The Best Flight Simulator For PC

[skeeterman]

Hi to all;
Just found this forum, and this would be my first to post.

I'm a old(mabye not that old)former Navy fighter pilot from the Korean and Vietnam war dsays..  I'm in search for the best flight simulator that resembles that actual flying and combat that you get from piloting a Navy jet..
Is there such a products that I can purchase?
Any help here, would be appreciated

[bobc1]

Hi Skeeterman,

Thank you for serving. And not to get too political but Clinton and Bush should have started off at a slightly lower pay grade before they became CIC and started sending our troops off to war when they themselves wouldn't go. I'm not saying that it's a prerequisite that someone serve in the armed forces before they become President but when it was their turn they shouldn't have been allowed to "step aside" and let some poor kid from Levittown or the Bronx take their place. Now to the topic at hand.

I don't know how powerful of a computer that you have but CFS2 is a really good flight simulator. It's hard to find a person who has simmed it that doesn't like it. And it performs rather well even on even medium-grade computers.

And since it's getting a little dated you can pick up a copy at Amazon now for just $15.00. It doesn't say it in the system requirements but it IS Windows XP compatible.

Then you can add the highly acclaimed "Vietnam Air War" expansion pack. It seems as though this add-on is still a little expensive at around $23.00 but it seems to be the war-era that you're looking for and you can take-off and land from/on the USS Enterprise and a couple other air bases in country.

Here's a brief description.

"A Tour of Duty in the jungle!

It

[Ambassador]

Welcome to Simviation Skeeterman,

For the Korean War, I would recommend CFS2 with the Fox Four campaigns installed.

[skeeterman]

BobC1 & Canadian;  Thanks very much for the information here.. My thoughts were on the CFS2  as you mentioned...
I think the CFS4 is more commerical driven...
I can find the CFS2 at a number of online web sites at $16.95 to $59.95...

Now I ask another question.   I will also buy a "stick", and I'm sure I will need the one so I have a twist effect to control the rudders and elevators.  Would that be the case here?

[bobc1]

Hi Skeeterman,

Amazon has CFS2 for $14.99.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 65-4726512

If that link doesn't work just go to:

http://www.amazon.com/

and select "Video and Computer Games" and then type in "Combat Flight Simulator 2" without the quotation marks in the Search Box and you should find it.

Or buy it from your favorite/trusted online store or local retailer.

Now about joysticks. There are a bunch of them on the market at prices ranging from $10.00 to $300.00 and then modifying them upwards toward a $1,000.00!!!

I have what is considered the best joystick available. It's a Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar and I love it. It's all metal and has two parts, the joystick and the throttle and it weighs a ton. You can learn everything about it at:

http://cougar.frugalsworld.com/

It costs $299.00 at Amazon right now. But it's a HOTAS that needs some/a lot of attention as it relates to maintenance. I've changed out the potentiometers on mine and upgraded them to the tune of $200.00. And I want to upgrade/modify the gimbals in the joystick which will run between $200.00 and $400.00!!! The phillips head screw driver and soldering iron is never very far from it!

So this joystick combo is only for those who have tried many others and just get hooked on the Cougar and don't mind screwing around inside it and feel that it's the best.

But coming in at a close second and what a lot of flight simmers use is the Saitek J24C X45 Flight Control System (USB) and it's only $79.00 at Amazon right now with free shipping.

[farmerdave]

Hi Skeeterman

Welcome to SimV.

if you're looking for Korea/Vietnam, go with CFS2.  I beleive someone is starting on a Korean campaign for CFS3, but i haven't the slightest idea when it's coming out.


As for joysticks, definatly get one with a twist grip.  i have a MS FFB Pro.  I liked the FFB, but it doesn't work anymore(this is because my @$$ of a sister used to use the sim and didn't like the ffb, so she kept removing the ffb cord).   Another piece of advice: the more buttons the stick has the better.  My stick has 10 buttons, plus the slider for the throttle.  It isn't the newest thing around(I think it's about 5 years old), but I like it.  I just need to get the FFB fixed.

[skeeterman]

Thanks to you, bobc1 and wwatkins for you excellent knowledge here.. I would have answered yesterday or last night, but my High Speed Internest service seems to be having major problems the past few days..

So to solve the matter in hand,, I will go with CFS2 and go to "Fox Four Campain" and download that item, and buy the Vietnam Air War pack as Bob reports.

As for the joystick situation,, I'm considering the HOTAS Cougar and the J24CX45 from Saitek, as you suggested  Bob.

Than I heard about the future item.. Falcon 4 Gold OIR..
Do you two have any information on the item?

I know these flight simulators software products will never replace the actual cockpit flying, but it may be fun just to play like old times.
Thanks again,

[Mathias]

[quote]Hi Skeeterman

[bobc1]

Hi Skeeterman,

As you can see by the differing opinions here that buying a joystick is a very subjective decision. That's why I highly recommend that you personally try them out if at all possible.

I once tried a MS Sidewinder Pro Force Feed Back and I couldn't stop laughing. The thing was vibrating and bouncing all over my desk! They have small servo motors in them that try to emulate the forces you experience in real life. Like the centrifugal force you experience when you round a curve in your car and you need to pull harder on the steering wheel to counteract it. So you find yourself "fighting" with the joystick in order to keep your virtual car or aircraft in line. This may be fun for a little while but if you play online against good fighter pilots you'll find yourself at a disadvantage because it's difficult to line up the reticule over your opponents aircraft because it keeps shaking and vibrating. And the force feedback is only as good as the programmer who wrote the forces into the flight simulator. I don't know what kind of shape you're in (hey, I'm getting older too ...48 and a heavy smoker *cough*) but it can get a bit tiring fighting a joystick all night long. Most of them have an On/Off switch for the servo motors .... I think... but then they become soft and mushy. Maybe someone else here can comment on their experience with FFB joysticks.

Which brings up another point about the TM HOTAS Cougar. It has 18lb. springs in it and can get your hand/wrist/arm tired and even sore after prolonged use especially when you first get it. My right hand/wrist/arm is now in good shape through repeated use but be forewarned. And if you're prone to any type of carpal tunnel syndrome also be forewarned. I got it once for a couple of months and I'm sure glad I got over it. I have a cousin who needed to have his surgically repaired and he still has pain in his wrist. I'm not sure if my carpal tunnel syndrome was caused by me using the mouse over and over again or the Cougar but man that's a painful syndrome. Deep down bone pain. OUCH!

There seems to be two camps out there in the modern combat flight simulator world. The lovers of Falcon 4 and the lovers of Flanker and now the newly released LO:MAC. They are both good simulators and really test your ability to learn a whole lotta avionics and weapons systems. I haven't counted them all yet but I believe that there are hundreds of different key combinations that you can use in LO:MAC to fly, view and fight it. I probably have a few dozen memorized by now but there is quite a steep learning curve on both sims. I hear that Falcon 4 is even more realistic than in LO:MAC in the avionics/weapons department.

Hopefully when/if Falcon 4 Gold OIR is released it won't have the number of patches that Falcon 4 needed. I think they are on SP4 now and depending on what version of Falcon 4 you buy will determine what patches you'll need to install. I think. These modern combat sims are very complex programs and need to be patched from time to time but it seems as though Falcon 4 really needed a lot of patching. I imagine LO:MAC will too. They are working on the first patch right now and the sim was only released a few weeks ago.

