nateanderson

Dear Tom, Those are tough words to hear. You've always been very direct in your forum posts, and I can see the same directness in announcing your prognosis. I am praying for you and your loved ones to have more time together and to enjoy every minute. Thank you for a great website and the community that has grown up around it. I check avsim.com nearly every day. My hard drive has hundreds (thousands?) of files which came from AvSim. What you have established will continue to be a part of our lives. May God watch over you! Ben “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6–8)

If you are looking for "as real as it gets" then remember that countries and airlines impose restrictions on how long a pilot can fly in a 24-hour period. Often this is 8 hours, so it would be "illegal" for you to stay at your simulated long haul flight longer than that. What I often do is to take off and fly through the first step climb. then raise the simulation rate until an hour from landing. Obviously if you are online or that is against your VA then that won't work. Ben

Just picked up FSX:SE for $4.99. Not planning to install it until I need to reinstall FSX. I never got the Acceleration pack with my original FSX Deluxe so now will have it when needed (for a lot less than it cost originally). Plus now I don't have to worry about keeping my FSX disks safe and working. For those worried about Steam, there is really no problem. I've used Steam for years with various games including most of the COD series. The client is well-behaved and unintrusive. Ben

+1

Great to see FG continuing to be developed. Every version makes it more enjoyable to fly. Thanks also for the vid. Ben

I don't fly online, but enjoyed your flight plan in PNW with Carenado's Cessna 185. Thanks!

Looks good, Richard. I painted the Ethiopian 200LR and Freighter. The CS paint kit takes some time to become familiar. BTW, has anyone produced non-symmetrical wing textures that look real? Ben

I install 7-Zip first thing on every computer. I like open source. But there are other good solutions, like WinRAR and others. Ben

Recently built a 3570K @ 4.6 and GTX570. After applying the minimal tweaks, I run 30fps in most places. However, let me say that smoothness is much more important than a high fps. On my system road and sea traffic always causes stutters. If I notice stuttering while flying, I can always look around and find a road with traffic. FSX does have inherent limitations, but there is definitely a way to get a smooth 30fps most of the time. Ben

No airline has ordered the LR with any aux tanks. There is a tradeoff between taking off with excess fuel weight and scheduling an intermediate stop. Both burn fuel and landing obviously generates expenses, but at a certain point somewhere around 12-15 hours it becomes more economical to plan a stop because of the additional revenue payload which can be carried. Additionally, the aux tanks themselves must be counted in the gross weight, removing more revenue-earning payload. Obviously the passengers would rather fly nonstop, but even they are not willing to pay a premium, such as Singapore Airlines was charging on the Newark to Singapore route in an A340 that can only carry 100 people. Everyone pays business class prices. That is why the flight is being discontinued in a month. Ben

A company that cuts off the online servers to force customers to buy the new version is Intuit. My company uses Quickbooks and all online functions get cut off after three years. Then we get to spend $350 per copy for the new version . . . Ben

I have owned all the SimCity versions and I think my kids had all the Sims versions and expansions, but am waiting to see what happens with this one. I don't understand the need to be online for single player. Why not have a process by which a city, after being built offline, can be "incorporated" into the SimCity world if the player desires? Options would be limited, but that would be the choice of the player. This would let the sim work in situations where there is no decent internet connection, such as a long layover in an airport without good wifi (which is most of them). The DRM issue is going to be an ongoing issue. Even FSX requires online activation. Piracy is a problem, but destroying the experience for honest users is hardly a solution. Steam games can be hacked more easily than SimCity 5 but COD BO2 still sold 1 billion dollars in 15 days. Walmart loses some profit to shoplifting, but they haven't resorted to clipping a monitor to each person who walks in the store. One of the lies about piracy is the amount of revenue lost which is claimed by the software companies. Actually, many of the pirates wouldn't have bought the game even if the DRM was bulletproof. Either they don't have the money or they're more interested in hacking than playing. To count all those as "lost sales" is simply a false assumption. Another problem with DRM is that the game activation, play and content is safe only as long as the software company exists and maintains its servers. We who use FSX have discussed this a lot in regard to activation and weather. Will MS still be providing this service in five years when I rebuild my computer? By then my FSX will be 12 years old and MS has earned exactly $69.99 from me when I bought FSX the day it was released. Fortunately MS has been a stable company, but even they have pulled the plug on new DLC for Flight, leaving a lot of people with broken dreams. Another issue with EA DRM is that for the money received for a single software sale, they will have to maintain the data of every player who ever plays SimCity 5 for an indefinite period. That means monthly server bills, without additional revenue. Software game companies go belly up every month. What then? Ultimately it seems that software requiring a server will eventually require a fee. I haven't yet decided about SimCity 5. But it will be interesting to see how these issues sort themselves out in the long run. Ben

I've ridden many 777s, which has now become my favorite airliner. Probably the most memorable are my first 777 ride on BA from London to Phoenix and my first LR on Air Canada from Toronto to Hong Kong on the polar route (15 hours). A powerful and safe ride always. There are differences in the cabin based on 10 across vs 9 across. Also different airlines use different seat pitch. And now there are seats that slide forward to recline rather than going back into the person's space behind. Kllls leg room but I guess keeps the people behind happy. Always good to check Seat Guru. Ben

Those vids are 6 years old and FS9. Is this a new product or an old product? Or an FSX port of an old FS9 product? Also, those vids are low quality and make it difficult to see the level of detail in the scenery. Ben

I own the CS777. The plane is beautiful in and out, but CS can't seem to perfect the systems. Wait for version 1.2 as the current 1.1 is certainly usable but needs work in several systems. CS usually takes about a month between versions and 1.1 was just released. One of these months PMDG will release theirs and their focus is the systems. Remember, patience is a virtue! Ben

Could someone buy this and post a vid and review? The price seems way high. Plus it will have to compete with FlyTamps's VHHX which is one of my top addons. I wish someone would do a complete Singapore and WSSS in FSX. Right now I've merged Samsoft and Imaginesim but there are still a lot of anomalies. Ben

I had forgotten about the FSX-native Aerosim 777. However, I don't believe that people waiting for the level of detail in the PMDG and CS are going to go for Aerosim, as it seems to be a "lite" version of the 777. Also it only includes the -200 in the PW variant. My reason for getting the 777 is the -200LR version with the GE engines. So I'm not even going to consider the Aerosim for my own purposes. Ben

I made the mistake of updating to 314.07 and also Nvidia Inspector 1.9.6.9 at the same time. After several reboots, new profiles, reattaching fsx.exe and reinstallations, I could not get NI to make any changes to FSX. So I downgraded to the 310.90 drivers and all works like it is supposed to. Not sure where the problem is, but I am going to stick with this driver for a while until someone with some inside knowledge can give a suggestion. Ben Win7-64 | GTX570 | 3570K @ 4.7

I don't know about startup tutorials, but if the plane initializes properly then the hydraulic switches should be on. Normally, as in the video, you need to load your flight with a default plane like the Baron and then load the 777. Ben

Looks sort of like the B-1 bomber. Have to wait for the engines and paint to get the real look. I guess the 777 has made be prefer planes without winglets. Some of them look strange--and then you have to see them every time you look out the window.. Ben

The visuals on the FSX Overland are not in the same league as the CS777. However, I do own the CS777 and the 1.0 version is really beta in regard to the systems. You need to wait for the 1.1 version. Ben

CS does not release hotfixes with the 777. They would have already done so since the VNAV in the -300 is improved over the -200. There will be numerous fixes as in all their updates. I'm going to call their next update the Release Candidate. Ben I'm guessing Captain Robert S. Randazzo will be a whole lot happier when he has released something--anything. Ben

I've owned the CS777 since the release of the base model. I have only seen the landing gear disappear once and that was in a very early version. It is related to the anti-piracy system that CS uses. Be sure to uninstall each version completely before installing the new one. Also, there is a Manual Offline Activation that some people use. Obviously if your version is pirated then you should expect to find the gear missing. I would consider the current CS777 to be 1.0 Beta. There is a long list of minor issues and one or two major ones such as the VNAV. CS has a list of bugs on their site so you can see what they know about and what they are working on. You can program the LNAV, set up different loads with the ACE, fly long hauls and instrument approaches. I recommend climbing and descending on FLCH and cruising with A/T until VNAV is fixed in the next release. If you want to wait for PMDG as some have suggested here, then by all means do so. They tend to have very complete aircraft at release. But you'll have to learn to wait patiently as others are doing. For now CS is the only native FSX 777 available. Ben

The CS 777 is a beautiful plane in and out. The problem is that some of the systems are not complete. If you are waiting for a complete CS 777 then you should think this way so as to avoid becoming a beta tester: .xx Alpha versions (still adding features) 1.0 Beta version (this is what is out now) 1.1 Release candidate 1.2 RTM The CS will never have the same complexity in systems as the PMDG (whenever they get it released). Graphically, however, the CS is not going to be beat. Take a look at one of the many YT vids. So each sim pilot needs to figure out how they want to use their 777. Personally, I'm not interested in reading thick manuals and running through a bunch of checklists before anything works. So CS with another update or two will be exactly what I need. Ben

Beautiful airplane and paint. Great to see American getting the 300ER.