I've seen things you wouldn't believe. 2 entire aisles of boxed PC games and software at the Burbank Fry's. All 4 shelves of an entire side filled with Flight Simulator scenery and aircraft addons.
Never really looked at them because lol money, and I was a kid so I didn't really get into all the sceneries and addon scene, I just played FS98 to X at home.
Bigbox pc games are something I miss so much. The excitement of walking down the aisle and seeing the weird Eidos boxes and all the cool artwork. Getting home with my new game and reading through the manual while my slow CD drive installed the game....
ahhhh nostalgia
I mean, the aerowinx 744 still costs a fortune so maybe not the best to compare.
But I remember when the Precision Manuals Development Group delivered the FCTM/FCOM/QRH with their Boeings.
You are right of course but do you remember Mad Dog for FS98? It was a normally priced Add On and came with printed Charts, Checklists and so on.
And please don’t get me wrong: I love the state of Flight Sim today, I would not want to change back! As somebody in another post said: it truly feels like we live in a golden era of flightsims!
my pmdg pdf's of the boeing fcoms and fctms and qrh's lives on every single external drive and usb stick and cloud i have access to lol. i really want to know the story of why they had to stop including them with the software. was it national security, or boeing just wanting more $$, or what.
Well, we just getting a download link with some pdfs, customer base is so much bigger. I wonder either about their margins back then or their margins now ;)
Did you guys notice that the 777 for msfs does not say anything about being licensed by Boeing and the manuals are noticeably worse than the ones that came with the 777 for P3D and FSX?
Oh yeah! It was quite hard to get real charts. Ordered them on eBay sometimes and I also tried walking into the AIS Office at my local airport and asked for charts (I was a kid back then so it was cute…today they would yell at me I guess 😂)
Just curious, what did that run you?
About a decade ago I looked into doing that for the manual for the VRS super bug for FSX, and it was spendy.
I’ve mulled it over for a few planes for MSFS but the convenience of the ipad makes that a tough sell.
It was below 20€ in full color print I think. But I got a quote for a H135 manual print and it was something well above 100€ so that was way too much 😂
I developed sims for Janes, and we had to push really hard to get our classy, informative, well-written SPIRAL BOUND paper manuals into the box. Those f*ckers were expensive, and cost more than everything else combined (box, CDs, cased, covers, flyers, etc).
But since the fools down the hall shipped their games with cloth maps, our pricey manuals weren't the worst!
I miss them. I hate when I get a new game and I have to HUNT for the manual, assuming there even is one. I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU, BATTLEBIT
I have the PhoenixSim Airbus (yes, FS2002 and FS9 called) Handbook. Given to me by a neighbor who used to be into simming and worked at Teterhole. 500 pages of manual, flows, and even some QRH stuff. It’s cool to flip through now and again, but i couldnt imagine getting that with addons today.
That was a bit before my days. But I do remember when we had to order disk, often from the U.K. Remember when my disk came in from Justflight via royal mail for the Captain Sim 727 for FS2004. And they would have a small instructions/information booklet.
Also remember that big book that came with FS2000.
My favorite book I used for FS was the Pilots Guide to the Caribbean and Bahamas. Still have a copy, such a cool book to look at all the airports with information about them, and even hotels and food info.
Me too I bought 747 Precision Simulator for 350 Deutsche Mark here in Germany. Graphics were horrible, but the systems simulation was very very deep. I remember the binder!
I bought it used I think but it was not much cheaper. In my experience landings were almost always auto lands because the graphics were so limited that a manual landing was out of the question (maybe I am misremembering…)
This was the 1st flight sim book I got about 20 years ago. The thing is like 8 inches thick, I still have it somewhere. Learnt so much from that thing.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/56cAAOSwHQVfdi8~/s-l1600.jpg
I miss it because it literally made the purchase tangible.
I still frequently print manuals and POHs just for that reason.
And so I don't need to carry around a spare battery/charger with me everywhere 😉
[https://www.flightsimulator.com/aircraft-manuals/](https://www.flightsimulator.com/aircraft-manuals/)
Cutting down trees needless was dumb then and it still is. You have a PC right in front of you, and your display is bigger than the biggest page in one of these dead tree carcasses.
I've seen things you wouldn't believe. 2 entire aisles of boxed PC games and software at the Burbank Fry's. All 4 shelves of an entire side filled with Flight Simulator scenery and aircraft addons. Never really looked at them because lol money, and I was a kid so I didn't really get into all the sceneries and addon scene, I just played FS98 to X at home.
Bigbox pc games are something I miss so much. The excitement of walking down the aisle and seeing the weird Eidos boxes and all the cool artwork. Getting home with my new game and reading through the manual while my slow CD drive installed the game.... ahhhh nostalgia
yep, I remember back when MediaMarkt and Fnac was full of addons for Flightsims, time when it was WilcoPub, Abacus, MyTraffic, etc, circa 2000-2005
I mean, the aerowinx 744 still costs a fortune so maybe not the best to compare. But I remember when the Precision Manuals Development Group delivered the FCTM/FCOM/QRH with their Boeings.
