Typhonus2

Solved, sort of. I switched Easy Communications off and adjusted the radios as necessary to communicate with the wingman, which worked fine. I suspect Easy Communications doesn't work properly with the module at present.

Using the \ menu and Easy Communications, wingman won't respond to any communication at all. When we begin taking fire, he simply evades without returning fire, even with instructions such as CAS, Search and Engage, etc. No idea what's wrong.

I had hoped this was the case. I went to Steam, and saw no "Coming Soon" page, as is common, and got worried. Thanks.

I read online this was only being sold through the ED store. Is that correct? People who use Steam to purchase and play DCS won't be able to purchase this?

I did indeed set the bombing table. As to the rest, I'd clearly seen in the YouTube videos currently passing as training for this that, when doing DT, the only fields that matter in that display are the drag coefficient of the weapon and those that deal with intervals, etc. Angle and such have no effect, as the computer is handling it all. And, when it works, I've had perfect accuracy. And is mostly works. One difference I've noted is that, when Jester wouldn't lock the ground, the radar range was set to 50 miles. It should have changed down to 10 miles when I set A/G. It's as if he got stuck in some A/A mode. The range seems to only be changeable from the back seat, as I can find no command that does it from the front. Experiments continue, but it thus far seems to rarely reoccur. I assume the problem was me, as it usually is. I'd just like to work out what I'm doing wrong.

Obviously, the website has the material needed to produce an actual PDF manual in short order. The world of complex games and sims has at this point moved from: 1. Providing large paper manuals as part of a physical purchase 2. Providing digital PDF manuals which you could choose to print out 3. Providing fairly inadequate PDF manuals which are then supplemented by quality products (e.g. Chuck's Guides) produced by fans 4. Producing just a website that gets updated ad hoc and counting on people learning the product by fan-produced videos on YouTube This seems a mistake. I want to read a ten-step description of what to do, not watch a 40-minute, merch-boosting video given over to ads and personality. And I want to read it while eating dinner or sitting on the sofa...not in the cockpit. I'd like it to be easily searchable, with a decent index and table of contents, and well illustrated. Honestly, in most cases, Chuck's Guides basically show the way. And I don't want to worry if I have a great internet connection or if a website is down while I'm doing it. My vote is a firm return to step 2 of the above list.

The PDF version of the manual opens in Acrobat, but after a few pages of moving about the application crashes completely and consistently. To reproduce, open on the latest version of Acrobat, search for a word or two, and scroll a bit.

I'm running into situations where Jester won't perform his ground lock prior to DT bombing. I have everything armed, set properly, etc. When I aim the reticle at the area I want locked and press the context menu button, he just says variations of "Unable". Likewise, if I try to pickle without his lock, no tone sounds and bombs don't drop. Master arm is on, bombs are fused, stations are selected and say "Armed", I've set the drag coefficient in the bombing screen, and the UFC knob is set to A/G. Any ideas what I'm missing? I finally set it to direct and just eyeballed it and everything dropped and hit just fine.

1. Why does this helicopter wobble so much in flight? I have the Hind, the MI-8, and the KA-50. All of them are relatively stable on their X-axis during normal flight. The Apache seems to constantly wobble. I've tried desaturating various axes on my high-end controllers, adding curves, etc. Nothing really does much to improve it without making the controls so insensitive to inhibit flight. It's like a Weeble. 2. The automatic flight control features seem far inferior to those in the Hind or the KA-50. Both have autopilots that can reasonably hold a course, assuming they are given sufficient authority from trim, etc. Likewise altitude. This doesn't hold to any course, but only attitude, speed, or altitude. And those seem to constantly slide away from the desired numbers with the slightest perturbation, no matter how carefully I trim. 3. It's always seemingly crabbing in flight, with its flight path indicator slid off to one side or the other. When the aircraft is in aerodynamic trim, it's often out of nose-to-tail trim, and vice versa. These others seem to fly much more "cleanly", so to speak. Since this is true of the Hind as well as the KA-50, it's not just the variation between tail rotors and coaxial systems. 4. It just feels much less stable and grounded than these other helicopters, so to speak. It is really maneuverable, which is nice. But flying it feels like a real chore in comparison. That seems odd for a machine that is quite a bit more technically advanced than either of the others. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos in this regard, and haven't found them overly enlightening. Cosmo basically says to hover less and to not worry so much worry about the crabbing and nose-to-tail trim, without really being clear about why it should be that way. Can anyone offer some advice?

