pcwildman

I also have to say that I found 737 Pile Up quite entertaining and wouldn't mind participating myself. That was kind of a cheap dig. The great thing about these simulators is the endless variety of things we can do. Someone needs to do an Airboat for the swamps. I have Hovercraft in FSX, but have never seen an Airboat. It'd be too easy.

I never used FS9, but I'm thinking of getting a copy just for the sextant. I could never get them to work in FSX. Navigation is a whole nother ballgame from piloting, and I realize that most people hate math. I like the idea that if my GPS and other instruments go out I can still figure out how to get home. I use GPS, VORs, DMEs and my own calculations as I fly. I would urge every simmer to read Bowditch. Originally written for ship navigation in 1802, The American Practical Navigator has been updated throughout the years to include all forms of past and modern navigation techniques and is the Bible of Navigation. Many of the sections about ships are equally valid for planes. There's also lots of cool stuff about clouds and winds. Glider pilots can gain a better understanding of how winds behave around mountains and ridges. Regular pilots can learn what to watch out for when flying in the mountains. These conditions are mimicked in FSX. You can be forced right into the side of a mountain if you misjudge the winds. Enjoy.

Lee Graves- didn't phase me. Plainsman- nice explanation. Mainly the Geology is about landforms. I don't know of any missions yet where you get to break open rocks and see what they're made of. Anybody looking for new mission ideas? You have to find the rocks which match the rocks at the scene of the crime. Maybe throw in a Crystal Skull. One good example is the Richat Structure in Mauritania, a perfectly circular set of ridges in the Sahara. When I read about it I flew out there and there it was. I haven't checked it out in MSFS, yet. I'm betting it looks incredible. It is an eroded geological dome. There's also a crater scar on the plains of Kansas or Oklahoma, I'll have to look it up, but when I flew there in FSX I found no indication of it. You would have to consult a geological map to identify it. There's a chance it will show up in MSFS. It's millions of years old and they've plowed that area for hundreds of years. Other geological features include volcano fields, such as around Paracutin in Mexico, Taupo in New Zealand, Toba in Indonesia (the largest eruption ever 75k years ago, which may have almost wiped out our species), but the best is Reunion Island east of Madagascar. You can see evidence of massive subsidence after the hotspot blew its top, with cliffs thousands of feet high. All of these are hotspots, there are hundreds all over the world and make for some of the best flying. The Hawaiian Islands are the most recognizable example. It's not that FSX will teach you directly about Geology, but as I study geology and what shaped each part of the earth, I can then get in the plane and fly over these features which makes it easier to understand. Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Ship Rock in New Mexico, The Grand Canyon, the U shaped valleys of Yosemite (carved by glaciers), the Great Lakes, The Scablands in the Northwest (carved by massive floods ten thousand years ago), Manicouagan Crater in Quebec, Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Crater Lake, Meteor Crater in Arizona (it almost hit the visitor center), The Deccan and Siberian Traps (huge outpourings of lava), and virtually every hotspot on the planet make for great flying. Then you can study mountain building, orogenesis. Even larger than the Grand Canyon is the Copper Canyon in Mexico, equal to three Grand Canyons. So, as you fly, try to imagine what made the landforms underneath you, read and learn what you can. You'll never buy a house on an eroding river bank in your life. There's an excellent series on YouTube, How the Earth Was Made. May the Road Never Rise Up to Meet You

I'm workin' on it! Again, it doesn't matter. I'll make it work as well as it can. I'm not so sure about them not using elements of previous Sims. Many pieces of the puzzle are the exact same. And all settings are set on Max. What I do notice is that I found the only complaint about no Lat/Long figures on an obscure site with few comments. So, no one does their own navigation calculations. No one even cares that the GPS1000 doesn't give figures. When I made that first flight between NY and Chicago with only flat grey in between, it got me interested in Navigation. If I had been a Flat Earther I never would have found Chicago. I learned Spherical Trig, and any Simmer worth his salt should be able to solve a spherical triangle. I have an entire spreadsheet devoted to Navigation around the World. I have incorporated William's Aviation Treatise as well as countless other techniques. Flight Sim is about more than just flying, it's Geography, Math, History and Geology too. But I guess playing 737 Pile-Up on an Aircraft Carrier is more fun.

I installed it on my new i5 and it works perfectly. At Registration they told me I had registered it too many times, so after a lengthy process MS called me, from Bellevue, and we swapped 54 digit code numbers back and forth and he activated it. So tell me it's a bogus copy once more. I think the same thing happened years ago when I reinstalled. It may have something to do with why it won't install on Win11, but that install went all the way through Registration and only bombed after the Splash Screens. My version is FSX SP2 (Gold or Deluxe, I'm not sure). At this point it doesn't matter. FSX is running on my new i5, 2020 on my new Alienware and I'll have a copy of FSX Acceleration soon. I'm also looking at X-Plane now that I have the hardware to run it. Thanks for all the advice. Happy simming.

