markamerica

Hijack, Thanks, yes, as I mentioned to Delevero, I can probably have a friend download patches and toss them on a thumb drive for me or whatever. Yeah, I'm a long way from 4down/2up. When things are running really clean, I can do about 1/8th of that. Sadly, that's just the way things are when you get very far out of the big corridors in rural Texas. I have about 40 acres and there are some spots on the place where you won't ever get a cell signal, and a couple spots where you might even get 2/5 bars if you hold your tongue in just the right position while standing on one leg. Sadly, none of those spots are in/near the house. As a backup plan for work, I have an aircard that if I hook antennae to both external ports, I can get 2 solid bars some times. But that's a pain, frustrating, and definitely not consistent enough to be useful.

Delevero, Thanks, my computer isn't so old. A couple of years. (Sorry, I might have cause the confusion with my reference to the old TRS-80) The computer I'm on at the moment is a Dell Precision 7810. I think it's maybe three years old. I actually had Falcon 3.0 back in the day. At present, I don't have a joystick. What would you recommend if I were going to try to go down the DCS path? I have somebody in my vicinity who has plenty of bandwidth who won't mind me downloading things at his place. When I need an .iso for say linux, or similar large files, he's permitted it in the past.

Thanks, Maybe I should ask it this way: What is the minimum required bandwidth to successfully run the sim?

They don't sell media? Wow. That's just... I don't think I have the words. I had a younger fellow who worked for me, was a gamer, I don't remember what console thing he specified, but he mentioned one(I think made by Microsoft?) that required an internet connection. Let me ask this: Assuming I could get the downloads, is there any in-sim connectivity requirement? Thanks!

Good evening! (Or whatever greeting may be appropriate for whatever time of day it may be where you are.) I have some questions, and I'm going to preface them by boring you with some information that may or may not help you formulate your answers if you've managed to avoid nodding off and still wish to respond. I haven't bought a new flight sim since Jetfighter II. Yeah, it's been a while. Life intervened. It's not so much that I lost interest but simply haven't had time. Now I'm old, the nest is empty, the FAA has ruined R/C flying, and I'm bored to tears. I recently got my first flat-screen TV, complete with "smart" features(to tell the truth, I was fine with the ol' RCA 32" CRT, but it was getting long in the tooth.) I live way, way out in the country in what you might call an "internet desert." I'm doing well most of the time if I can manage 256Kbps most of the time, streaming video is always buffering, buffering, buffering, so most of the time, forget Netflix, Hulu, and Youtube. That said, due to the kind of job I have, I need to maintain the ability to connect into work, so I have to do what I can. Cell coverage is spotty. Yes, there's a reason I live out here: We have a horse farm. Point is, I'm hoping you'll tell me that this sim doesn't demand a bunch of bandwidth and can be run without relying on a connection to a server somewhere. Also, youtube, trying to see what I could get out of that nifty new TV's "smart" features is how I came across this site: Saw a demo of an F-14 by Heatblur, and an F-18, and the videos were awesome, and it kind of rekindled an old flame, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I guess I need to find out more about all of this, but here's where I stand with hardware: A Dell Precision 7810 wtih dual xeons and a RAID10 SAS array. Video is a pair of nvidia Quadra 4000 series, and audio is a SB Audigy. Still running Windows 7 though contemplating Windows 10. Skipped 8 because I hated it, and truthfully, putting off 10 because I don't like it much more. I wish MS would stop trying to "improve" their O/S' in terms of look/feel. Frankly, I've been fine with the standard desktop since NT 3.51. But I digress... Whatever's going to be necessary, I suppose I'll wind up doing. I did read that all those cores I've got in this box will be idling with this sim since it currently only uses a single thread, right? I also read something is coming that will change that? Anyway, let me know about hardware changes I may need to undertake. Also, in the old days, I had a setup made by an outfit called "Thrustmaster" that included a hotas setup and a pair of rudder pedals, all run through a game port on the SB card, but I assume all of that is long gone, and come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a gameport on an audio card in some time. Probably all USB now, right? Any suggestions/recommendations on controls? Getting started, what do I need to buy, software-wise? Also, I noticed something reading through some posts about something called "Steam." Then I noticed something about "steam compatibility" whatever that means. I don't expect anybody to write a book, but a quick link or two to some authoritative, concise info would be nice. So here's where I'd like to go: I like the looks of the Heatblur F-14 sim and this F-18 Hornet. I figure on some learning curve, but as it turns out, it may be the last thing I ever learn, so I might as well enjoy it until death do us part. I learn things well enough, but beware: I'm not up on all the latest sim/gaming terminology. The only gaming console I ever owned allowed me to play Space Invaders. My first computer was a TRS-80 MarkIII, 16K of ram, saved and loaded code via a serial connection to a cassette tape player. Nowadays, the tech is a little higher-speed/capacity but at its root is still the SOS. The only sim/gaming software I've used in the last 25 years is RealFlight(to keep the R/C skills up in the non-flying periods) and LTspice to simulate amplifier circuits for some old-school audio gear I play with and enjoy. Anyway, nice to make your acquaintances, hope I won't be a pest, and maybe I'll have something to contribute eventually. Cheers! Mark