Too Complicated For Old Men

[HighBypass 2,339]

@Ron Attwood Some of the guys might have to pull someone else's hair..  

Touch wood, when I manage to finally upgrade then I should be OK with my own hair. I take after my Dad who still has a head of hair in his 70s 

Just noticed you've changed your signature.. 🍻  Genius!

[andysim212 16]

This sim really does shine with GA flying "out of the box".  More so than any flightsim that has come before.  Just someone like A2A to make it complete 

[Colonel X 1,430]

If any of you elder gentlemen need help with anything in the sim feel free to message me, I'd be glad to help.

[dpcnh1 44]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:56 AM, edemeijer said:

Start with the C152 flying lessons! It will help you with the new controls and getting used to the new sim 😀

Well, not entirely.  I found that after playing for a while and setting all of my own key binds for camera and controls etc, that once you do that, the requests made of you during the lessons don't get acknowledged by the lesson.  The very first lesson was a complete pain to go through because I changed all of my camera bindings so the lesson didn't recognize when I looked out the windows etc.  Something that needs to be addressed.  The lessons are looking for specific key strokes and not necessarily the resulting action.

[duckbilled 310]

On 8/19/2020 at 6:36 AM, tonywob said:

I really like the sim, but I'm not a fan of the UI.. I prefer the quick and no-nonsense UIs for P3D and X-Plane. It seems much harder and slower to do anything in the UI, from setting up controllers to actually just choosing an airport/aircraft and to get going.

But if newcomers like it and it's accessible, who am I to complain 🙂

I agree. I am working through the issues and am getting used to the layout. I'm about 50, and while I don't consider myself a gamer, I played a number of FPS games and a few other things over the years. Of course, I grew up with console games. I do work in a tech related field and am involved with tool development, so I'm no a neophyte.

When I look at complexity, I tend to scoff at a couple things:

1. I despise icons - they remind me of this scene from Idiocracy. I know there are popups that explain the icons, but the popups take up too much space. A simple menu with words is much better IMO, but of course, it doesn't look as nice.

2. The aircraft selection screen is a mess. Why are the aircraft pics so large? Imagine the sim with 50 aircraft. It would take forever to scroll through everything. Larger-ish thumbnails would be better, or at least give me the option to change how everything is displayed.

3. Too may clicks for basic functions. As far as I can tell, you have to reload the main screen to exit the sim. Why cant I just quit to desktop from a flight?

Of course, I may me missing a few things, and I know I'll get used to it..

[ThrottleUp 617]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:19 PM, Heavy Metal said:

MFS and the MS Store, however, are overly complicated and full of issues (for some at least) regarding installation. It takes ages, lots can go wrong and the support loves to suggest to reinstall Windows.

I dont have the game yet but would you say that its best to get it through Steam? Thats where all my games are and after seeing replies like yours its making me think twice about going through the MS store!

Edited August 31, 2020 by ThrottleUp

[Chock 17,769]

3 minutes ago, ThrottleUp said:

I dont have the game yet but would you say that its best to get it through Steam? Thats where all my games are and after seeing replies like yours its making me think twice about going through the MS store!

Actually there seem to be more issues with the Steam version than the MS Store version at the moment. Might just be initial teething troubles, nevertheless, even though I have (literally) hundreds of games on Steam, I went with the MS Store version for Flight Simulator and I've not had cause to regret that decision so far.

[keithb77 308]

Steam fine for me, after fighting the MS Store as an alpha hamster it was a no brainer...

 

[N562Z 4]

Mr Star I completely agree. The YouTube tutorials by Squirrel are wonderful. Got me up and running on my jerky flight control settings in minutes. Thanks for the suggestion!

