Caldera

Well... This community is great! And thanks Max, I supposed in the paraphrased comments of Casmo "This is just A Way" and I probably should simply state that it at the beginning of such posts like this that I make. Such as: Hey all, This is just "A Way" to do something and I don't have any questions nor need help on this topic. Finding the time to help someone should include finding the time to figure out their problem or if they have a problem. For my part, I was just trying to explain a new and neat trick that I figured out that can maybe help someone else. I don't really want to waste any ones time, however doubtful, anyone is actually helped... PIRPOE? I just made that up. Caldera

Well, I took some advice. I already knew what mast bumping was, I spent millions of simulated $$$ crashing the DCS Huey by doing just that. I did learn some more stuff, and more than I needed as for DCS most it is not really simulated. Bzig is a great source. Feathering <--> Flapping and Lead Lag Dual Rotors Tail Rotors etc... Just a question out of curiosity, does anyone know if there is a clutch (slag clutch?) in the Apache that disengages on engine failure? Caldera

Yep! That was it. The reason that the Y axis jumped back about 50% is because I had the Saturation Y value at 50%, while I actually had the X axis Saturation Y value at 75%. Confusing, because the stick worked fine for control, until I used force trim. Which seemed to confuse DCS. So if I a reading right, the DCS curves need to all stay 100% and linear. If I want to change modify them use the MOZA software? Caldera

So from the video, mast bumping is not a thing for the Apache.

I have this curve for both x and y cyclic. I am just trying to calm the cyclic control down a bit. I had the same thing happen to me when the Saturation Y was 100%. Caldera

Hey all, After more experimenting and I might be crazy, but I can't tell any difference in how the MOZA reacts in Instant Trim (FFB friendly) mode or Joystick / Pedals without springs and FFB mode. Just the same? But.. I am having another problem that I could use an answer for. When I set forced trim I am not quite getting the response I anticipated. These pictures are using Instant Trim (FFB friendly) mode, but it seems the same in both modes. This is the default after trim reset. This is with force trim held and the cyclic pushed all the way forward. This is when, after releasing force trim, I release the cyclic. Notice how the greyed box moves down as does the cyclic. For some reason I had thought that the greyed box and hence the cyclic should center more or less on the red X. It is not working that way for me. Even though the red X always marks where forced trim was released. The stick always pops down to this new position and thus becoming the center of the new trimmed position. If I pull the cyclic back, the behavior is the same. If I move it to the left or right there is still some of this effect, but much less pronounced. This the way it is supposed to work? Thanks in advance, Caldera

Another nice touch! After touchdown... Caldera

Thanks for the replies, After reading several comments and paying more attention to what I was doing. I guess, out of habit I was banking while slamming a pedal hard to one side. This I think is what is causing the lift I am seeing. To some other comments and my own experience, the Apache in DCS is easily able to do rolls and loops (can you dare say immelmann's) so I essentially have no fear flying it. Mast bumping just will not occur in my limited experience. True to life? Caldera

Hey All, I have been practicing my gun strafing and rockets. One of the things that I like to do is at the end of the run I smash the left or right peddle and put myself into a slide/skid/rotation where the end result is a 180 degree heading change to previous direction of flight that is essentially just in a straight line in the same direction of travel. I also use the the same technique somewhat when I just want to slow down fast. At those times I would allow slide/skid sideways for a time until I have slowed down to the speed I want then straighten back out. This process is probably not all that realistic, but I have zero real life experience. But what I notice is that even though I am removing collective (sometimes allot to all) I get a whole bunch of lift from somewhere. Although this lift and the consequential rise in altitude sets me up perfectly for a dive back down into my strafing run in the opposite direction. I do not understand why it occurs and if it is realistic or just a simulation side effect. Why does this occur? Is it realistic? Thanks in advance, Caldera

Sharp, Yep! One can do that all day long ( I have done it that way for years), but unless you focus on the center of your computer screen the view will often not center. A PIRPOE may occur. In the middle of refueling, in combat or maybe a landing approach and your view is off center. What do you focus on? Using the LCTRL+F1 view first gives me something to exactly focus on is its very function is to exactly center the view on the computer screen. Especially in the Apache I focus on the LOS cross, before I re-center and the results are significantly better overall. The process takes no longer to perform. If you don't suffer from this problem? Then take no advice from me... Caldera

