Stearmandriver

I can't... I mean... is this real? I seriously can't tell! So maybe soon we'll have Laundry simulator, Dishes simulator, chopping wood simulator??

I'll second what Bdub said, and I'll note that it's not just the ground where the graphics advances are meaningful. The appearance of the earth in this sim, combined with the appearance of the sky (lighting and night sky / moon / stars), combined with the weather, creates a world - out of the box - that cannot be equaled by any previous sim, even with every addon ever made for it.

But is that referring to the current datalink nexrad display, or is there an aircraft with an actual airborne weather radar installed? I don't know of one but I'd be curious to try it if anyone does.

Is there a current sim aircraft that actually has a weather radar? The ones I'm familiar with are just showing a datalinked nexrad display. Are there any aircraft that actually have a working radar?

Are you guys aware of the very excellent C-130 mod available in DCS? With an incredibly detailed fully functional cockpit, to include HUD? With a fantastic flight model (it is DCS after all)? For free? Who the *#$@ would actually spend MONEY on this CS thing? This is hilarious!

I've never tried the Baron out but I sure hear people complain about it. It might have more than one problem lol. Extremity dead zone will eventually take care of an over-sensitivity issue... just keep adding more until it feels OK. It has to take care of it eventually, because at a 100% positive extremity dead zone, you should have zero control authority. But this plane could have other issues. If the problems are on the ground, it might be a contact points issue for instance. If it's only in a cross wind (even just a couple knots matters), the plane could have issues with a combo of contact points and crosswind effect, etc. Beyond my knowledge to deal with by using a slider. You'll need Rob Young for that. 😁

Oh man, all of Papua (PNG and Indonesia) is bush flying paradise. Short, steeply sloped, side-sloped, undulating strips carved into the jungle on the side of a mountain. One way strips with commital points (can't go around after a certain point in the approach)... great fun. And there's so many! The first time I looked at New Guinea in Little Navmap and realized I was seeing literally hundreds of jungle strips like this, present in the sim by default, just blew me away. Check out Bugalaga for a look at custom-crafted strip that's part of the default sim. There's great free custom-crafted strips in the area too, on flightsim.to.

Yup, I talked about that a few posts up. The thing is, if you're in a plane that will benefit from it, it's because the plane is modeled with too much rudder authority to begin with... so dialing it back to a reasonable range is the intended goal. It's worth testing, after applying the extremity dead zone, to make sure you still have enough control authority on the adjusted axis. So for instance on the rudder, test and make sure you've still got enough authority for crosswind landings, aggressive slips etc. Chances are you will, because if you're seeing an improvement with an extremity dead zone, the control was simply too effective to begin with.

That I don't know, but I'd assume there's probably a setting that does the same thing, though I don't know what it would be called. I remember FSUIPC being extremely flexible when I used it for FSX though so I'll bet there's a way. Can you maybe adjust the graph of the axis directly, so grab the top and bottom points and move them both towards the middle, so instead of the line making a 45 degree slope, it's more like 30-35 degrees? Oh yeah, they're great pedals. We're not talking about fixing an issue with the pedals, but with the flight models of certain sim aircraft that are much too sensitive in one or more axes.

Er? Useless just because it doesn't have up to date sids/stars? I often use LNM to plan my vatsim IFR flights. Its autorouting feature makes this a snap. Then, if sids/stars are applicable, I just reference real-world charts and choose an appropriate one. It's pretty easy, and LNM still does most of the work for me... definitely don't think I'd call it useless. And thinking about it, if you don't have a navigraph subscription (I don't either), then LNM is showing you the same data that is in your sim nav databases. If there's been a change, you can't fly it anyway, if you don't have navigraph, right?

And yes, Bob is right that there's a bug with the sensitivity settings right now, where two specific settings are reset when the sim is shut down and restarted: extremity dead zone and reactivity. This is supposed to be fixed with SU9; I think it's already fixed in the current beta. Also, you've all obviously got it right but just to clarify for anyone else reading: there are two different settings that use the term dead zone. There's "dead zone", and then there's "EXTREMITY dead zone". We want the "extremity dead zone" setting, if the goal is toning down sensitivity. The regular "dead zone" setting will actually make it worse haha. If you watch the graph of the control axis as you adjust extremity dead zone, you can see what it's doing: it's limiting the maximum, full-deflection effectiveness of that axis, and thus spreading the remaining range of effectiveness across the full travel of your control axis. I use this a lot on the pitch axis of various sim aircraft too, as I often find pitch authority to be excessive. The downside (everything is a compromise, right?) is that you ARE losing some control authority on whatever axis you're adjusting. So for the rudder axis, this means that at full rudder pedal deflection, you now have less rudder authority than you used to. The question is whether this is a problem, and that's personal preference. Usually if you're adjusting this, it's because the axis in question is just too darn effective on that sim aircraft, and you WANT less authority... but you can see how it could be taken too far. For me personally, if I'm adjusting rudder extremity dead zone and I can still land in a moderate x wind, perform an aggressive forward slip, and get the airplane to spin (assuming it's supposed to do those things), then I figure I still have plenty of rudder. For the pitch axis, I make sure I still have enough authority in the flare, maybe to do a soft-field takeoff, and to perform an accelerated stall. One more thing to note: adding a POSITIVE extremity dead zone is what's needed to reduce sensitivity / effectiveness. But if you ever encounter a sim airplane that needs MORE control sensitivity (I have yet to meet this airplane), you have the ability to do that too. You can give any control axis MORE authority with a NEGATIVE extremity dead zone. You can see it's a really powerful control setting they've given us. As for how I figured it out: absolute dumb luck. It could probably be documented better 😉

Yup it will apply to any axis. Be sure that you've selected the correct tab across the top of the controls screen, before clicking "Sensitivities". There should be different tabs for keyboard, joystick, throttle etc, depending on the devices you're using. You have to click to highlight the tab for your rudder device, and then Sensitivities will show you all the axes for that device. You can kick your pedals back and forth and find the one that's moving.

If your pedals are spiky, you very well could have a bad potentiometer. But if your issue is primarily sensitivity, you're not alone. Many aircraft in this sim have issues with oversensitivity on one or more axes. Try this: in the in-sim control sensitivity settings, do NOT add any sort of curves. No kind of curve can feel natural. Instead, the magic setting you want to adjust is "extremity dead zone". Add a positive extremity dead zone of around 30% and see how that feels.

Check out Little Navmap; I think it's the single best freeware project I've seen for flight sim. It's a standalone app for flight planning and navigation, with ownship position on a moving map (and SO much more.) You can easily mirror it to any other device connected to your home network, so it's easy to have the LNM map showing your position on a tablet next to you as you fly in the sim. Really good stuff.

This is what I was talking about. There is little meaningful difference (from a sim standpoint where you're not trying to make money by putting people in seats) between the various models of the NG family. Literally the only cockpit difference I can think of is an extra temp control knob in the long-bodies. They don't fly significantly differently in real life, and so I wouldn't expect to see a lot of difference in the sim. Certainly there's no harm in waiting for the product you want, but my point is that if you're one of the folks who are upset about having to wait: you might as well just get the -700 and enjoy it. You won't actually be missing out on any sort of realism... a 737-NG is, for all simming purposes, an NG. Based on comments here I think a lot of folks would be very surprised at how little difference there really is between flying a -700 and a -800.

If you can be successfully psychologically manipulated by a software developer... well, I don't know what to say about that. Your drug dealer example has one flaw: he's selling a physically addictive substance. PMDG is selling software. I mean, I'm sure somewhere there's someone actually addicted to buying software, just like somewhere, there's someone genuinely addicted to buying hammers. But this does not apply to the general population; most of us simply buy the hammer (or the software) that does the job we want to do. In contrast, the large majority of people who make the poor decision to try the free heroin subsequently lose their ability to not purchase it - because heroin is an aggressively addictive substance. Software and hammers are just software and hammers.

