ErichVon

I have played only one other online flight sim and this is Aces High, mostly propeller aircraft. That game is mostly, about 70 to 80% dog-fighting. Lots of ways to force an overshoot. Shaw's textbook on jet aircraft combat maneuvers is an excellent example of the various ways to get a guy, without ramming him. In real life I do not know, but in Aces High, doing a frontal pass and rudder for a split second to aim guns on your opponent is very popular and why these guys have rudder pedals. Erich

As to not being kids, but mature adults... I tend to disagree, much like road rage here on USA freeways as to how some "adults" and they are over age 30, mentally act just like a kid, especially the Internet mentality of saying whatever one wishes to say in a forum that would never be spoken within fist range if truly spoken in person. Go take some psychology courses. The one server I like to fly is the S77th Savage. You fly outside of their rules structure, which by-the-way is fairly strict, you won't be flying with them. Erich

Fly Aces High, http://www.hitechcreations.com/ No such stupid, silly stuff exists on their servers. They do have rules to fly by, just do not violate their rules. You can play 24 hours a day. Costs $15 per month. The jets are perked. Learn to fly the jets on the training server or spend 2,000 perk points learning in their Main Arena. A lot of guys in Aces High, though, do not play fair and play the sim as an arcade game and do the HO (Head On) or the ram as to the characteristics of playing online and lag and the timing difference between what you see on your monitor and what your opponent sees as to who survives a ram. Multiplayer to DCS is a joke! The few guys that do have open servers---THANK YOU. But open servers tend to get the smart-donkeys that like to strafe and kill you on the ramp while you are doing a start-up sequence. Strategy to Aces High is start up, spawn in to an airfield a base or two back to takeoff, tends to lessen the vulture attack. Land a base or two back to land and score your points. To DCS Multiplayer, sometimes landing a base back to avoid the vultures, I cannot get fixed or re-armed to go out again and must start over. I truly love flying the DCS A-10C, but I am also going back to Aces High. Erich

I am pushing age 60 and thus'ly I tend to not sleep much. I am usually awake wee hours Eastern Time Zone, minus 5 hours GMT. S77th Savage, the Australian and New Zealand guys play evening hours there as it is 4 AM here. To get the password, get onto their TeamSpeak dedicated url. Devilman runs the Australian server. Another guy from USA is also usually on too. Erich

Is it possible to replay a sortie in Multiplayer online in an Internet server, not LAN, mission? I have heard guys on TeamSpeak mention it as to replaying the sortie. If so, is it a (.trk) file? And if so, how is this done? I did a search to this forum and also a search in the GUI manual but I did not find reference to this. I am not saying the info is not there; I am saying I did not find it. Thanks for any help? Erich

DITTO! I agree. I can acquire the target way out, over 20 miles; switch to Maverick as SOI; then wait for it to lock using contrast of either: Black Hot or White Hot and using multiple TMS short to try and get a lock and somtimes it never happens and fly right on over the acquired target. Pisses me off!! Once locked, I TMS up Long, and "Fire" (Rifle). It works sometimes. And altitude doesn't seem to matter, be it 20,000 feet or 5,000 feet as to getting the Maverick to lock. I usually use the "D" model as to FLIR. Somtimes I can SLEW with my CH Pro Throttle mini-joystick to un-acquire and maybe it will re-acquire, but usually when I do this the seeker acquires a different target and usually a building! This has happened many, many times using various maps / missions online in Mutiplayer. This is the .7, #2 patch of the purchased digital download. I like the DCS A-10C simulator, but comparing to Aces High, WWII combat simulator, toss bombing without computer control ordnance is way superior to this game! Erich :pilotfly:

Most kind, Thank you. You have been a big help. Erich

Actually, I do miss the big donkey servers to Aces High, WWII Online, don't know if Warbirds is still up. What you guys have to DCS online gaming access is a total joke! I will be going back to Aces High eventually and play DCS offline, mostly. Maybe the powers that be should go take a tour of their operations in Texas. :)

If my Pro Throttle is not fully back, then engines will not start. I have a bad habit of resting my head on my left hand and my left elbow rests on my Pro Throttle's flat area, tends to move my throttle forward. Erich

