Dangerzone

Aah - so the Huey shot was of <another game> - not DCS. OK - thanks for confirming! Pity - I didn't mind HIP previously for information. Now it seems to be going the direction of click-bait for views instead of being informative.

Thankfully animation in the cockpit is something that has gotten attention over the years. The head movements now and salute are impressive in some modules. Hopefully this is something that will continue to be updated slowly over time to include other hand gestures. Who knows... we may even one day see Pale's "signature move"... no big deal.

Hi All, Not sure if I missed a discussion about this, but on the latest HIP (How I play) video, I saw numerous video shots of first person animations of walking in and getting into aircraft. One of the ones that really stood out to me was the UH-1H. Just wondering if anyone knows where this came from? Is this WIP, or was this someone making animation in something like blender, etc? If nothing else - it looked darn impressive.

Oh dude! I feel for you! But on the bright side, at least you know now! Go forth and enjoy what MP has to offer! This is where I feel the smaller / tighter communities help. I have a few mods and haven't had a problem with IC check. But I do avoid the spammy/popular spammy servers. and my focus is more on PvE (or PvpvE (small p - where it's controlled better). But I have realised since creating this thread that there's MP, and there's MP - a huge different variety and it was a bad idea to just call it "MP" with so many different options now.

That's a good point, and you're right - defaults are powerful and need to be considered. But so are trends. If I look at the trends back then, Microsoft increased it's market share. If I look at the latest trends, are Microsoft increasing, maintaining, or decreasing their market share now. Re Edge - 10% isn't a lot when you consider it's the only browser installed by default on Windows machines. Like war, if I look at the static picture - Microsoft seems to be winning. If I look at the trend, while I see Microsoft holds more land, they're also losing ground as there's multiple fronts, and they're not winning any new friends to their cause, and if anything bleeding defectors. Re office applications - I mentioned in another post (do we have 2 Linux threads here, I'm getting lost ) with Microsofts push to web apps - this makes Windows as an OS less compelling. You're right that the web version is grossly inadequate, but I don't think Microsoft cares. They are pushing people to 'try the web app', and I think that's the final destination. Grossly missing many features. Sure is - and I don't think they care. Microsoft seems to be happy to remove content instead of giving more in the more recent years - the arrogant attitude seems to be 'you will just put up with it'. And for the other apps, many of the corporate companies I deal with now are doing remote apps (Remote Apps, or Citrix, etc) for their Desktop software, reducing the need for users to be exclusively Windows - especially on their home computers. But I agree - the biggest roadblock is that Linux isn't available by default on OEM machines. But at the same time - probably the biggest leap forward for Linux is what Steam is doing and the gaming market. It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. But I also know that I see things from my own perspective - which is that I have a windows computer at home solely for gaming - and that need is fast shifting away. Which leads me to my questions - has anyone successfully ran DCS on Linux with a Pimax Crystal Light, VAICOM, and SRS?

Good points. But working in the IT industry myself and primarily with Windows - #3 is on the decline due to the uptake of Cloud or Web Apps for business. (Not to mention Citrix, which is still strong in the industry). This is why I scratch my head with Microsoft. They're pushing Web App versions of outlook, word, etc - trying to imitate Google. Browser based apps can be OS independent, meaning that Chrome, Apple, or even Linux becomes more of an option now for workers that are working on their home computers. Yay - for them - they can spy on people more... while at the same time potentially losing more of the market share. Has me thinking - is people's personal data so much more valuable that it's worth risking losing a % of the market share they currently have? #4 is definitely something that helps 'hold back' the tide - but these same people that aren't competent enough are also likely to require tech support from their friends / kids / etc - and as they get more frustrated with having to support Windows OS's - this can lead away from MS. As you said, most users don't make the decisions on what OS they use - the people who support them do. I've enjoyed reading both sides here - and I realise I need to play with Linux more myself, especially having supported numerous family members through various windows issues solely to do online banking, emails, facebook and youtube / webbrowsing - I'm considering more seriously looking at either a dual boot, or a change for them to Linux the next time I need to do a major repair on their computers. I recognise that it's not about a static snapshot. It's about a trend to see where things are going. And even with wishful thinking - if ever there was a boost that would assist it - Microsoft's current attitude/changes combined with web/cloud based computing and more apps now running on Linux (Steam, Davinci Resolve, Blender, etc) can only serve to perpetuate the direction from Microsoft -> Linux and certainly not the other way around. But - I also know I've been waiting for Linux to take over the desktop world for more than a quarter of a century. All in all - only time will really tell. There's so many variables at play we don't know where things will go. I was surprised (and encouraged though) to see how much passion was in the tech industry when Synology went monopoly on it's HDD's - and how many switched and started to support other NAS platforms - so this is definitely a space to watch over the next 2 years to see what will happen.

