Flight Simulator 2004

[GTac02]

I love this game, so i set up my whole rig just to play it decently so i got:

p4 2.4c @ stock
1gb ddr266
fx5950 ultra 256mb

I wana optimize everything to play this game, anyone know of a guide or something? This game rocks.

[rivercom9]

This game is really CPU dependant more than anything. If you can get your CPU speeds up a bit higher you might notice a bit more performance than just a videocard OC.

[Avg]

What do you do in FS2004, I like to see how much better it got but I get bored after 5min of playing it.

[rivercom9]

Ever try landing a plane in fog?

[Quattro]

Or a strong side wind, with a wet runway.
With zero visibility, forcing you into an ILS approach.
With other traffic to watch out for.

Don't just fly around, make it a challenge.
Find a real flight and try to fly it on time.
I like flying in nice places, alaska, the desert, etc..

[rivercom9]

Exactly what Quattro said. If you just fly around with no real purpose, of course youre gonna get bored. Try flying some of the tuturials to learn some of the skills in flight and navigation.

[Avg]

I'll install it again and try it out, it's about the only game I have where I'm not killing anyone or street racing.

[N1vek215]

I like visiting exotic locales. It's amazing how they got a lot of details. I like going from philly to New York, or fly around las vegas, and visiting Puerto Rico. My aunt is a flight attendent and I showed her this game and she was pretty impressed. I never did any of the tutorials, or missions or anything. I think I might install it again too.

[rivercom9]

Hehe N1vek215, I was flying around your area the other day when Hurricane Charlie came through. Forgot to mention you can download current weather anywhere in the world and fly in the current conditions at that place, and I must say that flying in a hurricane in a simulation is tough.

[rivercom9]

Heres a nice place to find approach plates and the like for when you guys are flying IFR and have to land in limited visibility. Just type in the airports four letter identifier (e.g. Sacramento International = KSMF, all mainland US airports start with a K followed by three others such as SFO for San Francisco Intl or SAN for San Diego) and it should give you a list of the "maps" for that given airport for you to use in Flight Sim.

http://www.aeroplanner.com/flightplanning/approachplates.cfm

[cruc1fy]

I like visiting exotic locales. It's amazing how they got a lot of details. I like going from philly to New York, or fly around las vegas, and visiting Puerto Rico. My aunt is a flight attendent and I showed her this game and she was pretty impressed. I never did any of the tutorials, or missions or anything. I think I might install it again too.


yes... I love flying around Las Vegas.

[rivercom9]

If you love flying around Las Vegas, theres a freeware scenery that makes the default Las Vegas scenery a lot better.

[StreetPharmacy]

Not meaning to crash the party (I can just hear people firing up their flamethrowers) but the real thing, mm, much more difficult. Can't say I've been all around the world, though...

[amazon10x]

the only game I have where I'm not killing anyone

Who said you can't fly into a river or the ground? :D

[rivercom9]

Thats part of the fun of flight simming. Im not saying that its fun for everyone or anything, just certain people, but when you really get into it sometimes, its quite rewarding. You learn about the basics of flight and navigation, and to me its very interesting.

[Quattro]

It very good if you have an interest in aviation!

[atigamerguy]

Try flying to where i live (kelp) or el paso international airport,at night and landing on runway 22 coming from the west. Its hard to avoid the mountains. Many of my passengers have died because you cant see the mountains until you crash. Too bad i cant play because i lost disk 4 and cant install.

[rivercom9]

Have you tried doing the Microsoft Freebies in the Cyberdeals section? If you get enough points, you can get FS9 for free. BTW, flew the KELP NDB approach last night and it was pretty challenging.

[Quattro]

I've got to re-install this game.
My dad is like the uber-expert at this game, he works in aviation so he has an interest.
He has flown real planes and he reckons it is so realistic it's near perfect.

Is there anyway to simulate g-forces on the body?

[rivercom9]

How about leaning your body to one side or the other when you turn. ;)

[abitavenger]

How do you learn to understand all the controls and nobs?

[GTac02]

Heh, good to see im not the only one who "plays" a simulator...

Anwyays, no one has really answered my question...

How about we all give input about the game and make this one a sticky. How many FPS do you guys get, and at what settings, with what setup. (ctrl+shift+z to get your FPS)

Simviation.com has lots of scenery and airplanes, what's your favorite?
It should be fun to fly around with some experienced people. Do you guys play multiplayer, where? I use the msn.com MP central site. We should meet at some place.

Lastly, what device do you guys use, i have the force feedback 2 and it rocks for FS2004, although i reckon its NOT how u fly in real life, anyone know of a realistic wheel device? Ive seen them at my school's simulator class a long time ago.
Im also setting up a teamspeak server (teamspeak.org) so we can talk while we fly. Also start thinking of a flight plan and airplanes you like so we can fly together someplace. You cant imagine how fun it is to fly in groups racing or w/e.

Any other suggestions? I want to hear them...

[rivercom9]

Abitavenger, to learn some of the controls and knobs and what they do, you just have to run the lessons. FlightSim demystifies the whole flying mystery pretty well just through the lessons.

GTac02, my setup is:
AMD Tbred @ 2.2 GHz on an NF7-S using Soundstorm
1 Gig KHX @ 220
9800Pro moderately OCed (OCing the video card doesnt give as much a boost in FlightSim as OCing the CPU did)

My current settings for FS is:
1024 X 768 32Bit Res (Try 800 X 600 if it gets choppy at 1024)
Have the settings nearly maxed out with the exception of the AutoGen and DynamicScenery which I have set to High. (Tweaking these have given me the best perfomance boost as well as tweaking the max distance you can view)
Also tweaking the mipmapping had a bit more performance effect when I turned it up as well as better looking scenery in my opinion as well as getting maybe a couple for frames. If your system starts to get choppy when theres a lot of clouds, try turning down the cloud coverage to 70 percent and find what best fits your preference.

I get about 20-30 FPS in most parts. My FPS get as low as 10 in the bigger airports where theres a lot of scenery.

[thlnk3r]

Is "Flight Simulator: 2004 Century of Flight" the one you guys are talking about? How many planes are actually in the game? Any modern ones like the sr71 or u2?

[atigamerguy]

Nope just airliners general aviation,and some older planes. You can download some more planes though if you like.

[atigamerguy]

Rivercom I have tried the microsoft freebes and I got enough points for a wireless optical mouse and fs2004 i ordered them a while back but havent gotten anything.

[rivercom9]

Yeah Im waiting on my wireless stuff too. :/

[GTac02]

bump :eek:

[BRIMCV]

Ive been intrested in this for a while how gd is it? Ive seen screen shots and it looks emence. Does each plane have varying characteristics which are noticeable?

[rivercom9]

Yes they do but its difficult to do somethings without a joystick or yoke or some sort. I use to fly with a keyboard all the time but when I finally got a joystick it was a heck of a lot better.