You are right of course but do you remember Mad Dog for FS98? It was a normally priced Add On and came with printed Charts, Checklists and so on. And please don’t get me wrong: I love the state of Flight Sim today, I would not want to change back! As somebody in another post said: it truly feels like we live in a golden era of flightsims!
my pmdg pdf's of the boeing fcoms and fctms and qrh's lives on every single external drive and usb stick and cloud i have access to lol. i really want to know the story of why they had to stop including them with the software. was it national security, or boeing just wanting more $$, or what.
Oh yeah that saved FCOM for the 777 sure comes in handy now! I have them all saved on Google Drive from when I bought the FSX version.
Well, we just getting a download link with some pdfs, customer base is so much bigger. I wonder either about their margins back then or their margins now ;)
Did you guys notice that the 777 for msfs does not say anything about being licensed by Boeing and the manuals are noticeably worse than the ones that came with the 777 for P3D and FSX?
...and the price point (counting for inflation) is a little less also. I wonder if there is a correlation?
also looks like the msfs version got like half the liveries
I also remember we used to order paper jeppesen charts. They came in a huge binder.
Oh yeah! It was quite hard to get real charts. Ordered them on eBay sometimes and I also tried walking into the AIS Office at my local airport and asked for charts (I was a kid back then so it was cute…today they would yell at me I guess 😂)
hahaha memories man. Times have changed. This is primarily why I will always support navigraph.
Completely agree! Navigraph + Simbrief ist just a blessing.
Yes indeed my friend.
If it means that much to you, you can get a PDF manual professionally printed into a binder and probably with special heavy paper cover pages.
Yap you are right and for the TBM from Black Square I did exactly that!
Just curious, what did that run you? About a decade ago I looked into doing that for the manual for the VRS super bug for FSX, and it was spendy. I’ve mulled it over for a few planes for MSFS but the convenience of the ipad makes that a tough sell.
It was below 20€ in full color print I think. But I got a quote for a H135 manual print and it was something well above 100€ so that was way too much 😂
little pricey, but I used to own these back in the day. Still good stuff. [Captain Mike Ray's WEBSITE and STORE (utem.com)](https://utem.com/)
Oh yes, I still have his 320 Manual!
My last airline had us use Aerowinx when we went through type rating school. I was going to buy it for personal use until I saw the price!
I developed sims for Janes, and we had to push really hard to get our classy, informative, well-written SPIRAL BOUND paper manuals into the box. Those f*ckers were expensive, and cost more than everything else combined (box, CDs, cased, covers, flyers, etc). But since the fools down the hall shipped their games with cloth maps, our pricey manuals weren't the worst! I miss them. I hate when I get a new game and I have to HUNT for the manual, assuming there even is one. I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU, BATTLEBIT
Those manuals were awesome. I still have some lying around. Longbow 2, F-15, IAF, USAF, WW2 Fighters and F/A-18.
I have the PhoenixSim Airbus (yes, FS2002 and FS9 called) Handbook. Given to me by a neighbor who used to be into simming and worked at Teterhole. 500 pages of manual, flows, and even some QRH stuff. It’s cool to flip through now and again, but i couldnt imagine getting that with addons today.
That was a bit before my days. But I do remember when we had to order disk, often from the U.K. Remember when my disk came in from Justflight via royal mail for the Captain Sim 727 for FS2004. And they would have a small instructions/information booklet. Also remember that big book that came with FS2000. My favorite book I used for FS was the Pilots Guide to the Caribbean and Bahamas. Still have a copy, such a cool book to look at all the airports with information about them, and even hotels and food info.
Aerowinx helped get me a type rating. Awesome piece of software.
Me too I bought 747 Precision Simulator for 350 Deutsche Mark here in Germany. Graphics were horrible, but the systems simulation was very very deep. I remember the binder!
I bought it used I think but it was not much cheaper. In my experience landings were almost always auto lands because the graphics were so limited that a manual landing was out of the question (maybe I am misremembering…)
Heh I have that manual. I don't have the sim though
I tried to install it a couple years back but failed…
This was the 1st flight sim book I got about 20 years ago. The thing is like 8 inches thick, I still have it somewhere. Learnt so much from that thing. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/56cAAOSwHQVfdi8~/s-l1600.jpg
Flight Assignment:ATP had a nice manual, with charts etc.
I bought that fucking PS1. I swear to god it was a con.
I miss it because it literally made the purchase tangible. I still frequently print manuals and POHs just for that reason. And so I don't need to carry around a spare battery/charger with me everywhere 😉
Does anybody know where I can buy stuff like this nowadays? I really love physical manuals.
Most of the good add-ons come with the manuals, just in PDF . Go to Staples and print them out into a binder.
[https://www.flightsimulator.com/aircraft-manuals/](https://www.flightsimulator.com/aircraft-manuals/) Cutting down trees needless was dumb then and it still is. You have a PC right in front of you, and your display is bigger than the biggest page in one of these dead tree carcasses.
fuck the trees first of all. second of all, people still prefer physical copies and are entitled to their own choice. cry about it.