Drew_Melia

Ha Ha!!!! Waleed! You are SO right! I'm in Doha and routinely do the OTHH-OMDB run in various air frames but mostly the T7 - either QA or EK livery. I thought about buying a fancy weather add-on like Active Sky or REX, but whats the point??? We haven't seen a cloud since March... much less rain - but we do get a LOT of dust and some ridiculous humidity levels and air temperatures. We should have a GCC fly-in sometime! Anyway, thanks for the SP Skipper.... keep up the good work!

I just bought it too. I've never worked with one of these all glass G1000 cockpits and I'm struggling to get on terms with the logic. Also.... even with the GPU connected, my batteries discharge. So by the time I'm ready for start, I don't have enough volts.

What does it do and how do I use it?

What does it do and how do I use it?

Hi All As is well documented, running FSX under WIN8.1 requires me to have the direct X 10 preview button selected in graphics options. FSX will not run at all without this selected. This is fine - except of course some add ons wont work properly with DX10 preview selected and night textures at add on airports are dreadful, which is somewhat limiting. Has anyone managed to work around or fix this issue yet?

Cheers Wes! So... I made sure all my hardware and OS were fully up to date, and from a clean build, installed FSX to C:\FSX from the FSX deluxe original disc set. I had some issues with install shield, but I resolved those. Re-booted and I ran FSX and did a flight in the micro light... then patched it to SP1 - did another re-boot and flight: patched it to SP2, and rebooted and flew the flight again... so far so good!!! Installed the NGX base pack , then the 600/700 extension, then the 777, then the QW146, then the real air turbine duke, Aerosofts Airbus X extended then finally Fly Tampa Dubai rebooted - following the same-reboot, fly, install, reboot fly install routine. The Airbus worried me, but it went in OK. I have done absolutely NO modifications to the FSX.cfg file. I have not had to download or install dodgy retro DLL files or anything. The ONLY concession made is to use the direct X 10 Preview checked as "yes" not ideal, I know. some of the night textures do not work, and its not a good idea to switch views or use the menu's - but I don't do that anyway. I flew the 777 tutorial in real time with no issues. Of course, I might not always work, but for now, I am a happy camper... flyer... bunny.... whatever!!!

OK, thank you... so... P3D.... how does that fair with W8.1 - and the PMDG fleet, of course? Anyway... I persevered, and I now have FSX SP2, and the Real Air Turbine Duke, and the QW RJ/146 working - or at least I can open them, start them, and taxi around the default KSEA airfield..... do I dare try and install the NGX????? Maybe I better sleep on it!!!

yes... and preferable in many ways... but what a nightmare!!! and it would void the warranty. So wouldn't be my first choice. Someone MUST have FSX and PMDG working in windows 8.1, surely? But thank you anyway, if I have to go that way, I guess I will.

Hi all, I have been out of the flight sim community for a while. I moved from the UK to Doha, Qatar last year, I just bought a new laptop. On paper it should run FSX like a dream, but... it came with Win 8 pre-installed. Still, FSX and the 737NGX and the 777 installed - and worked a treat... until I upgraded to 8.1 then it all went the way of the pear! So after days - literally - of fiddling and fannying about, I finally got FSX installed, and working - or at least, I can get it to load, free flight works with the default flight loaded, and it shuts down. I have it running in Vista SP2 compatibility mode and with the Direct X 10 preview checked - it will not run any other way. I also have to reduce the screen size from the default 1366 x 768 to the standard 1024 mode - but I think that's a choke point on the graphics card - an AMD Radeon 8670M with 2 gig dedicated. - the drawn back is its got this poxy graphic switching thing from the standard on board Intel chip to the Radeon when demand requires it... but I'm not convinced. So... before I attempt to install the NGX and 777.... what advice would you guys give? Or should I give up on FSX and get Prepar3D instead? Best Regards, Drew Melia

Yeah... hmm.... I've thought about this often.... firstly, I won't buy an iPad on principle... as a former iPhone owner I was thoroughly disgusted with the rip-off iPhone 5... have a samsung SIII now...anyway I digress... even "ordinary" 7 or 10 in touch screen monitors are around 300GBP/500USD... wait a minute... I can get a "real" FMC for that!!!! VR Insight or one of the others.

