[Cargo mass only adds the containers empty mass, any content inside has zero mass]

11 minutes ago, Someone said:

This is the weight set by ED for that particular unit. If you use the CDS crates/barrels provided by ASC, the starting weights will be much more reasonable.

So in essence, one shouldn't add anything into this container as it's maxed out weight wise already.

This sounds like an issue that ED should fix. There's no standard air shipping container that would weigh this much empty. 

Cheers,

John

 

[Fuel dump, dumps too much out of main tanks]

Hello,

Just did a check of the fuel dump system and found that the main tanks are dumping too much fuel. They stopped dumping at 1520 lbs whereas they should stop with 2180 lbs in each main tank. 

Short track attached.

Cheers,

John

C-130J Fuel Dump.trk

[Cargo mass only adds the containers empty mass, any content inside has zero mass]

2 hours ago, Rongor said:

I tested the weight by calling up the rearming and the refueling window via ground crew. This confirmed the load only being the empty container. Any content of the container flies for free with zero mass added.

Just curious as to why an empty container weighs 8,818 lbs? That's pretty much the max weight the floor can handle at any given position. An empty container should weigh no more than 500 lbs.

Cheers,

John

[FLAPS schedule during Take-off and Landing]

5 hours ago, Mike Busutil said:

The C-130J uses percentage flaps (0–100%), not degrees like older C-130H models.  50% on the C-130J is roughly equivalent to “half flaps” and corresponds to approximately 18–20° of physical flap deflection.

Standard Procedure:

• “Positive rate” → Pilot Flying: “Gear up”
• At or above 130 KIAS and climbing → Pilot Flying: “Flaps up, schedule”
• Pilot Monitoring moves flap lever from 50% → 0% (usually in one smooth motion on the C-130J since it has fly-by-wire flap scheduling and no intermediate stops required)

 

I worked on the E and H models for 10 years and their flap gauges and levers were in percentage and not degrees. 

According to the manuals I have, the flap control system on the J is essentially the same as the H and not FBW. The flap lever is connected directly to the flap control unit via cables and the control unit has microswitches that command the flap control valve to port utility system pressure to the flap motor to raise or lower the flaps. The only major difference on the J flap system is the addition of the flaps 50 elevator trim reset system. This system was developed as part of the civilian certificate for the L-100 and was required on the J to meet civilian certification requirements.

Cheers,

John

[Nose wander at slow speeds]

This is going back a while but when I took my C-130H/L-100 run/taxi training at Lockheed, 3 nights out of the 10 day course were spent in a CAE Level D sim at Flight Safety International in Marietta GA. The last night was spent getting some actual flying time on the sim. Since I had some previous flight training, the C-130 sim was a pleasure to fly. It did need some rudder in tight maneuvers but in close on landings it felt rock solid. I don't recall it having any wallowing/wandering tendencies quite like what's modelled in sim at the moment. 

Cheers,

John

[Trim ball reversed and very hard to see]

Just adding a screenshot and a photo to show the Slip/Skid Indicator in sim and what it should look like. In sim it's nearly black and IRL it's a white ball. Ray tracing on or off doesn't make a difference. The Slip/Skid Indicator on HDD 1 and 4 should function exactly the same as on the HUDs. 

Cheers,

John

 

[RATO]

1 hour ago, Freakmeister51 said:

Is our C-130J going to get RATO in the future?

The C-130J was never designed or built with RATO support.

Cheers,

John

[Option to refuel individual tanks]

It would be nice to have the option to refuel tanks individually. I only say this as when I worked heavy maintenance on the CC-130E/H, we used a test flight load of 7, 6, 4, 1 which was 7k in mains 1/4, 6k in mains 2/3, 4k in both aux tanks and 1k in both external tanks for a load of 36k total fuel. As currently modelled, this can't be done using the percentage slider.

Cheers,

John

[Quicker refueling times]

Refueling using the Rearm & Refuel menu while in game takes forever. Can this be sped up?

Cheers,

John

[Visual effect for fuel dump]

When dumping fuel it would be great to have the fuel vapor trails from the applicable dump mast.

Cheers,

John

[4 Engine Throttle Quadrant]

23 hours ago, Hartsblade said:

I guess so. I was looking at pics of older C130's that still had manual pitch levers.

Thanks for pointing it out.

The Allison powered C-130 didn't have pitch levers. It was a constant speed engine/prop configuration with automatic pitch control. They had Power Levers and Condition Levers. The Condition Lever had only 4 positions. Stop, Run, Feather and Feather Pump. No pitch control other than for ground maintenance and preflight checks.

Cheers,

John (10 year Herc Mechanic)

 

[Can someone explain the Auto-Reverse and Reverse Detent slider on the settings page?]

19 minutes ago, dresoccer4 said:

i noticed there's an audible 'click' sound when moving from beta to ground idle. i've gotten pretty used to switching between the two on the ground without having to look at the throttle pretty seamlessly now, and can bring her to a stop without using brakes or rolling backwards just based on the sound

Ground idle is in the beta range. Anything below flight idle is beta range, including reverse, and everything from flight idle and above is alpha range.

Regards,

John

[Can someone explain the Auto-Reverse and Reverse Detent slider on the settings page?]

I understand that this is the J but I used to work on the C-130E/H and they have a physical detent between Ground Idle and reverse range. It's not a lift/drop style detent like the flight idle gate but is a roller detent to keep you in the ground idle blade angle range of 5 to 6.5 degrees for engine starting and minimal forward thrust. Curious if the J has the same physical ground idle detent?

I feel the way it's currently modelled is very clumsy and not intuitive with how the majority of throttle controllers work. Until controllers have a ground idle detent, this free-range beta range doesn't feel right at all. A simple single key to switch between ground idle and reverse thrust would be an ideal compromise. Real world realism - no. Functional - yes. I use this with turbo-props in other sims and have no problem switching back and forth between ground idle and reverse in the beta range for taxiing.

Cheers,

John

[VSN New F-104 Mod]

On 10/21/2025 at 7:58 AM, Reccelow said:

John,

I'm back overseas, my DCS rig is in the states, but if I recall I looked at how the Italian skinpack ( https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3346706/ ) was converted and just used the same naming and edited the description file. Try it like this (going by memory so not sure if it will work..) make a copy of any one of of the Italian livery folders (I'll use AMI 3-35) rename it CF104G or something, copy and overwrite the CF dds files from the CF104G livery of your choice that have the same names. Then change the lines at the bottom of the description.lua from:

custom_args =
{
    [70] = 1, -- G=0 / S=1
    [803] = 0.0, -- AAR Probe
}

name = "AMI 3-35" 

 

To something like this:

custom_args =
{
    [70] =0, -- G=0 / S=1
    [803] = 0.0, -- AAR Probe
}

name = "CF-104G Camo" 

Thank you very much for the quick tutorial. I'll work on getting these liveries working on my end.

Cheers,

John

[Instant blackout]

On 10/10/2025 at 8:27 AM, DoorMouse said:

 

 

Are you doing the G warm-up before doing these maneuvers? And the G warm-up benefits fade over time if you don't pull G's regularly after them.

Regards,

John

[VSN New F-104 Mod]

On 10/8/2025 at 4:53 PM, Reccelow said:

I really like this mod, but a couple things are very annoying.  

constant roll - there is no way to trim out in roll axis, either left or right.  not a payload or fuel issue as far as i can tell...

No comm in the air.  Comms only work on ground. Anyone else seeing these?

Just curious on how you got the livery made for the VSN F-104G to work with the F-104C?

Cheers,

John

[VSN flyable aircraft mods]

On 6/19/2025 at 4:50 PM, PeeJott17 said:

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen.

Finally we were able to release the VSN F-104C standalone in an early-access state (V0.99). You can get it here 

https://e.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZkMk6Z2ugmw0cKA0X0mMoNv8AboVB1hszV

or, as an alternative, here:
 

https://app.filen.io/#/f/e6c0639c-13c0-47e7-ba22-3a38964f4efc%23SyDSz5Wzl8lnQ4dTRXxd3DYOvHj4HPVf

 

There is also a little "manual" that will help you find your ways around the cockpit as well as we've got one Test-Mission that tells you how to start the "Zipper".

Cheers and enjoy the F-104C,

VSN-Team.

 

Thanks for the great mod. I would like to know where I can post any observations regarding the F-104C mod? The RPM gauge is totally wrong in regards to the small dial operation. In sim it is rotating one full revolution for every 1% RPM. IRL, one full rotation of the small dial is equal to 10% RPM. 

Regards,  John

 

[Flight time log with Mig]

23 hours ago, Baltic Pirate said:

Seems that total keeps logging, but Mig-29 time does not show. Me or is it a known issue?

Already been reported.

Cheers, John

[Buttons for flaps up and down]

20 hours ago, YoYo said:

I don't think so, since you've gone off-topic. The topic is about a request to introduce buttons that would work step by step. The configuration topic is a separate topic, and it's worth discussing there if you have something new. 

I have not gone off-topic. You’re just determining that the information in the topic I linked is conflicting with your statements on the flap control panel and flap positions. There’s sufficient information here and in that topic that states both the DOWN buttons do the same thing. It’s either flaps UP or flaps DOWN. If you disagree with that, then we can agree to disagree and move on but don’t slag me off as going off-topic.

Regards,  John 

[Buttons for flaps up and down]

On 9/26/2025 at 4:07 PM, YoYo said:

?
Did you read carefully what I wrote?

Yes I did! Did you do the same for mine?

[Buttons for flaps up and down]

2 hours ago, YoYo said:

Buttons for flaps up and down but step by step.

Currently, we only have F (fully up and down) and individual flap positions (off, take-off and landing), but it would be nice to have the flap positions up one level and down one level. While this is less realistic, it's easier to set up the controllers.

In real life, the Mig-29 only has 2 flap positions. Up and Down. See this other thread where it explains why the flap selector panel has an UP and 2 Down switches.

 

[Angle of attack indicator stuck]

I've experienced the same in the Instant Action, cold and dark flight.

Regards, John

[Aileron Position after C&D]

23 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

The lamp wont light up at a precise point, the sensor lights up when it thinks it is neutral, almost like in a dead zone. 

we have checked and its not a bug. 

thank you 

I feel that what people are saying is that the aileron trim is too coarse. I have found that even with manually setting the aileron trim to the neutral position, I get a roll in either direction in flight. That in itself is okay but I can't adjust the aileron trim in flight to prevent any roll-off to either side. When I use the trim reset, the aileron trim is in perfect neutral with no roll-off. I feel that the aileron trim requires a bit more granularity to be able to properly trim wings level manually.

Regards,  John

[DCS MiG-29A Flight performance and air drag seems weird]

19 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

Hi, 

takeoff and landing schedule the leading edge flaps differently. 

No they don't. See the following for a description of the proper operation.

 

[AEKRAN display not in English with English option selected]

2 hours ago, Jarda said:

I can’t get the Aekran system set to English, or maybe I just can’t find the option. In Matt’s video you can see that his Aekran is in English.In the Special tab, I’ve set the cockpit to English.

The fix has been posted by NineLine in this thread. Set the Avionics language to English.