Zimmerdylan

I didn't think that anyone would come up with an answer for that, but it's so very, very true.

I see this topic often debated on these forums. I'm just curious how people feel about this topic. Honestly......it is the closest thing to politics that we'll ever get on the forum because many people feel so passionately about it. I will share some of my experience and opinion on it and others can call me crazy or offer up their opinion. :pilotfly: I have flown in very expensive airline simulators. The full cockpit kind with hydraulic effects and the works, that they use to train and certify pilots. The company is Arizona Flight Safety and their located at TIA here in Tucson. And I have to say.....it was an awesome experience. Since my only reference to the heavy airliners is Xplane, I can very easily say that I was able to get the plane started, off the ground, and back to earth safely (albeit bumpily at times). The real issues I had did not center on knowledge of what to do but rather than where the heck everything in the cockpit was. I was use to using a keyboard and had very little knowledge of where things were in the cockpit. This is a strike against XPlane for their lack of real world detail in their cockpits. But, to their merit, I knew what I was suppose to do and with a few minor things that I was not aware of aside, I could fly the plane. I did have an instructor there coaching me and if he weren't there I surely would of crashed the plane because I was totally clueless as to where the elevator trim was located in a 737. Needless to say.....It wasn't on a keypad. But I could fly this plane with the knowledge that I got from a "sim" I also flew a Bell 400. And with this, I drew on my DCS Huey experience. Was I able to fly it?? Yes and no. Getting it off the ground was not easy. But again, with the coach, I got it airborne. Hovering was much easier than I thought but I believe that there were several factors (mostly the sensations of the AC movement) that were at play. It was much easier to hover the sim than DCS. But...If I had never flown DCS, I never would have been able to fly this simulator. I landed (took some time, trial and error) the aircraft on a freeway in California without incident. And again if I had never flown DCS, I would have been much more incapable of flying this thing in real life. All in all....I'd say that DCS was far superior and prepared me more for this experience. And the only real thing that I took from Xplane was the cockpit visual on the 737. I still used much of my DCS experience to deal with the 737. So does this make DCS a sim or a game? Boy....it's hard to say. I am convinced that it does give you enough knowledge that you could conceivably fly an F86 or even a P51 with minimal yet mandatory preparation. A10C....I doubt. This is only because of the systems involved. So I lean DCS toward being a hobby that's the closest thing to a sim out there. I label sims like Xplane and FSX as hobbies that stray much further away from being a sim. DCS definitely has the goods as far as detail and flight characteristics. I remember getting that 737 off the ground and the whole plane just went nose up. The yoke was pushing so hard against me as I struggled to find a way to trim it down while the instructor was yelling out....left thumb! Left thumb!!!....lol. It totally reminded me of many of the DCS planes. Where as in other sims...I have to pull back on the stick after takeoff. So DCS is a great hobby that may never be like real flying (unless you attach it to a hydraulic cockpit). But nothing else I have flown on a PC comes close. So its kind of a sim. And a little bit of game. Why game??? Because I would never have the huevos to even attempt a real flight in one of these high performance planes for fear of ending up a grease spot on a runway somewhere. Even with an instructor there. Otherwise...you can die in a real plane, not in DCS. Just one simmer's humble experience and opinion.

I will also do it this way from time to time. The only problem for me is that in some conditions, unlocking the tail wheel while barreling down the runway can cause the plane to suddenly want to move in a certain direction. For a beginner, it's really frustrating. I just took the German pilot's advice who said (contrary to what the ED crew thought because they were a bit surprised when he told them) Just go full right rudder and gun it. No brakes, no tail wheel lock, no nothing. It works much better for me most of the time. And it is harder in 2.0 for some reason. Took me several tries to get use to it again. But then, the ground handling of the P51 changed too. I ran off the apron taxiing to the runway because it seemed to get much more responsive. This isn't a complaint at all, I was just surprised.

Can't speak for others, only my personal experience. But I absolutely could not take off at all with the Takeoff assist. The second I turned it off, I could manage a take off. And yes....the damn plane just wanted to go left like crazy and soon went out of control (because I had to tappety tap tap the right brake all the time) with it on. When I turned it off, the plane still wanted to go left but not nearly as hard. So what I do is (without the takeoff assist, Oh...It's in the special section of the options menu for the 109) I go full rudder right. As hard as I can go. If you aren't using rudder pedals, this would probably be next to impossible to manage. So anyway. Go full right rudder. Go full throttle and hold right rudder. The plane will still want to pull left and it will slightly. As you build up speed, you will feel the plane start to drift to the right, at the point you will let up on the right rudder a little bit to stop the drift. You will also have the joystick pulled to the right a little so that when you leave the ground the plane doesn't tip left too much. You will feel the plane start to lift but don't do anything until you leave the ground. And then (this is what I do anyway) you will favor the right with the joystick while countering the planes tendency to go nose up. The whole thing is kind of like balancing a broomstick on your nose while juggling 4 balls. And if one thing goes wrong....you drop everything. You need to watch the video of the German WWII pilot that's in the beginning of the FW190 forum threads. I kept having so many issues getting this thing off of the ground, reading everyone's advice (all very different) and getting overly frustrated, but after that pilot telling you how he took off, I learned how it was really suppose to be done. And it works. I believe that the DCS 190 and 109 don't not act as much like their real world counterparts as people would like to think. Mostly due to that video. The pilot makes several statements that are directly counter to what the DCS models do. But it's not reality, its a hobby. So you have to deal with it with the expectation that it's going to work the way it works and adapt to it. I really do not enjoy the German planes all that much. I just fly em from time to time to see if they've changed any of this stuff. it's all personal preference. And if you are having that streaming smoke issue. I get rid of that before take off too. I set the RPM at 1500 for about 10 seconds before I go full throttle. It gets rid of that smoke stream 99% of the time. Hope I helped you. Oh...and a last helpful hint. Make sure that you line up on the runway with the plane steering straight down the runway. If it is misaligned, you'll more than likely have problems if you are not too good at it. And you can also have the plane favor the right side of the runway so that you have some room when it drifts to the left at the start. A lot of the time, I find myself pretty close to the shoulder when the plane is starting to correct itself right again.

