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This is a description of my FS9-based flight simulation.
Computer hardware: AMD 64 FX-57 with 2 GB
PC 3200 (OZC) memory and three WD Raptor 10,000rpm SATA drives in a RAID 10 (Two for Three redundant) configuration.
TWO (yes, two) XFX GeForce 7800GTX video cards (450MHz core/1250MHz memory) - NOT in SLI configuration!, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
MoBo, OZC 520W PS. Lian-Li aluminum case with a gazillion noisy ball-bearing fans.
Displays: 1) SONY GDM-FW900
CRT, 2) ViewSonic P225f CRT, 3) Princeton VL1715 LCD, 4) Hong-Kong purchased (on eBay) TM-868 8" LCD/Touch Panel. UPDATE:
the ViewSonic is gone, replaced by a TRIO of 19" LCD's linked by a Matrox TripleHead2Go video multiplexor -
see Page 4! (BTW, the ViewSonic died a week after I "donated" it to my wife's computer... coincidence?...)
Sim hardware:
Stick/yoke: Saitek Cyborg 3D set for the LEFT hand. [Short essay: Why the
left? If you are the pilot-in-command of a fixed-wing aircraft, you seat on the left seat, fly the airplane with your
left hand, and with the right tune the radios, operate the GPS and swat the first officer. The only people that
fly the airplane with their right hand are a) instructors (who seat on the right seat while the student flies from
the left one), b) helicopter pilots, who similarly seat on the right, and c) jet fighter jocks, for reasons that are lost
in history.]
Tried a bunch of yokes, other sticks; the Saitek and the CH classic are the only two that work comfortably with the left
hand. The CH yoke feels like a toy, haven't tried one of the expensive metal yokes (may eventually get one, on a "floor"
mounted bungee-stabilized column).
Seat/Pedals: 1999 Jeep Cherokee power seat, GoFlight GF-RC rudder pedals on
a plywood base on 6 furniture ball casters.
GoFlight modules: GF-TQ6 throttles, GF-LGT trim/gear/flap combo,
GF-MCP Autopilot module, GF-166A Nav/Com/Adf control head, RP48 knob/buttom combo.
Natural Point TrackIR head
tracking camera (not fully satisfactory yet; work in progress)
Software: currently tuning a DreamFleet Baron
58 with RealityXP Garmin 530 GPS - the closest high-quality fs9 add-on to the 1980 Cessna 310 (turbo, though, the B58 is normally
aspirated) that I fly; next (more work in progress): Eaglesoft Citation II with RealityXP ADI and HSI (I'm type-rated on the
Citation... wish I had one... wish I FLEW one...)
By "tuning" I mean getting a sim good enough to produce
a creditable single-engine "workout"...
STOP THOSE PRESSES AGAIN!... Bought the Mindstar G-1000 simulator and Eaglesoft's SR22 with the Avidyne glass cockpit...
trying to integrate both with the sim... see Page 4!
The picture above shows the original setup with the four monitors, the custom-built 25" height table (3/4" red
oak plywood, IKEA legs), read oak structure for the GoFlight modules and the two small monitors.
A prerequisite of my project was that the "panel" be removable so that the "original" computer and two main monitors
could be used as a... well... as a computer. The entire assembly you see (including the two smaller monitors) can be
lifted and put to a side and the keyboard placed in its stead on the table. The setup I have now is more "permanent",
to the right of the "main" CRT monitor (again, see Page 4).
Above's a closeup of the "main panel" on a 17" LDC, and the selectable-subpanel 8" touch screen, currently showing the
Garmin 530. The gauges on the 17" LCD are straight from the DreamFleet Baron 58 with the exception of the custom
simple stopwatch at the top left of the main panel which I xml'ed.
This picture shows the details of the table and the GoFlight modules. Below the throttles is the set of buttons
"recycled" from a cheap Logiteck Attack 3 joystick. These buttons are used to pause/resume the sim, reset the chrono
(that took some doing with the stock FS9 watches! I have some xml if anyone is interested), select various panels on
the 8" touch screen, and, in particular, model the Citation's funny speedbrake toggle switch (large toggle at the extreme
right of the row).
By the way, I gulped REALLY hard before deciding to buy the second PCIe 7800GTX at over $550....
Unfortunately, ANY PCI video card I added produced a "stuttering" proportional to the amount of graphics in the video card(s)
(I tried dividing the load between two low-end PCI cards - no joy). Also, fooling around with bus latency, process priority,
memory management, etc. didn't fix the stuttering. Only two things eliminated it: reducing or removing the 2D imagery
on the PCI card, and installing the second PCIe card... SIGH!... (I know, I know, FS9 is not supposed to be a graphics hog,
but I don't think the stuttering problem is due to graphics horsepower, rather some strange bus architecture phenomenon
that the dual PCIe cards solve. Currently I can run an incredibly smooth 20-25 frames per second with all scenery and
realism guns blazing...)
Here's a 1999 Jeep Grand Chrokee front pax power seat that I found on eBay for $25 (plus $70 shipping! - worth every
cent - it came packaged as if for a round-trip to Bagdad!). A 12V 5A Radio Shack power supply barely produces enough
juice to run one of the seat motors at a time. Here's how the thing works: first, adjust you distance to the pedals
and you height/seat angle and back angle with the power seat; then, grab the two table legs under the screens and elegantly
slide yourself under the table, adjusting your distance to the screen and controls.
I had serious ESD (Electrostatic
Discharge) damage problems with the GoFlight rudder pedals due no doubt to my wood-mounted-over-a-cheap-wall-to-wall-carpet
setup. I eventually fixed the problem - after zapping two A/D chips - by means of heavy-duty grounding as well as leaving
the USB connection permanently attached (previously I disconnected and reconnected the pedals every time I moved the "pilots
chair"). Notice the grey braided wire among the wire bundle from the rudder pedals to the computer on the
picture above - it is connected to the computer case and then to a house cold water pipe. The next 2 pix shows how
I grounded the USB socket to the pedal frame assembly using a short wire, then to the braided ground strap.
There's less than 0.05 Ohm between the low-loss braid and the board's A/D analog ground (and digital ground too, since the
GoFlight designer chose to tie the analog and digital grounds on the board).
That fixed the problem.
After losing the GF-MCP autopilot control module (GoFLight replaced it no questions asked... well done!) I extended the
grounding scheme to EVERY SINGLE GoFlight module!!! A word to the wise!!!
(notice the MCP3208 chip is now in a socket; the first 3208 lasted 5 hours; Mitch at GoFlight was kind enough to send
me another board; that lasted another 5 hours! I then decided to debug the failure and found that the SPI output - yes,
output! - from the 3208 to the microcontroller was inop. I then decided to install a socket, Mitch sent me a couple
of 3208's, I did the above-described grounding job (see Ohmmeter reading) and - knock on metal - I've been runnning for
about 100 hours with no problems!!! Funny, the 3208's A/D inputs are ESD protected to 4,000V, and it's the SPI
output that got zapped!... go figure...)
Continue to Page 2...
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