SharpeXB

Possible. They could also come to this from just about anywhere or any game. It really doesn’t matter. A game doesn’t need to same approach to learning it as real life because there are no real life consequences to what you do. If a friend who was interested in DCS asked you want a good first module to get might be, would you seriously tell them to get a trainer so they’d be a “better pilot”? That would sure get a laugh

The thing here is you guys are projecting your experience as advanced players onto new players and in hindsight. I very much doubt that many people begin playing flight simulator games literally following the training path they would in the real world. I doubt many of you actually did either. That’s ok because this is a game!

Moral of the story…don’t pause your Windows updates I’m going to engage in a Windows reinstall today too if your system is like mine the product key is integrated into the motherboard. I’m no expert myself so I’ll refrain from any more advice.

I hate to put it this way but the other civy flight sim games have better training missions in them. Yeah it’s a bit illogical for a trainer not to have something like this.

It sounds like you already know how to fly so why do you need instruction? When I started playing these games I didn’t know how to turn either but I learned. But this isn’t real life. The reasons trainer aircraft exist in real life don’t exist in a game. But there is. There’s no shortage of information available out there for this. You can teach yourself. Nobody would try to teach themselves to fly a plane in real life but this isn’t real. If you screw up just press Esc and try again.

I think that’s the Preset shown as an example or overlay.

Check out some WWII training films. They are quite applicable for a prop plane like that. Except that it’s not a tail wheel type. These are excellent:

If by “real flight” you mean something more akin to real world general aviation stuff. The civy sims all do a pretty good job with that. There are even virtual flying school add ons which are quite good.

I’m in the same boat, just going to buy a new 14900KS and get it replaced. From what I see they’re still reliable as long as they weren’t running without the BIOS fix. It’s worth a shot anyways IMO since I don’t want to replace my MB or CPU cooler at this stage. As far as I know the only way to verify a damaged chip is to take it out and test it, like send it to Intel or something. If you got it as part of the prebuilt machine you probably need to go through their warranty. I had actually bought this one myself so I can RMA it. But yeah DCS started crashing on me first, followed by other games.

Some accidents are just pilot error at really dumb simple stuff. It’s rather astonishing. Things like simple navigation you could literally learn playing a game. There are some where the pilots don’t seem to even know how to operate the airplane or its systems. Not sure how someone so incompetent ends up piloting a $5 million plane with passengers. Kinda incredible. Stuff you coulda learned playing MSFS. It’s surprising more pilots don’t seem to avail themselves of all the computer simulation that’s available. And I don’t mean just these games. Like Garmin makes desktop trainer software for their GPS systems. Why wouldn’t you practice on that instead of in your plane and fail? That seems crazy. Yes commercial pilots train regularly on sims but GA pilots don’t seem to enough when they could be.

Head tracking like TrackIR is a much better solution for this, I dare say it’s essential. There are even free or DIY setups doable as well. Besides being able to control your view, it provides 6DOF which enables looking around obstructions like canopy frames or controls in the cockpit which sometimes aren’t directly visible. Looking calmly around an airliner cockpit is one thing, combat awareness and smoothly tracking targets is a different matter.

There is a lot that can be learned from computer simulation, real pilots train on them all the time. To the extent that the DCS modules simulate operation and systems they would be suitable for that type of training. Some apparently do get used for that. I find it really astonishing the real life accidents where the cause was something a pilot could easily have learned or trained at on a computer. Literally they could have played MSFS and learned or practiced the stuff that they failed at.

There have been plenty of WWII flight sim games over the years where people jump into these as their first sim plane. They all figure it out.

If the idea is that these trainers attract beginners, I can’t imagine that’s the case. I think the new player is going to go straight for what excites or interests them in an aircraft. Chances are that’s not some obscure trainer, it’s going to be an F-16 or such. They likely wouldn’t buy a $60 module with a 300 page manual just to train for flying another module. Again the reasons that trainers exist in the real world don’t apply here so there’s no real purpose to that path. It’s possible that these trainers found their way into DCS because ED has industry partners that wanted them. That I could see. But I don’t think they were put into the game to literally train players.

The gaming world is full of difficulty, I think most players are wiling to put in some effort. I very much doubt most new players buy training aircraft out of necessity. I would bet most of the people who own these are actually the enthusiast type. Ok fair enough. I should say “without significant air defenses”. The trainer aircraft would not be very survivable against a peer adversary. No doubt the only role they could have in real combat would be COIN.

“Horrible” is not a strong enough word

Sure, it’s just the “step ladder” you follow out of sheer necessity in real life has very little relevance or meaning in a game. I would find it really funny if I ever took real life flying lessons because what I’ve learned over the years of sim playing is so “out of sequence”. Like taking a class you already sat through pieces of. But that’s n not my goal here. This is a game. Well sorta. I don’t have any of these but I assume they don’t have defensive systems and really limited weapons. They could be used effectively against unarmed insurgents or something but that’s probably all. Define “bad”? Ok so just crash and burn until you get it right. It’s just a game. In the real world no novice pilot would just go straight to a P-51 to learn how to fly. This isn’t real. My first “flight training” was in WWI sim crates and I crashed a lot

That’s true of the modern 4th Gen stuff in DCS but not other combat modules like the F-86. Such things are not just the realm of “trainers” per se. And the WWII birds offer some very challenging flight training. Honestly I get the impression that the trainers in DCS are really the realm of the avid players who simply want lots of modules, not necessarily beginners. Those people will just go straight for the aircraft that interests them.

But if anyone wants to train and fly together they can do that in any module. A dual cockpit trainer isn’t necessary. Sharing screens on Discord works really well. I’ve shown DCS to many people in person and done practice with others online and truthfully all of them want to fly the plane. Nobody I know would want to just ride around as a trainee When I got the A-10C on sale many years ago, I knew completely nothing about aircraft. Zero. Yeah I didn’t know what flaps were for or my HSI from my ADI But it’s all there for you to read about in the manual or the multitude of tutorial videos and such. The trouble with getting a trainer module is that it’s simply another aircraft to learn. So it’s not a good use of time IMO. All those things mentioned above can be learned in one of the combat aircraft. And in a combat game like this most players are probably interested in that first and stuff like flying patterns later. Again this isn’t real life so you can approach this in any way you like.

DCS: F/A-18C by Eagle Dynamics Fixed: Damage model - Pilot cannot survive any explosive hit. Thank you!

In a game you can be your own instructor You can literally teach yourself all this stuff. Again there are no consequences for getting it wrong. Just try again. This isn’t costing you real money or putting you in any danger. It’s just a game. I do find it rather rewarding in sims that if they are realistic enough you can just go to the real world training films or whatever and learn from those and it works here. The idea of needing a human instructor for a video game seems a bit laughable.

You can learn “proper flying” in an A-10, P-47 or an F-18. There’s little a trainer aircraft offers that you can’t experience in any of the models. Real life concerns like safety and cost don’t exist in a game.

Not sure what that means. Real life flying involves many aspects that just aren’t simulated in any game. But there are also universal aspect to flying that can be taught in any simulator. DCS can teach some of these things in any of the aircraft. In fact this sim has been used for RL training to some degree. PS when writing in English (any western language?) it’s correct to put a space after commas, and two spaces after a period. Like this.

It should be obvious, you don’t need a trainer aircraft in a game. This isn’t real life with real life consequences for your actions. Feel free to screw up as much as you like