LHookins

I think it's all going to come down to personal preference. For example, I dearly love flying the A2A Cub with Accusim. It just feels right. But the A2A Cessna 172 with Accusim just leaves me cold. I enjoy flying a real C172, but for some reason the sim version doesn't do anything for me. I know a lot of people really love the A2A C172. As for the Cub being too slow, it amuses me when someone complains bitterly about how slow some plane is, but likes another plane that's only 10 knots faster in cruise. When I'm flying, two hours in the cockpit is two hours flying, no matter what the distance. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. I used the A2A Cub to duplicate the flight in the book "Flight of Passage", from New Jersey to California, and I loved every minute of it. It would have been faster in a SR-71, but not as enjoyable. Your mileage may vary. I also enjoy flying pure VFR with few instruments and no GPS, just a map, a compass, and a clock. I've also flown other slow aircraft across the US. I flew Richard Bach's flight from Florida to Orcas Island in a SeaRey (as close as I could, Bach didn't give specific waypoints in his blog) and loved it. The blog posts are no longer online, but his book "Travels with Puff" is available for those interested. The blog had lots of great pics and videos, not sure about the book. Later I saw a real SeaRey at a fliy-in at our local airport and it was a near-religious experience. I've also duplicated most of Coonts' flight in the book "Cannibal Queen" in a Stearman. A little faster according to the air speed indicator, but I really couldn't tell the difference in the cockpit. I was there for the journey, the destination didn't matter. I also enjoy flying the Dodosim helicopter, which isn't very fast, but still fun even for long distance flights, although you have to stay on top of the controls the whole flight. I love flying a sailplane using CumulusX, which is even slower than the Cub and a good way to wean yourself away from flying magenta lines at fixed altitudes; you just can't do that in a glider chasing thermals. If you spend some time soaring in a good sailplane, you might appreciate the Cub a bit more. These are a different type of flying than using autopilot and a GPS. My signature line was selected with the Cub in mind. You can dance the skies on laughter silvered wings in a Cub; that's what it's made for. This is not true of every aircraft in the sim world. Hook

Did you guys read the PDF file that was linked on that site? It's a lot worse that it looks. If I'm reading it right, he didn't even HAVE a flight simulator, but he was just viewing a website where several were being reviewed. The police saw this when they entered his home to look for a domestic abuse suspect that they said had gone there. Hook

Thanks. I'm in the market for a new computer, and I thought I'd go with your specs. Let us know if there is anything you wish you'd done differently. Hook

I hope they end up calling it Dovetail Airplane Game. This will solve a lot of problems, add a lot of benefits, and manage expectations better than Microsoft Flight did. You won't expect something called "Airplane Game" to have SID/STARS and such, although it very well might in the future. The casual gamer, looking for some fun, won't be put off by thinking it's too serious for him. How to make it fun? Add a few formal air races, stuff we used to do informally before. Add a game called Wax My Tail, where two or more pilots try to cut a ribbon trailing another aircraft with their propeller, sometimes seen in the radio control community. How to make it better than GTA V? Fly out of a local airport in a plane that flies realistically. Will the airline pilots get left behind by this? No. PMDG can make them a whole new flight simulator. It's not like anyone will ever be able to satisfy them anyway. The aircraft don't have to be PMDG quality. They don't have to be A2A quality. They just have to be fun. Hook

So, glsimpilot, have you got it all put together yet, and what do you think of it? Anything we should know before going with your list? Hook

What would people think about splitting off general aviation and commercial air transport into separate sims, each optimized for that kind of flight? The big iron guys could have something like the old Air Transport Pilot flying the big jets with all the necessary infrastructure and generally only larger airports, while general aviation would contain all the smaller planes and props up to 4 engines and have a friendlier atmosphere for the more casual gamer. I'm not saying this is a good idea, or makes any kind of business sense, just asking for thoughts. Hook

We were too busy laughing. Trust me, everyone enjoyed that video. Hook

Gerry, that's the most misused phrase I've ever heard. Read here what it really means: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule Also, it may have only been Boeing that forbid showing damage to an aircraft. This is probably in their best interests, but basically it meant that there was no damage modelling at all. A2A shows interesting damage effects if you land with your gear up, but they do it by specifying that their aircraft are seaplanes. Hook

