sirrah

And not having legs and arms and see your stick, throttle and rudder pedals magically move around isn't "immersion wierd"? To me, as a VR user, an empty cockpit is more unrealistic than (very occasionally during startup) having to hide the pilot body for a second. Other than flippin' the probe switch in this example, what are you guys doing on the side panels during a mission anyways? (Apart from staring up) I think what the OP brought up would be quite a good (temporary) solution and maybe not to difficult to implement. If you don't like it, just keep hiding the pilot body entirely. Everybody wins

The Chinook will be an awesome addition to DCS! (proper implementation of troop transport and vehicle sling loading will be mandatory though, but I'm sure ED knows that). A bit grainy, as I took it probably 20 years ago at Bierset (Belgium), but thought I'd share here:

Answer to you're first question: yes, you can definitely employ weapons from the PLT seat. With help of a remote laser designator (e.g. JTAC) you even pretty much don't need George AI at all). Then again, George AI is really super easy in use. Much less (no) micromanagement needed in comparison with Jester AI for the F-14. Nothing bad about the Tomcat, Heatblur did an awesome job recreating this iconic machine, but I've never really liked that you are so dependent on the RIO (or pilot). It is very different in the Apache imo. In the Apache both crew members can almost do everything (main differences: pilot controls engine start procedure and CPG controls finding and lasing targets) Personally, I just love the Apache I fly mostly (like 95%) SP and enjoy playing both crew stations equally. Depending on the mission style and what I feel like doing at that moment, I switch to the CPG seat to operate the Hellfire's and gun, or just focus on flying and have George engage with Hellfire's for me. So, yeah, I can't talk for anyone else, but I very much fancy playing the Apache solo. By the way; It's not that I don't like multi crew with an actual human operator, but it's just that I'm in a phase of my life (young daughter, wife, a busy job and to many hobby's ) where I can't properly commit to MP.

George is still very much work in progress. For instance, in one of the last OB updates several callouts were added to George's vocabulary. I'm sure ED will continue to tweak and improve "him". For now, I suggest you take time and learn the CPG seat. Yes I agree, the piloting is awesome, but you can also switch to the CPG seat and pretty much do an entire mission from there (which I think is also super fun )

FCR not shown in the 2023 and beyond video doesn't automatically mean we won't see it happen in 2023. I'm sure there are more features coming to DCS in 2023 that were not shown in this short video. But I guess my glass is just half full

And the rightfull winner (despite the result of this poll) is:

(small bonus tip, just in case you didn't know, you can just use text for your flags. You don't have to stick to numbers. Helps a lot in remembering which flag should do what )

Download link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3328249/ Installation: Unzip into your DCS save games campaign folder \Users\...\Saved Games\DCS (or DCS.OpenBeta)\Missions\Campaigns\en\ 301 REDSKINS This is a fictional 4-mission mini-campaign for the AH-64D and the Syria map. The missions are building up in difficulty, with a main focus on atmosphere. Although not required, knowing how to operate the CP/G seat, will definitely improve the experience (each mission briefing will contain a few notes on what the player will need to know for that specific mission). I'd say, overall difficulty is easy to medium and the missions should be suitable for newcomers (albeit as I created it myself, I obviously know where to look and what to do). This campaign contains: Mission specific kneeboards Mission specific briefing images Partially automated comms Day and night OPS Mission scoring (although very easy on newcomers) "Press spacebar" actions, so it might not be suitable for MP (no mods required) I had a lot of fun creating this campaign, hopefully you'll enjoy it too. Any feedback would be appreciated. Although I did test thoroughly, some bugs might have slipped through. If you find any, please let me know. Updated version 1.1 - 18/01/2023 - Log: Mission 2 F10 radio menu not disappearing - FIXED Mission 2 not progressing at some point - FIXED Mission 4 scoring problem - FIXED Updated version 1.2 - 02/07/2023 - Log: Mission 1 AI flight lead not taking off properly - FIXED Updated version 1.3 - 15/10/2023 - Log: Mission 3 AI Apache not in correct parking spot - FIXED Mission 4 "smuggler escaped" Mission failed problem - FIXED Updated version 1.4 - 27-01-2024 - Log: Mission 3 Trigger issues when selecting the "Easy" difficulty mission - FIXED

What @jonsky7 says is correct Additionally, you could add a "move to waypoint X" action, and set start condition to that same flag, to have unit 2 move to a specific predetermined waypoint (not necessarily the next one). I've used this function for several of my missions (mainly because I have no scripting knowledge )

Not what you are asking, I know, but it might be of help: From the CPG seat, you can order George PLT to "turn on target" by selecting CMBT mode in the George AI overlay and then press FWD on the George command hat switch.

