Ramsay

Actually the combination of lighter mass AND smaller diameter main rotor, mean VRS risk in the Gazelle should be similar to that of the Huey. Whether VRS is over modelled for other helicopters in DCS is another debate. A heavier helicopter has to be supported by stronger/ faster downwash (in a hover), so requires a fast descent rate to enter VRS, IMHO the risk of accidently entering VRS is thus reduced. What more mass/inertia does bring is an increased risk of "settling with power", where a fast descent (close to the ground) can't be stopped quickly.

I haven't see this. I just checked swapping seats in SP and it was working for pilot/co-pilot in the M, L, Mistral and minigun Gazelle variants. Swapping to the minigunner's door position [3] is broken ATM but is already reported. • I suggest retesting after disabling any installed mods i.e. in Saved Games\DCS\Mods • After that, perhaps upload a short track that shows the issue and/or a copy of Saved Games\DCS\Logs\dcs.log Tested Open Beta 2.7.11.22041

Other than the normal MPD contrast and gain controls, not AFAIK. The Harrier is now using ED's new FLIR system, so you will need to take that into account. • Stationary (cold) vehicles have temperatures closer to the ambient background radiation, while moving vehicles are hotter and easier to spot. • Background temperatures (and perhaps time of day) have a significant effect on how visible an IR source is. I don't see the problem you are having, maybe you are looking at stationary vehicles in unfavourable conditions/temperatures ? In this picture the IR Maverick is locked and tracking a MBLT APC leading a convoy of trucks There is now an even better reason to use the TPOD's CCD to search/ID targets prior to switching to the IR Maverick seeker.

Yeah, the new App ID/Purchase is working fine. The question is if older purchases made before the 26th Jan are working ? I guess no news/reports, is "good" news.

AFAIK IRL laser back scatter from water vapour near the laser source may be detected, hence the LST's seeker FOV (+/- 30°) should not encompass the lasing JTAC. IIRC DCS models the podium effect where the laser spot only appears on the facing side of a target. I'm not sure how DCS treats the designator, only enough that I must keep the JTAC far enough away and to the side - out of LOS of the GBU seeker, etc. (otherwise bad things may happen).

Multicrew is said to be functional when • Fresh boot/instance of DCS for both pilot and co-pilot • The pilot enters first in a cold aircraft. • Once in the cockpit, he pushes the GEO/UTM button on the NADIR once. • the second player can then send his request and join. • Once the second player has joined, the pilot can continue the start up, etc. Unfortunately YMMV.

DCS's weapon files are now encrypted, AFAIK mods like this one are no longer possible and only cosmetic (no functional) weapons can be added to the Gazelle.

That's likely it - flying from Kutaisi, I'm much closer to Senaki than Batumi but suspect there are momentary signal drops i.e. re-tuning immediately reacquires Senaki's NDB (as a flight of 2, my wingman saw the same behaviour but switched stations at different times). Will need to retest using ANT mode to be 100% sure - ANT mode isn't useful for anything other than audio ID as it doesn't display direction on the compass rose or heading tape. Setting a manual frequency didn't switch to Batumi in flight but I'd entered the Senaki NDB more than once in testing, so perhaps that fixed it.

Yes it's worth getting for single player. You can fly as pilot or CP/G and switch roles/seats in SP. Typically you'd fly to the AO as the pilot, use IHADSS to guide/fire the gun or fire rockets. Perhaps use AI George (CP/G) to spot potential targets but he doesn't IFF, so you'll want to view/repeat his TEDAC video on your MPD before engaging. With Hellfires you have to 2 Options • Remain as the pilot (hold steady hover, point nose at targets, Watch TEDAC video repeater, etc.) - while commanding AI George (CP/G) to search target areas and fire missile/gun. • Switch to CP/G seat (TEDAC, spot/search, Lase, Fire Missile/Gun, etc) - while commanding AI George (pilot) to hover, reposition, adjust altitude, etc. There's a little bit of skill required to sync your controls to/from the AI's when switching between seats but otherwise it works fairly well.

At lower ranges the system looks for matching high detail "charts" i.e. 1:100K, and if there isn't one, it'll default to a black background. However, there's nothing stopping you manually selecting a lower detail chart that is in the system i.e. using 10 NM range with the 1:500K scale chart in the PG You also have the option to select a "Digital Elevation" and "Satellite" map "Type", instead of the "Chart". https://forum.dcs.world/topic/296268-apache-missing-maps/?do=findComment&comment=4923221

One thing that confuses me in my navigation test mission set in Georgia is that having tuned to Senaki, the aircraft has a habit of retuning to Batumi.

No, the charts available depend on the available data/scale for each theater, for the PG, "charts" are only available @ 50 NM / 1:500K and above. Below that scale, you will need to manually select the 1:500K scale or switch to the digital elevation or satellite maps. TSD @10 NM range, using 1:500K Chart

You now need to do a controls wipe (move the control stick in a full circle a couple of times - like you would if calibrating a joystick) before starting the test. This is to warm up the hydraulic fluid and expel any trapped air in the system.

No, not really, except perhaps the Hind which I'm not fond of because of how it's yaw trim is modelled (to such an extent I was a little worried how the Apache would be). However, even with the Hind, I can't regret the purchase as I wouldn't have known it's flaws without trying it.

