Faelwolf

Thread about profiles for it here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=64155&highlight=79868

Yes, you can edit a mission, both single or multiplayer, regardless of who created it. I have done it myself, mainly to use a custom skin in single player :) You can adjust the skin for multiplayer, but unless the others flying with you have that particular skin installed themselves, they will not see it. I don't know if things have changed, but at one time I do believe they would see the orange "invalid" skin instead. Skin installs have improved somewhat, but they are still not as simple as some other sims, that are practically "drag and drop" and I don't know of any share function that would let them be installed on the fly. There is also no default skin setting that I know of, other than it seems to go to the first skin in line when you first open the editor to create a new mission.

This started a long time ago, but only with the radios. If I was looking at the radio stack using a snap view, my G15 keys that I had set up to switch presets would not work. This was a minor issue, and I assumed it would get a fix along the way. IIRC it started with the last update to the stand-alone version. Now however, with 1.2.4, I am finding that no controls other than the joystick axis will work with any snap view active. All keystrokes, MFD, and HOTAS button inputs seem to be locked out. This makes it difficult to use my MFD's, to say the least. I can still use the mouse to click buttons on screen while in a snap view, but this is rather time consuming compared to using my presets or controllers. All controls work fine in normal view. Anyone else having this issue, or is it a bug? If it's something I have done, I'd greatly appreciate suggestions for a fix. I have already gone through my snap view settings, .lua's etc and everything looks to be set up the same as before when they worked well.

There's your problem, it's actually a machine that goes "Ping!" You should always have one handy in case the administrator comes by. I never had any real luck with the landing tutorial, he left me pointed out to sea. Some work (and a lot of patience from my instructors) by the 476th was much, much, more valuable in ILS landing and navigation. Once you have a grasp of how it works, it all comes down to practice. From what I understand though, the A10C is not really set up for a true ILS landing, you still have to take over visually once you reach the runway threshold, the insturments aren't rated or accurate enough to do a full landing with them. But they will get you to the runway and lined up properly in bad visibility. It's a great feeling to see the runway pop up out of the fog and be able to touch down right on the mark!

It's an ingenious bit of software that is an unofficial (though ED should pay handsomely for the rights and incorporate it into DCS IMO) add-on to DCS. It works through Teamspeak to make the radios function much more like the real thing, such as having to be tuned to the right frequency, distance fade, etc. ED likes to find new ways to break it with updates :) but it is well worth getting, and is a must-have for anyone who wants to use realistic radio ops for their squad. Not so much a necessity if you like to just hang out in public servers and have a common TS channel, but it won't interfere with that as you can turn it off easy enough. Link: http://www.excessiveheadspace.com/tars/

You've got a great set up for this sim. Once you get used to trackIR, you will find yourself turning your head to get a better look while watching videos :) I think you will find this to be a very welcoming and patient community!

Oh you kids with yer newfangled devices! :D

Unlinked at all times. Even with my big ham fists it hasn't been a problem.

So Paul, the left throttle off after 5 minutes idle time, is that for engine cooling or to make sure that any excess fuel that might be hiding in the system somewhere is burned/evaporated off? Just curious.

Or you can use a E6B. They're not expensive, and make short work of these kind of calculations. Link to a nice one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/ASA-E6B-Metal-Flight-Computer/dp/B003ZFSJ3M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363614626&sr=8-1&keywords=e6b+flight+computer If the missions you are flying has you cutting it close a lot of the time, it might be worth looking in to. Considering that a lot of info is displayed on the HUD that you would use a E6B to figure out, I find it a bit curious that there is no time to bingo that can be set up and displayed. My wife's car even displays an estimated miles left to E based on the fuel gauge and average MPG. Since we have both fuel quantity and flow gauges in the A-10, the real time data is available to the system to do the calculations for the display. Between the TAD and the CDU you can almost book dinner, hotel, and hooker reservations so you'd think it would be in there somewhere. :)

Not dogging you Scrapple, (that's why I made sure to quote the previous post) He was saying in general that he did not see what use the info could be to the wrong people. The A10A manual not so much, but the new upgrades could be. As much as I love this sim, I did have some concerns about it making too much info available when it came out. I still have a concern over one modeled item, but won't speak publicly about it. Still, my apologies if I made you feel in any way that I was directing anything at you.

