Caldera

OK.... All of the above looked really good for a while. I tried a setting of ZSL=260. There were problems. There were two major problems. One, was there was not a SPI marker in the HUD. Two, the TVV was way off and made landing a real nightmare. I am giving up on the front of trying to modify the HUD until I can figure out how to do so better. Back to the default view! So I am told this is the correct position for an actual A-10C pilots head. But, If I check six something is definitely not right. The head position is way too far forward. And if I try to shoot something with the big gun! (The big airplane is my target) I am pretty new at this game. From what I can figure out is that the head position inside the cockpit needs to move around allot. I use TrackIR. Head movements of left, right, tilt, rotation up /down, up and forward are reasonably easy. Head movements of down and back are difficult. I have read where this is how the real A-10C pilot actually views cockpit and the HUD. Even loosely strapped into the ejection seat quite a few of those head movements that I described would be even be harder for them than it is for me using TrackIR. I have found that I enjoy my simulated flight time allot better if it doesn't feel like my head is jammed into the dash. I prefer my head position fully aft, as though it were resting against the ejection seat. That position offers me the greatest feeling of actual flight. Having the head position forward to the dash offers me the feeling of having my head smashed against the dash. Is it the intention that the simulated pilot must maneuver their simulated head around the inside of the simulated cockpit as constantly as they are maneuvering their simulated aircraft around the simulated skies? I really have to be I missing something? Caldera

The way it worked for me was exactly as Bunny describes. Caldera

Some more pictures! ZSL=110 ZSL=110 Head Adjusted position ZSL=210 ZSL=210 Head adjusted position Caldera

This game is mature and I have not played long so forgive if this is re-gurged information. So... dukovac got me to thinking. I searched the good ole internet some more (from some reason the search on the ED forums is much more limited). I found some threads guess where? On the ED forums. There is another lua file effecting the HUD directly. The first person that I noticed posted retracted his opinion (he was editing TFOV). Because as it turned out his method failed to reproduce for another player. There was also a very good thread started by randomTotem. This thread described the current HUD was more or less set up for optimal viewing if player was using VR. This is the file: %%%/DCS/MODS/aircraft/A-10X_2/Cockpit/scripts/device/HUD_param.lua This is lines 6-11 of the default file: TFOV = 170 ZSL = 158.64068 PDAngle = 28.0 StandByT= 0.1 tau_1 = 0.1 T = 0.1 The only effects that I identified were TFOV and ZSL. The TFOV variable basically sets the width of the HUD text. Increasing this number had no effect, but decreasing did. I found that if I decreased it past about 140 then the sides the HUD test would be clipped. As I lowered TFOV the visible strip of HUD text down the center of the HUD got thinner and thinner with more and more clipping. The variable ZSL though showed allot of promise. The default is 158.64068. That is allot of precision. I changed it to 160.00000 and started messing around. Let me show you some pictures. ZSL=160 Looks pretty normal ZSL=60 Focus on the TVV ZSL=260 Focus on the TVV OK, I am going to show some more pictures later. But first, notice that at the ZSL=160 and at ZSL=260 that the TVV position has not moved. It is just below the building at the end of the runway. Next notice, that the ZSL=260 HUD text is shorter. You can see that at the ZSL=60 that the TVV has moved down. You can't see that the text is also longer. There is a transition point about when the TVV movement occurs. I think that it is right around ZSL=160. So so if ZSL is greater than 160 the TVV stays put and the vertical text length is less. And if ZSL is less than 160 then the TVV moves down and the vertical text length is more. Stuff spreads out or gets squished vertically. ZSL=60 Head position adjusted ZSL=260 Head adjusted postion Notice the differences in the two pictures above. All I did was raise or lower the head position, my head forward aft rotation is set at zero. So you are seeing things in an eyes level perspective. Keep in mind that these are for example and may or not be a good setting to make. That would depend on personal preference. What differences I notice: The visible vertical length of the HUD pane The HUD projector is visible or not very The location of the TVV The location of the pipper The visible amount of the top frame of the HUD panel To a lesser degree the amount of view space in the wind shield above the HUD pane As for this very minute, I am thinking... If a player prefers a head position closer to the seat, then a ZSL number of greater than 160 would be best. If a player prefers a head position closer to the dash, then a ZSL number of less than 160 would be best. All that may in fact be determined by the head rotation forward or aft and vertical position. I also have noticed that in many of the older YouTube videos I have watched that things look a bit more like the ZSL=260 as far as the projector goes. The projector is mostly hidden. Disclaimer: I have only tested this on the A-10C ii. I notice that the variables in the lua file are not designated as LOCAL. Given that YMMV... Caldera

