on my computer table, brought back fond memories of simming with FS-2000 all the way to FSX, (which I waited outside of a BestBuy to purchase of the "first day of issue") <== stamp collector joke.

I've played with the FS series, and I've messed with the FlightGear sims. . . .

Maybe I'm wrong, but the FS sims seem "too easy".  Plug it in, turn it on, and away you go!

FlightGear was a bit too fussy, not to mention the Windows support of a few years ago was spotty at best, (which may have been part of the "fussiness"), and really wanted to be run on a Linux box - which I don't mind but most of my stuff is on Windows.  Likewise, the fora there was less than welcoming if you didn't have aspirations of flying the Space Shuttle, or being a full-time commercial pilot.  Not to mention that one set of blasted high-tension towers at the default airport that my Cessna just loved to home-in on! 🙄

While I'm practicing my robotics in Python and JavaScript, (and since I have the controller out anyway), I'm interested in finding out what's happening in the flight sim community nowadays.

So, my question is, which flight sim do you like, and why?  Given that I'm no stranger to flight sims, but am far from being an accomplished pilot, ("landing" is a major goal), what would the more experienced members recommend for a relative nugget/neo like myself?  Bonus question:  Do you know of any really decent terrain and airport models for Moscow Russia. (My granddaughters would love that!)  Sheremetovo, (SVO), Vnukovo, (VKO?), and Domodedovo, (DME), are the three big airports there.

I'd like it to be realistic, but I'd also like it to be fun, something that my 8 and 10 yo granddaughters could use and with a forum group that doesn't talk down to the neo.  It doesn't have to be freeware, but that would be nice.

I don't have a yoke, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant, or cockpit, and I don't have 10,000 CUDA cores and four Crossfire rated video cards driving a half-dozen monitors in the Sim Pit from Hell.  All I have is my humble Saitek HOTAS controller set.

I'm running Win-10 on a HP EliteBook laptop with a reasonably ballsy processor and a s-load of memory.

I'd really be interested in the information and advice you folks could offer - I signed up especially for this reason.

Thanks!

Jim "JR"

Edited April 25, 2020 by Jim Harris

[Chock 17,769]

First up, welcome to Avsim. Join in the fun and get involved. 🙂

Now, to your questions...

FSX is a good flight sim and I'd recommend that, so long as your computer can run it at a reasonably decent level of detail (since it is dependent upon the CPU to a large extent), which a decent laptop can manage. It's at its best in its Steam Version, which was optimised and patched considerably compared to the original Microsoft release, and it it has the further virtue of being cheap - £19.99 but frequently discounted to even less than that - and easy to install. There are quite a few add-ons which can have it looking very good indeed, notably the addition of cloud shadows with Steve's Fix add-ons which are inexpensive if you look for those. You can have a lot of fun with the default set of aeroplanes and if you want to make installing add-on stuff easy, the Steam interface makes that a very simple process, but you can also go via third parties and install some real fancy stuff too if you like, and it's not especially difficult to do that.

With regard to people getting snooty with new users, in the first place, if anyone is like that with you, then just ignore them because they are not worth your time, nor worth getting upset over. I would like to think that most people here on Avsim would not talk down to a beginner or someone who is not initially knowledgable about stuff, and if they did, I'm fairly certain it would be stopped quickly by the moderators. After all, nobody is born knowing this stuff and anyone who doesn't appreciate that fact is not worth talking to anyway.

Of course flying a pretend aeroplane around is fun in itself, but what makes it more fun, is having a reason to do so, and that is where some add-ons which provide some additional purpose to the matter certainly help to give it some extra pep. There are many of these, but the one I particularly like, is Air Hauler 2, which allows you to create and run your own cargo (or passenger) airline, which you can then either concentrate on managing and growing, or if you prefer, you can keep things low key and simply fly for yourself in the flight sim (or any combination of these two approaches). You can take it really seriously, or you can just keep it fun. I really like that aspect of it.

With regard to making landings and the challenge you find in this. That is actually all part of the fun. The great thing about flight simulators is that you can crash as many times as you like and bounce every landing you ever make and it does not matter. So long as you are having fun and trying to improve if you want to, then who cares if you 'crash' your aeroplane? You might bruise your ego a bit, but it's not as if you are going to damage your virtual steed.

My advice would be to find some fun aeroplanes which can help you improve your landings, and since you seem to have a bit of a preference for Russia, I have the perfect choice for you:

That's the (payware - £26.99) Aerosoft Antonov AN2. Aside from being one of the most fun and rugged aeroplanes ever built, it also happens to be one of the easiest aeroplanes in the world to actually land, since it remains fully controllable even at a speed of about 30 mph thanks to those massive biplane wings, huge flaps, and ailerons which also droop to assist in generating low-speed lift when in the landing configuration.

Now I don't care how novice a pilot is; if they can't get a plane down in one piece on a two mile long runway, when going at 30 mph, after a few tries, then I'll eat my hat. The fun thing about that add-on is that it does have a very realistic simulation of the engine as well, so you do have to make sure you watch the temperature gauges and keep the cooling under control. It has a lot of other fun and realistic features too. Too many things to mention here.

It's also interesting to note that the real Antonov AN2 doesn't even bother to list a stall speed in the manual, since even if the engine completely quits, you can simply deploy full flaps and it will descend at about the same speed as you do on a parachute, which means that even if you were in fog, at night and over a forest and ran out of fuel in one, there'd be a good chance you'd walk away from the thing even if you just dropped the flaps and let it come down on its own. Russkie planes might be a bit rough around the edges compared to some of the flashier western ones, but they are often a bit more practical when it comes to real world stuff.

With regard to some Russian scenery and airports. Here you go, knock yourself out:

https://www.freewarescenery.com/fsx/russia.html

You should find plenty of freebie Russian airports there. I can especially recommend the freeware scenery for Archangelsk Talagi Airport (ULAA) and the additional available scenery for the surrounding town of Archangelsk which is also freely available, which is very detailed.

Talagi (Archangelsk) airport used to be where the Soviets based many of their Tu-128, MiG-25 and MiG-31 interceptors during the Cold War, so it has a pretty large runway (8,200 feet long) which is unusual in having a grooved surface to provide traction for aeroplanes in icy weather. It also has a fun approach from one end of the runway which means you come in pretty low over the trees, although you can of course come in the other way!

If you look at the link at the bottom of my post, you'll find my youtube channel with lots of videos to help flight simmers and luckily for you, I'm just about to upload a new one which has some flying tips on it. Anyway, hope you have fun with whatever you choose to do.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Chock

[pete_auau 1,158]

As  Alan  has  suggested

[pracines 823]

I thought JR said he had FSX??

I would wait for the new MSFS:

https://www.flightsimulator.com/

[Wobbie 938]

Get a joystick!!

Most important thing to have!

[Jean-Jacques 120]

 

2 hours ago, Wobbie said:

Get a joystick!!

Most important thing to have!

Read his second paragraph!

Quote: "I'm currently working on a project for my Dexter Industries GoPiGo robot where I control it with a joystick.  Ergo, I dig up my (old) Saitek X52 HOTAS controller that I've had sitting in a box for a while".Unquote

I have an X52 and I like it very much for flying helis. I don't consider it 'old' at all!

JJ

Edited April 26, 2020 by Jean-Jacques
missing word added

[HighBypass 2,339]

13 hours ago, pracines said:

I thought JR said he had FSX??

He said he'd queued up to buy it, but didn't necessarily imply that it was installed on his latest computer..

[1123213 26]

Hi @Jim Harris,

I hope you are staying safe in these times as well!

I wanted to let you know of some great freeware/payware for FSX of Moscow. Drzewiecki Design offer some great "demos" of Moscow! These are essentially payware sceneries which have freeware versions, which are not as good yet still very accurate in terms of buildings. 

There is Moscow City X, which covers all of Moscow including the landmarks amazingly for free. It says there are all the  Moscow airports excl UUEE, but the ones in the City demo are not very good, as the focus of the product is the city.

Moscow City X http://www.drzewiecki-design.net/prodMos_X.htm

Working download link: https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxscen&DLID=200830

 There is a Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport demo, which is very good as well, the terminal buildings look very nice.

http://www.drzewiecki-design.net/prodUUEE_X.htm

Working Download link: https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxscen&DLID=212561

You can also purchase the full packages if you want, The city package does include all airports excl SVO.

If you want DME to a higher standard, I would recommend UUDD  by MD Design (it's payware) 

https://secure.simmarket.com/mdesign-moscow-domodedovo-airport-uudd-fsxp3dv1.phtml.

Any questions, PM me or feel free to ask.

Best,

Canine

 

Oh, and for why I like flightsim: There's the beauty of the sky, the undying awesomeness of being able to control such powerful machinery and the never ending learning curve.

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Canine Crew