Fuggzy

Excellent videos, some really good tips and info. Really like your explanation of TAS vs CAS. Great sound/vid quality too.

I've noticed that air-braking on the rollout seems to work very well. Pulling speed brakes and keeping the nose pitched up 5 degrees after touchdown gets her quickly down to 100kt and then wheel brakes become effective. late edit: not 5 degrees, definitely more like 10

It's awesome. Hit that with some black metallic Krylon! Not kidding, I'm going to copy you someday, I want the floor mount. Where did you get the curved extension? I have searched all the places, literally can't find one. That curve is a must imo.

Yup the extension is 3 pieces, different sizes, of nice aluminum tubing threaded on each end, and 2 collars with set-screws so you can adjust the length a bit on the tube of your choice. Positioning the grip is actually easy to change on the fly on the Warthog, I just unscrew the big metal thingy a bit, turn it, tighten. So when I do move to sidestick, I actually angle it the same amount the opposite direction. This is the first time in 2 decades of flight simming that I've been able to get the freakin grip where I want it, and the perfect angle. So... say I want to fly Viper and go sidestick, let's time me: Quick-lever unclamp the stick mount, slide it over, clamp the lever back. 5 seconds if I'm being attentive. Unscrew Warthog stick hand-collar, turn stick, tighten. 3.142 seconds. 8.142 seconds total to reconfigure my cockpit.

I do have it angled a bit inward, because I really like center stick. Meaning, the grip is simply turned a bit, not the gimbals or anything. Calibration is unaffected. Dude you are my spirit animal. I have spare plywood around, I thought 15 times before I bought MEZAs about making a real floor mount. Maybe I should've, but now it can be a slow project. Any build wisdom you gained from that? I don't think it's ghetto at all...

For years, decades even, I've accepted the limitation of all joysticks pivoting from the base of the grip rather than moving in a circular plane like a real aircraft with a stick mounted to the floor or a pedestal. It is what it is, and I figured someday if I ever pursued my home-built 'pit fantasy then I'd solve it with a floor-mounted stick at that time. But for as long as I play at a desk I figured I'd have to continue damaging my shoulder with the Cougar and Warthog springs from hell, out of necessity. I saw these "MEZA mounts" on Bezos, and also a kit for extending any of the Warthog, Virpl, or WW sticks. The gears turned, the money burned... I can't believe I never tried this before, it is amazing. My Warthog is set on 5" extension, which makes it move like a real stick in a surprisingly huge circle. First, it solved the stiction that was starting up (again), like I can't detect it at all because the lever force to break it free is much stronger I guess. Second, finally the spring feels like the correct tension (almost too soft) and is perfect combined with the third improvement: the much better ergonomic placement. Before the stick was on the desk and me reaching straight out. On the lowest MEZA mount setting, even with 5" extension the grip is much lower -- at desk level. You can see in the photo how much lower it is in space than on top of the desk behind it. The beauty of the mounts is that the quick lever clamp lets me slide the stick to a center-stick position or side-stick in 3 seconds. The clamp exerts extreme pressure and holds solid, I am certain my crappy IKEA desk is going to break away before the clamps let go. Given the massive combined weight of these mounts and the Warthog, I seriously worry about this table and try to keep my arm weight off the throttle. A thick, very sturdy, square-edge table is a must. There is not a lot of clamping surface area, at first I looked at it and said "nah".. but yes... the lever clamp is that extreme. They are German engineered and machined, anodized aluminum, absolutely perfect workmanship and material. I've no doubt they can be used as a trailer hitch in a pinch. Now, here's the magic when it comes to Apache. With a traditional stick, I had to use some pretty crazy axis curves to be able to control the thing at all. With this long stick, it's much easier to be precise around center, as the distance I physically move my hands to make the same input increased a lot. So I set the X and Y curves to 0, tried again --- OMG, yes. Now I'm moving the stick that is physically between my legs (snicker) and it matches exactly the stick movement of my virtual pilot. And wow does it fly nice. Instantly I can hover better, maneuver better, it just makes sense to the brain like this. Without any curves on the axes, I'm not continually over-controlling...it all feels linear and "like it should be". I'm stunned at the difference. And in VR when now it feels like I'm at the controls of Apache, it makes the dopamine flow hoo boy. I don't miss a real feeling collective at all, but I will never want fly choppers again without a long cyclic. The Hip, KA-50, same... they all feel correct and are vastly easier to wrestle. These aren't cheap and my wife thinks I've really gone and lost it now. No matter, I am 100% glad I spent the money on it and know that somebody out there will enjoy this too. I don't work for Bezos, I'm not shilling for these products for any reason other than I love the immersion+ Mounts - $185 https://www.amazon.com/MOUNT-Desk-Mount-Compatible-Thrustmaster-Installation/dp/B08QRCW6SN/ref=sr_1_4?crid=29CPU7S4H0R1T&keywords=MEZA+mount&qid=1653849889&s=videogames&sprefix=meza+mount%2Cvideogames%2C105&sr=1-4 Extension kit: $65 (Can set any size from 2.75" up to 7.5", I'm using 5") https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Extension-Thrustmaster-Warthog-WinWing-Desktop/dp/B08VKXSSDN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VE9NRSGKTJR7&keywords=flight+stick+grip+extension+kit&qid=1653849852&s=videogames&sprefix=flight+stick+grip%2Cvideogames%2C133&sr=1-1

