May 22, 2019 / admin / 0 Comments
While I’ll be the absolute first to tell you that Prepar3D, Flight Simulator X (FSX) and X-Plane are NOT video games…they are computer based flight simulators! It certainly didn’t start out this way. As I often show my age when I speak about the fact that I’ve been flying computer based simulations since the early 1980’s…really and truly at that time, the ancestors of P3D, FSX and X-Plane were just simply games. At that time, I really don’t think anyone (perhaps other than the developers) could imagine what these games would become and the industry which would rise up to support it.
A Picture is Worth…
They say “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”. The top image is what things looked like back around 1984 on the Commodore 64. I spent hours upon hours and a few hours more sitting at my desk flying around Chicago Meig’s Field.
Advance the calendar some 35 years and this is what the above evolved into. The image below is from my own Prepar3d version 4 setup and the PMDG 747-400. I believe I captured this screenshot on a flight from Denver to London late last summer (2018).
The stark contrast between those two images is truly amazing. From a very basic 2D cockpit with very limited controls to the flight deck of the Queen herself where just about every button, every switch and every dial does something is again just simply amazing. While I often envy the younger generation who have basically grown up with only knowing the more modern of things, I do consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to witness this first hand.
There’s an interesting backstory with the above image. I have this image on my work laptop and Windows 10 automagically changes out my desktop image every 15 minutes. I have two very large external monitors in my office and they are situated where if someone stops by to visit, they can see the desktop image if I have my applications minimized. One of my co-workers stopped by one day, saw the image and asked me where I found it. I explained that I captured the image (that’s all I said), he looked at me and said “how the hell did you manage to convince the pilots to A. let you onto the flight deck, and B. convince them to step out so this picture could be taken. LOL I explained this was a screenshot from my home flight simulator setup. I think we spent the next hour discussing the hobby.
The Struggle is Real
While I can’t speak for all who are involved in the hobby of flight simulation, I would wager to guess that most (at least some) struggle with the balance between ultimate realism and beautiful/stunning eye-candy. Which is more important and does it really matter?
As Microsoft Flight Simulator evolved over the years, there was still a time where third party add-ons were somewhat rare. Especially what I would refer to as complex versions like we have today from the likes of PMDG, FSLabs and A2A. So I would say (for me), as the complex aircraft were slowly starting to come onto the scene, I was still stuck in the “I care more about eye candy” mode. What I wanted was simple. I wanted an aircraft which closely resembled what ever I wanted to fly (Boeing 727, 737, 757 etc.), I wanted it to have decent flight characteristics (meaning perform better than a brick) and I wanted a livery for which ever real world airline I was simulating at the time. Again, at that time….all the rest wasn’t a concern. I also wasn’t all that bothered if the aircraft didn’t have a virtual cockpit. I would guess this was the time frame of about 25 years ago.
The turning point for me was sometime after the dawn of the SATCO/VATSIM age (circa 2000-01). Of course, this is also around the same timeframe when internet based virtual airlines began popping up and the interwebz made the world a much smaller place.
Immersion is Key
I think with any simulation based title, the immersive experience is due part from the software itself and also from ones own imagination. While I’m not suggesting any of us sim gamers go around thinking (or certainly not pretending) we’re farmers, truckers or pilots…but I believe, our own imagination certainly makes up a small (perhaps larger) part of our overall experience.
For example, I have my own rules for how I enjoy flight simulation. First, I almost always begin a flight from the last airport I previously landed at. There are a few times in my mind I will just say “jump seat” and start off from an airport I hadn’t just flown into…but that’s rare. Second, I’m also not the type of virtual aviator who fires up a flight and then either goes to bed, goes to work or goes shopping. While I’m not going to lie and tell you that my rear keister is always firmly planted in my chair for every minute, every hour of a flight….I’m generally not far away. After all, pilots in the real world will get up and stretch their legs and go to the toilet. Finally, when I was single…I would often heat up a “TV Dinner” which I would eat on longer flights. But hey…I was eating a lot of these types of dinners when I was single.
The Trade Off
Unfortunately, it wasn’t that long ago most of us had to make a decision. Did we want the experience which the complex, advanced simulation add-on aircraft would deliver…OR…did we want the breathtaking visuals? Because it wasn’t always money that determined the path.
Before P3Dv4 was finally capable of taking advantage of a 64 bit architecture and move beyond the 4 GB virtual memory limitations, we all found it hard to mix both together. You’ll find older writings of mine on this blog site where I attempted to marry the complex and the stunning visuals….yes it was doable, but it required significant compromise.
It’s All a Balancing Act
Today, I enjoy a perfect balance between the more advanced simulation add-on aircraft and the stunning visuals. With the advancement of hardware, software and the financial ability to marry both together…I can finally shove those graphic sliders to the right and enjoy the challenge of learning and flying some of the greatest machines ever invented and experience the visuals as if it was really happening. My friends…that’s how you define the tagline “As Real As It Gets”.
Until next time…
Enjoy the experience however you define it.
Jerry
May 17, 2019 / admin / 1 Comment
I participate in two different hobbies which in the past have always promoted good will towards mankind. The first is amateur radio (ham radio) which brings likeminded radio/electronics enthusiasts from around the world where we find each other on the airwaves and use our common interests to bridge the issues that divide us. In this hobby, I’ve talked to fellow hams all over the world. From someone a few blocks away all the way to hams in England, Japan, Australia, China, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Israel. We exchange our thoughts, ideas and our dreams for a peaceful and better world. In my over 10 years of being an FCC licensed amateur radio operator, I’ve never heard anything other than positive vibes regardless who is talking and regardless of where they are talking from.
Years ago, the flight simulation hobby was just like this. VATSIM, IVAO and the internet in general has brought many of us from differing cultures together for a common interest and that is aviation and flight simulation.
Last week on one of the Facebook groups I belong to, a fellow flight simmer posted a series of screen shots he had taken from his flight simulator to showcase a flight he had recently enjoyed. The pictures showed an aircraft from the Israeli airlines El-Al. The image was simply celebrating the history of Israel. The image, nor the typed message from the original poster didn’t contain any hateful, hurtful or political remarks. Yet, just a few minutes after it was posted….several members began sharing their hateful, spiteful and dangerous comments.
Thinking back to the immediate days after September 11, 2001….VATSIM shut down their network to coincide with what was happening in the real world. I was extremely proud that something which is just a hobby, made the decision to also cease operations during the timeframe where no other commercial aircraft was flying around the world. I received messages from fellow flight simmers who also were members of the same virtual airline I was flying for at the time (American virtual Airlines) offering their condolences for the tragic events that took place that day. Some of these fellow members were from the Middle East. They realized this hobby has no place for hate and political BS. We just want to fly our virtual aircraft.
Our world and our hobby is not the same as it was on the 10th of September 2001. The internet and social media has unfortunately created a mass of “keyboard warriors” who spew their hate, spew their political agendas and their absolute ignorance. I’m not being naïve about this, I’m simply saying that this hobby doesn’t have room for this behavior. The good news???? The admins of this Facebook group did quickly act, they shut down the post and they banned those who were spewing their hate towards the El-Al photograph.
I’m a fan of all airlines and while I mostly fly American Airlines, Southwest and British Airways….I also simulate operations for airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air and YES…I also fly El-Al from time to time. I’m not planning to stop and I’m not planning to stop sharing screenshots of these flights. If this happens to become the new norm (and I don’t think it will), I’m not sure I want to remain participating (at least not publicly) in the hobby any longer.
