MSFS immersion

[Snuffleupagus 354]

Hey guys!

I’m curious, what do you all do to keep MSFS interesting and immersive? Do you use apps? What gives the sim purpose for you rather than just the same old load up, fly from point a - b and shut down? I’ve been struggling lately in finding a feeling of purpose to my flights. I’ve tried On Air, A Pilots Life, NeoFly, and Self Loading Cargo. They are good apps but after a while, they become repetitive and a long grind to progress, plus being locked into schedules without the freedom of doing whatever random leg you want gets old. I miss the old FSPassengers program. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for which is why I’m here asking what you all do. But I do know loading up a plane and flying with no purpose starts to get boring and uninteresting. VATSIM does help though, but just feels like there could be more I’m maybe missing…

[Lord Farringdon 622]

Not sure what you fly or what level of complexity you are looking for in an aircraft but you could try a Poseidon on an surveillance patrol. No need for any special apps beyond Little Nav Map (LNM) but do have GAIST ships in your community folder, determine your search area and use LNM at 7000 feet (simulating a search radar) to identify AI shipping. Get down to 200 feet and take images as you pass by the target vessels. These will be used in later intelligence analysis to catch illegal fishing vessels for example.  See how many vessels you catch in your chosen search area. This is free roam so search areas can be as large or as small as you want and can be anywhere in the world.  Go around some South West Pacific Islands looking for yachts that may be transferring drugs from South America, how about conducting missions near N.Korea looking for illegal arms shipments. The possibilities are endless thanks to Gaist's AI shipping which incidentally will be a 'built in' as part of MS2024. 

To some extent the question you ask is the reason why Jorg and his Asobo crew are developing specific missions for MS2024 so you can actually apply the aircraft to its role. The problem I think a lot people have is they have no idea what the actual role of the aircraft is and so can't imagine how they can fly it on a mission it would normally fly on. Yet many aircraft beyond the standard commercial airliners and general aviation sightseeing type aircraft have extremely interesting roles. 

So another role is VIP (also in MS2024). I use Royal Jet out of  Abu Dhabi and Dubai flying their B737' NG's. BTW, it's great fun just researching Royal Jet (the largest B737 VIP operator in the world) to find details on each individual airframe, their call signs and aircraft configurations. Once you know the tail numbers filter B737 in Flight Radar and when they are flying you will see some of them (not all of them because some go quiet,  I suspect based on the level of passenger being carried). You can then fly the same route pretending you have some VVIP on board, or soccer team to the finals. Royal Jet are also chartered for medivac and the aircraft configurations can be chosen and weights, aux tanks etc all placed in Simbrief as you launch from Abu Dhabi to Delhi to pick up an injured national and return them home to Austria (for example). Or again anywhere in the world that takes your fancy even if Royal Jet don't actually fly there...they could with the BBJ! 

My other free fly is cargo with either with PMDG's B737 Freighter or their upcoming B777 Freighter, or TDFI's MD11 (releasing today or tomorrow I think), or ReBorn/SWS's B727 Cargo which will be a MS2024 option. Again free flight from anywhere to anywhere with the specific purpose of carrying a particular consignment. Some research might find UPS or FedEx used in supporting US military operations. How about a Captain Sim ( I know, wash my mouth out) C130 in RNZAF or USAF colours, or a US Navy VXE-6 ski-equipped C-130 out of Christchurch, NZ for McMurdo Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze. Watch out if you pass ETP (Equal Time Point) and the weather turns sour in McMurdo, you may end up landing in the whiteout area ie IFC, wings level, maintain heading and fixed rate of decent until ...thump..you've landed. There are a multitude of roles, destinations and activities you can simulate with military aircraft.

Now none of this might float your boat because essentially you are still flying from point A to point B. I mean, all aircraft do that except those that return to point A. These might be more interesting to you because they didnt go from point A and back again unless they did something interesting in their hours aloft. Now we're talking military, Police, Coast Guard, or any number of government agency flights, conducting surveillance and monitoring, or mapping aircraft imaging tracts of land for geo agencies, newsroom helicopters chasing police who in turn are chasing the bad guys etc etc.    

Use real known events to simulate, find a suitable aircraft, wiki its role, and go recreate the flight. Destinations and simulated activities are endless but let your imagination fly with you too.  You do not have carry a plane load of passengers from point A to point B.  

 

Cheers

Terry

Edited Tuesday at 06:36 AM by Lord Farringdon

[MrBitstFlyer 3,947]

I follow many private pilots on YouTube.  I watch their flights then replicate them in MSFS.  Lots of different aircraft and destinations.

 

[Paul K 1,435]

I like following the routes of the pioneering flights of the 1920s and 30s.

[cianpars 1,243]

I still enjoy scenery more than anything and am usually happy flying around low and slow in the 172 most of the time (though 10k ceiling means I have to use something else for mountain flying).  There is plenty of photo scenery now in msfs and tons more on flightsim to along with a host of freeware and payware addon airports, depending on what your budget will allow.  There are also plenty of landmark sceneries to chose from (Samscene is one of my favourite developers).  So many places to see and explore, I rarely get bored with it and if things do start to get stale, I can learn to fly a new plane, buzz arround in a helicopter or try a spot of gliding.  At the moment, I am flying a lot using the most recent Bing images with the map enhancer addon.  Newer images taken at different times of year can offer an entirely new perspective on the landscape.

