PaulVR

I think if the show would not concentrate too much on the technical stuff, but focus on interesting people connected with bush flying, it might become a hit. The BBC made a reality show about Heathrow called 'Airport', and it ran for several seasons. Right now they're re-running it for the third time I believe and people don't seem to get enough of it. It was even shown in my own country, Belgium, with so much success that Flemish TV decided to do their own version about Brussels airport, just before and during the demise of Sabena. That show is running for the second (or maybe third?) time also. All in prime time!You might be surprised about just how many people are fascinated by the world of flying.Paul

I have a more or less comparable system. I'm also looking at gradually upgrading. I started with adding more RAM. It didn't increase the framerates much, but it made the sim load faster and run a lot more smoothly. Stutters were my major gripe with FS9, and they have largely vanished now. If I were you, I would start with that, and it would fit nicely into your budget.P4 2,53 Mhz, 768 Mb PC 1066 Rambus RIMM (was 512 Mb), Geforce4 Ti 4600, WinXP Home, 7200 rpm HDDPaul

Thanks for the link. I *did* look at the forum if the topic was discussed before, but evidently I missed it.Paul

I noticed the price for the recently released Belfast airport scenery by Ematch Simulations is set at 24.99 (!)

Heather,I'm still a long way from having over 315 sceneries installed in FS9, so I don't know if there is any change in that regard. But I had almost 400 sceneries installed in FS2002, and I never found one missing. I think the restriction is only in what the FS2002 scenery *menu* can show and handle (my sceneries that exceeded the limit were not 'visible' in the menu list). But if the scenery is declared properly in 'scenery.cfg', it will appear in the sim, no matter what the total number of sceneries is. Because of the limitations of the scenery menu in FS2002 I had to manually 'declare' any new scenery above #315 in the scenery.cfg file, or use FS Navigator (it's FSNavDBC module can install sceneries too and doesn't have the 315 entries limitation).Paul

I don't know if this would be technically possible, but on the face of it I think it might be. What would you think of an addon that would replace the 'progressive taxi' lines with a follow-me car coming to pick you up and guiding you to your gate? It has been done before by Oliver Pabst in his Bremen scenery for FS2002. Imagine if you could have that option available in every major airport. Select 'progressive taxi' in the ATC menu, wait and after a short while the follow-me car appears and drives along the now invisible purple arrows to the gate ATC has assigned to you.We'll probably have to wait until MS publishes the SDK's for FS9 to find out if it is at all possible. I'm completely illiterate when it comes to programming, otherwise I might have a go at it myself. But maybe somewhere a flightsim enthousiast with the necessary skills is looking for a challenge...Paul

I copied all the textures sitting in FS2002/Texture to FS9/texture, but didn't allow any FS9 textures to be overwritten (one hour later my finger was still twitching from continuously clicking 'Overwrite existing file - No' Why didn't MS include a 'No to all' button as well?).I haven't found any missing textures in FS2004 with FS2002 sceneries since.Paul

Thanks for the reply, Tony. In the mean time I found the solution myself. When I re-read my own post it suddenly dawned on me that the stereo drivers might cause the problem. So I removed them and re-installed the 44.67 drivers. Bingo!I'm afraid I now have to choose between my stereo glasses and pretty looking water reflections. I got the reflections at no extra price with FS2004. The stereo glasses on the other hand...Paul

My PC always seems to want to behave differently than the rest. I have Windows XP Home on a P4 2.53 Ghz, 512 Mb Ram and a GeForce Ti 4600 (128 Mb). I have the 44.67 drivers recommended by MS, combined with the 44.03 stereo drivers. I changed my regional settings from Belgian Dutch to English US, but noting happened. Water detail IS set to 'high' and terrain detail to 'Land only'. I also tried a number of resolutions and screen depths (16-bit, 32-bit), but I just can't get the water effects to kick in.Any other ideas?Paul

