New flight simmer here...Amazed!

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It’s been a wild 24 hours. Yesterday was all about trying to get the game from Steam, having some genuine problems with the failed download, a corrupt installation, a game screen with developer variables all over it, realizing I needed to get a Steam refund, checking in with the forums and getting some amazing support…takes a breath…being guided to buy it from the MSFT Store, having to fix XBox Navigation settings, needing to install the XBox app, log out, log back in…and THEN I was able to finally get the download started.

Yes, it was a classic day 1 release experience!

:grin:

At any rate, thank you to all those on these forums that helped me navigate this. What an amazing community already. Sure, there were a few bumps of turbulence with air filled with the energy of sadness, disappointment and frustration all around. But for the most part, this community gave me the guidance I needed to take off.

I then played the game last night. But first, I’d like to share a bit of background.

When I was a young child I remember trying to play a flight sim. I remember REALLY wanting to be able to play it. But with a keyboard I recall it being pretty unplayable on a level of computing technology that was, looking back on it, brutal and ugly to be honest. And so I set that all down. Over the years though I got into space sims, Elite 1, 2 and Dangerous in particular. But I’d never gotten back to an actual flight sim.

And then I caught word of this game. The inner child in me, filled with those memories of wanting to be able to fly so badly, suddenly piped up. I went ahead and built a high-end gaming rig (i9 9900K water-cooled and OCed to 5.1Ghz on 8 cores, a mildly OCed 2080Super, 32GB RAM, 1TB EVO-plus SSD) and got the ideal monitor for both a sim and productivity (LG38GL950-G 3840x1600 res curved at 160FPS). I even ordered a Thrustmaster Flight Kit. But that didn’t arrive so I went and got the X52 Saitek HOTAS. Side-note; there is definitely a shortage of flight gaming peripherals right now.

With the background done, here’s what happened.

I just spent a couple of hours going through the training modules. They were so well-crafted. My stick and throttle were completely uncalibrated. However, the training modules moved me through the process of gradually assigning controls based on the flying context. The layers built over the 8 lessons were really excellent. In terms of feedback, I commend the team on choosing to not assign my controls. It was far better this way IMO.

Now obviously, I’ve got the assistance set to the highest level because I have no experience. I look forward to gradually lowering the assistance over time.

By the 8th flight I had worked out how to go to the external camera. But the lessons had not gone there. I had to want to go there. And so I did some digging around and with my high-end rig on completely ULTRA settings I was getting 40-60 FPS. What a breathtakingly beautiful game… :+1:

With my wings in place I then had the confidence to go to my home city and plot my first flight on my own terms. I took off from from YEG and of course flew over all the places I know. It was fantastic to fly over my house.

I just had to come and say that as a new flight simmer I am truly amazed by this game. The accuracy is outstanding…there is even moving traffic for gawd’s sake! Playing this game on ultra settings and the 38" ultrawide curved monitor filling my vision I was blurting out amazement every few minutes. With time I’m learning about the little things that allow for a relaxing flight, such as how to manage Elevation and Aileron Trim (look at that, two terms I didn’t really know before today). As a new flight simmer, I got to have a thoroughly enjoyable experience with this.

It’s a magical game/simulator. The vision to bring real-world imagery, to craft the flight mechanics, and to wrap it in a very accessible onramp is to be applauded. Well done to the Aserbo and XBS team!

Thank you. This game just fulfilled a childhood dream I’d forgotten about for around 40 years. How wonderful is that.

And for those of you who are struggling with downloads and bugs, hang in there. It WILL be worth it.

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Great story dude.
Welcome aboard.
See you in the sky.

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You don’t want that…not for a long time. If you see me in the sky you’d likely have to get some evasive maneuvers going! :grin:

Just having fun. Thanks :slight_smile:

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Thank you for sharing your journey. It’s always a pleasure to see this hobby through (re)fresh(ed) eyes and I wish that everyone could do the same.

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Welcome to flight simming! If you had any savings for anything, I suggest you move it to a more secure account because you’re about to buy a fill sim-rig and £3000 worth of add ons.