Hi Monkie -- Funny you ask, I came online today to update and report that this tape I got has an adhesive issue -- two of the tabs came unstuck from the plastic rails, I could feel it when one jammed. As far as the surface friction qualities, I have noticed no change -- good as new. But now back to the drawing board to get these pieces stuck down better. I think it's entirely possible, being I did it so half-assed initally. I basically cut the squares "close enough", and stuck them down on the rails without them fully removed. I'd found with the rail caps/screws off, I could twist them sideways and access the feet enough to press the tape into place. But it was sloppy, they were crooked, best I could push them down with my fatass fingertips. I'm going to redo it properly and remove the rails completely to get nicely-cut tape squares pressed in and clamp it to a dowel for the adhesive to set. The tape is fairly rigid and doesn't want to conform to the curve, but won't matter once it's back on the rails. Edit: oh I got the 2 inch tape yes. You do not need it that wide at all, it's overkill. 1" would easily do, but I got the 2" tape to make a couple of old bathroom cabinet drawers slide nice too. It worked I think I'm going to remove my spring while I'm in there. I want to try it.

Quest2 running from an RTX2060.

Just want to thank @pastranario3 very much. I just tried the "easy" method, and WOW. This notched-up the immersion/realism factor noticeably. I never noticed that the gauges have bezels with thickness on them, or that little hook in dangling, or the sun shades. I literally did not realize those sun shades were there until the 3D effect went full on, then they were the first thing I noticed. Feels like I can reach out, if I had long arms, and pat George on the head. How bizarrely wonderful, thanks for this tweak.

Hi St4rgun, I got super excited about your other thread talking about your OpenXR find... but I'm on Oculus. And I found it interesting the parameter used to be called "Prediction". So I researched more, lol. The problem we're having is Prediction... the headset IS seeing tiny movements and trying to helpfully anticipate bigger movements, in an effort to cover the latency gap between a person's real head movement and virtual. In fact, Quest Oculus Meta touts on their website how awesome their Prediction is. It's very smart and works well, except for titles like DCS where it becomes apparent. It just happens that the concept of HMCS/IHAADS -- a face mounted pointer with a distant sight picture, is a new thing to the VR problem with this prediction tech. Every HMD maker needs to wise up and make this configurable. I hope some super smart code monkey wishes to develop a 3rd party solution in the meantime. I did make some minor progress forward in this area by simply turning on all the lights in the room and turning off my monitor. The hypothesis goes that this helps the tracking predict more reliably with less false movements, I think. If it does help, it's so subtle that I admit it might be placebo, I don't know. It seems to jitter less when the headset cameras have a stable, well-lit environment and no movement from a monitor 3 feet away. Still not enough help though.