O.K., so I was wrong about the scenery, and the airports (6TX9 showed up after the first update), but not the Eye Point. I finally made a flight out of Austin this morning up to the Grand Canyon and, yes, the ground forms are way better than FSX. I somehow, after not flying for two years, imagined the FSX graphics to be better than they are. I think I also expected photo real landscape out of MSFS. I just installed FSX on my new i5 and took a look at the graphics. The pixels may be about the same, but the complexity of the landscape in MSFS is far beyond FSX. I can't wait to start checking out all my favorite geological features around the world. I might have flown over Shiprock this morning, but I didn't verify my position...because I couldn't. Next point- there's no Latitude Longitude reading anywhere in the King Air. I have added 'Shift Z Stats' and downloaded 'Little NavMap' and there should be a fully working Garmin somewhere in the livery stable. I haven't had the chance to entirely figure out all the binds, but it seems you can't assign joystick/quadrant buttons to the External and Cockpit cameras. Are we stuck opening the menu each time to switch back and forth? This is one area where FSX blows MSFS out of the air. It was so nice to be able to move my Eyepoint and turn my head in any direction to see dials and the landscape as I ran the first few flights while installing FSX. And click buttons on my controllers to switch to whatever view I needed. So each has its strong points and weak points. That's How the World Turns. Now I have a copy of the original FSX:Steam for XP(!) coming, which has Acceleration, the one version I've always wanted to play with because of the Aircraft Carrier Operations (and Il-Sturmovich), so we'll see how that pans out. I'm finally able to run X-Plane so I'll probably pick that up and I'll have four simulators to play with, and a Combat Simulator. Thanks for all the advice. Happy simming.

Read the post! I bought it from the flight store here. I have installed it and had it registered several times over the years. It registered again on Win11, got to the splash screen and died. I don't need accusations on here, I need positive feedback and I see a lot of snippy people on here now. Get off it and learn to have some respect for others.

I meant to add 'Change My Mind'. These are just my first impressions. Thanks for all the feedback. I have an RTX3080 on a 1080p screen. I haven't gotten into all the settings yet, so maybe real world graphics aren't on. ? Should I buy a 4K monitor? I have 43,729 airports listed in my database. 37k in 2020. 6TX9 is missing, which is a small ranch airport in West Texas with the easiest name to remember and I know the owner. It's not a big deal. Each Flight Simulator has its own characteristics, good and bad. Once I get into it, figure out all the settings and possibilities, and apply what I learn here, I'll probably end up going back and forth between them. As background I started with the first MS Flight Sim 40 years ago, was using FS98 (I still have the disk and the book) when I finally got some good computers and found FSX. I skipped FS9 during some turbulent years and have only used it a few times. FSX hooked me good. I have over 10,000 hours of serious flight time on FSX with a possible extra 40k, or more, on previous simulators and just plain messing around. My first cross country trip was New York to Chicago and the only scenery was in NY and ChiTown. Nothing but flat grey for hours in between. My, how times have changed. Aurora 13, i9, RTX3080, it's full blown and fast.

I highly resent any accusation of piracy on here.

Not copying a previous install.

NOT an Illegal copy. Read the whole post.

Can't say I'm too impressed by 2020. This seems more like a game company put it together to make a quick buck. No moving your head around anywhere in the cockpit, no three quarter view out front as you approach from an angle. I thought the graphics is what makes this so great. They don't look any better than the original FSX. We've lost thousands of airports. Once I get FSX back up and running I doubt I'll ever fly this again. I see nothing but limitations, whereas FSX is endlessly fluid (for free or low cost) and will never be used to its fullest capacity. Why didn't the Aces Team come up with their own and market it?

Gold! That's it. It doesn't matter at this point. I installed MSFS2020 and it looks alright, just gotta figure out where everything is, joysticks and throttles all work. Made a rough landing in the Beech King Air because I couldn't see very well, but I made it. I've got an i5 coming which will run FSX Gold. I've read everything I could find on the installation. There's always plenty of tips and tricks on here, but I reached out in case there was some other fix. It looks like some people have been able to get it to run in Win11, probably depends on version, and others gave up. Like I said, it sprang into life and then died. All the way to Registration? What's up with that? MS will not make anything forward compatible and they now own our software. And our computers. They could easily make FSX run on Win11, but then we wouldn't buy 2020, would we? Thanks for your help.

Not original disks, original downloaded files- a bunch of cabs and an installer, after it had been out for awhile, maybe 2008 or 2009. It is not Acceleration or Steam, or what's the other version? I've forgotten. It's just plain FSX. Paid $35. And then $hundreds on add-ons.

