Newbie Advice

Thanks for that, Neil.

Saitek do some relly good kit in the hardware department.

Click the following link to view the products from Flightstore you will be amazed.

http://www.flightstore.co.uk/

They have everything you need at the right price plus you can order on line.

Cheers
Neil

Thanks John, as soon as I can post on Horizon, I’ll ask a question about the relative benefits of yokes and joysticks.

BTW, I loaded up FSX Gold last night…….no problems, but not run the sim yet.

Incidentally, for other interested parties, the cheapist place I’ve found to buy the Gold Edition is WH Smiths (online)….£35.99 with free shipping.

That’s a very much more sophisticated steering device than mine. I’ve looked for the details on mine to post here but can’t find them.

Mine is a single column stick, not a steering wheel if you see what I mean. I couldn’t accomodate that type of device. You may want to get something like that but I’ve found that I really need my left hand to operate other controls etc while holding the stick with my right.

Glad to hear you’ve registered with Horizon. You’ll be able to get a lot more expert advice there than I can give you. You’ll see my name all over the place there. When you get on, make sure to go to the ‘screenshots’ page. Some of the pictures in there are amazing and show just what can be achieved using FSX as the engine and with other stuff added.

John

Thanks for the further comments John.

I’ve taken your advice and registered with Horizon….just awaiting their activation. I’ll pm you when I’ve swapped to Horizon.

Have a look here to see a ‘yoke’:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/C-H-Flight-Yoke-Connection/dp/B000056SPM

I’m afraid your comment that “commonsense decrees it, (quad core), must work better than a dual”…….is not borne out in practice.

Most games in XP still run faster on a dual core than on a quad core.

To take full advantage of a quad core, the software must have been deliberately coded to effect this, and currently, software is lagging behind hardware in this respect.

The good news (after some research of mine), is that it appears that FSX – following SP1/2 – does now make better use of dual/quad core processors. There is some debate as to whether the coding is, even now, fully optimised, but I’ll leave this level of detail for the experts to argue over.

Bill

PS – Forgot to say. Yes, my computer is a quad core and works magnificenly with FSX. In fact, commonsense decrees it must work better than a dual but I have no proof of that because in its previous incarnation (?) it was but a single core.

I haven’t used the edit process because on this forum I just don’t understand how it works and when I’ve tried before I’ve lost the lot.

John

Sorry for the confusion, I made a longer reply than I intended initially and it seems that part of it has got into the system so ignore that bit.

I use a wired keyboard, and a wireless mouse but my joystick is wired, and I’m happy with all of them.

To be honest, I don’t know the difference between a Yoke and a Joystick. I thought they were the same. Try Amazon if you want to get one like mine. It’s pretty good. It has a twist grip and at a quick count 11 press keys scattered about that you can program for various jobs like flaps, gear down, trim, and so on. It also has a brake….essential! And unless prices have risen considerably, its cheaper than the price you quote.

On the question of UTX Europe….get it if you can. It improves FSX no end and while I can only speak for Horizon Photo Scenery (which I have) I find its quite compatible with that too. But get the FSX on first and start flying. Incidentally, you’ll need to get FSX on first anyway because believe me, it really does need a ‘clean install’.

Yes, this forum is not very active. Even if you haven’t got the scenery it may be better if you were to register with Horizon. Of all the forums, its the most fun, not straight laced like some, and has got absolute wizz kids for flying both real and simulated. And also a wealth of screenshots which will help to show you the realism that can be achieved using FSX as the engine.

The first job is to get you in the air though and learning the flying – use the default Cessna 172 for that, like real pilots in training do. Navigation, the radio stack, VFR & IFR all also need to be mastered.

After that, you will want to develop more interest. Most of us at Horizon like to VFR fly over real scenery, finding our way about the Country following features and dead reckoning navigation by compass etc. And taking photos for publication on the forum as we fly. But we also have some fly high and fast boys who are flying in groups with others or actually running their own airline.

I only usually come on here once weekly, sometimes not even that, but I check in at Horizon every day.

PM me if you need more info. Preferably through Horizon because they notify me of messages received.

Best wishes

John

John, I can find two Cyborg sticks….Evo wireless £35 ish and Evoforce (Force feedback) and non-wireless as far as I can see, £50 ish.

Which one are you recommending?

I have to tell you that as a computer user/builder of many years standing (far too many!), I have become very disillusioned with the reliability and performance of wireless keyboards and mice. I’ve tried both Microsoft and Logitech kit and been let down too many times by both camps.

I will only use wired, mice (optical laser) and keyboards, with my current builds…..so, I’m dubious about chancing a wireless stick.

Are there any latency issues? My experience is that wired mice are far more responsive compared to wireless……and now we have the Microsoft ‘blue’ mouse on the horizon .

I noticed a very favourable review of UTX Europe in PC Pilot Issue 56.

They make the point that photographic scenery, (whilst offering the greatest realism), will almost certainly have a detrimental effect on Sim performance, so, they favour the UTX method of enhancing your existing scenery tiles.

Unless, of course, you have a real killer PC and can absorb the performance hit.

BTW, do you know if FSX is programmed to take full advantage of quad core processors?

John, I have an email from the Forum saying you have posted this message……

Snip…..Well, I think you will enjoy the flying experience more if you get UTX. I would suggest Horizon Photographic scenery but that will also entail getting addon airfields to get rid of the cliffs and plateus that result from having the photo scenery alone.

Improving the sound would, for me, be a long way down the list of wants.

FEX might also be worthwhile – at least you could get some realistic sky and water effect, especially if you use it with the free download FSWC.

Realism, you will find is the dream of everyone who sims. So get the scenery, some autogen and you’re well on the start line for that aim.

Enjoy it. The learning curve is steep but fascinating…..Snip

……..but I can’t see it listed in the threads.

Could I be missing other replies as well do you think?

Thanks for that John…….bit quiet in here isn’t it?……..80 odd views but only one person prepared to pass an opinion?

I’m curious……you recommend a joystick, rather than a yoke?….why’s that?

Most stuff I’ve read seems to be saying that joysticks are favoured mostly by combat enthusiasts only?

PS – Sorry , I forgot. Use XP unless you can get Vista 64x which is supreme and can work smoothly on very much lower frame rates that XP.

John

Hi Bill

Welcome to flying. You’ll find it fascinating.

Right, well, first things first. You’re system is ok and FSX will work fine on it but don’t expect to be able to run FSX maxed out ie you’ll probably need to adjust the settings to more or less ‘normal/medium all the way through to get good performance. If you get burries or stutters, ten to one your settings are too high.

Only you can choose your priorities, but I would say you must have a twist grip joystick. Trying to fly with the keyboard is a joke. Saitek Cyborg Evo is pretty good and reasonable in cost.

Pedals are good if you can afford them but not essential. If you’ve got good speakers already you don’t need a headset unless there are people in the room in which case you might find it essential. If using your existing speakers, update the drivers because they can be the cause of FSX problems.

You’ve got three discs so install the FSX on a non system drive and if you go for scenery, put that on another drive if you can.

There’s tons of stuff you can add but wait until you’ve got the hang of managing FSX (which takes a bit of learning by itself) before you spend out on other things. The knowledge you gain from learning to fly will help you make informed decisions about what you want.

For most simmers, the aim is realism, so eventually you’ll almost certainly want Photo Scenery for England and Wales and Scotland and perhaps UTX Europe, and GEX and UTX for America and Canada.

But those are in the future. For now it may help to give you more realism if you were to get FEX (realistic clouds and water) and FSWC which is a shader complementing the FEX water features.

You are going to need help to start with so if you have any questions, PM me. I’m no expert but can probably point you in the right direction for an answer if I don’t know it.

Enjoy yourself.

John