HardCub

Hello friends. It's Glenn. Yes, I am still alive and doing well. (thanks for asking LOL) Just working waaaay too much. I have really missed flying so much!!! I finally bought a new computer system, and was beyond excited to install the new Microsoft Flight Simulator and experience it for myself! I purchased the Premium Deluxe version ($119) and installed it. The opening movie screens look amazing, and the initial impression is "Oh WOW! I can't wait!" Then... nothing happens, except a never-ending looping sequence of the same video footage and a male voice saying "press any key to start". What am I doing wrong? I have been searching Google, YouTube, Microsoft, etc. Has anyone else encountered this issue? If so, can you share some advice on how I can fix this problem? My new computer system is fully updated with all the latest device drivers and Windows 10 is fully updated as well. (I have antivirus turned off when running simulations/games, etc.) Thank you sincerely for any advice, or help, or direction you might know of to fix this problem. I truly appreciate it. - Glenn

:cool::cool::cool: WOW!!! Absolutely jaw-dropping realism in every single shot! Great job on these beautiful screenshots Darryl. I'm curious to know what your system specs are to get these amazing levels of detail in the new sim. I'm planning to build myself a new system this year as I can assemble al the pieces needed.

:cool: Thank you Jorgen

Hello friends - it's been a long time. I am still a flightsim fanatic, but I haven't been able to fly much for the past 5 years because of my current job. However, at long last, I am planning to build a brand-new computer system to run my Steam-Edition FSX, and also the new MSFS2020 simulator once I purchase it. It's been a long, long time since I have sourced brand-new components to build a new computer system completely from scratch (I've only upgraded some components through the years). Can you guys (the real experts) advise me on which CPU path to take... AMD or Intel? I've read/watched so many different views on this subject in YouTube videos online that my head is literally swimming. I am not afraid of AMD. In fact, I have enjoyed excellent performance from my vintage AMD Phenom II x64 965 Black-Edition CPU through the years.. but, it IS high time to replace it and move forward into a new era of computer. Regardless of the ultimate choice, I want something I can depend on for SOLID performance in either SE-FSX or MSFS2020 simulator (if this possible). Initially, I wanted to go with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU based on reviews online, but I didn't buy it in time before it vanished out-of-stock last fall. It has been claimed to give the best overall performance/value for flightsims like FSX and MSFS2020 using AMD, without spending a small fortune on a CPU. I am still waiting for it to come back in stock from reputable sources at a "normal" cost. After many months, I am wondering if I should choose a different path for a processor. Any ideas? I do not know anything about Intel from personal experience anymore, since my last Intel CPU was decades ago at this point, and A LOT has changed in the world of processors since way back when. Haha My graphics card choice will always be Nvidia based on outstanding visuals, high quality and excellent performance. My Motherboard preference has always been ASUS because of solid performance and high quality. I am learning about the newer SSDs (I've always used WD 7200 Black Caviar HDDs in the past). I have never used liquid cooling (is it better than air-cooled???) I have used a Cooler Master Hyper 212 fan for many years, and it has worked perfectly. Forum Mods, I hope this post is placed in the right spot. If not, please move it to the correct forum. Thank you to everyone for all that you do to make flight simming so much fun! -Glenn PS: For my friends who might be wondering, I have NOT left my beloved FS9. No sir! It will happily remain alive and well on my current system to be enjoyed often. It's still so much fun :cool:

Hi guys! Remember me? It's been a long time (been working my a** off in my real world job with NO free time the last couple years) I honestly can't remember the last time I got to fly. Sad. But. Tonight over a late dinner I jumped into the Forums and saw this post. Mark, I am with you. FS2004 is still my all-time favorite sim, and it's staying on my computer for as long as possible! I love FS2004. I also enjoy FSX SE... but FS2004 is my favorite. :cool: _Glenn

Sascha66, they look awesome!!! I can't wait to be able to enjoy this beautiful product again. I'm just working far too much in the real-world, and no free time to enjoy my favorite hobby. I truly miss it, and I miss the time spent here interacting with all of you my friends. Great work Sascha as always! -Glenn