MAX, I would scare myself if I were to calculate the number of hours that I have messed with head tracking curves. Etc, Etc, Etc... I have to use rather aggressive curves, other wise my eyes feel like they want to pop out of my head. FWIW I find dead zones more annoying than aggressive head tracker curves, especially trying to use a HMD. It creates a scenario where the whole head movement vs screen movement creates an unnatural feeling for me. IMO using a HMD sort of requires aggressive curves to be effective. I would scare myself if I were to calculate the number of hours that I have messed with VoiceAttack. I use VoiceAttack quite allot for speech command macros and for HW controller macros. IE one controller button press might run a VoiceAttack macro, which widens the power greatly of any one controller button press. For example, in the Apache, WAS up selects guns, selects Auto Range, selects a burst of 20 rounds and tells me what it just did. All with one button press. Have you tried that? I could done what I described above entirely in VoiceAttack, but I chose to use switches. I just posted the information in an attempt to provide one solution for others struggling with head tracking as I have. Caldera

Imacken, I have since changed my mind and I am no longer using eye tracking. While this works really good in A/C with no HMD (warbirds), my brain did not want to convert the process because I had used TrackIR for so long. Caldera

jda, I just read your post, I mostly alway used "Instant Trim (FFB friendly)" mode, because "Central Position Trimmer" mode requires you to return the joystick to center before it will re-recognize any control input. Until you do, the controls don't work. But the transfer is entirely bumpless using that mode, which can be an advantage in some cases. I crashed allot until I got this in my head. Instant Trim, while not perfect, at least never removes all control. But it may cause a bobble or two until you get the hang of it. The best advice is to make many very small trim adjustments in this mode. I had always thought that a hybrid mode between the two would also be a good choice. There is talk of forced trim (videos) that is/are endless about the Apache. Caldera

Thanks for all replies! Some how the MOZA seemed to be working in the "Joystick without springs and FFB" mode. I have no clue really why. Some developer will chuckle at the confusion over some text descriptions that make perfect sense to that very developer. I did however, switch to the "Instant Trim (FFB friendly)" mode. Confusing, as this is the same mode I used with my old joystick. Seems to work better and the pop to the center direction seems to have vanished. Now it just pops to the place I have reset the trim to. I have had to re-tune some MOZA settings and I am still working through that. But so far I am loving it, and I am glad I made the MOZA purchase. Caldera

Hey All, So I am currently using TOBII, but I have used TrackIR extensively. While TOBII is a bit better, the biggest frustration that I have with either head tracking is the need to constantly reset the view to center. I can't really use VR. The problem is that once centered, my head seems to shift position slightly or the software no longer sees the same position of my head that I re-centered to. Either way the on screen center position drifts and I must re-center (over and over). On the ground it is easier and more accurate, but in flight I just seem to introduce off center views as I am also controlling the A/C at the same time. It's is a pilot induced re-centering view position oscillation error (PIRPOE). Sometimes when I notice it, it feels like my eyes are trying to come out of my head. Happens allot... I would like to share a work around that I have come up with. Which in my case involves using a three position return to center switch on my throttle controller. I choose this switch because it is very convenient and I can use it with out looking at the switch. Any two switch positions can work though, even two separate switches. So what I do is in DCS I map LCTRL+F1 to one position of the switch and in TOBII I map the re-center function AND in DCS I map F1 to the opposite position of the same switch. So this becomes a three step process. Because I am flying the Apache, I will describe that process in the Apache. Any A/C will work however, just requires finding the center point of the view. The first step is to position the switch for the LCTRL+F1 view, which changes the view to "LCTRL+F1 Natural Head Movement View". This allows me to move my head, but holds the IHADSS LOS cross in the center of the screen. The second step is to focus intently on the IHADSS LOS cross. The third step is to hold my head in that position and then quickly flip the switch the opposite way. This re-centers the screen in TOBII and switches the view back to the F1 view. The process is very fast and seems very accurate. I hope this helps someone out, Caldera