Thanks for the laugh. That is one that I haven't come across (yet). But boy could I add to that list of exploits from what I've seen. Interesting you brought up MS-DOS because microsoft became popular - even though it wasn’t exactly user-friendly. Back in the Radio Shack era, home PCs were mostly bought by enthusiasts or people with tech-savvy friends to help them set up and maintain them. Even now, many home users rely on tech-savvy friends. Windows still isn’t trouble-free, and some automatic updates still can cause serious issues. I think there's a link here that MS needs to be careful not to dismiss. Linux today is far more user-friendly than MS-DOS was. For non-enthusiasts, there’s a growing market of alternatives that work well. Microsoft still needs tech enthusiasts, because it's past record of playing “catch up” in other markets hasn't aged well (Zune, or Windows Phone anyone?). Yet if more of those move to Linux because they've had enough with Windows - it's possible they will take with them a % of the market share along the way. (I wonder what Microsoft’s 10-year goal is — to remove what made Windows a “personal computer OS” and create something closer to a child of ChromeOS + macOS)? I’m excited by Linux gaming and expect that market to grow while Microsoft’s shrinks. To what extent is yet to be seen, but with Steam onboard - I am optimistic. I recall that some of Apple’s market share spikes came after Microsoft’s poor OS releases. It's not too difficult to see Linux could well see ongoing similar gains if Microsoft keeps it's nonsense up. But I also wonder if this is being done to see how far they can push their customers. Synology did it recently with their marketing HDD's - and had to backpedal. I wonder how much that 'test' has cost them. If users push back hard or leave - Microsoft may get the message. Or they may just be arrogant. If the latter, it's great to know there are alternatives, and well worth probably exploring now too. This is a fantastic way to start exploring Linux without fully committing. Probably not ideal for gaming, but definitely for everything else. One of the big hurdles I see though with Linux is people deciding which Distro to use. So many people seem to be using so many distro's - I think that actually holds Linux back at times. I mean - which Distro is the best for people to migrate from Windows to? Is there one that stands out as being obvious, or is it very much a free-for-all?

Yeah - it's crazy. It really is ironical. In the hay-day, I favored Microsoft over Apple (with a passion), because Microsoft gave you options, and allowed you to have freedom by having your PC setup with the way you want it vs apple's way of forcing people to do things a particular way. It seems Microsoft have come complete about-course. They are not the company they once were, and their products are nothing like they once were. Given more applications are cloud/online, and there's more options available too - it almost seems as though Microsoft are dead keen on destroying what sets them apart and encouraging users to reconsider what options are available to them. The conspiracy theorist inside me wonders if some of their management has competitors cash in their pockets and that there's an intentional effort to damage Microsoft from the inside - because that's the only thing that makes sense. I shudder to think of what Windows 12 is going to bring. Microsoft have that trend of one good, one bad - and with win 11 being in the bad cycle, I was hoping Win 12 will be the good one - but now I have serious doubts.

Respectfully - showing the emphasis's above - this is a problem with many of your replies on a number of topics suggests "If it doesn't affect me, it's not needed for anyone else." It's great that you don't need it for your particular setup/circumstance. That's fantastic. But there's no need to constantly reply to argue and undermine other people's genuine (and often correct and helpful for many other setups) just because it's doesn't benefit your particular setup. The truth is Core parking has been the contributing factor for performance issues for a number of users (not you)- including myself, and disabling it has been an instant fix more than once. YMMV applies here - and it's really OK that it does. A little recognition of that could go a long way instead of this constant rebuttal and arguing.

Try loading DCS itself - and then going into the settings. It may be that the slider never made it to the launcher?

Might be worth checking this out as an extensive checklist. While it was primarily for VR - the solutions in there such as disabling CPU Parking, mouse polling rates, etc may be just as applicable to 2D as well. As for whether you made a mistake - I think that would be very objectional depending on people's bias. For instance personally- I loathe Win11, primarily because of the forceful nature Microsoft is taking, and I live by a motto with tech now that if it ain't broke - don't fix it. I came through the era where updates added more benefits than previous. I'm now seeing a decline that future updates are less about the customers experience, and more about how it benefits the manufacturer or other 3rd parties, so I've become quite sinical. That - plus too many decades of experience of countless hours/days fixing things after updating that weren't broken prior has made me an old man with less patience than before. Now I need to go tell some kids to get off my lawn.

