Hello from NL... Newbie with two left hands,..

[Walther]

Hi,


Ok first off, I have looked at this site for many days/hours to see how the pro''s do it, cause guys are amazing... I have seen stuff overhere that I didn't even thought that was possible...! So my inspiration comes from all of you.. Although, not sure if that's something You want to flaunt about.. :-))

Anyways:
34 years old, I have Flight sim versions all the way back to 2000 ( the one still with the manual; Loved that one)
Recently picked it up again and started to build from there.. Bought some Saitek stuff, liked it for the price!, and had some extra screens over so wanted to see how far I can get with everything.. Thats where the virus started and I have been building since ( 3 months). Used SoftTH to cover my 3 screens with different sizes and resolutions.. Works Good, some loss of FPS and no use of the Virtual cockpit mouse items, but for freeware absolutely brilliant! Now I have Project Magenta, FSCommander, Matrox TripleHead2Go, OLD PC, Wideview, Bought/traded two screens to get three same resolutions. In total 5 screens and its still not enough to show all info.. I will be adding things in the upcoming period to make it better. And let's not forget the Master of tuning FSX, which I have spend more time on than anything else by a ratio of 8 - 1, and my personal Hero NickN!
Well if you have any questions or suggestions or anything else PLease contact me..
I have been bugging and boring to death my friends, family and girlfriend talking about it, so talking to same enthousiasts would be a nice change.. :-))

Cheers,

Walther

[Ronson2k9]

Welcome on board. Looks like you have made a great start already. Do you have a favorite plane you're modeling at this point?

Yep this is the place for flight sim addict. With shared experiences we can all make it through this addiction we can all make it out the other side with flying colors.

Ron

[JWS]

Welcome Walther,

I see that the government crisis in Belgium has now already affected your patriotic sense: "Hello from NL (??)". Anyway, nice to have you here and lot's of success with your project.

JWS

[Walther]

Hi Ron..

Thanks for your nice reply..
Yes it's going nicely so far, but it's now more whats under the hood rather than the look of things.. Slowly but steadily getting a better cockpit. :-))

I'm flying the single engines and small two engines right now. I should be able to change to Heavy's in the future. But in all honesty I have spend 100's of hours in tuning fsx and setting it up so im just starting in really flying FSX again. With FSCommander I do see it is a lot of fun in flying heavier planes with the traffic challanges.. So long story short, its setup right now for smaller planes, but i think i will change in the near future.. :-))

How did you start? Smaller planes or did you immediately start with the heavy's?

[Walther]

Hahah...

For the record I'm Dutch.. I just live in Belgium, but near the Dutch border ready to flee...:-)) and yes, forming their government it's just very typical of how things work overhere.. They generally don't and the people just cope with it..

[JWS]

I see. You have been tuning your rig with help from NickN, have you? I have an XP machine and run FS9 (no FSX) and have been studying his tuning guides, but a little afraid of going into that realm. Not sure if I can benefit from it either.

JWS

[Walther]

Well, I can't speak for 2004, but with fsx he has helped me at least 4-5fps outside fsx's own scenery gliders. So tuning the scenery files, etc... The guy really knows what he is talking about. Plus his first lesson is don't tune too much in one go. So you can always put it back in original state and compare what it did..
What do you have under the hood? (will check out your profile maybe its mentioned there.. Sorry if it is)
Now building a cockpit is not my strong suit as i really do have two left hands, but the pc part, i haven spend 100's of hours trying to get the max out of my system With NickN's help.. I'm not an expert, but maybe I can help in saying whatis dangerous to do and what not? I have tried almost all his tweeks once or many times...

Cheers,
Walther

[JWS]

OK, we're getting off topic. I'll PM you.

Thanks,

JWS

[Ronson2k9]

Hi Ron..
How did you start? Smaller planes or did you immediately start with the heavy's?

I'm still flying a single engine Cessna A185F Skywagon. Part of me wants to fly the BAE146/RJ. As they are much like the Cessna on heavy steroids. Getting data on the BAE isn't easy though. I've tried. It's a real good idea if you haven't built to much already to start out small and build up. So like the 'real' pilot - not knowing if you are one? Start out on a small aircraft and work up. This is both a good way to perfect your flying and building of simulators. Many of the skills you will need can be developed and increased while having a satisfying building experience. I've learned from my model railroad days that if you dream too big you may got bogged down and loose interest. If however you dream small you can get things done. Breaking the task at hand into chewable bits you'll find the meal much easier to manage.

