sneakypete

Hi, I'm wanting to purchase DCS P51-Mustang whilst the sale is on but have unfortunately forgotten my username/password for the DCS website and E-shop. I have requested the email for a new password several times but this is not coming through. Please advise. Thanks.

It was the first 2 years I think. There was an awful lot of waffle from the 'devs' about how it was going to be revolutionary etc. Area 51 promised screenshots, vids, and there was even a mention of beta access if I remember correctly. 2 years membership hardly broke the bank but I certainly received nothing of what was promised. I'd be interested to know how many people in total made the same mistake as me.

I wouldn't mind a refund for my 2 years membership! I saw absolutely nothing regarding progress during that time :(.

^^^ Agreed, Prepar3d is the way forward for many simmers but whether it will ever cut it as a combat environment is open to question. Tacpack looks interesting but it's early days and from what I've seen will still take some time to reach its full potential.

Mmmm, I'm amazed at how much bad press FSX gets from many on this forum. Getting FSX to run with decent FPS and stability is not that hard as long as your system (CPU mainly) has some grunt. With a couple of decent add-ons like FTX England and REX Essentials it is a beautiful looking and smooth sim. Prepar3d is even better. In fact I'd go as far as to say going from stand alone DCS A10 to DCS World has halved my frame-rates, FSX has better FPS for me at the moment. Admittedly FSX/Prepar3ed are not combat sims (yet!) but with a bit of work both can be excellent at what they are designed for.

'So with FSX officially "dead", and before anyone panics, yes, we plan to support Prepar3D. In fact we have a working copy of the TacPack for commercial customers already, and it is in testing concurrently with the FSX version. However we want FSX to continue to thrive because it will always be our bread and butter. It has a huge installed base, and nobody is going to "deactivate" existing copies.' The above quote from the Tacpack devs so it looks like they will be supporting Prepar3d. Some nice Tacpack carrier traps in this vid:-

You're absolutely right Kuky. I'm on a slow and expensive connection here which can't be avoided. I didn't quite expect to have to download the whole 'kaboodle' again quite so quickly though. I think I'll sit this one out and wait for the final release. Cheers.

Another 12 hour download :doh:. Only just finished the download of the previous versions :cry:. Surely you're 'funning' with me? :(

You may have seen this http://simhq.com/_air14/air_505a.html article on SimHQ already but if not this is the update you'll need. I still rate BoB II WOV highly as the AI and campaign mode are top notch, the flight modelling isn't too shabby either. The graphics look to be much improved with the upcoming 2.12 update.

Yeah, it's very odd :huh: I like to keep my computer well maintained so I'm at a loss as to why both F1 2010/11 are both utter failures on my system. When I have managed to get them running for a few minutes the frame rates have been good. It's the random crashes and lock-ups that have plagued me especially in DX11 mode. I've yet to complete even a 20% race distance with either 2010/11 due to problems with system crashes. I have to smile though. Codies bigging it up about all the new features in F1 2011, many of which haven't been implemented or are simply broken. I'd say that they have more problems now with 2011 than they did with 2010. I took a risk with 2011 as I didn't think Codemasters would dare release another bugfest like 2010. The question is now... will the patches come? With their track record I'd say almost certainly not except for their initial obligatory effort to stamp out the worst problems and that will likely introduce as many problems as it fixes. They'll be starting work on F1 2012 within a months time I'm sure. So yeah, F1 2010/2011 and Codemasters have been one big :doh: after another for me. Hopefully, I've learnt from my mistake this time though. :smilewink:

This was my first post at the Codemasters forum regarding F1 2011 :) My first 3 hours with F1 2011 (PC) This is my first post and outlines my first few hours with the PC version of F1 2011. Unfortunately, I never got to the stage where I could run F1 2010 without crashes and lock-ups even in DX9 mode so it was a disaster for me although the few minutes I did get with it looked promising. DX11 mode was never implemented properly as far as I know so I gave up when I could rarely get past the loading screen due to lock-ups. I'll probably get crushed by some of the Fanbois on here for this post but this is honestly how it has been for me so far. Codemasters never gave F1 2010 the support and patches it needed to make the game stable. It is actually the first title I've owned that I've never been able to run consistently without crashes and lock-ups. Before anyone thinks that my system is the problem I can assure you it isn't. My specs are:- Intel Q9550 @ 3.8 ghz Corsair H60 cooling EVGA GTX480 SC fitted with a Zalman cooler running latest drivers 4gb ram Windows 7 64 bit. Hazro H27WC monitor Soundblaster X-FI with latest drivers Latest versions of DX9 and DX11 Amongst others here are a few titles that I have installed at the moment and all are running well without crashes and good frame-rates:- Mass Effect 2 IL2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Red Orchestra 2 Heroes of Stalingrad Rise of Flight DCS A10C Shogun Total War 2 FSX The Witcher 2 It's fair to say that some of these titles have already had extensive patching but even from the beginning they were still playable without CTD etc. unlike F1 2010/2011. I'd been on the fence about buying F1 2011 mainly because of the problems I'd had with 2010. However, I took the plunge after seeing it on Play.com for £16.99. "Gotta be worth that".... I thought to my self. How wrong could I be? The following is an approximation of how my first few hours went with F1 2011. First, a nice straightforward but fairly lengthy installation. After this I fire her up. Oh dear, a black screen which I have to ctrl-alt-del out of. Never mind, I'll re-boot the system and try again. Second time lucky and the movie begins to run. Press enter and do the Windows Live stuff. The loading begins and I stare at my screen incredulously...yes folks, you guessed it! My first lock up of the day. This doesn't bode well. However, I get back to desktop eventually and try again. YES, I get through to the main screen this time and proceed to set up sound, graphics, and my shiny new Ferrari F430 wheel (pretty impressed with this BTW). So, I set the graphics to Ultra and DX11 because I have enough computing power to run with the extra eye candy after all. Then on to set up the Steering wheel which is pretty straightforward. Then on to the sound, ah, there is no choice for hardware or Rapture 3D. Ok, I exit to desktop and download and install the new Rapture 3D drivers. I fire up the game again...sh*t, immediate lock-up on loading screen. This happens 3 more times before I actually get back to the game set-up screen. Back into audio set-up, still no option for Rapture 3D. I'm starting to get to the WTF stage now! Ok, I'll run with software sound for now so I can actually get into a race and set up my steering wheel etc. I set up a GP in Montreal and decide to give the Force India a spin. Into the loading screen Aaaaaarrrghhh! Guess what? Another lock up which I have to quit from with Ctrl-alt-del. At this moment I'm having such a huge De ja vu moment remembering my woes with F1 2010. I dash to the fridge to get a Budweiser to help settle my nerves. Back into the game...lock up on initial loading so back to desktop again. The next load up attempt gets me to the game set-up screen. I decide to try changing to DX9 after which I'm told I need to re-start the game. This I dutifully do and get straight back to the main game screen without a problem. I set up again for Montreal with Force India and get through to the garage for the first time in probably an hour since I installed. Yeeeehaaaa! Quick car set-up and onto the grid. My initial impressions regarding the look of the game are mixed but after a while I decide that for me F1 2010 looks better in a lot of ways. So far IMO this looks and feels like a game which is an afterthought to the consoles (consolitis ) but anyway I press on. WTF! My Steering wheel and pedals are not working after the initial set-up. The other cars hammer off up the road leaving me sat there like a numpty. Someone crashes into the back of me and i get a penalty for 'Illegal Blocking'...laugh, I nearly bought a round!! Back into setup. Repeat all the stuff for setting up wheel and pedals and restart the Montreal race. We're off! I crash (the car this time) repeatedly until I have a decent setup sorted for my wheel and pedals. After a few laps I'm starting to like the feel of the car and manage to stay with the pack fairly well on the hard setting. I decide to go back to set-up and try to set up the sound and run in DX11 again...no joy with either and I get repeated crashes and lock-ups whilst trying to run in DX11. Still no sign of Rapture 3D either!? Eventually I go back to running the game in DX9 and begin a career driving for Force India. I make 3 or 4 runs in first practice and the lap times are improving. My progress is suddenly halted by a F1 2011 exe crash. Rage quit and lie down in a dark room for a while. All this took up about 3 hours of my saturday evening. I should think I actually spent 20 minutes of that driving a car. I fired up F1 2011 again this morning. Again all of my settings for wheel and pedals are lost. I check the forum and people are saying that you need to proceed from the initial screen using a button from your steering wheel for the settings to be remembered! Why? Anyway, I'm unable to do so and I have to set up my wheel and pedals every time I want to play. Codemasters. I find it hard to believe that you have the cojones to release F1 2011 for PC in this state. However on the other hand I'm not that surprised that you have. There were many problems with F1 2010 that were never fixed and although £16.99 for F1 2011 may not seem like much to many people it is to me at a time when work in my line is scarce. I feel like I've paid for a very poor patch for a game that was for me already unplayable ie F1 2010. In fact at this time it would be more useful as a coaster for my can of Bud! F1 2010 was unstable, for some it crashed a lot. F1 2011 is still unstable, it crashes a lot! I can't really make many comments on other aspects of the game as I haven't been able to run it for long enough to give my opinion. So my closing comment is:- Codemasters.... for goodness sake, fix it or sumfink! Quickly!

Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX9. Try downloading and installing the updated training missions from http://files.lockon.ru/en/704/ Not sure but these may solve your problem.

Agreed, the price had been on a downward trend at both Play and Amazon beforehand. Just Christmas price-wars I reckon! Got mine yesterday and updated firmware ok. This thing is a work of art! :joystick:

Still £269.24 at More computers (UK). Ok, not so good as £199 but still £60 cheaper than the original £329.99.

Yeah, fingermarks, not correctly packed, lateral and linear play in the right hand throttle. Worked ok, but looked and felt a bit 'second-hand' to me! I expect most have some throttle play but quite a lot in this example. I may be wrong but I'd say this one had been out of the box before! :huh:

Now £199 at Play and Amazon UK! My first WH was returned to Amazon UK as I suspected I was not the first owner. :hmm:

Now down to £199 at Play. I also ordered mine at £279.99 and have been advised to refuse delivery and re-order at the new price. :thumbup:

Doh! :doh:That's an amazing price! Ordered mine from Play. Never mind, my first one from Amazon went back!

Just a heads up, TM Warthog is currently £279.99 at Play.com for anyone wanting a Xmas bargain. The Saitek Combat Rudder pedals will be available in January. Looks like RRP will be £179.99 here in the uk. Ouch!! http://store.gameshark.net/Pro_Flight_Combat_Rudder_Pedals/4909/173

You're welcome mate, You can program in spring resistance on the G940 which is handled by the Force Feedback motors. Unfortunately, when the joystick is supposed to be at centre there is quite a lot of play before the motors come into effect which means the stick can (and does) have some free play around centre. Hard to describe but hope that makes sense. In effect if you're aircraft is in trim and flying straight and level and if you then take you're hand off of the G940 stick then it will move as there is no centre resistance. It's not a huge amount but enough of an annoyance for me to part with it. Some owners say they've not had this problem but I'm sceptical as an awful lot have. I'd hoped the software update would cure this but it never made any difference as far as I could tell. Logitechs' stance on this is that it would put too much strain on the motors to correct the problem so it probably will not happen. If you're a serious simmer then the HOGTAS is the way to go! :joystick: Cheers.

I had the G940 and spent more time trying to get it working properly than actually using it. I couldn't get on with the 'slop' around joystick centre either. Some people seem to get on ok with them but it just wasn't for me. Yep, the WH is more expensive but I've tried it with DCS A10 and Rise of Flight and was impressed with both the feel and accuracy. Having tried both I'd say the WH is the better choice and well worth the extra outlay. Having said that a few people have had some teething problems with the WH since release. It might be worth hanging on a while to see what the score is with reliability and how it fares when the firmware update is released. There might be a price drop after Xmas also!

Thanks for the info and your views Topdog. Interesting regarding the non original outer cardboard box. It seems odd that Amazon would take it out of the original sealed box to put it in their own :huh:. But if yours was the same then I guess they prefer their own way of packing. I returned mine because there were obvious signs that I wasn't the first owner. Also, the right hand throttle lever on this one had IMO excessive play, ie if you put your finger on the top corner of the right lever and you could rotate it in a little circle so in effect it had both lateral and linear play which was enough for me to notice whilst in use. I think I could have lived with it but in the end I returned it as the concensus amongst most I mentioned it to was that I had received a 'used' unit when I had payed for a new one. I'm just waiting for the refund to go into my account so I can send for a hopefully 'new' WH. If I can hang on a week or 2 there may be a price drop, I think Amazon have already dropped the price on theirs slightly. In the short time I had the WH I was impressed, although It was a bit of a shock feel wise coming from a CH Fighterstick! Need to find a decent workout for my girlie wrists! :thumbup:

I'd agree, the Warthog HOTAS is the best there is at the moment. Just a word of warning if buying from Amazon UK. When yours arrives make sure the outer box (brown cardboard) is still sealed. Mine didn't even arrive in the original outer cardboard box and the stick and throttle looked decidedly second hand to me! No original box, fingermarks all over it, no ties on cables, a lot of play on the right hand throttle lever both lateral and when pushing forward. This one also had a very low serial number which as far as I can make out isn't even close to the numbers on units being sold at the moment. I sent this one back stating that the unit had been used which was not acceptable as I had payed for a new one. I wanted a replacement but they would only offer a refund. I hope you have better luck with Amazon than I did. Having said that it's the first problem I've had with them after many years of good service. I'll purchase another elsewhere once Amazon get round to processing my refund!

Thanks for the heads up CrashED. Just checked on Warthog World and it's not amongst their database. The lowest serial they have on there is 00128 and the highest is over 02000. I'd say I've got a very early TM Warthog here!

Fopey, thanks for your thoughts. I did go through the database on here and at SimHq but couldn't see it. If anyone recognises the serial 00160 then it would be helpful if you'd let me know. Thanks again :thumbup: