mikejr

Thanks for the tips guys. Following on, and particularly with gizmosellsbunnys suggestions I've used UK pcpartpicker and come up with this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/mikejr/saved/TZWKHx This is well over budget (and with the monitor and OS to come I'm estimating another £100+) but I've accepted I'm probably not going to get what I want for the money and it's probably a worth-while investment, so long as I spend and save wisely! Think my credit card may have to take some of the hit... -_- What do you think? Will I be flying around Heathrow in fog and rain with busy Christmas traffic in a silky smooth Aerosoft A320 cockpit? Considering improvements with P3D and other potential FSX successors, could it do that (and compete with some of the newest games too) for at least two to three years? :Praying:

Thanks for the quick replies guys, The GTX 780 is nowhere close to my budget, unless I just want to display it on the mantelpiece! The 970 would really be just about manageable so long as I compromised on the CPU - but with all the debate over i5 and i7s, bearing P3D in mind, is it not plausible to stick with an i7 and compromise on the GPU with something just a little higher spec than the 750Ti, considering with FS the CPU is the killer? Of course, I know that the difference between some i5s and i7s is negligible and not even noticeable on a day-to-day basis... Of course, it is important to consider that hopefully that setup would be adequate for COD 4, Counter Strike, etc. too? :mellow: At the end of the day this really is a (admittedly bronze-plated) budget system and anything is better than what I have and an upgrade in a year or two would improve things once I get used to and bored with whatever I have to begin with. Is there anything you'd recommend with an i7 between the 750Ti and 970, or would a compromise on the i7 for the i5 4690K see me still getting the performance we can all normally be happy with, and for at least another two years with other games? The motherboard is a Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Motherboard mATX - I need to bear space in mind here too. Check out my wishlist: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON for full specs.

Hi all, I am thinking of taking the plunge and upgrading massively to a proper gaming machine, let alone an FSX dedicated system; anything is a step up from my four-year old Dell 1545 Inspiron with Intel GMA Graphics and Pentium T4500 @ 2.3GHz! :rolleyes: Basically, whether or not it's a 'budget' system is up to you, but what I've come up with so far is about £650+ ($1020), minus the monitor and peripherals. It's based on: i7 4GHz 4790K CPU 2GB Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPU (bang for buck) Corsair 8GB Vengeance DDR3 RAM The OS will be Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed on a dedicated 60GB SSD (Win 7 found for 30 odd quid! ) Please check out my full specs/list of items, here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/29YX0GGP7YAON . Bottom line: I'm looking for a system that consistently, efficiently and reliably runs FSX on high to max settings with a combination of complex addons (think PMDG, Captain Sim, UK2000/Aerosoft scenery, REX, GEX, UTX, WOAI/UT2 AI, etc. etc.) - to put a number on that - anything at or above 15FPS as a minimum will be silky smooth compared to what I've had to put up with to this point. The other bottom line is this really is at the limits of my budget, originally I was (and still am) dreaming about figures around £500 ($785), but really it should be no more than £650-ish ('ish' being conservative) otherwise it will frighten my wallet! So far I've been told this should be more than adequate for many modern games, but what about the FSX experts? Is it worth making a bit more of a compromise or is this value for money bearing in mind universality, longevity and ultimately improvements of subsequent iterations of relatives of the original FSX? Any pointers in the right direction would be helpful - I'm hoping the wishlist won't require too much modification now - it's been around long enough! ^_^ All and any help is much appreciated, guys. Thanks in advance! :smile:

Hmm, thanks Bjoern; I will check it out and let you know.

Hi Jan, Thanks for that. I have already looked at the UTT model and I think it might be a bit too frame-heavy for my old laptop which is why I was after the GWAI model. I had seen that it might be avaliable at http://endeavourai.com/ but this website now seems to be down, which is annoying. <_< Anyway, I shall keep looking in the mean time. Cheers. :smile:

Hi Bjoern, I've already tried the UTT website with no luck. It seems that it is almost impossible to find, in which case I'm not sure why AI repaints and traffic files are still being made for it...

