Caldera

Drac, Thanks! Caldera

Rudel, I did none of the above. I do not know how it got that way. Attached is the first mission that I ever made and it has a long line of modifications that I did to it. It is also like the base for the troubles I am seeing now. This is not a copy from multiplayer game. When I first started playing the DCS I used this same mission, in different forms, to do allot of practicing. I modified it with many times with "Save As". I knew that something was wrong however, as the load and save time for it is much longer than normal. I stopped using it as my base mission after I noticed that. I have 7-Zip and used it just now to open my miz files. That seems to work OK. Is that program OK? Caldera 001-CAU-01-A10 BATUMI GAMBLE.miz

Rudel, Thanks! I did notice when I replayed this mission over and over again, occasionally it would start as a track file and confuse the heck out of me. I don't know how to create a mission from a track file so I must have done it by accident. This mission was most likely created using "save as" from a mission that I had already created. I need to look at my mission files I guess. Others could be hosed up as well. How does one intentionally create a mission from a track file? Why would you do it? Caldera

Razor, Thanks! I feel humbled... DCS had whacked my keybinding file for some reason since my last excursion in the P-51D. Prior to that, I had T mapped as trimmers reset and used the mouse to switch tanks. I often reset trim just after take off. Guess what T was really mapped to? Caldera

Hey All, I think that I finally figured this out. I do not know why nor how, but I believe that there are times when the SnapView config gets saved and loaded in with a mission file. I had been trying to change my head position in the Huey and I had been having not much luck. I was using a custom mission that I had created for training to test changes. No matter what I did the head position would not change. I even deleted the SnapViews.lua file and that did not work. I could not get the snap view to save using LALT NUM0. It would seem to save the head position, but if I exited and re-entered this mission the head position was not changing. I restarted the mission over and over. I could not get it to change by manually editing the lua file either. This is the head position in my "offending" custom mission and this is how it stayed no matter what I tried. From this mission I saved a head position using LALT NUM0. This is the Cold and Dark training mission. This is the head position that I had saved. This is another custom mission that I made to test my theory. It is the exact same as the offending mission, but created new. I had made no changes to the snap views. As you can see there is quite a difference. All three photos were taken after I saved a new head position, made no changes to the snap views and then entered the mission. From my experience the UH-1H is not the only module that can be effected. Going back to my original topic, the A-10C ii must have been effected the very same way. Anyone have a clue how to prevent this from happening? I have attached the offending mission file. Caldera 099-CAU-07-UH1 TRAINING.miz

Hey All, I am not sure what is going on with my Mustang. If I am in the Take-Off Training or a custom mission I get the same result. That result is that after I pull the gear up, I fly for 15-30 seconds and then the engine coffs a couple of times and then shuts itself off. Is this suppose to be part of the Take-Off training mission? <press the space bar to continue> I have attached a track. Thanks in advance, Caldera P-51D ENGINE 01.trk

Well... I was mistaken, my set-up was Pitch = -20, Roll = -20 and Deadbands = 3. I changed it to Pitch = 0, Roll = -20 and Deadbands = 0. That was about 5 times easier, especially getting through the wake turbulence hump. There was no porpoising. I filled the main and drop tank on the first run through. My VPC stick really doesn't need a dead zone, but I had watched a YouTube that suggested those settings. The F-16C just seems to roll so painfully slow with almost maximum stick deflection using the default curve. Maybe I will try flatter curves in the future, but Roll = -20 seems OK for now. Caldera

King, Was that likely when the SPI is being held by the TGP and the TGP is wandering off? I notice this occurring when the TGP has or is developing a gymbal fault. The "Gymbal Roll" fault text on the TGP MFCD has a little caret indicating a direction. The caret will be left or right of the text. Hopefully, for this topic some one more knowledgeable will weigh in. But what I was told by a squaddy is that if you turn in the direction of the caret you have a better chance of un-winding the TGP. The TGP can recover itself quite allot of the time. It can even go into what I call a hard fault, where I have to place the the TGP in STBY then back in AG for it to reset. Where normally, I would just press the TGP MFCD top right button (OSB 5). Caldera