Very useful. For example, During the Balkan campaign, our ROE was broadcast in the clear to the inbound jets as a reminder. Within a couple days, the Serbs made use of the information to avoid air strikes by using civilian vehicles, etc. knowing that we could not fire on them. Read "A-10's Over Kosovo" for the details. It is a perfect example of what happens when communication security is breached. There is a free .pdf of it here: http://aupress.au.af.mil/digital/pdf/book/b_0090_haave_haun_a10s_over_kosovo.pdf Our ROE wasn't actually classified, but it's dissemination certainly caused a lot of harm. I really wouldn't want the wrong people in certain areas we are currently operating in to know the limitations of the current A10c, or it's vulnerabilities. There are plenty of governments we are not currently engaged with who really shouldn't know, either. As was already mentioned, a document doesn't need to be classified to be restricted information. If anyone has an interest, here's the link to the wiki article on it that gives a pretty good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information

I had the CH pro pedals for about 8 years, and other than the narrow stance, was quite happy with them until they started drifting sharply to the right all the time. I replaced them with a set of Saitek Combat pros and have been quite happy with them, especially the wider footprint (I'm a large guy and found the narrow width of the CH to be rather tiring on long flights). CH used to be top of the line, but their quality control has taken a dive, so now it's hit or miss if you will get a good unit. Some units work perfectly, others have so much slop in the fit to the pot shaft that you can't even return to center. I have heard a number of complaints about the drift problem I had with the pro pedals happening right out of the box as well. l got no response from customer service on a bad stick they sold me, (no answer to e-mail, and never answered the phone even a single time) and finally had to find a website that showed how to fix it myself. The fact that the website exists at all I took as a bad sign - is CH really shipping that many bad sticks? I have had no problems with any Saitek gear I've had, especially their X series joysticks. Of course, that didn't stop me from upgrading to the Warthog :) Internally, from what I have read, there is no real difference between the Combat and Combat Pro rudder pedals from Saitek. I went with the pro to have the metal foot rests, and if you are patient and look around, you can get them for the same price as the non-pro pedals if you prefer the different setup. I'd have liked for TM to have made a good set of pedals to go with the WH stick, but I am told there are no plans in the works to do that.

The Cougar MFD's are nice, but of limited use without monitors in them. I find it quicker to mouse click since I have to bring up the MFD in close-up anyway. Otherwise, parallax makes hit hard to figure out which button to hit.

I would recommend starting by looking at the recommended (not minimum) requirements for the game, then exceeding them as best your budget will allow. CPU speed and memory are bigger issues than the video card, you don't need to lay out huge bucks for the latest and greatest V-Card, and that is a very easy item to upgrade later anyway.

They are awesome, especially if you are into realism, good training, and a great group of guys to fly with. But I might be just a wee bit biased.... :)

I'm rather curious as to why they did not put in a fuel system that allows inverted flight, they've been around since WW-II. Anyone know if there is a reason behind this?

Yes it does, I originally bought the DVD version, and the serial worked just fine, in my case, it just activated, and didn't even ask for the serial again. I am able to run both versions with no problems, but 1.1.1 is stand-alone only, it does not integrate into DCS World, and I still had to download/install the A-10C module for World.

When this finally comes out, I wonder if/how it is going to interact with the 3d cockpit. Since it is tracking your hands in 3d in real time, it could theoretically enable you to be a ghost in the machine. Of course, since we don't have a virtual pilot in the cockpit, I don't know how we could track our hand location in the game world, and I think that it would also require some more programming on ED's part. The immersion would be pretty amazing if it could be made to work like that I would think. :) In other sources I have seen on this, it can also allow a normal screen to be used like a touch screen, so there is that, if nothing else. Either way, this looks like it could be a very interesting mouse replacement, and has the potential to make using a 3d monitor pretty interesting. http://leapmotion.com/

Now you've got me curious if a sidewinder will lock a ground target :)

I don't know about IFR charts, but there are some good sets of VFR charts and airport diagrams here: http://www.virtual-jabog32.de/index.php?section=downloads&subcat=37

You most likely know all this already, but for anyone reading this who doesn't: The divert page in the CDU will give you the runway heading and TACAN/ILS info, but I also printed out a set of airfield charts as not all airfields have those, and the divert page only lists the nearest fields. In VFR, all I really need is the runway heading to go along with my HUD, and I'm golden. Even then, using TACAN I don't even need the HUD. It is good to practice using just TACAN and analog instruments, I once lost my HUD and it was no big deal to return to base and land without it since I had not grown dependent on it. With your course set properly in your HSI, you have a virtual runway that you can use to plan your approach before you even arrive at the airfield. It is quite literally a "what you see is what you get" instrument. For example, if you have your aircraft pointed at the airfield, and your HSI shows a 40 degree relative angle, you will find the runway 40 degrees relative to you when you arrive if you continue to fly direct. It does not require TACAN or ILS beacons to work. So use your HSI to determine where to offset your FPM in the HUD (or which side of the TACAN needle to fly to) to make life a lot easier. Obviously, for a true IFR landing, you will want to offset to the side opposite of where the arrow is pointing, so that when you turn on final, you will be lined up with the runway in the same direction that TACAN/ILS is set for. Also, offset enough to give yourself a bit of breathing room without getting crazy with it. It doesn't do you a lot of good to offset your course just to find yourself turning on final 1000 feet from the runway, but at the same time, you don't want to turn on final 50 miles away either :) I personally like to be 8-10 miles out so I can make lazy turns and take my time, but not have to hold glide slope all day. The bar closes on the HSI a lot slower when you are out a bit from the airfield. Also, if there are no obstructions or threats between me and the airfield, I will have nudged nose-down while enroute so I will already be pretty much at the altitude I want when I arrive at my turn point. I will also have backed off of the throttle as I got close, so I will have the right airspeed. A good number of airfields seem to only be set for landing IFR in one direction, so if the visibility is that poor, and the wind is working against you badly, you are going to have problems, and will have to pick another airfield. For an airfield that has no ILS, if you have used your HSI to set your self up properly, you don't really need the ILS bars to do a landing by the numbers, but you will need some visibility. When visibility is limited, I prefer a shallow approach, running 2 deg. down instead of 3. But that's just my preference, not a rule. I agree with Jona33, the ILS system in the A10c gets pretty useless once you are at the decision point, I have seen it lose it's mind near the runway threshold quite often, and would not trust it past getting me to the decision point, if quite that far. But it is not a precision landing system, and the A10 is not rated for full IFR landings. Edit: I want to add some cautions. Not all CDU coordinates put the HUD marker over the runway, so if you don't have visibility, don't bet your virtual life on the HUD marker. Also some TACAN beacons are off to the side of the runway quite a bit, so the same applies with TACAN. Many, if not most, runways are also not true to numbered course so your HSI bar will show slightly open when you are properly aligned with the runway. So in bad visibility, don't assume that having the bar closed guarantees alignment. Frankly, it is most likely a sign you are slightly misaligned unless you have entered the true course, and allowed for other errors in declination. You can find the runway's true course on the charts, but it is only given as the runway number in the CDU divert page. It is a safe bet to assume the runway designator is a little wrong. It's not a bad habit to take a moment to align your HSI once you're lined up on the runway to take off, to make the return landing a little easier. You can always change it if you divert.

Also be aware that 1.1.1.1 is the final stand alone version, and will not be updated. Everything has transitioned to DCS World and all updates will go there. DCS World is a free download, and your serial number for the stand alone will work for the A10C module for world. If you have already installed the stand alone version, World won't even ask for your serial number. You can also have both installed and they will not interfere with each other. I keep hearing of a number of issues with the current 1.2 build, so you may want to wait until the next release before installing World, if you do. That said, my Squadron is currently flying 1.1.1.1 with few issues and I see no problem with staying with 1.1 at this point.

Sounds like you have a simple ON/OFF switch. The problem with this is that it will give an input by closing the circuit when in the on position, but turning it off is the same as just releasing a button, it does not send a signal to throw the switch the other way. So it is the equivelent of a single keypress. Given there are a number of switches that work the same way on the Warthog throttle, it is possible to get the sim to recognize states instead of keypresses, but I don't know how to do it. What you may want to do is find some ON/ON switches or ON/NONE/ON depending on how the switch is set up in the cockpit you are trying to emulate. Here are a couple links to switches you may find helpful: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/switch.htm https://www.nkkswitches.com/pdf/switch%20basics_web08.pdf There you can learn the different switch types, and can figure out what one is going to work best for you.

The GPS system in the aircraft does not let "the powers that be" know the location of the aircraft at all times. I'm sure that Search and Rescue wishes it did! For an example pretty close to the "defector" scenario mentioned earlier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_D._Button TAD is a wonderful aid in keeping track of your squadmates, and I really like being able to hook the flight lead for easy reference. But Yurgon is correct, while this system makes use of GPS data, it is not a direct function of the GPS system itself. Also don't forget TACAN which can be used for navigation and air to air tracking which makes no use of GPS at all.