For the most part I realize the overwhelming majority who participates in our hobby will agree with what I’m saying. However, there is that old saying which reads, “a few bad apples can spoil the entire barrel”. So I hope you’ll join me in ensuring the bad apples never make it into the basket. If while on social media you see the type of behavior I’ve described, say something…report it. I’m not suggesting you act the same way (two wrongs don’t make a right), but stepping in, reporting it and I’d even go so far as insisting the admins do the right thing and place temporary or permanent bans on the offenders is really the only way this can be stopped.
Next week I’m going to discuss the struggle for balance between between performance of the sim versus maximum immersion. The following week I’m going to give an overview and some tips if you are planning to move away from Envtex/Envshade to the new REX Environment Force. Then if nothing happens, the week following I plan to share with you my “Top 10 Payware Aircraft for Prepar3d/FSX”. I hope you’ll take the time to read.
Until next time…
Be Kind to each other….
Jerry
May 13, 2019 / admin / 0 Comments
I’ve created a new Facebook Community for like minded flight simulation enthusiasts with a focus of helping others get the most from the hobby. The plan is to support all major flight simulation platforms including FSX, FSX Steam Edition, Prepar3D and X-Plane.
Backstory for anyone interested. I’ve been involved in the flight simulation hobby since the early 1980’s. In those early days, support was often only found in a few BBS (bulletin board systems) and on early computer networks like Compuserv, PlayNET and later AOL. It truly was member helping members back then.
Today’s Internet has most certainly helped to both grow our hobby and aid in spreading knowledge. However, its also given rise to the amount of “keyboard warriors” who simply prefer to disrupt, agitate and ridicule those who are seeking assistance.
I grew up being told there was no such thing as a stupid question and sometimes even a savvy Internet/Google search pro like myself may still have a question or two after spending time trying to find the answer myself. The focus of Flight Sim Helpers is to help those who need it without the attitude found in other support groups.
If you’re new to the hobby or a seasoned pro, please consider joining Flight Sim Helpers. I’m looking to add new moderators who can help keep everything with the group running smoothly and smartly. If you’re interested in helping, please message me.
Thank you for your time and I hope to see you in the new Facebook Flight Sim Helpers group.
Jerry
May 1, 2019 / admin / 2 Comments
Something very cool has recently made its way onto the flight simulation scene and I’m truly excited to have the opportunity to showcase it here for your review. It’s called A Pilot’s Life. A Pilot’s Life is a payware software application available from SimMarket which was developed by Simbitworld. The cost of the software is $19.49 US (15.05 GBP, 16.75 EUR). The description as stated on SimMarket reads “A Pilot’s Life application has the aim of giving purpose to flight simulation enthusiasts.” In the short time I’ve had access to it, I can certainly say that it lives up to that claim 100%.
Before I start this product review. Please allow me to get the fine print out of the way.
The product I am reviewing was purchased by me and for my own personal use. I receive absolutely no compensation of any form (cash, credit, discounts, promises) for reviewing this product. I have not contacted, nor have I been contacted by the vendor to provide this product review. The opinions expressed (good or bad) are my own, your mileage may vary.
I’ve been involved in flight simulation since the early to mid 1980’s. I’ve talked about how in the early days (before the Internet as we know it) my friends and I would fly our aircraft on our Commodore 64 computers and track our flights on a Big Chief tablet, using a #2 pencil. (Hey it beats slate and chalk) As the Internet age developed, Virtual Airlines (VA’s) roared onto the scene which (at the time) also “gave purpose” to the hobby. Over the years I’ve been involved with many great (and some not so great) VA’s and held just about every staff position from Pilot to CEO. Virtual Airlines are a fantastic way to experience the life of an airline pilot and also meet likeminded individuals who in my case have become dear friends in the process.
A Pilot’s Life
I’ve thought a lot about how I would attempt to describe A Pilot’s Life. While it’s not a virtual airline in the way you may think and it’s also not an airline simulation type program similar to Air Hauler 2. In very simple terms, it’s a personal virtual aviation career simulation. But I might be placing the cart ahead of the horse…allow me to first talk about the system requirements, purchase, setup and use of A Pilot’s Life.
System Requirements
Of course you’re going to need a flight simulator. A Pilot’s Life supports FSX, P3D and X-Plane. The only add-on that’s required is FSUIPC (FSX/P3D) or XPUIPC (X-Plane) and the free versions of both will work. Finally, a permanent internet connection is required which is pretty much standard flare when using ACARS type programs. The only current operating system supported is Windows.
Purchase
As previously mentioned, the A Pilot’s Life application is available from SimMarket. The cost as mentioned in the first paragraph is (in my opinion) fair for what you get and for what it offers. Keep in mind that the price includes both the software and the services behind the scenes that essentially drive the mechanics of the program.
Download/Installation/Activation
If you’ve purchased add-ons from online retailers before (especially SimMarket) then you already should be familiar with how it all works. Basically you purchase A Pilot’s Life via SimMarket and after the financial transaction is complete you’ll be able to download the application from your SimMarket account. The application download is just under 4 MB in size. Once downloaded, just launch the installer. During the installation process a shortcut icon will be placed on your desktop.
Once the installation process is completed (don’t blink, because you’ll miss it), just launch A Pilot’s Life via the desktop shortcut. The application will prompt you to enter the serial key to validate and installation and activation is complete. A Pilot’s Life will proceed to request a few additional pieces of information so an account can be setup. This includes you selecting a username, adding your email address and setting up a password. Remember, A Pilot’s Life is both a software front-end with a supporting web accessed back-end.
Support
Support is available via their homepage or email address simbitworld@gmail.com. An active Discord Channel is also available which has been setup by the developer.
Initial Setup
Hats off to the developer for developing an easy and intuitive setup process for the application. Being the typical guy who refuses to stop and ask for directions, when I see a software application that I can setup without having to read a manual, I’m a very happy person. A Pilot’s Life is just such an application.
Really the only initial setup which needs to be done is to tell the A Pilot’s Life application which type of aircraft you desire to use with the system. For obvious reasons, only tick the boxes for the aircraft you have in your virtual fleet of aircraft. All the common types of aircraft which are represented in the payware and even some freeware types are available to select. This includes aircraft such as the Boeing 737, 757, 767, 777, 787 and 747 (including all variants). In addition, the popular Airbus aircraft including A318, 319, 320, 321 etc. in all variants are also available to select. Just select the aircraft you desire to fly and that’s about all there is to it.
The main settings screen where you can change password and other account variables. Click the “SET” button to access the licensing and certification screen. See next screenshot.
The Pilot Licensing and Certification screen is where you select the aircraft you would like to use with the application. For obvious reasons, only select the aircraft you have in your sim and those you desire to fly.
After completing the aircraft selection, click Save and really the setup is all complete. It’s time to go get a job!
A Pilot’s Life – Your New Career
A Pilot’s Life career system assumes you’ve already completed all your flight training and considers you as a junior first officer. So there is no requirement to further grind the hours away in a Cessna as you work to get your PPL. You already have been there, done that and have the t-shirt to prove it. But you are unemployed and most likely need to start paying off those student loan debts. Great News! Employment offers await you.
Unlike your typical virtual airline where you move up the ranks based on flight hours alone, A Pilot’s Life is based on XP or Experience Points. XP is earned (or lost) based on flight time, pilot rank and landing rate. The longer the flight the greater the XP earning potential. In addition, the higher the pilot rank you have, the more XP you’ll earn. But keep in mind that landing rates will also influence XP gain per flight negatively. Basically, keep those landing rates under –300 ft/min and your XP modifier will be 100%. Anything greater than –300 and your modifier percentage drops. This is all covered in the user manual.
In the screen below, just click View Offers.
