DaveSD

Ah, flaps, that's almost certainly what the problem is. Thanks rob10! Dave

Tuesday I finally switched to a Winwing Orion 2 flight stick and throttle, from whatever I was using before. I now sometimes see an extreme pitch-up when taking off, mainly from a carrier, which I didn't experience before. I've been doing everything the same (although they may have been things I shouldn't have been doing) - I reset the FCS and then I click the take-off trim button. Sometimes I even spread the wings when I'm on the carrier. (Kidding.) Am I doing something wrong? I don't want to be the subject of a Grampa Pettibone story.

I got my TPR pedals today and they generally work great. It took a bit of fiddling to get the brakes to work, but I can't seem to get much, if any, differential braking. What little I see may just be a case of me applying a bit more pressure to the pedal in general. I definitely have each pedal assigned separately in the controller options. It's not a huge deal except when I land at Mach 1.2.

Has anyone noticed that the Blue Angels blue paint looks a bit purple in the mirrors? It seems to be a bit less so in the left mirror, (could be wrong about that) which originally led me to believe it was a characteristic of the sunlight. It stayed that way regardless of which way I was flying, though, so I ruled out natural light. It could be the tinting of the mirrors, too. Just wondering, and it's not a big deal for me since I rarely fly with that skin. Also, I noticed that when I shut down a Hornet the mirrors disappear, or at least they do if they've been folded out of the way. Again, for me it's not a big deal - I don't fly with the mirrors. That might explain why the guy in the Yak-52 keeps shooting me down with a BB gun. EDIT: I'm an idiot. I never paid attention to the fact that the mirrors go UP when the canopy is raised. Now I know where the bug really is - between my ears. I did some checking about these here in the forums but didn't see anything. They could be buried down deep in old threads.

Thanks, @Dragon1-1. I didn't see a hardware board, but I guess I just didn't poke around enough. I've got the specs you mentioned saved in a text file so when the time comes - hopefully soon - I'll start doing some serious shopping. Dave

This is a two part post. First, if I've posted this in the wrong area or it's been covered elsewhere (I did do a search), I apologize. So with the upcoming overhauls to DCS software that will allow advanced rendering that takes advantage of new tech (multi-threading being one of them, I guess), are there general recommendations I should consider when shopping for a new computer? Although I built a PC more than 20 years ago, I wouldn't consider myself an expert in this field. I'm okay with buying something already built or building my own. I know there are guides online for generic gaming computers, but I'm asking about anything that would be particularly well-suited for DCS. Any suggestions? I almost certainly wouldn't be using VR, just head tracking. Second, I posted essentially the same thing you see above earlier today and it's gone. Did I somehow break forum rules? I read through them and nothing stood out as being problematic according to the rules. I would assume admins would either issue a warning, or in especially bad cases, would remove the content and issue a warning. Nothing like that came through, so... Glitch? Rogue admin? Problem with my browser that's causing my post ot not be seen? I've never had a post deleted before. And in my first post I did apologize in advance if I'd asked about something already covered or posted it in the wrong place. I looked for appropriate places and didnt see anything, and I didn't get many search results when I checked before posting. Thank you, Dave

Hey everyone, I apologize if this is in the wrong place or if it's already been discussed, but I couldn't find anything by doing a search. So with the upcoming technology (multi-threading and such, I guess*), are there any suggestions about computer specifications I should be considering when I buy a computer specifically for DCS? I'm currently using a pretty powerful laptop for DCS (with external monitor of course) but I'm sure it'll probably become less suitable for DCS in the near future. I'm fairly comfortable with building my own - I did that a long time ago - so suggestions for a collection of compatible parts would be helpful too. *I worked in IT for about 25 years, but not in anything that involved PC technology. I'm clueless about it. Thanks all, Dave