Good Morning Sascha :) It's actually "QLRP4UT" and is known as the "Quantumleap Repositioning Project for Ultimate Terrain. I have used it for many many years since discovering the link somewhere in a forum thread. It corrects misplaced scenery objects in FS2004. It is available as a semi-automatic and manual install. The website link is here. Be sure to carefully read the entire document and watch for the hyperlinks to download the files. It's a must-have software in my opinion. :cool: Also, if you cannot loacate all of the files you need because of "404" error missing pages on the Scenerysolutions website (Ultimate Terrain series) let me know by emailing me. I have all of the files stored on hard drives. Glad to help out anyone who needs help anytime I can. Have a wonderful weekend! -Glenn

Hahahaha - No, I never made it fully onboard with X-Plane - just too hard to figure out how to operate the views, etc. I purchased the metal collectors boxed version of X-Plane 10 Global 64-bit when it arrived quite awhile ago... but have not upgraded to anything newer. I know it is extremely adjustable and has amazing features but I was overwhelmed every time I tried it. My favorite has always been FS9, followed by FSX and now using FSX-SE. ~Glenn

Awesome news Sascha!!!! It's so great to hear from you buddy. :D Thank you for the awesome comments - I'm so glad I could be of help. Believe me when I say it has taken a LOT of frustrating hours researching forums, posts and just basically trial & error every chance I had... including a complete texture delete and reinstall 3x towards figuring out the best layering method. I got most of my advice/help on the layering from the http://www.scenerysolutions.com website. It is however, extremely poorly organised and took awhile to figure which files contained the exact instructions for what I wanted to achieve. Some of the links go nowhere, so I had to resort to searching my extensive collection of files on misc hard drives to locate the files I remembered having from previous years. I'm very much looking forward to the next release version of FS9 Evolution. Yes Yes Yes!!! :cool::cool::cool:

:cool::) Thank you so much guys for the nice compliments. I really appreciate them. I am SO GLAD to be able to fly again... can you imagine the depression I've had not being able to fly for the longest time? The struggle has been awful. Hahaha I am slowing assembling a dual-boot system with both Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, and Windows 10 Prof 64-bit systems. Also it features FS9, FSX and Xplane 10. I am so happy to be flying again! -Glenn

Thank you Jan! :) FS9 is like a vintage wine - smooth and easy. Hahaha (flightsimg) Thank you for your comment. The FS9 ground textures are blurrier than FSX admittedly, but using Sascha's instructions on tweaking in his FS9 EVO, the ground tiles will appear more crisp than usual even at a lower flight altitude. The blurred visuals in my screen shots is most likely due to making the reduced size thumbnails for this site, and also atmospheric reasons - I only fly with "live" real world weather and have my visual sight distance set to real-world specs. The weather also produces humidity, haze, etc. The default sight distance in stock FS9/FSX is unlimited which is false. FS9 has always been my go-to-favorite because it runs extremely smooth, and is a rock-solid performer. FSX can be very twitchy at times... but, it can definitely become more beautiful than the older simulator with the right (often expensive $$) addition of software enhancements, and the right (Always VERY expensive! $$$$$$$) hardware components installed to handle the massive amounts of data used to construct everything. The Orbx products are truly incredible where scenery is concerned.

Hello friends! Guess who is finally rebuilding his system again after it crashed a few years ago. ME!!! These are the first screenshots of the initial two flights on the new system. I'm still using the same old original hardware (except a brand-new HDD) and everything is working beautifully so far. I have installed the newer REX FS9 SoftClouds to try them out. This was using real weather data on the west coast over the Puget Sound region near Seattle, Washington USA. The ice-covered water visible to the north is due to the time/year date, weather and the install of the frozen water textures in the Texture folder for frozen water. (pretty cool indeed) Click on pictures for larger size viewing. This was also using real weather data on a different day on the east coast of the USA, in North Carolina. The virtual FS world you see installed features the following add-on items: Microsoft FS2004 COF ...updated to FS9.1noCD version. FSGenesis 19m terrain mesh Ultimate Terrain USA ...patch updated to v1.30 Ultimate Terrain Europe ...also patch updated. UT products above with "correct scenery layering" following the instructions within the various patches for the proper appearance of landclass, towns, cities, etc. REX FS9 Soft Clouds (updated) And probably the item with the most impact on the simulated world (NOT kidding!!!) is.... FS9 EVOLUTION - Scenery texture and Autogen replacement package for FS9. Available from Sascha by writing him via his email with a donation amount. It is totally worth the investment! About the only thing missing from this package is "Spring textures" -and Sascha is actively working on finishing these tiles. He is also planning to release a brand-new, fully updated 2018 version very soon. You must remember to select any date other than Spring at this time to see the beautiful FS9 EVO textures displayed - otherwise you will see whatever other default texture set you have installed. My new FS system was setup and tweaked ONLY using the instructions from the excellent source of work called "THE FSX COMPUTER SYSTEM - THE BIBLE by NickN on the SimForums. Even though it was written for FSX, it works perfectly as a guide for a FS9 system. I am running an old AMD PhenomII X4 965 BlackEdition 3.4Ghz CPU even though the guide calls for the latest and strongest Intel i7 chips (which I cannot afford). I only use Invidia graphics. I also use the nvidiaInspector software to control the graphics quality. It's amazing!! I hope you all are doing well and that you are blessed. -Glenn

