SharpeXB

I’ve always thought about DCS this way. The aircraft themselves are the game. In other games, the game is the game. You buy a game for $70-$90 and get maybe 40 hours of entertainment out of it. Then go on and buy another one. A DCS module costs about as much but you end up getting hundreds of hours out of it. It’s not just the missions or campaigns that are the entertainment, it’s the aircraft itself. DCS is different in that way. In fact I think flight sims have actually saved me money on my gaming budget. Like again a $20 A-10 module has got me hundreds of hours of gameplay instead of buying a $70 game every few weeks.

Digesting one of these modules takes a very long time. In all likelihood even when you buy lots of them that cost is spread over many years. I’ve been playing DCS for 13 years and there are only four modern aircraft I’ve learned completely.

I started DCS 13 years ago with the A-10C on a Steam sale for $20. That money represents the greatest entertainment value of all time

Just bumping this 7 year old thread. It’s about time to bring DCS into the current decade! It’s looking really dull compared to most every other game now…

Yes I also use JoyToKey and it works really well. I even managed to get it to do the dual stage trigger.

I’ve been using an LG OLED monitor for over two years for home office use and gaming. It’s on continually for perhaps 50+ hours a week. I have not noticed any burn-in, particularly in areas like the Windows Task Bar which is static on the screen. The monitor has pixel shifting and cleaning features that appear to be doing their job. It’s a bit odd sometimes you can notice the position of graphics at the edge of the screen shift around. But it’s fine. The picture quality is just stellar. It’s too bad DCS lacks HDR support so the best of this screen is lost on such a game.

Sorry to say but your CPU just looks outdated. I had a 4790K that worked well for many years but it just began to struggle with newer maps like Syria and such. It’s probably time for an upgrade or to reduce your settings.

Well having a cloud backup eliminates the concern over drive failures. That’s a really vital feature for any system IMO.

This is actually not so hard to do. Only takes a few minutes to paste in a new controller ID. You don’t need to manually redo every one. I think on any future build or major update I would just put in one giant NVMe drive. Just seems efficient.

It’s not hidden

Watch a tutorial. It’s pretty clear in any of the instructions I saw, it’s almost self-explanatory. If someone attempts this without looking at any instructions then that’s their problem, not the game. DCS is a complex sim. If a player isn’t willing to do this sort of dive into the information, why are they bothering with AAR at all? This is a rather advanced skill and honestly not necessary in order to play the vast majority of missions and gameplay modes. Again lack of willingness to learn or practice is a player induced problem.

I don’t see how this is so confusing. It’s a single radio comm message. What bugs? So far there haven’t been any actual bugs identified in this thread. If things like collisions were modeled better it woulld arguably make AAR more difficult. This is a given for a PC game. Your vision is the only feedback you get. Recognizing this is an important step in the learning curve. Sim racing is the same way. It’s definitely possible to perceive relative motion and such on a 2D screen.

Yes it is but with practice it becomes like riding a bicycle and you can do it without thinking. Keep at it

The fact that updates could break the game save is a non-issue. Since updating is optional and you could always postpone it.

I think all the aircraft are easy or difficult in their own way but the skill mostly transfers between them. The A-10 seems easy to me because: - You have a nice symmetrical view of the tanker with an easy sight picture. - It’s a docile plane to fly. - Booms in general are easier to get connected with as the operator does some of the work. On the difficult side the only things I can come up with are: - More controls. ie the need to reset the disconnect. - Manual trimming vs automatic like the Hornet. - The probe is more difficult to stay connected with compared to a basket. - Maybe the fact that you can easily see the boom in front of you is distracting and encourages you to try looking at it. In hindsight I find myself thinking the A-10 is quite easy. It was the first one I learned on so that perspective is quite skewed as it took me a solid two weeks of practice. The other aircraft I learned later on were easy because of my practice on the A-10.

There is no such thing as a “perfect throttle position” You should manipulate the throttle the same way you do when driving a car when maintaining a constant speed. On and off of it continually in small increments. Also there is a lag to the engines, by the time you see yourself going too fast you’re giving too much throttle and vice versa. With enough practice you can learn to predict this.

I’m referring to the basket variant with that comment, obviously. You aren’t keeping steady enough in the right position for this to be accomplished. Watch some videos that show you were you need to be. Also in one attempt there you called “ready” too far away and the tanker replied “return pre-contact” not “clear”. You need to be closer to call “ready” This has been said many times but again, don’t look at the probe. You should be literally trying to watch the nozzle connect. If you hold position in the right spot the operator will connect it. But don’t look at the boom, look at the tanker and fly formation off that. It’s not the Pinky switch on the throttle it’s the “pinky” or actually the NWS button on the stick that does this.

If AAR was more realistic it would actually be harder. You’d be able to suck the basket into your engines or break the hose

Watching this, like others have pointed out you’re just not in control. Nothing is wrong with DCS, you just need more practice. It looks better than my first attempt though

If you AAR correctly this won’t happen. You’re likely just smashing your plane into the boom when flying out of control. The graphical glitch here has nothing to do with the AAR process. In reality you’d have smashed the boom or your canopy but that’s not modeled. Consider yourself lucky Don’t even look at the probe. Just keep station behind the tanker and let it connect to you. Don’t try to chase it. When you get into position it will move and try to connect so trying to chase it is counterproductive. Just hold steady in the right position. Keep the sight picture of the tanker and fly off of that, not the boom. That’s because you really aren’t steady in that position, it only appears like that because the tanker is so far away. When you get closer you’ll see how unsteady you really are. It takes a lot of practice. Get into position fully stable and trimmed behind the tanker when you call “Ready pre-contact” you should be steady and trimmed enough at this stage that you can take your hands off the controls. If not then you aren’t “ready”

Yeah, in those cases the passenger was already a qualified pilot and the aircraft wasn’t truly without anyone at the controls since there was still a copilot. Looks like there have actually been several incidences with GA aircraft of an untrained passenger being talked down to land. But it’s never happened on a commercial aircraft. Yet… This is the episode

Right. I’m pretty sure in reality this has never happened. There’s not a high likelihood of it either. But hey with the popularity of MSFS those chances are rising

Auto-Land is no fun or only fun in a certain way. If I paid $750/hr for a sim session you can bet I would land it manually. AFAIK Auto-Land isn’t an emergency procedure although I’m sure the guidelines for using it vary with different airlines. I think that’s only happened once IRL and ATC talking someone down in an airliner has never happened. But it’s a great episode.

I’m sure you might know this but Mythbusters did an episode on that. “Can a total novice be talked down to land a plane by ATC like in the movies”? No spoilers There was that one guy who did land the plane for his incapacitated friend. Otherwise there’s about zero chance in the real world this could happen. One of these days for my birthday I’ll get my wife (who would never let me fly for real) get me this. I could totally do it. https://airlinecaptainforaday.com

Replacing the defective CPU fixed the problem. Probably a victim of the 13-14th gen degradation issue. Third time’s a charm!