Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: MjTalon on September 06, 2008, 07:16:29 PM
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Well a couple of friends of mine in the 100th BG have been talking about FS2004 and how they're flying together and i was wondering if FS2004 is a free download or do i have to purchase it from the store? ( prays that it's free :pray ).
Anyone mind shedding a little light? Thanks!
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I would imagine it would require a purchase, but being several years old it might be pretty cheap.
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An M$ product for free?
:lol
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An M$ product for free?
:lol
Rumor :cool:
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You'll probably have to buy it... if you can find it. Never seen it, only FSX.
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I have a copy of it, if you would like i can send you the discs for free. All 4 discs are in good shape and still work perfectly. I have this and FSX and rarely have time for either, but i play FSX often enough to keep that one :D.
But, yes if you would like a copy just lemme know and i can work something out.
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I have seen it at some Walmarts but you have to be lucky to find it anymore. Amazon has it listed for nearly $30. If you use TrackIR and have a modern graphics card (8600 and above) and fast CPU you should go for FSX. The effects alone are worth the upgrade but once you try the virtual cockpit you will never like 2D again. Dont buy it for DX10 though because it is not implemented fully but only as a dumbed-down preview.
I have all of them from FS 1.0 to FSX and 2004 I could not part with (some of the weather .fx and SDK tools that were included are not included with FSX) because from time-to-time I find something off the disk I need.
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The Nightmares and the =GHOSTS= get together to fly for Pterodactyl Airlines each week in FS2004 AND FSX. Our server will work with either version. We have a variety of aircraft and are in the process of building predefined flight plans.
Anyone with FS2004 OR FSX is welcome to join us for the flights. The only requirement is that we ask that you finish a flight that you start. All flights count towards the bottom line for the airline as a business.
We use Teamspeak for comms during the flights.
If your interested, please send me a PM here on the boards and I will get the information to you.
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The only free you'll get is illegally free. To answer it plainly, no.
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I should have said earlier too that if you do have FS9 (2004) that you should check out the planes that SkyUnlimited Productions offers. They have a P51 package that is incredible! It comes with every pony from the A36 to the P51B/C and that includes the cannon version. They also have 109s Spits 262s P38s and La9/11 but why would you want them when you have so many ponies to choose from? :D
http://www.skyunlimited.net/mustangs.htm
Im still trying to convert them all (for myself I dont work for them) for FSX but with all the models to work on its going to take a while.
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What spikes said. Depends on how good a pirate you are.
I will warn you, after flying AH, MSFS is going to seem pretty tame.
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i went out and bought FSX for when My intardnet isn't working correctly or i just get frustrated with AH2 :D
Edit: can someone help me in installing planes into FSX.. i D/led the file but i think i unzipped it wrong or something. PM me for the help please.
Thanks
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Dick, FSX is different but I think I remember, basically you put the aircraft folder into the Aircraft folder off the main FSX folder, the sound folder and gauges folder go in Sound and Gauges (sometimes they don't have them, it'll just hijack off default sounds)
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In the FSX main folder look for a folder named SIMOBJECTS. Inside that folder you will find a folder named Airplanes. Put the aircraft in that folder. Effects and Gauges can go in the Effect and Gauges folders in the main FSX folder. Now your ready to fly.
Not all aircraft will be listed under a manufacturer name when you try to select your airframe. So be sure to have "ALL" selected and then look thru the list.
There are many times when there are multiple folders inside a zip file and there may be 2 or more folders listed with the same name. The one you want is the foldre that contains the panel, texture and model folders. There will also be an aircraft.cfg file in that folder.
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In the FSX main folder look for a folder named SIMOBJECTS. Inside that folder you will find a folder named Airplanes. Put the aircraft in that folder. Effects and Gauges can go in the Effect and Gauges folders in the main FSX folder. Now your ready to fly.
Not all aircraft will be listed under a manufacturer name when you try to select your airframe. So be sure to have "ALL" selected and then look thru the list.
There are many times when there are multiple folders inside a zip file and there may be 2 or more folders listed with the same name. The one you want is the foldre that contains the panel, texture and model folders. There will also be an aircraft.cfg file in that folder.
Arrgh, close enough :)
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You can always try to get a cheap copy off ebay. The program itself looks cheap when you start adding on all the payware that's out there for this flight sim. I don't even want to think about what I've spend on addon's :rolleyes:. If you really want to make your MSFS realistic check out the VATSIM network. Real people working as air traffic controllers. Most of the pilots on this network are flying the big iron (boeing airbus), buy you do have some GA too. It's run buy all volunteers and best of all it free.
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Muttley, the bad thing about VATSIM is the quality of your plane on their end is poor.
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Muttley, the bad thing about VATSIM is the quality of your plane on their end is poor.
True, due to the need to keep frame rates from crashing when there's lots of traffic.
MSFS if a frame rate hog compared to AH. You can't be beat it for realism though.
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What I find aggrivating is the amount of bad addons out there. I bought a WW1 dogfighting mission addon that was just ridiculous and when I mentioned some of the bugs the tech support for the package stopped responding to emails. I really liked their aircraft but they advertised it as a mission package and none of the missions were worth spit! So I subscribed to 'computer pilot' and learned how to find reviews on most of the stuff out there. No review no purchase just that simple.
Lately I have taken to working on recreating WWII missions and Im still working hard on ack and other effects. Most of my recent flights have been through the hurricanes with real-time weather downloads.
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here are a couple of websites that i visit and have planes from.
www.alphasim.co.uk
www.precisionmanuals.com
www.leveldsim.com
www.shockwaveproductions.com
all payware aircraft but the realism is bar none the best out there.
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Chalenge,
Your right about bad add-ons. There are many out there that just plain suck.