Please please I hope ED can provide a universal shakiness reducer for VR. It is not just the IHAADS but the mouse cursor too. It is tiresome focusing my head still and wrestling the cursor with my mouse to push the intended button. The rest of the world is smooth and no jitters, only what is virtually connected to my pilot's head is shaky. I agree with @St4rgun ... Something akin to a head tracking noise filter is desperately needed for VR. Not a dead zone or resolution gimper, a filter to get rid of the micro movements like the vein pulsing in my temple because of the rage.

I have the same complaint with Quest 2. The head tracking is so ridiculously precise that it makes using the IHAADS (and HMCS in Viper) difficult. The symbology jitters all around, and it's not noise...it's my head. In comparison, TrackIR is a camera looking at the reflectors on my head, and it just doesn't see micro movements and appears very smooth with IHAADS. Quest2, though...ugh. I just want a dampener on it.

I think it's close to PTFE, it's from "TapeCase" and is UHMW 423-5. It claims to be "self lubricating to last longer than PTFE in sliding applications". Sexy

Yes this is a great point. I also found when my pedals are in the most comfy position for me, I'm resting my leg weight on them. Push them out a ways so there's less weight...less stiction too. I'm mentioning it because so far the stick tape is holding in place, and WOW... it's better than grease. I can practically stand on the things and no stiction, and after kicking the Apache all over the sky for a week it's still perfect. I was even able to back-off the axis curve a bunch to get more linear control, without all that sticking throwing me off.

I concur completely. I've done more testing, comparing Apache IHAADS and Viper HMCS -- it's not aircraft specific. It's the technology. It works smoothly and perfectly with TrackIR, because that is a much lower resolution tracking than the VR headsets with internal gyros/whatever they do. TrackIR can't see the constant, tiny movements of a person's head, but the Quest2 sure can feel them. The headset and controllers are astounding at how precise they are, you cannot move them any perceptible amount in space without it being detected. When I play in 2D with TrackIR, it works exactly like I'd expect, and it feels like the symbology is tracking my true head movements. In VR though, I'm constantly trying to focus like a jedi to keep my head more still, and I end up deciding that head-pointing just makes things difficult. The solution would be an app or a mod that could filter the noise through a number of schemes -- a movement threshold "limp zone", a continuous averaging of polled values, etc. I think ED could implement a slider in the VR tab that does this in-game to dial in an amount of smoothing from none to very smooshy, and have this apply universally to the modules. That's really the only problem I have in VR right now, too much head tracking precision. Heh.

Ok my Thrustmaster TFRP pedals are tolerable now. Still too close together -- maybe I'll address that with the mod. But to cure stiction, I bought 5yds of this UMHW sefl-lubricating tape with acrylic adhesive: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00823JFAI?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details I simply removed the 6 screws on each pedal that hold the 3 rail clamps in place, and put little squares of the tape to cover the plastic rail slide feet so that plastic never touches the metal rails, only the teflon tape. It works FAR better than Nyogel -- it creates an almost imperceptible cushion on the rails in addition to absolutely zero stiction. Took me 15 minutes, very easy to do and transformed these pedals into ones that will work smoothly with helos. I left the centering springs in place, still have the bump over center but it's far less annoying with everything smoothed up. Hopefully the acrylic adhesive holds well over time. 2 days, good so far. lol

For several long sessions in a row, I did nothing but start hot, IHAADS off, and hover around. Sliding sideways around hangars practicing tank-peeping, and basically giving myself little mini-assignments of "go there quickly, hover steady" -- "now do it better than that". I did about a hundred transitions to forward flight and back to hover. A magic moment came when I realized it's as if I'm dancing the chopper, putting her anywhere I want to with much less effort, and smoother. I'm a fixed-wing snob at heart that believes choppers are an affront to God and nature, but flying the Apache is becoming really fun. I am having a ball with this, thank you ED for the great module.

YES! This is exactly what it feels/looks like to me. The real Apache pilot's eyepiece is on his face, like wearing sunglasses, and he can aim. But simply relocate his eyepiece wayyyy out in front of him, and every tiny movement of his head is magnified. That's it exactly.