I tried kostas. Almost immediately got oom messages but then my rig is rather low end. So I'm back with *******. One thing none of you mention is disabling the w7. Aero theme. I go to control panel, performance settings, visual settings and clear all the check boxes. This provides the single biggest improvement of all the tweaks I use ~ probably better than 30%

Well it works for me. Kostas has a great forum post going which gives fantastic explanations of why this or, why that.... but what I've found... and no disrespect to those who write them... is that many of the tweaks are about getting better visuals without compromising the performance on systems that should (and clearly could) produce better. Whereas what I'm looking for is finding a compromise between "OK" visuals, and acceptable FPS and smoothness so I can enjoy the experience of flying a high end add on aircraft, on what is admittedly a mediocre system. For that reason... I stick with *******... its quick, its easy, it works, and without it, the likes of the PMDG NGX or J41 would be unflyable.

I've flown about 50 hours in the RJ (because they've not released the earlier 146 models yet). It's one of my favourites, and FPS wise performs really well too. At the moment I'm flying the RJ, the NGX and the J41 almost exclusively, and they all stack up pretty well together. My system ain't great, and needs replacing so I can't enjoy very high res graphics, but I'm happy with it - except night flying. I have to fly with the dome light on nearly all the time because some gauges aren't very well lit - as has been posted, but they'll fix it eventually. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I get that too. It appeared in a service pack. I've always assumed it was a "taxi view". I use CTRL-space to change it to "normal" view, and if I want it back, use the hat switch to flick right or left then back again and the view returns to the "taxi" view again. To be honest, I quite like it.

OK, Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try it today. Best Regards Drew

I'm with Dr V....I had REX for FS9, and it was... OK, I have AS2012 for FSX and it too is "OK" - though to be honest, my hardware is pretty low spec these days, and running the AS application underneath FSX uses a tad too much resource, so I tend to us it to generate and load textures, but let FSX load the weather, using the AS generated textures - of course I stlil get the issues everyone gets with the FSX weather enginewith winds aloft and sudden changes in temparature, pressure etc as you move from one weather "zone" to the next. So I'm really getting quite interested in OPUS FSX and have been reading various posts and theads. Sounds to me like a must have add-on, but I do have some questions. 1) do I need 3rd party textures, or are they included in OPUS FSX? If the recommendation is to add 3rd party textures, which? 2) I'm reading there is NO performance hit. As I said my equipment isn't top-dollar (click left) I tend to reduce the weather settings to somewhere below what I'd like to allow more resource for compex add on aircraft and scenery. Does using opus mean I might be able to go for higher weather settings and graphics - draw distance, cloud quality etc without it impacting on performance? 3) I Have dynamic head movement off and don't really use camera views - I have no track-IR, only a single 24in monitor and no EZDOK, Is it worth playing with these features? 4) Should I find that there is an impact on FPS and smoothness of flight that, though graphically impressive, detracts from the quality of the flight, how easy is it to revert to the settings and tweaks I had before? Best Regards, Drew

Some one mentioned above that it's no more difficult to develop a 'Bus than a Boeing..... but it clearly is... there are a pleth... plef... a lot :huh: of 73x models out there, and one in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest. I've never understood why its so difficult to accurately model a 'bus.... or the reluctance to do so... considering many, if not most, of the developers are European, and the 'Bus is far and away the most commonly used airframe in Europe. I have the Aerosoft X - pretty good, once I solved the snags with control inputs; and the black box 0.54 - also pretty good. I will continue to upgrade the BBS model as service packs and patches are released - why not? I already paid for them - I will buy the extended edition from Aerosoft and will buy the FSLabs version. I also have the airsimmer FS9 Airbus Basic... of the three the sound and graphics immersion is far better on the airsimmer.... pity its almost un-flyable, and anyway, I've more or less abandoned FS9, and I've long since given up on the promised 'advanced' version, or even the 'basic' for FSX. All in all, I could be a pretty exciting end to 2012 for 'Bus fans.... quickly followed -one hopes - by a release from Saitek of an affordable Stick/quadrant along the lines of the pro-yoke-quadrant especially for 'Bus-drivers.

Brother, the specs on my PC are no where near as high as yours, and I run the NGX at between 20 and 30 FPS depending on weather, scenery etc. Sure, I have to sacrifice a little autogen, cut the LOD radius down, all traffic off, and even then, some add-on airports are a bit stuttery. Its even OK on line with VATSIM, and with AS2012 generating the weather. I accept that to fly any of the more complex add-on aircraft with add-on scenery, weather, traffic etc, I'd need some seething snorting water cooled box throbbing away in the corner of my office, but that just gives me something to look forward to. In summary, yes, the NGX will work fine - but you might have to compromise on some of the visuals "outside" the window

Nice one. I'll try it today and feedback.