I don't think that there's a free demo for Falcon 4 that you can try... only a cheap ass movie....

http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/132837.shtml

but I highly recommend (again) that you try out the LO:MAC demo. It's 125MBs and you say you have broadband so downloading it won't be a problem. Hey, I think the demo is worth $39.00!!!!

http://www.lo-mac.com/

It will give ya a taste of the complexity of modern combat flight sims and also give you an idea of how they will run on your computer. You probably should have at least a P4_2.0GHz processor, 512MBs of RAM and a video card in the Ti_4200 or better neighborhood and you'll only be able to run it at medium detail levels. The minimum requirements stated on the box are somewhat inaccurate/misleading. Hey, they're trying to sell as many units as possible! Even the best consumer level computers on the market today (P4_3.06GHz, 1GB RAM and an ATI 9800XP Pro) now can't run it at the highest graphic levels.

Except for maybe this bad boy!!!

http://www.go-l.com/desktops/machl38/features/index.htm

Check out the cooling system. It will also keep a six pack chilled to 36*F for those late night LAN parties.

http://www.go-l.com/desktops/machl38/cooling/index.htm

And to run LO:MAC you need to have a DirectX 8.1 or newer compliant video card.

To check out the Falcon 4

[1danny]

i have the Ms side winder 2 force feed back i love it.
but then what do i know.

[skeeterman]

bobc1;

Grest reports you have given here... Man!  I would guess you know a great deal about this gaming thing.

I can say, the last time I had a "stick" in my hands was five years ago, flying a P51 Mustang that I was considering buying.. The person wanted $l,555.000..
And that would come under a "simulator stick" also.
In fact, I have never played a game on a computer, so it will be an experience to say the least..

I have some conern about what my PC requirement are for the CFS2.. So I logged on to.. www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/games/gameadvisor/
and find that I'm not 100% in the requirement stage..
Although, they say, I can play the flight simulator on my PC.

Here is the story on my PC.

AMD Athlon XP 2400+, 2GHz  with QuantiSpeed Processor
528MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM(2DIMM)  memory
120GB Ultra DMA 7200 rpm 2MB SDRAM  hard drive.
16X max. speed DVD-ROM and HP CD-Writer (48x max speed write/12x max speed re-write/48x max speed read) multimedia drive.
NVIDIA GeForce4 MXTM graphics with 64mb allocated video memory.
Integrated 5.1 Sound card.

So tell me what you think on this requirement matter?

Another Note here, why don't you write a book on all about gaming,,  or you may have already written that book.

I'm printing all your iinformation for future use.

Thanks again.

[SabreHawk]

Hey there Skeeterman, welcome!
Nice to have ya!
Well for modern jet combat sims, I love Falcon4.0, and you can check out & get just about all there is for it, patches, upgrades and such at Falcon4.0 Headquarters;

http://www.simmersworld.com/default.php?page=default

Also another place too is Freefalcon ;
http://www.freefalcon.com/release.php

And of course there's the site based on the upcomming(maybe) Falcon4 Gold OIR ;
http://www.falcon4gold.com/
Although the Falcon4 Gold site is going thru constrction at the momment.

As for where you can get Falcon 4.0 itself as it originally released, well it can be found on the net at various places tho im not sure, but a web search should turn it up, or ask at one of the sites I posted, im sure someone there will know.
Me im lucky enough to have bought it right off the storeshelf a couple of years ago for $19.95, and I have the full size original manual.
Falcon 4.0 is based on the Korean conflict and there are other campaigns availible as well.

Oh and one other thing,..............thank you for your service

[bobc1]

Hi Skeeterman,

I saw a show on the Discovey Wings channel a couple of nights ago about the P-51 Mustang. What a beautiful aircraft eh? It has such classic lines to it. I forget the name of the P-51 that this fellow was having refurbished ... something like "Buggin' Out" I recall. You'll probably know its name. It has a beautiful chrome and baby blue paint scheme on it. Then 4 owners of P-51s were getting together to learn how to formation fly. It was funny when one fellow said that he spent his whole aviation career trying to stay as far away as possible from other aircraft and that formation flying was forcing him to do just the opposite. It was taking him a little while to get adjusted to the idea.

