Rusty_M

Personally, I find reading so much on a screen of any sort of screen unpleasant. I suppose those e-readers are ok, but I don't have one. I can pretty much guarantee that i'd buy the printed manual if it is released. I found myself unable to learn the black shark start up procedure until I bought the physical manual.

Wow Taipan. That's really great. Thanks! That'll keep me occupied whilst RoF patches itself! I just need to figure out a setup where I can move my stick forward-left without it hitting my monitor now. Maybe I should only play sims when I have time to set the PC up at the dining table!

I totally suck, which is why I'm currently offline only. I just chill out in whatever way I feel that evening. Sometimes sims, sometimes more thoughtful games, sometimes twitchy arcady games. I always love going back to some good sims though. Rise of Flight looks different to anything i've tried before.

I do have TrackIR. I'm happy to crash. I'm still just getting into simming, and don't take it all to seriously but I do try to learn to fly well. My method of familiarisation isn't the best I suppose, as that's to buy all the reputedly good sims I can, and play them when I'm in the right mood.

Right I've bought this and hopefully it should be delivered whilst I'm out at work today. Is there anything I should know before I try to run it for the first time?

what actually happens if you fly off the edge of the map?

Even patched to 4.10 it looks nice, although conf.ini will need some tweaks

I'd not call them horrific. In fact I bought IL-2 1946 last year, and have had a great time with it. Get it patched to version 4.10 and enjoy yourself. Make sure you force some AA on as it really improves the look of the game.

"The Surgeon General says it's hazardous to breathe I'd buy another HOTAS set but I can't see... Tell me who you're gonna believe"

Well IIRC it was intentional, whether users like it or not. I think there's a mod to replace the english text and one for english voices which can be applied to 1.0.2

This was the last place I expected to see the term "a bottle of ginger"

I'm not sure, but I think to really do that fluidly, you'd need TrackIR or something similar.

I've never played any flight sim/game online. I actually rarely game online at all at the moment, unless it's battlefield. Edit: although I plan to fly online once I get the basics down (although I need a bigger desk first. currently my joystick collides with my monitor!)

I've yet to fly online at all. I'm still getting into sims.

Wonder if that guy did it himself or if it was effects.

Sounds like you're running an old version of the SST program. Have you tried downloading the newest version of the program and drivers from Saitek rather than the disc? I can't remember if the flashing joystick is a known problem or not. I just had a quick look around, and there are some vague solutions to the flashing stick thing. It may be solved by uninstalling the drivers, then installing them by using a different USB port, or it could signify a dead unit.

That explains a lot. A very buggy experience would possibly have put me off. I didn't get it till Christmas (when I got the Empire & Napoleon bundle) so i missed out on all the bugs. Shogun 2 sounds great! It will be good to see some of the newer economies and things integrated into that very interesting period.

People everywhere seem to keep saying that Empire sucks. I love the series, but I really struggle to get into it. I've only played an hour or two of empire and it really seems pretty good. What "sucks" about it?

I remember having real trouble with the drivers & software on the CD. It's much better to use Saitek's site. Also, from what I've read, there seems to be a high rate of X52s and X52 Pro's out there which are DOA. The first two I bought were faulty, but the third is just fine. If I had more money, I'd have bought a better HOTAS after two failures, but I was pushing my budged with the X52 at the time!

Did not know that. Well I guess HT will remain off unless I ever really need it!

IIRC they took a week or maybe two ( I really can't remember) to get back to me when I had problems with my first X52. Turned out it was DOA (like my second one), which I'd figured out before they replied anyway. Hope you're having better luck.

Sounds like a dud unit. I had that problem on one of mine (actually, it locked all the way over to the left) The place I bought mine from refunded all shipping etc, but they have to in the UK if they supply something faulty.

Well more for the same price is better IMO. The more the merrier (why I like IL2 1946)

Does anyone know if there's a big difference between the standard version of this and the Iron Cross edition? I'm thinking of picking it up, but I'm not sure which version would be best. Both seem to retail for about the same price.

I had one once doing ArmA Combined operations' Boot Camp from ArmA2. I haven't played enough yet to know how frequent they are.