Jump to content

Getting back to the hobby


brahmion

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

 

After some years I want to get back into flying FS2004. My old computer doesn't work anymore. I do have an old CD of Windows XP but I want to buy a new computer. I am completely lost as to what I would need to buy for hardware and operating system.

 

I use flightsim for honing my IFR skills and for the sheer fun of flying VFR.

 

This question must have been asked before, I just cannot find the right thread... sorry!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

A blorph alert? This is strange? This is the night time. A time we normally don't recieve blorphs!

 

Welcome.:)

 

Get a desktop. Not a laptop, those overheat after half an hour of use and then slow automatically to not overheat further. You'll need a fast processor (3.2 ghz or more minimum, better between 3.4 and 4 ghz.) and a large SSD harddisk (265 or 512gb) with also a HDD harddisk 1 or 2 Tb.

 

It must also be able to install a videocard in it, but a cheap videocard can do for now. You can upgrade that later.

 

Forget xp. It is not safe to use if you go online with the pc. And xp is well and truly dead. No updates or drivers for it available anywhere. No programs that install and run on xp available either.

 

Best forget about fs2004 as well. Get Fsx-Steam-Edition instead. Or Xplane.

Edited by il88pp
[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'll probably need new hardware for controlling the aircraft as they're all USB these days. Review section has some of the more recent yokes, joysticks, rudder pedals and throttle assemblies. Depending on how `into` flight sim you want to get there is some useful software that can run either alongside the sim or even on a separate device like a tablet.

 

I'm with il88pp: Forget FS2004.

FSX-SE or X-Plane. This will help inform your choice of computer and hardware.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got back into simming a few months ago when I bought an HP Omen laptop. In hindsight,

I should have gotten the faster processor, but it does well with FSx. I fly with plenty of scenery and

traffic with FPS locked to 30 and Steve's DX10 fixer. Doesn't overheat at all. My longest session was about 3 hours though.

I reached my destination, landed, and went to eat dinner.

It runs Fs2004 with full graphics, tons of add-on scenery and no problems at all. I've also locked frames to 30 (I think),

but can go much higher with it.

My computer came with an Nvidia 1050. The bottleneck on it is the processor. I think it's a 2.8.. spend the cash and get the fastest you can buy, then the best video card you can fit in it. And Windows 10 isn't as big a pain in the ass as I thught it would be. Just turn off automatic updates and do it yourself when you decide you need it. For FSX, look for Kosta's tweak page. Works like a charm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Allow me to be slightly different here... :-)

Nothing wrong with a laptop at all! Obviously a lot more convenient.

I have an Acer i5 4GB RAM laptop that works extremely well, as it should.

 

Dont knock it, but I'm using FS2004 for various reasons..

It just works, without tweaking ad nauseum

It will run a lot smoother than FSX on a 'normal' laptop

The are, for me here in South Africa, great freeware scenery & aircraft that FSX does not have.

Howard's free add-on really enhances the scenery

For me, Golden Wings & the Ford Tri-Motor Project opens up a whole new range of fun stuff.

I'm getting in excess of 30 fps, making everything smooth

I'm running Windows 10, & all is perfect.

 

The list goes on....

 

Cheers,

Robin

Robin

Cape Town, South Africa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks alot for the answers!

 

I will go with the steam edition and go from there. I might even run X-plane too just to decide later what I like best. I have tons of add ons for FS2004... I will have to do some saving up to get new add-ons but as long as it all works again I'm happy. 😄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you need a parts list for a new computer build?

 

Can you build it? If not, a PC store can.

 

What's your budget?

 

 

FS2004 is more than capable. But you might want to jump on ahead to FSX. There's also Prepar3d, but it's in large part only for educational use according to their EULA. But many don't care and buy (or steal) it anyway. Also note, a lot of add-on creators are moving to Prepar3d for asinine reasons if you ask me.

 

The Sim is largely CPU orientated. To make matters worse it's only single thread capable as well. It won't take advantage of multiple cores, so buying some unreal 16 core or what ever CPU isn't going to help you. If you Google "Passmark single core" You'll get a list of CPUs with the highest to lowest single thread capable performing CPUs according to their benchmarks. Not sure how accurate it is, but I'm pretty sure it's in the ball park.

 

I'd stay away from Steam. But that's just my opinion. You can buy FSX on eBay. That's where I got mine. Just make sure the product key is valid. You may want to ask the seller. But if you chose to stick with FS2004, obsessively you don't need steam.

