CrashAlot

I had never flown in DCS with the unlimited fuel setting turned on. I had gotten to where I was successfully completing about 7 or 8 out of 10 Case 1 Landing Attempts without getting waved off or bolter. A few days I ago, I wanted to practice my case 1 landings in the F/A-18C and I got the bright idea that I could get a lot more attempts if I didn’t have to stop to be refueled, so I turned on the setting for unlimited fuel. After turning on unlimited fuel, I started getting waved off by the AI LSO every single landing attempt, even when I was on center line, On-Speed, with a centered ball. No matter what I did, I was getting waved off. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. Part of my normal carrier landing procedures/checklist is to check my total weight on the checklist page and if I’m over 33,000 pounds, I turn on the dump fuel switch and as long as I have bingo fuel set to 6,000 pounds, the dump fuel switch will automatically turn off when my fuel state reaches 6,000. With 6,000 pounds of fuel and no munitions except for bullets and AIM 9’s on the F/A-18C wing tips, the F/A-18C is below 33,000 pounds total weight. What I didn’t realize is that when you have the unlimited fuel setting turned on, whenever you flip the dump fuel switch to the On position, it doesn’t stay in the on position and immediately switches to the OFF position, so when I thought I was dumping fuel, I wasn’t. I finally realized that with unlimited fuel turned on, and no munitions except for bullets and AIM 9’s on the F/A-18C wing tips, the aircraft weights around 34,700 pounds. As soon as I realized this and turned off the unlimited fuel setting and I was able to dump fuel to 33,000 pounds or less, I was no longer getting waved off every time and started sticking about 7 or 8 out of 10 case 1 landing attempts again. I don’t know if the AI LSO in DCS can tell if an aircraft is overweight and automatically waves off overweight aircraft or if it’s just a bug with the unlimited fuel setting that causes an aircraft to get waved off every time, but I can tell you that with unlimited fuel turned on, I was getting waved off 10 out of 10 Case 1 landing attempts and when I turned off unlimited fuel, I immediately returned to my typical case 1 landing success rate of about 7 or 8 out of 10 successful landings and only 2 or 3 out of 10 attempts ending with wave offs.

I can’t figure out why the LSO is waving me off every time at the last second in-close, even though I have perfect on-speed AOA and ignore him and have very good 3 wire landings.

I just upgraded to the Virpil Constellation Alpha Flight Stick with the VPC Mongoose CM2 Base & the VPC Mongoose CM3 Throttle. I know a lot of people rave about the Thrustmaster Warthog stick and throttle that I was using previously, but they were really giving me fits in DCS. Everyone says how easy to the F/A-18C is to fly in DCS because of it’s fly-by-wire (FBW) and FCS, but I was having a really hard with every just basic flight maneuvers like maintaining constant speed, straight and level flight, level turns, and constant speed/constant rate descents and climbs. Even landing on-shore was pretty difficult and my landings on the carrier were horrendous and incredibly inconsistent. Successfully completely an air-to-air refueling was totally impossible for me. When setting up my Warthog controls in DCS, I closely followed the most recommended axis tune calibrations, so I was pretty sure that my issues weren’t the result of not having set up the axis dead zones and curves properly. I figured it was just me being a crappy pilot, which really pissed me off, because in real life, I’m a private pilot and I consider myself a pretty darn good one. Granted, flying military aircraft in DCS is an entirely different ball of wax from flying a Cessna 172 in real life or in a sim, with no one shooting at you, always landing on-shore, and never having to conduct an A/A refuel. But I figured that my real-world experience as a private pilot, would at least give me a little leg up in DCS with the basic flight maneuvers. I also kept hearing that the F/A-18 in DCS is like the Cessna 172 of fighter jets, in terms of it’s great stability and being so easy to fly. On top of all that, I’ve flown a lot of hours in MSFS 2020 and I never had any of the issues with the basic flight maneuvers that I was having in DCS. Although in MSFS, I use a Honeycomb yoke and throttle quadrant, not the TM Warthog controls. But after seeing some posts from people with similar issues with the Warthog controls, not just in DCS, but also in other flight sims, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the Virpil flight controls, which I had seen nothing but rave reviews of. I didn’t expect to all of sudden become an ace pilot in DCS overnight, but I was at least hoping for a decent amount of improvement in my flying, including my ability to perform basis flight maneuvers, carrier and shore landings, and A/A refuelings. Holy cow! The overnight difference was been nothing short of incredible. My flying in the F/A-18 with the Virpil controls is literally night and day, compared to my flying with ] the Warthog controls. I now realize what everyone was talking about in regards to the F/A-18 being so easy to fly and almost flying itself, because of the FCS and FBW. My flying in the F/A-18 with the Warthog controls felt equivalent to flying an unstable, hard to control, pulley & wire, War Bird. Now flying the F/A-18 with the Virpil controls feels like I’m flying an ultra stable, easy to fly Cessna 172. It’s now the F/A-18 that I kept hearing about. Constant speed, straight & level flight is now a piece of cake. I rarely have to touch the controls and when I do, it’s super easy to make ultra-fine adjustments to my power, pitch, speed, and altitude. Establishing constant rate descents, climbs, and turns couldn’t be any easier. Carrier landings and A/A refuelings are so much easier than they were with the Warthog controls. I’m still far from perfect, but literally overnight by doing nothing but switching from the Warthog controls to the Virpil controls, I have improved my carrier landings and A/A refueling from about a 2 out 10 to a 7 out of 10, and my shore landings and basic flight maneuvers have improved from about a 4 or 5 out of 10 to an 8 or 9 out of 10. I don’t know if the TM Warthog controls are really that bad or if the Virpil controls are really that good, or maybe I my Warthog controls were just a lemon, although the odds of getting a defective stick and throttle are pretty darn slim.

