New Stem Kit Flight Simulator

Started by deanes, July 11, 2019, 07:33:22 PM

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deanes

Our Unit is pretty new and just got our first Flight Sim through the STEM kit program. Then I won another as a drawing at AEO School in Pensacola! Hoped to set up and demonstrate right away but discovered they each have different software and have to download it. One is MS Flight Sim Steam edition - 10 GB download. The other (and newer) is Prepar3d and 13 GB download. Both require gaming computer specs, and both work well with the STEM yoke ad pedal set.

With no Internet at our squadron, this is just too much for do on a cell phone tether (something like 23 hours!), so took the computer home to download.

Downloading Prepar3d now (still an hour to go) so will look forward to comparing the two. I do know the FS Steam version requires full time internet to use, so back to tethering...., But it is nice software. I am told that the last MS FS version not requiring on line is the "gold" edition.
If you have a FS version that does not require you to be online, we would sure be interested. As I said, new unit, so funds are limited.

N Harmon

There's also X-Plane, older versions of which you can get cheaply from eBay. It comes on multiple DVDs, so no need to download from the internet, and you simply have to keep one of the DVDs in the drive while using it (no need to stay online).
NATHAN A. HARMON, Capt, CAP
Monroe Composite Squadron

RangerConlin

FSX on Steam does not require a constant connection. Simply launch Steam in offline mode and it will work fine. You don't need to do anything special, it will ask if you want to go offline when it fails to detect an internet connection.

Difference wise both FSX and P3D run on the same base code - you'll be hard pressed to find any differences between the two, but I find they've worked some of the bugs out in P3D that FSX had.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


Ozzy

FSX, along with Fly Inside is an okay VR experience provided you have a good PC to do it with.

I was able to try it out with a GTX 1060, i5-7500, and a PSVR. It had some issues but wasn't too bad. An Oculus or Vive would run better as they were made for PCs.


I do prefer XPlane 11 with the VR though. Much better experience since XP 11 was built with VR capabilities.
Ozyilmaz, MSgt, CAP
C/Lt. Colonel (Ret.)
NYWG Encampment 07, 08, 09, 10, 17
CTWG Encampment 09, 11, 16
NER Cadet Leadership School 10
GAWG Encampment 18, 19
FLWG Winter Encampment 19

deanes

Thanks, I wondered about X-Plane. The one computer donated to us for this is 2.5 Gh, 4 megs ram, 50+ GB free HDD and a cheap graphics card. It will not run the Prepar3d graphics. Usually best I get is just a cockpit view with nothing visible outside.  Is there a cheap fix/upgrade for this to work, or best to try to wait while we round up a better computer?

Also thanks for the information on FS Steam. I didn't even try to run it offline.

So far I know FS Steam runs on our computer with internet. Prepare3D does not. However Prepare 3D does have a neat CAP plane and a CAP search mission scenario, plus lots of military planes, ships and land vehicles.
Our cadets are looking forward to the training.




Eclipse

^ Presuming the above is a notebook and probably and i5 or even i3?

Without discrete graphics it's never going to run well and that's not upgrade
on most notebooks.

A high end i5 with 8 GB and a discrete, or an i7 with same is where you want to be.

"That Others May Zoom"

Ozzy

Quote from: deanes on July 15, 2019, 03:10:35 AM
Thanks, I wondered about X-Plane. The one computer donated to us for this is 2.5 Gh, 4 megs ram, 50+ GB free HDD and a cheap graphics card. It will not run the Prepar3d graphics. Usually best I get is just a cockpit view with nothing visible outside.  Is there a cheap fix/upgrade for this to work, or best to try to wait while we round up a better computer?

Also thanks for the information on FS Steam. I didn't even try to run it offline.

So far I know FS Steam runs on our computer with internet. Prepare3D does not. However Prepare 3D does have a neat CAP plane and a CAP search mission scenario, plus lots of military planes, ships and land vehicles.
Our cadets are looking forward to the training.

Better computer is better. Graphic Card, you can get a GTX 1050ti for about $100 or less, with a gtx 1060 around $120. That'll be plenty good for regular FSX play. CPU, you would want something above 3.0, closer to 3.5 single core. A SSD is a nice-to-have but ultimately not needed, it just speeds the loading times. Although second hand gets a bad rap, for the limited use you really would be using it, I personally wouldn't mind as long as it works.
Ozyilmaz, MSgt, CAP
C/Lt. Colonel (Ret.)
NYWG Encampment 07, 08, 09, 10, 17
CTWG Encampment 09, 11, 16
NER Cadet Leadership School 10
GAWG Encampment 18, 19
FLWG Winter Encampment 19