Yskonyn

I agree, I have always used the X-52 (non pro as the pro wasn't there yet) and still find it a more than decent setup for the price. It has loads of buttons to map and a handy slider on the throttle. I don't think you can get a better deal on a HOTAS to be honest. Low price (relatively) and many configuration options. It'll last you several years.

Thanks Bucic. Sorry I missed the earlier post. I even learned a new trick about AA from you! Will try it out today. Thanks

Yes I have a copy of PS1.3 on the shelf right here. It's very nice indeed, but I don't think I am going for the PSX version. At least not if it's a seperate product instead of an upgrade patch.

Well, at least the stock Cessna panel is readable and resembles at least some form of real life panel, unlike the jets. ;)

Before I started flight academy (combat)flightsimming was a hobby of mine. I flew with VATSIM and whatnot, because I always knew I wanted to become a pilot and this was a great way of escapism for me waiting until the day came I could start. Now that I am in the pit on a daily basis I hardly ever fire up MSFS anymore. Why would I go over all the stuff again when I already had a days work for real? ;) Like many things flying for a living becomes normal and I rather spend my free time doing something else. That is, something else than flying from A to B with virtual pax. I do, however, still enjoy doing virtual flights in a different way. Usually the wacko stuff, like touch and go's on an aircraft carrier with an airliner, or aerobatics, see how much crosswind I can take, world renown diffcult approaches we don't visit in our real life operation (we do come to many cool little airports in RL as well! Much hands on flying.). And of course the combatsims like DCS, BoB2 and IL-2. Oh and I very much like the 'Adventures' in MSFS or whatever they are called now. Sometimes not very realistic, but fun nonetheless. Also, I do use MSFS as a procedural trainer to keep my holding pattern interceptions and beacon interception procedures up to snuff. It's great for that with a good addon aircraft/cockpit which has instruments with a high update rate. Then it's more about the mental picture and I disable/obstruct any outside views. Instruments only. Lastly, you do become much more aware of 'what isn't there' in sims, once you fly for real, but no, it does not take out (all) the fun for me. :joystick: :thumbup: I do focus more on combat sims now. Well, I was talking about the Cessna's. :) They are kinda ok. Although their speeds and wind susceptability are way off. Ok.. I see your point. ;) Let's call them 'fun' then. Which doesn't hold true for the stock jetliners. :D

I think the problem I had was with TARGET. I thought BoB2 didn't support more than one joystick so I combined the throttle and the stick in TARGET. Now that I have assigned them seperately it seems to be working fine. Pfew, this game is still a resource hog! I went with a package of 12 Stuka's on an anti-shipping mission, but framerates suffer greatly when looking at the formation of aircraft! Are there any display settings tips you can provide? (see my sig for my specs) I am running in 1680x1050x32 res. Thanks!

No they haven't, Agg. But you can shut it up, though. :) Anyway I would say FSX is a better choice too. Its far more rounded out and there are quite a few REALLY nice addons available. The stock aircraft are useless, except the general aviation ones. The jetliners and the helo's have bad, bad cockpits out of the box. But there are (free) addons available for many aircraft with decent enough panels. Something XP lacks. I am waiting for the PMDG 737NX myself, as this is the aircraft I fly in real life and from what I have seen (and know from the previous version) this is going to be very high fidelity and will make a great procedural trainer for me. Also the weather effects in FSX are more realistic than XP's, especially with the Real Environment addon. I personally think there is more fun to be had in FSX.

Good idea. Why not add such a thread youself? Eventhough you may not own one (yet) there's nothing holding you back from posting such a thread. ;) On the other hand, there's already the 'mobo thread' stickied at the top of this page...

True! The manual re-entry, especially! :pilotfly:

X-plane always provided a love/hate relationship for me. Flightmodel is very nice, as is the performance. However the cockpits, even those of most paid addons, are horrible. It's great for the flying experience, not so much for the technical, procedural experience; would be my very short version.

Or look it up in TARGET.

Same here.

Yes, but are you having trouble with the Hog as well? That's the point; USB hubs and possible problems with the Hog.

:D Well you could buy a Logitech G15/17 keyboard and plugin the mouse and Iphone/Ipod/MP3 player in the ports on that one. Frees up two mainboard ports for important hardware. Game controllers and external harddrives usually work best on mainboard USB ports and oftentimes plugging them into USB hubs causes the one or the other problem. konkussion's tip is a good one too! ;) Buying a printer/scanner combo frees up another port. The webcam probably isnt used always, so you could swap that one with the Iphone/MP3 player or something like that, you catch the drift. I am not fond of USB hubs. They have caused more problems than benefit in my case. But last time I used one was years ago, maybe the tech is better today. ;) I, for one, stay away from them anyway. I rather switch around some plugs.

Why do you guys need hubs anyway? ;)

850 watts should be fine, however with the current video cards being power hogs you should make sure your PSU has seperate voltage rails and a steady power output instead of peak output. (The exact phraseology slips my mind right now). Cheaper PSU's often don't have steady power output over each rail. This is commonly causing problems with modern hardware.

To be on the safe side I always unplug my WH before turning off the computer and I only connect it when I need it. But the paranoia thing isn't too good, no. ;)

Very nice vid, Wags. Thanks for sharing. I also loved your 'Pop Up' video a few days back.

I can't get my TM WH and my CH Pedals working in BoB 2... I assign all the axis manually, but then I load a mission and all I can do is pitch up and down with the WH and yaw left to right with the rudder, but for some reason the roll axis gets deleted again...? Any ideas why this might happen?

Just a loose shot here, but are you sure you have a sufficient PSU (power unit) in your PC to provide enough juice too all hardware when under load? Lacking electrical power can result in all kinds of weird behaviour.

The link about the new MW game is old. The company currently having the rights of the game has recently had to lay off staff and a notification went piblic about them going to focus on mobile apps. Read all about it over at the Classic Battletech forums. Its unclear if the project is still alive...

While not really a sim I have enjoyed the battlefield series of games immensely. still playing a lot of bad company 2 with friends. The scope of bfbc2 is much smaller than bf2 was, but at least the series has come back to the pc proper! Bf3 will be a big hit no doubt. While it is another fps, it is very different in gameplay. Where you can easily go about it alone in multiplayer call of duty, you'll have a hard time in bf. A full fledged bf version with the awesome frostbite engine will make for a thrilling experience! A definite day one buy for me and my mates.

So why do you care about the button resistance then? Or are they so resistant that the force ain't enough to push them in either? :D

Lol, for you maybe! :D What kinda hands do you have, I wonder? Yeti size and power?

Wow this is rather cool! Will this also work for getting your Android based Smartphone to be a touch interface for games/sims?