I have this same issue with the CM3. For afterburner it was a piece of cake. I just adjusted the position of the physical detent to align with afterburner coming on and off in DCS. However I cant get the F/A-18 throttles to the cutoff position for Idle, i just adjusted the position of the physical detent like I did for afterburner. I moved the detent back a little so that when the CM3 throttles are resting against the idle cutoff detent, the F/A-18 is at idle. At least I think it is. It doesn't roll forward when on the ground with with the engine on and the brakes off and engine is at around 71 RPM's. And as soon as I move the throttles forward from resting back against the idle/cutoff detent, the throttles in the F/A-18 move forward and out of idle. The problem is that whenever I move the CM3 throttles past the idle/cutoff dent to the full off position, the throttles in the F/A-18 don't move any further to the rear beyond the idle position. I really understand why this is a happening because when the CM3 throttles are resting back against the idle/cutoff detent, they are registering 11% in the Virpil software and in the DCS Axis Tune, the black rectangle and red dots aren't all the way to zero. When I move the CM3 throttles back from 11% to 0% in the software, the black rectangle and red dots in the DCS Axis Tune window move all the way to the zero position on the axis, but the throttles in the F/A-18 remain in the idle position and don't move back to cutoff. I previously had the Thrustmaster Warthog throttle and the idle/cutoff detent was perfectly aligned with idle and cutoff in the F/A-18 without having to do anything special in DCS Control settings or in the TM software. When I moved the Warthog throttle back against the idle detent, the F/A-18 went to idle and when I lifted the Warthog throttle up over the detent and moved it to cutoff, the throttles in the F/A-18 went to cutoff and I didn't have a dead zone or a curve set up in the DCS Axis Tune. So when my CM3 throttles are at 11% and the Axis tune shows black rectangle and red dots not yet at the zero position on the axis, the F/A-18 throttles are at idle, so why aren't the F/A-18 throttles moving from idle to cutoff when I move the CM3 throttles from 11% to 0% and the DCS Axis tune indicators move to zero? I tried one of the suggestions in this thread where someone said to just add a deadzone in DCS that's 1% more than the % the CM# shows when in idle against the detent, but that definitely didn't work. I think it just made the problem worse. In DCS Axis tune for my throttle axis, I have the boxes checked for slider and invert. Adding a 12% (11% +1%) deadzone, just made it to where the throttles in the F/A-18 didnt respond at all to the first 12% of CM3 throttle movement rom cutoff to 12. So is there any way to resolve this issue without adding virtual buttons in the Virpil software and the DCS Control settings for idle and cutoff? I don't understand why it was so easy with the Warthog. Afterburner was a pain in the butt with the Warthog because you couldn't shift the position of the physical detent to align with the aircraft afterburner cut on and cut off. Luckily the idle/cutoff detent just worked with the Warthog, because you can't shift the position of that physical detent on the Warthog either. For me it just happened to work perfectly in the F/A-18.

