>Moderator note: I was in the middle of typing this when I got>some crazy traffic report that erased my data.>>Craig -- it is actually better to defragment your hard drive>before loading any program of significant size, not after it. >What you load immediately afterward will also be automatically>defragmented. I am new to FSX, but I've been using computers>since 1984. >>Snowfalcon, John, Chris, Geofa -- your advice is wise>concerning buying good hardware first, and learning how to fly>and just enjoying the program before trying combat flight>sims.>>I really appreciate all the input and links, I'm following up>on every one of them. Thanks Ryan and others. >>There is only one PROBLEM, you guys are costing me MONEY!>>I already ordered CH Fighterstick. Everyone who has this>seems to love it, and its reviews are even better than what>I'm finding from people who bought more expensive sticks. >Although $150 is still expensive for joystick. I managed to>get it for $100 from Amazon. Thanks Redvan! BTW your>essentials list looks pretty much like what I decided as>well.>Flight Simulator X Deluxe $58 cha ching>CH Fighterstick $102 cha ching>> The

make sure if you get Falcon 4.0 you buy the binder edition... I got one on ebay a few years ago now, cost $40, but well worth it... not sure what current prices are, but the binder edition is well worth it. It comes with a binder full of information on how to fly Falcon. Of course, once you update to the latest community made versions, there are downloadable manuals to get you up to date. I'll email you with more F4 info in a bit...

A lot of you people recommended the CH products. I ordered the top of the line Fighterstick, and should get it today, with FSX Delux!! :D At Amazon, it had more praise than the Thrustmaster Cougar, although that is a great HOTAS. It would be foolish to learn one set of commands that come with the game and another to customize the fighterstick. I went to the CH Hanger-- community section -- profiles section and found their Control Manager .CMC file for FSX at this link: http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=24[in case you are interested]It was written by the moderator, MichaelCHProd, who writes dozens of these things, so it should be very good. My questions are:1. Do you guys use these or make up your own?2. Why is there a .CMC file (which is most important), but not a .Map profile? I searched their fourm and did not find an answer for this, although there were definitions for the types of files. There is an FS9 profile.So, again I need your wisdom. How do you people handle your control set ups?ThanksFALCONPS they have some Jet fighter profiles there as well. My smartest move would be to synthasize as many of the controls as possible.

If your not comfortable programming your stick than using a premade profile saves time. as you get used to it you can always modify it to your taste. For FSX you don't need a full blown HOTAS but it won't hurt. In FSX like real life most of your controls are clicked in the pit. For mil sims looking at the keyboard is death. There you will need the HOTAS to handle avionic mode switching and weapons deployment. I myself have a cougar but don't overlook Saitek. There is a lot of bang for the buck in their HOTAS'.

Regarding the cost of addons...One thing to remember is that the developers put A LOT of time and effort into their products, and do not sell very many copies compared to say FSX Deluxe. Try to not compare it to the "base" product....Think of FSX like an operating system....and think of addons like the software we purchase to run on the OS... :)All in all, if you don't feel comfortable with a purchase, just don't do it.As a side note, while I don't work for RealAir, I don't think they will have any price drops....that usually happens when the product is released...

>Moderator note: I was in the middle of typing this when I got>some crazy traffic report that erased my data.>>Craig -- it is actually better to defragment your hard drive>before loading any program of significant size, not after it. >What you load immediately afterward will also be automatically>defragmented. I am new to FSX, but I've been using computers>since 1984. >>Snowfalcon, John, Chris, Geofa -- your advice is wise>concerning buying good hardware first, and learning how to fly>and just enjoying the program before trying combat flight>sims.>>I really appreciate all the input and links, I'm following up>on every one of them. Thanks Ryan and others. >>There is only one PROBLEM, you guys are costing me MONEY!>>I already ordered CH Fighterstick. Everyone who has this>seems to love it, and its reviews are even better than what>I'm finding from people who bought more expensive sticks. >Although $150 is still expensive for joystick. I managed to>get it for $100 from Amazon. Thanks Redvan! BTW your>essentials list looks pretty much like what I decided as>well.>Flight Simulator X Deluxe $58 cha ching>CH Fighterstick $102 cha ching>> The