Seems you're misunderstanding. There is no "base" aircraft for MSFS, and no addons. Every single variant of the 737 will be a standalone product. So you just buy the variant you want. You don't need ANY of the others.

Are you then trying to say you're angry at, or disenfranchised with, PMDG for being good at marketing? Why? I mean, the free customer is NOT a myth, it's a literal fact. If a business convinces someone to purchase their product, aren't they just doing their job? I doubt there's an airport served by commercial jets anywhere on the planet that a 737-700 hasn't flown into, so I'm not understanding the angst from a realism aspect either...

FWIW, from someone who has flown and/or currently flies the -400, -700, -800, -900, -900ER, and -9Max, this angst/obsession with simulating specific variants of the 737 seems strange. Sure there are meaningful differences between the classics, NGs, and MAXs... but within the NG family? They honestly aren't that different. The -700 climbs a little better, and the numbers are different in terms of weights and speeds. But in the end, it's not like anyone is going to work thinking "boy I hope I'm taking an ER to LAX today instead of a -700." No one actually cares. You fly the plane that's on the release, and it's all about the same. I'll be buying the PMDG -700 because I guess I'll need the work airplane in the sim, and the -700 is the most versatile of the NGs anyway. It can go anywhere and do anything any of the others can - and it does. Doubt I'll buy another variant until the Max, because... well, it's all the same cockpit, and in the end that's what simming is - operating the cockpit. A business can release products in any order they wish. Customers can buy those products or not, as they wish. This mentality that PMDG ought to somehow feel bad about choosing the release schedule they've chosen is... bizarre.

I enjoyed FScaptain and Airhauler years ago in FSX. I know what you mean about Airhauler 2... it does its job very well, but if want less of a "running the company" and more of a "I'm just a pilot here" vibe, it's overkill and can seem like a bit of work. Might look at Neofly as well, if for no other reason than it's free. Very simplified in the "running the company" aspect, but plenty of "you're a pilot here" vibe. Many different kinds of missions, and the pax ones require you to fly kindly haha. You also can break your airplane if you beat it up and don't maintain it; the software gives you systems failures in that case. I've been using it with the Milviz Porter to do some bush strip flying in Papua and it's been great for that. Just an idea.

In terms of responses? Yes. There are also settings to adjust how "off script" he'll go, so you can adjust it to anything from a perfectly standard FO who only utters the exact correct response every time, to something less formal with more variety, to almost a jokester.

I can heartily recommend Multicrew experience. Used it extensively in FSX and will be using it in MSFS as soon as the NG3 releases. Customizable procedures? Yes. I had it fully customized to use my company's actual procedures, checklists, and callouts. It's COMPLETELY customizable. Addon voices? Yes. Easy, standalone interface? Yes. Additionally what I like over FS2C (the only other I've tried, though admittedly a while ago) is that FS2C is dependent on understanding what phase of flight you're in, and this has to be managed to a certain extent, to make sure it understands where in the "script" you are. MCE just works; it'll do anything you call for at any time. It's not really scripted. MCE support from the dev is also outstanding.

There's honestly not much of a comparison between the Asobo and Milviz Porters. The Asobo one flies, well... comically, for lack of a better term. With the community mod it's better but certainly nowhere near the MV flight model. I agree that stage 2 stalled for longer than it probably should have, but round dials or glass makes no real difference to me, I've flown plenty of both. The NXi is the most capable instrumentation in the sim, so I certainly don't mind a plane that contains it...

The trim is too sensitive. This is true of many aircraft in this sim. If you use an axis, try an extremity dead zone of around 25% - 30%. You will never need more trim authority than that, and it'll make handflying more enjoyable when you can trim more precisely.

Very much agree. We all have a couple gripes, but it's useful to see the big picture sometimes: so much of this has never even been possible in a sim before, not with every addon ever made.