Hi, brand new to MSFS (goofed around 20 years ago a little).
I’m pretty clueless, and expected the game to provide more guidance in beginner mode. In the training exercises, for example, it will say “set flaps to 10%” but even if I know what button that is, how do I know it’s 10%? It will say “reduce throttle to idle”, but does that mean all the way down? etc.
I’m trying to ask the meta question here, which is: am I missing something? I mean, I can leave the game and look these up and watch videos and… every time I encounter something like that. But then I see articles and people talking about how it walks you through every step of the way! I got to the Flight Pattern exercise, and it just left me on the runway… I guess it was assuming I would take the initiative and take off, but… as I said, is there more guidance that I’m missing, or should a rank beginner feel entirely lost and clueless most of the time?
It may be that the answer involves resources I don’t know about, that would tell me (for example) how to judge if the flaps are at 10% in a Cessna 152.
Thanks!
I can imagine that some things are assumed to be known to beginners which aren’t. For now, I would just pause FS every time a term doesn’t make sense and google it. If that doesn’t help, just fire your questions to the forum. Most simmers are eager to help. We’ve all been there and it takes bit perseverance to learn the basics. It’s worth the effort ,
I’m waiting for a yoke, so right now I’m using a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It feels jittery but I’m pretty sure that’s mostly me 
I probably should pause a lot more, that’s good advice I guess. I suppose there are other places to learn all about Cessna cockpits… yep, I see now that the flap indicator was waaayyyy over there…
Thanks
Youtube. everything you need to know is on Youtube. Just search for beginnner video tutorial
I don’t know this guy personally, but he has some great video for new simmers to MSFS. I would start here with his 11 part tutorial playlist. Should take you step by step, starting from setup to flying.
Have a look here at this tutorial Playlist. I have all of Squirrel’s tutorial videos + over 150 others, depending on what you want to learn.
Thanks everyone. I was thinking there might be more “try to coordinate a turn, and I’ll give you real-time feedback” lessons, but there really aren’t, I guess. I was expecting a much smarter AI flight instructor, but it’s really a very simple and inflexible script, basically.
Of course, having a helpful forum definitely helps offset that! And yes, youtube is rich. Thanks for all the specific links/channels, I’ll work my way through them.
OP, be careful exactly how you ‘pause’. There is an awful way and a much better way. Search the “Guides” category in this forum “How to Pause” and you’ll see a post (the 2nd search result from me, a post titled “How to Acutally Pause the Sim!”. There are of posts with “pause” in their title, but this is the partuclar one you want. The alternative is to come back from your Youtube lesson to find yourself a ‘splat’ in a field somewhere. Good luck.
Yes it mean all the way down.
1st press of the flaps down button 10%
2nd press %20 etc
id you press C it will put you in 3rd person view (if its not alreay) look down and right
of your screen, you will see a flaps indicator that will give you a visual indication of where your
flaps are set. Other displays there as well.
Personally I would sit in an empty Cessna turned off at an airport, view all your displays instruments buttons and where they all are and what they do. There are things that will popup and Inop msg meaning they are real buttons but they just dont work on this plane/game .
Remember its a ‘Simulator’ it doesnt matter if your crash and burn. Remember the old ancient gamers advice "That which kills you Only make you Strong’ ie learn from your mistakes.
Have fun and welcome aboard.
Hello friend.
As a real life private pilot and someone who has been dealing with flight sim since the beginning, I feel there is something you need to be aware of firsts and foremost. Please do not expect the simulator to act flawlessly and a 100% smooth. This, in my opinion, is the best simulator available anywhere, and I can tell you you will not find a sim with this kind of scenery and options unless you pay separate for it and even so, you will not get this kind of quality. That said, MSFS 2020 is a work in progress and if you look on these forums and the website, there are several updates coming that will fix the issues as they are reported by users. My best suggestion to you is that before jumping on the flying part, watch as many videos and learn the basics first. Bear in mind that, to give you an example, if you place the settings to "real " on everything within the sim, it can bring your experience very close to a real flight. it takes patience, time and a lot of training to learn to fly a real aircraft, but even on this sim it can be as challenging if you really want to do it right. I don’t know what are you looking for, but I suggest not to try to jump into jets at all and begin with the Cessna 172 steam, conventional, gauges, depending what version of the simulator you have, or just try with Cessna 152. Peripherals are really important if you want to have a flight as realistic as possible, if that is what you want, but I would suggest Honeycomb as your yoke since there are more peripherals coming from the same manufacturer which will make it easier for you, and on top of that, they already are set with MSFS so you don’t have to worry about settings since pretty much all the buttons work as they should. Don’t waste money on anything else until you become more proficient and confident with the sim. Once you learned the basics, practice as many take of and landings as you can and learn the flight pattern of the airport you are most familiar with near where you live, which I’m sure you can find on the simulator. That will give you the skills that you will need to venture to other places later. Like many suggested here, Youtube is your best friend since there are plenty of tutorials. Good luck and happy flying!
First, thanks to all of you. Boy do I love a good forum!
Second: yep, I ordered the Honeycomb Alpha. No idea when I’m going to get it though!
Third: I tried sitting and looking for a flaps indicator, but apparently I didn’t look far enough, according to where I found it online! I think you’re right, I need to spend some real time familiarizing myself with the airplane.
I notice that the rudder, with the Logitech Extreme 3d Pro, seems like an on-off affair: I don’t think there’s any partial rudder application, it seems like it just slams left or slams right. That seems weird. Since I got the joystick used, of course, there’s always a chance there’s a problem with it, though it looks completely clean…
Okay, back to the woodshed! (well, when I have time). I suppose “back to the cockpit” makes more sense.
For the rudder make sure bound an axis to the twist function
Theres a logitech app for the stick, if you dont have it , you can download it from the logitech site, check your settings/calibrate/set deadzone settings, in there make a custom profile to suit your needs.
Logitech Gaming Software is actually really nice! I think it’s the first time I didn’t have problems with this kind of software. \o/ 
Yeah I use it for my momo wheel now cause I have a thrustmaster hotas, it works, it lets you adjust everything that is anything related to your gear.
The flaps setting values are depending the plane you use. A boeing 747 is 1°/5°/10°/20°/35°,never in%,A cessna 172 have position 1 until 4 and some planes have only 1&2.the flaps positionss in 747/787&a320 are into the upper center ecam display