I tried every suggestion in this thread, including the ctrl-shift-4 one, but nothing works. The right engine starts just fine, the left one doesn't want to 'catch'. I think the solution will have to come from PMDG.EDIT: I tried ctrl-shift-4 after opening the fuel cutoff valve, and this time it worked. It didn't when I tried to do it before starting the sequence.Paul

Well, it doesn't seem to work in all cases, at least not for me. I've tried every possible suggestion I've read, to no avail. The #2 engine starts just fine, but #1 still refuses to 'take'.Paul

I have the Cessna 421 Golden Eagle up and running (which has an very functional clickable VC!). There are still a few quirks though. The engines quit when the throttle is completely pulled back (might be a calibration problem), and the GPS is only partially functional.I also have the MAAM-Sim B25 Mitchell working and the FSD Commander. The Cheyenne should work also, but I haven't tried that one yet. PMDG's patched B737 NG still has a problem with engine 1 which won't start in FS2004 (a problem many users have reported - no solution yet).Paul

Under 30 minutes...! Serge must have been monitoring his e-mail at that time. And I am Belgian too, that may have helped ;-).Paul

Hi,I also (pre-)ordered from SimWare, and I haven't received my copy either. I got an e-mail notification on friday at 4 pm. that my order was being sent that day. So I expect it to be delivered on monday. I live about 40 km from where they are. Maybe you'll get it 1 or 2 days later in the UK? Fingers crossed...!Paul

Marc,I found there's a small problem with the aircraft.cfg entries for the Easyjet livery. All 3 versions have the same title, which causes Easyjet not to show in the aircraft selection menu. Edting the title to be unique solves the problem. (eg. title=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairs, title=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairs & VC, title=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairs & VC & cabin).Paul

First you need to copy the contents of 'EJ_ADD_TO_AIRCRAFT.CFG_FILE.TXT' (in your PMDG737-700 folder) into your aircraft.cfg file (see instructions). But there is also a slight error in these entries, which causes the easyJet-livery not to appear, even if you follow the instructions. All 3 easyJet versions mistakenly have the same title. If you edit the title to be unique for each version, the easyJet liveries will show up.Leave the first entry just below 'flightsim.x' (for the 2D panel only) as it is:title=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairsThen change the entry for the version with airstairs and VC to something like...title=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairs & VC... and the entry for the airstairs with VC and virtual cabin totitle=B737-73V Easyjet - airstairs & VC & cabinPaul

The ISD freeware scenery of Genova Sestri in Northern Italy also has a scenic approach: the sea on the left hand side and the foothills of the Alps and the port of Genoa on the right. To make it even more interesting, the approach course is slightly offset from the runway heading (as is the case in Innsbruck).http://www.isdproject.comPaul

Just to avoid people looking at the captions for reference: this is a Dutch site and 'bekeken: xxx keers' means 'viewed: xxx times'.Paul

TrackIR works well with Wilco's A320 PIC interactive VC, but it's a bit tricky to click a switch when it's enabled. I'm often 'chasing' the switches with the mouse pointer, as they tend to creep away as you look at them. It's easier to disable TrackIR for a moment by using the hotkey. Although MS' technology for interactive VC's is probably different from Wilco's, I suspect the principle will be the same. An interactive VC only works if you can operate a switch irrespective of its position on the screen. TrackIR is just another way to change your view, instead of a hat switch or a keyboard key.Paul

Hi,Just a few of my thoughts about some of your points. Just to give an other perspective, I'm not saying you're right or wrong. To each his own.1. Flying historic aircraftI used to think flying jetliners was a lot of fun. Since I bought Briefing Time (no FMC or autopilot whatsoever), I'm beginning to find modern aviation somewhat boring.2. VC'sOnce you've tried them with stereo glasses and TrackIR, it's a whole new (and very immersive) world3. Interactive vcIf A320 PIC (which has the first ever interactive VC - every knob and lever is operated from the VC) is anything to go by: interactive VC's bring reality one step closer once again. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but it already feels much more immersive than the classic 2D/3D combination.4. WeatherI have FS Skyworld, FS Meteo and ActiveSky, and while they do a great job overcoming the limitations of FS2002, weather modeling is still very limited. Fronts? Never really saw them. Instead I see clouds only in the immediate vicinity, suddenly popping in and out of view. When flying up to a cloud, it slides away like a curtain. I've flown through Fly! clouds, and that's a whole different world. After all, clouds and the weather are the environment we live in, it's THE most important element of real world representation for a flight sim, more important even than airports and scenery. I would buy FSCOF for the weather improvements alone.5. ATCI bought Radar Contact, but quicky got irritated by the robot-like staccato voices. FSCOF ATC promises to have most of the functionality of RC, but more versatile (certainly when editable with EditVoicePack) and more naturally sounding than RC.You might have good arguments for not wanting to upgrade when you have a rather low-end system. But if your system is up to date, I see no reason whatsoever for not buying FSCOF.Paul

At the moment I'm hard pressed to find ANY area in FS2002 that MS hasn't improved significantly in FS2004. I'm really impressed by the variety in scenery textures, the autogen, the water, the clouds, the lighting effects, the quality of a/c models... The pitiful cockpits - 2D and virtual - seem to have gone too. Add to that interactive VC's, the new ATC system and the new GPS. This is certainly not just a 'cosmetic' upgrade to FS2002!The proof of the pudding is in the eating though - in this case the flying. But I'm not too worried about that. If the flight models haven't improved, we at least still have a number of wonderful FS2002 aircraft we will be able to use.Paul

The fact that there should be a limit to the number of scenery areas in FS2002 is a something of a myth. I currently have 359 scenery areas installed, quite a bit more than the 'magical' 332 limit, and they are all 'there'. It is true though that in the scenery library menu only 332 show up. The 'trick' I use, is to install new sceneries with a utility which comes with FS Navigator, FSNavDBC. This utility doesn't have the limitation of scenery areas, and merrily keeps adding them. The installation process is very straightforward. Using it ensures that the new scenery entry is added to your scenery.cfg with all the right parameters. Deleting an area and saving it to FS2002 is just as easy. The utility corrects all the scenery area numbers to the new values. It might be that adding a scenery area manually to your scenery.cfg works just as well. I suspect there's something wrong with the entry of your new scenery in scenery.cfg.Paul

If you want ATC to say the name of your own airline, or if you want to add an airline that's not in the list mentioned by Wallace, you'll also need EditVoicePack. It's a bit daunting at first sight, but you'll soon get the hang of it. It's very well done and really fun to play with. You can download it for free from this address: http://bevelstone.xs4all.nl/FlightSimulator/EditVoicepack Cheers,Paul

To me Richard will always live on as a beacon in life, in showing what you can achieve with vision, perseverance, skill and creativity, but most of all by showing how you can be courageous, accepting and even humourous and optimistic in the face of suffering and death.I wish his wife Tara, his daughter, his family and friends strength in this time of farewell and warmth and consolation with each other. Paul

I've seen claims here and elsewhere that you can only install 332 scenery layers in FS2002. I found out today that this is not the case. I have 345 scenery layers installed at the moment, and they all still show up.It is true however that if you open the 'scenery library' (world menu) only 332 sceneries are listed, but that doesn't mean that the sceneries which are not listed have disappeared altogether. Navaids and ATC also remain functional.I use FSNavDBC, a utility that comes with FSNavigator, to add sceneries to scenery.cfg, and this still lists all the sceneries and happily adds new ones too.I was afraid I was at the point where I had to choose which sceneries to delete, but I'm happy to see that there's no need for that.I thought this might be useful information for others too, because I haven't seen it mentioned before (but I might have overlooked earlier messages about this...).Paul