ARM505
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Posts posted by ARM505
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Thanks, and that article made me search to see if those Tac Attack publications are available online; lo and behold, the USAF has graced us with a repository!
https://www.acc.af.mil/Units/ACC-Safety/Magazine-Archive/
Goldmines of hilarious stories and cool reads.
I once again appreciate the openness the Pax Americana has graced us with.
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I need an 'idiots guide to wtf a JFS is'.
I know APU's (use those every day at work), electric start, cartridge start etc, but have never taken the time to get JFS units. So.....what are they? What principle do they work on? Do they really start as fast as depicted in this module? Do they need warmup time? I assume they run on jet fuel?
Are they just small APU's (ie. small gas turbines?) Anyway, it looks relatively small at least (I assume it's the thing in the middle of the other two things on the left in the photo - my guess is CGB (central gear box?) then JFS, between two gennies, then the hyd. pumps, and the AMADS on the outside?)
For my next lesson, I'll learn what priniciple of magic an F16 uses to start....or wtf an EPU is....
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....and on the graphics front, not that we'd want a direct comparison (entirely different genres) but the success of Battlebit shows you don't need absolute graphical fidelity to have a fun game.
But that's not the purpose of what we're aiming for of course. A first person view is the just the building block of a LOT of other things. And it doesn't need to be a game mode by itself. It should just be to support what DCS is. That 'granularity' or 'small blade of grass' view is needed for the detail of helicopter/AFV operations. It wouldn't take much to provide basic 'human' movement to what is already in the game. Having your pilot walk is already there. He just needs to run/crouch/go prone, and move in a less ridiculous manner in general for Step 1.
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It's actually an interesting question, as a pilot IRL, my knowledge of the history of instrument approaches is a little sketchy at best; from basic beacons (the ADF), to 'radio ranges' (the predecessor to the VOR I think) and 'talk-down' type of approaches is where my knowledge goes to.....I'm pretty sure they diverted, as even with the experimental radio navigation they had at the time, nothing was either a) suitable for the final approach segment of the approach down to whatever they would use as minimums (more on that later), and b) fitted as standard equipment to fighters, given the bulk and weight of electronic equipment of the day (something like the Mozzie was needed before the aircraft was big enough).
As for minimums (ie. the minimum defined weather, be it cloud base, visibility, runway visual range, precipitation/contamination etc), I'm not sure what they did - was it 'force' wise (ie. the USAAF), squadron standards, base standards.....I'm not sure what their 'collective' approach was to what defined conditions they needed to commence an approach, or whether they just winged it when desperate (been there, done that, it's high risk).
tl;dr - DIVERT to a place with better weather would have been the absolute best option IMHO, given the primitive/non-existant approach aids of the time.
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Switching from GMT to RBM caused an instant crash for me just now - repair was done. There is still a problem there. Crash logs sent.
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I had two crashes, both on Caucasus, immediately on taking command of the A2G radar (first sweep - PC stutters, then locks up, DCS crash log dialogue box then comes up, crash report sent).
I did a repair (edit to add: short repair), but only had time for one more attempt - on taking command of the A2G radar, the first sweep caused a couple of stutters with sound pops, but didn't lock up the sim. Will see how it goes....but somethings definitely not happy.
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Checklists IRL for normal items are normally only used *after* the actions have been completed by the responsible crewmember (in a 'scan' or 'flow' style of moving through the cockpit), and only cover the absolute minimum safety critical items. This is airliner ops though, it may be totally different in different organisations (although given that there's a certain commonality in operating aircraft, especially when they come from the same company, it's getting pretty standardised)
For NNC's (Non-normal Checklists), they are done as a 'read and do' style.
And, personal opinion having seen the 'debates' (read: heated arguments) about what should and should not be in checklists, in what order items shoud appear, their 'certified document' type status and all that implies, and how they should be used, I think ED should stay pretty far away from them - it's MUCH more work than you think.
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Man, some people are really not suited to early access products....
