Fenix A320 has a 723kb manual ???

[Otto Groschenbügel]

That's not what I expected, a study level aircraft and a 723 kb "manual" in the docs folder ?

Or did I miss something ? 😳

I'm sooo glad that I still have Mike Ray's A320 book from 2008.

[molleh]

yes, i'm not big on the current fad of limited documentation supplied with thoroughly simulated aircraft addons.

[kakihara123]

Good thing though: You can simply use the real manual...

[Greggy_D]

Agreed, OP.

And for those that may not have come across this yet, here is Chuck's excellent A320 guide:  https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides-fsx-fslabs-a320/

It should work 99% the same for the Fenix.

[flyinion]

Yeah I have to say I was pretty shocked.  I've been buying high fidelity and "study level" addons like this since FS2000 and this is the first addon of this caliber that has not come with a detailed manual, tutorial, etc.  At the very least they should have done something to cover the features and functions specific to Fenix like their EFB and the non Airbus specific stuff like the failures menus in the MCDU.

[Johnny Wyatt]

True but there are countless high-quality guides for the A320, no need to reinvent the wheel.

[rocketlaunch]

It has a manual? 

[Greggy_D]

11 minutes ago, rocketlaunch said:

It has a manual? 

More like a brochure.

[F737MAX]

Feel like this is an older vs younger generation issue.
It appears as though older flight simmers seem to want a manual to read alongside / check their step-by-step approach in the aeroplane. Younger flight simmers tend to want a video to watch, get the gist of it and go fly.

Given that most developers are 'younger' and their time is best spent bug fixing, improving and creating new products (not to forget the several, highly informative, real world pilot FS channels that exist on YouTube) and I can see why a developer like Fenix is less likely to create a several hundred page guide, unlike, say, PMDG.

Even though I'm no longer 'younger', I'm very happy with videos.
It makes far more sense to me to watch someone perform an action, than to try and interpret written instructions (especially if the guide writer is a non-native English speaker).

[Luis Hernandez]

I prefer manuals, every single time. I can read them at my own pace, instead of a pace set by others. Luckily, I had some experience in other buses (PSS, Wilco, Aerosoft, FBW) and I could transfer it into the Fenix bird. But being Fenix, I would have expected something closer to a FCOM than a brochure. If the videos were more straight to the point (as for example, the VKB videos for setting up their joysticks), I could tolerate them. But for a trim issue in the BAe 146, for which I linked to a Youtube video, of the 3:40, only 35 seconds were enough for explaining how to solve the issue. And count me as one of the younger ones...

Now, how can I close the tray table? That's something a quick 20-second search in the manual could have done.

[Ramzanovsky]

I mean apart from the EFB, you can use any of the many A320 manuals and guides out there or even work your way through the official Airbus FCOMs if you want.

I kind of understand that they didn't want to waste precious developer time writing yet another manual when there are hundreds available in various levels of detail a single Google search away.

[flyinion]

21 minutes ago, F737MAX said:

Feel like this is an older vs younger generation issue.
It appears as though older flight simmers seem to want a manual to read alongside / check their step-by-step approach in the aeroplane. Younger flight simmers tend to want a video to watch, get the gist of it and go fly.

Given that most developers are 'younger' and their time is best spent bug fixing, improving and creating new products (not to forget the several, highly informative, real world pilot FS channels that exist on YouTube) and I can see why a developer like Fenix is less likely to create a several hundred page guide, unlike, say, PMDG.

Even though I'm no longer 'younger', I'm very happy with videos.
It makes far more sense to me to watch someone perform an action, than to try and interpret written instructions (especially if the guide writer is a non-native English speaker).

I would be happy with manual or videos.  At least provide something.  My post above I called out them not detailing how to use the failures for a specific reason.  I was looking through the MCDU failures menus trying to see how they worked for instance and in the Random Failures section I clicked an LSK next to what I assumed was something to toggle a trigger type for the failures but instead ended up accidentally sending 3-4 random failures into the aircraft and then couldn't figure out how to clear them since clearing them doesn't seem to work the same as say PMDG aircraft which are the only other ones I have failures experience with.

 

edit:  Just in case I missed it, do they actually have videos?  Or is it "just wait for your favorite YouTuber to create a video showing you how"?  

[Bdub22]

18 minutes ago, flyinion said:

edit:  Just in case I missed it, do they actually have videos?  Or is it "just wait for your favorite YouTuber to create a video showing you how"?  

I don't believe they have any official videos out, but yeah, there are countless YouTube video tutorials of entire flights that will show you everything you need to do to accomplish a full flight.

[Adrian123]

"Manuals? we don't need no stinking manuals."

[mrcultureshock]

Think of it this way. The Fenix A320 is so good that you can use the real world manuals.