Basic Operations

FIRST FLIGHT

The first time you start a flight using FS Force, you will probably notice a few things.  The first is that the joystick will pull forward when the plane is at rest.  This is simulating the weight of the elevator, which in a real plane always pulls the yoke forward.  (Note that using the Profile Manager, you can customize -- and even turn off -- individual forces).  You may also feel some stiffness in the controls -- the result of damping and friction effects.

Once you start taxiing, you will feel a regular thump, thump, simulating the feel of your tires running over pavement grooves.  

On your take-off roll, you may feel a bit of vibration as your engines reach maximum power output, especially with the bigger jets.  As your speed increases, you will feel the elevator weight diminish, and basic centering forces will begin to increase.  The bumps and vibrations prior to rotation will intensify, but drop off suddenly as you become airborne. 

In flight, you will feel thumps when you retract the gear, as well as some buffeting when you extend the gear.  The centering forces will vary with your airspeed.  When you touch down, you will feel a jolt that varies depending on the "firmness" of your landing.

Other forces you will feel on the ground include braking forces and cornering forces (optional).  Of course in a real airplane you don't feel these forces in the stick / yoke, but rather in the "seat of your pants".  It is important to keep in mind, however, that when we try to simulate what it is like to fly an airplane, there are inevitably going to be compromises we are going to have to make, due mostly to budget constraints.  Not everything is going to be exactly like being in a real airplane.  As already mentioned, if you don't like any particular force, you can always turn it off.

TRIM

FS Force implements a special trim system that closely models what you would feel in a real airplane.  There is a complete section describing the FS Force trim system, and how it differs from the FSX trim system, but here we will only cover the basics.

FS Force can receive trim inputs from the usual buttons on your joystick, or from an analog "trim wheel".  When you are in the air, FS Force intercepts your trim inputs and process them in special ways.  They are effectively masked from the FSX trim system, and thus, you will NOT see the trim wheel move on the instrument panel.  When you are on the ground, however,  FS Force passes your trim inputs through to the FSX trim system, so you WILL see the trim wheel move when you are on the ground.

You can reverse this usual mode of operation by holding down the shift key.  With the shift key held down and the plane on the ground, your trim inputs will instead manipulate the FS Force trim system (the wheel will not move).  With the shift key held down and the airplane in the air, your trim inputs will manipulate the FSX trim system (the wheel will move).

You will also see the trim wheel move in flight when you engage the autopilot.

BASIC FLIGHT MANEUVERS

After take-off, establish yourself in a steady climb attitude.  Depending on how you set the trim before take-off, you may find yourself maintaining some back pressure on the yoke, so put in some nose-up trim until you feel the pressure reduce to zero.

Once you reach cruise altitude, push the nose down gently, wait for the airspeed to build up, and then set power to cruise.  At this point, you will probably be pushing forward on the stick to keep the aircraft from climbing, so put in some nose-down trim until the pressure reduces to zero.

CONTROL YOKE

If you have a non-force feedback control yoke as well as a force feedback joystick,  there may be times you would rather fly with the control yoke.  In these cases, you need to disable the FS Force trim system, otherwise FSX will never receive your trim inputs.  You can disable the FS Force trim system from the Add-ons menu (Add-ons / FS Force / Trim System).  Alternatively, if you find you always want to fly certain aircraft with the yoke, you can create a special profile for these aircraft, and specify that the FSX trim system be the active system.

ADD-ONS MENU

There are a number of commands available under the Add-ons menu. 

Pause Forces - this stops all forces.  Select this command again to restart forces.  

Select Profile - use this command to choose a different profile for the current aircraft.  You generally do not have to select this command for every flight.  FS Force detects what aircraft you have chosen, and loads the assigned profile.  If the aircraft you choose does not have an assigned profile, FS Force will display a dialog box asking you to select a profile.

Re-initialize FS Force - if FS Force is not behaving the way you think it should, you can try re-initializing.  This causes FS Force to re-initialize its handle to DirectX, as well as reloading the profile and restarting forces. 

Exit FS Force - selecting this command causes FSForce.exe to exit.  You can restart it again from this same menu, or from the Start Menu.