Now here’s where things became slightly confusing for me. Because I’m the typical guy, I do first and read the manual later. By the way, the user manual can be found by clicking HELP or via this link. Anyway, I wanted to start my career with a US based airline. Ideally that airline would have been American Airlines. American would give me the complete line of aircraft options I enjoy flying and as I’ve been involved with American VA’s in the past, I’m fairly familiar with their route network. However, I failed to remember that I’m a junior first officer and not only that, I’m an un-employed junior first officer. The system considers American Airlines to be a full five star airline and again…I’m just an unemployed junior first officer. So come on Jerry. Let’s work our way up.
When you first get started, you’ll always have a few offers available which you can apply for and start your career immediately. I really wanted to start with an airline where I could fly at least the Boeing 737/738. I don’t own any descent regional jet payware aircraft and I didn’t want to spend the money and take the time to learn any just to get things started. So I kept restarting my career (this option is available in Settings) until I had a US based airline which operated the Boeing 737-700 and 737-800. This US based airline is Sun Country. I also found a Sun Country livery for both the 700/800 variants via PMDG’s livery manager.
From what I was told on Discord, if you apply for an airline which you haven’t received an existing offer for, these applications are reviewed every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. So the likelihood of a one star pilot being hired by a 4-star or 5-star airline was highly unlikely. Understandably so!
After accepting the offer with Sun Country Airlines, I was presented with a contract of employment (see below). While there’s really no “fine print”, one very key point to understand is you can’t apply for, nor will you be offered any additional job offers for a period of 7 days.
With a signed employment contract in hand, I was eager to get my first flight underway. As my time is somewhat limited, I selected the option for “short-haul” flights for my schedule. My first schedule was assigned to me and as I’m based in Minneapolis KMSP the first flight is a flight down to Atlanta and back.
The SimBitWorld – A Pilot’s Life application is basically an ACARS system and tracks all aspects of your flight via the FSUIPC integration. It works just like any other ACARS system where you’ll need to click a button on the application to start the flight tracking (typically done while at the gate, engines off and parking brake set) and then click a button at the completion of your flight (again typically done once you arrive at the gate, engines have been shut down and parking brake set).
As you can see from the image below, I’ve completed my very first flight with Sun Country airlines. I operated this flight in the Boeing 738, had a landing rate of –89 ft/min, earned 2.99 XP.
Below is my overall career progress with Sun Country. Pay checks are issued at the first of each month. So I may need to survive on pretzels and water…but I think I’ll make it.
As I arrived into Atlanta a bit late, I’ll layover in a hotel and fly the flight tomorrow back to KMSP. Then it looks like I’ll be going to Denver and back, then Dallas/Ft. Worth and back and so on and so on. From what I understand, you can skip next flight only 5 times per month. As I typically always fly from the last point I landed, it’s unlikely I’ll cancel flights returning back to base. However, I might skip flights to airports from time to time where I don’t have any add-on scenery. We’ll see….
As I stated near the top of this writing, A Pilot’s Life is like a virtual aviation career simulation more than it is a virtual airline or complete airline simulation. While I used Air Hauler 2 for a few months, I neglected it and didn’t make any money as I forgot to keep my hired pilots busy. SimBitWorld’s – A Pilot’s Life is just about YOU and your career!
As for me and my career? I’m going to spend the next week flying for Sun Country and see what offers I receive. My ultimate goal will be to work hard and get hired at American Airlines. How long this takes is unclear at this time. But I’ll certainly update you as I progress. I suspect I’ll need to just pay my dues and grind it out by either staying at Sun Country (pending I continue to get the type of routes I like) or bounce around based on pay/route opportunities as I continue to progress from JFO, FO and SFO. Remember, it’s all about the immersion.
Until next time…
Happy Career Building!
Jerry
April 25, 2019 / admin / 0 Comments
Somewhat off the heels of my recent The Basics of VATSIM tutorial, an updated tutorial on updating Prepar3D to version 4.5 and another little ditty on To Update or Not to Update Prepar3D, I’m going to discuss a few things related to VATSIM that has me slightly concerned. Most likely this will end up being more or less an opinion piece. Just remember, we’re all entitled to our own opinions. Your opinion may differ from mine and while I welcome you to comment…just keep your response civil. Thank you!
FCOM
I was perusing the FSElite site earlier this morning and found an article dated 11 April of this year regarding a new FCOM VATSIM/IVAO Message Forwarding System which has been in testing and is now generally available.
In a nutshell, FCOM is designed to forward messages received through either the VATSIM or IVAO clients to a users Discord via private message. In the FSElite article on the subject of FCOM there is a short demo video which demonstrates the system working.
Anyone reading this posting or even the original at FSElite might be asking themselves, “What’s the Big Deal?” “This is pretty cool” and “this is just what I’ve been needing”. Sigh…
The VATSIM Code of Conduct clearly states, (Section A. 9) “When logging on to the VATSIM.net network, a member is not permitted to leave his or her connection unattended for a period in excess of thirty (30) minutes. If a member is unable to comply with this requirement, then he or she must log off of the VATSIM.net network. A member who is found to be unresponsive for more than thirty (30) minutes is subject to immediate removal from the network. Members who are found to repeatedly leave their connections unattended are subject to the terms of Article VI. of the VATSIM.net Code of Regulations.”
In my 18 years of being a member of VATSIM, belonging to and holding various staff positions in many virtual airlines and also running my very own for a few years, I’ve witnessed first hand and heard many accounts of this rule being broken. I’ve even witnessed this rule blatantly being abused by some prominent YouTube/Twitch Flight Simmers.
Of course, the punishment can be costly for those who repeatedly abuse this policy as mentioned above and documented in the VATSIM Code of Regulations. Specifically Article VI which discusses suspension and expulsion from the network. As I mentioned in the recent “The Basics of VATSIM tutorial”, VATSIM is serious about ensuring their network doesn’t turn into a wasteland of abusers like other multiplayer networks we may know about. Again, I’m looking at TruckersMP.
Here’s my concern with this. First, this is an already existing problem on the network. Many users will fire up a “Cross the Pond”flight just before going to bed and gamble that ATC won’t contact them or that they’ll hear the “ping” when they are sleeping just to get some hours in the system. You can read the sob stories of these same pilots on the VATSIM forums, Facebook groups etc. where they didn’t hear the ping and they promise never to do it again. So now a third party FCOM solution is introduced which will direct any messages a pilot might receive to their Discord via a private message. I can hear/see the sob stories of “I didn’t get a message”…please unsuspend me.
Look, I’m a busy guy. While I’ve been a VATSIM member from the beginning (18 years ago), I’ve racked up a total of 1,950 hours. While I realize this number only averages out to just over 100 hours per year…the vast majority of these hours are what I call “Butt in Seat” hours. Meaning, my rear end was in my chair with my headset on my head and me at the controls of my aircraft. Plus….and this is what I’m most proud of…in 18 years being a VATSIM member and accumulating almost 2000 flight hours on the network…I’ve never been suspended and I’ve never received a warning from a supervisor.
Yes, I do other things when I’m flying long flights. I get up to stretch my legs, I get up to go to the bathroom, I get up to go upstairs to get food or drink (as my wife refuses to be my trolley dolly) and yes I even occasionally will do tasks such as clean my office and even do laundry. What? You mean your Boeing 747 doesn’t have a washer and dryer in the back? But the time away from the virtual flight deck is generally no more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
Bottom line…if you’re going to enjoy the hobby of flight simulation, then be there for all the fun and adventure. Not somewhere else with your eyes/ears glued to your smartphone and Discord.