I'm Dave in San Diego. Retired from 25 years in IT, now working part-time (hopefully fully retired soon) and doing news photography part time. (I did this full time for about 10 years a long time ago.) I was in the Navy for four years, based at NAS North Island, flying as a sensor operator (SENSO) in S-3A Vikings, two deployments aboard USS Carl Vinson. My call sign was, and is now, Slo-Mo. (Anxiously awaiting nicer a Viking 3D model, and hopeful that the CVN-70 carrier will be fully functional). I'm a volunteer docent at the USS Midway Museum, so if you're ever in San Diego let me know. I can bring up to three guests for free. (davidabarak@gmail.com) I should be getting Thrustmaster pedals and a Winwing throttle and stick for the Hornet, which is pretty much the only thing I fly. (I did buy the F-16 and F-86 planes.) And for the record, I absolutely suck at carrier landings and any mission involving SAM sites. Dave

@cfrag, I ordered a LUA book today. I learn this stuff better via book so I don't have to constantly be switching windows. Thanks for the help! @jonsky7 and @sirrah You guys really helped! It was much simpler than I realized, and my big mistake was that I thought that when a user flag was set, it applied only to the unit that set it rather than it being a global flag for the user. I tested it out by having a unit damaged or destroyed by another ground unit and then having an aircraft end its orbit and start smoke. Worked great!

Thanks for the reply, dfrag! In the past, I've managed to fiddle with JavaScript, PHP, ASP, CFM, PERL, HTML and CSS. I had HTML nailed down until they decided to prank me by coming up with HTML5. I even tried MySQL database stuff, which really confused me. I managed to get something simple running. I think one of the things that tripped me up with LUA is that there are what I imagine are variables(?) specific to DCS. I found an online LUA syntax checker, plugged in a simple "Hello World" sort of LUA script I found, and it ran fine. Then just to see how it turned out, I replaced what I could in that simple script with my own things, like wording to replace "Hello World." It didn't run. Of course it was one of those tiny little mistakes that are so easy to miss. Anyway, I'm going to dig into DCS because I can see it will really change with way DCS is experienced. (I hesitate to say we "play" DCS - it's too realistic, at least in simulation mode, to be considered a game.) Dave Thanks for the replies, jonsky7 and @sirrah! I'm going to give what you both suggested a try, but I'm also going to actually try to learn LUA as @cfrag suggested. It'll be a worthwhile skill to use with DCS, at least to the level I want to be operating at. Now I just need to learn how to land on a carrier (I know how, but that doesn't mean I can.), how to dogfight, how to keep SAMs from killing me, how to keep AAA from killing me, how to keep me from killing me...

Hey everyone, I started trying to use LUA but got in way over my head, so I'm hoping to try to do this via triggers, waypoint actions, voodoo, anything but LUA. ### EDIT: I tried the following code and got closer - I think - after several tries. There are a few comments. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? To cut to the chase, I'm trying to get a FAC to move to a new waypoint after a target is destroyed. local function main() do for i=1, t do local t=trigger.misc.getUserFlag('Ground-1-1') if getUserFlag="0" --Line 9 --if getUserFlag=0 --Alternate Line 9 then { } else trigger.action.switchWP('Aerial-1-1') params={fromWaypointIndex=0, goToWaypointIndex=1} end --ERROR: lua: main.lua:9: 'then' expected near '=' ### What I'm trying to do is have the status of AI Unit A affect the behavior of AI Unit B. More specifically in my case, if Unit A is killed (by any attacking unit) I'd like the FAC Unit B to move from Waypoint 1 to Waypoint 2. (In the case of an airborne FAC, it would be orbiting at Waypoint 1.) Although a complete answer is great, I also don't want to ask you to do my work for me, so if you can just sort of point me in a direction I'd appreciate it. LUA melted my brain. In the past I've tried learning JavaScript, obviously not for DCS, and it too melted my brain.

If I'd asked if it was possible to manually enter a heading, would you have said "It's a 737, not a fighter plane?" I don't think my question was unreasonable, but I do think your answer was. Best regards

Hey gang, Is there a way to manually set an autopilot altitude, similar to how one can set the HSEL bearing? Dave Slo-Mo

Fixed it. In other words, I'm an idiot. I'd forgotten that I had a hidden target zone that was set to play audio file A, and that apparently overrode playing audio file B over the radio.

Hi everyone, I'm having a strange problem playing audio files. First, I'm flying a Hornet. I have two ground set up. One ground unit is playing file A at frequency A and the other ground unit is playing file B at frequency B. The Hornet's radio is set up properly - channel one is frequency A and channel two is frequency B. Both ground units are transmitting at maximum power (they're next to each other), and they're both transmitting their files in a loop. The Hornet is only picking up the audio for A and not for B. Any ideas what might be wrong? Dave

Hi Ignition, I'm not the expert in terms of customer satisfaction that ED is, they get the vibe of thousands of users, but it seems to me as one guy that if realistic, complex missions are touted as a major selling point and if AI is part of that, then AI should be easier to use and work as intended. Workarounds shouldn't be needed and it shouldn't take 20 or more times as long to plan a mission (because workarounds have to be developed) as it does to fly one. I want to plan missions and fly them, and I don't want to become an armchair artificial intelligence scientist. Think of it this way - if someone bought a new car that came with a radio as standard equipment, I don't think they'd be all that happy if it only received one station part of the time and only after spending hours trying to tune it, which only succeeded because you duct taped a weird mass of aluminum foil to the antenna. That's our AI in many cases. The "not ready for prime time" AI can't really be taken away now, but I know that if I ran the company I wouldn't have made it available until it worked much, much better than it does now. For me, DCS is a one-against-many (me against enemy AI, which seems to actually work) sim and really not worth the money I dumped into it based on what was promised. For others, if you're happy with DCS then I'm glad that's the case.

I'll give that a shot, Exorcet. You're a saint! I wish I could figure out why ED has to make things so difficult. For example, let's say I have a bunch of similar units - tanks, let's say - and I want to change all of their skill levels from excellent to random. As it is now I have to change each one individually, but it would be nice to be able to select them all using check boxes so I can make the change one time. That's just an example of something that could speed up the mission building process. I'm compiling a list of things I'd like to see incorporated. And ED, please make the Carl Vinson fully-functional. That was my ship when I was in the Navy and I'd like to fly from it. : ) Dave

I can't figure out why my AI Hornets flying SEAD missions either attack the closest targets or don't attack targets at all (yes, they're armed with HARMs)... If I set the mission as SEAD and specify targets by choosing specific radar units the aircraft go after other radars that are closer but out of the SAM's range. If I set the mission as pinpoint strike and specify targets by choosing specific radar units to be "bombed," the aircraft fly to the assigned waypoints and then return home without doing anything. I've tried setting the ROE as "only designated for the target release waypoints, and I've even tried that ROE for all waypoints, but nothing seems to work. There's got to be a simple way to do this, right? It's getting to be less and less enjoyable as I spend so much time trying to fool DCS into doing what it should be doing easily. I can think of a whole bunch of things I'd like to see changed or fixed, but those will come another time. Dave EDIT: I set up a test mission with one Russian SAM radar site and successfully flew the SEAD mission to make sure the radar could be targeted. Then I created a spreadsheet of literally every combination of: Mission type Task type, including two appropriate tasks when available and three when available (when three could be stacked, the same mission was flown with one, two and three tasks). In the case of multiple tasks, all possible ordering of tasks was done. ROE, including no ROE set at all. When ROE was specified I tried it before the tasks and after Weapon selected (ARM when available, guided missile when available even when ARM was available, or unspecified; for missions with ARM specified I also flew them with generic guided missiles and no missiles specified). So again, after more than an hour of testing every combination possible was flown by the AI Hornet and none of them resulted in a missile being fired. Any ideas what might be wrong?

EDIT: It appears I caught a serious cause of idiot fever (Latin name: aviatus dumbassus) and just didn't change that option in the main options screen. ### Hello everyone, First, if this is the wrong forum for this, please let me know and I'll delete this and repost it where you suggest. I made a new installation of DCS on Friday, version 2.7.11.22211, on a Win10 computer, and today I see that in the mission planning mode the latitude and longitude of where the cursor is pointing no longer reports decimals - just degrees, minutes, seconds and elevation. Is this supposed to be this way now? Having decimals seems important for planning the use of some of the guided weapons. I checked all the options could find in the mission planning drop-down menus but didn't see anything that would allow me to change this. Thanks, Dave