Hey All, So as I am fighting my way back into learning the Apache, where I have forgotten quite allot. I have added a MOZA AB9 to the mix. Getting the MOZA to work was an afternoon of time, as I am not sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to this stuff. I am also using Thrustmaster Pendulum Rudder Peddles with the springs removed and a dampner installed. I got to wondering what others are using under settings for "AH-64D Special Trimmer Mode" and "Control Options Axis Commands". AH-64D Special Trimmer Mode There are three options: Instant Trim (FFB friendly) Central Position Mode Joystick / Pedals without springs and FFB Obviously, Joystick / Pedals without springs and FFB is the most logical choice. But I did try the MOZA on "Instant Trim (FFB friendly)". This worked weirdly to say the least. When I pressed the "Force Trim/Hold Mode switch - R/UP" the MOZA would go that trim position then pop back some distance toward the center of axis. FFB Friendly? The terminology that ED uses at times can get confusing... Control Options Axis Commands Initially, I put custom curve values in of 20 using the "Curvature" slider on both the rudder peddles and the MOZA. This was because my brain was still in the mode for spring return to center type controllers. As this is how I had been doing it prior when using "Instant Trim (FFB friendly)" with my older joystick and springs in the rudder pedals. I found control more difficult than before... Then it dawned on me that with my current hardware configuration, I was running on the steep parts of the curve as the MOZA and my rudder pedals were now primarily positioned not in the center. So I ended up setting the "Curvature" back to zero on both. My current axis curve settings for the MOZA are default. I changed "Saturation X" value to 80 for the rudder peddles, which really steepens the curve. However, both have zero for Curvature and both curves are linear. Interested in knowing how others are running their curves? Thanks in advance, Caldera

Thanks for the info. LOL I had 18 pages to delete...

Hey All, OK, so this is a new one for me. I was messing around building a macro in VoiceAttack to control my stabilator. I went to the F2 view to see how it was working then I went back to the F1 view. This was my new F1 view: I have no clue how it happened, but this must be some feature that is intended. Remove all but the HUD and the two MPD's. Anyone know how to do it on purpose? Thanks in advance, Caldera Edit: While I am at it how does one post a picture these days that is not like 25 kbytes or something ridiculously small file?

Yep! I think I bought the Apache the day it came out, and before that a couple of months I bought the Huey so that I could get used to helicopters. Maybe, by the second day I had realized that I could start both engines simultaneously. This idea came out of a YT video, most likely by Casmo where he talked about it briefly. As I recall badly, he kind of said you could possibly start both engines simultaneously, but because of the extra wear and tear and by procedure you (he) didn't. He also said that he had never done it IRL. For my part as far as the alignment goes, the Apache does just fine finishing the alignment in flight. This is opposed to other aircraft in DCS, example the A-10C where you might have to rewind a bit. A vast majority of my time is spent in SP training, and as such a vast majority of my flights the alignment finishes in the air. As soon as the engines go green I take off. On a side note, I don't know how many use the Sharka-50. It's lay out really is based somewhat on the KA-50 Black Shark, but it works otherwise just great for many other DCS aircraft. I use two axis for all my helicopter throttles. One the of the changes that I did notice is the Apache throttle response has changed. In the past, once I had the engines started I would advance the throttles to maximum and this would result in NP ~ 101%. Because I had not played in awhile and a few patches came and went the throttle response had changed. Now, I found out that pushing the throttles to maximum would result in NP ~ 115% and an overspeed alarm. This required me to only push the throttles as far forward and tune them to reach NP 101%. This actually became a bit tiresome for me to repeatedly do. So, I modified the curves so that pushing the throttles to maximum only resulted in reaching the FLY position and not going beyond. This way shoving the throttles all the way forward only results in NP ~101%. This is about 80% on the Sharka-50. If you are you axis for the this function it might be useful to have this knowledge.

