Part I

GETTING OFF THE GROUND
This portion of the guide will help every virtual aviator, from the new pilot to the seasoned aviator. The setup tips in Chapter 1 will help you get your system and the simulator into top form, with easy-to-follow instructions for optimizing performance. Chapter 2 should prove to be an invaluable resource for every pilot, with full start-up and takeoff checklists for every aircraft in the simulator. From there, youll learn how to actually apply your navigation skills in practice with the navigation instruction in Chapter 3. Finally, pilots of all skill levels will benefit from the advanced maneuvers and procedures detailed in Chapter 4. Whether youre just starting a virtual piloting career or expanding one, youll find essential information in this section of the guide to help you enjoy Flight Simulator 2002 to its fullest.

CHAPTER 1

Ground School
This chapter contains information that novice pilots and veteran aviators alike need to get into the air with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002. It begins with tips for optimizing your systems configuration and program settings. We then look at Flight Simulator 2002s in-game settings and discuss peripheral devices that help create an accurate simulation experience.
Configuring the Simulation
Flight Simulator 2002 is one of the most advanced programs on the market today in any field. The simulation pushes the performance of modern desktop systems to the very edge of their capabilities, with demands on everything from raw processing power to displaying graphics to sound mixing. However, it can function equally well on a system that just squeaks by with the minimum system requirements. All thats required is a little bit of tweaking with your system and Flight Simulator 2002 itself. This section will help TIP you do just that.

Optimizing Your System

There are a few things you can do to make sure that your system is fully capable of running Flight Simulator 2002 at a reasonable level of performance. Obviously, you could go out and buy the fastest computer with the most advanced features available, but thats not a very realistic solution for most of us. Still, there are some relatively inexpensive upgrades that will make a huge difference in the performance of your entire system, Flight Simulator 2002 included: Buy a 3D graphics card: While cutting-edge graphics cards run hundreds of dollars, video cards with slightly dated chipsets can be found at affordable prices. For example, you should be able to pick up a card based on the Voodoo 2 or Voodoo 3 chipsets, the ATI Rage chipset, or one of the older NVidia chipsets for under $50. These cards are inexpensive for a reason: theyre older and generally feature 8MB or 12MB of Video RAM (VRAM). Flight Simulator 2002 requires at least 8MB VRAM, and your performance will definitely be better if you spend a bit more and get a card with at least 16MB RAM. Make sure the 3D graphics card you buy is a hardware accelerator, not a softwareaccelerated 3D card. Many cards call themselves 3D just because they can take advantage of Windows Direct3D software, but there is a great performance difference between 3D software acceleration and 3D hardware acceleration. Install more memory: Memory (also referred to as Random Access Memory, or RAM) is extremely inexpensive these days, and its one of the easiest components for users to install by themselves. You should upgrade in whatever denomination you can afford, although the price point for 256MB chips is ideal (as of this writing).

Be sure to check out the Before You Fly Handbook, included on your Flight Simulator CDs. It contains a great deal of helpful information for setting up both your system and the simulation.

Chapter 1 Ground School

Optimizing Windows
The first step in getting the best performance out of any program is to ensure that youre getting top performance out of your Windows operating system. Since Windows is behind every program that runs on your desktop, it makes sense that any program will only run as well as you have WARNING Windows configured. Below, youll find a few techniques for optimizing your Windows configuration.
If youre not comfortable implementing any of the changes in this section, dont try them! We cant offer technical support or accept liability for any changes to your computer or system, but these procedures have worked for us on most systems with a good degree of success.
Most of the following changes will require you to change system settings. For maximum safety, write down the original settings before you implement any changes. This way, youll be able to easily change them back in case you experience a problem. Also, you will often be asked to reboot your system in order for changes to take effect; do this each time the option is offered, to help ensure stability.

Disk Defragmentation

Perhaps the easiest system optimization you can perform is to defragment (defrag) your hard drive(s). As you store and erase information on your computer over time, related materials end up spread all over the place. The defrag process cleans this mess up, putting all related information together. Defragmentation can take over an hour on larger drives, so be sure to schedule the operation when you wont need the computer for a while. To defragment your drive, follow these steps: 1. Close all programs; e-mail, communications programs, virus scanners, or any other applications that periodically access the hard drive will force the defrag process to start over. 2. Click Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and then Disk Defragmenter. 3. At the Select Drive prompt, you should be defaulted to the C: physical drive. If so, click OK; otherwise, use the drop-down menu to select the C: physical drive before clicking OK.

WARNING

Its important to close all programs when optimizing your system. Check your system tray on your desktops Start menu bar and close all programs other than those essential to running Windows. Some programs require you to open the Close Program dialog box (press Ctrl-Alt-Del once).