Best,

[EzRyder 35]

i fear you did the same thing i did - jumped in expecting to be that 'old pro'

there is definitely a learning curve with setup etc, i guess i did have a bit of a lead from previous experience, but it was not near as much as i expected for sure

just take your time, it will become second nature soon enough

[Bill Griffith 160]

On 8/19/2020 at 3:56 AM, Stratocruiser1 said:

I am speaking for myself. I didn't say it's a game, I said it operates like a game, I think. Gamers designed it, and MS is trying to attract the gaming market buyers. I understand this. Have you or do you use any games and/or a gaming controller? I think that people who are used to playing games will adapt much more quickly to this sim than others. Case in point to me is the camera/view usage. With FSX and P3D I can use the S and A keys to change cycle through my views and use the hat switch on my yoke to pan around in any of those views. In this sim, so far for me, I can't find a way to do this. You need to use both hands on the keyboard to get to some of the views with this sim, unless I am missing something. Anyhow, I am glad you have mastered it in such a short time. Maybe I will too down the line. 

    Well I'm definitely an old guy (76) and I have setup views as I have with Chase Plane in P3D.  I use Saitek throttles and a Honeycomb wheel.  You can program custom views and assign them to the rocker switches below the levers.  I use the POV hat on the wheel to pan around.  I does take longer then using Chase Plane and you have to reassign them for each aircraft but once you have your custom views this goes pretty fast.  I use one button on my wheel to jump back to my 'Pilot' view.  I have the head tracking (TrackHat) working but I don't really need it.   Setup a view and then use Ctrl-Alt- (Pick a number for the view.).  After that the Alt +(The number.) jumps to that view.  Assign the Alt + Number to the button of your choosing.

Bill

[Jayjay 62]

I am 82 with a PPL (but don’t fly IRL any more) and was part of the alpha/beta group.  I did not feel MSFS was more complicated, for me old man and old simmer (since 81 with the Sinclair ZX81), than for a younger guy or girl. The learning process is challenging to say the least, but it certainly helps to exercise our brains and keep ourselves going.

Jean-Jacques aka Jayjay

[David Roch 1,982]

On 8/19/2020 at 1:25 AM, Stratocruiser1 said:

I have bought every MS Flight Sim through the years starting with the Sub Logic one way back when up to and including FSX, then even P3D. So I am what would be called an old hand at this, maybe. But, I have no experience with any Game  and have never even held a game controller. This new MSFS is way too complicated for us old guys. It has been developed by the best Game devs in the world, and it shows. It installs and operates like a game.  After messing around with it all day, I have it flying, but have not been able to hook up with my friends on line, even though it says we are connected, etc. The scenery is very good, but getting there has been a chore and I am not done yet. I am sur  that my Great Grand Children could get it going in a snap because they have grown up with games, but I may not live long enough to master this one. It would have been nice if there were some instructions to guide us. I am sure that in time it will become second nature to most people, but MS sure left s old timers behind with this launch. 

Please feel free to contact me.
I'd be glad to help you to configure MSFS via Team Viewer.
Once done, you'll love it!
 

[Heavy Metal 83]

18 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

I dont have the game yet but would you say that its best to get it through Steam? Thats where all my games are and after seeing replies like yours its making me think twice about going through the MS store!

In this case I assume it does not really have any benefits as Steam only provides the same launcher as MS Store does, so all the download, installation and licensing stuff (and related problems) still rely on MS servers and the known issues mostly start after or within the launcher.

So if there is an issue with MS servers, I am sure Steam will be affected in similar ways. And as Chock said, Steam is an additional layer of software which might add an additional layer of problems in worst case.

So I decided to go with MS Store in this case... and already have had several issues as feared (f.e. missing premium contents which are resolved by now though).. but I am convinced I would have had the same with Steam. At least they are working on fixes quite fast.

So my opinion remains to generally avoid MS Store if possible, but in this case you actually don't really have a choice I think as both ways go the same path in the end.

[Heavy Metal 83]

... and maybe to add: if you buy through MS directly, you support Asobo / MS a bit more as they do not need to share the funds with Steam, and in case of problems, one less layer in regards of support responsibilities..