But there are a lot of really good add-ons available also.
Ive built a pretty good library of WW2 era aircraft that I have down loaded thru the years. 90% of those were free downloads.
www.simviation.com
www.sim-outhouse.com <--- MANY WW2 era aircraft
www.donationware.net <--- some of the BEST WW2 birds around
www.avsim.net <--HUGE library
There are several "teams" out there that build aircraft and really work hard to get the "right". One of my favorites is the Fightertown Design Group. They have a number of classic aircraft on donationware.net . The airframes are not free as they ask for donations for various causes. You have to join the sim-outhouse site to get into the donationware site.
I have many of the shockwave aircraft. One of my personal favorites is the He-219. Its a really nice bird to fly. The FDG A-26 is unbelievable! Too bad AH doesnt have the Invader!
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Thank you SIM great resources! I bought the panel design studio today and managed to convert a few planes to FSX format in just a few hours. I am still in the learning phase of course but the software is very easy to learn (I mean if I can do it...). I am very curious about skins now but so many of the textures I have not been able to even open and I dont really know where to begin with it. If anyone has a good idea about that PM me or something please.
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I was doing some research on FSX effects and came across a post mentioning someone had figured out how to do ack ack bursts. Then I searched for the individual by name and found some pretty amazing scenery for FS9. Mind you its only scenery...
http://www.maam.org/flightsim/enhance/scenery_enhance.htm#BATTLE OF MIDWAY AND BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA SCENERY
and the actual creators website:
http://www.flightinfo.jp/FS_KBT/yanco.htm
MAAM has a very nice TBM I will be picking up and Yanco has a freeware B52 in addition to the Midway/Coral Sea scenery. :aok
Sim Outhouse has an update for the scenery that brings it into FSX.
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Chalenge,
You can find both of those birds on www.simviation.com
You can also find links that will take you to tutorials on making "skins/textures".
Team FS_KBT has some really beautiful airframes out there. Their F-18 is my favorite modern bird.
Lemme know if I can help out!
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Sorry to sort of hijack this, but I've always had a very hard time landing in MSFS, whereas in Aces High I can make almost perfect landings. Is this something to do with the trim (I don't think I've ever used trim in MSFS), or something else?
<S>
Yossarian
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I have about the same problem on landings in both simulations but the 'bounce' on fast landings of AHII seem to be less of a problem. Usually in FSX or FS9 I make longer approaches but after flying AHII when I fly the F4Us or P51s in FSX/FS9 I make shorter and steeper approaches probably because of difficulty seeing over the nose. To me the flare portion happens a lot quicker and is more critical in FSX/FS9.
Thanks again SIM but I have not had a chance to join there yet because Sim-Outhouse has so much material to go through I am a bit swamped right now.
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Yossarian,
Find a field to land at that has the Visual Approach Slope Indicator lights.(Most major airports have them on one or more runways) Start your approach a few miles out from the field and watch the lights as you descend. In a Cessna 172 start say 5 miles out at 1500 feet altitude. Line up and hold altitude as you approach the strip. Watch the "VASI" lights on the left edge of the strip. These are for lights that will show red, white, or a combination of the two. If you see two red and two white, you are on the glide path for that field. If you see all red you are too low, all white means too high.
Trim does play a MAJOR function here, but get the basics for landing and THEN work on using trim.....
Using the lights in this way will give you a feel for a glide slope. You can turn that into a practice for just about any aircraft. Its not exactly right, but close enough for flying a cartoon aircraft that doesnt incur insurance premiums......
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An M$ product for free?
:lol
Yes, there are actually free games from Microsoft:
http://www.freeallegiance.org
No, it's not a graphically lacking game.
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The FSX Acceleration addon seems to have killed a lot of transparency and effects files as I have a lot of planes that are having issues now. Default aircraft and missions dont seem to be hurt though (of course). I hope the fixes come soon.
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Trim does play a MAJOR function here, but get the basics for landing and THEN work on using trim.....
That's actually backwards. In a real aircraft the use of trim is taught long before a landing approach. Any pilot worth his salt will be on the trim each time attitude or power is adjusted. Trim and trim often and then everything about flying is easier.
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FS04 is worth the money, much better than fsx
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Got a problem with the WWIIFighters P51D that causes major frame rate issues after the Acceleration patch but A2A Sims reports a fix on the way AND Accusim! :aok
http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11710&p=108455#p108455
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I will warn you, after flying AH, MSFS is going to seem pretty tame.
I've found it a good way to find a different kind of challenges and enjoyament. It's not the usual adrenaline filled furball. Of course alone it's quite lame, but I've been flying in VATSIM ever since I became familiar enough with the systems and procedures. However, I've been mostly providing air traffic control services, which is even more fun with lots of live traffic.
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Where are you controlling? I might fly in with my 737, 767, or even my fat 747. :D
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FS04 is worth the money, much better than fsx
I all depends on how much of a system you are willing to use. When FS9/FS2004 came out there were lots of people screaming about problems with the software and graphics. Took a while, but most of the problems were worked out. Same thing is happening with FSX.
I run BOTH versions. FS2004 is great, but the graphics in FSX are better! I spend most of my online flying time in FS2004 as I have many more airframes to choose from. But the visuals in FSX beat FS2004 hands down. Simple as that, the eye-candy wins.
If someone is new to the MSFS world, they couldnt go wrong by starting in FS2004. Theres just too many aircraft/add-ons to pass up. I have most of the airframes from AH in FS2004(Not to forget many of the airframes that people want to see in AH). You cant get that far right now in FSX.
Give FSX time and it will totally replace FS2004, but it will be a while.
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I agree with you there Sim. Love the ground scenery and the plane's eye-candy in FSX.