Slik, Thank you for the reply! I have to say that as much as I get frustrated trying to play this game. Sometimes things just fall into place. After I quit out of frustration one day, and perform absolutely no changes, and try again the next day. It simply works. I have no clue why it works now and did not work then. Caldera

Can you shoot through them? Caldera

OK Thank You! I wonder why? Too make it more accurate with the real aircraft HOTAS? In my case to use up another switch on my HOTAS that I have already mapped some where else. Caldera

I have another problem these days. I can't make the HMD SOI. I had thought that Coolie Hat up short should do it. But... If my HUD is SOI then after another Coolie Hat up short the HUD is still SOI. if I press Coolie Hat up short 25 times the the HUD stays SOI. Might be nice to use the HMD as SOI some times. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? Caldera

OK thanks! I was thinking that a miz file was for playback. Caldera

Silver, The TacView display did not come out so well. I will take your word for it. How do I play your miz file? Caldera

SRS This seems to be the hurdle for me now. First problem I had. SRS refused to connect to the Game. The Server and VOIP were green, but Game would not connect. I basically, followed the instructions for SRS on the Discord link and got it to work. Realizing that I installed TacView after SRS, I believe that TacView wacked some files that were needed by SRS. My current problem is now is different as I am able to connect to the game. As a spectator or in the cockpit I am able to hear other players. As a spectator, the top two radios are tuned to 251.00 by default. When I push the PTT key on my HOTAS I can see the +TR appear on the SRS display. I can also hear the mic click when I push and release the PTT. But no one seems to hear me. In the cockpit of the A-10C ii, when radios are tuned to the correct frequencies and I can hear other people. But when I use the PTT nothing happens. I do not get the +TR on the SRS display, no mic clicks and no one seems to hear me. Anyone have a clue what I am doing wrong? Caldera

Here is one video. I think it is kind of dated, back when only the F-16 could drop them. CBU-87 Caldera