Virtual Memory Settings

By default, Windows 95 and 98 use a system called virtual memory to let your computer act as if it has more physical RAM than it actually does. Virtual memory has many advantages, but it does come with some drawbacks as well. First, information stored on your hard drives is retrieved much more slowly than information stored in physical memory. Second, Windows dynamically controls the size of your virtual memory cache, meaning that it constantly monitors your need and changes its size as necessary. This is a burden on your processor and does cause some performance degradation. To fix this in Windows 95 and 98 (for later versions of Windows, please consult the operating systems Help), do the following: 1. Open System Properties in Control Panel by selecting Start, then Settings, and then Control Panel. 2. Select the Performance tab. Make a note of the amount of memory you have installed, as shown at the top of the dialog box. 3. Click the Virtual Memory button on the bottom of the window. On the next screen, select Let me specify my own virtual memory settings by clicking the appropriate radio button. 4. In the boxes below, select your fastest hard drive from the pull-down menu. Some people have installed newer hard drives as a drive D: or higher; if you have a newer and faster drive installed, select it instead of your C: drive. 5. You want 640MB of memory in your system, as a total of your physical RAM and your virtual memory. Remembering the amount of memory installed in your system from the display above, enter an amount that will add up to 640MB in the Minimum and Maximum fields. So if your system has 256MB of physical RAM, type 384 into both fields to give you a total of 640MB. By setting the minimum and maximum to the same size, your computer wont waste processor cycles managing it.

Optimizing the Simulation Settings
Flight Simulator 2002 is fully customizable, allowing you to tailor the simulations processing demands to your computers specific configuration. You can set the simulator to display sparse terrain with no frills, full-screen 3D with accelerated high-resolution graphics and computer-controlled planes filling the sky, or anything in between. This wide range of options means that a wide range of computers can successfully run the simulation. You can access all of the simulators options through the Settings screen, shown in Figure 1.1. All settings in a demanding program like Flight Simulator should be seen as compromises. Unless you have the latest and greatest hardware across the board (processor, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, etc.), you probably wont be able to run the simulation with all
Figure 1.1 The Settings screen offers powerful configuration options.
of the settings maxed out. However, thats not really necessary for an excellent sim experience. All you have to do is learn to balance performance with features. The simulation can push your computer to the limit. Go beyond the limit, and Flight Simulator 2002 will run too slowly to be enjoyed. Every feature you turn on takes up some

Frame Rates

One universal requirement in Flight Simulator 2002 is frame rate. This term is a measure of how many picture frames per second (FPS) are displayed on your screen. A frame rate of about 11 FPS is the absolute minimum acceptable, and most people prefer a minimum frame rate of 16 FPS or more. Anything less results in some strange situations because of display lag. At very low frame rates, the difference between what the simulation is doing and what you actually see on the screen can be significant. Eventually, you will see things too late to react to them. For example, you wont be able to tell when to center your controls when banking, because you will see the plane jerking around in response to input sent earlier. To see your current frame rate, press Shift-Z twice. The first time you press it, youll see your planes coordinates displayed. The second will bring up the frame rate display, which shows both the FPS and your current G-loads (which are described in Chapter 4: Spreading Your Wings). Use this display liberally when tweaking your simulator settings. It provides useful feedback on the effects that your selections are having on overall simulation performance. By changing one thing at a time and then looking at the frame rate, youll see which settings have the most effect on your computer system and you can plan further tweaks accordingly.
of your PCs resources, so the trick is to figure out which features are important to you and which you can live without. Your ultimate goal should be to tailor the settings to give you performance within the bounds of your computers capabilities, while still delivering all the features that you want. The central compromise in all settings is speed versus quality and quantity. On one side of the equation are smooth motion, crisp control response, seamless instrument displays, and generally fast performance. Weighing against this is the natural desire for an environment that looks and feels as real as possible, with highly detailed graphics, dense terrain features near the ground, air traffic and dynamic scenery, and other features that simply make everything look better.

