Its difficult enough learning an ordinary size new sim, but with 300 megabyte programs like Falcon 4.0, combined with learning the controls and working with a new HOTAS set up, never mind poorly written manuals, the task can seem Herculean. Whether you're new to air combat sims, or have a few years under your belt, here are some tips that can go a long way toward easing the pain.

The primary objective here is get all the reference materials you need organized into a form that you can quickly reference while the game is running. We all know how impossible it is to leaf through a book while our desktop is covered with controls, wires and keyboards. These tips are designed to help you get around that.

What you'll need:

• Heavy duty file folder
• Ring binder
• Hole punch
• Pack of 60 lb. multicolored paper
• Liquid glue stick
• Copy machine

Manuals may or may not contain all the information you need, but even if they do, even if there are good diagrams and screen shots, they're usually out of the order in which you need to reference them. What we're going to do here is put those diagrams and lists into the right order. Let's say you're using something like the AN/APG-68 radar in Falcon 4.0 that seemingly has endless pages that are extremely difficult to memorize. In fact, in the F4 manual you'll find the illustrations for those pages scattered throughout the manual. This is not very helpful, so we need to get them in order.

To put them in useable order, remove all the relevant pages from the manual and photocopy them. I'll bet it will take you longer to just find them than what I suggest you be doing next. Most of these will photocopy even better than they appear in the manual, and since they are very small, try enlarging them if your copier has that capability. Then take a pair of scissors and cut them out.

After they're all cut out, arrange them in the order in which they would be used with each of the basic radar and HUD modes. That is, the way they would appear if you cycled the pages normally. Next, paste them onto the 60 lb. paper in this order. Or, when working with a smaller sim, I simply pasted them into the heavy duty file folder. This proves useful because I can stand the partly open folder up on my desk without having pieces of paper laying around.

To get them in order, start up the sim and pause it. Then cycle the various modes and paste them up in the order they appear. What could be easier?

Repeat this process for the HUD and any other combination of controls that you may want to have quick reference to. Do the same thing for radio commands or any other listings of information that you'll need.

HOTAS files are equally difficult to memorize, and some like F4 can be huge. No problem if you're using a programmer like Fox2 Pro for Thrustmaster, which allows you print out both your joystick and macros in an orderly manner. Again, I print out the file and macros. This comes out in a long list, so I then make sure that each category of controls has an identifying header, then take a scissors and cut out each group of controls and paste them into a two-column format that fits onto one 60 lb, 8.5 x 11 card. This I stand up next to my monitor so its directly inline with my vision for quick reference.

[Note: 60 lb. paper (normal is 20 lb.) goes through my Hewlett Packard 1150C and 650 inkjet printers no problem, even though the manual says not to. Although I have done it on my $2500 laser, I do worry that it will damage the sensitive platten, and only print heavy paper when absolutely necessary.]

Voila! No more ripping through books and reams of paper on my desk trying to find out which button to push while there's a SAM honing in on my belly. Figure that this method is going to cut down the learning time by at least 50%, probably more. What the sim maker didn't do for you is well worth the effort of doing yourself.

Once all this copying, cutting and pasting is done, next it gets hole punched and put into a ring binder so it doesn't get lost with the reams of paper that litter my office. And by maintaining a binder file on each of my sims -- including readme files and all the great stuff I find on the web -- I end up with an invaluable file on my sim. Its also a great place to keep notes of any changes you made, like those obscure file names of patches and so on, or the additional lines you had to add to exbat or whatever. No need to search a program to find out which patch is installed.

Screen Capture Method

Another method of doing this is to take screen shots from within the program. I made a large panoramic paste up of the entire Falcon 4.0 cockpit this way. If you have Adobe Photoshop, you should be able to run it simultaneously with the sim (No, I don't mean with a campaign running!!!), cutting and pasting as you go along. Yes, P'shop will take direct captures from most sims without any filters. Just push Print Screen with the sim paused. Open a new, blank file in P'shop and then click Paste. That's all there is to it.

Convert your screen caps to black and white to reduce file size, and then you can use P'shop to enhance the captures if they don't come out as clear as you'd like. Besides, they will print better in B&W than with a color inkjet. On a laser, they come out beautifully. Brightness/Contrast, Levels, and Unsharp Mask (filter) are three of the most useful for enhancing your images to get that HUD or radar image nice and crisp.

Developing HOTAS files

No matter how easy programming your controllers may be, its still hard. Every sim is different, and there's just no way to remember what's what if you play more than one game. This becomes even more complex if you have more than one type of programmable HOTAS~ I've found that my proficiency in file development really didn't begin to get off the ground until I started keeping records of my good files: paper files, that is. These are records of what I have or haven't done. There is so much involved with each set of files that it really gets out of hand fast.

Toward that end, I just find a suitable file on the internet and start working with it. The problem, of course, is screwing things up and ending up with a file that doesn't work. The best way to deal with that is to keep a printed copy of the original so that you have a record of the way it was. You could always rename the file, but then you'll end up with an incomprehensible directory file full of unrecogniseable names that will be long forgotten six months from now.

Rather than do that, just keep a printed original, plus a copy of the current revision. Be sure to put the date and add REM statements in your TM files to indicate what was done. This will eliminate most of the confusion and has the benefit of coming out as easy notes on the print out.

For example, we usually think of a change we want to make while flying. If I don't make a note of it, I will soon forget, so all I need to is grab my ringbinder and make the note on my printed working file copy. The I make the change the next time I open it in my composer.

Which file do you start with? On the Joystick Configuration page here at COMBATSIM.COM we currently have FOUR choices for Falcon 4.0 in Thrustmaster gear. Each of these choices has a slightly different approach. Let's consider each approach in turn.

Maybe the best way to categorize TM programming is from moderate to advanced, and then sub class each file by whether or not you have secondary gear attached, like Saitek's PC Dash or Quickshot's Masterpilot, and whether you choose to use the TQS cursor as your mouse control.

The four files currently available here vary in their programming methods. The first file (F4-tm.zip) uses the basic slash code method where the button on the lower front of the F22 Pro is used to modify keystrokes on the F22 and TQS so that each switch can send two unique commands. This file also defines the cursor control on the TQS as a mouse, though that setting is easy to change. Using the cursor control as a mouse function allows you to scroll the fixed cockpit and also move the radar cursors without taking your hands off your sticks.

The second file (f4-tm2.zip) uses the U,M,D method of programming, where the dogfight switch position is used to modify each button press so that up to three unique commands can be sent from each position on the TQS or F22. This file is therefore more complex and somewhat more flexible. It also assigns the TQS cursor as a mouse function.

The third file (f4-tm3.zip) uses the slightly simpler slash modifier method (S3 as /I modifier) and assigns each button on the TQS as an analog key function. This means that the trackball on the TQS functions as a cursor, but not as a mouse. Control is easier, but you can't scroll your cockpit.

The fourth file most closely follows the settings in the actual F16, and also uses the U,M,D method. It assigns analog commands to the TQS trackball, and includes additional files for the Saitek PC Dash and the Quickshot Masterpilot, configuring dual Masterpilots as the MPD OMBs. The PC Dash file mimics the F16s ICP.

If you're flying more than one sim, print your HOTAS files on a different color paper for each sim. That way they're easier to identify.

Another thing you can do is to take the schematic for your controls found in the manual and print those on heavy paper too. Now you don't have to keep looking in the manual to find out which switch is which. I stand them up on the desk in front of me, something that I can't do with light paper copies.

Once you establish the pattern or habit of doing it this way, HOTAS files just have a way of maturing very nicely without investing long hours of programming.