Flight Sim Beginner Questions

[facepoppies]

Hi! So, this is my first flight sim. I bought the game last night from JustFlight.com, and I'm going to play it for the first time after work today.

I've been reading a lot about trackir, and while it looks cool I simply don't have the budget to spend 150 bucks on something for one game.

Is there another way for me to look around the cockpit? Can I use my mouse to look around while I click on switches and stuff?

Also, I do have a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Flight Stick. Will this stick be adequate for flying?

And, lastly, I have no idea what I'm doing. Where can I find a good resource for teaching somebody who doesn't know where to put in the turn signal fluid how to fly a plane in this game? Or are the training missions good enough to get me going?

Whew. Thanks!

[Ailantd]

You can use mouse if you want, or keyboard, or in game auto padding, or if your stick has it one minipad. Anyway nothing of all these is compared with the feel and immersion of use trackIr.

[GnigruH]

I bought the game last night from JustFlight.com, and I'm going to play it for the first time after work today.
It's not that easy.

[facepoppies]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I know that trackir is great and wonderful, but it's also one hundred and fifty dollars. That's a lot of money, and more than I can afford, so please stop making me feel bad about my bank account.

[Ailantd]

It's not that easy.

In fact it is... crash the plane is also play with them :)

[GnigruH]

That's not what I meant.

[facepoppies]

That's not what I meant.
What did you mean?

[GnigruH]

Never mind... mustn't scare off new players...


Yeah, you install this game and voila! You can PLAY it.

[Lusitani]

Hi! So, this is my first flight sim. I bought the game last night from JustFlight.com, and I'm going to play it for the first time after work today.


Honestly? I would start flying in IL2 - 1946 for a while if i was you....

[DD_crash]

If you cant afford trackIR there is always freetrack. Google it ;) Also it might be better to start with Il2 1946 as Cliffs still has a LOT of patches/fixes to be done yet.

[jf1981]

Hi,

Yes, I normally use mouse in left hand. In this new sim, as it is now, one needs to press one mouse button in order to control head direction, but it may be patched or customizable so you don't need to keep pressing a button.

Regards
JF

[Ailantd]

Hi,

Yes, I normally use mouse in left hand. In this new sim, as it is now, one needs to press one mouse button in order to control head direction, but it may be patched or customizable so you don't need to keep pressing a button.

Regards
JF

Try pressing F10... you will be surprised!

[facepoppies]

Hm, i'm wondering now if I can use the hatswitch on my stick for free look?

Yeah, somebody else told me to start with the earlier il-2 game, but I don't wanna. Is that crazy? I can't think of a better reason not to than "I don't wanna." Haha. This game, from all the vids I've seen, looks so freaking amazing.

My specs are i7950, 6gb ddr3 ram, and a gtx 580, so I should be able to play it on medium. And, hey, if I have to go through some patches to play it on high detail, then I'll wait.

[Ailantd]

Hm, i'm wondering now if I can use the hatswitch on my stick for free look?

Yeah, somebody else told me to start with the earlier il-2 game, but I don't wanna. Is that crazy? I can't think of a better reason not to than "I don't wanna." Haha. This game, from all the vids I've seen, looks so freaking amazing.

My specs are i7950, 6gb ddr3 ram, and a gtx 580, so I should be able to play it on medium. And, hey, if I have to go through some patches to play it on high detail, then I'll wait.

Yes you can use the hatswitch.
All controls, view, camera, plane, etc... are fully customizable from setup.

[sg1221]

You should consider buying IL 2 1946 , it's very inexpensive , after you do
visit this website and the people there will teach you how to become a good pilot.
They are a great group of people and make learning fun ;)

http://www.joint-ops.com/php2/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

[Positronic]

I bought cliffs as my first flight sim (well first since on Amiga500 or something), few days later I have picked up il-2 1946 also, so much content for the price.

I have trackir envy also

[[RS]Boomer]

Ebay is a great place to find TrackIR for cheap. I picked my TrackIR 4 for $50 on ebay.

[Jaws2002]

Hm, i'm wondering now if I can use the hatswitch on my stick for free look?

Yeah, somebody else told me to start with the earlier il-2 game, but I don't wanna. Is that crazy? I can't think of a better reason not to than "I don't wanna." Haha. This game, from all the vids I've seen, looks so freaking amazing.

My specs are i7950, 6gb ddr3 ram, and a gtx 580, so I should be able to play it on medium. And, hey, if I have to go through some patches to play it on high detail, then I'll wait.

That's the spirit!:grin:

Welcome facepoppies.:)

You can look around with the hat switch. It should come already mapped by default with the views.
You don't need any external stuf to fly. Sure once you got used with the game, controls and flying, you can try free track or other things, but they are not mandatory.
Even if the views are not maped you can do it yourself. Just go in the contrls meny and map the pan or snap views on the hat switch. They are both useful. Before I got trackIR i was playing for years with the hat. I prefered fast snap views in combat.

About learning to fly in a sim in genral, there are very good tutorials around that could help you a lot. They are not made for this game but the idea is to get the general idea.

Here are some good ones:


"In pursuit" is a great start:
http://pilotpress.wordpress.com/in-pursuit/

There's also a lot of good info on that site.

There are some excelent video tutorials about combat maneuvers made by Requem in Rise of Flight. They are made for a ww1 game, but are very good to understand some basic combat maneuvers:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Requiem10NS

Also a lot of great video tutorials for Il2 on "Dart's Page"
here:

http://www.darts-page.com/



Speciffically for Cliffs of Dover is good to do the in game tutorials/flight training and read the manual found in /Steam/Steam apps/common/Il-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of dover/ folder.
Anything that you don't understand, you can ask here and someone will help you.

Good luck and most important have fun.:grin:

[Anvilfolk]

I've been following the forum. My guess is that even with that system you might need to tweak the config file by hand or something like that.

I had a T-Flight Stick X, not HOTAS. It's not a particularly good stick, at least from my experience, but I suspect mine had some problems. Anyway, it has a twist rudder, which you definitely want, and it'll do.

Takes awhile to really enjoy a good flight sim. I hope you keep at it :) It won't be just bells and whistles, and there's an impressive amount of depth in it all. Hopefully you will enjoy it!

Here's to hoping all goes well! Let us know :)

[ATAG_Doc]

Hi! So, this is my first flight sim. I bought the game last night from JustFlight.com, and I'm going to play it for the first time after work today.

I've been reading a lot about trackir, and while it looks cool I simply don't have the budget to spend 150 bucks on something for one game.

Is there another way for me to look around the cockpit? Can I use my mouse to look around while I click on switches and stuff?

Also, I do have a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Flight Stick. Will this stick be adequate for flying?

And, lastly, I have no idea what I'm doing. Where can I find a good resource for teaching somebody who doesn't know where to put in the turn signal fluid how to fly a plane in this game? Or are the training missions good enough to get me going?

Whew. Thanks!

Son! You don't have time to learn all that the war will be over by then! Just load it up and go! Get into your plane and take off and shoot down the enemy! Spend as much as you can afford on flight sim toys you'll only be glad you did. Now hurry up we have a lot of work to do!

And as always. Remember to check your 6.

[drewpee]

Find the money, sell a kidney beg the wife or sell a child. You will be glad you did. ;)

[Rattlehead]

Hm, i'm wondering now if I can use the hatswitch on my stick for free look?



My personal opinion is either use the hat switch ir use the mouse if you can get used to it. I use the mouse personally, and it works just fine.
One day I will invest in TrackIR, but for now I'm quite content.

TrackIR is fine and well, but what if you find out you don't enjoy the game or flight sims in general?

My advice is know what you're getting into before investing heavily into it.

[facepoppies]

My personal opinion is either use the hat switch ir use the mouse if you can get used to it. I use the mouse personally, and it works just fine.
One day I will invest in TrackIR, but for now I'm quite content.

TrackIR is fine and well, but what if you find out you don't enjoy the game or flight sims in general?

My advice is know what you're getting into before investing heavily into it.

The mouse works great, but it seems really difficult to move a hand to the mouse in the middle of a fight because you have to take your hand off the stick.

[Widow17]

The mouse works great, but it seems really difficult to move a hand to the mouse in the middle of a fight because you have to take your hand off the stick.

use your left hand for mouse, its a little bit tricky in the beginning but works as great as trackir after some practice. Still you have to jump around with your left hand for throttle, proppitch flaps and stuff. So i recommend trackir for maximum game experience.

[HFC_Dolphin]

There is only one important thing when you start flight sims and this is the joystick.

http://il2-diaries.blogspot.com/2011/04/flying-with-keyboard.html