Another thing that influences your choice is the model (FSX/FS9) that is available for your aircraft. For the longest time not having a good amphibious model of the Skywagon had me singing the blues. As all the building would be somewhat beyond reason without the aircraft to fly. Both the quantity and quality of models continues to grow though even though FSX is now heading into it's 5th year. Can't imagine what was going through the heads of the executive staff that let the ACES team go.

Like you I'm an oldie too. My flight sim goes all the way back to the DOS monochrome days on the IBM PC1 (the very first PC based flight sim). Even then people were building simpits and hooking them up the computer. To me that was the instance I knew that home computers were destined for greatness. They stopped being a fancy calculator and became a teaching tool. I'm using FSX on a duo core now just in case you were thinking I was still on that PC1 hehe.

There are many 'generic' pits out there that represent a building say Boeing or Airbus but not a particular model. So they are free to fly many of the different models out there (with in the builders stable).

Just from your description it sounds like you have made great in roads to a flight sim already. The tweaking is great to be sure if not tedious. Adding hardware won't effect that to much outside of the control software that is running in the background. This won't effect the tweaking as it's more a computer multitasking issue. On board memory and cpu are king in that department. I like the Saitek stuff too. They have taken the lead in making flight sim hardware. Especially for those just getting into the hobby.

Best of luck on your build and keep us posted on your progress.
Ron

[Walther]

Hi Ron,

Thanks for that great reply. Really enjoyed reading it.
I guess I'm following the same logic. Seems best to fly the smaller planes and really get into it. I mean so much still to learn, from old craftmenship in flying VOR to simulate failures, bad weather and trying to approach on instruments alone.
And totally agree, what is wrong with them for letting the Aces team go. The possibillities of Fsx is close to ridicoulos.. And still with the really heavy pc's of today not possible to run in full force.. But we are getting a new flight sim next year so let's see what that brings us.
I am amazed at what I am now getting out of my mild OC'd quadcore 9550 to 3175ghz.
And luckily I have project magenta running on network older pc. I also have wideview in the case I want to expand more. Bottom line in fsx get the fast cpu and your gonna be good.. Graphics card didnt do much for fps except anti aliasing and make it slightly better looking.

Do you plan your flights in fsx or do you have external software? Do you plan?
Do you fly much on VOR? I heard from my uncle, he used to have his ppl, that he never actually used it much.
Did you choose scenery over traffic? AI traffic?

Thanks again for the reply!

Cheers,
walther

[Ronson2k9]

Like you I'm a sim jockey only (so far). I have a thing with my right eye (it's 20/400) I would require Lasik surgery to correct it. The next exam I have and that will be soon I'm looking into getting that done if possible. Don't know if you fly online yet VATSIM (http://www.vatsim.net/) but once you go there you will probably never want to go back. You can go to fltplan.com (http://www.fltplan.com/) to make your flight plan. It's good to register (it's free) as you can put in your own aircraft (otherwise there is a generic list to choose from). It will generate a plan you can use in VATSIM.

With modern equipment you will find that you still need VOR as a back up to your GPS units as that is not always available. GPS is much better then it was in previous years but if you know how VOR works and can use it it's like a warm blanket should your GPS go dark. So it is a fading skill but still good to have.

Being a bushman. I chose scenery but I fly with amphibious floats so that gets me pretty much anywhere. I can in theory even land on snow/ice if need be although that's not recommended (in a real plane). Of course in the sim I can 'transform' the plane into a ski version. Staying true to simulation though you would never do that during a flight. I've devoted much study to float/amphibious ops. I got a couple of books on the subject. There is also a great deal of info online too. Books take all the hunting out if though and there are many times I want to get away from the computer and read.

Also in the bush there isn't to much traffic. I do fly in the USA mostly though as the VATSIM network is pretty active over the US. Being a single engine I fly this bird Carenado's C185 Bush FSX (http://www.carenado.com/ecommerce/buscador.php3?id_producto=81) I'm also on the low air routes so I'm out of the heavy traffic most of the time. I encounter waits at times at larger airports but for the most part it's pretty clear of traffic. Just like being here though it's nice to see others of similar interests when flying. I have a great admiration for those that build the heavies and I'm always looking for ways to improve both my sim and those of others. I'm pretty computer savvy so I do what I can to help others around here too. There are many that are much more knowledgeable then I though.

I'll fire off a PM to you with more particulars about my sim.
Ron