Voice Unicom
My God I can ‘bang on’ about stuff can’t I? OK…so for those who may not know, VATSIM will soon enable voice Unicom. For those who may not be fully aware of how Unicom works, I’ll tell you. When you are logged onto the VATSIM network and you are flying in uncontrolled airspace, we dial up the Unicom VHF frequency of 122.80. This allows the virtual pilot to type text messages which other pilots will see (within a short range of each other) so we can announce our intentions. This is specifically useful when you are either going to depart or land at an uncontrolled airport. Typically the type of messages I’ll send are as follows:
Departure
“KDFW Traffic, American 1066 push/start from gate C17, taxi to rwy 17R”. Then once I reach the runway, I’ll text “KDFW Traffic, American 1066 departing 17R via the MRSSH2 Departure to the SE”. Finally, “American 1066 clear rwy 17R”
Arrival
“KDEN Traffic, American 1066 is inbound on the HUDAD2 Arrival, Crossing XXX and leaving FL380, expecting rwy 35L” Once I’m closer to the field I’ll message saying “KDEN Traffic, American 1066 is on 11nm final for rwy 35L” Finally, “KDEN Traffic, American 1066 clr 35L, taxi to A50”
While I will agree that texting on Unicom breaks the immersion, so does departing or landing at either DFW or DEN with no ATC.
For the past 18 years, the Unicom frequency of 122.80 has been text only. Even with this frequency being “text only” it does get abused from time to time. The purpose of Unicom (as I described above) is merely to announce your intensions so other pilots are aware and to avoid (if possible) any issues. This often is abused with pilots using Unicom as an instant message/chat platform. However, even when it’s being abused…it’s not as annoying as I can imagine it will be on voice.
From what I understand, once implemented…the voice Unicom frequency will behave very similar to how it does today with text. The range will be slightly higher when in the air and much less when on the ground. But my main concern is when voice Unicom is abused (and it will be) it’s going to be a royal pain in the backside.
While I do enjoy having gate to gate ATC, generally when I’m flying on VATSIM it’s either early in the morning or late at night and I can’t always be guaranteed ATC coverage. I’m a bit strange when it comes to picking my flights as I rarely hop around. I typically resume my flight from the airport I last landed. After all, in the real world our teleport capabilities just aren’t ready for prime time. So having said that, I tend to fly A LOT in uncontrolled airspace. When I’m sitting at the flight deck I might be reading, watching TV or even typing a blog article as I happen to be doing now high above the Gulf of Mexico as I fly my American Airlines PMDG Boeing 737-800 from the Big Easy (KMSY) down to Miami (KMIA) to setup for a trip later down to Princes Juliana International Airport (TNCM) on the beautiful island of St. Maarten. The last thing I want to experience is someone else abusing the frequency with discussions about what they are eating for dinner. If I wanted to hear that, I would fire up my ham radios (which by the way, I do often have them on and listening to a traffic net). Anyway….
My wife tells me I’m turning into a grumpy old man. Well I’ve earned it! LOL Of course, VATSIM has stated that they’ll monitor Unicom and handle any abuse of the frequency with swift action. If it becomes a wasteland of abuse, VATSIM has stated they will switch it off. We’ll see and I’m hopefully optimistic all will function as they hope. After all, yes….I will agree that announcing your intentions or hearing from other pilots is much, much easier than typing. Just don’t wreck my tranquil environment.
OK…I’ve gotta go now. I’m less than 50nm from Miami and I need to pay attention to what I’m doing here. Plus I need to announce my intentions on Unicom since there’s no ATC and many other aircraft in the vicinity.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
April 20, 2019 / admin / 0 Comments
As the title line reads, Prepar3D – To Update or Not To Update….Yes, Ladies, Gentlemen and Children of all ages…That is the question and the subject of this blog posting. For the record, I recently updated to the latest and greatest version of Prepar3d version 4.5. I’ve also taken the time to prepare an updated “How to update Prepar3D” tutorial document. While there really was nothing wrong with the older document which I published in June 2018 (discussing updating from v4.2 to v4.3), I figured…Oh why not! Anyway…
Not all Games are created equal
Generally speaking, with many of the other simulation based titles I enjoy playing…there’s usually never hesitation to apply a patch or game update. For the record, and most of my regular readers will know that my gaming collection only consists of a few titles including Farming Simulator 19, American Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and a few others. My main gaming interest is in simulation based games. All the titles I’ve just mentioned (and everything else for that matter) with exception to Prepar3d are Steam based games. So the update process is automagical. Being an IT Professional, I’m fairly diligent in keeping backups of the various “game specific” folders where things such as mods and profile game saves are stored. While I do hear reports of some folks experiencing a game save malfunction during a patch update, I’ve never personally experienced it. I’ve also successfully moved my original game saves from one machine to another as I did last summer when I built the GBS Beast Mark V. Which by the way is still purring along just fine. (knock on wood)
Back on Subject
I’ll be honest, while the Prepar3d (P3D) update process isn’t rocket science…I won’t lie to you and say that it doesn’t make me nervous.
In and of itself, the process to update P3D from version 4.4 to 4.5 is easy. Actually it’s very easy as I’ve documented. Follow these steps and the process is quick and easy. However, transporting dynamite is also a straightforward process as well. After all, just load it in a truck and drive down the highway. What could possibly go wrong? Exactly!!!!
So Many Moving Parts
Unlike all the other simulation games I mentioned before, 3rd party add-ons or mods for Prepar3d are as cantankerous as that load of dynamite. Bad things…really, really bad things can go wrong anytime you start messing about with the foundation of the sim. Especially when you are like me and have over 175 different add-ons which are installed to make my P3D experience “As Real As It Gets”. If something goes horribly wrong with the update process, the side effects can mean I’m spending the next many, many, many hours rebuilding my PC and my Sim from scratch. This fact would almost make any sane person steer so far clear of an update or change. But who said we’re sane???
Of course, all these bad things can also occur each time we’re alerted to an upcoming Windows 10 update. As President Ronald Reagan once said, the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Well…not sure how that stacks up against that dreaded message that states “Windows 10 has downloaded updates”. These are the things nightmares are made of. But here I go again….digressing.
It’s All Part of the Experience
For me, and since I do enjoy helping others…staying on the cutting (and sometimes bleeding) edge is all what it’s about. Prepar3D version 4.5 was released on 9 April 2019, between work, the sudden death of my mom and many other factors…I opted to delay the process by about two weeks. This delay did work to my advantage as it allowed me to spend some time updating many of the add-ons which required updates to even work with 4.5. With all that done, I set aside some time to perform the update just as I described in the updated tutorial and I was back flying in no time.
Final Thoughts
I’ll begin my final thoughts with a question which perhaps you’ve been pondering. Why do some people have so many terrible things go wrong when they update P3D? If you drop into some of the Flight Sim Facebook groups or forums, you can spend the next (how ever many hours you want) reading sob story after sob story about how everything went sideways with the update and now they are left to having to do a full install again. Why is this?
Again, being an IT Guy I have a just a little bit of experience with this question and unfortunately there’s not just one single answer. The answer…most likely could be any number of reasons. But let me further bang on and I’ll let you get back to your day.
If even before you make the decision to update P3D and you’re encountering the occasional crash to desktop (CTD), experiencing errors or have a really difficult time with overall performance…then these factors will play a really BIG role in whether or not your upgrade experience will be a positive one.
Just as important to the overall health of your current installation of Prepar3D, how’s Windows running? Are you experiencing the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) events? Do you experience issues running other Windows based applications? When is the last time you physically cleaned out your PC? See where I’m going with this? If you’re having issues today, these issues should really be addressed before you pile on even more variables that can further cause problems.
