Originally Posted by Caspar

ok, I've taken the plunge and bought fs2004...

...after the 4 disc install (min is 2GB and max is 3.8GB) I loaded up a plane just to get going...but tbh found the graphics pretty crap :(

The plane itself looked ok, cessna, but the scenary was poo :( Luckily, I knew the default scenary was basic and had already bought the Abacus European Terrain addon. ;)

Question: Is there a better scenery pack for the UK?

...but after the install, I saw no difference in detail :shocked:

Question Do you have to enable to addon scenery somewhere?

TBh, I thought the whole Sim would play better. I have a GeForce 5900 Ultra 256MB (cheers KP! :D) with ALL the settings at their highest...and the buildings still look shoddy :(

I was expecting to be able to fly over my house in a chopper and see it!...at the moment I'm finding it hard even to find my house! ...roads aren't where they are supposed to be!...tho it could be my nav!

Do I have too high expectations expecting to be able to see my house! ...which I'm sure I read somewhere that you're supposed to be able to do...:erm:

Also, I bought some Military choppers, but they seem to go ape after a few mins!....the chopper just jumps about the place :( looking at the flight path it's shows exactly that things arn't right (will post a screen grab of a flight path!)

Another question is...is it possbile to get some panel view on a seperate monitor. I have my main screen and a 17"CRT as a shared desktop. I can move my mouse over to the second monitor, but I'm unable to drag any of the panel views accross... Is there a setting to span the game accross a second monitor?


p.s. I bought some Military Choppers...and wanted to bomb my old school ;)

Originally Posted by McGraw

The one in the link above is the same as the link I posted without the DVD and printed manuals.

Obviously you can get PDF manuals.

Don't buy it if you don't like things complex!

A full pre-flight and engine start procedure still takes me about an hour.

It is fantastic though and thoroughly recommended.
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Some screenshots.

http://forum.justflight.com/forum/to...?TOPIC_ID=8606

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

I tend to take off and then fix all the issues in mid flight.

Makes this very interesting.

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

With the stock planes you can, I am still getting accustomed to basic navigation and other forms within the game.

I tend to fly the 777 alot, and the 737 I find the 747 to much of a handful in landing with the weather settings up a bit.

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

Perhaps true Bifta but my Fs2004 did not come with a manual and I am still learning how to use most of the systems on flight simulator.

Originally Posted by Bifta

Firstly, you bought the wrong thing for better scenery, you need to buy VFR Terrain AND VFR Photographic Scenery, the terrain is just a mesh, it'll just bung the crap FS2004 textures over it, the Photographic scenery changes the textures.

You more than likely won't see your house, or any other house you might recognise, unless it's a national monument.

With regards to two monitors, you have to have FS2004 running in Windowed mode to be able to use more than one monitor, I have it running over 2 with no problems.

Originally Posted by Caspar

Cheers Bifta :)

So I understand this...the Mesh product I bought allows a greater definiton of hills and mountains? and the above products you mention overlay a new texture ontop of the mesh?

Originally Posted by Raistlin

I would imagine that FS2006 will be well late, or at least delayed due to <insert reason from list below here>! ;)

• Bad weather
• Faulty plane
• Baggage handler's strike
• ATC strike

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

:rofl:

That true?

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

Sounds good I have a el cheapo ST50 Jotstick I guess this aint helping me with my flying and what is likely making controlling jets in situations and learning things harder?

Originally Posted by McGraw

As stated above.

For England and Wales you need:

VFR Terrain
All the VFR Photographic scenery volumes

Then the fun begins as you need a good, well set up machine to get them looking good.

Originally Posted by McGraw

See some of my screenshots for how good it all looks when set up properly.

http://forum.justflight.com/forum/to...?TOPIC_ID=8567

Originally Posted by McGraw

www.justflight.com for photo scenery. 3 for £20 plus 1 for £10

I got VFR Terrain from GAME £25.

I also got FS Global SE to sort the rest of the world mesh out.

Expensive hobby :(

Originally Posted by Caspar

ok now I'm confused!

What's the difference between:

VFR Scenery: Central West & Wales and VFR Scenery: East & North

and

VFR 1 Photographic Scenery - East and South East England (add on for Flight Sim 2002) and VFR 2 Photographic Scenery - Central and Southern England (add on for Flight Sim 2002) and VFR 3 Photographic Scenery - Wales and South West England (add on for Flight Sim 2002) and VFR 4 Photographic Scenery - Northern England (add on for Flight Sim 2002)


I can't see how both products can work at the same time?...surely one has priority over the other...which should I get?