This is the MP that I have experienced. A close knit small-medium sized group that plays MP. I have tried the 'big' public servers where there's a lot of randoms, and found it wasn't for me - but having a close community that works together is extremely rewarding. I'm expecting even more-so when the C130 is released with multicrew. I do understand though, how people who are time restraint may be turned off with having to be somewhere at a certain time to play. I think 15-20 is a good number because there's normally a few people around/available at most times, but it's not too large to break the close knit. Sadly though - I think it's luck of the draw for whether people end up finding a group that serves them or not (from what I've read here), before giving up and going SP. I wonder if dynamic campaign is going to be released for multiplayer, and whether that could potentially being in a whole new opportunity for people to enjoy multiplayer without having to try and find the right servers. (ie, host one themselves, and have it just for their friends). Hosting at present beyond anything sand-box basic, can be a lot of work (aka full time job) for the more advanced servers - so it will be interesting to see if the DCE will help make a more immersive experience on servers reachable for the masses.

How does Vulkan fit into this? Is Vulkan going to give DCS better capabilities for Linux support? This is my concern too. Microsoft has over the past few years has indicated to me it no longer releases updates that benefit the user, but benefit them at the determent of the user- while continuing to remove features from Windows. WMR was one of the more recent examples of this, and if it wasn't for one very gifted person who has provided a workaround for this, a lot of headsets would be paperweights now. I have no trust in Microsoft's future, and expect more things to be 'taken away' as they move forward into their new vision and have slowly been migrating to applications that are multi-platform. DCS is the only reason I still have a Windows PC at home. I made the switch early away from Adobe, and while it was painful at the time, no where near as painful as people who stayed onboard, and then switched later. I'm wanting to do the same thing and get away from Microsoft earlier while it will be less painful.

I was hoping to do to the chair, but not sure how practical it is. I can see what you mean though - a solid solution would be better. I do have some monstertech mounts already, so will keep that in mind, thanks. Thanks. That's encouraging to hear. My chair is on rollers, and swivels so I can get in/out of the room/area. (not a lot of room), so to know that monster mount would be suitable in this instance is quite encouraging. Thanks! However my chair doesn't have the indent yours does, so will be interesting to see if I could get it to work with my setup. Thanks for the replies -that does indeed help me understand more of the possibilities!

I’m looking for ideas on mounting a FFB base to a chair. I don’t have the space for a full simpit, so my HOTAS is currently attached directly to an office chair. Since FFB bases are much heavier than regular sticks, I’m not sure chair-mounting is practical. I’d like to hear how others have set up their FFB bases in non-simpit setups (especially where gear is mounted to a chair).

Would be great to have the pilot synced too in MP. At present, you can walk around, but for everyone else on the server - the pilot remains stationary.

That was a real pleasant surprise. Definitely some unique cinematography in there that really made this stand out. Out of curiosity - did you do that 'all by yourself' , or did you have other players helping you to get the shots? Because if it was all by yourself using the track replay function - it takes the impressiveness to a whole new level! (But even if not - still outstanding. Nice work!) I can only imagine how many countless hours went in to making that!

Is Winwing software required to be running in order to use their peripherals? I've only had experience with VKB and Virpil. The beauty about both is that all settings are uploaded directly into the devices themselves, so there's no software that's needed - thus no incompatibilities. I was under the impression that Winwing operated the same - but maybe I'm wrong. Does Winwing require software to be running in order for it to work? Is that why there's a conflict? (Otherwise, if not - I'm very curious to know how winwing could create problems with DCS running as administrator if they have no software running at all - it should just be like any other generic device)? What's going on there?

I used to run it as administrator because many sources recommended it too. Later I was advised not to as it's no longer needed (and can now create issues), so I stopped - with no negative issues. It seems running DCS as admin was more of an old practice and as a common workaround to who knows what issues, and the current best practice is not to do so. (Really, it probably never should have been recommended in the first place.) Definitely give it a go. It may not fix it, but it would be good to do as a test, and also to start migrating that way anyway.