My gaming machine is used for one purpose and one purpose only…to play games. I don’t use it for anything else and while I built it just last summer, I’m fully aware that most likely sometime later this year or sometime in early 2020…I’ll need to do a complete rebuild of Windows and everything else just to keep it performing at 100%. This process will have me out of commission for at a minimum of several days and most likely a full week. But it’s a necessary process to having a stable gaming machine.
Well…that’s all I really wanted to say at this time. Bottom line, I think the benefits of Prepar3d version 4.5 make it worth the effort and outweigh the risks.
Until next time…
Good luck with the update.
Jerry
April 18, 2019 / admin / 3 Comments
Just less than a year ago, I wrote a similar tutorial when version 4.3 was released. I began that article with the words “There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding how to update Prepar3D”. While ten months may have passed, the confusion hasn’t. So as I stated before, I’m going to do my best to provide you a step-by-step guide for how to update Prepar3D. Or at the very least, how I update my own instance of Prepar3D.
About This Guide
This step-by-step guide was written specifically for the Prepar3D version 4.4 to 4.5 update and written/published in mid April of 2019. Lockheed Martin released P3D v4.5 on 9 April 2019. If you are referring to this guide anytime after version 4.5 (v4.6, v4.7 etc.) then this method should also work as well. Unfortunately my crystal ball isn’t working for peering into the future, so who knows how the update process will work for P3D v5 (if there is such a thing). What I’m trying to say here, is content on the Internet tends to live forever and you might be stumbling on this writing a year, two or more from the time I wrote it. Just keep that in mind.
The Update Process
Just a little background for those that may not be aware. I believe, starting with P3D v3.x, Lockheed Martin developed P3D to be somewhat modular in the way one can update and maintain the simulator. This modular setup consists of three main files with the first being the Client, the second being the Content and the third being the Scenery. When Lockheed Martin develops, tests and deploys an updated version to us, we no longer need to completely uninstall the entire P3D application just to take advantages of the updates. In many cases, only the “Client” portion of the update needs to be applied. But you should do your homework to best determine exactly what you need to update to take advantage of all the new bells and whistles available.
Prepar3D version 4.5 Change Log
To aid you in understanding all the changes included in the P3D v4.5 update, please follow this link. Use this information to determine what you want to update.
My Update Process
As I do each and every time a new P3D update is released by Lockheed Martin, I study the change log to determine my action plan. As was the case with the version 4.4 update, I personally am not interested in the updates which have been made to the Content and the Scenery. So this update will be super simple for me, as I’ll only be updating the Client portion. If you desire to update either the Content and/or the Scenery…then go ahead and do so.
Step One
Make note of P3D Settings. Before I perform an update, I typically will start up P3D and take screen captures of all the settings screens. This way, if anything gets changed during the update process…I’ll be able to quickly reset everything back to the way it was before. I like to run P3D with the updated version with the same settings I ran on the previous version first, before tweaking anything. This way I have a better determination on just what improvements were made and how these improvements impact my setup.
Step Two
Download the update files required. As I previously mentioned, I’m only planning to update the Client for v4.5. You’ll need to login to the downloads section of the Prepar3D website with your license or account credentials. Once there, click to expand the individual component downloads section and download the following file: Install_Client.msi. Once downloaded, I typically place all the files into a new folder I create on the Windows desktop for ease of access.
As a side note, if you were interested in updating the Content, you would also need to download the Install_Content.msi along with BOTH the cont1.cab and cont2.cab files. Same would apply for Scenery. You would need to download the Install_Scenery.msi along with all seven of the sceneX.cab files.
If you are planning to update Content and/or Scenery, then just place the .cab files in the same location as you’ve downloaded the Install_Content.msi and/or Install_Scenery.msi files. When you go to run the install on the content/scenery the .msi files will automatically access the .cab files during the process.
Step Three
This is a really important step to focus on. Regardless of your overall plan, you want to uninstall one component at a time. I’ve found this to be the least error prone way of performing an update. On your Windows gaming PC, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features. From here we’re going to uninstall the P3D CLIENT ONLY.
When prompted “Would you like to deactivate your P3D installation?”, Click NO!
Step Four
Next, we’re going to install the updated P3D Client which we downloaded in step two. As previously mentioned, after I download all the appropriate files, I create a folder on my Windows desktop and place all the downloaded files in that folder. Right-click on the Install_Client file and select Install.
Pay very special attention during the install to make sure the updated client is being installed in your specified P3D install directory. In my example, everything defaulted in just as it should have.
If you are planning to update the Content and/or the Scenery parts of Prepar3d, then return to step three and repeat the process but this time uninstall Content, then install Content and finally uninstall Scenery and then install Scenery.
Step Five
Pending everything installed successfully, reboot your PC. While the P3D update/install files will not prompt you or even require you to reboot, it is ALWAYS in your best interest to reboot after installing software and we’re wanting a trouble-free upgrade…so just reboot! Trust me, I’m an IT Guy!
Step Six
Once your Windows gaming PC has successfully restarted, launch P3D. Don’t be alarmed if P3D takes a little longer than normal to launch the first time. P3D is doing a lot of work behind the scenes and in my experience it took perhaps an additional 1-2 minutes than normal.
Step Seven
Hopefully your update was successful. Congratulations! Pat yourself on the back as you’ve just successfully updated P3D. At this point, I close out of P3D as I still needed to perform a few other updates to software accessories such as ActiveSky, Envtex, FSLabs Airbus etc.
Note: If you use Orbx Global Textures, you most likely will need to perform a Force Migration after performing an update. This is a very simple and quick process to complete. Just launch the FTX Central application. Go to Settings then look for Force Migration.
The End Result
Upon completing the client update for P3D version 4.5, I’m experiencing absolutely nothing but positive results. The P3D load time has slightly improved and I’m not seeing any noticeable performance degradation. From everything that I’ve seen, P3D v4.5 is absolutely fantastic and the enhanced night lighting actually has me wanting to fly more at night which I rarely would do in the past.
Benefits to Updating?
I’ve recently written and published an article I’ve titled “Prepar3D – To Update or Not To Update” which I discuss the benefits and also some of the concerns to updating P3D. Only you can decide if the benefits outweigh the risks. Of course, there’s also nothing wrong with waiting a few weeks until more of the add-ons have been updated for the newest version. What ever direction you decide to go, best of luck to you.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
April 17, 2019 / admin / 1 Comment
I would like to dedicate this blog post to the memory of my dear mother who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. As a young person, she always encouraged me to write and while she really had no clue what I blogged about here (most of the time), she still read my work. I began this article back in March and after returning back from Texas have been somewhat motivated to get it finished. Here you go Mom…this one is for you.
The subject of this tutorial has been on my to-do list for many years. I began blogging about the hobby of flight simulation in September 2010 and at that time I created an Excel spreadsheet and noted a few topics I wanted to cover in tutorial style. The Basics of VATSIM was added to the growing list but unfortunately just kept getting bumped down the list. Or I would start the article only to delete it later because I just simply couldn’t convey my thoughts on the subject in a way that met my approval. I’m just funny like this…I guess I could say I’m a perfectionist and everything I’ve ever featured on my blog site has been as accurate and as detailed as I could make it given my experience and knowledge on what ever subject I’m writing about.
I was first introduced to the online world of virtual air traffic simulation even before VATSIM was born. Sometime in either 1999 or very early 2000, I signed up for and became a member of SATCO (Simulated Air Traffic Controllers Organization). However, I really didn’t do much online flying. At this particular time in my life I was busy traveling and also I must admit that I was absolutely terrified of the thought of flying online. SATCO eventually collapsed and was succeeded by VATSIM which I signed up for almost immediately. Things were beginning to slow down on the real world travel schedule and I met a few new online friends who helped me get over my fears (mainly mic fright) and BOOM…I was hooked.
