Flight Sim Mega thread: You had me at "longest shaft in the market"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Flight Sim Mega thread: You had me at "longest shaft in the market"

«‹›175 »

Theris: Oct 9, 2007

Danith posted:

Another free career mode thing is FSE I think. I signed into it once and the UI was confusing and seemed to be geared towards running airline routes in big planes so I didn't really give it a chance.

It speaks to how dated and lovely the UI is that you actually thought that. The biggest planes it supports are the A320/737 and even then you can't own them and they can only be used on specifically designated missions, so you can't load an entire FBO worth of missions onto one plane. It's mostly the exact opposite of what you thought: flying handfuls of passengers or cargo (although cargo usually doesn't pay enough to be worth it) between airports you've never heard of, and buying and trading GA/bizjet sized planes to fly them in.

Theris fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Jul 20, 2023

# ? Jul 20, 2023 16:41

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 24, 2024 23:16

Thoatse: Feb 29, 2016; Lol said the scorpion, lmao

Qubee posted:

I have no idea why you still use the Old Reddit layout, that post was an absolute eyesore to read until I realised I could switch it to modern Reddit.

New reddit is like trying to read a newspaper with a loving telescope. Old reddit displays 100x more information per page and with poo poo like r.e.s. you can defeat the awful custom css garbage with a single click

lobsterminator posted:

Lol this may be the first time I've ever seen anyone prefer the new reddit.

Same

# ? Jul 20, 2023 17:11

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

The Old Reddit layout for me was hiding the pictures of the upcoming devices, for some reason.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 17:14

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

I can't, thread full of elderly grognard simmers, understand why you would ever want to use an old interface

# ? Jul 20, 2023 17:19

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Old Reddit is normally fine for me and I don't care one way or the other.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 17:21

Qubee: May 31, 2013

I said come in! posted:

The Old Reddit layout for me was hiding the pictures of the upcoming devices, for some reason.

Yeah this was my main gripe with it. A neatly organized and formatted text with eye-catching images, versus what amounts to a bucket of slop thrown at the wall with nothing to make digesting the information any easier or pleasant, and the images showing up as hyperlinks lol. The newer Reddit is much more enjoyable to use. I didn't get the telescope newspaper analogy, I've never had issues. Though I've got a 2160p monitor and I have font zoomed out so I can fit a lot of info onto my screen.

I am definitely gonna order some VKB gear and the TrackIR thingy come Black Friday. Or does VKB not do sales like that?

# ? Jul 20, 2023 18:49

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

For TrackIR, I lost the little reflector tiara.

I ended up buying a Grassmonkey puck that a guy in WV 3D printed and wired himself for IIRC 30 bux and it actually works great, and certainly better than the tiara, and it's cheaper than the TrackIR pro it's emulating.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 18:57

Qubee: May 31, 2013

skooma512 posted:

For TrackIR, I lost the little reflector tiara.

I ended up buying a Grassmonkey puck that a guy in WV 3D printed and wired himself for IIRC 30 bux and it actually works great, and certainly better than the tiara, and it's cheaper than the TrackIR pro it's emulating.

So what you're saying is, I should get the Grassmonkey IR instead of TrackIR?

# ? Jul 20, 2023 19:00

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

Qubee posted:

So what you're saying is, I should get the Grassmonkey IR instead of TrackIR?

I use the TrackIR receiver still, which is good, but I use the Grassmonkey Puck for the bit that goes on your head.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 19:08

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

skooma512 posted:

I use the TrackIR receiver still, which is good, but I use the Grassmonkey Puck for the bit that goes on your head.

If you don�t already have a TrackIR sensor, he sells those now too, though they work with OpenTrack, which I have zero experience with.

The GrassMonkey puck and TrackIR works better than any of TrackIR�s own reflectors or emitters, with a better FOV, and vastly superior physical robustness. Can�t say enough good things about it.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 19:16

JayKay: Sep 11, 2001; And you thought they were cute and cuddly.

