Pro Flight Simulator

[jasmreid]

Has anyone had any experience with this product?

 

Pro Flight Simulator™

 

I have been a long time MS FS 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9/X (yeah that far back!) user but the old laptop I used to run it on has died.

 

I did try downloading X Plane 10 demo and could not get it configured to any level of satisfaction so didn't persist.

 

I enjoy flying missions but principally use it to practice procedures, radio calls, checks and approaches to airfields I am likely to want to fly to/from once I complete my RAAus certificate.

 

So I'm looking at all my options for Flight Sim on Windows 10. Any suggestions, comments welcome. Oh and ideally I want it to have a J160 and J230 that are reasonably accurate.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

That looks pretty good for the price and 5 years free updates is a real bonus. The terrain us based on US data, so, hard to tell how well Oz would be covered until you get the program. It looks suspiciously like the follow on from MS Flight sim. I wonder if it has the hardware interface abilities that FSX had, ie Simconnect. It says in the blurb that it supports most commercial hardware, but Simconnect allowed us SIMers to interface our own hardware.

 

 

[rankamateur]

I have had no issue loading FSX on my windows 10 desktop computer. It is an off the shelf Acer gaming computer (i7 processor,1060 graphics) having gone to the trouble of building a crossfire double graphics card system, for no benefit, it should be noted that CPU is where FSX does most of it's fancy stuff.

 

 

[jasmreid]

I have had no issue loading FSX on my windows 10 desktop computer. It is an off the shelf Acer gaming computer (i7 processor,1060 graphics) having gone to the trouble of building a crossfire double graphics card system, for no benefit, it should be noted that CPU is where FSX does most of it's fancy stuff.

Yep, my old laptop ended up running Windows 10 and FSX mostly worked fine with an occasional glitch, just thought I'd survey the field and the (mostly ;-) well informed opinion here!

I have downloaded Flightgear to see how well it works. I now have a Surface Book - will be interesting to see how all of them perform!

 

 

[Jay_1984]

Hey,

 

Let me save you some cash here. Proflight simulator is just a rebranding of flightgear flight simulator.

 

If you do some goggle searches you'll find some history, but basically some one has taken the flightgear simulator (which is free) and rebranded it. Hey can do this because flightgear is made under an open source licence, which means anyone can take the source program code and do slight modification then rebrand and sell it off. Bit unethical but not illegal.

 

My advice would be to head over to flightgear and download it from them. It's the same product, but with better support and better designed/modelled aircraft.

 

As to a Jabiru, the best one I've seen, and used, is the Jabiru by Iris flight simulation. Software. It's for FSX but pretty realistic.

 

Jay

 

 

[jasmreid]

Hey,Let me save you some cash here. Proflight simulator is just a rebranding of flightgear flight simulator.

 

If you do some goggle searches you'll find some history, but basically some one has taken the flightgear simulator (which is free) and rebranded it. Hey can do this because flightgear is made under an open source licence, which means anyone can take the source program code and do slight modification then rebrand and sell it off. Bit unethical but not illegal.

 

My advice would be to head over to flightgear and download it from them. It's the same product, but with better support and better designed/modelled aircraft.

 

As to a Jabiru, the best one I've seen, and used, is the Jabiru by Iris flight simulation. Software. It's for FSX but pretty realistic.

 

Jay

Thanks Jay much appreciated.

I thought it might have been something like that. Yes I have tried the Iris J160 in FSX and was well pleased with it... but as I said I wanted to see what else is about and what other folks are using.

 

Just had a quick play with the Cessna 172 on Flightgear and it seems OK but some of the instruments are "jittery", the compass doesn't behave properly, the turn and bank disappears and comes back on. I will play with settings to see if it behaves better. This computer has two graphics cards built in and I'm not sure how to force it to use one or the other except switching between the built in display and the external monitor... need to do some more research obviously.

 

 

[mnewbery]

Flight Gear has a good community and I am confident if one joins there, you will find your answer, get a question answered or just learn heaps about the open source product and other flight models besides the one that is giving you trouble.