Distance in VR is something I don't think yet has been fully mastered. I certainly feel like distant things are closer and smaller than what they should be. I don't know if this is due to the way VR attempts to fool the brain, whether it's just my brain getting used to VR, or other factors. I did a little bit of searching on this. From what I could gather, the whole close seems good, distant seems less good could be due to Binocular cues getting weaker with distance, and that Monocular cues such as haze, scale and perceptive are harder to replicate with limited FOV and resolution. IPD / world scale settings can also have an impact. The one area I've always wondered is DCS's own IPD settings - which seems to make a big difference in the cockpit for the cockpit view, but has no perceivable difference for outside objects. But in the end, I've just accepted that VR is an emulation of an environment - does a good job at helping me to judge distance with things like formation, and gives me a more immersive experience, but that it's normal to feel like the 'world is smaller'.

Fair points you raise. The save game one I don't see happening. ED have made their save game feature, and it seems to have revealed that they're going with the same approach that other community contributors used with already mostly existing functionality - as opposed to redeveloping from the ground up the ability to save the actual state of the game. I have seen some campaign designers 'cheat' by having a separate mission that is post a certain event. (ie, post-refueling, to allow those who can't air to air refuel the ability to proceed from a certain point). That's the only way I see at present or in the foreseeable future that a campaign creator could possibly get around this particular issue - have a starting position that is closer to the action. It is of course a work-around and adds to the content creators workload, but I can't see another way. For me, I find it lacking immersion. I think that really has to do with the 'flow on' effect from one to another. How well you do in one mission doesn't change/affect another. Heatblur may have helped bridge a gap here with the F4 - how you treat it on a previous session impacts how it will be the following one for instance. But overall - I think this is where I suspect a lot of people are hanging out for the dynamic campaign engine instead - so it's unique and more immersive. But this conversation does raise a thought. How epic would the dynamic campaign engine be, if it was an engine for campaign designers. ie - instead of just being a 'go and play' - it was like the mission editor where campaign creators could actually use it as a tool to create their campaign, but the end result would be something dynamic and 'living'.

Yeah - that's what I'm beginning to learn - that I need to change my vocabulary in order to have clearer communication. I hardly play PvP. PvPvE at best, otherwise PvE and always considered that MP - so I can see that it's going to have benefits moving forward to eliminate MP out of my dictionary, and maybe instead use terms like Solo player, Multicrew Player, PvE Co-Cop player and of course PvP.

Actually - that's the reason I said MP, and not public servers, so I don't think it was missed. . Having seen so many people say they're SP only - I gathered that meant no servers at all, public or private. From many of the posts here, I think that's a fair representation too - given a lot of the issues seem to be time related to missions, etc. For instance - most of the missions (milsim, etc) that I've had experience with have been on locked down servers. (ie, not public). Interesting. For the sake of the conversation and clarity - I would treat co-op PvE as MP still, but given these two replies - it would seem prudent to use something other than just "MP" to describe the discussion, given that some people see MP more along the lines of just public servers, and not including the others. Thanks!

I’m hoping the DCE causes developers to face the same challenges that mission designers and server admins have dealt with, so these issues finally get higher priority and faster fixes. (Things like AI taxiing and airfield issues, pathfinding, overall AI improvements, better save/resume features, and enhancements to logistics (e.g., control over slots / dynamic spawns for FARPs), etc. I'm also hoping that it's customizable and flexible, letting players setup the iniitial battlefield to different scenarios instead of sticking to a rigid “one-size-fits-all” dynamic campaign. And I really hope it gives the immersion experience of being in an actual battle. Not just a sorty to go bomb this, but where there is an active battlefield where you can see the fight going on (especially for CAS) with other units, etc. Ultimately (and fantasizing now) - once it’s available for multiplayer, I'm hoping for great flexibility and control - supporting scripting (so we can implement CSAR, Better explosions, etc like we can with current missions) and have a game master mode to allow server administrators (or even SP players themselves) to adapt the battlefield to their preferences. All that aside - I think earlier this year ED announced that they're hoping to have DCE released sometime later this year. Has there been any updates since then? Confirmation that it's still on track for a release later this year?

Interesting to read the replies. Quite an eye opener for me actually (as mostly a MP person). As someone who I think sits in the middle (I prefer PvE, so "co-op" MP) I actually had other preconceived ideas as to why SP might be popular - but I see there's far more reasons than I first suspected. Thanks to all who replied.