The Basics of this Tutorial
As with most of my tutorial style writings, this is not meant to be the “Be All, End All” or even a absolute complete guide to the subject of VATSIM. I’m going to first encourage you to do some of your own research and reading which I’ll point out in the very next paragraph. Then I’ll share some of my own tips, tricks and perhaps some of my very own experiences. But you really need to read a few things on your own before you decide to login to the VATSIM network for the very first time. Unfortunately, unless you are a real world pilot, VATSIM is not the place to fake your way through. While VATSIM can be a very friendly and helpful environment, it’s also an extremely serious online community. More about this later.
Rules of Life
There are many rules I follow in life and the one that has worked for me, has helped me become successful in many different ways is as follows: “What you put into life is what you get out of it”. Of course, I’ll also admit (and my wife will vouch for me), I’m stubborn. Yes, a square peg will go into a round hole if you have a big enough hammer and I almost never stop to ask for directions. But I digress…
If you are a flight sim enthusiast and you are absolutely new to VATSIM, I would first recommend (almost insist) that you first do a bit of reading before you key up the mic and ask for ATC clearance at your favorite airport. As previously mentioned, VATSIM (for the most part) is an extremely friendly and helpful environment. However, it’s not the place for “on the job training”. Meaning, you should spend some time bringing yourself up to speed on the ways of VATSIM and I’m going to help you do just that.
Flight Simulation Experience
When I began the outline of this tutorial, I must admit I began writing it with the more experienced flight simulation aviator in mind. Perhaps someone similar to myself who has been flying computer based sims for many years and who truly is capable of controlling his/her aircraft both while on the ground and in the air. It’s difficult for me to explain to you just exactly how much experience you need…but will just say that if you’re not capable of operating your aircraft, familiar with basic flight navigation, don’t understand how to read SIDS/STARS charts, refuse to follow instructions/directions….then YOU are not ready for VATSIM. In other words, if you are absolutely brand new to the hobby of flight simulation and don’t recognize that a computer based flight simulation program such as FSX, Prepar3D and XPlane is MORE than a video game…then YOU are not ready for VATSIM.
However, if you have spent a few hundred hours enjoying your favorite flight simulation program, have a good understanding of flight navigation, understand how to operate your favorite aircraft, can listen and follow instruction and want to take your flight simulation hobby to the next level, then please continue reading.
Getting Started with VATSIM
Your first step should be to visit the “Getting Started” section on the VATSIM website. You’ll find a step-by-step outline for getting started with VATSIM. This one page will point you in the right direction for all things VATSIM including directing you to the Pilot Resource Center and a “must read” on Expectations and Requirements for Pilots. Again, I really can’t stress enough that the very first experience on VATSIM will be equal to exactly what you put into it in the form of self-study/research/preparation.
One of the reasons I’m encouraging you to really prepare yourself for the wonderful fun that awaits you on VATSIM, is simply…VATSIM is a really serious place. Unlike other online multiplayer communities where users seem to disobey the rules (I’m looking at you TruckersMP), the world of VATSIM is really for serious individuals who truly want to simulate the world of aviation. While I won’t lie to you and tell you that you’ll never encounter fools doing some really crazy stuff on VATSIM, they will be dealt with quickly and sharply. In my almost 20 years of enjoying VATSIM and accumulating almost 2000 hours on the network, I’ve only encountered a small handful of idiots and as I stated before, they were dealt with quickly.
Additional Tips, Tricks and Advice
Please don’t let some of what I said discourage you from giving VATSIM a try. It really is an “As Real As It Gets” experience. As you gain in experience, some of the large events which VATSIM hosts on the network will have you seeing and experiencing the crowded airspace and airports all over the world. I’m going to wrap things up here in just a few minutes, but before I do…allow me to share some additional information which might come in handy.
YouTube
Yea…if you need to know how to do something, and you can’t find it on YouTube…then you know you shouldn’t be doing it. But on YouTube you’ll find all sorts of flight simulation help (including VATSIM information).
Facebook
Yes, Facebook is more than just sharing pictures of cats. There’s actually a very active Flight Sim following across Facebook with various groups setup to help on all aspects of the hobby. There is a VATSIM For Beginners Facebook Group which is also a very good resource. But once again, I encourage you to educate yourself by reading as much as you can from the VATSIM links I provided above.
Login, Listen and Observe
One of the things I did when I first started out was to park my aircraft at a gate (never spawn directly onto a runway or taxiway) and then connect to the VATSIM network. I would locate an airport which had at least one controller and a few active aircraft and listen. This allowed me to listen to how other pilots requested clearance. There are several online resources which allow you to visually see what airports are staffed with ATC and which have active aircraft. But generally most of the larger airports will have activity throughout the day. One such site which I sometimes use is called VATTASTIC. Although my favorite is an application called VAT-Spy. It’s an application I have installed on one of my gaming machines so I can keep an eye on where ATC is staffed. Check it out!
VATSIM CRAFT Procedure
Don’t you just love acronyms? Especially when they can really help you. When requesting your departure clearance, keep the word CRAFT in your mind. Or better yet, write it down on a piece of paper. By the way…always keep a notepad and pen/pencil handy when flying online. You’ll thank me later!. The acronym CRAFT will help you in writing down all the jibberish the controller is going to tell you (which by the way you’ll need to read back). CRAFT stands for Clearance, Route, Altitude, Frequency and Transponder.
Typically when I am flying IFR (jetliner type aircraft), I’ll call up and request clearance like this. “Denver Clearance Delivery, this is American 1066 requesting IFR clearance to Dallas/Ft. Worth as filed. I have information Bravo”.
The readback I receive from ATC will fall into the CRAFT format and may sound something like this:
American 1066, you are cleared to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport (Clearance) via the STAKR4 Departure PYPER Transition (Route), Climb and Maintain 10 Thousand…expect Flight Level 350 10 minutes after departure (Altitude). Departure Frequency 128.45 (Frequency) , Squawk 2145 (Transponder).
Aviate, Navigate and Communicate
Things can get pretty hectic when flying online. Remember, in the real world…airliners are flown by TWO pilots who share the work load. On VATSIM, all the same amount of work is handled by just ONE pilot, YOU! Regardless of how busy and hectic things become (and it does get easier with practice) always remember this tip. Aviate, Navigate and finally Communicate.
Aviate – Always maintain control of your aircraft. This is first and foremost.
Navigate – Know where you are, understand the terrain and obstacles around and below you.
Communicate – Finally…communicate. As you gain more and more experience, you’ll be able to multitask like a pro. But until that time comes, always make sure you begin executing all ATC instructions before you communicate with ATC.
Help is Here VATSIM First Wings Event
I realize a few paragraphs ago I said VATSIM isn’t the place for “on the job” training and I encouraged you to read all you can and familiarize yourself as best you can before you show up and try to muddle your way through the procedures. While I absolutely encourage you to follow this sound advice, VATSIM does conduct various events around the world to help brand new virtual pilots. These events are called “VATSIM First Wings” and they are absolutely geared to help the beginner online pilot. While I would still encourage you to read everything you can and also be fully capable of flying your aircraft (this event isn’t geared to teach you how to fly). Then show up at the appropriate time, location and be ready to learn.
The next VATSIM First Wings Event is quickly approaching and will take place on 27 April 2300 – 0200z at these featured airports KRST (Rochester), KRFD (Rockford), KCID (Eastern Iowa) and KDLH (Duluth Intl). You can learn more about this upcoming VATSIM First Wings event here.