Well, lessee... First of all, Microsoft said they were forbidden by at least some of their license agreements with aircraft manufacturers to show damage to the aircraft. This is why there is no damage in MSFS. I was showing a 16 year old nephew Microsoft Flight. He clipped a building with a wingtip, and crashed, and lamented that there was no debris. If you want a wide audience, there should be SOMETHING modeled there, if possible. Second, Ford did make a 200 mph car: the Ford GT in 2005 and 2006. This was with a 500 HP supercharged engine. A quote from wiki: "Top speed: electronically limited to 205 mph". Retail price, about $150,000. Third: Hello, my name is Larry and I'm a gamer. Oddly enough, almost every game I play is some kind of simulation. I prefer to play something that will give me a chance to learn something. When I was involved with Microsoft Flight, I generally flew it as realistically as possible. That doesn't mean I didn't have fun with it occasionally. If you want a wide audience, you can't squeeze all the fun out of it. Hook

If that's the case, you might want to adjust your profile. Make up and down movement more sensitive. Demious, glad you decided to go ahead and get it! Have a great time. Hook

I've got a joystick or yoke button assigned to Pause Trackir when I need to click something with my mouse. Another button to recenter it. The recenter function is great if you want to move your viewpoint up or down... just shift your body in the opposite direction, hit the center button, then go back to your normal sitting position. I couldn't fly without it now. Hook

That whole fight scene in the second half of Man of Steel had me thinking that Superman's superhero liability insurance premiums were gonna go through the roof after this. There's a lot of additional information on the new movie on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2975590/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 which makes the movie look like it might be a bit better than you'd expect from the title. It also has a high-res version of the trailer. My favorite comment from the Trivia section: Hook

It may be that XP already adds a smoothing function to those controls. It seemed like MS Flight did as well, but FSX/P3D do not. Therefore I *usually* use the script. If I'm not using the script, I don't even load the Control Manager. I almost never calibrate my controls. But the first thing I do upon entering an aircraft is move the controls back and forth and check the deflection on the controls in the cockpit. I doubt I have to recalibrate more than every 6 months. But sometimes I have to drop the yoke on the desk a second time. Hook

He's able to take off and fly a bit, then the axis gets messed up. I've had my axis messed up when I first get into the sim, and after a few minutes, and sometimes after an hour or more. When I got a new yoke and IT started to have the same problem, I took apart the old one I had to see what was going on. It was pretty obvious that the pot wires were a bit loose. I've also had the "throttle wheel" on a CH joystick do the same thing and returned it to Amazon for replacement... this was before I knew what the problem was. The script I'm currently using will "dejitter" the throttle/prop/mixture axis. Getting everything right to set it up isn't straightforward, and I'm not sure I could explain it properly here. It requires some setup in the configuration manager as well. It looks like this: // CMS Script File // // Game Title: FSX // Written By: Hook // %define temp a8 %define limit 1 script if ( firstscan ) then a3 = js1.a3; a4 = js1.a4; a5 = js1.a5; endif temp = js1.a3; if ( [ temp > a3+limit ] OR [ temp < a3 ] ) then a3 = temp; endif cms.a3 = a3; temp = js1.a4; if ( [ temp > a4+limit ] OR [ temp < a4 ] ) then a4 = temp; endif cms.a4 = a4; temp = js1.a5; if ( [ temp > a5+limit ] OR [ temp < a5 ] ) then a5 = temp; endif cms.a5 = a5; endScript

I prefer using the CH control manager because I have a few scripts that run through it. The problem with an axis doing what you describe comes from the fact that CH uses solderless connections to the pots involved. If these connections are not solid you'll get some random readings from them. I have the same problem with the elevator axis on both of my CH yokes. You can fix it yourself by taking the yoke apart (only if it's no longer under warranty!) and unplugging the connectors to that pot and plugging them back in, then crimping them a bit with pliers so they remain solidly connected. Or take the easier way that's always worked for me: give the yoke base a good whack. That's right, percussive maintenance. Every time I start a session I drop the yoke the last half inch onto the desk and have never had the problem since. The only time it messes up is if I forget to drop it. If the yoke is still under warranty, complain to CH. They'll probably try to sell you a new pot... that's why the connections are solderless. It's cheap but probably unnecessary. Hook