I live about a mile from a private air ranch here in Florida and every once in awhile I'll see a formation of 3-4-5 vintage aircraft flying around. They appear to be Hellcats or maybe Wildcats doing most of the formation flying. I'm a little jealous of those guys ... I'm screwing around simming on a freakin' computer and they're up there doing the real deal. Every once in awhile this other fellow comes to town in a MiG-15. That's a screaming jet. I wonder what that costs just in terms of fuel to fly for an hour?

I just went to the MS Game Advisor link that you posted to check it out. I had no idea that MS had such a website. Under "Simulation" they only had a few listings. Not one for CFS2 though. You must have tested your computer for CFS3 and/or LO:MAC and these newer sims need a lot more power "under the hood" than does CFS2. Your computer specifications are WELL within the range for CFS2. And I would think for CFS3 and LO:MAC too. You won't be able to turn all the graphic details up in either of those sims but you should get acceptable framerates (FPS).

Our computers are similar in power except that I have a better video card than you. The weak link in your system or the "bottleneck" is in your video card. If you ever want to upgrade your computer consider putting in an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. They're around $250.00 now. And since you were considering buy a $1,555,000.00 Mustang you might be able to afford the latest and greatest video card on the market now. It's the ATI RADEON 9800XT 256MB DVI/TV 8X AGP RETAIL. But they come dear at around $465.00!!!

You probably mean that you have 512MBs of RAM installed. That would be two 256MB DIMMS. And for CFS3 and LO:MAC another 256-512MBs of DDR PC2700 DDR SDRAM memory for a total of 768/1,024MBs would be the sweetspot. It appears as though you have an open DIMM slot. They'll run fine on 512MBs but you'll probably notice the sims accessing your hard drive every once in awhile ... which slows down gaming.

And you'll have a problem simming LO:MAC because it needs DirectX 8.1 or greater and your video card only supports DirectX 7.1. It may still work but you'll probably have problems with your graphics and perhaps with CTD (Crashing To Desktop) and the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

Your video card supports 3D API: DirectX

[SabreHawk]

Yeah, thank God for DiscoveryWings, I just got my cable upgraded to Comcast digital and now have this wonderful channel.
Gosh there's been so many great programs about the century of flight lately, as we approach Dec 17th.
Heh, havent watched anything else except the news.

And it seems to be the only channel that the FS2004ACOF commercials are seen.

Say Bob, how fast is our comcast high speed now, I know it was 1.5 meg, but what did they up it to?

[bobc1]

Hi SabreHawk,

Sixty two years ago last Sunday those Japanese Zeroes showed the world what a surprise attack using air power could do to a moored snoozing naval fleet. Thank goodness the carriers were out to sea. And this coming Wednesday the 17th like you point out we'll be celebrating a century since the Wright brothers demonstrated sustained flight of a heavier-than-air machine under the complete control of the pilot.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec17.html

Yeah, you're right about the commercials on the Discovery Wings channel. I don't mind most of them as long as they're related to flying or flight simming and they don't SCREAM at me. I have a total adversion to those loud commercials I'm forced to watch on most TV and especially cable channels. If I see and hear one more freakin' Ditech commercial I'll have to spend even more time on the Internet. Or better yet turn this electronic stuff off and get some fresh air. I hate Ditech.com and would NEVER buy anything from them (I surely wouldn't get a second mortgage from them) because they treat you like you're a complete moron and they run the same damn commercials over and over and over and over......... My clickin' finger gets a real workout trying to get away from those annoying money-grubbing parasites.

Thank you for letting me vent!

Last November 17th I got an email from Comcast saying that they "doubled" our Internet speed at no charge. So I went to:

http://www.dslreports.com

then "Our Tools" then "Speed Tests" and ran a few. You'll need MS' or Sun's Java program installed in order to run the test. They have a link to Sun's Java program there.  I broke the 3mbps barrier. I feel like Chuck Yeager!

Don't forget that you need to unplug your modem for 60 seconds and allow it to reconfigure itself for the new added speed.