What interests YOU in flight sims?

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What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby OldAirmail » Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:07 pm

I've been reading some interesting post concerning peoples view on different sims, and it occurred to me that we have a situation of the "Blind men and an elephant".

We each "see" something and think that the others have it wrong.

What I'm pretty sure of is that WE, the people who like sims, are after is something that people who are in search for the "best" game never see.



What do I find, and want, in flight sims.

I've traveled a great deal when I was younger. Now, married and older, I can't travel as much as I would want.

EXCEPT in a sim.

I can fly the planes that meant something to me half a century ago. I can "see" and travel to lands that I'll never see in this life.

What I want in a sim is the Suspension of disbelief that only a sim can give me.

I want a connection between me and the aircraft - the controllers, switches, and boxes give me that connection. I can turn on the fuel, start up the plane, navigate to where I want, land and shut off the plane.

For me, using a mouse and keyboard breaks that connection to the aircraft.

I also want the scenery in the sim to convince me that "this part of the world" COULD look like what I see on the screen.

If I had t break it down, I'd say that the aircraft is only 35-40% of my enjoyment. WHERE I fly, and what I "SEE", is the more important part to me.




Anyone want to add their thoughts? You CAN'T be wrong, and you can't be doing it wrong either.

So what interests YOU in flight sims?
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby H » Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:47 pm

Hmm... it somewhat depends upon my mood... and I rarely use FS (95/98/2k2 or 2k4) although I've the disks.
I like to make new skins for CFS aircraft, most particularly WWII fighter acft, which I occasionally transfer to FS. I rarely fly larger acft and the only plane I've flown for real is a small Cessna... many, many moons ago. Nevertheless, in the past I've modified scenery for CFS1 so that a particular place would look more like it would have from above, geographically; I don't like buildings being made part of the 'natural' scenery whether in CFS or FS (i.e., the towers, like anything totally destructible, should have been add-on objects made for a unit_type section, thus no need to modify/replace the old NY scenery in which they stood -- just remove them from the section).
So, yes, I do have some preference for scenery realism -- and, although I've keyboard settings for most controls and don't have the foot controls, I certainly use a joystick.



8-)
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby bretched » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:53 pm

biggest plane, short runways, and bad weather.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Flacke » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:27 pm

I was born an Aviator. I need to fly as often as possible. I can only fly real aircraft occaisionally and thats not enough.
That is where Flight Sims come in. I can take almost any airplane that interests me and fly it to my hearts content. I love to travel and I can also do that in the Sims. I have flown around the world following Amelia Earharts route and I "finished" that flight for her in my Sim.
Whenever we plan a vacation trip I fly the route first and view the land, the Cities and Towns, the Highways etc etc from the air in the Simulator. Orbx Scenery makes it all so beautiful and when we actually do drive the vacation route I feel as though I have been there before. In a sense, I have.
I love the beauty of in-flight weather and fly through and around the puffy white clouds just as I have in real aircraft. If there is a report of bad weather somewhere in the World I put an airplane in the area and fly around in the dark clouds and storms and turbulence and get a feel for how bad it is. Sometimes I have to file IFR and make an approach to an airport after my Simulated Weather Observation flight. Great fun.
I enjoy the complexity of modern Sims and their increasing realism and I look forward to more development in future. There is an amazing amount of pleasure to be found in my Sims and next to nothing in cost.
Co-incidently, I just landed my Beech Duke Turbine on runway 25R in Las Vegas. I took off from Washington State, flew to Portland Ore. and then flew "Direct to" KLAS using the Garmin GPS. I used the Real Weather feature as usual and had a beautiful flight over the mountains and Deserts.
Flight Sim flying is great fun and I have done it since the very beginning when they were basically crap..........but I loved it, and still do.
I hope you all have fun with them too in your own individual way.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby bretched » Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:44 pm

Oh...forgot carrier landings in the f/a18...several beers deep.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Dave T » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:08 am

The ability to fly a wide variety of aircraft anywhere in the world in a believable fashion it doesn't matter which sim you prefer to use or freeware/payware aircraft so long as you enjoy what you are doing.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Fozzer » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:48 am

I've been pretending to fly various aircraft almost every day, using my PC, since 1995 (and earlier).

Done all the lessons, perfected all the techniques, twiddled all the knobs on the radios, got all the certificates and medals and the tee-shirts...

Been there, done it... :ugeek: ...!

I just use the Flight Sim for scenery exploration nowadays, in conjunction with Wikipedia for information on locations, and Google Street Nav Maps for road navigation in those locations.

The Flight Sim is a wonderful tool for those of us who will never be able to explore far-away places in real life!

...but always keep in mind that it is only a game that you are playing on your computer....

...its not real.....just a load of multi-coloured pixels....trust me!.... :lol: ...!

My only real flights were piloting an army Auster Aiglet Trainer in the British Army in 1956, and a Cessna 150/152 during trial flights in 2004.
Other than that, I have no wish to be a passenger in a commercial sardine can!... ;) ...!

I do enjoy my daily explorations of the scenery in various parts of the world..... (mostly California and the surrounding States!)...from the comfort of my arm-chair... :lol: ...!

Paul....mostly involved with mowing my grass nowadays... :mrgreen: ...!
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Jean Loup » Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:45 am

My interests in ¿REAL? life are varied & multiple, the sim is simply another extension for my body to expand it's capabilities. I am not a pilot but had chances to fly in diferent moments of my life.

For instance: I am a mechanic that life specialised in motors. Living in the South of México jungle mountains (1970's) , before the advent of dirt roads & electricity, the only job for me was stationary engine maintenance, most of them from the 20's & 30's. Had no competition, those comunities that depended on a Ferguson Morse or a Slavia motor for processing some jungle product & earn some decent & needed money, had to carry those motors in water rafts all the way to civilisation for whatever problema stoped the contraption from starting (sometimes a bad plug or worn contact points) & then PAY and bring it back to their comunity pulling those rafts up river.

