Caldera

Thanks guys, I didn't remember when I bought it or how much I paid for it. This is what I get when I click on BUY. Why would I get "OFFMAP" blinking in the A-10C HUD just about as soon as I depart Kandahar? Caldera

OK fair enough, too each their own. What you say regarding the example training mission is true to some extent for me, especially at first. But, I have found out that as I have used eye tracking more (learning rather quickly) is that my brain seems to filter that out. Not to say that I do not notice it. As soon as my eyes focus on another point on the screen, the screen just re-centers on that point. This is irregardless of where my head is actually pointing at the moment and seems very natural once getting used to it. This is as long as my head is not turned greatly like for example if I am glancing at one of my switch boxes or checking six. I guess that I have learned, mostly from using TrackIR a great deal, to just sort of "unfocus" my eyes while the screen is motion because I can't really focus on any one thing anyways. It is only when the screen is stopped that I can focus. This is true for real life as my focus is always exactly on where my eyes are currently pointed, and (same as in eye tracking) my head just seems to track to that same point of focus naturally to reduce the strain on my eye muscles. Much like a sidewinder and its seeker head tracking to a target using its deviation computer. From what I understand, eye tracking VR seems to work this same way to some degree. The real problem I had at first was untraining my head movements that I had so diligently trained using TrackIR and to rely much more on my natural eye / head movements to control the screen. I will say that the effect is different to say the least, especially at first after using just strictly head tracking for so long. I do find that that at higher zoom levels the screen can still become unstable and pretty quickly in the cockpit. This can create a pilot induced (eye) oscillation of sorts. The problem is focusing on the mouse pointer and the switch that I am trying to actuate with distance between the two and the alignment process that goes on in my head. It takes more effort and practice as the screen scroll rate increases (allot) with zoom. Less of a problem with head tracking alone, however still requires more concentration to do it. Additionally for example, more concentration was needed to learn, with TrackIR, how to hold the crosshairs over a moving target using the HMCS or shooting the chain gun accurately in the Apache. Those actions seemed for me to put eye movements and head movements at odds with each other. The proper settings are everything. I can't use VR effectively so I appreciate your conversation and comments, Caldera

Gotcha, so jumping ahead... On my monitor, if I am using 1920-1080 then one pixel and 2560x1400 then two pixels? Caldera

Well hmm... Imacken, your comment surprises me. As using our eyes and head movements is the most natural way we as humans look at just about anything. That is about as real as anything using vision gets. However, on a monitor these movements must be accelerated and exaggerated. Which is not realistic. With Tobii, the eye tracker forces the screen to lock in place at whatever I look at so in effect removes the illusion (in my mind) of the exaggerated movement on the screen. Not wanting to start an argument, I am curious why you state that. Have you tried using Tobii with eye tracking turned on? With the right settings, IMO it has become true a game changer. Caldera

I just stumbled upon this thread myself. I have had Tobii for a couple of years, but I could never make it work well for me. I would always return to TrackIR. This last time I stuck with it. After finding a YT video that was pretty recent that showed me where to start. In the video the guy was mostly relying on eye tracking, which was something I could NEVER get to work well. Anything I looked directly at became unstable, mostly in the pitch axis. No way I could use a clickable cockpit. I hope I don't get into trouble. So I followed his advice. I found and DL'd the more recent (FEB 25) GH drivers. And I set things up precisely as described in the YT video. I was immediately impressed at how well it worked. However, the screen panning speed was too slow for me (as compared to TrackIR). But armed with new found knowledge I have tuned Tobii a bit more for my own taste. Mostly, only with small changes to the head movements to speed them up. And... I have to say, the freedom from TrackIR is like a breath of fresh air. TrackIR worked very well (I wore a hat), but the constant screen re-centering that it required began to drive me bonkers. With Tobii and eye tracking turned on this essentially never occurs as the screen seems to always center on where I am looking. The only issue I am yet to solve is vertical head movement which seems really limited, so I may need to adjust the curves within DCS itself. Other than that, I must say that I am really liking it. I think that I may yet try out OT as per the advice above But there is no great need as GH seems to performing quite well, other vertical head movement. Does OT actively track eye movement? Thanks in advance, Caldera

What does "Auto" do for the spotting dots?

So I am going to piggyback on this thread here. I am still not all the way sure how the Afghanistan map is supposed to work. I bought the Afghanistan map (actually I think I bought it as soon as it came out), but today is my first use of it. So I take off from Kandahar, flying to Bagram. It is a very long flight (A-10C) so I use autopilot and speed up time. Then I notice that I am "offmap" and Bagram is still a long way off. When I try to search the ED website for what I paid for originally it indicates "Afghanistan bought" and "South West Afghanistan" still available for purchase. So I think I indeed purchased the Afghanistan map. Yesterday I updated DCS to the latest update available and I rechecked today, there are no further updates available. How do I know for sure which map I purchased? Why does it say "offmap" if I am supposed to have gotten East Afghanistan? Thanks in advance, Caldera

OK Thanks! This was on the Caucasus map.

Hey all, I went through this maybe a year or a bit more with the A-10C. I thought that it had been fixed, but I never tested other planes.

The knob will not turn by mouse or LALT + LSHIFT + V (or any other combonation). Read this thread

Well hmm... I tried to do the Training Mission for Start-up, Taxi and Take Off. But I quit do to frustration. The training session hangs on this step, this is definitely a bug of some kind. As turning the other knobs the rotation of the knob works instantly and correctly.

Thanks, I will try that.