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I've spent more than twenty years operating aircraft, and my experience in jets (airliners, specifically Boeing 737 and 777's) is that the ECS is the overriding noise in cockpit. It'll be even worse in a fighter. In airliners you can barely hear the engines, and of course I can't comment on engine and especially afterburner noise in fighters, but the aircon noise is very realistic (it would be from the packs in an airliner, when they're on, as well as the recirculation fans, if all the cockpit vents are open it sounds like a hairdryer - and we don't wear helmets or ear pro). It actually stood out to me in the F15E module when I started it up for the first time, 'ah, somebody has made it sound like reality!' We have variable vents, and you can close them to reduce the noise a bit. I can only imagine that the ECS in the F15 needs to very potent in a glass bubble canopy aircraft that regularly operate in extremely hot environments.
It's not like this hasn't been discussed before either! The PMDG B737NG for MSFS's 'old style standby altimeter vibrator noise' stands out to me, with people firstly driving themselves mad trying to find what was making the noise (it's a 'company option' to select between the old style physical altimeter and the new style ISFD), then wanting an option to turn it off or down. In reality, the thing is just as irritating, and crews will simply pull the circuit breaker for the vibrator *cough* not me of course *cough*.
tl;dr They might make it optional, but it's not like there aren't enough options to change it now already.
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His is different because he's searched for the word 'castle' - but you can see which groups it appears in to the right, under the 'category' tab: in this case, the castle switch would be shown in both the Control Stick submenu, as well as the HOTAS submenu. So you should have been able to find it under either submenu, UNLESS there's some kind of issue with your installation, or some other issue/setting? For reference, mine also shows under both Control Stick, and HOTAS (the same as many other modules).
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In the mission editor you can select whether you'll have access to the rear seat (the '2' key, as with all other modules) using the '...' menu option (on the right side of the menu options where you choose waypoints, loadout, radio frequencies, failures etc. I believe the relevant box is 'solo flight' but I could be wrong, that could be to lock other people out in multiplayer - in any case, there's an option there somewhere) VR or not, that isn't the issue - it's how the aircraft has been set up. When you put an F15E into a mission you generate, it defaults to allowing rear seat access. Obviously in the training missions, the rear seat has been locked out.
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At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, I again request the simple addition of a 'cancel' button on the 502: Bad gateway error window (or frankly any error on load), so we don't have to spend time waiting to load into the sim, see we've lost access to all our modules, quite out, retry, and if successful, reset the backdrop in the sim. Or if unsuccessful, repeat....
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Refer to this thread:
Basically anytime a new module get released, this happens. The F15E has just been released, so expect the usual problems until everybody has downloaded it.
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Well, the secrets definitely out - "Error code 502 - bad gateway" and locked out of all modules, or whatever the usual error is. This was after updating DCS, then downloading the module. Luckily I got in on the next try. Now, to not exit the game.....
ED, seriously. With every update and new module, each person has to log in and be authorised twice - once on the update, and again on the module download. That right there is unnecessary, and adds load to an apparently already overloaded system (if this problem is persisting, and my experience wasn't just a once off.
Also, I again state that having the option to NOT load into the sim when the authorisation fails would be great, to avoid the needless load times.
Anyway, TO THE COCKPIT!
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4th 1!11!!111
Sorry, had to......
But yes, launch trailer is 11 minutes old on youtube as I type...bit of a giveaway
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"Negative Ghostrider, the server is full", or something like that....
Yeah, that's a no go for me as well. "502, No saved authorization found." and all modules deactivated.
So, my little contribution to this is PLEASE, can we have the option to 'CANCEL' the load (other than just click "OK") when authorisation fails, so we aren't forced to go through the whole loading and quitting out every. single. time. this balls up happens? Really painful, adding insult to injury.
Edit: Ran a repair, restarted PC, then it worked (no idea if what I did helped, probably had nothing to do with it, but that was the end result)
My comment above is still relevant - please let us 'cancel' (and not run DCS) if auth. fails, to avoid loading in and out of the game.
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I have no idea why people pay for a preorder, then get all angry when the thing that never had a release date, where they explicitly state it won't have a release date, doesn't have a release date. It's out when it's out.
