Hello Sim Friends, New to all of this but very excited and inquisitive.

[indiefilmaker]

Hello my fellow Sim friends. I am totally "novice" to all of the flight sim crazy fun stuff but i am wanting to dive in "head first" and have a lot of fun with this new project. My dad is a pilot and owns a Piper Cherokee 235. We fly when we get together and i am a father to a 7 year old boy who i adore and recently made him an awesome race car simulator. I just purchased an old Piper 160 fuselage which we are now going to build together as a flight simulator. What a fun father/son project? So here is my question, I have an older Sony Viao computer,with a dual graphics card to run 2 monitors, i have some Saitek gear "yoke, throttle quadrant, foot pedels, radio. I have FSX and FS panel Studio. I want to make this really cool and fun for us but i know this process can get crazy? Im fine with crazy as long as i am moving in the right direction? I understand FSX will not work on anything newer than XP so i guess i am limited to older systems? I would love any input you guys can give me for a father/son project not going crazy on technicals but simple fun stuff? Thanks.

[RayS]

First off, welcome to the dark side!!

Like you, I came into this hobby hard-charging and full of enthusiasm. A lot of this hobby is determined by your technical expertise and/or the depth of your wallet.

Take a deep breath, sit back, relax and know that you've entered a hobby with thousands who have gone before you, and have learned thousands of lessons, mostly the hard way. :-)

I started back in 1997 when this hobby was in it's infancy. It was a steep learning curve as there was no one out there, save for a few other nut-jobs who knew how to do this better than I.

If I were to do it all over again I'd offer this advice:

1. Determine your budget, and what you're willing to spend.
2. What is your technical expertise level? Are you a guy that knows how to solder and that's it or are you versed in electrical theory, avionics, analog and digital theory and execution, or...
3. Does your wallet dictate how far this hobby will take you?

A solid mental inventory of your intentions and capabilities is a good starting point. If you want to be just a desk jockey, perhaps adding things here and there as time and finances permit or do you want to jump into this whole-hog, casting all financial concerns to the wind, or are you somewhere in the middle?

Most of us here are probably somewhere in the middle (Except for Sam! ;-) ). Myself, I started with a small mindset, but have since assembled several sims and finally have settled on the best of several worlds and disciplines: The BeechCraft B1900.

Regardless, I think an honest evaluation of where or how you'd like to start is a great entry point and no matter where you want to start, there are numerous experts on these forums that can assist.

We're a great bunch of people, all having learned valuable, and sometimes expensive lessons.

We're also quite insane... ;-)

Welcome aboard!

My current project: a Beech 1900 
http://anthonyscottphotography.com/b1900/h1578d758#h28eaa4b3

[KyleH]

Welcome.

As always, first step is to research research research. Spending some extra time digging around will help alleviate problems and added cost later on.

FSX will absolutely run on Windows7. Search for the 'FSX computer bible.' It's a very good article on what it takes to get a good FSX system running. I wouldn't try it on Windows 8 or newer. FS9 is the one that can have a few issues with Win7 depending on the setup.

If you have an older system, you may want to start with FS9, as it is not as demanding once you start adding multiple views, screens etc. Mine is still running FS9 off one machine, until I get around to updating the computer to a modern system.

A lot can be done with just some screens a few joysticks, and some construction/soldering skills for a GA sim.

My brother has a PA30 cockpit, that we got running just using joysticks and some touch screens.
Early picture:
20090912_1144 by m_disco, on Flickr

[indiefilmaker]

Thanks guys! both of your simulators look awesome! I would say my technical knowledge  and ability is a little better than average? Im happy to solder wires and cut wood. I was not aware that FSX can run on Windows 7 so that was VERY helpful info! I think we will start with a simple cockpit with a couple of monitors behind it to separate the gauges. I was gonna just do an overhead projector as this sim will live in the garage. I am going to pick up a Saitek trim wheel does anyone know if a flap bar is available to work on FSX?

[Sam Llorca]

Hum,  thank you Ray! Now everyone is going think I'm rich! ! Lol.
but true, your budget is very important because on this hobby we never finish no matter how big or small our sim may be!  Without counting your lost battles with the wife.
Cheers.

[Trevor Hale]

Lol @ Sam. Not Ritch buddy. Your just Fortunate lol. We can all tinker but you my friend have the mother load lol.