Sigh. Actual pilots being trained in real simulators have "instructor freeze" modes specifically to help them learn, analyze, and improve in such environments. Whether an actual, functioning TARPS and associated workflows and capabilities would be more valuable than fixing this bug isn't really up for debate, since an inert graphic model of a TARP pod is no such thing, and adds nothing but eye candy. But you do you.

This still continues, in exactly the same manner as reported, two years after the initial report. Is it ever going to be addressed? I mean, we now have an exciting visual of a non-functional TARPS pod, but can't use active pause to train in the backseat after all this time. That seems a real mis-prioritization. And it was reported as early as 2019, actually making this now four years without a fix.

This isn't just Iceman. It does the same thing when using the autopilot. I reported it literally YEARS ago and it's yet to be fixed.

Duh. Thanks. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the hell that was.

On a recent high-altitude, bad-weather strike, "S2P" began flashing on my lower left HUD, in the Command Legend area, and continued throughout the flight. I can find nothing in the manual or online concerning this. Does anyone know what it means? Everything seemed to work fine.

Thanks. I solved it. Mapping issue to a switch on the joystick that was disengaging it repeatedly. BTW, AeriaGloria thanks for all your above-and-beyond work on this aircraft. Your documents and insights are incredibly valuable.

Doing runway start, everything running, all the channels show red and will not turn on. All AC and DC power is running, and the two vertical gyros are showing no error that I can see. Any ideas what can cause this?

No, this is still happening. I've found no way to turn it off.

Cool. Thanks. I assume there's some way to do this with either pre-programmed long/lat, nav points, or mark points to facilitate ripple drops, but I imagine we'll get that info soon enough. This information let me succeed. It was the smart weapons page that I was missing. Thanks!

Anyone know the procedure? Baltic Dragon released an update to the manual on Twitter, but I can't find launch procedures in it - only descriptions of the weapons themselves. I've tried designating with a TPOD, using both auto and direct modes, and all I get is NO ZONE on the HUD and weapon won't release. Any ideas?

My initial comment wasn't actually meant as primarily a complaint. It was more a statement about the role of the aircraft, as presently capable, in the DCS universe. Without making any big statements about whether it was ready for release or not, as currently operating it just seems a lot like the F-14B, but with the emphasis on ATG rather than ATA. (Although, when you can lock and ripple fire so many AMRAAMS, compared to the Phoenix, I'm not sure it doesn't win there as well.) I'm just thinking of how I might use the plane as it presently exists. I can drop dumb bombs, LGBs, or rockets. And I can do well in BVR, but much less so in WVR. It's really fast and has long legs. What can I tell you...that reminds me of the F-14B. The roles would expand as new things are added. The performance issues and bugs will doubtless be addressed with time. Razbam has frankly done great work by cleaning up the Mirage 2000C and the Harrier, so I have faith in them here. Maybe we're just hitting the space where modernish planes are so well-represented in DCS that there are fewer niches to be filled. As cargo and logistics are barely represented yet, there's room for growth there. And of course, you can go with the older era (Vietnam, etc.) niches to find open spaces. I had hoped the F-15E would be a modern, upgraded version of the Viggen's space, with low-level interdiction strikes at high speeds with guided ordinance. But, until the TFR is working, that's basically the kind of flying the Viggen does now.

As much as I've looked forward to this, it's a bit disappointing in its present state. It feels basically like an F-14B that can't land on a boat. It's got high speed; a big, long-range radar; missiles with a significant reach that can ripple fire on targets; a LANTIRN pod; and it can carry and drop dumb bombs, LGBs, rockets, etc. It has a more diverse ATG loadout, but still lacks Mavericks and all other ATG missiles, as well as JDAMs and JSOWs. It has a back seat but lacks any back-seater. I find the HRM feature often crashes the game completely, which is repeatable in certain zones of maps without fail. And it drops frame rates by about ten FPS compared to most other modules. It looks great, but flying it presently lacks the novel qualities I would hope it has. I hope they can both optimize it and get a more diverse payload up and running. It's sadly sitting in the hangar most of the time right now for me.

I experience the same thing.

The same behavior is occurring sporadically but repeatedly when I try to get maps in Nevada near the Las Vegas area, or surrounding environs. Game simply freezes, including sound and head tracker. Repeats every time.

True. I'm hoping from friendly user will make some. Given that we have all sorts of liveries in the downloads section on aircraft from countries that never flew them at all, it's not that big a stretch. Hell, there are plenty of liveries from Air Combat... By the way, your guides are just top notch. Thanks for the time passion you've put into them.

I'd love to see some Cuban skins appropriate to the 70s for use in Angola and South Africa border war situations. Someone did some for the AI, but they don't work on this P model.