New to FSX mods how to get started?

I'm new to FSX mods and i would love to get started with some tips and suggestions to must have mods. i really want to fly helicopters since i'm not much of a plane guy so what would be the best scenerys for that? i'm striving to play as realistically as possible.

Thanks in advance. :D

I'm new to FSX mods and i would love to get started with some tips and suggestions to must have mods. i really want to fly helicopters since i'm not much of a plane guy so what would be the best scenerys for that? i'm striving to play as realistically as possible.

Thanks in advance. :D

First thing you need is the correct hardware. Rudder pedals, separate throttle (collective) and preferably a long-throw joystick. There's little point doing anything complex or adding scenery until you can fly a helo. You will obviously have researched hovercontrol - all you need is over there.

First thing you need is the correct hardware. Rudder pedals, separate throttle (collective) and preferably a long-throw joystick. There's little point doing anything complex or adding scenery until you can fly a helo. You will obviously have researched hovercontrol - all you need is over there.

Hey Mallcott thanks for responding.

i have got some decent hardware for flight (X-56, trackir and some rudder pedals on the way) and i have flown in other simulators like DCS and falcon BMS (Military sims) but i have always been scared of the civilian simulators cause its not just buying the game but i'm getting more and more interested. :D

The most important questions probably are where and what do you want to fly?

There aren't that many helicopter addons worth their money, still these are at least a dozen. Take a look at Cera Simcraft (they are almost always on sale in the FsPilotShop), Nemeth Design / Milviz and Dodosim, see if you find something you fancy.

But scenery there are many hundreds of offerings, and it is advisable to start small. For helicopter operations you should probably stay away from photoreal scenery textures, as those only look good above 3000ft. I would suggest heading over to ORBX, check out their scenery packages and airports. That kind of scenery IMHO is best for slow-and-low. Then there are freeware packages with oil rigs and/or ships to land on.

If you want a bit more "purpose", check out the helicopter based missions - but be careful with payware missions, there is a lot of offerings that are mediocre at best.

Or if you are interested in aerial fire fighting by helicopter, there is the FireFighterX addon.

IF it were me, which it's not, but if it were, first thing is to head over to Hovercontrol. They are, IMHO, the be-all and end-all of helicopter flight simming.

They have some great freeware sceneries made just for helicopters, like 4S2, an Oregon airport right on the Columbia River.

They also have some very nice freeware helo's. Maybe not payware quality, maybe so, but some are very very good. Like the HC412PE. Very realistic, and the cockpit systems and failure modes make a real fun bird. Same with the Eagle Rotorcraft Simulations B206.

They have articles by an excellent man that understands the sim inside and out, Mr. Jordan Moore, that tell you what and how to modify the .air and aircraft.cfg files for the best possible results.

Finally, and then I'll shut up, they have a really great bit of software, called Helicopter Total Realism, or HTR. It takes what the sim thinks the helo should be doing, adds in what you want it to do, and then makes the helicopter act in a most realistic fashion, inputting the correct info into the sim to make the helicopter fly very realisitcally. All "on the fly" so to speak.

It was designed by a real life Helicopter Aeronautical Engineer, and vetted by a number of RL helicopter pilots, along with a number of sim helicopter pilots and flight instructors (whom they also have over there).

It uses custom made .cfg files for each particular bird, sometimes even having different ones for the same type, but by different designers. These files are very easy for the user to change to customize them for a particular computer, as every system is unique. Excellent documentation on How-To, also.

Finally, HC has some really wonderful forums. Sometimes a little slow to respond, but they always do.

Sorry, I get to babbling about this all sometimes.

Back to the original questions, I would get, before anything else, FSUIPC, then check HC and here at Flightsim for some really good choppers, both payware and freeware. Some scenery too, also, but not much here specific to helicopters.

Good luck, and no matter what, have fun!

Pat☺