I also think that the sound did change. Caldera

Thanks Wow, I don't know all the details but if I use TrackIR in pause mode, while it allows a better set, the parameters will still not be the same as if TrackIR were turned off. I messed with this some more today. Here is what I think I found out about the parameters in the SnapViews.lau file that dukovac describes above. If you are using TrackIR (there is another section for VR and I suspect VR may be the same) this section describes how default head position will be positioned in the 3d space of the cockpit. Additionally, how the game will treat all your views. Let me explain. While in the game if you save your custom head position (default LALT 0) the game will grab the values right at that moment and then save them into this section of the file SnapViews.lau. It can look pretty weird. Below is an example of weird with TrackIR running. [13] = {--default view viewAngle = 80.000000,--FOV hAngle = -46.895565, vAngle = -59.387207, x_trans = 0.325787, y_trans = -0.066784, z_trans = -0.022453, rollAngle = 7.404784, cockpit_version = 1, Below is my current configuration that I found to be the my personal best compromise. At least for today... [13] = {--default view viewAngle = 80.000000,--FOV hAngle = 0.000000, vAngle = -5.000000, x_trans = 0.250000, y_trans = -0.060000, z_trans = 0.000000, rollAngle = 0.000000, cockpit_version = 1, Let me describe, in my best estimate of what the parameters do. Notice the large number of decimal places. That is kind of weird. This means that these numbers were intended to be used for a high degree of mathematical accuracy. I considered it this way. These values will modify an actual default setting that the game uses as a standard. Some will be multiplied to the standard number (factor) and some will be added or subtracted (bias) The parameters that have angle in the variable name will be a bias. The numbers with a trans in the variable name with be factors. Basically, the angles can be whole numbers and the trans have to be fractions. It doesn't matter what number you throw in. The game it seems will not allow the head position to be outside the space of the 3d cockpit. But... It will allow some weird things inside of that cockpit space. I got a taste of it while trying to set my default head position while running TrackIR. viewAngle I am not exactly sure, but as far as I can figure out this is the zoom value. If I have TrackIR turned off and then I set a new head position the game will save that zoom value. For example, zoomed all the way out the value would be 140. A lower number is a higher zoom. If TrackIR is running then the game will always save a value of 80 to viewAngle. hAngle Head rotation left or right - left + right 0 center This is looking left, right or center vAngle Head rotation up or down - down + up 0 eyes level This is looking up, down or eyes level x_trans Head position forward or aft - aft + forward A value of -0.050000 is the head resting against the ejection seat but I can't read the HUD y_trans Head position up or down - down + up z_trans Head position left or right - left + right Normally a zero I would think rollAngle Head tilt left or right - right + left Normally a zero I would think A few more things: vAngle This can be significant as it also sets the view angle of the HMD. If I have a number outside the range of +-10 the HMD cross hair can be hard to deal with in TrackIR. The %_trans parameters are very important if you are trying to get the HUD to be more viewable. rollAngle If you need comic relief set this value to 180 for some fun. You should add this to your Bucket List! My apologies for the long post I hope this helps someone. Caldera

I tried multi-player again. It is extremely daunting. I was on the Through the Inferno Caucasus server. Fail 1: I never did get SRS to work. Fail 2: TTI seems to like low clouds on the their server. But, I finally found some where to go. I flew for some 70nm and then I got painted by a Mig-23 (RWR 23). I knew there were allot of friendly fighters in the area so I circled and waited. When it was clear I progressed on toward my target. Suddenly, I get lit up by a Mig-29 (RWR 29). About that quick I get a missile warning. I try to evade, no luck and I get splashed. Fail 3: I exit DCS to view my mistakes in TacView. Backwards and forwards many times there is no Mig-29, SU-27 or SU-33 anywhere close to me. There is a F-14 and and F/A-18 about 10nm away. I watched the two Mig-23's get splashed earlier. I see the fired missiles intersect the Mig-23's. But in my case I see nothing, no plane and no missile. I was all by myself. The rest of the aircraft any where close to me were all friendly and busily destroying a red base that I had intended to help destroy. I mean it felt like I got splashed by a phantom, gremlin or what ever. Does that sort of thing happen in multiplayer? Caldera

CBU-103 I did six runs @ 1 bomb each run. H = Hit K = Kill Infantry Un-Armed Vehicle Range H K H K H K H K H K H K H K H K H K H K H K H K 0 X X 25 X X 50 X X X 75 X X 100 X X X X X 125 X X X X 150 X 175 200 X X X X 250 X 300 350 X X X X 400 X X 450 X X X 500 X This testing is not really worth the effort. Additional runs that I did not record showed similar, but not exactly the same results. None the less, with the use of a single CBU-103 the area of effect is very spotty. All of the vehicles died after a delay. Infantry can be hit and not be killed. I have zero clues as to how well this relates to the actual CBU-103 performance. But, if do drop CBU-103's (CBU-87's) in this game then I am going to drop at least two, probably four. Best to be pretty sure of my target configuration. Allot of weight and drag for the performance of the ordnance. However... Watching videos of the real CBU-87, the attack is often made with multiple bombs. The ones I watched dropped 4 per pass with with two sorties The results looked not conducive to biological life and could be extremely effective. I don't think that the bomblets destroy each other. i think their effect becomes purely additive. Caldera