Brand new Alienware Aurora R13, 12th Gen i9 12900KF (16 core, 30mb cache, 3.2 GHz to 5.2), GeForce RTX3080, 10G, GDDR6X LHR, 64G Dual Chan DDR5, 4400mhz, Win11 Home, 2T SSD+2T SATA; Original Download of FSX around 2008 or 2009. Have reinstalled it several times with no problem on Win10. I got all the way to Successful Registration! and it cranked up the splash screens and gave the Black Screen of Death upon saying I was already a pilot. The next installs, after a Clean Factory Reset, gave the 1602 error code- installation unsuccessful and rolled back. (Neither will Deus Ex install.) This is from another post that I'm going to try. Did you use restsldl.exe? From the download at flyawaysimulaton? Did you run it properly? From a command promt? And starting that command prompt by clicking "CMD" and selecting "run as administrator"? Then all typing the commands correctly? I have some more tricks to try, but any advice is badly needed. I have the feeling I'll just have to use the new one to play online or some of the newer games, go back to Win10 for FSX, and think about X-plane or P3D. I'm hearing mixed reviews on FSX2022. The downloads take forever, but I'll probably buy it. I hear it will actually run on Win11, but it has only a few of my favorite planes. I've been without FSX for two years and I'm Jonesing after Successful Registration! and then nothing. I should have bought a cheap i5 with Win10, which I've just done to make sure I have a decent Win10 computer. I have everything I need with the original FSX and my add ons and I'll never use it to it's fullest capacity. FSX will never be used to its fullest capacity. I want my artist friend to design a town. May the road never rise up to meet you.

Hello all, I haven’t been on here for quite awhile. My Alienware bit the dust so I’m looking at the Skytech Siege Mini with a Ryzen 7 2700X 8-core 3.7 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB, 1 TB SSD, 16GB DDR4.... Available on Amazon for $1250 with excellent reviews. Any advice on how well this will run FSX, or advice on decent mid-range systems (under $1500), would be appreciated. It looks pretty darn good to me. May the road never rise to meet you. Stay safe, Phil aka PCWildman

Hello Rupert, I noticed you talking about the ORBX freeware. Go to 2S1, Vashon Muni and look for the flying saucer. I used to live there and my buddy and his friends built and installed it and ORBX, amazingly, included it in the scenery. Turn up the trees because it is a scar in the middle of the forest. Cheers, pcwildman

Thanks Rupert, You scared me at first. I know you are a Senior member and I was wondering how far we can go on this forum. I don't mean to promote cigarettes and alcohol and I thought you guys were going to censor me. I used to play that game. It was one of the first adventure games before we had graphics. I always got stuck because, not having read the book, I didn't know to put the fish in my ear. You have to watch the movie, and now I have to read the book. Thanks, Phil

You wake up after a night of debauchery with your rich friends to find that they have transported you and your plane in a C-17 overnight to somewhere else on the planet and left you. You sorta remember a girl named 'Ginger', lots of tequila and something about a bet that a really good pilot should be able to find his way home from anywhere on the planet with minimal equipment (i.e. no GPS). There's some fat bum needing a shave kicking you in the ribs and asking for hangar fees while some little peon without any shoes in a dirty 49er's jersey pumps gas out of some questionable looking drums into your high octane, 'clean', tank. As soon as you pay them they disappear without providing the least bit of information. You have a huge database of Navaids, some leftover tequila, a chicken sandwich, a jug of water and plenty of maps but your GPS is out, you can't raise anyone on the radio and none of the airports where you land have any identifying marks of any sort. There aren't even any people. Or planes. Or cars. Or another chicken sandwich. (In your best Rod Serling voice and rhythm) In a few minutes Pilot A will have to figure out what part of the world he's in and try to get home to Wife A. There won't be any of the usual signposts to suggest a way. There won't be any friendly policeman or hopped up ATC controllers either. Pilot A will be on his own and- he may find his way home, eventually- after a slight detour- through- the Twilight Zone. Meanwhile, light up a Pall Mall. I've been putting my plane into a random airport without knowing where I am and without GPS, ATC or anything else except the sun and the stars and then trying to figure out what part of the world I'm in and how I can get back to a part of the world I know. Sort of Bear Grylls meets FSX. You have to put your hand in front of the Airport Choose menu, run the slider up and down and pick one at random. With the thousands of airports a small drag of the mouse goes through hundreds. Then set the time to dawn. I have no add-ons installed to enhance the bleak FSX scenery which is partly why this is so hard. I'm about to invest in the Ultimate Terrain and GEX land class software. Maybe that will make this easier. (Update- they didn't.) Set the time to dawn or just before to look at the stars. Turn off Airport and Navaid displays on the Multi Function Display or HUD. You can estimate Latitude from the sun and the stars (if you have the constellations file, 44constellations_fsx.zip, loaded). You can estimate most common wind directions from runway alignments. Following rivers and coastlines can lead to major cities. The problem is that many cities don't have their identifying landmarks- and there are very few signs. Mountain ranges, rivers, lakes oceans, geology, geography and overall terrain can give you an idea of the region. Note your altitude when on the ground. You can estimate magnetic declination from the North Star. Map-making skills would be incredibly useful here. See how long you can stand it before looking at the map. It can take hours even in the F-111 at Mach 2. I thought I was flying over Canadia and when I hit the sea of Azov I thought I was over Hudson Bay. This will drive you crazy. If you fly with no traffic it's eerie with nothing in the sky or on the ground. Plus not knowing where you are really makes it like being in the Twilight Zone. Terror at 20,000 Feet- Yea! I wrote this up a few years ago and don't know if I ever posted it. The story is probably inspired by Gera Godoy Canova, the most prolific and creative person in our community. And I thought I was the Wildman. Happy simming, Phil the Wildman Sitting on a very long runway in a random airport in snow and mountains with the sun in the south in the Sikorsky JRS-1- I think this is going to be a long flight. The correct pronunciation is “Pell-Mell”.

Thanks Michael, I have all the drivers, software and disks, they just don't help. Win10 is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's the best thing since XP, on the other it is the most invasive Big Brother is Watching OS ever. I went from 7 to 10. Many of the Kaspersky, and other AV programs, components can't do their job. You don't actually own it, it is now a license. And it doesn't want to recognize my pedals. I'd still highly recommend it. When FSX runs it runs beautifully and I've heard some good things overall from other Win10 users. The problems seem to come from disparate computers, components and software. My HP Spectre (SSD) runs better under Win10, and does more, than any computer I've ever had. I use it for everything except games. Now I know that other Win10 users had no problem with their pedals and I suspect mine need a wire reattached. The powered USB hub solved some other problems, but, unfortunately, not the pedals. They're still not recognized. I can't believe I never thought of the difference between powered hubs and plugging straight into the computer. I assumed there were plenty of amps to go around. Obviously, there aren't. I only recently starting reading about it. My window on my X-52 throttle now stays lit. I need to complain more, I'm learning about how to solve a bunch of other nit picky problems here. Thanks to everyone. I'll figure it out. Keep Flying, Phil SAR in the Beaver out of Sandspit

Thanks il88pp, That thread lead me to the forum where I first read about the problem. Now I need to know if running the USB Enhanced Power Management Disabler could lead to knocking out the X-52 controls? And is it really necessary? I don't know that I even have Enhanced Power Management. It's not something I've ever seen in Saitek installs and I don't use a fancy array of panels- just the X-52 and the pedals. I'll keep hacking away. Ever confused, Phil It looks like the threads here are talking about Win8 and 8.1. The solution is to reinstall drivers, but I'm back to my original problem of USB Device not recognized. I can't install new drivers because the device isn't really there, and I don't think power management or USB level is the answer. There appear to be different problems with different Saitek devices among different computers. And they told us High Tech would simplify our lives.

Thanks Alan, That's pretty much what I expected to hear. I don't know why there's not more on this in the forums. I think I paid $120 for the pedals and now they're another doorstop. I'd sure like to know what other people are doing about it. Keep it up, Phil I wrote the above before seeing the other responses. Now I suspect there's a problem with the pedals. Thanks guys.

Hello all, I thought this had been covered, but I can't find anything in the forums. Since installing onto a Dell Alienware last spring my pedals have become an Unknown USB Device. Has anyone else had this problem? That's my main question. I'm wondering if they just need rewiring. They have itty bitty fragile wires inside. They have worked well for several years on my old Win7 system, and no I haven't tried plugging them into another computer. My next step. I thought I read where Saitek, now whoever, knew about the problem and weren't correcting it. I doubt the new owners even care. I can't install the drivers because Win10 and Saitek's install program don't recognize the device. Saitek never offered updated drivers. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated. My Saitek Pro Flight X-52 controllers have held up for years. My Saitek console (steering wheel and 3 levers) went out after about a year. I think the USB went out on it and I've never bothered to get it repaired. I'm thinking of going with some pedals of a higher caliber than Saitek. I'm glad to see the FSX community going strong. A big thanks to all the mission, scenery and plane developers who have kept me busy for hours trying to figure out what's going on, and to all of you fellow pilots. May the road never rise to meet you, Phil aka pcwildman Bell X-22A, revamped for FSX with PIGG HUD and Apache HUD, down for maintenance FSX SP2 with too many add-ons on a Dell Alienware Win10, i7-6700HQ 2.6 Ghz 8G ram GeForce GTX 970, with the sliders all on high, except in heavy scenery, for the first time in my FSX career. Yes!