Msfs2020…

[NorthernWarrior]

Decided to reinstall this last night as getting bored with the train sims. Surprised how good it looks without even installing the scenery enhancements.

Couple of points… Did Asobo ever fix the save game issue where it would disconnect the autopilot and lose the FMC/Nav settings loading back into a flight?

As my joystick packed up a couple of years ago I’m trying to fly with a gamepad. Sorting the sensitivity settings very much a WIP. However think a new joystick even a cheap one will do a better job.

[Nels_Anderson]

I spend most of my sim time these days with MSFS 2020.

I don't fly jets so not sure about the autopilot issue.

But seriously, get a joystick! If you're going to fly you need the proper control device. It doesn't have to be expensive either. For years I flew with a basic Logitech stick that I bought on eBay for $15. After I started flying helicopters I got a better stick but for aircraft that cheap one was just fine.

[NorthernWarrior]

I’ve put a cheap Logitech joystick on my birthday wishlist! It just isn’t good enough with the joypad, no fine control and I don’t like using the A and B buttons for the throttle either, though I guess that could be remapped to the left and right triggers and just use KB for the rudders.

I also briefly reinstalled FSX SE but the problem there is, every time you load into an aircraft the default eye view is angled towards the ground. Think there was a way to fix that, but a quick Google can’t find it.

Not tried MSFS2024 as my PC is below the minimum spec and I don’t like the idea of waiting ages for the aircraft and scenery to stream Netflix style from the Cloud, before I can make a flight.

[Nels_Anderson]

Here is an example on eBay of the stick I have:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/406941611281

Current bid is $1 :-)

It has a throttle control and enough buttons to map to pretty much all the necessary flight controls.

For your FSX question, I used Google AI search and asked this: "when I start Microsoft FSX, the default view is facing towards the ground. How do I fix that?" which resulted in a very detailed answer with several ways of fixing the view point. With the addition of AI, how you use search has changed...I've gotten some very useful answer by asking the right question.

I have not tried MSFS 2024 for the same reason. My computer is only just good enough for 2020.

[NorthernWarrior]

Top man, Nels. I will do that when I go on the PC later.

[NorthernWarrior]

Good news everybody… After a deeper dive I managed to find a Thrustmaster joystick on Amazon, which should serve my purpose. All being well, Prime will deliver it today. Will probably make a beeline for MSFS2020 first as I want to have a crack at using Neofly to add some purpose to my flights.

[Nels_Anderson]

I'm glad you found something. I suspect you'll really like having proper controls!

[NorthernWarrior]

Looking forward to firing it up later. Slight technical hitch with MSFS2020 though,having to rerun the install as for some reason the Profile page was just showing the background image and none of the menu windows. And FSX, every time I loaded a flight any aircraft was having a CTD, so I had to do the complete uninstall procedure on that to reinstall later see if that cures the issue.

As a last resort I will reinstall X Plane 11 though I never really felt the same affinity for that as the MS products.

[Nels_Anderson]

Well that's annoying when things don't work. Often for weird reasons...Yesterday afternoon Windows seemed to have died on me...no matter what I clicked on I got no response. It took a while, but I ultimately discovered the problem was the click button on the mouse has stopped working!

[NorthernWarrior]

All good now. The secret with MSFS 2020 is to try and not interrupt the process certainly while installing.

I’m quite impressed with my Thrustmaster T16000, quite a solid piece of kit even for the “budget” price of £59.99.

Neofly up and running and quite enjoying what it offers, will probably upgrade to the paid version at some point. Using it to hone my visual flying skills which become very lazy flying the big iron and always relying on full autopilot and ILS, even autoland to get you down. Neofly starts you off in the Cessna 152 which doesn’t have a basic autopilot so everything has to be hand flown. My first landing at Lossiemouth was very rough, bounced three times although didn’t register a crash. I was quite pleased with my second one, Dornoch which is a 1000ft grass strip. Bounced once but nulled it out and taxied to the parking with a smile of gratification on my face. I can see me spending a lot of time on this, rather than the big stuff.

[Nels_Anderson]

Having flown real light planes as well as the sim, I can tell you the sim is actually harder, since the visual and physical cues you use to judge just are not as good as in the real world. With practice, though, you eventually get it. It's hard, but accomplishing something hard is what makes it worthwhile.

After years of flying light planes, lately I've been flying helicopters which ups the challenge to a new level. I've even been flying a Cessna for some of my trips:

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