KSFOStalk.... there is and Eastern Virtual Airlines that uses the J41 extensively on its routes, which mimic the real airline's routes quite faithfully. go to http://www.easternairwaysvirtual.co.uk/ Or, in the USA, try Westwind VA. http://www.flywestwind.com/

Hi David. For cold n dark, the best solution is a licenced copy of FSUIPC and a freeware goodie called LINDA. LINDA uses LUA files and you can assign a joystick button to initiate cold and dark, and this INCLUDES feathering the props. To do it manually, with engines running, as you press the STOP button for each engine pull the throttle back into reverse as the engine spools down... this engages the start locks, then go through the flow to shut the rest of the cockpit down - avionics OFF x2, lights, all off, anti-ice, all off, ground power off, batteries off, gust lock engaged. I think it's in the tutorial. One point though. I have found that for some reason, the start locks don't always stay engaged. You can tell by looking out of the window at the prop blades. (capt side first) if the blades appear flat - edge on, you're OK. If not, you need to use the feather pump switch on the lower console just aft of the throttle levers - push it toward the engine you want to feather, and watch as the pitch of the blades "unwinds". Then jump across to the first office VC view, pan right to get a view of the right prop, and do the same. Again, with FSUIPC and LINDA, you can assign a button to these tasks. I tend to.... 1) switch both avionics switches to OFF to prevent a power surge damaging anything when the plug the GPU in. Shut down the right engine and feather the prop/engage the start lock. 2) press SHIFT-2 to open the ground services view, attach the GPU - which attaches to the aft of the right engine nacelle - hence shut the engine down first so you don't risk injuring the ramp staff while the plug the GPU in. While this is happening, the left engine is generating power to the aircraft. 3) on the over head, switch to ground power (button half of the button) and switch L and R generators to OFF. 4) Shut down the left engine and feather the prop. 5) in ground services view you can now chock the wheels and open the doors for the ground crew 6) follow the shut down check-list and switch off the electrics, anti-ice, lights, pneumatics Hope that helps.

Oh, this is going to hurt.... lets see, the original (FS9) 737NG and 600/700 pack, boxed, 747, boxed, J41 and NGX (download) I guess around $300? I've paid full RRP for all of them, and will be adding the 777 and 747v2 as they are released. I'd dearly love the printed manual packs for the NGX and 777, but I can't justify it. However... I fly the J41 and NGX alternately, with the odd jaunt in the realair duke and recently bought the BBS Airbus A320 prologue, which I'm still test-flying, but in terms of $/Hour..... not a lot really, and worth every penny. I have spent equal amounts on aircraft that I never fly - Aerosofts Airbus X... Lago Maddog, captain sim 727 and 757. The last three are actually rather good, I just never get around to flying them because the J41 and NGX are so fantastic.

Ha! What, you going to drive it down the East Lancs? Now, that I'd like to see!

Ronan is right..... I've had some RW experience in HS748's and Convair CV580 airframes. I have had the privilege of a couple of half day sessions in full motion simulators - one a 737 300, the other an A320. Yes, the knobs and switches are familiar and we know more-or-less what they do, but what we lack is experience of the inertia, the feel. I was surprised, even shocked by the weight of the controls, the force required to put the aircraft where you want it. how far to move the throttles, and even if every thing is nice and bonny on the approach, that last thirty feet is the bit that makes all the difference. We'd end up slamming it onto the runway or floating for a couple of hundred metres and run out of room. I also had the privilege of sitting in the jump seat in an A320. The Captain landed manually... I was amazed at the number of small control inputs he made on the side stick during the last 1000 feet. So... 1000 hours on a PC, straight into the left seat and land safely? Not a chance.

OK chaps, thank you. Sounds pretty scary to me, but the truth is... as one poster commented on Paul's link above... I need to buy a higher spec PC. and as they guy says... they're not a lot of money, these days. I've found a couple of really hot ones at around 800 GBP... and in reality, 30fps is about as good as my hardware gets - even with default aircraft and scenery... it struggles around 14 with pretty much any PMDG kite, and any UK2K scenery - but I can't use anything by Aerosoft, FAR too FPS heavy, and can't go anywhere near Heathrow (UK2000 xtreme), no AI traffic either... so I guess I'll have to struggle on for another year with my 18 year old Moto Guzzi California III instead of buying a new one, and invest the cash in a new 'puter.