Seriously though, welcome aboard :slight_smile:

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Oh my, that’s hilarious.

Well, I did spend nearly 6K CAD on getting this far. But then, it had been over a decade since my last gaming PC upgrade, so that’s not too bad.

I will confess that I set the target of the Honeycomb yoke, throttle and some rudders as a 1,000 hour reward (and/or when the throttle is actually released and available). From what I can tell, that’s a good chunk of that 3K right there.

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Thanks for that reflection. That was my intention actually, well a part of it. I had hoped to give those struggling a bit of hope, and to offer something moving for even the most rugged veteran. :grin:

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Welcome to the club

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Welcome to the sim world, it only gets better and you will find your learning curves are insane, especially if/when you reach airliners (we will soon get the advanced aircraft like the 737 in the marketplace and they are really what test and amaze you)

If you have any questions, problems, want to simply fly or need some guidance feel free to message me :slight_smile:

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Carewen

This is good to hear. All the long time simmers on here and many like myself part of the Alpha/Beta, have all been there over the years.

We have seen forums over the years all filled with the usual “Worst Ever” and “Terrible Shame” and “Horrible Performance”

Flight simulator has never been a plug and play type experience and has always required tweaking, although this one, download problems aside has been close to that for me, but I know others have had more issues. It’s a complicated PC world.

Enjoyed your post, I am excited for your journey ahead as you experience the many wonderful add-ons and planes coming down the pipe.

Have a blast!

-Mark Stewart

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What an awesome account! Even more awesome that you took the time to tell us about it! I enjoyed that, I do hope you enjoy learning. But on a side note… Welcome to hell! :rofl:

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What a rig! I’m jealous! Your story is similar to mine.

Now the next step is to go and do a trial flight at your local airfield :slight_smile: I did that in my late forties because for me to is was always a dream to fly. The instructor flies you to the training field then lets you do some flying. 7 hours of flying after that first flight I did my first solo.

LSA or sports aircraft are a lot cheaper to hire than the Cessna’s we used to have to use. (This ad was not sponsored by Evektor or Jabiru :slight_smile: )

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That is super cool of you. I’ve bookmarked you as a mentor/guide. I stuck to flying the Cessna for my first flight after training. Ironically though, I picked the newer one, with a completely different instrument layout and had a great ole time. It showed me why it’s worth taking your time.

AND, moving up to more complex planes did have me wondering about guides, tips, and resources to point out things you should be doing to really take it up a notch.

I suspect I’ll stay in the Cessna for a few more flights and slowly bring down the assistance level. If I can get to fully flying without assistance then that will be my cue to step up a class in weight.

Thanks for the offer!

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Yeah, I did wonder about some RL flying. I think what I’ll do is spend some serious time really getting comfortable with the sim. I need to get a yoke and rudders at some point to elevate the reality (my 1,000 sim hr reward). After that I wouldn’t be surprised to book some time getting real lessons.

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Absolutely, definitely play around in the Cessna 172 with the newer G1000 system, and also have a go on the brilliant Cessna 152 with the old analogue instruments too.

You’ll eventually be landing at the most dangerous airports with no assists and some crazy weather rocking y around, take your time and enjoy the journey and never shy away from asking anything from me or the forum itself :slight_smile:

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Honestly man, if you can fly the 152, you can fly pretty much anything.

Sure the dials might look different and the planes might get bigger and fatter and heavier, but the core elements of flying remain the same. Every aircraft will want to be trimmed, every aircraft will want to nose up when you add power and they’ll all want to nose down when you take it away and they all land the same - follow the rules you learn in the tutorial, and every aircraft will get down safely. (Also the tutorial skipped over the 4 lights to the left of the runway, you’re on the right glideslope when you see two white lights and two red. More reds means too low, more whites means too high).

Once you get comfortable with glass cockpits and understand how a Flight Director and Auto Pilot work, you’ll be in the dreamliners doing the aircraft equivalent of dank nooners in no time.

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:heart: Dank nooners

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can anyone help me on why it stop updating and won’t proceed with update anymore