Hey all, I knew about duel engine starts a couple of years ago, but I just started playing DCS more and finally opted for the Apache. I guess I never really thought to hard on the whole process, the goal was flight. So... The engine start switches have 3 positions: START - Off - IGN ORIDE I was trying to set them up using a Virpil Controller (Sharka-50 Panel) that I have. I was using two, two position switches that are maintained (ON - ON) using one switch for each engine starter. I did not realize that in the DCS keybinds you can only map two positions of this switch. These positions are START and IGN ORIDE. So I mistakenly mapped START and IGN ORIDE, when I had intended to map START and OFF. Now after about a few trial starts I noticed that the both engines began to spool up as soon as the APU reached pressure/speed. It was a WTF moment for me, but that must be how it is supposed to work. Because I knew no difference at the time. So what I would do is start the APU and then after reaching about NP 25% on both engines I would flip both switches to START and then advance the throttles to IDLE. Both engines would start simultaneously. With both NP in the green at 67% I would advance the throttles to the FLY position, stop the APU and away I would go. After a bit of time, I noticed ENG1 OVERIDE and ENG2 OVERIDE or it would say ENGINE 1 START and ENGINE 2 START in the Advisory screen. So another WTF moment or two followed. Soon after is when I noticed that the starter switch had indeed three positions, but I was only selecting two of them on the Sharka-50 and I was maintaining the switch in position. So depending on how I had left my switches, resulted in different messages. Things were not right... If you map a keyboard keybind to these start switches and press that key the switch will move to the desired position. However, the switch will return to center as soon as you release the key. Works the same for START and IGN ORIDE. This also works the same with a mouse click, which is most likely how it really works in the real Apache. To start the engines only a momentary key press is required for an engine start. But to do a purge, then IGN ORIDE must be held the entire time of the purge. Obviously, for use here an ON - OFF- ON spring return to center switch would be ideal. I am not sure why in a simulation you would ever need to do a purge, failed start maybe. I have not gotten that far into the Apache. So through all of these trials and mistrials I figured a way to start both engines quite a bit faster than starting one then the other as per procedure. FAST ENGINE STARTS: Both switches held in IGN ORIDE Start the APU, as soon as the APU reaches pressure/speed both engines automatically will spool to NP ~ 25% Flip both switches simultaneously to START (I use a VoiceAttack keyboard macro that holds the switches in START for .5 seconds then releases them so I use the second position of the same physical switch on the Sharka-50 as IGN ORIDE) Advance both throttles to the IDLE position (I use two buttons on the Sharka-50 for this) As soon as the rotor begins turning advance both throttles to the FLY position (I use two axis on the Sharka-50 for this) Wait for both engines NP ~ 100% Stop the APU For purests? Just do it the right way! Caldera

Were there A-10C II In Afghanistan? The A-10C II,which are far as I know, is a DCS only name for an actual upgraded A-10C. I think that the HMD is part of this upgrade, but basically unsure. The Litening Pod, was certainly required for precision munitions, but I am not sure the time frame from these upgrades taking place. DCS in general, really sucks at CAS for troops in contact with other troops so I am not entirely sure of the scenarios that I can create all too realistically.

H60, Do you happen to know the other bases the A-10's operated out of regularly?

OK so oops... I had flown from Kandahar to Bagram, just checking out the sites. I will move my base of operations to Bagram and see if anything changes. I was not aware of the 245nm thing as it had never come up before for me, unless I actually flew off the edge of the map. From a quick Google search, this was the main base for A-10 operations anyways? To ED's credit, they did respond to my support ticket (and very promptly) and I should get an answer soon as exactly what the status my East Afghanistan map is. Thanks guys, Caldera

Thanks guys, Dallenbach, I have no idea what you mean by this: Maybe that is the reason: DTSAS OFF MAP: Displayed when the current aircraft position is off the loaded digital map. Default map size is 150 km. So currently, (since I got some spare time) I am sitting on runway 21R at Bagram in the A-10CII. The textures of the air field don't exactly look low res, but the country side on the way in kind of did. On the left side of the HUD "OFFMAP" is flashing as "OFFMAP/B1". And on the right side of the HUD there are four "XXXX" flashing below "0/INITPOS" as "269M/XXXX". I took a look at creating a support ticket, that process is a monster in comical confusion. Any A-10 drivers or moderators take a look and comment? Would be nice to understand if this was supposed to happen or not. Feeling like I got ripped off, Caldera

Are you able to post your OpenTrack settings? Seems that GT supports OT directly... I wouldn't mind trying it, but I don't want to experiment for hours to get it right. Caldera