My only complaint with the Grassmonkey puck is you can't do the high offset setup like you can with a Track Clip Pro.

That being said, I highly recommend it.

# ? Jul 20, 2023 19:28

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

I probably need to tune mine a bit more but there's an envelope where the receiver won't see the sensors when my head is titled down, which happens a lot since most modern planes require your head down in the panels. It's better than it was when I using passive reflectors.

Do you guys still mount your receivers on top of the monitor or do you have them on the desk like I've heard of some people doing?

# ? Jul 20, 2023 19:42

CBJSprague24: Dec 5, 2010; another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

Has anybody run into an issue since the last update where the mouse is difficult to use because the game seems to think it must be in some sort of VR mode? I have a dot that comes up dead center on the screen anytime I try to use the mouse, which itself is difficult to operate anymore.

PMDG 737-900.

Also, on the same plane, does anyone know how to restore the default aircraft states? I changed the one for taxi so the transponder would be up and it kicks out my flight plans after switching from start.

E- and the sim crashes to desktop as I'm on descent into detroit, gently caress's sake.

It's recently occurred to me that this game needs an auto save mode.

CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Jul 20, 2023

# ? Jul 20, 2023 22:00

marxismftw: Apr 16, 2010

I picked up a grassmonkey after the camera on my trackir decided to stop communicating with the computer.

I hate it. It took ages to setup and it's got a narrower fov for side to side movement (this is due to its design - its sensors are on a single plane, rather than creating a triangle). Interference from random light sources is far worse and made it completely unusable unless it was dark outside ( or you're in a windowless room). I've spent ages trouble shooting it, messing with settings, following guides on how to do adjustments with no real luck. Now it sits unused in a drawer.

# ? Jul 21, 2023 00:35

FPS_Sage: Oct 25, 2007; This was a triumph; Gun Saliva

I have an old iPhone and the SmoothTrack app (like $10), connected to OpenTrack running on my computer. It actually works pretty well, and doesn't require any special headgear. Even though it has to send its data from the iPhone over my wifi to my PC, I find it's still plenty responsive. Granted, I've never used TrackIR or anything like that, but for $10, it's probably worth a try before investing in something significantly more expensive. If you have a webcam (I don't on this computer) I think you can even skip the iphone app and just use the totally free OpenTrack program.

# ? Jul 21, 2023 01:54

azflyboy: Nov 9, 2005

CBJSprague24 posted:

Has anybody run into an issue since the last update where the mouse is difficult to use because the game seems to think it must be in some sort of VR mode? I have a dot that comes up dead center on the screen anytime I try to use the mouse, which itself is difficult to operate anymore.

The white dot is something Asobo added in AU2 (it's supposed to help with Xbox controlles), and they kinda fixed it, but it shows up any time there's a controller hooked into the PC, and a lot of times when there isn't one.

There's a file on flightsim.to that removes the dot (it's a program you start before MSFS) that gets rid of it most of the time, but it still pops up occasionally.

# ? Jul 21, 2023 02:58

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

FPS_Sage posted:

I have an old iPhone and the SmoothTrack app (like $10), connected to OpenTrack running on my computer. It actually works pretty well, and doesn't require any special headgear. Even though it has to send its data from the iPhone over my wifi to my PC, I find it's still plenty responsive. Granted, I've never used TrackIR or anything like that, but for $10, it's probably worth a try before investing in something significantly more expensive. If you have a webcam (I don't on this computer) I think you can even skip the iphone app and just use the totally free OpenTrack program.

Quite.
There are always gradients, where one piece of kit will be better than some other in some specific way (and usually worse in some other), but there's enough maturity in the systems and solutions these days that this gradient has at least one clear cut-off point: any headtracking is far far better than no headtracking. There are enough dirt-cheap solutions that it's worth trying, and for the most part, they'll work well enough.

�and then the gear climb starts.