Hello Charlotte. :) Whenever possible, the system runs better if your monitor resolution matches your FS9 resolution (better performance). My system runs an Invidia GeForce 650 graphics card. My native resolution is 1920x1200 pixels, which is what I have my FS9 resolution set to also. As far as the gauges being clear, there is a tweak you can do which makes them easier to read and much more clearly detailed. It involves editing the aircraft's panel cfg.file. Most planes are defaulted to 256,256 or 512,512 on the gauge pixel resolutions. You can manually edit the entries to say 1024,1024... this will make the face of each instrument dial VERY clear and easier to read. This is an example from the default Microsoft Cessna 172 panel.cfg file in FS2004. The stock gauge pixels are only 512,512. We need to change them to read 1024,1024. Open the panel.cfg file using the microsoft text editor called "Notepad" then scroll down until you find the [VCockpit01] grouping. Change the text entries and the SAVE the panel.cfg file. [VCockpit01] size_mm=512,512 pixel_size=512,512 texture=$C172s_1 background_color=0,0,0 gauge00=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 1, 0, 0, 205, 77 gauge01=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 2, 206, 0, 205, 77 gauge02=Cessna172!Clock, 413, 1, 93, 93 gauge03=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio DME, 0, 86, 198, 51 gauge04=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Audio, 201, 85, 198, 34 gauge05=Cessna!Annunciator, 403, 96, 109, 30 gauge06=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio AP, 0, 136, 198, 59 gauge07=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Xpndr, 0, 196, 198, 61 gauge08=Cessna182s!VOR2, 257, 129, 126, 126 gauge09=Cessna!ADF, 385, 130, 126, 126 gauge10=Cessna!VOR1, 1, 258, 126, 126 gauge11=Cessna!Vertical_Speed, 129, 256, 126, 126 gauge12=Cessna172!Airspeed, 256, 256, 128, 128 gauge13=Cessna!Turn_Indicator, 384, 256, 128, 128 gauge14=Cessna!Altimeter, 1, 383, 126, 126 gauge15=Cessna172!Tachometer, 128, 383, 128, 128 gauge16=Cessna!Heading_Indicator, 256, 384, 128, 128 gauge17=Cessna!Attitude, 383, 384, 128, 128 gauge18=shockwave_lights!SW Lights, 1,1,1,1 //shockwave light [VCockpit02] file=Cessna_172_Panel_Decals.bmp size_mm=512,512 pixel_size=512,512 texture=$C172s_2 background_color=0,0,0 gauge00=Cessna182s!Oil_Press_Temp, 257, 2, 98, 98 gauge01=Cessna!Vacuum_Ampermeter, 256, 102, 98, 98 gauge02=Cessna172!Fuel, 356, 2, 98, 98 gauge03=Cessna172!EGT_Fuel_Flow, 356, 102, 98, 98 gauge04=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio ADF, 261, 201, 214, 54 gauge05=Magnetic_Compass!Magnetic-Compass,455, 0, 57, 57 gauge06=Cessna!OMI_Lights, 461, 61, 47, 19 gauge07=Cessna!Pitch_Trim, 461, 85, 44, 74 gauge08=Cessna!IOAT, 457, 173, 54, 18 I hope this is helpful. I've attached (2) screenshots that show the differences this editing can make in an airplane. Best Wishes! ~Glenn Default _ BLURRY Gauges ...original 512,512 pixels Default _ CLEAR. Changed the pixels to read 1024,1024