FOR A VIRPIL REP: Yesterday I received my new Virpil VPC MT-50CM3 throttle, Constellation Alpha stick, and VPC Mongoose T-50CM2 base. So far I think I've got everything set up properly in the Virpil Configuration software. I will say that I have read thru the manual for the Virpil Software on the Virpil website and the instructions are extremely confusing and fail to simply outline and explain each of the steps required to set up new controls with the software. The quick start guide is OK, but it only provides a very high level explanation of how to update the firmware and doing a quick calibration. The VPC Software Technical Overview goes into a lot more detail, but its confusing and doesn't really provide a practical step by step guide of how to complete the set up of things beyond the firmware update and calibration. The Technical Overview gives a description of each function in the software, but doesn't really explain how to use each function, nor does it provide any uses cases for why someone would want to use a particular function in the software or practical advice in regards to typical settings. Here are some of the questions I have: 1. On the axis calibration screen when calibrating a new Virpil flight stick, what do you recommend for the dead zone settings? The software defaulted to a 2% deadzone for Min, Middle, and Max and 0 for Dynamic. I'm not sure why I would want a 2% deadzone at the center and upper end of X and Y axis for pitch and roll. I've always seen deadzones added to the lowest end of the axis to prevent control movements in the aircraft from unintended minor movements of the stick. If I want a 2% deadzone around the sticks center position, should I add 2% to Min or Middle? 2. The Dynamic deadzone is a unique feature that I've never seen before in control set up software. According to the manual, dynamic deadzone % operates throughout the entire range of the axis input. Does this have the effect of preventing unwanted in aircraft control responses as the result of very minor unintended control inputs? It sounds useful, but I have no idea what an appropriate number would be for this. I don't want to deaden the stick to much, but it would be nice to prevent unwanted control responses when I am just barely wobbling the stick in my hand. The instructions say that entering a 10 will add a 1% dynamic deadzone. Do you recommend adding any dynamic deadzone for pitch and roll and if so, what do you recommend as a starting point? 3. In DCS Axis Tune, the axis visual shows a live image of the control inputs and the control response indicated with 2 small red dots and a small black rectangle. This is very helpful to have a visual of the impact of adding deadzones and curves. In the Virpil software on the Axis page, if I add a deadzone and a curve, I see a static representation of them in the Axis Visual window, but I couldn't find any way to see a live representation of my control inputs and outputs as a result of any deadzone and curve thats been added. Is there any way to see a live visual comparable to the DCS Axis Tune window? 4. In the software technical manual, it describers the two types of curves as Normal being for an axis with no physical center and Symmetrical being for an axis with a physical center (pitch and roll). If I add symmetrical curve and/or a dynamic deadzone in the Virpil software, will they override any curve and deadzone set up in the DCS Control Settings or do the Virpil software curves and deadzones, get combined with any curves and deadzones added in the DCS Control Axis Tune window? 5. How about if I check the box to invert an axis in the Virpil software and I also have the same axis inverted in the DCS Control settings Axis tune? Would they counter each other out, meaning that if you invert an axis in both DCS and the Virpil software, do you end up with a non-inverted axis? 6. On the Button set up page in the Virpil software, there is a section titled Hardwar Button Modifications and at the very top of that section there is something called POVs 1-4 Mode with 4 boxes defaulted to OFF. Only the first of the 4 boxes can be changed from OFF, to either 4B4W, 4B8W, or 8B8W. If I change the first box from OFF to any of these 3 selections, then the 2nd box changes from being grayed out to being changeable. If I change the 2nd box from OFF to one of these selections, then the 3rd box becomes changeable. If I change the 3rd box from OFF, then the 4th box also unlocks and can be changed from OFF. The software instructions provide almost no explanation of what these boxes are for and why someone would want to change them from OFF. Can you explain what tthe POVs 1-4 Mode is for and why someone would want to use it? 7. In the same Hardware Button Modifications section of the Button page in the software, there is section labeled ALPS Decoding. Again the software, give a very confusing high level outlined of this section, but provides no practical explanation of what the ALPS Decoding section does or any use case for it. Can you provide a more clarity? What does the ALPS Decoding do and why would I want to use this section? 8. In the bottom of the Hardware Button modification section, there is are functions labeled 8 way POV> 4 way POV: Special Buttons count: Encoder delay timer. Again, in the instructions there are very high level brief descriptions of each of these, but no explanation of how to use or why someone would want to use them. This is the theme throughout the Virpil Software Instructions. The only people who would understand your software instructions are people who don't need any instructions. Virpil really needs to create new software instruction manual with step by step instructions for how to use each function in the software. It would be evern better if Virpil put out a series of youtube videos with step by step demos showing how to use every function of the Virpil software, along with use cases for each software function and recommended settings for each of your flight controls. 9. My Virpil throttle came set up with the 6 momentary buttons and the 5-positon dial not connected to one another. So by default my throttle had the 6 button presses in DCS for the 6 physical buttons and 5 virtual button presses in DCS for each position on the 5-positon dial. I knew there was a way to set up the 5-position dial to be a modifier for the 6 buttons, so you end up with 30 buttons in DCS (6 buttons X 5 positions on the dial), but my throttle didn't arrive set up this way. the Virpil Software instructions briefly mentions the Buttons as Shift feature (modifier), but the software instructions provide zero explanation of how to configure a dial, switch, or buttons as a shift modifier for other buttons. I had to watch 3rd party Youtube videos to learn how to do this. I think most people want the dial to serve as a modifier for the 6 buttons, which turns them into 30 unique button presses. I would suggest configuring your throttles this way by default. It's easier to undo then it is to set up the dial as a modifier. Also, the 2-way metal switches and the 2-way plastic red switches on my throttle came with only 1-way mapped to a Windows button press. The 2nd position for all the switches was assigned a physical button number in the Virpil software, but they weren't assigned any virtual button press output and there were no instructions for how to do this. I eventually figured it out, but this is definitely something that should be explained in your instructions. Actually, 2-way switches should come shipped with both positions mapped to a button press output. Now that I've assigned button press outputs for both ways on the 2-way switches, they will generate unique button press numbers in DCS when I flip the switches up and when I switch them back down. Without this added, whenever you flip a switch up he mapped control will turn on in the aircraft, but when you flip the same switch down, nothing will happen in the DCS aircraft and the only way to turn that aircraft control off is to flip the same switch back up, which will cycle the control off. Then flipping the switch down will do nothing. By adding a button press to both positions on a 2-way switch, the switch will function as a toggle switch in the aircraft, which is what most people map 2-way switches to.