Note to your future selves: Don't pay for a preorder, just go back to the game, play, chill, forget about everything that isn't already out. Enjoy what you have. You're not suited to preordering, so don't do it. It's fine, completely understandable. Preordering niche products isn't like preordering from AAA developers (which is crazy stupid, but that's another discussion).
We only preorder to support the niche products. No other reason really. We otherwise gain absolutely nothing, except *maybe* a few dollars off the price. There is no advantage for the impatient to preorder. For those who've been playing this genre for decades, we've seen it before, and we're just happy to have the chance to see such amazing products in our lifetime. Maybe you haven't got that perspective yet, but I grew up in the time when the horizon was just a line on the screen, 48kb of RAM was what you had, and that was the terrain, full stop. If you're vulnerable to all the hype, create a bit of space for yourself so you don't get worked up about this, it's trivial.
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I was impressed that the clock on Big Ben actually works...
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Found the same effect with (oddly enough) the Apache during a survivable crash landing. Momentarily blacked out, aspect ratio distortion on 'waking up', effect goes away as G-LOC effects disappear.
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On 2/24/2023 at 7:04 PM, Deano87 said:
I hope you realise that you can adjust when the throttle goes into burner by using the “user curve” and “slider” setting in the axis tune window. It’s a bit of a faff but I have successfully tuned the throttle axis on all modules to match up with the physical gate on my throttle. It’s far from ideal way of doing it. But it’s possible. Here is a good tutorial.
This is all a bit off topic though as anybody who has a hardware throttle gate doesn’t actually need a control binding option to disable AB.
That's exactly what I meant when I said "juggling custom mappings" (perhaps it didn't come out very clearly), but yes, I know that - as well as the spreadsheet that Scott-S6 mentioned (all very handy when the Mirage F1 came out, in fact I think it was the Mirage F1 that spurred that spreadsheet). But like you said, a bit of a faff, hence my desire to have it all done with a simple 'AB point' setting in the axis setup (Like that other software with BMS in the title - one click: idle cutoff, next click: AB, done).
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Afternburner detents/gates/throttle travel is one area that the otherwise excellent DCS control bindings setup could be substantially improved.
At the moment, every aircraft has separate key and axis binds - that's excellent. BUT, the point on the throttle axes that enters Afterburner is hard coded. For throttles with physical AB detents, this (at the moment) relies on pure luck for them to just happen to be the same. For most of the aircraft, this is fine, but there are exceptions. The Mirage F1 for example, on release didn't line up. Later they added the option to select the percentage at which AB was activated in the 'special' menu, but others don't have this. The FC3 Mig29 for example, will light up it's AB's before you reach the same point of throttle travel.
So: What they should add, is an AB 'detent' line that can be set in the axis setup, per aircraft. Otherwise you have to resort to juggling custom mappings, which have the downside of creating non-linear throttle travel, and are a pain to adjust. The same can be said for creating custom axis ranges on your throttle software, or physically moving your detents (I have a Virpil CM3 throttle, I can loosen the screw, move the detent, and tighten, but why do this from aircraft to aircraft when a software solution per aircraft is really the answer?)
Then we can talk about button mappings to 'push through' the gate etc, but it's a separate issue.
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Me, I'll keep giving more of my money to ED, and less to Valve. But I acknowledge the business case of the mass market access.
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5 minutes ago, cfrag said:
Perhaps - except that Steam is anything BUT non-contributing. It makes DCS visible to a much greater audience and provides a trusted clearing service for it's own (Steam's) customers - it therefore vouches for ED. So the opposite is true: the smaller the vendor, the greater they can profit from cooperating with a large (gargantuan in Steam's case) distributor. Without Steam, I posit that DCS would have far less modules, as the sales that come in from Steam, even after deducting the 30% tariff, dwarf that of ED's own store. Those (Steam's) are sales that ED would very likely not have made because of their size and lack of reputation; they would have been forced to spend a lot more money on visibility - making their expensive niche products even more expensive. So I posit that not having Steam would have adverse affects on all us DCS customers.
Valid points.