Hey All, The change in resolution did help me. I can see the triangle! I did have to give up quite a bit of fidelity to do this however. I am still undecided to which is best. I can see the director position indicators noticeably better. However, with the 50% max boom extension built into BODO AI getting into the connection position is still a challenge. I just can't see the indicators very well. I have been more or less just feeling my around to find it until he gets off his coffee break. Once connection is made then, I have noticed that you can drop down just a bit and see the indicators better. For the A-10C I use Pitch = 15, Roll = 15 and Deadbands = 0. This has worked pretty well for me in all modes of flight. The F-16C I am currently using Pitch = -10, Roll = -20 and Deadbands = 3. This can cause some twitchiness when trying to refuel if I am not entirely careful with the controls and gripping extremely lightly, like only in my finger tips. But, those same curves are seem pretty good for all other flight modes. Maybe I just have to learn the much greater control movements required for the F-16C and use flatter curves. Using the default straight curves, the F-16C seems really tame even compared to the A-10C using flatter curves, especially the roll rate. Considering the F-16C is more like the sports car and to me it seems like it should naturally roll very quickly and easily. I am not sure a straight curve is a thing, so I hope you know what I mean. Maybe I could get some suggestions for control curves. I have not ever changed curves just to refuel. That just seems wrong to me... What settings do you guys use for Pitch, Roll and Deadbands? Caldera

MK, I tried this out yesterday. It failed IC check. Is there a way to get around that? Caldera

King, The Steer Point has to be the Mark Point TMS Aft Long --> Reset SPI to Steer Point CH Fwd Long --> Slave all to SPI Do that if you get discombobulated. These two are SPI commands. CH Aft Long --> Slave TGP to Steer Point This one is a TGP command. Most times I am using the TGP. If it was a difficult target to acquire and mark or if my confidence in the TGP jumping off or faulting is higher, then I will do a CH Aft Long just prior to the attack run. I do this just be sure that the TGP is looking where I want it to look. If the TGP does mess up and goes out to Nah-Nah Land mid attack I can quickly reset the TGP and use CH Aft Long to get it quickly back where I want to be. The HMD is your best friend for knowing where the SPI is and where the TGP is looking, but you don't get to use it when your nose is pointed at the target. You can also check the TAD to make sure the TGP is on top the SPI is on top the Mark Point. The problem is that sometimes I might not know which sensor actually holds the SPI. If it is the TGP and the TGP wanders off so does the SPI. As you know, this is the whole reason to using Mark Points in these cases. You should also know about a glitch. If you use CH Aft Long, the gate cross in the TGP will expand. If you try to drop a GBU-12 or GBU-10 using auto lase with these gates expanded you will get a failure to lase error as soon as the bomb comes off the rail. It seems that the laser gets confused and sometimes has a hard time just turning on, which you now have to do manually, after that happens. All you have to do is slew the TGP ever so slightly and the gate will return to normal. Caldera

Luc, Yes, the market for GPU's is depressing... It is the reason that I don't have a better one. For ED's part, I notice that they are a pretty dedicated team to their product. I am sure that the very topics you discuss are on the table, but maybe not on any ones plate just yet. If I were a guest there for dinner I am sure some person present would say "These changes that you propose. Do they make us any or any more money?". I would just have to wonder what that answer might be. The cost of development is high and always balanced against providing paychecks for employees and profitable sales for the company. More competition to a like game might just drive it. I usually don't worry about any of that stuff, and I just play the game. I will say, for the equipment I have purchased, this is the most expensive single video game I ever played... Caldera

King, There is only one caveat that I have found out to your method (and mine). After awhile, if there are allot of targets marked, you can become essentially "Green Blinded" in the HMCS because there are so many mark points so close together. I find myself trying to balance both out. When I see the "Gymbal Roll" message I almost always drop a mark point regardless. The TGP mysteriously jumping, that is just annoying. I have never really figured out why it does it. I have read that it has something to do with the TGP camera crossing the bore position. Sometimes it does it, sometimes it does not. The effect seems random and I can't really pin down the exact cause. I consider it to be gremlin code in the AI that is designed only to frustrated me... Jay, This sounds like a great idea. I will try it out! Caldera