Bump

So there is the Grinnelli F-22 Mod that is posted on the fsoutlet.com website with a link to the zip file on MediaFire.com. I also found this F-22 mod on the DCS User Files website: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3308095/ . This F-22 mod is also posted on MediaFire.com, but the zip file is titled "VSN_F22+v2.5.4.01" and Grinnelli's zip file on MediaFire.com is titled "Community F-22A Mod Version II", so I assume these are completely different mods. Then we have also have Nightstorm's add-ons/changes to the base Grinnelli mod. Has anyone tried the F-22 Mod that's available on the DCS User Files website VSN_F22+v2.5.4.01? If so, how does it compare to Grinnelli's? I assume you can't have both F-22 mods in your Mod folder at the same time. Regarding the F-22 Mod changes by Nightstorm, does the mod still make the top speed and other flight characteristics far exceed Grinnelli's, as was mentioned in Grim Reapers video linked in a post above? I assume that many of the flight characteristics for the F22 are educated guesses, because I'm under the impression that there is no publicly available E-M flight performance envelope chart for the F-22. However according to GR's video, there is publicly available data on the F-22's top speed and Grinnelli's mod is within a knot or two and this mod of the Grinnelli mod exceeds the top speed by something like 20% or so. I forget the exact numbers quoted in GR's video. What are your thoughts on the F-22's top speed in your mod vs. Grinnelli's vs. the publicly available data?

I'm an idiot. I figured out where I screwed up. I should have just wrote openbeta in the dcs_variant.txt file that I created, not DCS.openbeta. I thought that I had to match the name of the existing folder in my Saved Games folder which is DCS.openbeta, but apparently that's not how the DCS reads the dcs_variant.txt file. I just changed the text in the dcs_variant file from DCS.openbeta to openbeta and saved it. Then I launched DCS and miraculously, a new folder wasn't created in my saved games folder. So really the only issue originally was that there wasn't a dcs_variant.txt file in my DCS World root folder, pointing DCS to my existing DCS.openbeta folder in saved games, so DCS was creating a new folder and naming it DCS. Then when I created the dcs_variant file and named it DCS.openbeta, DCS looked for a folder named DCS.DCSopenbeta and when it couldn't find one, it created one. And now that I have corrected the dcs_variant.txt file with just "openbeta",. DCS is recognizing that there is already a folder in saved games named DCS.openbeta, so it's not creating a new one.

OK so I created a text filed named dcs_variant.txt and in the txt file using NotePad, I just typed: DCS.openbeta, which is the name of my existing DCS folder in Saved Games. Then I saved the file and placed it inside of the E:/Applications/DCS World/bin folder which is where the DCS.exe file is located. Then I launched the DCS Open Beta application and immediately checked my Saved Games folder and saw that a brand new folder was created named DCS.DCS.openbeta. That folder name is obviously just combination of DCS and DCS.openbeta. DCS is the name of the new folder that was being created in my Saved Games folder before I created the new dcs_variant.txt file and DCS.openbeta is the text that I wrote in the new DCS_variant.txt file that I created. Do you think this is happening because there are two DCS_variant.txt files somewhere in my DCS World folder, with one of the DCS_variant.txt files containing the text "DCS" and the other one that I just created contains the text "DCS.openbeta", so DCS is combing those two? And since I don't have a folder in saved games matching the combination of DCS and DCS.openbeta, DCS is creating a new folder named DCS.DCS.openbeta? I bet if I renamed my DCS.openbeta folder in Saved Games to DCS.DCSopenbeta, that DCS wouldn't create a new folder in saved games. Before I created the new DCS_variant.txt file, the only fix that stopped DCS from creating a new folder in Saved games, was when I renamed my existing folder in Saved Games from "DCS.openbeta" to just "DCS". When I did that and then launched the DCS Open Beta application, it didn't create a new folder in Saved Games and DCS accessed my existing folder in saved games that I had just renamed to "DCS". I spent a couple hours looking every where in my DCS World folder for a file named DCS_variant.txt, but I couldn't find one anywhere, other than the new one that just created. The folder structure where the DCS Open Beta program files are located is E:/Applications/DCS World/. Inside of the DCS World folder there are 26 subfolders and 9 files that aren't in folders. The 9 files are: autoupdate.cfg autoupdate.dat autoupdate_log.txt autoupdate_log_old.txt, dcs_manifest.bin unins000.dat unins000.exe unins000.msg Plus the dcs_variant.txt file that I just created. The subfolders in my DCS World folder are: _backup.000 thru .004 _downloads API Bazar bin Config CoreMods Data DemoMods distr Doc dxgui FUI JConfHtml I10n LuaSocket Mission Editor Mods Scripts Sound.edc VCSServer WebGUI I have manually searched in my DCS World folder and every one of it's subfolders looking for a DCS_variant.txt file, other than the one I created. I also used Windows file search and came up with nothing. So why the heck is DCS Open Beta creating a new folder in my Saved Games folder and naming it DCS.DCSopenbeta, when the DCS_variant.txt file that I created contains the text: DCS.openbeta and a folder with that exact name already exists in my Saved Games folder? If there isn't another DCS_variant.txt file in my DCS World folder, what else could cause this? And if there is another DCS_variant.txt file, where the heck could it be hiding that wouldn't come up with Windows file search and that I couldn't find after 2 hours of searching dozens of subfolders?

