How do you keep FSX interesting?

I has my laptop, hook it up to my 65” LG OLED 4K flat screen tv using hdmi, absolutely beautiful with my FSX, even NASCAR, and so on. Edited April 29, 2022 by Rcca

Flying around is nonsense yes it can get old very soon the fun starts making your flying more challenging. ILS approaches, navigating day and/or at night, even poor visibility conditions, cross winds etc, etc. Learn ILS airport frequencies to airports around the globe. Learn how to read instrument, fly airplanes that gives access to set navigation radio frequencies. Imagination is everything in life, not familiar how to shoot ILS approaches? No problem, YouTube is the best encyclopedia there is where the fun biggins! Run out of challenges? No problem, now try flying navigation Military style daytime first then nighttime touch and go's on an Aircraft carrier using radio frequencies to locate the ship. That will keep you awake for sure! I have been (on and off) playing FSX for over 6 year on my spare times (better than wasting time watching TV) I have enjoy every session because I make challenging scenarios always instruments flying and programing FMC's to navigate whenever available. I truly enjoy flying. Purchased aircraft are the best choice because they provide access to instruments navigation more than other airplanes!

Try to fly new planes and learn them how to fly correctly from A to Z. And VATSIM would be great. I do some missions when i'm bored.:)

- Playing with AS16 and ASCA is an adventure.

- I have all published issues(11)of: Ian Allan's "From the Flightdeck series" yes also the Apollo-11 issue.

All books together describe minute by minute about 50 real world flights; flightplanning, preparation,

T.O.,cruize, appraoch, landing etc, re-enacting them in FSX is a pure adventure.

- My son lives in Japan, Flying in FSX in real time his flights between EHAM and RJAA with the help of

'Flight Aware' and A.S. is something special......

- Copying YouTube flights and other publications......

Even at this date I still feel that I'm nowhere near the end of my FSX boxed adventure.

My sys is just unhappy with MSFS..........

Edited June 3, 2022 by piet06273

Get a list of all the counties in the US and fly to each one in alphabetical order. I got all 3166 using fsx - some with no airports and did water landings, roads or found smooth enough terrain. Took a few years. Started again with MSFS and now up to around 500.

Inventing missions.

 

Starting out from the middle of nowhere in the Piper Cub finding my way to another airfield using only the scenery depicted on VFR sectionals (displayed from sky vector on a second computer or tablet screen).

 

Digging up old airline schedules (I like late 1930s) and trying to keep the schedules with modern aircraft of similar performance. VFR, for 1930s up navigation by NDBs and the small set of VORs that sit on the old directional beacon stations. This is where I really miss my FS9 computer (it diedin 2012) because I had a 1930s world with 1930s aircraft, and a 1950s world with propliners. Most of this does not port to FSX, haven’t even tried porting to a recent Steam Edition install.

 

I anticipate inventing some adventures for the Grumman Goose, which is close to 1930s airliner performance, but can be tricky on approach to water landings.

 

If I run out of ideas, I can install a few propliners and pretend the ATC environment does not exist.

FWIW, one of my challenges was to fly out of every airfield in the database, to some other little field nearby, or someplace more distant. I am aboout 100 airfields in to the 20,000 so.

 

Then I started rereading Rinker Buck’s “Flight of Passage” about two teenagers who flew a Cub Cruiser from New Jersey to Southern California with no radio or navaids, pure pilotage, so I did that, pretending all that controlled airspace does not exist.

 

On of the nice things about FS9 was the existence of scenery packages that turned back the clock to 1920s, or early 1950s. I’ve not found equivalents for FSX.

 

But in general, to keep the simulator interesting for me has meant getting back to basic flying, not programming flight management systems in jetliners and going along for the ride.

Thinking now about a mission I’ve not yet tried. In 1930 Amy Johnson flew a Gipsy Moth from England to Australia, and back. That likey involved filling the front cockpit with fuel, extra oil, and spare parts. A special aircraft model might be required, along the lines of the Lockheed Vegas in FS9 that had the passenger space filled with fuel tanks.

For anyone interested in Amy Johnson's flight, excellent info by Roger Leupold (and some scenery) as well as a repaint of Golden Age Simulation's freeware Dh 60. Just do a search in FSX library for Amy Johnson. Also much info for Amelia Earhart in both FSX and FS9 libraries.

I fly trips with Historic Airline Group (HAG). Great site.

Having dumped my FS2004 I am trying to find how I download FSX as I have no disk drive on my new computer. Where do I buy it from? You seem to suggest that FSX is good but how on earth do I get it onto my new computer?

You can get the Steam Version. Very reasonable.

Having dumped my FS2004 I am trying to find how I download FSX as I have no disk drive on my new computer. Where do I buy it from? You seem to suggest that FSX is good but how on earth do I get it onto my new computer?

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/314160/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_X_Steam_Edition/

"How do you keep FSX interesting?"

 

I don't know about everyone here, but FSX makes ME interesting. :cool: LOL

I am a 75 yo retired Respiratory Therapist. I have 2 basic online programs I use daily, for relaxation and enjoyment.  1. FSX (I go all the way back to the old flight simulator days on the IBM PC. 2. I have a PS4 but the only thing i use it for is MLB 2022.  I use that as a simulation-I manage the team, and watch it play against Ai controlled teams. A Manage only mode. I use Historic rosters and like to play as the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.