# ? Jul 21, 2023 03:38

Sagebrush: Feb 26, 2012

marxismftw posted:

I picked up a grassmonkey after the camera on my trackir decided to stop communicating with the computer.

I hate it. It took ages to setup and it's got a narrower fov for side to side movement (this is due to its design - its sensors are on a single plane, rather than creating a triangle). Interference from random light sources is far worse and made it completely unusable unless it was dark outside ( or you're in a windowless room). I've spent ages trouble shooting it, messing with settings, following guides on how to do adjustments with no real luck. Now it sits unused in a drawer.

Are you referring to just the grassmonkey headset component, or their camera as well? Cause there's nothing wrong with the single-plane triangle configuration -- it's what the TrackClip Pro uses, for instance. If the system has a poor FOV, that's because the camera simply can't see far enough to the sides. I haven't used their camera, but the tracker element should be just fine.

I have always used FreeTrack/opentrack and have built my own head tracking systems. I made my first one in 2009 ish I think? The current one uses three 120-degree surface-mount IR LEDs and a good old PS3 Eye with an infrared filter and variable angle lens. It works extremely well and is smooth and reliable. It has generally the same three-planar configuration as the TrackClip Pro, Delanclip, Grassmonkey thing, etc.

Incidentally, if anyone else is using opentrack and you want tips on tweaking it, I am happy to give suggestions. While the software can work extremely well, it's not really obvious how to set it up for the best experience, and it isn't great out of the box. For instance, just switching from the default Accela filter to the Hamilton filter with the proper settings will probably double your subjective smoothness and stability. You'd never know this because there is no in-depth configuration guide and the Hamilton filter is only documented in Russian. Hooray for open source software

# ? Jul 21, 2023 07:06

BMan: Oct 31, 2015; KNIIIIIIFE
EEEEEYYYYE
ATTAAAACK

I would like to point out that all triangles exist on a single plane

# ? Jul 21, 2023 08:02

Communist Bear: Oct 7, 2008

I quite like Skypark in that it's pretty sleek and really acts as a "giving you random places to fly" application. NeoFly kind of pigeon holed you into a rather difficult process of trying to make money. I'm not sure if Neofly 4 has improved this? Always seemed like it was incredibly hard to make enough money to actually moved onto anything beyond a small Cessna.

# ? Jul 21, 2023 10:36

Sagebrush: Feb 26, 2012

Tippis posted:

…and then the gear climb starts.

On this note, I just spent $227 on half of a joystick. :homebrew:

(I got the WarBRD-D base and will use it with my warthog grip)

# ? Jul 22, 2023 03:14

JayKay: Sep 11, 2001; And you thought they were cute and cuddly.

Sagebrush posted:

On this note, I just spent $227 on half of a joystick.

(I got the WarBRD-D base and will use it with my warthog grip)

I may have just impulse purchased a used VKB Gunfighter ii with MGC Pro grip. Got a really good deal on it and couldn't resist.

# ? Jul 22, 2023 03:23

Chubby Henparty: Aug 13, 2007

It's the desk mounts that'll get ya. There are cheap but serviceable generic clamping ones on ebay that do the job.

# ? Jul 22, 2023 05:20

azflyboy: Nov 9, 2005

I've had really good luck with Foxx mounts for my Warthog.

They're not super expensive as flightsim hardware goes (about $180 for a set), they keep the stick and throttle from moving at all, and they're pretty quick to mount/unmount once you get them adjusted for your desk. The mounting plates are only $35 each, so you're never out more than $70 if you change to hardware that's not compatible with the ones you already have.

The only drawback is that they absolutely require a solid desk to mount to, since the clamps are strong enough to do bad things to a glass or hollow core desk top.

# ? Jul 22, 2023 06:32

Fuzzie Dunlop: Apr 14, 2013

Any idea as to why I'm seeing snowcover and frozen ocean bays in coastal British Columbia and Alaska when using live weather? Real world temps are in the 70s. If I switch off live weather, snow disappears.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 00:22

CBJSprague24: Dec 5, 2010; another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

Fuzzie Dunlop posted:

Any idea as to why I'm seeing snowcover and frozen ocean bays in coastal British Columbia and Alaska when using live weather? Real world temps are in the 70s. If I switch off live weather, snow disappears.