Attached are three files. So I messed with this some more, because it is bugging me. The HUD is viewable text file is the head position settings for these pictures I don't think that the problem is the head position. I think that the problem is the HUD position and size. So my next question, because I am very new at this. Is there a way to change just the HUD position and size? Seems like a pilot could get his crew chief to get that done for him by some how adjusting the projectorHUD is viewable.txt. FWIW I generally set my TrackIR center by looking basically at the bottom center my the monitor. This allows me to have a much better control and ease of range for vertical up view positions. Typically most of my vertical down views only go to the level of the MFCD's. If I need to look at farther down into the cockpit for any longer amount of time I re-center my TrackIR at the top center of my monitor. Caldera

Silver, I will try that. You are talking about the GBU-103 correct? Caldera

Duko, I have attached four files. I tried your idea of editing the SnapViews file. I pretty much figured out what the variables do. The Head at Seat text file contains the settings for my head position. I was wondering if you or some one else might try these settings and help me out. There is a problem that I can not solve with the HUD. I set up this view so that the simulated pilots head is pretty close to resting close to the ejection seat were I think it should be. I judge this by the pilots head position in pictures that I have seen (one is attached). I also turned on the HMD to show what I considered my level line of sight to be at for that head position. From this head position the plane is even more of a dream to fly. Visually this position is an eye opener and a game changer in my opinion. The only problem and it is a major problem is that the HUD simply will not fit in the pane. I can't understand or figure out why. Even if I lower the head position or angle it downward the HUD will still not fit. Will you try the settings and see if you can get the HUD to fit? Be sure to write down all of your values first so you can put your view back as you had it. Caldera Head at Seat.txt

Duko. Thanks I will give that a try. I found out that I can not adjust the home view position very well with TrackIR running. So then I have to exit the game and turn off TrackIR. So then I have to re-enter the game adjust and set the home view position. So then I have to exit the game and to turn on TrackIR. So then I have to re-enter the game and for some reason the set home view position is not quite where I wanted it to be. So then I have to rinse and repeat a few times. So then I get annoyed. As much time as I have spent trying to adjust this one thing, one would think that I would be better at it. Big, I am going to assume that you are referring to the default forward looking head position. Specifically, as soon as you turn your view around and look aft it feels like some one just tossed something into the cockpit that maybe could be a Three Musketeers candy bar but maybe it isn't. From that position you would appear to be as is if your were flattened with the back of your head smashed against the dash as far forward as possible. An impossible position for sure. Again, assuming that the head position is in fact stationary within the 3d space of the cockpit and rotating on a single vertical axis. How can this be? When I move the head position forward or aft, from my perspective, it appears as if the HUD projection seems to be floating in space somewhere out in front of the HUD pane. It is not stuck to the HUD pane itself. Moving the head position also changes how well the HUD projection fits inside the pane. It also seems to move the HUD projection vertically in relation to the horizontal movement of the head position. Move the head position all the way forward and the HUD appears to be projecting onto the runway and is very big. Move the head position all the way back and the HUD projection occupies 50% or less of the HUD pane. Is this correct in what I am seeing? Caldera

OK... I need to take it back what I said about the CBU-103. I re-tried my test at the default HOF=1800 today. I was mostly able to drop 5 bombs in one pass, but a couple of times I managed to get 6 off the rails. CBU-103 HOF=1800 @ 5 bombs: Result Infantry Un-Armored Armored MBT T-55 Hit 450 350 250 Nada Kill 450 350 250 Nada I used 5 bombs per run and they will take out 100% of the infantry out to at least 450 feet. They are sort of spotty on taking out the un-armored and armored vehicles, but they often do it. What I was doing wrong my first try yesterday was that I was so disappointed in the performance that I was rushing to retry. I found out that waiting a few moments there were indeed later kills by secondary explosions to un-armored and armored vehicles. From my observation, I did notice however that the kill density in the kill area vs vehicles was a little un-expected. What happened was that the kill density occurred basically with a vehicles in the center area. The vehicles at the middle radius were spared. But largely, the vehicles that were nearer to the outer edge of the kill radius were destroyed. Also too mention, it appeared that these vehicles kills were often the ones which were delayed. Maybe just the RNG in the 5-10 runs I made? I do not know. In my opinion, I would still use the CBU-105 / GBU-38 or even the CBU-97 / Mk82 in a tight ripple release. Caldera