I'm sure its a bug but I was able to make it go away. If you sit on the runway just before you take off at 1500 rpm for about 10 secs. (with your brakes on of course), and then immediately start your acceleration at full throttle. There is no smoke any more. Did this time after time to confirm it works. It worked for me. I was going to post a track and indeed I tried..........But you can't ever get the same track to play back twice these days.

I do not know what they did to this AC in 2.0. All I do know is that no plane in the history of AC were this ridiculously stupidly hard to get off the ground. None the less. I found the way to do it. Get rid of the assist!!! And just do what the pilot in that video tells you to do. No tail lock, no brakes, just full right rudder until you feel the plane start to float left and then let up a bit. Do not pull back on the stick but instead, let the plane float off of the runway. And then....stick forward a little because the plane will try to go straight up. It works every time. Disregard the smoke issue. I saw the thread on it. I hope that they make it a lot less noticeable. Looks like its 2km long.

Guys....Worked like a charm, so thx for that. But is there a bug? About half the time, my 2nd bird will just sit on the apron and not join up. He can get my commands because he responds to some of them. He just won't take off with me. Has this been an issue or am I doing something wrong???

Much thanks guys!!!!!

I just set up my first mission in the M.E. with the Mi8 as the object of the mission. As usual for me. It's all trial and error when I try something like this. So everything works great in 2.0. Everything went off without a hitch. But, I have never used any of the radio equipment in the Mi8. So I could not hear any of the banter from my other air units and I could not talk to my flight. Long question short: Where are my radios in this thing? LOL:doh:

Put in the simplest terms: 2.0 has a much more advanced scenery format (Edge) and probably some stuff that I'll never understand. If you want to see the difference, go into 1.2 or 1.5 and look at the trees and other stuff like that. In 1.2 and 1.5, the trees are non dimensional. Take a close look at them. In 2.0 they appear as round lush plants, in 1.5 they look like two cutouts assembled to look 3D. Plus, you cannot crash into them, in 1.2 or 1.5, in 2.0. you can. Look at all of the bldg. structures in 2.o. Much different. And there is a much larger variety of bldg. designs in the core structure. Textures, are also much better in 2.0. A lot of the other new features have not been implemented as of yet (cloud textures, etc.) in 2.0 because it is in Alpha release. This is the very simple explanation. I'm sure some geek :smilewink: will come along with a better explanation complete with all the 0's and 1's. But that is as simple as it can be explained. 2.0 suuuure looks better.

Oh wow. I get it. Thx!

Yeah, your correct about that. So I want to shoot useless Cortana in Win. 10. Shut it down, do what you want, it still takes RAM in the background. I have a tutorial on how to disable it 100% and you can bet I'll be doing that soon. I went through and shut down a bunch of crap that was hindering performance on my rig. But oddly enough I'm pulling a steady 60 FPs in 1.5, but I'm up at 120-110 in the desert and 70-80 in L.V. in 2.0. Just the reverse of what I would have expected.

Yes, I get all of that, and do know where I am located by the numbers around the radio compass. It's the incoming AC or whatever that I'm referring to. When it is called on the radio to me as an incoming and I do not have eyes on it.

Hey folks. I just started to really use the bullseye as a flying reference. I watched: [ame] [/ame] and it gave me the gist of it. I was wondering tho, how do you quick reference all of the degrees around the bullseye? Do you have a quick reverence handy sitting next to you on paper, or do you just kind of have it in your head? Would it be on the kneeboard? Thx!:pilotfly:

mmmmmmmm.....TrackIR, Don't leave home without it. Vegorace: My on line name is Tuco. If you ever see me in a server. Say hi and we'll fly...........