Display Settings

Your first stop should be the Display Settings menu. This controls all aspects of the look of the simulator, which has the greatest overall impact on performance. The first tab is the Scenery menu. This section controls all of the specific scenery settings. Before fiddling with the individual settings, try the drop-down Global Scenery Settings menu. If your system is near the minimum requirements, try choosing Low here. Medium befits the recommended system, and High is best for systems that exceed the recommended requirements. Choose the Extremely High setting only if your computer is truly cutting-edge.
Remember that there is a point of diminishing returns with graphics quality. Since this is a simulation of flight (and flight is about moving), as your graphics quality makes frame rates fall below 15 FPS, the simulation will start to look worse instead of better because of the choppy motion.
Note that each settings impact on performance is also greatly dependent upon where you fly. Flying over Denver, the water effects setting will have little effect on performance, but the terrain mesh will have a huge impact because of the mountainous topography. Conversely, spend most of your time crossing the Atlantic at night and in fog, and there will be no difference in performance even with terrain texture qualities maxed out, since no terrain textures can be displayed! Below is a general look at each Scenery setting. As noted above, your mileage may vary depending upon the conditions and locations in which you fly. Scenery Texture Quality: Scenery Texture Quality controls the appearance of the surfaces of the scenery in the simulation. Everything you see in Flight Simulator 2002 is made up of polygons, which have painted surfaces used to suggest details. For example, a building might look like it has windows, doors, trim, and so on, when it is really just a flat wall with those details painted on it. The higher the texture quality, the better those details will look.
Terrain Mesh Complexity: This setting governs the distance between each elevation point on the ground, which determines the size of the polygons that make up ground features. More polygons mean more detailed terrain. Polygon count is also a sure-fire way to slow down performance, so be careful with this one. Terrain Texture Size: This controls the distance at which you see complex scenery. The higher this setting, the greater the distance at which youll see detailed, high-resolution terrain. Obviously, this will take its toll on performance, so use it sparingly. Autogen Density: New for Flight Simulator 2002, the Autogen Density setting creates trees, buildings, and other appropriate objects in places where specific ground objects havent already been placed. This helps the world look more realistic and populated. The denser the setting, the more often youll encounter these objects. Autogen causes a moderate performance hit. Scenery Complexity: All of the scenery objects in the simulation are controlled here. Higher settings mean more buildings, trees, roads, towers, and everything else that sits on the ground. This can cause a significant hit on frame rates, but its also one of the frills that makes flying the simulator enjoyable if youre using visual flight rules or sightseeing. Conversely, if you mostly fly at high altitude or in inclement weather, you wont notice much difference except when landing and taking off. Scenery Effects: This setting should be kept fairly high, as most special effects appear rarely and the overall performance hit is negligible. If you want to see jet contrails and the Extra 300Ss smoke trails but your system is bogging down, this is the setting to adjust. Maximum Visibility: Absolute maximum visibility range before things are fogged out at the horizon is handled here. The higher you set it, the farther youll see into the distance. This setting has the greatest effect on slower computers. If its important to see your immediate surroundings, trade distance for local quality. Water Effects: This turns on wave action along coastlines. If you fly close enough to see them, youll take a performance hit, so bewareyou dont want to be pushing 12 FPS and then wander into a beach area, as your frame rate would drop and you might be unable to control the plane. Dynamic Scenery: This setting adjusts how much dynamic scenery, including air traffic, appears. The more dynamic scenery you select, the more your PCs resources will be taxed. Similar setting options are included for the aircraft models in the game. If you like using the chase plane or tower views, use higher settings on the Exterior Texture Size and Global Aircraft Quality options. And if you use the virtual cockpit for anything other than occasional sightseeing, youll want to use a higher quality there. Checkboxes for the individual effects (shown in Figure 1.2) do have an effect on performanceturning off shadows is one way to

Gear Up!

Figure 1.2 The Aircraft Display Settings menu controls the appearance of aircraft.
gain an extra frame or two immediately. Reflections look beautiful, but they also cost quite a bit of processor time. The last tab in the Display Settings menu is called Hardware. The resolution you use will have one of the most significant effects on your frame rates. A minimum machine should use 640x480, and you can go up from there depending on your system capabilities. Note that 3D visuals work only when flying the simulation in full-screen mode, so always use this setting if youre pushing your performance with a true 3D card. Hardware Rendering Options improve the overall texture quality, but they do have a noticeable effect on performance.
Much of the enjoyment when flying a simulator comes from getting as close as you can to the real thing. There are a few things that you can do to help re-create some of the authentic flying experience, and this section examines those methods.

The Flight Controller

One of the most significant ways to enhance your experience with Flight Simulator 2002 is to use full-featured controllers. While any two-button joystick performs the absolute minimum pitch and roll functions, having a controller similar to the ones in real aircraft helps you feel like youre really in a plane. Since you dont have any other physical sensations of
flight (no inertial forces, no wind in your hair, no smells of engine oil), the controls in your hand are really your only physical tie to flying and, therefore, are extremely important.

Joysticks

A joystick is the most practical way to control your simulator. It can be used for Flight Simulator 2002 and as your primary controller for any other software title that makes use of a standard joystick. This makes it an investment in fun that can cover multiple games, which certainly makes the WARNING most sense for those concerned with the bottom line.
Not all hat switches are the same. Some offer only four-way viewing, which restricts your control to the four cardinal directions. This is almost useless for taxiing and navigation, when you need your front quarters. Look for a stick that has an eight-way hat switch.

