"Anonymous" wrote in message
...
J Kelley wrote in message ...
Thanks, Graeme. It probably will help those who are willing to spend the
time to search the avsim library, especially if they also have the time
and
means to deal with unforeseen conflicts. Of course, the "guage" is
probably
harmless. Still, although I like good upgrades and add-ons, I prefer to
avoid tinkering for small and questionable gains, especially when the
stock
product provides a suitable means for obtaining the desired result.

Suitable, yes - ideal, no.

Ah well, we try and fail, try and fail.

The game is marketed "As Real As It Gets", right ?

Indeed it is!! Very good point. What do you consider the key word in the
point you have just made? Is it "Real," or is it "game?"

So you're saying that a real airline pilot will get into an aircraft, and,
handily, someone will have started up the engines for him ?

Oh no, I'm not saying that. I didn't say anything remotely like that. I
did not suggest that "someone will have started up the engines" for anyone
and I didn't even mention airline pilots. I hope they are not, as a group,
miffed and feeling left out. What I did say (that you didn't bother to
re-post) was that I agreed with Quilljar
regarding a method for providing what you and Ohmelads apparantly want: A
cold, dark airplane with engines not running at the start of a simulation.
That is easily accomplished by the method Quilljar suggested:

1. Set up your aircraft with engines not running.
2. Save that set up as a flight.
3. Set that flight as default.

The next time you start the simulation program, it will start with the new
default flight and you will have your cold, dark airplane with engines not
running.
Your default flight will remain the same unless you or someone else
deliberately changes it. Thus, you will have the conditions you like each
time you start your
simulator.

No! You get into an aircraft, and you go through the power up sequence,
start up the engines, and then lay in your course.

Good for you! I wish every pilot would get into their aircraft before they
go through the power up sequence and lay in their course. Save a lot of
needless bother.

Now if I have 300 odd different aircraft, but always want to start up the
game environment in a cold dark cockpit, that involves having to save a
different flight every time. Which is a lame solution.

Not to mention a rather lame pasttime. Never mind, if you want to fly 300
different airplanes, that's your bliss. You can set up 300 flights with
your desired conditions for each. Only one can be default, but it's as easy
to select another flight as it is to select another aircraft.

So this is why Matthias Lieberecht wrote "Cold and Dark Cockpit Gauge".
The
file, which is called "mlcadgau.zip" is available on
http://library.avsim.net
and is really easy to install in your aircraft panels, no matter who made
the aircraft/panel, whether the aircraft/panel is a jet, prop, helicopter,
or whether it is freeware/shareware/payware.

Thanks for the file name. You remember, I admitted that it might come in
handy.

Once its installed, it stays installed, and I don't need to create loads
of
flights for each aircraft/situation I might possibly want to fly. Just
install once in each panel.

Gosh, I wonder which would be easier, installing the "gauge" in 300
different panels, or saving 300 different flights? The mind reels.

Now I just put forward a piece of friendly advice, and made a comment
about
a feature I think Microsoft should have put into Flight Simulator but
didn't,
and you feel justified somehow in putting across a smartarse remark
debunking
everything I've said and trying to make me look really ****ing stupid ?

No need to thank me. It was nothing, really.

**** off.

Temper, temper. You mustn't get so upset. You might start thrashing about
and step on one of your nice shiny airplanes.

Ohmelads - you can use the gauge I mentioned above. It works really well,
and should give you what you need without mucking around too much.

Really, the gauge provides something that Microsoft didn't when they wrote
FS2002. I think there should be an option within the "Settings" -
"Realism"
menu to allow you to start off in a cold dark cockpit. That way you can
go
through the startup routines of any aircraft as a real pilot would do.

Well, it sems I have to agree with you on another point. The game really
isn't as real as it gets. It only gets as real as it gets for those who land
the kind of jobs most simmers lust after. If only flight simulation could
guarantee such employment for each fledgling after three years simming
(first officer aboard, say at least a 737, or top gun US Navy fighter
pilot), we would hear far fewer of such complaints. When I was a lad, I
received, for small change and a few Ovaltine labels, one of his highly
sought after Decoder Badges and a membership card show the I was a member in
good standing in Captain Midnight's "Secret Squadron." I have to admit that
I was disappointed in the experiences derived from those treasures. The
messages I decoded with the Decoder Badge, telling me to drink more
Ovaltine, didn't seem worth the effort and the "Secret Squadron" wasn't all
that secret. I wanted to fly with my hero, but he never invited me and so I
decided that the badge and the squadron membership weren't "as real as it
gets," 'though not precisely in those terms. I don't remember discarding
them, but neither do I know where the hell they went. My point is just
this: I feel your pain.

Cheers
Graeme


Dear Graeme,

The "gauge" may be a keen solution for you and for many others. It might
also suit me, but Quilljar's solution is by far the best answer to Ohmelads
questions:

He asked: "Is it possible to start a simulation without the engines running?

The answer is clearly: Yes.

He also asked: "Is there something you can click in the settings to get this
to happen?"

The answer is: A qualified yes. First, save a flight with engines not
running and then "set" that flight as your default flight.

That answers Ohmelads questions. Of course, there are other solutions that
might suit him better, including the "gauge," but he didn't ask for other
solutions. He asked for a way "to start a simulation without the engines
running." You do not say that the "gauge" will do that. I would expect that
the "gauge" will only work after start up and that is not the same as
starting a simulation without the engines running.

Why, you could even do both. You could start up with dead engines, start
the engines and then shut 'em down with the gauge! Wheeeeee!!

Kalijaa