The Kiowa Warrior being modelled by Polychop is/was the version fielded in Afghanistan in 2017, hence the removal of the AQL-144 (IR disco ball), newer (2012) M3P .50 cal., removal of doors, etc. Polychop's KW was already demonstrated firing the APKWS in April 2020 (i.e. 6 months before the A-10C II upgrade was released) What's new (and exciting) in Polychop's announcement is the decision to make older equipment/weapons available, allow doors to be fitted for colder theatres, etc.

Framerates are at the low end. I find framerates similar or lower than in the Hind when flying from the pilot seat and fps are approx. 10 lower when switching to CPG (might dip even lower, just guessing). • Pilot in a simple navigation mission (2xMFD, UFC, IHADDS) in the Caucasus flown 105 KIAS@50-500 ft, I see 35-55 fps • CPG in a more complex "Hellfire" mission with AI Hip/Hind flying about, moving convoys, radar SAMs, Carriers, etc. and AI George hovering at 100ft, I saw 35 fps with dips as low as 24. Hard to say how much was due to AI units and how much was due to CPG with the extra displays/FLIR overlay (2xMFD (1xFLIR background), UFC, TEDAC, IHADDS with FLIR). I haven't tried optimizing DCS, as I'm still learning/testing and the Apache is still in EA. i9 9900K @4.7GHz, 32GB DDR4, RTX2070 Super 8GB, 1TB NVMe, 6+4TB HD, 1+1TB SSD, MSFFB2 joystick, X52 Pro Throttle, TIR5, Win 10 Pro x64, 1920X1080

The "Radar Power Switch" gets hidden behind the throttle when in flight. Because of this I map • Silent = "RShift + I" • Emit = "I" See 21-2 (page 286) of the current manual (ver. 2.1.0, 16/03/2022) for more detail about the Radar Panel "DCS World\Mods\aircraft\M-2000C\Doc\DCS M-2000C Flight Manual EN.pdf" Chuck's Guides As a beginner, you may find Chuck's Guide easier to follow or use to answer basic questions. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jmp9ueZo9xOPyGzo3YO0AnFYEH-5Iotr/view

TL;DR: It's not really similar to the Hornet or Hind, other than being complicated and requiring time and patience to learn. Systems wise, it's closest relative would be the Ka-50 but details of operation are very different. Detail • The pilot position seems fairly straight forward with MFD performance pages, TSD map, WP/Route creation/editing, ADF(NDB), etc. • Cyclic/collective control assignments/buttons for weapons are also fairly straight forward. • Having flown other DCS helicopters you'll be ok, it took me approx. 2 hours to adjust to the Apache but obviously I'm still improving with more time/practice. • The copilot/gunner position seems a lot harder to map as there's the TEDEC's LH and RH hand controllers to consider (another 2 joystick's worth of buttons and axes), so I'm still working on that one. For now, I'm moving forward with the pilot seat and creating practice missions for flight/navigation, gun, rocket, and AI Hellfire - which should get me and my son upto speed on the Apache's basics. AH-64D Apache "Early Access" guide The 361 page guide is available here https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/documentation/AH64D_flight_manual_en/ ... if you need any more detail.

Yeah, I'm getting an acceptable IHADDS boresight as the pilot but am struggling when I move to the CPG position after a cold start.

Old user profiles are unlikely to work without some editing as there have been a number of changes made to the DCS Mirage over the last 9 months to make it more accurate to the *real* i.e. removal of radar elevation as an axis and renaming of some button assignments.

Confirmed in Open Beta 2.7.11.21408 (was previously working in 2.7.10.19473).

By default • "Occupy Pilot Seat" = 1 • "Occupy Copilot/Gunner Seat" = 2 ... and AI George swaps to the vacant position.

Usual cause would be low air temperatures and a frozen pitot tube that caused the air speed indictor to stop working. Switching on the Pitot heat should stop/fix the issue. Note that DCS currently models the air as damp even in clear/dry skies. To know for certain I'd need to see a replay track.

Through empirical tests using • Ka-50 (number of vikhr fired x average lase time per missile before failure) • F/A-18C (before it's laser timed out/reset) TPOD lases cross checked using AGM-65E spot detection to see when the laser fails Various forum bug reports. No, laser failures in DCS are most commonly explained away as "players not being careful enough". The problem was first seen by rearming Ka-50 pilots and MP A-10C FACs staying on station to lase for other players. It seems to have a low priority as it effects a small number of players and is time consuming to test. For the Ka-50's laser burnout seems to be a hidden damage state (unaffected by request repair) but there are reports that discharging the fire extinguishers and requesting a repair - also repairs it's burnt out laser. For the F/A-18C, AV-8B, etc. --> in theory, loading a empty loadout and then reloading the TPOD, etc. back on should be good enough but after say 1hr 20min of gameplay I've usually had enough when the laser fails or I want to play with certainty and select an alterative slot/airframe rather than risk flying back to the AO only to find the laser still not working.

In DCS the Harrier's G4 TPOD laser will time out after 2 minutes i.e. switches to safe and needs to be re-enable on the MFD. I'm not sure how well "laser burnout" is working, ED's own modules have typically ~22 minutes of cumulative lase time before they "fail" and require a repair/fresh airframe. Typically you should be able self-lase for your initial loadout plus 1 rearm before encountering an issue. In a quick test I did today, I seemed* to burnout the Harrier's laser in under 40 minutes but I was using time acceleration and not allowing any cool down between laser resets, so in normal operation the laser's lifetime might be better. YMMV. *LMav-E2 didn't detect the laser (flashing L) but may have been scanning too high or too low of the target (or run out of coolant?). Tested Open Beta 2.7.11.21408