What is your required Level of Realism?

[Yoshi]

I'm going to get as much realism as possible - for me
As Bob already said, it's all about compromises and money or other limitations. So here are mine:
- no "plug and play", I'm going the Tim Taylor way
- I'm born in Germany, so that Magenta thing looks like Telekom to me. I don't like Telekom.
- Switches are meant to switch thinks on or off, not to w*** over them. So the cheap ones (not the liliput things though) are good choice.

(for all those statements: no offense meant )

A few other things which are important for my (damaged) mind:
- if it isn't fun I don't invest time and money, things don't break if I leave them untouched for a month or so.
- always remember how the real thing feels like. I won't achieve this, so I'm not supposed to try.
- don't build a church, it's just another kind of an oversized keyboard for computer beginners which can't handle shortcuts.
- big note to myself: take at least one year planning. It's necessary.

Oh, and I'm going for 100%. 100% fun.
Realism? Up to 85%, but this totally depends on my phantasy when sitting in my cockpit. You have to stop thinking "this is rubbish, I have to rebuild this and that... bah, this switch doesn't feel right...". If you deiscover such things in your head try the following (again, it's phantasy):
Invite a child, about 9 years old. Allow him/her to use your body to reach all those switches. Feel the joy when switching things on and off, help a bit to get things up and running. Hear the engines running up? Wah, I never really did this... just let me listen to that sound, let me feel those vibrations for a minute...
Play around with the throttle, there are no rules. Power... arrrrrrrr...
Ok, little friend, I'll take you to the runway, then we'll have some real fun!
Lining up for takeoff... a big moment in your life. You're going to leave everything behind and below. Head for the skies.
Some of you want to get some checklists done, leave it. Sure, take care about the engines when applying full thrust. But the child is in command. I promise, you will feel the Gs when rotating.

Cheers

Yoshi

[Tomlin]

Yoshi- You hit the nail on the head my friend with nearly all of your reply. Actually, several of you did, but Yoshi- the part about getting a child (or ANYONE that comes over to visit)- it will really remind you of what we have sitting at our disposal 24 hours a day. People freak out when I show them FS9 at a Flight Scenery or FlyTampa airport. I cant imagine how they will react when they sit in a partially enclosed cockpit.

In response to Bob's comment about me being in frustration- Im not sure what he was alluding to unless it was about the trouble I've had with a certain interface card supplier who swore I was doing something wrong in the programming and low and behold, it wasnt me that was the dummy but the software genuinely has an issue! That's all I will say about that. Other than that, Ive had nothing but a great time working on this project and Im very glad that I switched from the B737NG, although I'd still love to have one, one day if money and space allows.

The reason I chose higher than 85% is because I feel that I can get to 90% on this project. Like Dodiano, I want to really feel that I am stepping into the aircraft but of course there will always be limitations unless it is a real aircraft. Regardless, I am DRIVEN to take it as far as I can. However, as mentioned a million times already, switching aircraft from the NG to the LJ somehow magically allowed me to 'tone down' my expectations. I think it was mostly to do with the fact that there was a real 737 shell with all the goodies just waiting for me to purchase it only 20 minutes down the road from where we lived in Florida. I KNEW that it would be waay more real if I had that, but financially it would have set me back on the project for several years. Yes, I would have had a REAL shell with the original yokes, TQ, Seats, liner panels, pedals, etc. but then I wouldnt have had the means to complete it for years.

So, I switched gears, and you guys see how much progress Ive made just since July of this year. Amazing actually considering that total Ive spent less than $1200 on it all and almost $500 of it was paid for by selling unused stuff on Ebay.

I disagree with the comment on it's just $50 software and it's relativity to buildng a successful home flight sim, and in fairness to Bob, I know that he is well aware that it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to create the FS software, so we must remember that the software is as cheap as it is because MS sells it to the masses and therefore the costs to us is much lower. If I had to, I would pay $500.00 for the FS software, I enjoy it that much. Of course, it would only be every so many years! I have logged (which is much lower time than actually spent flying) over 1250 hours in MSFS and the return on my investment is huge.

When I started this thread and poll, I simply wanted to know how people felt about their drive to build as real as possible, but one factor that cant be defined is each person's idea of ultimate realism-apart from the real aircraft.

I have enjoyed seeing all of your responses!

[JBaymore]

- no "plug and play", I'm going the Tim Taylor way

Ah....... you too!

I have the Binford Mega Simpit Panel Cutout Saw with the titanium/uranium alloy blades and the 300 HP DC MHz direct drive motor. Works great.

best,

.................john

PS: Anyone got a band-aid?

[Yoshi]

Eric:

I think I messed up that child-thing. What I meant:
it's all about remembering we're children. Remember your childhood. Do you still have an open mind when playing this game?

So it's not about getting or inviting real children, it's about feeling, enjoying and acting like a child sitting in a cockpit for the first time. Without grown-ups.

Hope this is understandable now, if not I'll try again


Cheers

Yoshi

[Bob Reed]

Yoshi, YES!!! That is what I am talking about! Tomlin I am talking about your 737! You became so frustrated you abandoned it! When I show people my setup they go WOW!!! And then like I said they tell me I am nuts. The few who have sat at it just can not believe what I have built. Just helps me to keep my prospective.

[Tomlin]

Thanks Bob, I see now.

Yoshi,

Nah, I didnt take it that you meant you enjoyed having children sitting in your lap! I just took it to mean that when you have a child, or any visitor for that matter, their reaction is a good way to remember just what it is we have at our disposal.

[David Rogers]

Interesting thread folks.

Realism for me, cannot be quantified. What increases realism for one person would mean nothing to the next man. A strong example for me would be scenery; I have never gotten the add-on scenery bug and my entire FS world is the default one. This would horrify some people but to me, as long as I have clear, focussed textures on my projector, nice 3D clouds and good weather, and some autogen buildings as I come in on approach, I am really not excited by "oh look, there's Wembley stadium" or advanced representations of every detail at a given airport. In my eyes, advanced scenery simply pulls frame rates and smoothness down so it's adverse to my priorities within the sim.

I feel similarly about aircraft exterior models - I find some of these 'rivet counters' bonkers ("the nose isn't round enough!" crew), as I rarely look at the exterior of the plane because for me, simulation and realism are about being in the cockpit, simulating the procedural operation of an airliner.

But then others have different views and priorities. I guess that's what makes our hobby so interesting. On the one hand you have the 'Aspergers' types like me to whom an after-start checklist typed up on MS Word adds more realism than Ultimate Terrain coverage of all of Europe and North America. And then you have those who will have an FS world that is perhaps 75% add-on scenery but still fly default or 'lite' aircraft models.

I am happy with my default world and my investments to increase realism are based around the aircraft and the simulation!

....but I don't think I could put a % to my realism aim.

[AndyT]

Now that I read other responses I have to say that I'm not positive but I think Yoshi meant the 'inner child'.

[Yoshi]

Andy: Exactly!
That was the expression I missed.

Cheers

Yoshi

[pdpo]

Previous posters couldnt have said it better then me. Realism is very subjective and
true realism can only be obtained in the real thing. For the rest it is all said by the title of our hobby...simulation.
For me personal, this is also steered by the budget constraints, I just want to try to get the feeling that I'm inside a cockpit .. and not behind a computer with keyboard and mouse.
I choose the airbus because I like the layout and the fly by wire approach. And because its easier due to the stick.
And as people said it before, when I got visitors they go wow...but I noticed by myself that
after a while my own wow effect decreases and I try to get more realism in it to keep my own wow effect high....

Greetz peter