Originally Posted by McGraw

Sorry, my mistake. They are 3 for £20 from GAME. They tend to have the three that aren't in their area if that makes sense. For instance, Manchester GAME never has the Northern section so I got that online.

You can get the 4th one for £8 from Justflight by registering for their reward scheme which gives you £5 off your first purchase.
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Ok, VFR terrain is a mesh. It is the best possible mesh you can get for England and Wales. Mesh defines the actual hills and valleys, nothing else. MSFS does not support higher detail than it VFR terrain provides. You can also buy it in four parts. VFR Terrain on it's own is all four parts together.

The VFTR photo scenery is only available in parts 1-4. You have to buy them separately. It overlays photo-realistic pictures taken at 5000 feet onto the mesh surface of the terrain.

Yes, they do work together. In fact they are designed to work together and look fabulous to boot.

The Euro one you've got does a much better job of Europe's mesh than the MS default but not as good as VFR Terrain does for the UK.

I have FS Global SE which does the whole world mesh at much better detail than MS default but not as good as VFR Terrain.

Once again, if you fly England and Wales you simply must get VFR Terrain and the photo sceneries. There is nothing worse than flying a route that reverts back to MS default.

I flew Concorde from Paris to JFJK last night after forgetting to activate FS Global again after an MSFS reinstall.

It was truly awful and you'd think there were no mountains anywhere.

Originally Posted by Caspar

Thanks:) ...but erm...don't I just slap in the CDs and install and it's installed ready to fly [over]?

Originally Posted by Electrolyte

You have to keep disk 4 in the drive, but you have to do the usual stuff like graphics + sound settings etc. Then just click on Create Flight and then select what you want :)

Originally Posted by McGraw

To get things running as well as possible, you need the game on one hard drive and all the scenery you buy on another.

The install appears not to like it but you will be ok.

Afterwards you have to manually add each area you have installed to the scenery library.

There are terrain mesh settings that you need to change too.

http://www.visualflight.co.uk/forums...asp?FORUM_ID=5

Originally Posted by McGraw

I'm not sure about instant replays to be honest. What do you want to do with them? Fair enough if you want to back them up but I don't think you can package them to a viewer.

Originally Posted by Caspar

I wanted to post a link to a video of when my fs2004 goes ape :( My planes and choppers just jump about the place, hardly very realisitc. I was flying from Heathrow to Manchester last night on a 747... on autopilot (hold pattern, not worked out how to do much else!)...and went to watch BB. tbh, I forgot I was flying aswell and didn't come back (moral of the story don't fly with me cause I get easily sidetracked! are there laws against flying a 747 whilst watching BigBrother!)

...anyway, when I came back I was over Iceland somewhere and my place was upside down going 50 mph (or whatever speed gauge it is?..nautical knotts maybe?) at 11k ft. Looking at the flight path, the red line thing, my plane had been doing that sometime...and had earlier over Scotland, but had recovered from it..... it's hard to deascribe this unnatural BUG! so wanted to post a video ;)

What happens is basically the plane loses all understanding of the laws of physics and just jumps about at varying speed and altitude.

What's going on!

p.s. also my clouds were purple last night! :erm: :disturbd:

Originally Posted by Bifta

You should really be flying with full realism set, otherwise you'll just bounce off the ground

Originally Posted by Caspar

So you are saying that during flight...I had some problems...and crashed...and then bounced up??? nice! :)

..fair point, but I've experienced this problem just after take off in a chopper, there was no mechanical reason, that I can think of, for it to do this.

Originally Posted by Caspar

I hear you :)

...but this is not due to pilot error.... the phenomena that happens to the 747 and the chopper is identical...nothing to do with collective, etc.

I'll try upping the realism, but don't see why the plane would buggar up just because you are on newbie settings. Very odd.

Thanks anyway :)

Originally Posted by Caspar

It's a Xbox [to PC] controller...maybe it's that where the problem lies!

Originally Posted by Bifta

Are you using an Xbox pad?

Originally Posted by Caspar

Yes, a Xbox Controller ...works well too, other than this problem, assuming it is this that's causing it!

http://image.compusa.com/prodimages/...a7d39c28e5.gif

Originally Posted by Bifta

Heh, joypads with a flight simulator, bad idea.

Originally Posted by Caspar

I'm still learning how to fly!....I'd be happy when I can land without burning!...