“Oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe…”

So I'm tagging along one night with ak and Wingman and co. over the Columbia river or somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and I'm perfectly happy. Then somebody posts a screenshot of the flight and I'm thinking...he must have posted something from another flight because that's not what I see. Of course its from the same flight, but it's like we're on two different planets. The hills, the trees, the buildings are all different, the clouds, the air, the water, the light reflecting of the planes, everything is different. And much better. What I'm also missing from the pic are the better sounds and aircraft movement and all that. They are flying in a completely different world than me. And I want to go there...

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a horrible POS computer game. Microsoft Flight Simulator is the coolest PC software ever invented. I believe both of these statements to be true.

I know that 999 out of a 1000 people here at msflights.net have long known all the tips and secrets of FSX, but until recently I was that last guy...somehow just flying my default King Air in gdam default central Wisconsin in the winter (try it...you will cry tears of FSX sadness) and not knowing the difference. My blog is for you, Mr. I'm-Just-Finding-This-Out-Now Guy. FSX has long been known as the most modifiable software 'game' out there and there is a lot you can do to get the most enjoyable experience from it. A GIS of 'FSX scenery' gets you 3,090,000 results. That's my opinion, of course. You can be perfectly happy flying whatever you want and more power to you. Do what makes you happy.

FSX, in its basic form, kinda sucks. Here's the story as I see it...it sucks mostly because it was made by this company that we'll call "Microsoft". "Microsoft" is the spawn of Satan and all his minions. "Microsoft" created this proto-flight-sim-blob known as Microsoft Flight Simulator. And, like all their software, they then tried to kill it before it got good. But it lived on in the minds and hearts of some genius's known as "Flight Simmers". They tried to kill it again by killing Gamespy for FSX, but the internet being the internet...well, everything will live on in perpetuity. Life will find a way, as long as someone wants it to.

Now the big mistake Satan made was that normal people could do things to the software to make it better and more fun. This is where FSX becomes the coolest thing around. They meant for people to be able to add new aircraft to fly or new cities to fly through, but you can pretty much modify anyting going on the game that you can think of. Aircraft, scenery, clouds, water, light, sounds, you name it...

The first tip I learned is to tune in to the msflights.net group members in teamspeak. Spend time listening and asking a few questions here and there. Figure out whats going on first before messing too much with everything. I had a few too many one step forward, two steps back days.

The second is to learn as much as you can on the web before asking someone here to fix all your problems, if you can. The members appreciate you putting in as much effort into the process as they are. There are a ton of established sources out there. Try to learn what you can on your own before asking someone here to do something for you.

Third (thirdly?), have a goal in mind. You might be interested in certain aircraft, regions of the world, or maybe just flying out of your local airport. Being at 1000 ft. in a Piper Cub is going to require a different approach than 40,000 ft in an F-18. My goal is having the most realistic experience possible (to a point). It took me a while but I realized eventually that some people around here are flying the best aircraft in the finest scenery with the most realistic weather...and...well, you get the idea.

Here's a rundown (in my opinion) of the basic things I want to have or need to do to get my FSX flying right:

Buy a Hawg-Dawg Special (optional, sadly)
Port Forwarding
Bajotes Tweaks
ENB Series Tweak
Learning the Finer Points of FSX Settings
Finding High Quality Aircraft...long story...next chapter...
ORBX Regions and Airport Scenery
ORBX Traffic Tweak
REX Essentials Weather

So...do the port-forwarding thing, the Bajote tweaks, and then get this free stuff from ORBX and spawn at KHQM with your Cub. You're welcome.

See cameronmd80's awesome vid for inspiration!

...more inspiration

Next: Your Frame Rate: the Coin of the Realm