MK, Thanks! I was using a kneeboard mod for awhile. It did not pass IC and it did not relocate the kneeboard on my screen. I still had to use the mouse each and every time I wanted to use it. I will give your method a try and see how much of a pain it is to maintain over update changes. Caldera

Thanks Jay, I think that might be my missing puzzle piece. I will give it a try. ASAP, Another great tip, thanks! I will give it a try. Yurgon, I attack SAM sites, Because... Because... Because... I guess I enjoy the challenge of learning how to defeat them. Defeating armor or AAA is relatively easy (as in very easy) for the most part. But SAM's are a delight all on their own and I would like to know the key to unlocking each one. I consider the AGM-65L to be an under used but extremely potent weapon in DCS. Deployed from a A-10C, nothing hits as hard as it except for the GBU-31 AP. Caldera

Jay, I must be a nit wit, I can't get that to work. These are pictures that I just took in an pretty stable autopilot orbit at around 6 nm. Skip, Very nice video! I like your target set-up. The TacView inset was in the way of the MAV MFCD and unfortunately the text was too small for me to read. For me, solo lasing it seems that it would likely miss if I shot outside of 8nm. I noticed that you did fire with a good lock and at around 8nm on the MAV MFCD do you happen to remember what actual slant range was? One new thing I have not know about before today is that you can slew the MAV cursor up or down when it is is search mode. This purpose for faster acquisition of the laser? Thanks again, Caldera

MK, Thank you! A quick question, does the file get over written with a new update? I am using OpenBeta. Caldera

Yurgon, Thanks! One can always use any weapon if, in DCS, the weapon will fit in the attack profile that is required / used, weather conditions included. And yes, I am working on tactics hence the reason I kind of started this thread. My thoughts and experience to date are below compared to what your thoughts are. Just let me say that I have never buddy lased with a non A-10C buddy. The AGM-65L is terrible against areas with weapon systems that have range on it in all attack profiles that I know about. If the target area does not weapons systems that have the range to fire back before the AGM-65L hits, then omit all these comments above. Because it is a great weapon to use IMO and just plain fun for you and your buddy. Caldera

Ready, Buddy lasing in my squadron is what got me going off on this topic to begin with. It is a qualification requested by my CO. I agree, that it is a fun thing to do. Two main weakness for buddy lasing and they are the same as self lasing: Inside 8 NM range for both the shooter and the lasing aircraft Masking if the lasing aircraft gets shot back at You are essentially putting two aircraft in harms way vice only one. If the laser could be detected at greater distances by the shooter that would be a game changer. Have you ever tried dual lasing? Where both the shooter and the buddy lase on the same frequency at the same time. Caldera

Imp, Nah... I have a fairly big curved wide screen monitor that was $$$ and is really great. The 2560x1080 resolution I had been running at is not native for the display, but seems like it should be enough though. I was trying out the lower resolution for better spotting and improving FPS while running higher graphic options. From my experience with myself, the problem may be the viewer himself and not the viewing device. Caldera

Hey All, Let me say that I can have realism issues. I mean, I can forget (temporarily) that DCS is a simulation. And I have to say, that it cracks me up when I notice and stands as a real testament to the perceived realism levels effected unto the player. The whole RADAR filter thing I am sure is a requirement IRL and a huge success for Look Down Shoot Down (LDSD) capabilities. But at least for DCS, it shows a crucial weakness in that capability. The LDSD / ground scatter thing and the requirement to filter it out, I pretty much get. But, with two aircraft both at 15000 feet traveling at the same heading and at the same speed leaves a pretty big weakness in that very same capability. All we need is reverse firing medium range missiles slaved to the RWR and it is game over for the aircraft behind. They would think that a stealth fighter (or a Klingon fighter with cloaking device) had taken them out. I can only wonder why IRL there is no filter off override or something else built in to the radar system itself. Just for checking to see if this situation is happening. But, as have many of the above posted have related, that is the job of AWACS. I am almost sure that AWACS controllers get a few free beers after actual engagements... I don't know how Gypsy actually does this, but couldn't you just use the HSD for SA? Caldera