I want whatever you guys chose to create. Both maps are wonderful and have their advantages. Perfect balance. The idea for me is that Georgia does not have to be Georgie in my mind. I'm so unfamiliar with the area that it could be South Africa, or Siberia in my imagination. And Nevada, I am intimately familiar with so I can imagine it as a place where I fly, or rescue in a city or whatever, and the desert could be anywhere. Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever. But then....I am a professional artist and musician so I imagine for a living a lot of the time. The only thing for me is that, as an American citizen, and being very familiar with the City of Las Vegas (I am there frequently), I find it unnerving to launch bombs and rockets at a city in a country I spent 4 years of my life defending. Now I know how people in Georgia must feel about the map there. This is just my personal feeling. But the Nevada desert......all bets are off. None the less.....I'm very satisfied with whatever you guys come up with. Not taking anything from O.P.'s opinion, everyone is different.

Wow....I'm only running a stock Dell Quad core @ 3.1 Ghz and a GTX 660Ti. I have a couple of things on high and most everything else on medium. 2.0 is set exactly the way 1.5 is set up and there is 0 performance difference. But I don't expect to see 60 fps. I'm happy hovering around 30. But the performance difference on my machine is very little and that's in downtown L.V.

I was kind of thinking that there are possibly 2 factors involved in why some things are missing. 1. performance issues, and 2. Copyright issues. None the less, this Vegas beats the ever living he!! out of any other Vegas (including pay ware) in any other sim I own. Just remember also "alpha"

When I first started flying sims, I was clueless as to what I was getting into. I just thought that they were like any other PC video game. Put em' in, load em', and play. I remember the frustration I felt when I had to go out and buy a better video card. And then.....a joystick! And then a better joystick because the one I had needed dead zones after a while, and wore out after several months. It wasn't until a few years into DCS when I really felt the need for rudder pedals. And the relief they brought upon my wrist and flying was a very welcome addition. But I was very reluctant to purchase a set of pedals to begin with. The price had kept me away. So one day, I started to thinking that the inner workings of a rudder pedal setup must not be all that different from a joystick. My mind started reeling about this. So I got an old Logitech Attack stick the I bought at Goodwill for $3 out of the closet, went out to my woodshop, and set about building a prototype rudder setup. I wasn't out to design something that was all out realistic. All I wanted was a set of pedals to demonstrate how much easier (if at all) a rudder pedal made flying. The following is what I came up with. And all I can say is that it is a little unorthodox, but I fell in love with it. So much so that I can afford a Saitek setup, but I don't feel the need because I am very comfortable with this rig. I liked it so much that I never really did anything else to it and it's been 3 years since I built it. So if you are on a budget and don't think you can afford rudder pedals, This setup cost me around $20. It works, and it has lasted 3 problem free years. If you ever feel the need to make one, just pm me and I'll get you some illustrations. And no.....I'm not going to charge for em. I learned from this experience.....Everyone who sims, needs a rudder pedal. Oh....just because I have a woodshop, does not mean that you cannot make these if you don't. I used a ban saw and a table saw. But a circular saw and jig saw work just as well.

Wow......Did some extensive Huey flying this morning before I had to head out to the V.A. Man is this thing sick or what? Unbelievable. My FPS is pretty healthy now, as opposed to the first flight. I guess my vid card went into shock the same way I did when I first started. I am still kind of missing the Statue of liberty and Eiffel tower, I Sincerely hope that these will be implemented later at some point. But if not.....I won't complain. This map is pretty intense. I do have a request though. E.D.: Do not make a Paris map, or a New York Map, or a Moscow map, or any more big city maps. I will lose my job, my wife, my house!!!! I'll never leave my computer. I will find a way to live in the virtual world. I'll eat virtual fast food from the virtual restaurants while starting my own virtual air cargo business. Please E.D., show me some mercy!!!

Does anyone know a work around for the pinky switch on the X52. I am pretty sure that it works as a regular button on my X52 pro. But it has never worked as anything other than a Mod switch on my X52. If I knew how to program it as a mod switch I would, but man are those Saitek instructions vague. So maybe if someone could direct me to a good video tutorial on programing binds with the pinky switch, that would be great also. And......What is the purpose of button and slider #32??? I have had 2, X52's and I have yet to be able to assign it to anything. It was assignable on my pro however. I am letting someone use my X52 pro for the foreseeable future so it is not an option at this point. Life sure would be easier if I knew how to program that pinky switch or just convert it to an everyday button. Oh yeah....and the mouse button. Is that thing just useless or what?:joystick: Thanks!

I have actually tried to give modules to friends also. I have never had a taker.

Seriously, my heart goes out to the Aussies! I have been reading about the nightmare. You have my deepest sympathies my fellow simmer. If I could help you guys in some way, I surely would. I'm guessing that your patience meter is long past the overflow point.

I set up the range at Groom lake today with tanks and trucks. Set the date for Oct. at around 16:00. Holy cow!!!! If you have never been over the desert in an airplane or have never traveled through the Western deserts. That is exactly what it looks like! ED has created the most realistic desert landscape I have ever experienced in a flight sim. I really felt like I was flying over the Sonora Desert (I know this isn't but they're similar). It's great to have a map of an area that I am very familiar with and have spent, and still spend a lot of time in. That's just awesome.