But something to note: 30% is a lot. While DCS may certainly benefit from the relationship with Valve, a 3rd party like Razbam may decide that they don't. As is the case here so far. DCS (the core) is already benefitting, they may decide that the rule of diminishing returns has been reached, and ride it as they can with what they think will be a popular product in any case. My perception is also biased as I used ED's launcher from the beginning, and was running sims since before the Flanker days, and have followed them since they existed - ie. not reliant on Steam, despite also liking Steams ease of use (put another way - I like sims, and I would have found ED, regardless of platform).
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On 2/19/2023 at 1:49 PM, VpR81 said:
1. Download rate.
2. Customer protection.
3. Payment methods.
4. DRM via Steam servers.
5. Comfort. Switching language or between OB / stable is just a mouse click. No need for a reinstall or fiddle around with any files like back in the 90s. Same for moving the DCS install to another drive. Game starts as if nothing was changed, also no need to fiddle around with any files.
6. Refund is just a mouse click without having to deal with the dev studio.
7. A working friends list.
8. Games guaranteed to work even after the developer is bancrupt because of 4.
9. Most people have Steam anyways . No need for another annoying launcher or transmitting payment informations to another platform. Some ppl are sensible with their payment infos.
10. Modules are cheaper in general. Just a few €uros, but for some ppl this may make a difference as not everyone is living in the rich west like we do.
11. DCS embedded in the same ecosystem like the rest of the games.
12. I can buy modules on Steam and transmit them to standalone anytime. Vice versa is impossible.
I don´t think it is that hard to accept, that some ppl are just not willing to switch from steam to standalone because of one (or several) of these advantages. That broken "switch to standalone" record sometimes sounds like a sect trying to convert people, but not like a reasonable arguement. At least not to me.
Oh, and while I'm at it (and I don't intend this to be a debate between the two, but I will chip in my personal experience, bearing in mind that I have 200+ games in Steam, but have used the ED launcher since it's birth)
1) Download rate via Steam is excellent, but unless an ED module has literally just been released within the hour, the P2P method of the ED launcher is also excellent.
2) Ok. Steam offers the refund within two hours (and no doubt other plusses), but since I've never, ever used any of this, I'm not sure how much of an advantage this is - with ED modules, I always know exactly what I'm buying, so it's hardly like I'll return them anyway.
3) Steam - two clicks. ED - enter CC details and pay. 20 seconds vs 60 seconds. Brutal.
4) DRM via Steam. DRM via ED. Offline modes available via both. I'm not sure what the practical difference is for you, the user.
5) Since this is a personal opinion, and I have no need to switch languages, this is irrelevant to me.
6) See point 2 - I've never refunded, either with Steam or attempted to with ED.
7) I fly on specific servers, not with specific people. The value of this point will vary wildy from person to person, for me it's value is zero.
8 ) Valid. If ED dies, I'm not sure the Steam version will work, but I'll accept that. If anybody bought the Steam version of the Hawk, let me know if it still works please.
9) Yes, most have Steam, as do I. Even so, the ED launcher is so unobtrusive that calling it 'annoying' is stretching my imagination to breaking point, but fine - different people have different tolerance for these things.
10) The discounts from miles and specials via ED have more than satisfied my need for 'cheap', and if ED and it's 3rd part devs get more, I'm fine with that. I'm struggling to believe that modules are cheaper on Steam (despite their cut) in general, but that's my problem because I lack the data.
11) Again, click on 'run DCS', game updates if updates are needed, or I run the deliberate update. Despite Steams ease of use, I have never, ever, been frustrated at DCS's launcher.
12) Irrelevant in the case of only using the ED launcher.
tl;dr - my personal opinion. Others may find themselves in the same situation. It's not a 'cult', it's just logical. And again, if Steam is taking a cut, then it's less for ED and associated developers, so it is ENTIRELY logical if they decide that they cannot accept that cut, and not offer discounts on that platform. 100% logic.
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AF operations during Pope francis Visit
in Military and Aviation
Posted
I was just in Lisbon for work - the airport was busy, that's for sure! I didn't know a thing about it until we landed, then somebody mentioned it was some kind of 'youth festival' (?) and the Pope was there. Lot's of people. My first time there, so I don't know what it would normally be like. Nice place!