Yes it helps to know which eye is your dominant and using that in this sim. It matters. I know what's happening with the sensitivity. It's nobody's fault but the Quest2 working so well. And it merely affects the IHAADS more. I have lots of experience with other head tracking, starting with TrackIR 2 back when that was new tech, and other implementations of the concept that a camera watches your head/eyes etc. TrackIR5 is what I usually use and I can aim Apache with that. Many VR headsets use radio base stations to do essentially the same thing -- track the headunit's position in space from a relative position. This is automatically going to mask VERY tiny movement and be quite smooth to the user, when smoothness means we're talking about stability -- the ability to hold perfectly still. With the Quest2, it tracks itself in space, there is no distance to a radio station. It also happens to be that the tracking resolution of these units is extreme, like the best in the consumer amything-tracking realm. These two factors combine to perform extremely well, and the tracking of the Quest2 head unit and controllers is very tight. Looking at raw input data of the head and hands, a human can't physically stay still enough to keep them still. IF I put my elbows on the table and both hands on the head unit to stabilize it, VOILA... the IHAADS will be still. It really is the Quest that is hypersensitive. But it only shows with the IHAADS, and the HMCS in Viper too... although it's less. It seems closer to my face, like I've been saying I can see the IHAADS in space merging into the dashboard...it's too far away. And the shakes are more exaggerated the further that distance is. The world is not shaky at all. Smooth as butter. It's as if the world view has smoothing, but the IHAADs is moving absolutely perfectly with the tiniest movements of my Quest. So.... I need to cut Quest2's motion tracking resolution in half. Ima find a way.

St4rgun, thank you for that. That explains exactly what I see that I can only describe as "weird optical ilusion" with the depth perception. I'm new to VR and while the experience is a different ballgame of amazing, the technology of VR itself is what is starting to fascinate me. So this addresses the depth perception strangeness I experience, it is what it is. I still am haunted by my second issue: the hypersensitive head tracking of my Quest2. After watching the video you linked, now I'm really intrigued. It is like a longun effect, referring to sensitivity only, because what I'm trying to describe is actually the case. Because of the limitation of non var-focal lenses that I think I understand now, it really is like the IHAADS display is extended out further in space than it normally would be, and that also makes holding it steady very hard. I dunno, I can't describe it any better than I have, it's just a huge bummer and I've given up on using it for aiming guns as Pilot unless it's an in-close brawl and I'm spraying n praying. I don't use it at all for CPG, I turn it off and I gun with TADS so I don't have to hold my breath every time I pull the trigger. It would solve aiming and make my VR experience shine if I could simply make my head tracking less sensitive just around dead-center of wherever I'm holding still. Like a small acceleration curve around center, on all 3 axes. So that I can get the pipper to stay in 1 place for 2 seconds. It's definitely another symptom of the same root problem with focal length magic that new VR tech will solve someday. For now, I wish ED would implement a slider to smooth out the motion of IHAADS or HMCS etc views in VR only. Can't fix the depth problem yet until new tech, but they could help with motion tracking with a band-aid to just make it a tad mushy for those that need it... right? This issue doesn't exist in 2D.

Bingo. I quoted the whole thing there simply to say YES... you get it. The peep sight/long gun analogy is spot perfect. When I run 2D with TrackIR, like I do when trying to learn the aircraft, like I did the first many hours in Apache, no problem with head tracking the sight or disorientation, nothing except a preference of liking the monocle displayed or not. But VR is playing a few mind tricks here, I think mostly because it's simulating an Apache pilot wearing a monocle that is attached to his helmet with a 2.5 foot rod to hold it out in front of his face, and it's sized up to the size of a dinner plate so that it will appear again like it's a monocle that actually sits on the pilot's face. To him it's the same effect, until he tries to aim with that thing. He can't hold it steady on target, because he can't get his own head still enough. And all the focal distance problems like you mention with peep sights come in, mostly because that distance is the same as it is to instruments, and this sometimes causes his brain to trip out and give up when it's working hard to keep these images separate/distinct (IHADDS vs Instruments). The brain is depending on that spatial separation to identify one from the other subconsciously, and this is a pretty neat example of optical illusions severe enough to cause random disorientation. I want it improved but it's also pretty fascinating p.s. if nothing else, I wish there was a slider in the VR config tab in DCS that said "VR Head Tracking Smoothing ____________" that simply means I can find a value where when I am consciously holding my physical head still like a normal person, my IHAADS symbology is also completely still. And it's not interference or signal or lag jitter, it's actually picking up my very tiny, very normal movements as if the tracking is absolutely lock-step and too perfect. Why is this a problem for me? Because it breaks VR for me in the Apache. In Viper I use HMCS for 1 thing - fast n easy SPIs. I haven't felt like I *need* HMCS in Viper, it's optional. With Apache, can anyone imagine hearing an Apache pilot say "Nah, I'm good without it I go old school". No. Apache w/ IHAADS *is* the devastating weapon, the pioneer of everyone else's If-Looks-Could-Kill system. What's happening is that even though yes, it's tracking me exquisitely, I can't use the IHAADS to gun with even as CPG, because while I'm sitting here as still as I can, that little circle dot in the center is everywhere EXCEPT that tank in 360 degrees because I'm not a statue made of stone, I'm a man who breathes. I know the gun is not a precision gun by any means to begin with, that is NOT what i'm talking about. Let's say all I want to do is mark a point out on the terrain with a click, I can get close where I really want it but rarely right on it, it's a matter of the click registering fast enough. TL;DR I should be able to hold IHAADS perfectly still whenever I want, but literally cannot, because the tracking is too GOOD. 1st world probs lol

You get what I'm saying, yes...this makes me happy. I think this is part of the reason that many people are experiencing a weird disorientation where the brain can't figure out how far away to focus when they cross the IHADSS with the instrument panel, especially at night when everything is green. The IHADSS is projecting out into and beyond where the instrument panel is in virtual space, when these mix the brain can lose track of which is which. And for jittering, it's like one is holding a long-gun...very small movements translate to the end of the barrel moving a lot more. Whereas in other systems it seems like one is sighting with a handgun -- the end of the barrel just doesn't move as much relative to the grip end movements, holding a sight picture steady is easier. When I look at a pic of the eyepiece of a real Apache pilot, it's obviously right at his eye...meaning there is practically no lever length at all in play, and it would only jitter if he's really nervous. Anyways that's my story I'm sticking to for now. I think Devs could solve at least 2 issues -- spatial disorientation and tracking smoothness -- by shortening that virtual projection distance.

Ok Here's a Weird One - actually pointing at things with my head reveals I'm Katherine Hepburn I've got acceptably smooth VR resolution and performance in my meh system, 2070super with Quest2, in all modules including Apache so far. When it comes to using the IHADSS it seems like my Quest2's tracking is hypersensitive. Not laggy, not choppy, but jittery because of my head movements. The very tiniest movement of my head moves the IHADDS, like I have to focus like zen master on holding my melon still and I still cannot get the pointer dead still. I see my heart beat in it, no joke. Is this right?? Do other Quest2 users have this with the Apache? The other heads-up displays in other modules don't seem to behave like this. Viper's HMCS seems smoother but I honestly haven't used it much. Is there some way to add software smoothing to Quest head tracking or anything similar to TrackIR's great controls over everything? It kind of acts like in the Apache, the place in virtual space that my IHAADS projects is out a couple feet from my face near the dash, thereby making very small movements of my head translate into large moments on the IHADSS. Whereas on Viper, maybe the projection is much closer to my face in this virtual space and the deflection moment is shorter... and the effect is it's smoother and no jitters from me. I dunno. I'd just really like to smooth out control of IHADSS -- I'm having a tough time holding it on target even at a standstill and the continual jittering around is annoying. It needs a tiny little axis curve around center to make a soft deadzone or something.

Workaround: I set a button on the joystick to Cursor (ENTER) for both crew. When you click the IHADSS button and it starts the boresight, it automatically places the cursor over the B/S NOW button on the MFD for you -- so don't touch the cursor movement control. Line up your sight and then click that joystick button, and it does an Enter click for you on the MFD and -- voila!

More training missions will be great, but for now I watched the AH-64 series on YouTube from Casmo and Wags with my phone and followed along with every step in the sim as if it's a tutorial. Works just as well except I had to train in 2D -- like you mentioned it doesn't work out well in VR Monkie mentioned VoiceAttack. I know what I'm setting up next...