Hey All, Thank you so much for all your advice. I have read every single word. It has helped me greatly and I am sure would help any other reader. You are all great! Going back to just my original problem. I got frustrated because I felt l like I should be in a fairly good position (and my shoulder ached) and still BODO refused to connect. I can't see the boom at all in the F-16C when refueling. And in all the time that I have spent refueling the A-10C I never really noticed, paid much attention or was informed to the booms extension. I just knew that when BODO lifted it and started waving it around in my face, he was ready to connect. FWIW, I now know what my dog sees when I wave a hotdog in his face. The 50% extension before connection information gave me insight and the .000% gave me a chuckle. This person deals in precision... After Totem tried to roast me somewhat about my grainy picture (etc... etc...) I have upped my screen resolution back to 3440x1440. The pictures of the director posted above were about 1000.000% clearer than anything I had seen up to that point. I will see if that helps me out picking up the cues from the director. Caldera

Hey All, These pictures were taken at pretty low graphic settings, resolutions are at 3440x1440 and 1920x1080 with the TGP off. The only setting that I changed was MSAA between the two pictures. The FPS is capped at 58. This is MSAA off This is MSAA 4x My discovery, is that the screen resolution effect on memory usage is very minor in all the ways that I have tested. Basically, one could almost ignore the effect of different resolutions and multiple monitors. However, the GPU loading will increase (FPS drops) as it has more pixels to manage. But finally, now I see a setting that causes a step change in memory usage. I am sure that the memory usage would go up for every graphic option that I turned on or turned up. Maybe I am starting to get the idea... Caldera

Hey All, This RADAR thing got me to re-thinking stuff. I am not understanding filters. For example: Say that two aircraft are traveling at the same speed, altitude and heading. One is behind the other and using AN/APG-68 pulse Doppler RADAR. So the return has no frequency shift (doppler effect), true. But yet, the RADAR pulse indeed goes out and indeed there is a return that the antenna picks up. I would think that the RADAR designer could easily extrapolate one thing. Like: We know the distance, because we have the pulse return timing We know the direction, because that is where the array is pointed We have no frequency shift, because why? We need to get the full picture. How... AHHAAA AHHAAA! The target is at XXX Range, YYY bearing and it has ZZZ relative speed. But because, ZZZ is zero then ZZZ is equal to the speed of the aircraft. I mean that in essence, the RADAR system computes where the target location is by knowing the pulse return time and the direction the array is pointed. It computes movement direction based upon differences in location from subsequent scan cycles. It computes the target speed by the frequency shift of the return compared to the pulse and the speed that the antenna is itself traveling. And it computes the targets direction of travel based upon the direction of travel of the antenna itself and all of the above. Whew... That is allot to do and it has to be harder than just that. The targets in my test mission are invisible to me. Why... AHHAAA! AHHAAA! It is the effect of a filter. This filter probably has to do with ground scatter. Do I have the ability to over ride or peek around it? Caldera

Random, Thanks for your time and your advice! I will put it to good use. Where did you get those screens shots of the director? I have never seen the clear crisp triangle on the left indicator nor the rectangle on the right indicator nor any circle centered indicator on either. I did not even know that there were triangles or rectangles or circles present. All I can see are very faint fuzzy green blobs moving forward or backwards or red blobs at the ends, barely. As to your "You can fib and" comment. That statement is not true and the statements I made are true. Why would I have a reason to "fib"? I had been at it quite awhile, frustration had set in and I knew that I was re-learning the wrong thing over and over again. I was hoping what worked before would work again. The community here is awesome. It is much easier and faster for me to be taught than spend hours in trial and error. That process is learning how to not do it correctly as opposed to learning how to do it correctly. For your part, keep in mind that not everyone can play at the screen resolution and fidelity that it appears that you can. For my part my vision is not the best, maybe my PC could be better and I need more practice. So consider taking just a moment of reflection, checking six and stowing those types of comments on the shaded side of a nice big tanker. LOL As for BODO? He stays on my bad side until he has learned to behave correctly. When he does, I will buy him a beer... Caldera