 

The configurations can be dizzying and it's very easy to go down a rabbit hole rather that actually simming.

 

This time last year I wrote an interface that allows Flight Gear to drive OzRunways for iPad in simulator mode and posted about it here

 

 

[Admin]

Pro Flight Simulator

 

As discussed on Avsim

 

 

[jasmreid]

Flight Gear has a good community and I am confident if one joins there, you will find your answer, get a question answered or just learn heaps about the open source product and other flight models besides the one that is giving you trouble.The configurations can be dizzying and it's very easy to go down a rabbit hole rather that actually simming.

 

This time last year I wrote an interface that allows Flight Gear to drive OzRunways for iPad in simulator mode and posted about it here

Yes I found that discussion and was impressed. I have done quite a bit of programming over the years so know the complexities of getting into that sort of enterprise.

 

One thing I'm pleased with is that Logitech have updated their drivers and my joystick works a treat now (fairly old too). It used to drop in and out sometimes on my old rig .

 

 

[jasmreid]

Pro Flight SimulatorAs discussed on Avsim

Thanks and thanks for the link to AvSim - will explore more. I had an uneasy feeling about Pro FS - that's why I started asking around.

 

Now I can't find my old FSX disks - in a box somewhere no doubt after our move into town .

 

 

[Jay_1984]

If you have a fairly decent broadband speed and you want to part with $12 (USD $10), you can pick up a downloadable copy of FSX from Steam. They are having a sale on at the moment. In case you can't find the disk's.

 

 

[jasmreid]

If you have a fairly decent broadband speed and you want to part with $12 (USD $10), you can pick up a downloadable copy of FSX from Steam. They are having a sale on at the moment. In case you can't find the disk's.

Thanks Jay. Have started doing that - will see how it goes. I do have the FSX Acceleration Pack in the same packing box as FSX. In fact I was supplied it by a friend who was the editor of one of the Gamer Magazines at the time (can't remember which one) and he asked me to write a review which was published in the Mag (a copy of which is probably in the same box as the software:gaah:). This was at the time the Acceleration pack was released. So I'll probably have to turn the garage upside down at some stage to find it.

 

Appreciate your help and suggestions.

 

 

[jasmreid]

Ahhh... just finished loading and the Acceleration pack is bundled in the Steam edition. .

 

 

[Frankus1aust]

I recently purchased Xplane 11. A bit of messing around with local scenery but it is very good. If you look around on the net you can get a set of S/H Saitek controls. Great for practicing instrument approaches and also I think it is better than FSX. 64 bit.

 

 

[jasmreid]

I recently purchased Xplane 11. A bit of messing around with local scenery but it is very good. If you look around on the net you can get a set of S/H Saitek controls. Great for practicing instrument approaches and also I think it is better than FSX. 64 bit.

Thanks Frank. I plan to have a good look at X-Plane11 but don't have the time right now. I am practicing procedures to try and complete my solo hours for the RAAus flying certificate next week. FSX Steam edition is doing the job well. After that I will get more serious. The accuracy of the flying fields I am keen to practise on (where I plan to actually fly) are not particularly good... eventually I would like to get the skills to modify those airfields myself, for example Warwick, Qld has a grass strip in FSX and the approaches look nothing like the real thing - not so many minutes left in this life so might be a vain wish .

 

 

[Jabba jenny]

I've found that the combination of windows 10, fsx, and saitek rudders, yoke and throttle worked ok to start. But then I started getting the dreaded "blue screen of death" (watchdog clock timeout). The crashing got worse everytime i used the simulator but was fine just using computer only. Its gotten so consistant that I've deleted all programs connected with the sim from my computer. I'm going to re-download them all and try again. Evidently windows 10 can have this problem, try googling blue screen of death. Happens when there's a lot happening in a program, in my case always while runnjng a sim.

 

Ive been told windows 7 never had this problem.

 

I hope you have better luck than me. It was great when it did work. I had the Iris jab 160.

 

 

[jasmreid]

I've found that the combination of windows 10, fsx, and saitek rudders, yoke and throttle worked ok to start. But then I started getting the dreaded "blue screen of death" (watchdog clock timeout). The crashing got worse everytime i used the simulator but was fine just using computer only. Its gotten so consistant that I've deleted all programs connected with the sim from my computer. I'm going to re-download them all and try again. Evidently windows 10 can have this problem, try googling blue screen of death. Happens when there's a lot happening in a program, in my case always while runnjng a sim.Ive been told windows 7 never had this problem.

I hope you have better luck than me. It was great when it did work. I had the Iris jab 160.

It's interesting that you are having those problems. I have done a lot of Windows support over the years and in my experience most "blue screen of death" problems relate to device drivers. As hardware gets older and operating systems get updated the hardware manufacturers don't always update their drivers to fix these problems (there's nothing in it for them because users won't go on paying for support).

Windows 10 has been designed to be much more secure and to try to battle the inadvertent downloading of suspect software. One thing that it is worth trying is that when you install FSX again run the install program as administrator (let me know if you need more details on how to do this). This sometimes will help fix these problems. Same with driver installs. Also get the latest drivers for all your hardware... this can be problematical when the supplier is a small specialised manufacturer that can't afford to update drivers for all the old legacy hardware they have produced. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I found that Logitech have updated their drivers for all the games devices and my fairly old joystick which used to be quite flaky (even on Windows 7) now hasn't missed a beat on my new Windows 10 computer .

 

Right now FSX is running brilliantly on my Surface Book running Windows 10... and I've been giving it a right old pounding the last 4 or 5 days. Might be a different story if I start using rudders and a yoke (although I don't need the yoke 'cause as you know the J160 uses a joystick).

 

I'm not so interested in how accurately the sim imitates the plane flying action, more about the scenes being more accurate for visual recognition of landmarks and navigation so that I can practice radio calls and cabin checks. I know that what ever I learn about "flying the plane" on the Sim is not going to be the same as the real thing so in some ways maybe it's better to be not too similar?? Don't want to learn bad habits that might get in the way of the real thing.

 

 

[facthunter]

After you get into a full motion top end machine you can jump into a plane you have never seen up to that point, and fly it. like you know how.. Not if you are a seat of the pants pilot. If you are an instrument and attitude pilot the replication is so accurate, it's uncanny. I would often say "this plane flys so well it's just like the simulator". Not sure many got it. but I hope you get what I mean.. Good sims save lives and money, and are an invaluable training tool. Biggest breakthrough in flight training ever. Nev

 

 

[jasmreid]

After you get into a full motion top end machine you can jump into a plane you have never seen up to that point, and fly it. like you know how.. Not if you are a seat of the pants pilot. If you are an instrument and attitude pilot the replication is so accurate, it's uncanny. I would often say "this plane flys so well it's just like the simulator". Not sure many got it. but I hope you get what I mean.. Good sims save lives and money, and are an invaluable training tool. Biggest breakthrough in flight training ever. Nev

OK, I'll take your word for it as I am not very far into the learning to fly business. I can recall as a young man working in garages having to drive customers cars to and fro. One became very used to adapting very quickly to different driving positions. From an MG midget to a V8 left-hand drive Chevrolet and everything in between it became relatively easy to drive any of them. My problem at the moment is I can't quickly look out the left window to judge distance from the runaway and then to make the turn to base and then final! The two monitors are not enough - need at least one more! And then there is the lack of pedals... have to get some of them.

It's all great fun and keeps the neurons ticking over.

 

 

[facthunter]

Basic stuff (simulators) are of limited value, but still contribute.. Practicing calls and checklists and doing procedures. etc. You can time a circuit, but for RAAus stuff, I suggest you constantly look back to see how you are tracking and get to judge your turns visually by reference to the RUNWAY. Not features around the place, as that's sort of cheating and won't be available at places you go to unless you do a bit of work on Google earth an pick standout features to utilise. The more planning you do, the better it pans out. You must use what you have and be adaptable.. Nev