Flight Simming on an iMac

[RichardI]

I have an iMac 24" (new aluminum) 2.8, 4 GB ram with a 750 GB HD.
I have played all sorts of flight sims all my PC life, and I did not want to give them up when I went to Mac, so I devised a plan.
I installed XP on a 250 GB partition and started experimenting. I installed FS9 (FS 2004), CFS3, and Janes WWII fighters.
CFS3 is really not playable at any decent resolution. A bit of a disappontment, since it was always my favorite. I fiddled with all sorts of different settings to no avail. WWII fighters is awesome on the iMac at 1600 x 1200 with everything turned up. So if I get the urge to shoot something, I can.
I was really pleasantly surprised to find that FS9 plays and looks very good as well. I have it at 1600 x 1200 as well, with medium-high settings and it's terrific! I have it locked at 20 fps for now and it plays very smoothly.
Just an FYI for any of you other "flyers" out there.
I also tried X-plne for the Mac and it's OK but has a really aggravating habit of re-setting all my controllers every time I play it. That makes it unplayable in my opinion.
Rich

 

[Cloudsurfer]

MSFS is the most feature rich flight simulator on the market. It's the only reason I have Windows XP on my iMac, and it runs great!

 

[roca250]

I'm glad for these opinions. Flight sims are just about the only games I like. I was wondering what controlers you guys were using int the mac.

 

[ebouwman]

I really wanted to do that, but i could never really get windows on my mac, because i really don't want to pay so much for an OS right now, i'm running a macbook 2.0 Ghz.

I suck at flight sim now though, this summer i went and got my pilots liscence and then i went back on flight sim, and i just couldn't do it part of it may have been that the computer i was running it on is a P.O.S.

 

[RichardI]

I'm glad for these opinions. Flight sims are just about the only games I like. I was wondering what controlers you guys were using int the mac.

I'm using CH controllers. Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals. Expensive, but just awesome - on a PC or a Mac. You'll need a powered USB hub to connect them to, but you can pick up one of those for a song.
On another note, the speakers on an iMac are not up to snuff for flight sims. I bought a Seinhauser (sp?) headset and it's really, really good.
Happy simming guys...

Rich