As I progress thru the season day by day-I use FSX on travel days to fly the team to the next game site-so basically I use FSX every 3rd or 4th day. It keeps it interesting.

 

4 hours ago, josephmack said:

I like learning

Joesph, you hit the nail on head. Learning!

Even after all these years there is so much out there for FSX for which I have just started to scratch the surface. I started to do repaints as a way to give back to this community. Now I've started to "attempt" to add scenery; a daunting task to learn (at least for me). And I've downloaded dozens of wonderful aircraft  to compare flying techniques and for photo opportunities.

4 hours ago, josephmack said:

The most fun is learning how to navigate the old fashioned way using general aircraft. 

I love old "steam" gauges. I would recommend some of the '50s/''60s twin-engine airliners, they have really detailed and correct instrumentation for the period and are easy to fly. And remember this community is here to assist each other along our chosen airways of simming.

 

Welcome to FlightSim

I like learning to improve some airports using ADE, building some AI traffic for downloaded AI aircraft in Traffic Editor, and gradually learning how to be a decent painter using PhotoShop. These do not preclude me from flying - I am fully retired but pretty alert for an 80 year old.  

 

I like more classic aircraft, but some modern tubeliners by PMDG etc are very good these days.

 

As a retired Navy career carrier pilot, test pilot with an FAA ATP, I like just about everything if the modeling is decent.  I do a lot of research on each plane I fly and tweak the aircraft cfg file to get realistic performance and handling.

 

I am always learning something new about FSX / P3D by looking stuff up on the web.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Mike80

1 hour ago, Mike80 said:

retired Navy career carrier pilot

Welcome, nice to have another MilRet aboard.

5 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Welcome, nice to have another MilRet aboard.

Thanks, Marine - hats off to you and my many Navy/Marine helo driver friends and acquaintenances.  I got helo rated in HT-8 as an LCDR before going to TPS in the mid 70s; loved every minute of it!

 

Think about it - LCDR A-6 driver on TAD going through the helo transition course in P-Cola; can't be any better!

19 minutes ago, Mike80 said:

Thanks, Marine - hats off to you and my many Navy/Marine helo driver friends and acquaintenances.  I got helo rated in HT-8 as an LCDR before going to TPS in the mid 70s; loved every minute of it!

 

Think about it - LCDR A-6 driver on TAD going through the helo transition course in P-Cola; can't be any better!

 

Welcome aboard Young Buck!  Marine H-34's and H-46's  were the choppers I flew in the 60's.  Two trips to Nam and two trips home via med-evacuations.  After my broken neck in a hard landing I never could pass another flight physical so I was through flying both planks and rotors.. 

 

So after some bouts with PTSD my VA shrink suggested I take up simming instead.  Then when I flew over Vietnam no one ever took a shot at me and I didn't see any fires or assaults going on.  The place seemed peaceful!!  I never thought that could ever happen! 

 

I don't know that my shrink saved my life,  But he sure saved me a ton of money on booze and dope.  And I eventually felt brave enough to find and marry my wife.  

 

Now when I get all up-tight she tells me to either go and play my horns or fly a sim. 

 

Michael  Also known as Rupert.

24 minutes ago, Mike80 said:

LCDR A-6 driver on TAD going through the helo transition course in P-Cola; can't be any better!

Definitely a different world. It reminds me of when we would train the Harrier pilots to hover (the orig. AV-8A hovered very similar to a '46). After a few hours they would get cocky about how "easy" hovering was. That's when I'd turn off the SAS (stability augmentation system) and watch them panic. Had to grab the sticks more than once to stay rotor side up.

 

With you and Rupert, we've got Naval Aviation covered for the '60s, '70's, and '80s (I then flew Army Res for the '90's).

13 hours ago, Rupert said:

 

Welcome aboard Young Buck!  Marine H-34's and H-46's  were the choppers I flew in the 60's.  -

Hi Rupert; glad to hear you were strong and overcame your struggles and continue to enjoy aviation in our make believe but realistic world.

 

H-34s; as a USNA middie in the summer of1963 we had our aviation orientation summer. Part of it was rides and a little hands on stick time in the old Bell TH-1 and the H-34. I remember the Marine instructor teaching me about "marrying the needles".  very busy process in those recip helos..

 

PS - as I recall, classmate Roger Staubach puked on three of four flights in the T-34B at Saufley that summer. No one is great at everything!

On 3/17/2023 at 5:59 AM, Mike80 said:

 

 

H-34s; as a USNA middie in the summer of1963 we had our aviation orientation summer. Part of it was rides and a little hands on stick time in the old Bell TH-1 and the H-34. I remember the Marine instructor teaching me about "marrying the needles".  very busy process in those recip helos..

 

It wasn't that much easier with T-58s either.  In a 46 you're watching five tach needles instead of just two.     

 

10 minutes ago, Rupert said:

It wasn't that much easier with T-58s either.  In a 46 you're watching five tach needles instead of just two.

If it were easy it wouldn't make a great story at the O'Club. 

On 3/27/2023 at 12:06 PM, PhrogPhlyer said:

If it were easy it wouldn't make a great story at the O'Club. 

True enough!