[andy1252 4,120]

Personally, I just find any actual "flying" extremely boring. But I love exploring the world below me. Pick a plane, any plane, pick somewhere that looks interesting, and take a flight round the area and record it, then come back and really explore it on playback (external views, drone cam etc). Don't get me wrong, I really like the planes as things to see in the sky and move around in, but for me they're just the best means to get around the planet. Views are better from a plane than a donkey. But I'd probably find sitting on a donkey more interesting than sitting in a cockpit.

[Fielder 3,900]

I like flying low where the best feature of MSFS really shines: the wonderful scenery. Slow. Low. A plane with a great view.  (like the new J Cub by CAS cruises at 60 knots. It won't stall over 30). It is by far the best Cub ever. (To take off the engine cowling, you remove several screws first). To fill up, you place the funnel, lift the gas can, and pour. Similar to add oil.

You see a lot more all the time in a Cub this way. "Translate cockpit view backwards" (this has nothing to do with zooming the view, that is something else because zooming also moves the scenery, not just the cockpit. And we don't want that).
But I have an additional asset: double wide monitor, twice the width of a 34" 16x9. 65" wide and 13" tall.

Or another way to wow is VR.

(you have to register at SimOuthouse to read messages, like this thread) It has 88 messages in the thread.

https://sim-outhouse.org/sohforums/threads/classic-aircraft-simulations-j3-cub-released.153641/

 

[fsiscool 265]

I ran a long term project of following the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in VFR flight mostly. Only Recently I completed it using many different aircraft, some faster, some slower. Likewise you could follow some large rivers, famouse train routes, memorable real world flights.

And usually I don't just fly. I recap the route and notable features in the landscape in Google maps, take note about the cities, the country borders, the history and geography of these places and so on. I watch out for airports, so I can truly say I know e.g. every Italian air base. I basically learned to know the entire region. Flying in in VR gives this strong sense of "I was there", so I can say I "visited" France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenergro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, crossed closed Lybian airspace unharmed, Tunesia, Algeria, Morocco, Spain.

 

[sloppysmusic 417]

To me picking two interesting airports and an exciting route always keeps it a good experience. Real life routes are SUPPOSED to be boring because they are safer that way. 

Mountains are always exciting, beautiful water features float my ummm boat. Real life weather with active sky means I can pick low visibility, storms, lightning, heavy rain. 

Flying at dawn break means a sunrise during the flight. 

Owning 3 or 4 addon planes I love the look, sound and feel of helps a lot. Sometimes I download a livery that matches the region. 

Back to routes I pick every way point, sid/star appr my self using navigraph and little nav map. I can load that into active sky and also the sim. 

I always have full damage /stress on so it adds a level of excitement to every stage of flight. Especially in a difficult approach! 

In the sim as in real life, I feel that making your OWN excitement beats relying on others to make it for you. 

 

[MarcG 3,177]

Short answer; I fly in VR. 

Long answer; To give my flights some meaning I make up 'Tours' , previously I've circumnavigated the Mediterranean coastline in an XCub (switched to the caravan midway round), currently flying around the entire coast of Australia.

All that in-between completely random flights anywhere in the world, always in the aforementioned VR which keeps immersion levels extremely high to begin with.

[avhpilot 168]

Speaking of immersion, I would have given up the hobby long time ago if it weren't for my discovery of VR.

I am still amazed that today, in 2024, VR still seems to be an underrated thing. For me personally, it has been without a shadow of doubt the most important game changer in my 25 yrs of flightsimming (discovered it just 6 yrs ago) and cannot believe how this still is not as big a thing as it ought to be today (well, I have a theory which has to do with youtube not being able to translate VR to the viewer). It feels a bit like Mozart being told he's not good enough to attend composition classes. It doesn't make sense. 

In MSFS I am lucky to discover the planet. So i choose to go places I have never visited and stay in that foreign region for a while to take a holiday. So that means after a long haul flight i take a helicopter or a car to discover the area. Usually these are city trips. Driving a car slowly in a city with good photogrammetry gives another experience than using the drone camera to travel.

Even when the streets have buildings like melted ice cream up close, a view to buildings or skyscrapers just a block further away is really convincing and gives a really good impression of being there.

  

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:46 AM by avhpilot

[MarcG 3,177]

Short answer; I fly in VR. 

Long answer; To give my flights some meaning I make up 'Tours' , previously I've circumnavigated the Mediterranean coastline in an XCub (switched to the caravan midway round), currently flying around the entire coast of Australia.

All that in-between completely random flights anywhere in the world, always in the aforementioned VR which keeps immersion levels extremely high to begin with.

[MarcG 3,177]

AVSim really struggling still...

Edited Tuesday at 09:50 AM by MarcG

[Bond 155]

Flying in VR and looking for destinations where the weather is not so nice 🙂

 

[PTI139 141]

To be boring is on of the features of civil flight simulation. You fly from A to B. Thats it. All other tricks to make it more exciting are desperate attempts to make a cabby driver job interesting. Thats why all of my friends do not understand why I choose suche a bleak hobby.

Boredom is also the driving force to buy hundreds of addons (aircraft and other stuff) - because it makes us feeling that anything „new“ happens in our boring flight simmer lives.

If I am bored I just shut down the PC for a while and do something else … until real life becomes too interesting and too complicated. Then I get enjoying  another boring flight again 🙂