MG49

Hi there people it has been at least a year since I've visited avsim and it's good to be back. Been steadily/fairly consistently getting some flights in.......mostly short hops in the CRJ using FSX and it's going well so now I would like to branch out and connect with other fs pilots and groups to fly with. Here's the thing....since I've been away I got a new computer but it came with no dvd player to load my old FSX Gold discs so I opted to jump onto Steam which wasn't around the last time I came on. Trouble is...in Steam the multiplayer option seems VERY limited as far as participation/interaction etc....like for example it doesn't allow me to join ANY group via "connect directly" using their number sequence address that they give out on the websites. I seem to recall back when I was using Gold that there were MANY more sessions I could join and the people were FAR more professional and interactive (the Steam groups seem to be mostly kids horsing around and talking junk) so that said can anybody direct me what steps I need to take in order to join up with some groups to fly with....like some really good ones that also host ATC?? Btw just in case......I took to transferring all of the files on the 3 discs of Gold to a USB thumb drive that I now have at the ready if it turns out that your responses indicate that this is indeed preferable to Steam. I can see all the files listed when I open up the thumb but have no clue how to add it all into the new computer although from everything I've read it looks like the "setup.exe" file on disc one is the place to begin? Also can anybody comment on what would be....at least minimally/at the very least.......the best add ons I should bring in now in order to enhance the experience? I live in South Florida and my home airport is KPBI (Palm Beach International) so it would be cool to get a local scenery package. Also any good ideas out there as far as freebies and freeware? As I recall I think I can add a lot of planes here in avsim correct? This isn't necessarily a huge deal for me right now as I want to continue to master the RJ. I know this seems like a lot of questions but thank you people and ANY insights/assistance will be GREATLY appreciated!! All the best, Mitch

Thanks for the replies with insights. Always very appreciated Ok so at the risk of getting laughed at I am going to list my specs but remember I'm just a guy who for the longest time wanted to get into flight sim so I loaded it onto my Win7 laptop which is my best computer and I gotta tell ya even though I know I know it's barely adequate for flight sim I have really enjoyed everything I've done for the past 2 months since I started and I'm learning all the time. I also know that in a little while from now I'm going to be consulting the forums and talking to you people about building a new machine for fsx. Okay so here's what I got.................. It's an Acer Aspire laptop............AMD Dual Core E-350 1.60 GHZ, AMD Radeon HD 6310 Video Card, 2 GB DDR Memory, 250 GB HD, Windows 7 64-Bit Note: I might have been wrong that it was the AI stuff that all of sudden killed my hard drive space it might have been the EditVoicePack program which I did right after I did all the AI stuff. So as soon as you're done laughing I sure will appreciate any insights or guidance you can lend me (ex. minimal specs for a good fsx gaming machine in your opinion) and thanks as always. Mitch

Hello, Okay so recently I discovered AI and I think it's awesome. I love having all these different jets and airlines at the gates at all these airports. Only thing is.......seems like after I did all the AI addons my computer started coming up with all these "not enough memory" messages and now when I look at that pie graph that shows what's happening with your hard drive it's like MAXED OUT with very little free space left. Tried defrag but it doesn't seem to be doing much and this is after 2 days straight of defragging so I stopped it. Can't imagine that the AI files could have done this they didn't seem very large or at least I didn't think so. Any ideas? Side note: fsx itself is not running badly it seems to be okay I'm just shocked by how all of a sudden I've got these memory issues and the HD is all of a sudden maxed? Hmmmm Okay thanks people. Mitch

Thank you for sharing High Plains and speaking as a brand newbie I seriously appreciate that kind of looking out and I certainly will check out your blog. The best thing about forums such as this is the input from all of you people who once were precisely where I am at now where so much is foreign to me but each day becoming less so and what a seriously cool experience this all is I gotta say. I've been reading articles like crazy every day and watching videos on youtube and it's just absolutely mesmerizing to me. I read an article earlier tonight about how in the flight sim world you guys even have organized virtual airlines that virtual pilots sign on to fly for and that run and schedule just like the real ones and you even have air traffic controllers like the real world kind. Wow I had no idea! Even though it'll be eons before I ever get to that level I think it's awesome that it's all happening out there. But thanks for your post and your input High Plains I really appreciate it:)

