Help me spend $$

Howdy everyone. I'm helping a local science museum put together a flight simulator and need to get a computer purchased for them. They'll be running FSX steam with potentially an ORBX (or similar) scenery addon. We will be projecting a large 1080p image onto a 12 foot screen. A typical flight will consist of mild autogen buildings, terrain, and water. No fancy weather or dense buildings/vegetation will need to be displayed.

 

They have $1,000 (USD) budgeted to spend on just the computer itself. Not sure if we actually need to spend this much, and if we can get away with spending less, that would be preferable. I've been out of the flight sim world for awhile and would really appreciate any input on what to buy or what hardware requirements to shop for.

 

Thanks!

Do they intend to play on this live, while museum is open? Visitors playing?!

Or is it just to do flights in own time and record, then display those during opening hours?

Explain.

I assume a beamer is in place? (what type videocard output does that beamer connect to? Adapter used?

 

Be aware that fsx is not an easy "point and shoot" game. Nor any simple automatic restart after crash, no high score, no score record, no 'enter name here', nothing like a nintendo/ Xbox game. You are straight inside the pc. So leaving the system in the hall, for visitors to sit whenever, means they could: sit down, press 'end game' then go to "my computer" type "format" and wipe the whole system.

 

The 'pilots' would require hands on guidance, flying is not easy. Not in real life, and, automatically, not in a simulator like fsx either.

Yes, live while museum is open. It works and has worked for a number of years now. It is all setup to automatic restart after a crash. There is no access to the computer, everything is controlled via 4 large arcade style push buttons. The old computer was too slow though, and it is time for an upgrade.

I don't understand. Push buttons to fly with?

left right up down?

Or are there other controllers involved. (Joystick or sort of seering wheel and throttle for example. A panel to tune the radio for example.)

 

FSX is a game where navigation happens often by pressing buttons on keyboard (shift+3) to pop open the GPS, look at your position, and then (sihift+3) again to close the GPS so you can see out the widscreen again.

 

On the GPS are many buttons that can be used to view pages of info. You click those with a mouse.

(things like shift+3 can be changed. To a pressing single button too.)

(Mouseclick functions can often be done with a button instead as well.)

 

But, even when reassigning functions, just four buttons to fly a plane seems very strange. There must be at least some kind of steering wheel and throttle.

 

I thought they had no software/controlers and wanted to set it up from scratch. They now obviously have something already, but is that FSX?

Or is it some other program?

 

Also, what viewpoint is it used from. Is the user sitting in a cockpit, flying the plane?

Or is he perhaps behind the plane, trying to control it from the outside?

 

Making fsx restart automatically is not that simple. At least, not if you land succesfully.

Was that set up by some previous tech?

If you crash the plane, fsx starts the flight again automatically. That's built in.

 

Does the user sit in a chair, like a pilot? Or does he stand in the middle of the room, behind some sort of stand with 4 buttons only?

 

Try to answer all the questions, if not now, then later at least. (Also a few open from my first post. I understand that's info you may not have handy. Or may never have. If it;s not info you have (about projector used, for example) mention that. Or mention ou'll answer later if that's the case.

 

Oh, another thought. I think there was something in the fsx eula agreement that it could not be used for entertainmetn purposes. maybe commercial purposes either. Not sure, but read the eula. It can be found online.

(I read the eula for FSX disk edition. And that was also available online.

The eula for Steam Edition may be different.)

 

oher thought. why/how are ou involved. Do you work for the museum already? If so, are you their IT tech?

Do you have experience with building a pc from scratch? Explain further isf possible...

Do you have experience with FSX at all? Explain more...

How did you get drawn into this.

If you don't have experience with fsx or pc-building, then who set up the old system.

 

Sorry for so many questions...:D

il.