ScottishMartialArts

I'd like to reinstall my copy of LOMAC, but sometime ago, I managed to screw up the uninstallation of LOMAC, such that while the data files are gone, the registry entries are not. As such, the installer for LOMAC won't run because it thinks LOMAC is already installed. Does anyone know what specific registry entries I need to delete for LOMAC so that the installer will work again? I'm hesitant to just indiscriminately delete anything that says LOMAC, ED, or TFC, because at least some of those will be associated with my DCSW installation and the associated copy protection activations. Anyone know? Or should I just bite the bullet, uninstall DCSW and any other ED products, delete whatever registry entries are left, and then reinstall and reactivate everything?

As others have noted, while simulators can teach you a lot about avionics, procedures, navigation, and reading instruments, they aren't really that effective at teaching actually piloting an airplane in flight. Although modern flight models can simulate many phenomena of flight quite accurately, it's still just an abstraction of the real thing. Furthermore, no PC simulator, no matter how accurate the flight model, can allow you to truly "feel" what flight is like. In other words, in real life, you can feel the physical forces, such as acceleration and lift, operating both on the airplane and your body, but in a PC-based simulator that simply isn't possible. Now all that said, you should absolutely get A-10C -- it will teach you a lot about aviation and modern mechanized air-land battle. Being an ROTC cadet, you also have the advantage of being able to talk to your Cadre about the various tactical problems you will try to solve while flying the sim, which is fun on its own, but also demonstrates to the Cadre that you are interested and passionate about the Air Force, which will be reflected in the evaluations they do of you as a part of the national ranking prior to commissioning. Also, as others have pointed out FSX has a superb instructional component (the Rod Machado lessons, not the "Tutorials" in the missions menu) which will really help you to learn General Aviation principles. Finally, are you a scholarship cadet? At least in Army ROTC, scholarship cadets got monthly stipends of several hundred dollars on top of tuition and room and board being payed for. If so, I'd highly recommend using that stipend to get a few flight training hours a month in at the local airport. Already having a private pilot's license will make you more competitive in the national ranking, and thus more likely to get the career field (I'm presuming pilot, and probably fighter pilot, which is HIGHLY competitive) you want when you are commissioned.

Yeah I just found that a few minutes ago. Thank you.

How's the customer supposed to know that looking at the newsletter that went out earlier today? If you have contractual obligations, so be it, but the bottom line is that a DCS module requires that you own a non-DCS title, and you cannot buy that non-DCS title from the website where FC3 is being sold. Looking around a bit, it appears that the cheapest, downloadable version of LOMAC available is on Ubisoft's store website. Perhaps you could link to that on your store page for FC3? Keep in mind that most of us just like to fly your sims, and we haven't been paying keen attention to the details of the contracts that ED has entered into over the years. For those of us who are not members of ED's legal department, it's going to come across as a bit of an unpleasant surprise that the latest DCS module requires that you own a non-DCS title.

Where? Clicking Buy Lock-On Flaming Cliffs2 button at the top of the forum leads to a store where the only downloadable version available is $30. Checking amazon, it looks like I can get Lock-on Platinum for $20, which is better I suppose, but then I still have to wait for the thing to be shipped and delivered before I have the privilege of activating any FC3 purchase.

Wait a minute: it's a full priced DCSW module, yet it requires that you own a non-DCS title in order to activate it? In other words, I need to drop $70 ($40 for FC3, and $30 for FC2) to play this if I don't already own a LOMAC sim? Wow, that's kind of a dick move on your guys part. Don't get me wrong, I love ED and want to support you financially, but if this is going to cost 70 bucks, then you just lost a sale. Still planning on getting DCS UH-1 on day one, though, provided that I don't have to purchase your entire back catalog just to activate it.

Track down a copy of Flight Unlimited -- it runs great in DOS Box. The sim is all about aerobatics, and has an extensive training component that gives guided lessons on pretty much every aerobatic maneuver, some of which are blisteringly hard to pull off successfully.

So you nailed a crosswind, dirt strip landing in the Stearman on your first try without bouncing? You sure you turned off all the flight model assists? It's entirely possible that you're just a way better sim pilot than I am, but having flown sims for about a decade now, it certainly doesn't "feel" like an arcade game to me. I haven't flown a real plane so I can't compare there, but compared to the flight model in IL-2 or A-10C? Feels comparable to me. And I bought the cargo plane because I was enjoying the game, not the other way around.

You haven't attempted a crosswind, dirtstrip landing, have you? Sorry to be defending Flight, but even as a hardcore sim junky I'm having a lot of fun with it. I wouldn't be logging the hours into it that I am were it just some arcade, Pilot Wings clone. The game is missing stuff to be sure, but there is a very good foundation to build off of with what is there. Flew a two hour IFR cargo flight from Kauai to Maui last night, navigating via VOR/DME. It was fun :P.

Eh, while there are some similarities with Pilot Wings, I'd still say this is a pretty full sim. It's missing some key things like ATC, a flight planner, and AI traffic, but the flight and avionics models are full sim. For example, I spent an hour last night navigating via VOR beacons, correcting for the 20 knot winds, and then doing an ILS landing.

Running Black Shark 1, THEN the installer did the trick. This was a fresh install of Windows 7, so I had downloaded BS1 but had not yet run it. Thanks for the help!

I have the Steam version of Black Shark 1 installed, but the Black Shark 2 upgrade installer gives me an error message that says "DCS Black Shark must be installed". Any help?

No luck on alt-tabbing. In fact, I can't alt-tab back in to DCS after alt tabbing out: it just hangs and I have to close the application. Sounds like the solution to my problem is to upgrade to Win 7/install a video card with more memory, right?

My DxDiag report, if that helps. DxDiag.txt

I'm getting an invalid file error when I attempt to attach DCS.log, so here it is on megaupload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S0XN0QI1.

I run the texture setting, and everything else, at low. Running at anything higher leads to a situation where I can load the mission, click on cockpit switches and hear sound but get frozen video.

I'm having terrible graphics issues with the /3GB switch enabled on WinXP 32 bit. See the attached screenshots. These graphical problems only develop mid-mission; at the start of a mission, everything looks fine. When I disable the switch, these issues go away but then I get crashes mid-mission. I have updated my drivers, DX9, and the C++ redistributable as per the suggestions on this forum and nothing has helped. OS: Windows XP 32-bit CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333 Video Card: Geforce 8800 GT 512MB Mobo: Asus M4A87TD Evo