Hi all, I am trying to make a custom AI package which needs the GWAI Boeing 787. I have tried searching for it for days before asking here, and so this is my last resort. Can anyone give me a clue as to where I might be able to pick it up? I have tried all the links provided on various forums to no avail. <_< Please help if you can. Many thanks in advance! :smile:

Hi nmaggie, no worries. Sounds good... so long as it's not a watery American beer! :biggrin: You can try visiting the appropriate pages on the MAAM website by starting here: http://www.maam.org/maam_sim.html and then going to 'FREE STUFF' at the bottom of the page. I can't see why it shouldn't work, but if not, then refer to my reply in your pm. With regard to MAAM-SIM customer support, it is a little bit of a shame, yes, since they should take responsibility for products they sell, but then it is 'donation-ware' and helps to keep Aviation heritage alive, without which we wouldn't have FSX (and presumably a passion for aviation in the real world) in the first place. Just a question of priorities really, and as I say, it only takes a little persistence and spending time to get very satisfying results. Anyways, I'll keep you posted via pm.

Hi nmaggie, My problem has now been resolved, details to follow... I have to say, with the £20-30 price tag of the MAAM-SIM DC-3 I was a little disappointed it wasn't entirely compatible with FSX, however, because of that price tag, and its potential, I was convinced I was going to get it working properly. :mellow: Having owned MSFS's for over a decade, and often being a damned perfectionist I am fairly used to making tweaks here and there where I feel neccessary and the MAAM-SIM is no exception. First off... DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for any problems that arise through following the procedures below, it was based on a lot of trial and error and may well not have the same effects on your system. Knowing the FS9 aircraft.cfg files were fully tested and complete, the first thing I did was download the packs above, plus the FS9 OY-BPB and XC-47 addons. They can be found here: http://www.maam.org/flightsim/enhance/r4d_enhance.htm#ALL THEATERS EXPANSION PACK , http://www.maam.org/flightsim/enhance/r4d_enhance.htm#D-DAY C-47 SKYTRAIN and DAKOTA Mk III EXPANSION PACK FOR FS2002 and FS2004 , http://www.maam.org/flightsim/enhance/r4d_enhance.htm#C-47A OY-BPB FS2004 , http://www.maam.org/flightsim/enhance/r4d_enhance.htm#XC-47C AMPHIBIOUS TRANSPORT ADD-ON FOR FS2004 . I installed them into a fake FS9 folder (copy ALL the existing FSX MAAM-SIM DC-3 folders into a fake FS9 folder - which should include the FS9.exe - following the structure shown in the installer). Once I installed all the appropriate packages and had a full collection of FS9 files, I took the FSX aircraft.cfgs and the FS9 equivalent for each model (i.e. in each 'MAAM-SIM...' folder) and simply compared them side by side, using this website: http://www.diffchecker.com/ which does the job well enough. The golden nugget for the boarding ladder I believe is the entry: 'spoiler_limit=0.0.' Change the 0.0 to 1.0 (as it is in the FS9 file) and the boarding ladder should be interactive like in the FS9 version. There are a whole bunch of other entries (under titles like [EFFECTS], [sMOKESYSTEM], [LIGHTS], [airplane_geometry] etc. that will need changing or indeed adding to get the FSX models working as well as they should. But once they do, it is very satisfying. Bear in mind also that some of the effects files themselves work incorrectly because the files were unchanged from FS9 to FSX and the effect coordinate systems between the two versions differ. In general, the modifications are minor, and fairly intuitive, though I would recommend the 'reload aircraft' function keyboard shortcut in FSX to be enabled (off by default) which means you can reload the aircraft real time in a flight after making many of the changes above. In the light of said changes being fairly easy, I am further intrigued to know why MAAM-SIM offered an "FSX" product without spending a little bit of extra time making it as compatible as possible and actually making it worthy of being called an FSX addon... :huh: However, it being a donation-ware product with a central aim (though not sure if this is being fulfilled any more) to keep a classic piece of aviation history in the air, I am not too likely to lodge any complaints soon... besides, though I bit off more than I could chew, and it has taken me over a month to get to nearly where I want to be, I have taken some of my modifications further and now have a fully updated and modernised cockpit (as far as the model will allow) for the MAAM-SIM DC-3 that really helps to bring the product up to scratch! :biggrin: Hope that helps! Unfortunately it's pretty much a DIY project and since I have spent many, many more hours modifying it than flying it so far, I can see this might put people off and probably does deserve a caution for some sceptical buyers, but let me know if you need any more tips. Cheers.

nmaggie, and all, For the record, I am also having this problem with the C-47 boarding ladder in FSX, I am currently attempting to install the various C-47 packs i.e. 'C-47 'ALL THEATERS' EXPANSION PACK WITH VIRTUAL COCKPIT UPGRADE FOR FS2004' and 'D-DAY C-47 'SKYTRAIN' and DAKOTA Mk III EXPANSION PACK FOR FS2002 and FS2004' just to see if the FSX "full" package that I purchased and downloaded really was "full." Unfortunately these are having trouble installing since I don't have an FS9 copy of the MAAM-SIM DC-3; nevertheless I am attempting a work around and I will let you know how it goes! Cheers.

Ok I've sorted the lights. Anyone got any ideas about where I might be able to pick up a checklist?

Hi all, I've just downloaded the FS KBT L-188 Electra for FSX because I want to try out a few old props/turbo-props, and I have to say, despite the panel being a bit dated/an acquired taste, it isn't bad, and considering there are no payware L-188 offerings I'm aware of, it's probably the best too. ^_^ I like to do a bit of tweaking every time I get a new plane to the hangar, and since I am now a bit more of a serious simmer, like to have check-lists too. I've had a hunt for some check-lists and surprisingly found nothing, apart from this: http://buffaloairway...raft-Checklists , which is, of course, a dead link! -_- Additionally, although as of yet I haven't had the chance to test it properly, I notice there is no beacon light on it. Is this accurate? Off the top of my head there is a panel switch for the beacon... correct me if I'm wrong. But if I am is that accurate? I know not many people seem to have the Electra - seems to have suffered the same fate as in real life :rolleyes: but it'd be great to get any kind of feed back on this. If you haven't at least tried it, and like turbo's of that era (of which there aren't many), then do! Many thanks in advance.

Thanks for the reply wims80, I think I will definitely look into an external flight planner, but I was hoping someone might be able to validate the fact that the above files mentioned would work with the stock FSX flight planner somehow, since I don't really want to fork out for an external flight planner if only to use NATs which those files supposedly provide for stock FSX anyway. :unsure:

Hi all, I am considering getting Wilco's A330/A340 collection in the near future and want to do some trans-atlantic flights with as much realism as possible. One thing which has always niggled me with FSX though is the flight routing across the atlantic. <_< Basically my question initially is: is there any way to add something to FSX so that the stock flight planner recognises NATs and routes aircraft through them properly with correct (default) ATC recognition etc.? I have tried this: nat_waypoints.zip, but it appeared to do absolutely nothing to the sim. I am thinking it would only work with an external flight planner? What about natv40.zip? I should add I have FSX Acceleration (SP1 + SP2). My second question is: If I purchased an external flight planner which used the NATs correctly could it also still work within the stock FSX flight plan format, i.e. would it still be compatible with the stock ATC procedures and the stock kneeboard flight planner etc.? I only ask this because I'm not a big fan of using external programs which make the internal FSX features redundant, since I get on so well otherwise with the FSX navigation features etc. (maybe it's because I'm not quite a pro though!) :P Thanks in advance guys

Ahah, That is far beyond my expertise, and being a perfectionist, I'd have to have precise real-world data, which I guess is pretty hard to come by! I think Tom and Erick are far more capable at such a thing than me... At the moment I'm contemplating looking at the Aerosim model again, which I had a long time ago for FS9 but haven't used it for a while, and it too has a better VC than the CLS version. Only problem is there aren't half as many decent repaints for it compared to CLS'! <_<

Not to worry, just looked into that myself, and can confirm that to be so. It is a shame for the Tom's DC-10 VC is brilliant and the CLS VC is no longer up to par in comparison. To be honest in the light of this freeware excelling in this area (can't say as much about everything else, as its fairly close, except for the flight model, which does seem to climb like a rocket), and a few other points which were irritating me on my return to it after having not flown it for a while, I have shelved the CLS model for the time being. I look forward to CLS releasing a real FSX version 2! In the meantime, I'm playing about with Thomas Ruth's/Erick Cantu's!

Hi all, I've had the CLS DC-10 for FSX for a little while now, and although I'm happy with it, as an avid 'realism' lover, for me the virtual cockpits make up a massive amount of the realism; i've never really felt the 'immersion' with just the 2D cockpit panels. However, although I'm aware they intend to release a brand new fully FSX dedicated version 2 DC-10 in the future, the current CLS VC is starting to show its age a bit. Indeed, as with the model itself, the VC's very similar fundamentally to the freeware Overland MD-11, if not exactly the same except for gauges. And so since the Thomas Ruth & Erick Cantu brand new DC-10 seems to have possibly the best VC for a DC-10 out - although I haven't tried it yet, from pictures it appears to be better, even, than the AeroSim model - I wondered if there were any talented individuals out there who would be interested in merging the freeware DC-10's VC model with the CLS external model/gauges? :Thinking: I would be up for it myself, but I somehow think there are others out there who would do a far, far better job. Although I think the free DC-10 is fantastic from what I've seen, as part of the realism thing the CLS one has - albeit "lite" - more functionality, such as the FMC/INS, and so I think (also avoiding changing the 2D panel) putting the CLS gauges into Thomas' VC model would make for a pretty darn good -10! :Peace: I'm aware defining the models in the appropriate text files is a piece of cake, although obviously this assumes the models are compatible and allow such a thing, but I've never been brilliant at fiddling with gauges in virtual cockpits. Just thought I'd test the water and see if anyone else would be interested in such a thing and if so how realistic is this request? Sure there are some classic/heavy/three-holer/DC-10 fans out there who share my interest! Regards, Michael.

Hi all,I was trying to find the answer to the following on flightsimulatorguide.com but rather annoyingly it is not available... :( I am trying to move the Aerosim L-1011 (including the freighters) into FSX Gold and have run into one or two problems:1) Lights - the coordinates for all the lights seem to have been slightly altered in FSX, as well as the delay timings for the strobes and beacon lights. The strobe lights are massively out of place and both these and the beacon lights flash far too fast. Does anyone have the correct settings for these in FSX?2) Default effects - Wing-tip trails, water spray effects also seem out of place. Can anyone tell me how to fix these?3) 'Tape' engine gauges - In the respective models the N1 tape gauge has its surround/background missing in the Virtual Cockpit. Is this something I have to live with or is there a solution somewhere. 4) Are there any other issues I should be made aware of? It would be great if I could have a little bit of knowledge, from anyone, on any of the above.Thanks so much in advance,Michael.

Thanks Tom, already tried them though, not quite what I'm after.

Hi guys,I am planning to make the Aerosim L-1011 as realistic as possible when I port it over to FSX and was after some real world sounds to add to the sound package. I am after the actual cockpit sounds of the Auto-throttle and Autopilot disconnect, as well as over-speed and stall warnings, plus any extras. If anyone has any idea where or how I can get hold of sounds like this it would be greatly appreciated. If not I'll have to take a few samples from YouTube videos!Many thanks in advance

Thanks Thralni,I'll have to see how well I get on moving it over using my own initiative! :( And yes you did - thought I might get more answers - but that repaint is not the one I was after. Not to worry, I may have them backed up somewhere but if not I will do one myself.Thanks for the help.

Anyone got any pointers?

Anyone got any ideas?Can't believe more people don't own the Aerosim L-1011 - it is pretty good! If anyone does have it I'm also looking to move it to FSX and I need some pointers for that as well... :(

Still looking guys...Also I'm looking to move the L-1011 to FSX, anyone got any ideas about how to do that - is it relatively easy?

Any ideas?