I realize this is an old post, but I wanted to point out some inaccuracies that I found in the graphic and some of the statements on the page above from Chuck’s Guide. On the page above from Chuck’s Guide, it says: “TAA is simply 180 minus the AA value.” But in the graphic shown on the page, it says that TAA is 142 and AA is 035. Obviously 180 minus 35 is 145, not 142. I understand where the 3 degree difference is coming from because it’s eluded to on this page from Chuck’s guide, but the statement that “TAA is simply 180 minus the AA value” is not correct. Elsewhere on the page from Chuck’s guide it says “TAA and AA refer to your position relative to a line from the bandit’s tail to nose. The only difference between the two is that TAA (VTB) uses the nose as zero degrees reference, and AA (VTH) uses the tail as zero degrees reference. TAA is simply 180 minus the AA value.” It’s partially accurate, but I don’t think it’s worded correctly. The statement leaves out an important point and this is also evident in the graphic shown at the bottom middle of the page from Chuck’s guide shows that TAA and AA are essentially opposite halves of the 180 degree pie and the graphic shows the line from the attacker intersecting the center of the bandit. But that’s not accurate. For AA, the line from the attacker should intersect at the tail of the bandit, not the center of the bandit and then another line should come straight out the back of the tail of the bandit. And the degrees difference between those two lines is the AA. And for TAA, the line from the attacker should intersect the bandit at it’s nose, not the center of the bandit, as the graphic shows and then another line should come straight forward out of the nose of the bandit. And the degree difference between those two lines is the TAA. The graphic from Chuck’s Guide, shows for both TAA and AA, the line from the attacker to the bandit intersecting the center of the bandit. I understand what he was trying to demonstrate in the graphic with the circle and showing the 360 degrees. He was trying have a simple way to show that AA and TAA are basically opposite sides of the 180 degrees of the circle on the side of the attacking airplane, but it’s not an accurate way to depict AA and TAA because they intersect the bandit at different parts of the bandit aircraft, not at it’s center. On the Chuck’s Guide page it says that AA is relative to the bandits tail as 0 deg and TAA is relative to the nose as 0 deg. That’s accurate, but the graphic at the bottom center the page doesn’t depict this. The graphic depicts both TAA and AA inspecting the center the bandit. That’s where the statement “TAA is simply 180 minus the AA value” came from, but this statement isn’t correct because TAA and AA don’t insect at the same location on the bandit. For AA, the line coming straight back out of the bandit’s tail and the line coming from the attacker to the bandit, should converge at the bandits tail, not the bandit’s center and for TAA, the line coming out straight forward out of the nose of the bandit and going from the attacker to the bandit, should meet at the nose of the bandit, not the bandit’s center. In the example used in Chuck’s Guide, TAA is 142 degrees and AA is 35 degrees according to the VTB and VTH (HUD). As we’ve already determined, 180 degrees minus 35 degrees (TAA) is 145 degrees not 142. It’s 3 degrees off. The degree difference between the nose and tail relative to the attacker is the 3 degrees that the statement “TAA is simply 180 minus the AA value” is off by.

Where can I get an up to date PDF manual for the F14?

I don't think I have a dcs_variant.txt file anywhere on my PC drives. I searched by name in every possible place. Perhaps this is why DCS Open Beta keeps trying to use the wrong saved games DCS folder. I can try to create a dcs-variant.txt file to point DCS to the correct folder in saved games.

Where do I find the file dcs_variant.txt? Where is the directory? Is it in the main DCS World folder where the DCS.exe is located or is it in the Saved Games folders? I don't see a subfolder titled directory in either of these locations. I think I found a temporary fix, but I'm not sure that it won't cause other problems. Yesterday after I realized that the DCS Open Beta application was pulling date from and saving data to my Saved Games/DCS folder (release version), instead of my Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder, I moved the Saved Gamed/DCS folder (release version) out of my Saved Games folder and put it on another hard drive, in case I ever need it. However as soon as I started up the DCS Open Beta application again, the app created a new folder in Saved games title: DCS, which the application pulled data from and saved data to. This new folder just had the bare bones and lacked all of the subfolders and files that has been added to date to my previous DCS saved games folder since I've been playing DCS. So I deleted this new DCS (release version) folder from my saved games folder, leaving only the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games. Then I started up DCS Open Beta again, but once again it created a new DCS folder in saved games and ignored the Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder. So then I deleted the new DCS folder again, but this time I just renamed my Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder to Saved Games/DCS. Then I started up DCS Open Beta and this time the app didn't created a new DCS folder in Saved Games and it pulled date from and saved data to the Saved Games/DCS folder that is essentially my Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder, just renamed. I don't know if this is a good fix or if it will cause other problems. Regardless, I still want to figure out why the DCS Open Beta application was ignoring the Saved Games/DCS Open beta folder and only pulling and saving data to and from my DCS (release version) folder and even after I removed the DCS (release version) folder, why was DCS Open Beta still ignoring the Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder and creating a new DCS folder in Saved Games.

I just tried moving the release version DCS folder out of my Saved Games folder and leaving the DCS Open Beta folder in my Saved Games folder. Then I launched DCS Open Beta. Instantaneously, the application created a new DCS folder in my Saved Games folder, and its pulling data from that folder and not my Open Beta DCS folder in Saved Games. The F22 mod folder is installed in the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games, so the F22 isn't available in DCS when I launch the application. I used the DCS Updater Utility to launch DCS Open Beta, and in the DCS Updater Utility application settings, I definitely have the utility pointing to the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games, but DCS Open Beta still created a brand new DCS folder in my Saved Games folder as soon as I launched the application, and DCS ignored the DCS Open Beta folder that's in my Saved Games folder. What the heck is going on?

