swambast

Hello everyone, back from a break and just reinstalled FS2004 and the patch. What have I missed in my time away? What suggestions would you make as far as tweaks, add-ons, etc. Thanks for any and all advice!

Ponyboy, I know what you mean. It is actually kind of both sad and humorous to see users once so viciously loyal to LAGO and would defend them at any cost, are still there but now complaining and "almost" finally realizing that their beloved LAGO is soon to be no more.

Yes, I used to be an avid fan of LAGO when FSE came out, and even was involved in beta testing.But now - there are (pretty convincing) rumors that the company is on the verge of closing shop, and there is a skeleton crew left. In fact, there have been legal disputes and public outcrys from developers that worked for LAGO, and never were paid their rightful royalties.IMHO, stay far, far away from this company. It is a shame, really, and I am saddened to report this...

I say: COUNT ME IN! I'll do whatever I can to help! :-)

Nihongo, or others - still considering creating this area? Let me know what I can do to help. Maybe Mike Manger can give us a hand here, if he's interested?

Interesting info. Unfortunatly, I doubt it is going to stretch into Southeast Michigan that far. But, if it does - consider me sold! Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

By the way, here's a shot of 1D2. I live in Livonia, and USED TO fly out of 1D2 in Plymouth as a student pilot only a few short miles away. Sure do miss it. Had a second lil baby boy, and was just the practical exam away from getting the VFR license - sooo close. Oh well, I'll go back and get it someday, I know that for sure. In the meantime, MSFS with some satellite/photorealistic images would be fantastic!Here is 1D2 shot:http://home.twmi.rr.com/portalaccess/1D2.jpg[/img} Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

Well, I sure would be willing to help in anyway. Especially with Google Earth now available, we should be able to get some pretty good satellite shots:I would really like to get the airport 1D2 done as well (Plymouth-Canton-Mettetal)

I would love to see Detroit in satellite rendering. I don't know GMax, but maybe we can recruit a volunteer from somewhere (Scenery Design forum). Let me know what I can do to help, I have only a basic knowledge of scenery design, but would be happy to help the best I can. Steve

Hi, does anyone happen to know of any Detroit or Southeast Michigan scenery that might be available, either as freeware or payware? Thanks for any tips...Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

Andy,IMPHO (in my personal, humble opinion), I do not use SP2 and will not use it for some time. And to my knowledge, you still get all the critical security updates that SP2 users get, as long as you have at LEAST SP1 installed. Personally, I have found that my gaming experience was slower after SP2 most likely due to new services being installed (yes, yes, you could tweak/disable them), and I uninstalled it. That has been my experience, a lot of users like SP2 because of the new "security features" like the firewall, automatic update alerts, etc. but I'm behind a router, manually update, so overall, I did not see any very significant features/performance benefits after I upgraded other than a faster boot-time.Steve

Here are the tips:Do not use CMSS2 - it is designed for DVD audio and music files, not ideal for computer gaming audio! You will have little/no sound in rear speaker when this is selected. Use CMSS instead for your gaming. Use CMSS2 for listening to audio CDs - it sounds much better!Under the EAX "Effects" panel, ensure that you check the box that says "Enable Audio effects" and then choose "Special FX" and then select "EAX Games - Normal Effects"On the CMSS 3D Tab, I suggest moving the slider back so the stereo focus is about -15 to -20%, this puts more sound output through the rear speakers.Good Luck!

Thanks to both of you! John, I'm intrigued by your Landclass Assistant. I looked in the AvSim Library but am confused as to which files I will need. I assume the latest update I will need (lca-140), but what is the "base" file I need to install? Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

Hi, I posted this in scenery design forum, but maybe that was the wrong place, so I thought I'd ask here. I am trying hard to increase the realism of the landscape in Michigan. In particular, south east michigan (livonia, plymouth, 1D2, etc.) and the Detroit area. I am now ready to buy a third-party add-on, but am a little confused as to what "features" I should be looking for. For example, I know that in my area the mesh/terrain is relatively flat, so that's not AS important to me as the overall look of the landscape. So far, I believe that products such as FScene 2004, FSGenesis, MyWorld 2004 may meet my needs. Are there any others I should consider? What are your thoughts on these products? What features/benefits should I be looking for? Thanks again for any insight.(As a side note, the folks over at MyWorld were kind enough to post a screenshot of my airport. But...I was disappointed by the results. Here is the link to that: http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=20448&highlight= Do you think that I may experience this same problem with the other land class products?) Well, thanks to all who take their time to offer their opinions and advice, I greatly appreciate it...!Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

Hi, I thought it might be appropriate to post this message where the experts hang out. I am trying hard to increase the realism of the landscape in Michigan. In particular, south east michigan (livonia, plymouth, 1D2, etc.) and the Detroit area. I am now ready to buy a third-party add-on, but am a little confused as to what "features" I should be looking for. For example, I know that in my area the mesh/terrain is relatively flat, so that's not AS important to me as the overall look of the landscape. So far, I believe that products such as FScene 2004, FSGenesis, MyWorld 2004 may meet my needs. Are there any others I should consider? What are your thoughts on these products? What features/benefits should I be looking for? Thanks again for any insight.(As a side note, the folks over at MyWorld were kind enough to post a screenshot of my airport. But...I was disappointed by the results. Here is the link to that: http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=20448&highlight= Do you think that I may experience this same problem with the other land class products?) Well, thanks to all who take their time to offer their opinions and advice, I greatly appreciate it...!Regards, SteveSystem Specs:MSI 865PE-NEO2-LS, P4 2.8 Ghz/800Mhz FSB HT, 1GB KingMax PC3200/DDR400, Windows XP Pro w/DirectX9.0c, Main: Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm 36GB - 2nd: Maxtor ATA133 7200rpm 120GB - CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52, BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card w/official 61.77 drivers, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 w/6.1 speakers, USB CH Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

In one of my latest magazines, I read about a computer power supply that featured a "cordless" solution. That is, all the power components plugged INTO this main power supply. As opposed to power cables that plugged into each computer component. If you've seen this or read about it, can you please help provide me with any details such as web site, manufacturer's name, etc. Thanks in advance if you can help!

Sorry to bring this up again, but I really can't find what the heck the email is to send suggestions into the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 team. Can someone please re-post their email address again, please? Thank you very much...!

Umm, how about a link to what this thing is, please...????

Everyone,Thank you for taking your time to answer this, I find your responses very interesting and insightful, to say the least. I'm just trying to understand the possibilities, and limitations.No matter what, I do see this as a possibility for the future, some day. Who EVER would have thought that some genius could have brought us all of the roads in the U.S.A.? Now that gets me excited about the future possibilites of this sim.A note for Bob: WHOA - I have used scenery design tools before, I'm just not proficient at photorealistic imports, yet. Regards, Steve

Yes, higher mipmapping means detailed textures. If you are getting shimmering, might I suggest you enable anisotrophic filtering on your graphic card (IF it can handle the so-called "minimal" performance hit). This should greatly reduce your shimmering, and this should work with other games experiencing this problem, too.

I mean no offense here, but I am really hoping for some enlightening and informative answers. Why does it always seem that U.S. scenery add-ons always lag way behind the photorealistic scenery produced by European scenery add-ons and other non-US developers? Sure, we have the cream of the crop in Megascenery but IMHO the states/areas are too limited (I live in Michigan, which MS scenery generally has made a mess of and if anyone ever does photorealistic scenery for here - please take my money immediately). Obviously, I don't understand the complexities involved in making photorealistic sceneries for the U.S., but I have been wondering this for a long time, and any insight would be appreciated...

Hmm, maybe the RamDrive idea might be worth trying - we could load the pagefile into the RamDrive, and test it...Regards, SteveSystem Specs:O/C homegrown MSI 865PE Neo 2, O/C P4 2.9Ghz/800Mhz FSB, 1GB PC3200 400Mhz Ram, 36GB 10,000 RPM WD Raptor/120GB Maxtor ATA133, O/C GeForce4 Ti4600 w/45.23a Omega drivers, DirectX 9.0b, WinXP Pro, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 with 6.1 speakers, CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB

Thanks to all for your responses, I appreciate your imput.Joel, that is what REALLY prompted my question. If all of FS2004 is loaded into memory, I would think that when FS goes to load specific texture/graphic files, it would be loading at RAM speed vs. hard disk drive speed. To me, that would have to result in faster performance, no?

I was just curious if anyone ever experimented with using a RAM DRIVE to play FS2004. If so, what kind of results did you get?

Microsoft forgot a major lake (or a few hundred) here in Michigan. Can anyone suggest for me what might be the easiest way to add the lake back in? I'm not very experienced with the mechanics of scenery design, is there any quick and easy way to add this in???Regards, Steve