I became very popular locally, specially with big farmaceutical companies. Most places had primitive airfields left from WW II when rubber extraction was vital to the Allies, so Piper & Cessna tail draggers where popular among new pilots for flight hours needed to earn a comercial license in airliners & some cash in the process. Those comercial laboratorios would send me an airplane & take me to some very isolated places & fix whatever engine had stoped their income.

Pilots became familiar, had the chance to control aircraft some part of the trip. And I love that "I have wings" feeling the air currents (that does not happen flying in the flight sim, ni modo: memory takes over!!), not to mention the views & hairy landings done with extreme precision (like slowing down doing wheelies over the river surface before reaching the shore). Or taking off from a flat mountain top not large enaugh for the Cessna to have lift, then dive into a cliff towards the river below, searching for speed before hitting the water surface & barely making it.

That's what I like in FS 2004, inmerses me back into those times.

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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby pegger » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:00 am

It was my dream to become a pilot as a profession. I tried the military route. Bad eyes kept me off their list. I planned to attend college to obtain a commercial pilots license and some sort of degree with it. Financial circumstances kept me from taking that route. I planned to obtain a private pilots license, but having kids abd building a career forced me to put that idea off. Still in the plans though...a life goal if you will.

So I use flight sims to keep my lust for aviation fresh in my mind. I fly in the sim as I envision I would in real life if I had a license. I take little day trips. I take small vacations, or just tour the simulated world below in a prop plane at below 3000'.

I am like OAM, in that I need my peripheral control inputs to simulate a physical connection. And I also need to fly in multiplayer environments. I can't enjoy the airspace without some sort of human interaction from othter pilots or ATC. Either Vatsim, or a less formal online session with one of the more realistic multiplayer groups I use is mandatory.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Shadowcaster » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:22 pm

Jean a beautiful set of screen shots there, very well done :clap: :clap: :clap: :dance: :dance: :dance: I'm thinking it's the Ford Project DH-80.

Cheers
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby 511Flyer » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:26 pm

Well Paul, in the UK I can't do without Horizon GenX photo scenery, although being photo scenery it does have limitations. Along with that, UK2000 airfield and airport scenery is a must. My aircraft preference for sightseeing is the Realair SF-260, which is painted in my personal colours of the VFR Flyer Club.

I've taken a few shots, and I'm sure that you can identify all of them.

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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Hagar » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:32 pm

OldAirmail wrote:So what interests YOU in flight sims?

For me the attraction of the series of Microsoft flight simulators has always been the open-architecture platform. This means that users can make it into what they want it to be, (obviously within the limitations of the software) either by installing 3rd party addons or creating their own. Everyone has different ideas on what they want from a simulator. To some it's simply another game while others take it all very seriously & spend a fortune on hardware & expensive payware addons. Whatever floats your boat. Each to their own I say.

I've tried each new version since FS98 but use FSX mainly now, usually for checking out freeware aircraft & scenery for others when they run into problems. I rarely "fly" for my own pleasure now & as an ex-aeromodeller I generally fly from Spot View. I have little use for complex panels (both 2D & 3D) but do know how to modify or create them.
Another hobby of mine is photography & I get a lot of pleasure by taking screenshots of my favourite aircraft in FSX as they become available. One advantage is that I can position them exactly as I would like to photograph them without relying on real life pilots or our often inclement weather.

I've always been more interested in the development side of things & have spent many enjoyable hours learning how everything works & using the available 3rd party software to modify existing files or create my own aircraft, scenery, AI flight plans etc. When I first started in this hobby I knew very little about computers. I ended up teaching others how to use them & troubleshooting their various problems with MSFS. Unfortunately there are so many possible variables these days that I restrict myself to giving basic advice.

The main thing is to have fun & don't take things too seriously. Life's too short. 8-)
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Herc-Canute » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:26 pm

I started with flight simulator X back in 2010. Over the years i got FS2002 and FS2004. I find FSX to be the best of all of them for the fact that the road layout is accurate for Kansas. I find most airliners just too hard to fly. i find i can do more with general aviation. I always preferred light general aviation cessna and Beechcraft. I prefer flying corporate aircraft like Beehcraft Kingair and Learjet to airliners. I like taking short hops to various airports in Kansas. I also get a big kick out of flying the vintage airliners like the ford tri-motor, dc-3, dc-4, dc-6. Ultra light and light sport aircraft are also very fun to fly
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby zswobbie1 » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:38 am

My interest is supporting the freeware guys, VERY often unacknowledged, who are actually the backbone of our hobby, especially the FS2004 guys, who still support the community.
People like Milton & team, Bill & Lynne Lyons, the late Garry Smith from The Ford Tri-Motor project.
Garry in particular actually rekindled my interest in simming.
I was getting very bored with the usual point to point flying, when I discovered The Ford Tri-Motor site.
I now have an install with only that scenery, planes & textures, & as that site is also the repository for Milton's older stuff as well as Mike Stone's planes, I have theirs as well, plus other suitable craft.
I also have my Golden Wings install.

So, my interest is Fun, Facts,, & Fiction, with plenty of low's 'n slow's, combined with Howard's TNW scenery, & supporting the freeware guys.
Many thanks to all, for to many to mention.
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Re: What interests YOU in flight sims?

Postby Jean Loup » Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:40 am

Shadowcaster wrote:Jean a beautiful set of screen shots there, very well done :clap: :clap: :clap: :dance: :dance: :dance: I'm thinking it's the Ford Project DH-80.

Cheers
Rich

Thank you Shadowcaster, good eye you have: it's Rakete Fritz private aircraft.

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