Flight Sim Beginner

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Member for

18 years 8 months

Posts: 75

Hi,

I am soon to purchase a flight sim, however i am a complete beginner, firstly which is the best flight sim to buy? Can i add on different planes that are seen at airports eg My Travel fleets, Astraeus fleets etc. Also most importantly where can i get a decent guide on how to fly the planes i.e. step by step, as i have found that the tutorials on fs2002 to be hard to follow resulting in me not being able to complete a flight i.e. i take off then i end up getting lost.

Any help would be appreciated

Original post

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 1,381

hi

i can only say from experience, and from what flight sims i have used. for general flight simming (i.e. non combat flight sim) Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 (or FS9 ACOF - a century of flight) is the best to use. it is microsofts latest sim.

if u have a good computer, i.e. perhaps one with a 1 GHz or more processor and a god graphics card, or if the computer is less than 2/3 years old, you should get good performance and visual results.

flight sim is famed for the way that users can modify their game. you can buy commercial addons which add aircraft, scenery, or make the scenery mesh better, by producing more 'hills' - a less flat landscape - improving the ground 'mesh' of the land.

u can also download freeware, which does the same i.e. improves scenery or adds aircraft etc - the sort of things u can get are endless, except, without the cost. u can download these freeware addons from places like www.avsim.com or www.flightsim.com.

for example, if u want a mytravel aircraft for FS2004, go here:
http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=mytravel&CatID=fs2004ac&Go=Search

as for guides on how to 'fly' the aircraft in flight sim, the online file libraries, like avsim.com are a good source. explore http://library.avsim.net/ to see what u can get - u'll be impressed. make sure that u search within the simulator that u want by selecting in the drop down menu box.
hope that helps

Member for

18 years 8 months

Posts: 75

Thats great thanks for the info

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

Which sim to buy?

In my opinion, like adamdowley has said, it would have to be FS2004. You need only to buy that and a joystick and then take advantage of the thousands of free add-ons available, whether it be scenery or aircraft.

In the screenshot thread, all bar a few of the shots feature scenery and aircraft that are free for download.

Once you start, there will be no stopping you.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 692

Once you start, there will be no stopping you.

Unless of course it gets frustating, like it has for me.

I just can't land anything, so I'm selling it. Anyone interested? :rolleyes:

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

Unless of course it gets frustating, like it has for me.

I just can't land anything, so I'm selling it. Anyone interested? :rolleyes:

I think you'll regret it if you sell it. There are so many great tutorials available on the Internet and they can teach you how to use the ILS for perfect landings every time.

Download some charts from FSCharts.com and start doing your homework ;)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832


I just can't land anything, so I'm selling it. Anyone interested? :rolleyes:

Real pilots start on a small Cessna or Piper and work up.

Have you tried this, or did you attempt to start with an airliner?

Moggy

Member for

19 years 6 months

Posts: 147

Start with the props, then work you'r way up to the Jumbos. Will take some time(took me two weeks) but the rewards will be worth it.
For combat flight simulators start with simlites(any Novalogic sim would do), gradually shift to medium difficulty sims like Jane's IAF or Jane's USAF(I don't know of any new ones) then try the almighty studysims like Falcon4.0,Falcon4.0 Allied force, LOMAC, Jane's F-15 etc etc. Of these the Falcon4.0 series is the most fullfilling. It has a huge fan base which means plenty of sites providing free support and add on mods. BTW I got hold of a great strike eagle mod for Falcon4.0 on a cd from a friend. I'll try and find out which site he downloaded it from.(Think Jane's F-15 with better graphics in Korea)

Member for

18 years 8 months

Posts: 75

Cheers all, off to buy fs 2004