I had the regular release version of DCS installed on my PC until recently when I used the DCS Updater Utility to uninstall the release version of DCS and install the Open Beta version. So now in my Saved Games folder I have two different DCS folders: one is titled "DCS", which is from when I had the release version of DCS installed on my PC and the 2nd folder in Saved Games is titled "DCS Open Beta". In the DCS Updater Utility in the app settings tab, I have it pointing the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games and the DCS Open Beta .exe in my programs folder. However whenever I launch DCS Open Beta, either using the DCS Updater Utility or just clicking on the DCS Open Beta.exe or the shortcut on my task bar, when DCS Open Beta opens up, it's pulling data only from the old release version DCS folder in my Saved Games folder, not the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games. I know this because after I run DCS, the date modified on the release version DCS folder in Saved Games gets updated to the date and time that I last ran DCS Open Beta and the date modified for the DCS Open Beta Folder in Saved Games remains unchanged. I also recently added the F22 mod folder to my mod folder in Saved Games/DCS Open Beta/Mods/Aircraft/, but when I run DCS Open Beta and go to control settings or mission editor, the F22 isn't showing up in either drop list of aircraft. In the mission editor I made sure that I has the "historical-only" button unselected, so that's not the reason why the F22 isn't showing up in the Mission Editor and that still wouldn't explain why the F22 isn't showing up in the drop list of aircraft in the Control Settings window. So do I need to move the release version DCS folder out of my Saved Games folder and store it elsewhere on my PC, in case I ever need it later? I don't think I should have to do this because I have seen lots of videos on Youtube where people had both subfolders for the release version of DCS and the open beta version in their saved games folders and when they ran DCS Open Beta it pulled data from the correct DCS folder in Saved Games. Also in the DCS Updater Utility application settings, I have the utility pointing to the DCS Open Beta folder in Saved Games, so whenever I use the Updater Utility to launch DCS Open Beta, shouldn't it use the application setting pointing to Saved Games/DCS Open Beta folder instead of the release version?

I recently bought a Stream Deck (SD) XL to use with DCS. I programmed a bunch of different profiles and folders of SD buttons using the Stream Deck DCS Interface and DCS Exports shared by Charles Tyler, but the DCS Interface and Exports don't work for controlling simulation controls like shortcuts to exterior and cockpit views, show/hide flight controls, show/hide Pilot, show/hide flight stick, auto-start, active pause, view briefing, view rearm/refuel window, and communication shortcuts like calling the ball, salute, RTB, rejoin, cover me, etc. I am terrible about remembering the dozens of keyboard shortcuts for all of the DCS Control Settings, so I programmed all of these sim controls and a lot more as Stream Deck hot keys mirrored to the keyboard shortcuts in DCS Control Settings, but none of them are working in DCS. However all of the Stream Deck buttons that I programmed with the much more complex DCS Interface plug-in using DCS Exports scripts are working beautifully, so it's clear that my Stream Deck is being recognized by DCS, however whenever I use my Stream Deck buttons as simple hot keys aka keyboard shortcuts, which is basically just a keyboard emulator, DCS doesn't recognize any of them. I know that the hot keys are set up correctly because I opened up MS Word and pressed all the SD hot keys and they typed the characters that I had set up for each hot key. The hot keys also work perfectly as keyboard shortcuts in other apps like MSFS 2020. At first I thought the issue might have been due to modifiers like left shift and right shift, etc., so I programmed my SD hot keys as single characters like single letters and numbers without any modifiers and I changed the corresponding keyboard shortcuts in DCS Control Settings to match the single characters that I had programmed as hot keys in the Stream Deck app, but still none of the hot keys worked in DCS. I would just use the Stream Deck DCS Interface/DCS Exports scripts for programming all of the DCS functions that I want on my Stream Deck, but DCS doesn't have the necessary device ID's and DCS ID's for all the sim controls that I listed above, which are needed to use Stream Deck DCS Interface/DCS Exports scripts. Stream Deck Interface/DCS Exports scripts are only good for programming Stream Deck buttons to control things in the aircraft that have a physical input like a button, switch, lever, or flight control. So far I've tried every fix that I could find on this message board and elsewhere for the issue I'm having with SD hot keys not working in DCS. I've tried using my Stream Deck hot keys when I was running DCS as administrator and I've tried running DCS not as admin. I've tried running the Stream Deck application as admin and not as admin. I'm not sure if it matters, but I do have Voice Attack, VAICOM, SRS, DCS Bios, and TacView installed on my PC, as well the Stream Deck DCS Interface and DCS Exports plug-ins. Everything else is working fine, except for Stream Deck Hot Keys only in DCS. Does anyone have any suggested fixes that I haven't tried yet?

Unfortunately this fix didn’t work for me. I checked to be sure, but I wasn’t running DCS as administrator. i have tried running DCS and the Stream Deck software as administrator and I’ve tried running them not as administrator. No matter which I try, the SD hot keys still don’t work in DCS, but they work in every other application.

I have this exact same issue. The SD buttons that I have programmed with DCS Exports scripts were perfectly, but none of my SD buttons that I programmed as regular hot keys matching DCS keyboard shortcuts are working. The SD buttons with hot keys work fine in MS Word and MSFS 2020 and other applications, but not in DCS. I have tried a million fixes over the past 24 hours but so far nothing has worked, including running SD as admin. I’m going to try this admin fix right now. I pray that it works.

I spent hours programming my new stream deck with a combination of DCS Export scripts and simple key binds using the Hot Key functions in the Stream Deck app. All of my Stream Deck buttons programmed with DCS exports scripts work great, but I cant get any of the hot key keyboard binds to work. I have a U.S. keyboard and I am aware of how to set a hot key to left or right modifiers. Just to double check that my issues didn't have anything to do with the modifiers, I programs a half dozen stream deck buttons to DCS keyboard binds that use single letters and numbers and no modifiers, but still I cant get any of them to work. Programming the stream Deck buttons with DCS exports scripts is very time confusing, so for things that are easily activated with keyboard binds, it was a lot faster and easier just to use hot keys in Stream Deck. Things like predefined views, show controls, predefined comms, active pause, screen shots, etc. I am terrible about remembering the hundreds of keyboard combinations in DCS and its much faster and easier for me to map commonly used keyboard binds to buttons on my Stream Deck which have art and text so there is never any doubt what I'm selecting when I press a Stream Deck button, whereas as when I try to remember a keyboard combination, I never know what I'll get. Half the time I end up doing something I didn't want to do and I cant figure out how to reverse it or get out of whatever view I went into. Anyway for the life of me, I can't figure out why none of the dozens of hot keys that I set up on my Stream Deck are working, yet all of the DCS export scripts are working perfectly. Does anyone have any ideas?

I just received my first Stream Deck. I got the XL. I'm starting to create DCS profiles for the F/A-18. I've found a bunch of great profiles already created like the ones from jonny415 and others, but none of them fit exactly the format that works right for my brain, so I'm planning to copy and paste a bunch of buttons from different people and put it all together in a format that works best for me. Before I get started, I am trying to decide whether to use pages, folder, or profiles to create my system of nested buttons in my Stream Deck. Now that Stream Deck offers buttons to Switch Profiles, Switch Pages, and Switch Folders, these are all options. So my home page will be buttons for all of the apps I use the most on my PC. One of those buttons will be DCS. Once I tap on the DCS button, I plan to have a page of buttons for all of the aircraft that I own and will eventually build SD profiles, folders, or pages for. One of the buttons will be for the F/A-18. That will take me to a page of F/A-18 buttons. I will probably set one up with buttons for each of the main sections of the cockpit and systems, since I am visual and that I how I know where everything is. So when I set up the nested buttons on my Stream Deck, should I set them up where each I have nested folders, multiple pages, or multiple nested profiles?

I have a 38 inch LG curved ultra-wide monitor that’s 3840 X 1600 with a 21:9 aspect ratio, HDR, 175 Hz refresh rate, and 1ms response time. I feel like 21:9 aspect ratio is the perfect balance between width and height for flight simulators. With that said, I’ve been eyeing the Samsung 49” super ultra-wide G9 and the newer Samsung Neo G9 Gaming DQHD Quantum Mini-LED Monitor. I’m sure the 49” display is amazing, but my only concern is narrow FOV with a 32:9 aspect ratio. For general gaming, it’s no problem, but I’m flight simulators it’s important to be able to see out of the windshield of the aircraft and also the cockpit displays instruments. I feel like the 32:9 will be too narrow to see the cockpit and see out the windshield at the same time, unless you zoom out so much that you can’t read the displays. The 49” 32:9 displays gives you a super wide horizontal FOV, but I feel like your sacrificing the vertical view. But I’m just speculating based on the numbers. I’ve never played DCS or MSFS 2020 on a 49” 32:9 display. For you guys who have this monitor, do you find the narrow FOV limiting at all?

I just recently started flying the F/A-18 in DCS. I have a TM Warthog Throttle and Stick, and TM TPR Pedals as my main controls. I already have all the HOTAS buttons, switches, and hats on these controls mapped to the most commonly used HOTAS functions for the F/A-18. But I also have 2 Logitech Saitek flight control panels (the Multi-Panel and the Flight Switch Panel) with a bunch of switches, buttons, wheels, knobs, levers, and dials and I have the Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant that I want to use to control additional functions in the aircraft, since I am using my TM Warthog throttle to control thrust. The Bravo throttle has 6 axis controls, 2 levers, 11 buttons, 1 knob, a 6 position dial, and a wheel. I'm using an app and a plug-in called DCS Flight Panels and DC-Bios that enables me to map all of the controls on Logitech Saitek flight control panels to control in the aircraft and the Honeycomb Bravo Throttle appears in the DCS Control settings and can be set up like any flight control. I could just randomly select a bunch of functions in the F/A-18 to control with all of the extra physical controls that I have, but I really want to map these extra controls to the most commonly used functions in the F/A-18. For example, right now I have the 6 axis levers bound to control knobs to turn on and control the brightness of all the displays in the F/A-18, but I'm sure there are better uses for these 6 axis levers because once the displays are turned on during cold start, I wont have to mess with them in flight. I really want to prioritize binding my physical controls to things that I need to control while in flight and especially while engaged with enemies in the air or on the ground. I find that its much easier to take my left hand off my throttle to quickly press a physical button or flip a switch in front of me than it is to take my hand off my stick to grab my mouse and then navigate my mouse to the correct controls in the F/A-18 and then remember whether I need to right click, left click, roll the mouse wheel, or do a combination of these to activate the cockpit function. For now, I am not using VR, so activating physical controls is much easier and faster than activating controls in the cockpit with my mouse. So what are some of the controls in the F/A-18 that would you say are most helpful to be bind to physical controls?