At their most basic, joysticks are simple two-axis affairs with two or four buttons. It might be a good idea to spend a few extra dollars to purchase a quality stick. If you crank away on your joystick while powering through a high-G maneuver, you can exert serious forces on its components. A broken stick that you have to replace is more expensive than the durable one you bought only once.
When selecting a stick, pay special attention to the gimbals, mechanical links that allow the stick to pivot. These are usually the first things to give way in a stick, so look for strong construction. Microsoft has a complete line of versatile, affordable joysticks in the SideWinder family. Both the Precision 2 and Force Feedback 2 models offer eight-way hat switches and rudder controls. For more information, check out http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/sidewinder/sidewinder.asp. Saitek makes a base-model joystick line with an innovative spring system that will probably outlast your PC. They are a good choice for pilots who arent looking to spend a lot on a controller, since they still offer features such as multiple buttons and a separate throttle like their more expensive cousins (see Figure 1.3). For the ultimate joystick suite, try one with a separate throttle (sometimes called a HOTAS, which is short for Hands On Throttle And Stick). This type of stick is more expensive than a basic model, but you might find the features make it worth the extra cost. These sticks are readily available in most computer stores, which puts them within reach of the average armchair pilot. Thrustmaster produces a popular stick and throttle combo called the Top Gun Afterburner, shown in Figure 1.4. The Afterburner includes eight buttons, an eightway hat switch to change views, a full-throttle handle, and a selectable rudder that allows you to control the rudder by either twisting the stick or by using a fingertip rocker switch on the far side of the throttle handle. Stick twisting is a common feature these days, but you can get more precise control from the throttle rocker, making this controller very attractive
Figure 1.3 The Saitek ST110 and ST220 are solid base-level joysticks with throttle levers and multiple buttons.
Figure 1.4 The Thrustmaster Top Gun Afterburner is an excellent fullfeatured joystick and throttle suite.
for the Flight Simulator pilot. Also, the joystick and throttle can be screwed together into a single unit for use on cramped desks, or even in your lap. Flight yokes and rudder pedals are the closest thing you can get to the controls found in most civil aircraft, but theyre hard to find in retail outlets. If youre willing to order through the mail, you can find flight yoke systems with various feature sets available for purchase

direct from the manufacturers. You can also get rudder pedal systems. Be sure that they are compatible with the flight yoke you select, though, as even some systems made by the same manufacturers are not compatible with all of their products. This sometimes makes the business of selecting a yoke and pedal system a complicated process. However, you can find some great hints and tips online by surfing to http://www.flightsim.com for information and reviews of some of the systems available. The manufacturers Web sites also include useful feature information.
Your sound system should not be underestimated when considering flight hardware. Flight Simulator 2002 faithfully reproduces the sounds of being in flight, and your system should take full advantage of them with a proper sound card and speaker system. Faint, scratchy, or tinny sounds will constantly remind you that youre in your home or office sitting at a keyboard. The most common type of sound card is a 16-bit model. You can also go to the other extreme with 128-bit cards that have radio tuners, mixing boards, and a host of other stuff that you might not need. The best way to go is with a straightforward card made especially for gaming. There are several on the market today that are available for under $60. Speakers are probably even more important than your sound card. Almost all sound cards can at least do a passable job at sound processing, but unamplified, low-quality speakers probably wont do a very good job of properly imaging the throaty roar of a 747s engines. Your local electronics superstore often has specials on amplified speakers that provide a much more exciting aural atmosphere for around $25. Spend a little more and you can get a subwoofer, which is a box that specializes in producing deep bass soundsperfect for a little kick in the pants when something exciting happens!

Your First Flight

With your system optimized, the simulator configured, and your peripherals in place, youre ready to fly! The quick reference card included with Flight Simulator 2002 includes step-bystep instructions on getting in the air for free flight. Feel free to ignore air traffic control, airspace restrictions, and TIP even destination concernsjust get up there and fly! If you select a populated area such as southern California or the U.S. Eastern seaboard, youll find a place to land simThe glossary on the simulators disc provides ply by flying in any direction (except maybe out to sea) useful definitions for every aviatorcheck it for a long enough time. out if you encounter a word or concept you dont understand.

For information on creating a specific flight plan, turn to Chapter 6. Therein youll find a detailed examination of the considerations that shape a formal flight plan, and youll learn how to create any flight plan you want. Chapters 7 and 8 provide you with walkthroughs of the simulators new flight activities, which are themed flights, complete with background situations and fully programmed flight plans. Choose any of them, and flip to the appropriate walkthrough for a full-fledged flight experience!