Will do (to all of the above) people. I gotta say it again I am absolutely stunned by the detailed sophistication of FSX but that being said I do find that I'm becoming slightly less intimidated each time I come on to fly a mission. I finally landed my first jet in the "transitioning to jets" mission:) It took 6 or 7 times but what a blast! Quite frankly I think I lucked out but it sure was fun especially when I made it all the way to the gate/jetway. Almost landed the Rome-Naples mission jet but couldn't line up the runway but that's okay I'm just feeling my way around and having a blast like you were saying I should. Just incredible stuff all the way around for real:) Now I think it's time to pull back some in order to start doing some finer points learning with respect to the fundamentals as you all have stated here....breaking down the instrumentation, etc. So cool that a lot of you folks have been around this rodeo for quite some time now. I appreciate the knowledge I really do and thanks as always!

Wow what an incredible group of people here in this forum!! Can't tell you how much I appreciate every single of one of you generously taking the time to reply and provide all of this valuable insight through such detailed posts. One of the things I did to address the first two problems (1 & 2) I was having in my initial post was uninstall and then re-install fsx completely only this time I specifically assigned it to C:\FSX directory instead of allowing it to install into the default which was that Program Files x 86 (or something like that) because I was getting A LOT of advice from folks on flightsim.com as well as many articles there pointing me in that direction. According to everything I was told and the articles I read the indications were STRONG that this is the best way to install it to avoid problems later on, particularly with respect to compatibility with future add-ons (aircraft, liveries, etc.). I'll circle back on this and let you know how it ended up. I know that being a newbie it's probably premature to be messing around with liveries/repaints but when I started seeing some of these airlines I grew up with that aren't around any more (Eastern, Pan Am, etc.) available as add-ons it got me pretty pumped I couldn't help it lol. As for this Andrew Herd and his articles.....wow....everything I've read about this guy is that he is highly respected in these communities for writing really informative and helpful articles on flight sim but that he stopped writing some time ago and people are missing his contributions. I looked on flightsim.com using his name in the search but what came up was people posting wondering where he is and how much they loved his articles. Any ideas about how to specifically get to his articles? Ok thanks again good people I am taking into account seriously and following everything you all are posting here and utilizing it:) PS. @Fleeting - Wow SERIOUSLY epic post indeed to the point where I am copying/pasting it to a separate word file to keep referring back to THANK YOU!!

Hey excellent Mark thank you for taking the time to reply I greatly appreciate it and will certainly start utilizing what you've given me to work with here. Thanks!!

Hello forum - I sure hope I am posting this properly and not violating any forum rules or anything. Sorry if I am and please let me know. I am brand new to the world of flight sim and have been into it for just over 2 weeks now. I started out with the beginner missions in fsx and did really well until I got to the one that's the intro to jets and now I realize there's a LOT to learn but I'm excited and in for the long term because it's the jets that I got into this for to begin with. I've been seriously active in researching and learning, watching youtube videos of people showing their successful landings and takeoffs (some of these are AWESOME!), reading all the inserts that came with fsx plus everything I can find online, and so on, and I am definitely learning new things every day. A couple of initial questions though: 1. I experimented with adding skins/liveries/repaints and when I finished the part where you plug it into the Notepad file I was "denied access" and couldn't complete it. Any ideas? Do I need to go back and set up my fsx on my computer all over again only this time set it up under administrator? I am running Windows 7 with the minimum system requirements to be able to run fsx if that helps. 2. When I did download and plug in a totally new jet (the total plane which was an Aer Lingus and not just the repaint) to add to my aircraft I did it from one of those freeware sites and while the jet showed up in my list of aircraft when I went to actually "fly now" with it the outside view of the plane was blank wherever the aircraft was supposed to be, from any view. Was this a bad file or something? Also, where is the most reliable, safest place online to add liveries and new aircraft? I don't mind paying for them if they're the real deal and won't screw up my computer in any way. 3. Any ideas as to how to best approach my learning to fly the jets? Any recommendations for learning material? Thanks for your time any help will be GREATLY appreciated:)