The 1st person pilot body legs are blocking switches for you? That's interesting But let's not dive into that rabbit hole, as after reading that last sentence of your post, I see we will never agree about the immersion the 1st person pilot body adds to this sim (let's agree to disagree ) Anyways, back on topic: the mirrors in DCS have never properly functioned. Perhaps they look ok for pancake users, but for VR/TrackIR users, nope. Moving your head towards the mirrors is the easiest way to see that the mirror image is completely wrong. So yeah, they could use love at some point indeed. Being able to see yourself nod, tilt your head, or headbanging on your favorite music, would be a nice extra touch (although far from priority imho).

Do you mean when looking at the pilot models from external view, or in cockpit mirrors? Fwiw: Personally I don't mind, as since I went VR couple of years ago, I pretty much never use the external views and I got used to the cockpit mirrors being, well, completely off. I'm just very grateful that many devs (ED and 3rd parties) at all take time to model 1st person pilot bodies. Could they be improved? Sure. But to me, having legs in the first place is so much better than flying a "drone"

Thanks for the advise, but I was kinda hoping this would just be... well... simple. Like being able to just use ASCII in DCS. No problem, I'll just stick to the copy/paste work around

Alt0176 is not responding in DCS (at least not on my side. it does function in the Character Map app under Windows) Alt176 = ♠ in DCS. I guess I'll just stick to copy/paste from WordPad

Yeah, I know, I'm also using this work around now, but I was just wondering about it, as all the Alt-Tab'ing is not ideal. Thanks mate. Will try that tomorrow (just out of curiosity, is this some kind of alternative to ASCII code or something? What's it called?)

Small question.. Apparently in the ME when I type ASCII code Alt248 in a text message, I don't get the ° symbol, but instead get the symbol Φ (Phi). Anyone know how to type the ° symbol in DCS? (I want to have a text message popup, showing a certain bearing in one of my missions)

Just upload that track file mate I promise we won't laugh

Bit difficult/impossible with no real life experience to answer this poll, but fwiw; I have no problem whatsoever making any DCS helo do exactly what I want it to do. So, they "feel" just fine to me. If the flight characteristics indeed match the real thing? I suppose only SME's can answer that question

I've never played with a human crew member (not enough time for MP commitment), but still the Apache is my favorite module. I must say though, I play (and enjoy) both the PLT and CPG stations. If you really only want to play the PLT seat, you can. But imho, you'd only be using like 75% of what this awesome module has to offer. If you're ok with that, the Apache is a blast! Another small side note, which will probably be contested by other community members , if you're not using VR, I'd advise you to stick to fixed wing until you make that plunge. I did enjoy the Ka-50 & Huey when I was still using a flat screen, but I kinda sucked at flying 'em. After I switched to VR, my skills improved drastically and with that I also fell in love with DCS helo ops.

Thanks @Hairdo1-1 Yes, I hope so too Would be nice if (after well earned holidays) anyone from ED could confirm this. @BIGNEWY, @NineLine?

Chuck for president! Thanks so much. Your guides are gold

All helo's would make me happy, but I think a heavy, capable of transporting heavy equipment/light vehicles, would be most interesting. If done properly, it'd open up an entirely new role for our digital battlefield (especially in a MP environment). My vote went out to the Chinook, although I'd equally like the Stallion/Pave Low. (With as a very close second, the Pave/Black Hawk)

Ah yes, I see now

Did you read @admiki's advise (3 posts up) to check your controls setup? Looking at the violent right turn in your video, there seems to be more going on than just lack of sufficient left rudder input. I suspect you accidentally have one of your controller axis bound to the rudder (and have that axis set to full right input). You can also easily check this by enabling the control input overlay in DCS settings. If the above is not the case, I suggest you to post a short track file here. There's very little to go by, with just a video. A track file (if not broken ) provides a lot more info.