I discovered something else. I opened up DCS settings and on the Gameplay tab, I saw that I had Game Flight Mode turned off, but I had Game Avionics Mode turned on. I tried turning "Game Avionics Mode" off and then I did a cold start in my F/A-18 and all of my controls were back to responding in the plane just as I have them set up in DCS Control Settings. Then I turned Game Avionics Mode back on and started a new flight in my F/A-18 and all the controls were back to not matching what I have set up in DCS Control Settings for the F/A-18. So having Game Avionics Mode turned on is forcing my control settings into the F/A-18 Game mode. I thought that you had to have Game Flight Mode turned on in order to have the aircraft use the F/A-18 Game Control Settings. But I have since tested it by turning on Game Flight Mode by itself and Game Avionics Mode by itself, and both of them force the aircraft to use the F/A-18 Game Control Settings. I figured this out because one time I started a flight in with a hot start in Ready Ramp mode and as soon as I clicked the "Fly" button the plane started hauling butt down the taxi way and went into the woods and blew up. None of my controls worked the way they were set up in Control Settings for the F/A-18 Simulator Control settings. So then I opened up Control settings and looked at the settings for F/A-18 Game mode and I saw that the gray slider on the right side of my Warthog Throttle was set up to control the thrust. But the slider was in the off position and when I tried another flight with Game Avionics Mode turned on, the plane took off down the taxi way again, but the slide wasn't responding properly. Then I figured out that there special selection in the axis tune window for sliders. Once I checked the slider box, it started working like a proper throttle. What's still confusing me is that I could swear that when I've been flying in DCS for the past few months, I always had that Game Avionics Mode turned on and Game Flight Mode turned off and the Game Avionics mode being on wasn't forcing my F/A-18 to use the F/A-18 Game control settings. I could be wrong, but I feel like something in one of the new apps that I installed or maybe an update to DCS is what caused the Game Avionics Mode turned on to start forcing the F/A-18 to use the F/A-18 Game control settings. Whenever I hover over the Game Avionics Mode setting on the Gameplay tab in DCS Settings, a floating pop-up appears that says "Aircraft and units will be marked in surround space". When I was playing DCS prior to installing all those new apps, I was definitely seeing aircraft and units marked with floating blue and red text and my F/A-18 definitely wasn't using the F/A-18 Game control settings. This is only started happening a couple days ago. Having the Game Avionics mode setting on shouldn't force you to use the F/A-18 Game control settings, because if you want to control the plane with your more advanced sim control settings you can't do it, because the F/A-18 Game control settings have very limited options of what you can control in the plane and how you control them. I tried Loading my F/A-18 Sim control settings profiles into the F/A-18 Game control settings, but the F/A-18 Game mode only has about 30% of the controls available for F/A-18 Sim control settings. You should be able to have Game Avionics mode turned on and still use the Sim level control settings and not be forced to use Easy or Game level control settings.

OK, so I sort of figured out what is causing my controls in the FA18 to go all haywire, but I still don't know why it's happening or how to fully fix it. So when I set up all my controls initially, in DCS Control settings, I selected the FA-18 from the drop down menu in the upper left corner of the Control settings screen. Then I proceeded to customize all the controls for keybaord, mouse, stick, and throttle. Before all this started happening, when I jumped into the FA18, all the controls responded exactly how I have them set up in Control settings. Now the Control Settings are still right, but my controls aren't responding to match what's set up in Control Settings. So I just pulled up the Control Settings and in the drop down menu where you select the aircraft, I selected "General". I never set up any control settings for General, but now there are a bunch of really weird control settings set up for my throttle, stick, rudders, keyboard, and mouse and these really weird control settings that I am seeing the Control settings interface match up exactly with what my controls are now doing when I'm in the FA18. For example, in Control Settings the toe brake axis on my rudder pedals are bound to control pitch and roll. My throttle, and joystick axis are also set up to control pitch and roll. Obviously, I never set things up this way. So for some reason, even though all of my F18 control settings are still set up in the Control Settings app, the FA18 aircraft in the sim isn't using those settings and is only using the General control settings. I think I have a workaround, but its not really a total fix. I have all of my customized FA18 control settings as Saved Profiles. So what if I select "General" from the drop down menu in Control Settings and then load all of my saved FA18 profiles, which will change the General control settings from all those wacky settings to my customized FA18 control settings. This should enable me to fly my F18 with correct control settings, but it wont fix the issue that is causing the FA18 to use the General Control Settings instead of the FA18 control settings. Does anyone have any idea how to fix that?

I don't see a folder in Saved Games named DCS.OpenBeta. It's still: SavedGames/DCS and inside of the DCS folder there are 16 subfolders. Config and Scripts are 2 of the 16 subfolders Inside of the Scripts folder, there are 3 subfolders and 2 lose files. The subfolders are: DCS-BIOS, Hooks, and VAICOMPRO and the 2 files are Export.lua and TacviewGameExport.lua. Inside of the DCS-BIOS folder, are 2 folders and 2 files. The folders are doc and lib and the files are BIOS.lua and BIOSConfig.lua. The doc folder appears to have a bunch of stuff relating to graphics. There subfolders inside of the doc folder are: CSS, images, js, and json. In the lib folder there are 52 .lua files named after all the DCS modules and there is a file named address.txt. I think I will try using the DCS Update Utility app to switch back to DCS 2.5 stable and see if that fixes my issue.