Hey All, I have played DCS quite allot in the past mostly jets and helicopters. I had taken a break (about a year) and I am starting to play more. I decided to focus on warbirds. I play on a 32 inch monitor and having icons turned on (just a dot), at this point anyways, is almost a requirement for me. At best, my vision is compromised. But what I found out (again) is that I can not (could not) really spot or see ground or air targets unless I get (got) pretty close. They are just too small. Trying to dogfight is (was) an exercise in frustration. The icon dots seem translucent and are also very hard to see. Today I tried dropping the screen resolution from 2560x1440 to 1920x1080, which in itself is mostly annoying. The difference however is transforming the game for me. I find it amazing as to how much better objects appear and I honestly don't notice the difference in clarity of everything else. Even the icons appear opaque at much longer distances. So this is going to be a thing for me and I recommend it for others struggling. The downside is that I play other games... On a side note, for some reason the game itself prefers this resolution, as the interface and text sizing can be set at the 1 vs 1.25 ratio. That is a bit weird and it is the same for Windows. So maybe, 1080p kind of still seems to be the "native" screen resolution, at least for monitors in DCS. But I have a problem. The initial DCS window is off screen to the bottom right on my monitor at the reduced resolution. How do I fix this? Thanks in advance, Caldera

Floyd, Thanks that was it. I also added another trim control axis controller and I forgot to check. Caldera

Hey all, I just installed .49940 and jumped into a hot start mission. The first thing I noticed was a light green tint to the IHADS, the second thing I noticed was that I became quickly airborne in a right spiraling rotation and immediately crashed. Both were not the case before. The first thing I can deal with. The second thing I am looking for a work around. It would probably be by editing a LUA file? So is there a way to force the collective value to be at zero when the collective is physically at zero (full down) when the mission starts? This is instead of having to quickly raise then lower the collective so that it is so. I have "Synchronize Cockpit Controls with HOTAS Controls at Mission Start" checked, as it has been since I started playing. But I know that doesn't always work (Exp: Throttle on the A-10C) I have no idea why ED decides to change this stuff like this, but they do. It can be frustrating. Thanks in advance, Caldera Ah Oops... The first thing, as it turns out was a switch out of position on my HOTAS. Caldera

Thanks Flappie! This one just for humor... Caldera

A new one... This vehicle stopped in the water and also in the shore, submerged in both. I had STT locked when it was destroyed, which when the vehicle was destroyed the lock brackets moved away as they normally do when a vehicle is destroyed. Caldera

Flappie, Here is a track file, but of what use I do not know. You will have to wait through a few minutes of cockpit set-up at the start. The video of the track is completely wacked from what actually happened. In my first attack sequence I attack four T-55's and I destroy them with 5 missiles (the first missile missed). In the track video the tanks are not hit nor disperse, and just keep driving to their way point. In the next attack sequence I attack and destroy 6 BTR-80's with the gun. None of these vehicles show up in my track. In the last attack, and the driving into the water sequence, I attack 4 BTR-80's and 3 URAL-4320's with the gun. None of these vehicles show up in my track. From memory... One of the trucks drives into the water. It stops. Then it continues on only driving on the front 2 wheels. It stops again, still balancing on the front 2 wheels. It performs a fast 180 degree turn (instantaneously) and begins to drive toward the shore on the reverse path, still balancing only on the front 2 wheels. When it gets near the shore it transforms to driving on all wheels, as normal. At this point I fire on it with the gun (allot). I believe that I destroyed it, but the truck showed still undamaged. At some point, I may recall (but maybe not), that I fired a missile at a BTR-80 that also had driven into the water. But still showed undamaged after the missile struck (appeared to strike). In the track, when missiles and guns are firing, I am shooting at "something" not just empty space. But none of that appears in the video. I could send you the missile file, but it is too large to post on this website. Caldera VEHICLES IN WATER 01.trk

So I got this to work in my test mission. The premise is for an AH-64D mission where hostile infantry can re-spawn in multiple waves with logic to end the re-spawn madness. I have attached the mission file which I know by many standards is a bit clunky, but it works. I have also attached a track file showing multiple waves based upon unit death administered by the activation of some friendly Abram tanks. Select F10 and speed up time a bit. I also noticed that "mist.respawnInZone" does not work with non circular zones. Caldera RANDOM SPAWN IN ZONE TEST 01.miz SPAWN IN ZONE TEST 01.trk

OK! Grimes, Your script file works! But so far it only works once. Because I have gotten assert(loadfile to work I tested this after the first deactivation. Where I ran assert(loadfile again to re-spawn rotary-1 and that worked OK. But the script you provided no longer has any effect for deactivation of rotary-1. Does not really matter as I was just testing the script. Thanks again! Kanel, Using \ or \\ made no difference at all. So I tried [[<filename>]] and it works as expected. But I noticed that notepad++ doesn't like it and turns the text red (error?). Thanks again! Caldera

Thanks Grimes, Any clue why my assert(loadfile... is not working? Caldera

Bumping for help!

This one drove into the water. I must have killed it early and not realized it. Guessing I put 300 rounds at it and no change in appearence. Caldera

Hey All, I started looking into randomizing missions. But that is not my critical problem. I have created a test mission for the purpose of learning random spawn locations. I have also been trying to figure out how the "assert" command works, mostly to shorten my debugging time. The problems I am having is two fold. I can get "mist.respawnInZone" to work just fine by itself. I am using Test-01.lua to create this script. So from using this script my problems begin. Problems: I can not get "assert(loadfile("E:\DCS Scripts\Test-01.lua"))()" to work I am not able to despawn (deactivate) the unit created by Test-01 I have attached Test-01.lua and my test mission. I was hoping that someone might have the time to look at it and help me out. Thanks in advance, Caldera Test-01.lua RANDOM SPAWN IN ZONE TEST 01.miz

I kept shooting and eventually got a Vehicle Destroyed message. At that point the vehicle never caught on fire. But it did sink below the surface. Caldera