Faelwolf

On my Wh I didn't do any sanding, but did replace the factory grease with better, very smooth ever since. I had the board go out in the throttle (I have one of the early ones that had some issues) but a replacement was no hassle. I did suggest to TM a long time ago to make a stand alone Cougar f-16 throttle, but never heard back. I think they are missing out on some $$ by not doing that.

You may find this podcast from the 476th interesting and helpful, they talk about the Rift, requirements, and experiences using it in DCS. http://the476th.podbean.com/e/the-476th-podcast-episode-13/

While you are in there, check all your assignments. DCS is great in that it automatically assigns switches etc., but it can be a little overenthusiastic and assign all sorts of commands to the throttle that you don't want, as well as assign axis commands to every controller with an axis. You can use the clear function to remove all assignments for controllers you don't use in the sim; to speed things up and prevent conflicts.

Yeah Trip, that is pretty close to what I was talking about, ED should take a look at that, maybe do a partnership with Leap for a 3rd party port or something. :)

What I'd love to see, is a body tracker refined to the point that the pilot avatar would move in the cockpit with your own movement in R/L, so when you reached out to hit a switch in VR, the avatar would match your own movement to hit the switch as a form of mouse tracking. You would basically reach out with your own virtual hand/arm to maniplate controls in the cockpit. Given the current state of technology, it could be a viable next generation tech, if we could just get the companies involved to work with each other. Leap is trying to go in this direction, but is still pretty crude comparitive to what is needed to do this. They have the basic framework, but not the resolution. They really need to partner with Oculus.

I'll add that getting radar locked even at low speed is pretty realistic. Don't forget that these days weather radar can track the patterns of raindrops falling to track storms and predict severe weather before it even happens. Military radar tracking abilities are [classified] but I imagine that if channel 7 in Podunk can track a raindrop, the military can tell if you haven't changed your underwear lately. In the Sim, I think it is reduced to unclassified levels, so we get a break compared to R/L. But throw in a spinning rotor disk, and someone could probably rig up a homemade radar with parts from an old microwave and a used satelite TV dish to spot you.

If you are laying out the $$ for the Warthog (which is an awesome controller IMO) then I'd say get the A-10C to go with it. Lots of missions, very detailed, and will really make that Warthog shine. The A10C also has the advantage of plenty of missions, a large community of pilots, and is so in depth that you will always be finding something new to learn on it.

Vjoy is a "Virtual Joystick" and yes, it is a third party bridge, most often used by joystick software to create a dummy joystick that allows users to combine their joystick and throttle for use in games that won't recognize multiple joysticks. I am told some force feedback sticks can generate this as well, though that is an issue I haven't encountered as I haven't used a FF stick in quite some time, so can't speak to that in particular. Windows has a bad habit of defaulting to this virtual joystick when launching other games/sims as well, and if you don't have a control mapped to the VJ, it won't function in the game. (Win7 can also have a habit of trying to make the VJ the default stick in the controller settings if you don't watch for it) I have had this issue in DCS when using the TM Target software to solve an issue in another game, and found that I had to make sure that it was disabled before starting DCS, or this, along with a lot of other problems would ensue. I also recommend that you make sure that any third-party stick mapping software you may have is not set to start when Windows starts for this very reason. With DCS' extensive stick mapping abilities, unless you are trying to do something unusual, you won't require third party stick mapping, and it will just be an unnecessary app eating cycles in the background anyway.

News update from Wags, looks like update to 2.0.1 today, 1.5 to be updated next week, if I am reading it right.

Assuming you are using windows: All Programs> Eagle Dynamics> DCS World> Update DCS World

Go into all programs> Eagle Dynamics> Repair DCS World

Have you tried running repair? I had similar issues, and it looks like there were some errors when I first updated to 1.5 from 1.2. The repair option deleted obsolete files, and installed new runtimes. (Which the updater should have done, but apparently did not) Once I repaired, all was well, other than the FLIR problems that has been already widely reported. I can't speak to 2.0, as I don't have that installed.

I just adjusted saturation in options for my slew control on my throttle, sped everything up to where I like it. No messing around with individual settings in the cockpit every time I go up. But to each their own. Also, TGP speed is very much dependent on how much it's zoomed in, so I can use that to slow it down or speed it up as needed. It has given me a much faster reaction time in combat, especially when using the HUD to set SPI.

It gets more fun when you get into gravitational permutation, and try to wrap your head around the fact that the Earth doesn't orbit the Sun, the Sun and Earth orbit each other (and it's gets weirder from there, especially in quantum mechanics). Earth's gravitational field does not logically map with its outward distribution of mass, either, and experiments have shown that it is also inverted, in a way. Two long plumb lines mounted parallel with each other will angle closer at the top, with a projected point of intersection roughly 100 miles above the surface rather than towards the center of the Earth. It is a very strange potato.

IIRC they had a campaign sale recently, and will likely have one again, I think the module + bundle sale is a good one for those who may be wanting to get started, and it never hurts to expand the player base! It will come around for us veteran players. As someone on a fixed income, I keep a close eye on the sales, and appreciate ED giving us a break now and then.

It's been this way for a very long time, and does not look to have been fixed in 1.5 Even with curves adjusted severely it still does the same thing. About the only thing to do is stay off the brakes or nose wheel steering until you've come down to a very low speed. I only fly the A-10C, so can't speak to the other a/c, but on takeoff, after releasing the brakes, I turn off nose wheel steering once I break 50 knots, or I end up all over the runway, the slightest touch of rudder will over steer. It seems to be the biggest problem with the Saitek Combat rudder pedals. May be something in their drivers, hard to say. But, I certainly don't have this issue in other sims. They really do need to fix this.

Thanks Hollywood for a very helpful video. I am having a bit of trouble though, I have everything installed, and auto hotkey script runs just fine, but when I use my throttle to send the command, voice attack receives it, and shows it is executing properly, but nothing happens in-game. When I use the keyboard, everything works just fine, and I get the expected response. Anyone have any ideas? NM found I had created a syntax error when changing commands over to match my layout. Works great now!

I have had no problems with them so far as reliability goes. However, I have found them to be less than practical without live monitors behind them. IMO, great for a cockpit build, not so great as a stand-alone peripheral. YMMV

With the new patches lately there seems to now be a bug when using snap views, though I am hoping I may have just missed something. I have no trouble getting snap views set up, but I find that if I am in a snap view, for example, zoomed in on the HUD or one of the MFD's, none of the buttons on my joystick or throttle will function. It appears that I can still click things with the mouse, but that is very limiting. This prevents me from firing cannon while focused on the HUD, or using the mini stick to move the cursor around on TAD, etc. Everything works perfectly when not in a snap view. This is something that worked with no issue before, but due to technical problems and R/L issues, I have been away from DCS for quite a while, and so I can't point to a specific patch that may have changed this. (Had to do a full reinstall of DCS after replacing a failed hard drive, among a lot of other things) Is there now a lockout on controllers that I can switch off with a check box or .lua edit? Or is this a new bug? I can't seem to find any mention of this issue, so am thinking it may be something going on with my setup? Any help is greatly appreciated. Additional if it is of any help: Win7/64, i7-920, 9G RAM TrackIR v5 TM Warthog (direct, unscripted) fresh install latest DCS all drivers current

Give this thread a try: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=122856

Initial purchase costs divided by time. Not difficult. Varies with the individual as prices fluctuate. Comparison is to the cost of one night out, average, divided by the average time the night out lasts. Night out costs vary with the individual as well due to price fluctuations and average costs for the area in which they live. "Night out" cost used as comparison as it is a basic, though non-standardized, unit of measurement commonly used by the society in which I live. Nothing illogical about it, and is a pretty basic calculation similar to amortization. Not worth doing a detailed cost analysis, and I don't maintain a statistical database or detailed log of my flying hours. Too busy enjoying life to worry about little details like that. So far as comparing to other hobbies, I am a blacksmith. Much, much higher initial costs, with continuing costs for tooling, materials, and fuel. My anvil alone cost more than my flight gear. Plus transportation and storage costs, taxes, insurance and so forth. If I should choose to do historical smithing at, say, a Civil war encampent or craft fair, cost go up much further, as in addition to the above, I would have to maintain historically accurate tooling, clothing and camp gear, additional transportation and storage costs, indemnity insurance in addition to the normal workshop insurance, as well as merchant fees and additional permits. (One of the reasons you don't see a whole lot of people doing public demos) I do have the potential to make some of that money back by selling items or doing work for other people, but that is limited, as I am not a business. (My health will not allow me to turn it into a business, but I would love to be able to do so.) So yeah, DCS is a much less expensive hobby, even if one were to fly with all 1st class gear.

I haven't heard anything about the Warthog, but anyone using CH gear is much better off using a hub, it is much more stable and responsive. Back when I had CH gear I tried it, and the issues I was having went away immediately, so can attest to it. I use one anyway with the Warthog, as I have so much stuff on this system that it's a necessity. My comp is used for a lot more than just flying. I have never used the WH without a hub, so can't vouch for any issues. I can say though, that TrackIR, despite being camera based, still works just fine when run through a hub, so no worries there, at least in my experience.

Yeah, haven't taken the wife out to a movie in years. Last time just the movie, popcorn, and drinks ran us $50.00. Plus gas, dinner out, etc. all in all one night out ran us roughly $100. That's just for one evening. I can't imagine what it must be now. Fortunately, she is happy to stay home with Netflix (lucky for me, my wife is very frugal) and DCS has no monthly service charge, so once the gear is bought, the cost spreads out over time fast. I have never figured it up, but since it's now been a few years, I believe I can safely estimate that I am down to less than a dollar an hour by now, likely down to pennies an hour. Compared to some hobbies, DCS is about as cheap as it gets, only the upfront costs. Next for the OP comes a good set of rudder pedals, and that's about it. (And if only flying the A-10c, pedals are not an absolute requirement.) Of course flight simmers are usually gadget-heads so it never stops there ...........:)

Both of those are great resources that really helped me out a lot getting started. It would be nice to see those combined as a total ready reference. And many thanks to both authors for their guides!

Being shade blind it looks blue to me. I am just glad that the colors are strong enough, and difference in hue is enough, for me to easily tell between them! If they had used a light green and yellow green, I'd be sunk :P