 

I'd also get windows 7. Windows 10 IMO is crap with the forced updates and it can and WILL give you headaches. I'm a member of several computer forums and have my own, am subscribed to several Facebook pages on PCs and can't tell you how many times I've read that updates have hosed over one's machine in one facet or another. I'm not saying don't use 10, but if you want stability I wouldn't use it and risk the potential frustration. That's all on you. Win 7 can be bought on eBay but you have to be absolute certain you get a valid key. Look at the seller's feedback score. And eBay always has you covered. In fact, they protect the buyer more than the seller. And PayPal also has you covered.

 

As to XP. It's still fine to use despite the asinine crap of no updates and it's "hacker" prone and will somehow get "malware." I think that's just something tossed out there to the masses to get you to use M$'s latest and in their eyes, greatest OS. I currently run XP in a netbook that runs 24/7 in the kitchen that's connected to the Internet. Its use is for PhoneTray, a TeamSpeak server and a FTP server who's storage is on a SD card. I've upgraded it to 2GB of RAM and disabled the page file to save on wear and tear of the fragile flash hard drive that can only take so may writes before failure. I call it the Kitchen Kiosk, and it's also used for quick Internet searching and recipe look ups.

 

So in a nutshell, while XP is severally outdated, it's not an incapable OS to use for FS2004, and FS2004 would probably run better in XP anyway. But! With new computer hardware means you more than likely won't be able to use XP since the motherboard drivers are not coded for XP.

 

With XP you can always use a Deep Freeze program to isolate the entire OS so that absolutely NOTHING gets placed on the computer. I use Fortres Security Clean Slate myself. Not even polymorphic malware can take me down. A quick reboot and all is back to normal. Waaay better then any signature-based anti-virus, that I can tell you. I have over 500 MB of malware that I use for testing and nothing got passed the reboot.

 

Anyway... Answer the first three questions if you could.

 

Wiin 10 fan boys commence the flaming. HAHAHA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And don't install the Sim into the programs folder. Only in the root of C drive or another attached drive.. well, preferably attached to the SATA port, not USB. The reason why you want the SIm in the root of C drive is that the programs folder is write protected and all this rot and as such it may be a bugger for add-ons to work correctly. With XP you don't have to worry about that. With Vista on up you do. Just direct the FS2004 or FSX installer to C:\\FSX. That's it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
Thanks all for the wisdom, equates to many hours of "tears before bedtime" saved! CRJ simpilot, great info, from what you said about what you're in to re pc stuff, I will rely on your opinions. Re opinions, it's the old story, ask 3 guys and you'll get 5 opinions! And, reality is there's such a diverse user community including sim products, one really needs to find some buddies with the same setups etc. Me, FS2002 on WinXP, all "out of the box" cos I don't have time nor interest to fiddle nor time to sim, works fine, $0 0 effort.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Addendum. A great thing about FlightSim.com is its history, I enjoy reading the old posts, much still relevant especially if running older stuff (a bit like our cars, not everyone has a new 2021 model, so if we need a part we either buy aftermarket new or go to the "wreckers" (Aussie term) i.e. recyclers and get it cheap. The older postings can be very helpful.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Addendum. A great thing about FlightSim.com is its history...

 

Be curious to know how big this website database is here. Gotta be well north of 5 to 10 GB at least and I could be way off, I don't know.

 

Forums like this and many others are comprised of two parts: the website part with the PHP, HTML, CSS and JS code, and the other part where your text and other things are stored in a database. So when you hit the post button your text is stored in a database.

 

My website is so small that I place its encrypted backup in no more than six locations including on DVD/RW and a Blu-ray re-writable disk. Though, my current blu-ray burner in the computer is capable of writing to 50 GB blu-ray disks so if by some unbelievable miracle my database grows I still have the nice bit integrity of Blu-ray. They also make 100 GB blu-ray disks, but my burner can't burn 100 GB disks. Only 50 GB disks. I'm thinking about adding another Blu-ray burner which is capable of burning 100 GB disks though. I can also deploy a backup of my website in about 20 minutes. I've already migrated from three hosts already. LOL And when I did it was like nothing hardly changed. The migration came first then the updated DNS records which made the shift.

 

Anyway... :D

Edited by CRJ_simpilot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...