Hi, I use KonKuSSioN's Ramp Start Checklist: ============================ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OofEfpi9kHG_jmvT8Z3BXrgOD9AZzJrLgKAI-yF0-Q4/edit?hl=en&authkey=CI-D4mY&pli=1# I also use his .map for CH gear through the CH Control Manager. I first map through Window 7 so Windows recognizes my controls. Then once CH Control Manager is installed, all controls are mapped through it, not Windows. If you are not starting up properly, then you are doing something wrong in the start-up process. Accept this fact, and figure out what you are doing wrong. Only 27 posts to forum tells me you are still fairly green at doing this simulator. I have about 200 posts, I am no expert, yet. One of the first things I noticed on setup was, when my Pro Throttle moved forward, the in cockpit throttles did not move at all. The reason for this was the OPTIONS\CONTROLS mappings have presets that have to be cleared, literally zeroed out, then remap them as you see fit as to your control gear. This drove me nuts for about a month and nobody said anything to me about it and I did ask. Also, you have to empty your presets within "joystick" . Create a folder somewhere and move them there in case you need them at a later time. The path is: ========= C:\Users\(your User name you are using)\Saved Games\DCS Warthog\Config\Input\A-10C\joystick The A-10C in the path is for SIM mode, is what I did. I initially found out about this from Tev after writing a letter from here to him direct, not on Forums: "User support" , then "New Ticket" at http://support.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/ You need to log in to get access to the "New Ticket" feature. Even with me logging in with my password I get a 404 error: "Page not found" as to what used to work as "Contact Us" . Means to me they have been inundated or swamped with too many requests for help, maybe... Forums (to my perspective) is a poor substitute that used to be any good company's Customer Support before the PC was invented. The creators of any product should be there for help if their product is not working properly, once purchased. No excuses!! Bill Gates screwed the whole Customer Support equation since the first Windows was invented and everybody does it now. Any product should work 100% properly once purchased out of the box; but even industrial machinery usually needs some tweaking before going into production. Erich

I don't even know what an iPhone does. For a cellphone I use a small, fold-up Tracfone for emergencies. But I am a country hick still in the Dark Ages of electronics. I would consider getting an iPhone just for this and similar usages.

I need to open this .rar file for an added Profile to TrackIR_5: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1010921&postcount=1 Any good free utilities available online, or, ugh! , ones to purchase? Thank you.

Hi, I use KonKuSSioN's "DCS:A-10C Ramp Start Checklist". http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=74072&highlight=KonKuSSioN&page=3 ; Message #22 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OofEfpi9kHG_jmvT8Z3BXrgOD9AZzJrLgKAI-yF0-Q4/edit?hl=en&authkey=CI-D4mY&pli=1# If I decide to do a full checklist, ramp start-up, I always flip both switches up before engaging engines. Bleed Air is step number 8 in the sequence. The most aft switch, "Main Air" is also part of the interior pressurized cabin environment switches that need to be on also. I usually cheat and click the Right Windows key+Home key to do the 1st start-up. A lot of times in Multiplayer mode, depending on which server I am on, those two switches are not included and I manually click them up as also other stuff not included in their start-up procedure will be completed by me, before taxiing. As to a 2nd start-up procedure after RTB to get repaired and a complete shut-down, I then do another start-up, either way, the cheat or the checklist of doing it, sometimes, the left engine does not spool up and will shut down. I have found, with both rudder pedal toe brakes engaged full on, as to the 1st left engine start-up, I need to add some throttle gas to get the engine to spool up to 3,000 or 4,000 rpm to get it to go. And for some reason, sometimes, ditto procedure to get the right engine up before turning off the APU generators. This has happened to me a few times this .7, #2 patch update, after RTB and starting up again. Sorry, no tracks, I just experiment and try not to complain too much and figure it out. If it is a bug, now you know. (I am still a newb, but I am getting better at doing the sim, so I still question the value of me reporting oddball situations to the Testers' Team as it sometimes may be just me not doing something correctly why I do not report it.). Correct start-up sequence? I do it now mostly by memory and the lighted error, malfunction, panel. I do the right side panel 1st, left side to get engines up, then after lights are on and waiting for CPU to come up I go back to the right panel and adjust my lighting. I fly every day at least one ramp cold start-up sortie since about February 2011. Erich :pilotfly:

Hi, Thanks to both you guys for replying. I am still a fairly new noob. I have couple of months in this game/sim invested already and a lot of hours invested in various phases of the learning process. You may very well be correct as RTB to get it fixed or WTF and just eject. Other game I played ejecting was the sissy way out and just auger into the ground and back to a new ramp startup. I have searched the forums to DCS concerning a HUD failure. Granted, very much like Google, how I input the search phrase yields different results. And I only found one guy that replied as to he found a button click on his stick that brought the HUD back up after losing his HUD, but he described it as a non-specific location other than it is on the stick. So, what the heck, I will experiment. No less different like an engineer tasked to a specific project as to overkilling a subject to all possible situations explored. The Tester Team guys or actually the sim designers probably have the answer. One of my early sims was Space Shuttle. NASA engineers actually used this software sim/game to explore situations and failures not encountered before this simulator came out to the market place for sale. So, it may be possible to DCS: Warthog, there is a positive solution to this failure nobody (except the one guy in the 2nd URL above) has found, yet. Thank you. Erich

Hi MegOhm, Well, that is a positive first step as a positive lead into this problem that I will followup on and experiment. I bought TrackIR 5 recently, but because of the intense learning curve to A-10C Warthog, I have not installed it, yet. But I am in the process of doing so currently. Thank you very much. Erich :pilotfly:

Hi, My previous thread: ============= http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=74294 I wish to try and deliberately recreate a HUD failure to experiment with various in cockpit controls to remedy this random failure in flight, be it off-line or online. Message #25 here: ============ http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=74294&page=3 Thanks in advance for any help. Erich :pilotfly:

Hi, I am just the last couple weeks learning how to use the HSI and use it more effectively as to getting there via waypoint to and RTB going to land it. Erich

Hi, They make a free utility (think it is free) named PING PLOTTER. It will show every hop along the way. So, the various hops can hinder the speed and the overall speed of the Internet flow somewhere along the pathway is probably the issue. Why the route goes a certain way I do not know how that is. If a hurricane or big storm takes down land-line phone / cable lines, I would think, somehow a reroute would have to occur or a no-route and therefore dead in the water until the crews get the lines re-established. Fastest I can possibly get in suburbia here is 15 MB per second download which is RoadRunner Turbo. I currently run at about 4MB per second download speed on DSL. I am 70 miles out of NY City and we still live in the Dark Ages here as to the Internet access, though at least no more long distance extra $ rates for dial up. Take care, :pilotfly:

Hi, As to sissy mode: Sim or not, this is still a game. I always fly in SIM mode, but I add a few cheat perks. I do fly with a squad that will not allow sissy mode, sometimes, and they run a mission as real as possible and rely on the network function on the TAD. I especially like the F7 key to get a feel, cycling through enemy positions to find where enemy is within a city. I have to look around a bit in zoom-out to kind of figure where they are hiding as to their local terrain, then figure out about where they may be hiding. In Aces High (http://www.hitechcreations.com/) training mode, we got exterior views. But in game, on their servers, the fighters had no sissy mode exterior views. You get damaged, the only way to see it was to rerun the video tape afterwards. The precision, level bombers had exterior views in game mode for some reason. I want to see pilots that eject, the ability to get rescued. The ability to eject over an enemy position and call in air strikes like that guy did in Bat-21 would also be nice and give the pilot a laser designator and radio. LOL! They need one big company owned server and a BIG map and the availability of squad against squad in a month long battle ops is on my wish list, like WWII Online and Warbirds. :pilotfly:

I was Navy Reserve Seabees for a lot of years in the 1970's. I volunteered for a remodeling job in Cuba, Gitmo, for my 2 weeks training. I am a good carpenter, I was always going somewhere to fix something. Training my azz! Arrived north of Philadelphia to Willow Grove Naval Air Station in the wee hours before dawn. Most of our waiting to go, is as you say, as to pre-flight checkout. Once airborne in that converted old sub hunter, 4 engine, prop job, way out over sea, we had two smoking engines that our in-flight crew chief was very concerned about to the point of considering ditching. Kind of discerning seeing life rafts hanging from the interior bulkheads and everybody had a Mae-West type life preserver in our seats (52 guys went out of our 600 man battalion). Heck, we all had, had basic at sea survival training. "Not to worry, this plane floats the longest of any Navy plane in the inventory", is what we were told. We made it to Cuba, 7 hour flight at 10,000 feet. One of another crew were not so lucky, they flew to Bermuda, then got a jet passenger plane to Gitmo. I think the Reserve planes need a little bit Tender-Loving-Care. :pilotfly:

In real life, do the maintenance techs actually rewire a system component in the hanger? OR do they pull the unit and send it out to some civilian Air Force support unit off-site? I know a guy that works to one of the civilian US Navy submarine support sites, and he told me in generalities, they pull the bad units of whatever, and the electronic techs rebuild them on the bench. I imagine they would send out civilian specialties to a fleet operating sub out to sea to do any real re-wiring issues. I do not mind the in-flight failures in the sim. What pisses me off is, I usually have to RTB to get it fixed in the middle of a mission. It would be nice to know how to fix stuff in-flight. :pilotfly:

Hi, Thanks for the advice. This may save me some major headaches. Asus designed this motherboard specifically to overclock, yet, if I do, it will void their warranty if I blow the board. Go figure! :pilotfly:

Had both engines, but yes throttles full back, full dive/air brakes or whatever they are called, gear up. I did not overspeed, was maintaining 250 mph on the descent. HUD went blank flying around about tree top level looking for the enemy, advancing convoy. AND since I first posted this, HUD blanked out again, different mission, well into the mission, no battle damage. I have 896 MB of video ram, GTX 260, 216 core. I will have to see whether I can use weapon systems without using the HUD, trial and error. Thanks. :pilotfly:

Yes, both. :pilotfly:

I am still quite green, have not done bombing, yet. I use TGP to target enemy, switch to Mavericks but still try to stay in position to watch my Maverick take the target out on my TGP that is not SOI. Easy way to confirm a kill, plus also TAB key in Multiplayer will let you know what you killed. And the apostrophe key to a lesser extent if you got an added kill. And for the same reason, I prefer TGP for finding live targets. :pilotfly: