Software

Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the main platform for this sim plus various add-ons. The main one being the Flight 1 Pilatus PC12X plus their C172R for FSX..

For the hardware interface all software is kindly developed and available from Open Cockpits and used exclusively with their hardware. Of course the hardware interface you decide upon will determine the software you use, so choose all elements carefully. This hardware comes with two software choices; IOCard's or SIOC. IOCard's is the simpler and more basic allowing you to quickly connect switches and buttons and activate standard functions. SIOC however is an event based program and is far more powerful and flexible. With this software I am able to program functions not generally available via FS directly such as the autopilot test routine. LED's are programmed to blink in response to certain actions and audio files played on command to simulate the actual startup test routine for the KFC325. In addition, the program needs to be run prior to leaving the ground or the autopilot will not allow activation during flight and the test routine won't run if the aircraft is in flight. All programmed using SIOC!

Of course a must for any serious simmer is FSUIPC from Peter Dowson. You really can't adequately configure any add on hardware without it!

Other software to enhance the experience include Flight Terrain X from Orbix for stunning landscape textures, Active Sky X and Radar Contact for realistic weather and air traffic control plus FSGenesis and Flight Environment for scenery enhancement. If you don't already know of them have a look at the Flight 1 website for a good selection and review. I have also recently installed FSInn and Teamspeak for online ATC. These all run on the second networked PC relieving the load on my FS PC. Of course for added colour and realism, the Australian developers at Vista Australis have some great ground texture enhancements and a very informative forum on their website. And best of all ITS FREE!! You can join them on Teamspeak and ask the experts or just go fly online with them.

An essential additional system tool is Ultimate Defrag. This powerful utility does an excellent job of defragmenting files and also lets you place certain files on the outer edge of the disk for greater performance. This is exactly where Windows and FSX are placed.