Real world pilot, new to vatsim... help please!!

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Hi flight simmers. My name is Peter and I'm a Part 135 pilot... I just left my job flying C-172s, C-206s, and C-207s at a VFR scheduled air carrier, getting ready to apply to several Part 121 regionals. I can program an FMS like nobody's business. But I'm not as PC savvy as many of you are, so please be patient. I currently have a computer with AMD 8350FX processor, a good motherboard (Asus M5A99x), and a decent graphics card (Radeon R9 270...something like that). I currently use Windows 10 64 bit.

 

I only bother to use payware aircraft, I have Digital Aviation Cheyenne, PMGD 777, and Majestic Flight Q400. I do not use any other scenery add-ons, or weather, or anything else. (Because I can't afford them yet..Jwe have to buy all our own Jepp chart subscriptions, electronic logbooks, and expenses while away...that will change once I get to a 121 airline, lol). So just Vpilot for the sim client. I have a good joystick and throttle.

 

The problem I seem to be having is that whenever a particular airport is crowded, as soon as I engage the autopilot, it goes nuts, and will not behave like a real autopilot. SOmetimes it will wander from a selected heading, sometimes the frame rate sucks.

 

Eventually, I will use a dedicated computer ONLY as a flight simulator... I'll have a slimmed down OS but I will need a friend or professional to set up all the hardware and software I need.

 

Can anyone tell me what the CORRECT hardware and software I need, and is my computer just not good enough? How do I set up and configure a stable system?

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

honestly not sure what would cause those issues. even the [Mod - lovely stuff]piest of setups dont seem to have that issue.

[Joshua Black]

Does it do this for all airplane models?

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Does it do this for all airplane models?

 

Yes, it seems to. But when flying offline, or with little network traffic, it doesn't do it at all.

[Sean Harrison]

Are you using FSUIPC and/or does vPilot allow key programming?

 

Maybe the 'Z' key is programmed differently even in the FS control [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ignments.

[Daniel Churchman 1050104]

Hi Peter,

 

When entering a crowded airspace around an airport, two things are happening:

 

* There are a lot more moving objects for your network to transmit details about, and for your computer to render visually.

* As you get lower to the ground, a lot more scenery starts to get generated. If you have autogen in particular turned up, this can make a huge impact.

 

I'm running FSX on a laptop at present. A 4-year old ASUS i5 with 8Gb RAM and an nVidia GT 635M with 2Gb. In my long years with FSX, the most significant aspect I have learned to performance in the computer is RAM. I recommend at least 8Gb because FSX can use up to 4Gb, yet you will inevitably have other things running which want their own share of RAM too. Right now, on my "little" machine, as I type I'm flying a long-distance flight in my Eaglesoft Citation X, with Active Sky 2016 + Active Sky Cloud Art. I've got a PDF open that I'm reading, FSBuild is still open from when I generated my flight plan, and I have a few windows open here in my browser. My CPU is sitting around 45% - 55%, and my RAM is showing 58% in use.

 

Now, I have settings turned down somewhat in FSX, and I'm NOT online right now, but my machine is handling things reasonably well. When flying through clouds the frame rate gets slightly joggy, but barely noticeable, and landings are fine (because I have autogen turned down pretty low). I've got traffic in FSX turned up pretty high, so around airports it can be pretty busy, but I'm not having trouble.

 

There are volumes of threads available about tweaking your actual settings to squeeze the best performance out of what you have, but when everything is said and done, while many things matter, the single most important factor IMO is RAM. You need 8Gb. 4Gb just isn't enough.

 

If you have that, then look to your FSX settings, and start turning some things down. Autogen, drawing distance, texture quality; all things to consider. Fiddle and adjust to find a compromise between performance and visuals that you are happy with.

 

As to the technical stuff, I'll leave that to the gurus.

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Are you using FSUIPC and/or does vPilot allow key programming?

 

Maybe the 'Z' key is programmed differently even in the FS control [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ignments.

 

Hi Sean. No, I don't use FSUIPC, what is that? My God, I know so little in the sim, world evidently.

 

As for key programming, well I do that through the FSX GUI. And I am able to map my controller buttons for certain functions (especially avionics related) through the aircraft's own config program. For example, PMDG lets me map key presses.

 

I'll go read about FSUIPC. Can you recommend one or two flight sim resource websites where I can learn ALL this stuff?

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Thanks for the help, Dan. Actually, I do have 8GB RAM. Now, I don't have my CPU, RAM, or vid card "overclocked" or tweaked at all (I don't really know how to do this properly), but I will start looking at the performance settings you mention, especially autogen.

 

One thing I really dislike about vpilot is the fact you have to run it in windowed mode. I always liked flying in full screen mode, seems better that way.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Hey Peter... do you have a brother or cousin that flew for the Maryland State Police Medevac, by chance?

[Peter Bruns 982413]

Hey Peter... do you have a brother or cousin that flew for the Maryland State Police Medevac, by chance?

 

Nope, can't say I do. It's funny though because today someone asked me if I knew a "Ruth Bruns" in town. It's sure an uncommon last name, so I can imagine why people would wonder