Hey all, I have attached one file. It is a mission file. Take a look if you want. I watched a video made by the Grim Reapers that had to do with bomb splash damage. It surprised me quite a bit. I decided to do my own testing. I tested the CBU-103, the CBU-105, the GBU-38 and a version of the GBU-31 (top one on my list). My weapon test range is set up for rapid and consistent repeatability. I only made 3-10 passes with each weapon, just to get a feel for them. Hit Ranges: Bomb Infantry Un-Armored Armored MBT T-55 GBU-38 250 50 50 Nada GBU-31 450 100 125 Nada Kill Ranges: GBU-38 175 25 25 Nada GBU-31 300 25 50 Nada You had better pretty much shack the tanks to do any damage. On my range the closest tank is at 25 feet. I also discovered that the GBU-38 and GBU-31 are not the all conquering weapons that I thought that they were. I saw quite a few attempts miss by at least 25 feet, especially the GBU-31. I mean, they could miss my center target and it would survive. I kept at it though and only counted the data when they shacked the center target. I can not explain the kill radius of Un-Armored vs Armored, but that is how It came out so far. Kill Range CBU-105 HOF@1800: 1 bomb 300-350 2 bombs 450-500 3 bombs 500-550 4 bombs no improvement The CBU's are a different story. The CBU-103 is basically return to sender and you should use the GBU-38 instead. The CBU-105 must be a gift from Tony Stark. The CBU-105 did kill the T-55's, but often these kills were delayed. Everything else pretty much was killed instantly. I need to test the CBU-103 at different HOF values possibly, no weapon should be that bad especially vs infantry at the default HOF value. At least one time I got zero hits and zero kills. I could not believe that, so I tested quite a few more times. It never got very much better. I tested the CBU-105 at all HOF altitudes, basically it seems that 1500 & 1800 are the sweet spots. At 300 or 3000 your are just flak bait. The other HOF's are mildly effective diminishing returns the farther you get from 1500 or 1800. I also discovered that it is better to attack the south end of a south bound donkey. What I mean by that for example, if a convoy is on a road traveling south. Then if possible, attack from the south and target (SPI) a vehicle close to the front vehicle. For some reason my testing indicated that the kill range was longer if the bomb overflew the convoy. It seems the CBU-105 has a more effective kill range backwards to flight. A quick question if some one has a minute. The CCIP pipper for bombs, guns or rockets will blank out the SPI box on the ground when it goes over it. Is there a way for this not to happen so that the SPI box would always be visible? Caldera TRN-MSN2.miz

Foka OK Thanks I have never left it on that long anyways. I will assume that it is like the Maverick EO. Turn it off then back one to reset timer? Caldera

Jon, Thanks! I think that maybe I should be happy with what I have (dam mint). It is a 90% improvement just to be able to actually read the TAD map. The one in the dash is just about useless for me. I just turn off the geographical features and make it black. The fluorescent green overlay on top of the moving map is extremely hard to see and the yellow is not much better, even if I mess with the contrast etc... In one of the pictures you posted (R2D2) you have a monitor behind your Cougar MFD's. What monitor are you using for that? Caldera

Ah... I never really played the original A-10C, I have been playing about 1 month total. I guess the feeling I get is kind of weird and comes that from the fact that if I look aft I can see the entire cockpit seat I tend to focus on the harness There seems to be allot of space between my POV (simulated pilot eyes) and the front of the seat. That in itself induces a sort of oddness about the space inside the cockpit. My brain tells me that the back of my head should be pretty much against the ejection seat. That is what it seems to be if I am looking forward. It is like my virtual head is oblong in shape and about 24-30 inches in length (aka Predator). Looking forward all is good. Looking out the side, too much space to the canopy. Looking aft (check six) there is weirdness. Don't get me wrong, I love the A-10C ii and the game is still really fun. The cockpit, it just feels a little off to me. Caldera