Other Online Options
Yes, there are other online multiplayer options available. I chose to write about VATSIM as that is my preference and the one I have the most experience and longest history with. Just last year I wrote about all the various online multiplayer options available for flight simulation. The information in this article is still current today.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve reached this point and you’re thinking to yourself, “VATSIM sounds like the last place I want to be” that was not the intention. However, I can’t stress enough that VATSIM is a serious online community of likeminded individuals who all share a passion for aviation and we’re all after one thing….”An As Real As It Gets” Experience of interacting with Air Traffic Control and other Aviators. It’s really that simple.
There’s a WHOLE lot more information that I would love to share and will do so in the future. Flying on VATSIM is not something I do each and every time I fly. However, I do very much enjoy the enhanced immersion it provides. For me, I’m really not interested in the HUGE events such as Cross the Pond. I tend to favor smaller events where the balance between ATC and pilots better mirror real world operations. Regardless whether you enjoy flying small GA aircraft, small to medium sized tubeliners or the giants of the sky hauling passengers or freight from one side of the world to the other, VATSIM really does something for everyone. I hope you’ll check it out and I hope this tutorial has helped motivate you to do so.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
JT
October 15, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
We seem to be experiencing a growth spurt within our flight simulation community as I’m seeing more and more questions pop up within social media circles regarding multiplayer options for flight simulation. I wrote about this very subject many years ago, but like many things in life….things change and in our case, the change has been for the good of the hobby. Allow me take a short walk down memory lane and then I’ll explain all the online multiplayer options for flight simulation.
As some of my readers will know, I’ve been a part of the flight simulation community for a long, long time. A little over 34 years to be exact and my first experience with multiplayer dates back almost as long. Well….sort of. See, my friend and I both had Commodore 64 computers and we both enjoyed the subLogic Flight Simulator (which eventually became Microsoft Flight Simulator). Anyway, long before the internet and long before the online multiplayer networks we have today were even thought of, my friend and I would get together at either his house or my house and we would setup both of our C-64’s and we would fly together. Of course, the only way I could see his plane was to look at his TV set and the only way he could see mine was to glance over at mine. But we set them nearly side-by-side and we had hours and hours of fun.
Of course sometimes one of us would pretend to be a crude version of ATC and we would provide clearance instructions to each other. I’ll admit, neither one of us knew what we were doing and pretty much everything we based our experience on was what we had seen in the old Airport disaster movies (Airport, Airport 75, Airport 77 and Airport 79) with perhaps a mix of comedic fun from watching Airplane. No, I’ll neither confirm or deny I ever sniffed glue. LOL Anyway….neither of us could imagine that someday we could enjoy the hobby in a true networked multiplayer environment with real-live humans performing the knowledgeable and experienced role of ATC and we could fly our favorite aircraft all over the world. Enough of my old history, let’s get back on subject.
Setting the Stage
As the title suggests, the purpose of this writing is simply to share with those who care to read…the available online multiplayer options which are available for flight simulation. This includes the older FSX (boxed), FSX Steam Edition, all versions of Prepar3D and X-Plane flight simulation platforms. It has long been a desire of mine to write a definitive guide to multiplayer (specifically VATSIM) and one of these days I might just get around to it. But for now, I’ll share with you the options available and provide links where you can conduct your own research to determine how you can get started.
Finally, of the options I’m going to discuss in this writing…I feel I need to break them down into three different categories. The first being “free/no-cost full ATC simulation”, “paid full ATC simulation” and “No ATC simulation”. We’ll start with the later and work our way from there.
No ATC Multiplayer Environment
There really is only one in this category which I will discuss in this posting. If all you are really looking for is a solution where you and your friends can fly around, perform pattern work and essentially not have the need to worry about Air Traffic Control services, then FSCloud might be of interest to you. FSCloud works with FSX, P3D and XPlane 10/11. The cost is absolutely free and the process for registering an account, downloading and setting up the software and getting online is easy. The focus on realism isn’t as strong as you’ll find on VATSIM, IVAO or Pilot Edge. However, common courtesy of others should still be considered when using FSCloud. In other words, follow their rules and guidelines and you should be OK. I’ve often used FSCloud (and still do from time to time). Visit the FSCloud website for complete information on registering for an account, downloading the client software and please familiarize yourself with their rules and guidelines.
Paid Full ATC Simulation
As was the case with the previous category, currently there’s only one option available in the paid category of full ATC simulation and that is the PilotEdge Network. PilotEdge works with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, Flight Simulator X (including FSX Steam Edition), all versions of Prepar3D and X-Plane 10/11. One of the main advantages of PilotEdge (as compared to VATSIM/IVAO) is they provide Air Traffic Control on a guaranteed basis during specific hours, in a specific area. Their staffing hours are 8 AM – 11 PM Pacific, 7 days a week. At the time of this writing, PilotEdge offers ATC within the Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque ARTCC’s. This coverage is split into two different subscription options including ZLA (Los Angeles) and Western US. Subscription plans start at $19.95 per month for just the ZLA area. An additional $19.95 per month would be required for access into the Western expansion area. A two week free trial is available.
For full disclosure, I personally do not have any first hand experience with the PilotEdge network. I’ve been wanting to take advantage of their two week free trial, but for me personally…I really don’t think I would be interested in PilotEdge beyond the two week trial. My reason for this is I enjoy flying all over the world and the majority of my flying is jetliner routes of anywhere from 300 – 1000+ miles. While the vast majority of my flights originate out of Denver (within their coverage area), I don’t always fly west. Additionally, I’m a fan and supporter of the VATSIM network. I’ve been on the VATSIM network since it first began back in 2001 and I suppose it boils down to what one is used to. While the PilotEdge audio is wonderful (from what I’ve heard on YouTube and Twitch), I personally believe their pricing structure is just too expensive for the casual simmer. Don’t get me wrong…for real world pilots and students, PilotEdge is fantastic. But for a busy guy like me, I just can’t justify the expense at this time. Visit the PilotEdge website to learn more about their network, their coverage hours/area and sign up for the free two-week trial.
Free/No-Cost Full ATC Simulation
This category currently has two main contenders with a third to be launched sometime in the future. These are VATSIM, IVAO and the yet to be released network is POSCON. We’re really only just now beginning to understand all that POSCON will offer the flight sim community. However, I did write an extensive article about POSCON a few weeks ago. This article covers many of the planned features and let me just say, that I’m really excited about what I believe POSCON will bring to the flight sim community. You can read that article here.
Both VATSIM and IVAO offer a similar online experience. Both networks provide the software necessary to connect and experience the world of multiplayer flight operations.
VATSIM
Before I dive into the world of VATSIM, I would like to just briefly mention SATCO. Now SATCO has been history for a very long time. But all that we enjoy today with both VATSIM, IVAO and anything that may or may not come down the road, have roots back to SATCO. The first version of an online client was developed back in the late 90’s and as both the evolution of the internet and flight sims came along, this launched the ability for users to fly together in a multiplayer environment and so SATCO or the Simulated Air Traffic Controllers Organization was born. In July of 2001, it was announced that VATSIM would succeed SATCO and as a result a brand new organization was created and launched.
VATSIM or Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network is considered to be the largest online flight simulation network in the world with over 209,000 registered members and recently exceeded 80,000 active members for the first time. An active member is defined as any member of the VATSIM network who has connected to VATSIM at least once within the last six months. I’ve been a member of the VATSIM Network since it began back in July, 2001 and yes before VATSIM, I held a membership with SATCO.
