Starting out with Fly! II

[Guest]

Hey Mac Fly! Users;About a week ago, I completely cleared out both my HD's, and I've been my computer back to date sinse. I've basically got all my appps back, and some of my games. Yesterday, I completely finished bringing Fly! 2k back to life (All the scenery and Aircraft and DEX files are very tedious) Now, today I got to Fly! II, and I realized that I never got to really enjoy it, or have any fun with it. I was wondering, what are you Mac users out there adding to this game to make it worthwhile while we wait for Rich's patch? I know about the DC9 and the 727, but I'm not sure what sky to use, or what cloud sets to add. So, if anybody out there feels like they can help me, or point me to a good link, I'd be more than grateful.Thanks in advance;

[Guest Allan Jones]

Sounds like you had big hardware problems!? Glad you're running again.Add-on a/c: I like the PA-28 and fly it more than just about any other. There's a Mac-friendly version in the AVSIM library. I also use the GPS-equipped KingAir for longer flights.Rob Young posted some flight model fixes for the Pilatus and the C172 (may be more). They are good improvements over the default versions.Scenery: the SOCAL package for LA is nice and easy on rates on slower machines.Skies: my advice is try them all. We each have different expectations of what the sky should look like depending on where we live. The rural western US has many days with very blue skies. Therefore I'm running the "BlueSky" package. For you, decide what a good Venezuelan sky should look like and chose the sky enhancer that come the closest.Clouds: haven't done a thing here. I figured that with a 300 mHz machine and a 16MB vidcard, nicer clouds would be pushing it! :D

[Guest]

Allan,Thanks, your post has helped a lot. The problem I had was linked to OS X. I couldn't run any apps, I was missing some sort of lib. Yes, a whole wipe out was kind of drastic, but I was looking for a fresh start. Once you have your entire comp backed up, you don't have much to lose.I've used the PA-28 for 2k, and it seems like a very good aircraft. Are the larger jets too much of a frame rate killer? I had downloaded the C-172 fix, but not the pilatus one. It seems to have fixed some flight model problems, but for some reason, my joystick seems way too sensitive. I changed the setting in my control.txt, but it isn't the same as 2k.Scenery-wise, I'll be sure to try out that SOCAL scenery. By the way, would you mind sharing what kind of scenery settings you have? High res textures, scenery detail, range, etc... I'm getting low FPS, and I'd like to know where to cut down.I guess you're right about the skies. I'll try out BlueSky, and I've also heard a lot about SkyFire, so I'll check those out. I didn't think you'd remember that I lived down here!Well, thanks a lot for your help, you've been extremely helpful.

[Guest Allan Jones]

Hi William,Remember I have an aging Mac!:~PI usually have Fly!II set to run at 800x600x32 (don't even bother with 16 bit color -- it doesn't help rates much and things look BAD!); sometimes I do 1024x768 depending on the a/c. In the opening set-up box, I'm telling FlyI have 32MB of VRAM -- I know, it's a lie but its seems to help a bit.In the Scenery box, I have details set to sparse, A/C shadows only, Env mapping on (yeah, I know I should turn it off but the planes look SO nice!). The view distances are Max = 28 miles, hi-res=0, and med res=6 miles. I usually leave clouds off.My rates are pretty dismal with such a slow processor. Hoping the "Bonus Fairy" comes to the office soon so I can buy a 500mHz chip. I usually have to turn off the panel to land just about anywhere. Rates airborne with panel on are about 6-7 depending on panel converage. Rates out the front with panel off can reach 18.Ext view rates are 9-12. However, remember that checking rates affect rates. Use the ctrl-F graph instead of hitting the TAB key. Even with this, I can see the sim slow down as soon as I invoke the graph. I made some minor mods to the render.ini file but they don't seem to make much difference.