Before I post a question, here's a quick word on defragmenting.The very reason we have to defrag hard drives is because the operating system (even the old MS-DOS) always loads new information in the first available space on the hard drive. As we delete things over time, this creates sector space, any new files are placed in that space. When you defrag it makes all of your files contiguous, it fills up all the blank spaces, and a good one reorganizes your files per program/folder to some extent, at the same time. Hence, once you defrag, anything that you load immediately after that is already loaded consecutively, and does not need defraged.Question:I have a problem with the menus in FSX. I am not using any add-ons; my system is a very strong gaming rig, so that

>>Any advice?>Yes. It sounds like a video card driver problem...either corruption or a bad version. I'd try a different driver version and see what happens.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

guess it's possible, but I dont really see how a vid card driver would be effected by key strokes... what drivers are you using Falcon? what are other 8800GTX users using?

with the 8800GTX I am using driver 162.18. This is the latest driver posted on the Nvidia official site, although it is a beta driver. It has all the features of the 158. driver but is a little newer.

I use the 162.18 driver with no problems, and I have activated the program several times so I wouldn't worry about reinstalling it. Like a lot of PC problems the issue may be related to a background application. You could try disabling all background apps under the startup tab in the msconfig program.

I also have installed FSX several times... lets see... over 6 times in a 2 week period... was reformatting, and kept screwing up installation of drivers n crap, finally got a new HD just to have more room, did it twice on that before finally getting everything on right, then got FSX on, again, no problems.Should mention I didn't have problems with FSX... was reformatting due to other issues. But it's worth a try to reinstall FSX... Worst that can happen is you have to deal with MS to allow it to be activated again, which I doubt will happen.

I did uninstall and reinstall FSX beacause I originally had the demo, then the program, then I uninstalled the demo. I had the problem before this and after, so that was not the cause. I feel better though knowing I have a perfectly clean install in case some shared files were messed up and would cause problems later. Here is the solution to the menu freeze problem. It is actually quite simple, but because it was unexpected, it only took about an hour in FSX to discover it. (I wasted more time searching for solutions on these forums than in the program experimenting.) I noticed that since the game would freeze, as if paused, whenever any of the menu items were selected except for the view menu items, that it must have something to do with screen rendering. I could hit escape and the program would return to normal. I switched my view from full screen to Window mode and everything worked fine. Thank God. :7 Perhaps it is the 8800 GTX card and the NVIDIA control panel that caused the problem. The control panel allows one to control video settings and force them on any game or program. Which of course I do! I force VSync off (it sucks), anti-aliasing on at 16X, Anistropic filtering at 16 X, triple buffering, and texture quality on high. These will override the FSX controls, but apparently they only allow access to most menu features in windowed mode. Since I have a 19 inch monitor, that doesn't bother me. On the other hand, this may not even have been the cause, I don't know.I can't believe this solution of switching to Windows mode was not mentioned somewhere. No doubt it was, but the search engine for this form truly stinks. :-erks I did multiple searches in four different AVSIM forums within the FSX forum area. I did not find it using the words: menu, freeze, crash, lock up, or numerous other things I tried.Regardless, I will post the solution and hopefully be of assistance to someone else.My thanks for all those who offered assistance.FALCON

GreetingsI put together a good profile for the CH Fighterstick and I am continuing to experiment with it. I will make it available to others soon.I originally asked about military planes, and after searching dozens of them and experimenting with a bunch of them, I found a fantastic plane that I am I love with. Its th F-18 Super HornetThis is the absolute best flying, best sounding, best looking one you will find. It works great; its FSX addaptation is excellent -- better than some FSX default planes!. I found it here:http://www.simviation.com/fsxmilitary5.htmThere is a US Navy tomcat skin for the plane on page 6 of the same site. Just follow the readme directions. They are simple. I am new to FSX, and had no problem.I am so happy with this plane, I fly it most of the timehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/176381.jpg