IVAO
The IVAO or International Virtual Aviation Organization was formed in 1998 and currently has more than 170,000 registered members. The creation of IVAO occurred when a group of people left SATCO to form a new network after management conflicts developed. Like VATSIM, the purpose of IVAO is to provide an environment for a realistic flight and air traffic control simulation via the internet. Again, like VATSIM…IVAO provides the tools needed to connect to their network and offers training to both pilots and ATC based on real-world aviation regulations and procedures.
In Summary
Both IVAO and VATSIM networks came about as a result of management conflicts with the original SATCO network. Both VATSIM and IVAO are 100% free and provide all the necessary tools and training. Both VATSIM and IVAO host regularly scheduled events all around the world. As for which organization is the best? I recommend joining both experiencing what each network has to offer and making your own conclusion. As more information becomes available on the new and exciting POSCON network, I’ll certainly share it with everyone. At the time of this writing, POSCON is expected to go into an early beta stage sometime after the first of the year. Like VATSIM and IVAO, POSCON will be a 100% free service and available and open to all.
Until next time…
Enjoy the multiplayer experience! It’s As Real As It Gets!
Jerry
October 8, 2018 / admin / 0 Comments
If you’re new to the world of Prepar3D v4 or just new to flight sim in general, you might be wondering which add-ons I would recommend purchasing to enhance the flight sim. Yes, P3D is pretty awesome just by itself, out of the box. But after a while, you might want to take your flight sim experience to the next level. When that time comes, there are a few add-ons which I personally believe (my opinion) one should own to help give you that additional level of immersion we all seek from our flight simulation experience. Here’s my Top 5, Must Have Add-ons for Prepar3D v4 which I believe will enhance your flight sim experience.
FSUIPC
I’m really not sure when this wonderful little add-on was developed and released to the flight sim community. I’ve known about it and used it since the FS9 or FS2004 days. Considering FS9 was released way back in 2003, it’s one of the oldest, longest serving add-ons that I know of. When I build or rebuild my flight sim machine, FSUIPC is one of the very first add-ons I install.
What is FSUIPC? FSUIPC stands for Flight Simulator Universal Inter-Process Communication. In a nutshell, FSUIPC essentially allows various third party applications to communicate with and in some cases even control the flight sim platform (FS9, FSX, FSX : SE and all versions of P3D). I often just refer to it as the Swiss Army Knife of the flight sim world. In my opinion, FSUIPC is the hardest working, third party add-on EVERYONE truly needs and it’s why it ranks at the top of my list.
For the most part, much of what the casual flight simmer will need out of FSUIPC can be handled in the freeware or unlicensed version. However, if you want to truly open up all that FSUIPC can do including far better third party controller (yoke, pedals, throttles) support, flight auto-save functions, networking multiple PC’s together and much, much more…then you’ll want to purchase the license to open up this additional functionality. An FSUIPC license for P3D v4 is available at simMarket for 29.99 Euro. Trust me, it’ll be the best ($36.49 US based on current exchange rate) you’ll spend on P3D.
ActiveSky
A really huge part of my overall flight sim enjoyment comes from the enhanced immersion levels that add-on applications provide to P3D. Yes, while P3D (just like FSX) has built in weather functionality…most find it to be rather weak. I’ve been a user of ActiveSky for a very long time. While opinions may differ regarding what third party application is best for displaying cloud textures, there is rarely any argument that ActiveSky is the very best on the market for real-time depiction of weather in the simulator. I also love using it to recreate flights using historical weather. For example, let’s say it snows in Denver but I’m not home to fly in real time. I can fire up P3D and set ASP4 for a specific day and that will be the weather I see in the sim. Pretty cool. ActiveSky for P3D v4 (ASP4) is available from several online retailers for 49.99 Euro ($60.83 US based on current exchange rate).
Speaking of cloud textures etc. I’ve been very happy with ActiveSky Cloud Art. It works seamlessly with ASP4.
Orbx
There will come a point in time where you’ll want to further enhance your ground textures. Orbx (again my opinion) is the very best scenery add-on you can buy for P3D v4 and they offer a lot of awesome scenery. If you’re on a budget, I recommend starting with the Orbx FTX Global Base Pack. This add-on pack includes upgraded textures and autogen for the entire world. While the Orbx FTX Global Base Pack will set you back $99.95 AUD ($74.61 USD), you’ll find a couple of dozen freeware airport add-ons available from the Orbx website which work with FTX Global.
Then as you continue to build out your Orbx collection, I would recommend FTX Global Vector as this product will begin to introduce accurate coastlines, rivers, lakes and roads. Then as you begin to round out the collection, add the various regions such as Central Rockies, Northern Rockies, Southern Alaska etc.
A2A Cessna 172/PMDG 737-800
A brand new (out of the box) install of P3D will give you access to a few different general aviation aircraft including the Carenado Beechcraft Bonanza, Mooney Acclaim and Mooney Bravo just to name a few. However, if tubeliners (passenger airliners) are your thing, then you’ll need to seek these out as either third party freeware or payware add-ons. A few weeks ago I wrote about default/freeware aircraft options available for P3D v4. Please review that for details regarding freeware aircraft.
Most new virtual pilots will either be interested in general aviation or jetliner type flying. If both of these interest you, excellent. Unfortunately, I really don’t know enough about helicopter options to provide any level of detail as it’s just not something I’m really interested in. But I absolutely love both GA and jetliners as there are times I enjoy flying high and fast, and other times low and slow.
The A2A Cessna 172 and the PMDG 737-800/900 are two payware, study-level aircraft which are both extremely fun to fly…but at the same time fairly easy to learn. Both will provide hours and hours and even more hours of entertainment regardless of your primary fixed-wing interest.
The A2A Cessna 172 for P3D v4 (depending on P3D license level) will cost you $49.99 – $79.99 and is a professional level simulation of the real C172R. The feature list is quite extensive including an immersive pre-flight inspection system, maintenance hangar, visual real-time load manager and my favorite is it’s designed to be flown “By The Book” simulation.
The PMDG 737-800/900 for P3D v4 will cost you $89.99. The Boeing 737-800/900 base package will allow you to experience an airliner simulation unlike any in the history of simulation with this feature rich and magnificently detailed simulation of the Boeing 737NG.
Navigraph
While there are hundreds of different scenery, aircraft and utility add-ons to consider adding to P3D v4 to enhance your simulation experience, the last add-on I’m going to recommend is a Navigraph subscription. Navigraph provides the international flight simulation community with tools and software like those available to the real world aviation industry. I personally recommend the Navigraph Ultimate subscription which runs 75 Euro paid annually. While this may seem like a lot of money for an annual subscription, it provides unlimited access to BOTH their FMS data service and to their charts applications.
The Navigraph FMS data is available for all addons (including the above mentioned PMDG 737) during all AIRAC cycles in one year. An AIRAC cycle is 28 days, so you’ll receive 13 updates in the calendar year ensuring all your add-ons stay current based on real-world data.
Access to Navigraph Charts provides professional, worldwide and updated Jeppesen charts for the flight simulation community. These charts are accessible in their suite of Charts Apps including iPad, Android and their Charts Desktop client which works for both Windows and MacOS. All the charts, in one easy place.
In Summary
Like many other hobbies, the flight sim hobby can become a very expensive hobby very quickly. I often compare it to photography. It’s been proven many times that a beautiful photographic image can be made with just a pin hole camera, yet once the photography bug bites you, you soon find your camera bag stuffed full of accessories you just can’t live without. Flight Sim is pretty much the same way. Just pace yourself and enjoy. I hope this list helps you “take off”.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