I tried* to fly from Anchorage to Barrow yesterday in a 737, and the mountains in central Alaska were snow-covered.

*The sim crashed to desktop just SE of Denali. This is becoming a theme and getting old.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 01:18

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

I haven't CTDed since early last year maybe but I still won't bother doing anything long haul because I don't want to get hosed over on final.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 01:31

CBJSprague24: Dec 5, 2010; another game at nationwide arena. everybody keeps asking me if they can fuck the cannon. buddy, they don't even let me fuck it

skooma512 posted:

I haven't CTDed since early last year maybe but I still won't bother doing anything long haul because I don't want to get hosed over on final.

If I could just get into the habit of saving my flight every so often it wouldn't be so bad. I had a CTD outside Detroit the other day, the one over Denali yesterday, and one while holding on 27R at Atlanta today, but I did JFK-DCA just fine yesterday. :shrug:

Or, alternately, if Microsoft would stick an auto save feature into the game.

It seems like it's random. Sometimes, it just crashes. Other times, I'll be flipping to an approach plate or something in another window and it happens.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 01:37

the milk machine: Jul 23, 2002; lick my keys

I've never successfully resumed a flight from a save so it's fly or die just like real life

# ? Jul 27, 2023 02:28

Theris: Oct 9, 2007

Make sure your gpu driver is up to date and you're in DX12 mode. DX12 is "beta" but it's much more stable than DX11 for many people.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 11:39

Chuck_D: Aug 25, 2003

I use littlenavmap and restart my flight approximately where my aircraft trail ends.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 12:18

Shart Carbuncle: Aug 4, 2004; Star Trek:
The Motion Picture

Volanta advertises a feature that will let you pick things back up after a crash, since it's recording your track anyway. There are a few caveats:

1) it is a premium feature behind the paywall;
2) it only works with certain planes, so probably not anything complex with a flight computer and poo poo and
3) I ain't tried it, so for all I know it's garbage and doesn't work at all.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 14:18

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Waiting for a World of Warcraft flying mount crossover with Microsoft Flight Sim.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 17:46

Micr0chiP: Mar 17, 2007

This showed up on my YouTube feed, if someone wants a dcs light with nukes this seems fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQiUUNK8UDc

# ? Jul 27, 2023 18:32

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

Micr0chiP posted:

This showed up on my YouTube feed, if someone wants a dcs light with nukes this seems fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQiUUNK8UDc

Here is the game itself for anyone who wants to wishlist it https://store.steampowered.com/app/2168680/Nuclear_Option/

# ? Jul 27, 2023 19:01

Zero One: Dec 30, 2004; HAIL TO THE VICTORS!

I said come in! posted:

Waiting for a World of Warcraft flying mount crossover with Microsoft Flight Sim.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 20:14

lobsterminator: Oct 16, 2012

Zero One posted:

Been there, done that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1lpbBxImFM

# ? Jul 27, 2023 20:16

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

I like how they touted animals as a feature in MFS and I haven't seen a single drat one in the 3 years I've had the game.

(I always fly in LA through the approach that goes by my house and in airliners, so obv not tooling around with a GA close to the ground)

skooma512 fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Jul 27, 2023

# ? Jul 27, 2023 20:40

Spaced God: Feb 8, 2014; All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement
Inhabits here: some heavenly power guide us
Out of this fearful country!

Dont worry they have special marks on the map to see exotic animals. Like... In Greece you can see.... Uh...... Sea gulls.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 21:05

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 24, 2024 23:16

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

ya na it's probably a bad idea to fly towards the flock of birds.

# ? Jul 27, 2023 21:26

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Flight Sim Mega thread: You had me at "longest shaft in the market"

«‹›175 »