Darkwolf187

Loved the video, got me to man up and try out some popup attacks myself. Every time I try and do a low run on AAA I wind up getting smashed - am I just not jinking and speeding enough? edit: video removed? eh?

That's OK. Cool guys don't look at explosions. Seriously though, go check out the FPS performance thread at this link; http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=101083 It contains some modified smoke/explosion sprites which dramatically reduce the performance hit associated with looking at CBU explosions.

It's a tough learning curve, but if you're an enthusiast and interested in learning it, it's well worth it. It's very rewarding being able to think "I did it!" and knowing that what you did has a similar complexity as to what a real pilot has to deal with. It's true that real pilots spend years learning this stuff. But they also have to deal with G forces, and they can't pause to flip through a guide mid-flight. They also can't active pause like we can and sit in the air while figuring out how the heck to make your weapons work properly. So they need to be able to do whatever they need to do RIGHT NOW. You may never do it "perfectly", but that doesn't matter, the intention of the game is to derive enjoyment from doing something niche and complex. Have fun!

That result is pretty peculiar. If the reading is 60% when the physical throttle is at 50%, then that's very strange indeed, and quite unexpected. That would mean that the throttle's measurement is no longer linear. What I mean is this... If your throttle reads from 0-90 across its entire travel, then at half travel it should read 45. If it reads 60 at half travel, 90 at full travel, and 0 at no travel, then its response must be non-linear (reading goes from 60-90 in the same travel distance it takes to go from 0-60). It's possible that the potentiometer or other electronics that drive the throttle may be malfunctioning and giving you a non-linear response. Of course, it could also be software issues, but I haven't had any issues like that. Is the throttle still under warranty? If not, I'd suggest you just mess with the X saturation in-game to get around the problem, you can also mess with the curves to get the response linear again.

That's like saying a rock sandwich is 70% bread. It's that 30% that breaks your teeth off :D

I don't quite understand why you would want the "standalone" A-10C. It's not being updated any more, and there's no functionality you get from it that you won't have in World with the A-10C module. They can both be played single-player off-network.

It was random. What would happen to me is that the mouse stick would sometimes start up in a slight down position, other times it was fine. Then the stick started in a left cant some of the time (severe enough that I couldn't trim it out in-game). Recalibrated, and the problem went away for me. If you've done the recalibrate and it's still doing it, dunno what to say. Sorry :(

Yes, they correspond very closely indeed. Hit http://www.earthpoint.us/Convert.aspx and then enter a MGRS coordinate such as 37TGG3629945643, which I took when I was sitting on the runway on Kobuleti in-game. Plot that in Google Earth, and the Google Earth imagery drops a marker right next to a runway :) Admittedly the runway looks pretty old and disused, but it's the right spot nonetheless.

When DCS World is updated, it will also update any modules at the same time. Notably, most updates are not that huge. The last one was 100mb. You don't have to download the whole thing again every update, just use the built in updater.

Now that's a great tip! Thanks for that! +1 rep :)

You're sure you're pushing it past the afterburner detent? The LEDs on the throttle scale are going red? If so, you may need to force a recalibration of your X52. Do a search (I can't find the link right now and don't know what O/S you're using) for the registry keys you delete in order to force recalibration on restart. Basically, you unplug the unit, delete those keys, reboot, plug it in, and then move it through all its axes four times to recalibrate. I had the recalibration for my X52 go wonky, and I did the above and it was fine. Mine went wonky after the drivers got updated in Windows Update.

Don't forget as well, if you don't want to buy TrackIR (I didn't initially), you can use a normal webcam and FaceTrackNoIR or FreeTrack to get the feel of what head tracking is like. But I'll tell you right away, I went out and bought a TrackIR nearly immediately because head tracking is so awesome.

Yep, that's likely the spot. If you enter coordinates and they're off by a LOOOONNNNGGG way, you're probably on the wrong zone. Change it to 37T or 38T. Unfortunately, the part of the world we're in is split right in the middle by a border between two UTM zones.

Go and get a HOTAS. That's the number 1 piece of advice I can give you. Seriously, if you have a HOTAS like a Saitek X52 or similar, you pretty well never need to touch the keyboard at all. I found A-10 complex, deep, but manageable. Being a plane, you can get it into the air reasonably easily, and as long as you take it easy you can fly around and do stuff with little experience. But when you want to explore the systems in depth, that depth is right there waiting for you. Oh yeah, while it's a really good idea to learn how to do a ramp start on your own so you know what the systems all do, if you just want to get started you can use the Win+Home cheat key to have the PC run the ramp start for you. That's handy when you just want to start flying.

Ground power's a pretty good idea, probably the fastest. I personally just spool up the APU and the APU generator, then kick on the EGI/CDU power. By the time I finish my setup I've got a little bit of time to faff around with the DSMS profiles and stuff and then I usually only have to twiddle my thumbs for a little bit and alignment's done. I'll try ground power though, that's a good idea.

Not _entirely_ true. It's quite easy to tell the difference between a game projecting 60 FPS onto a 60 Hz flatpanel versus 120 FPS on a 120 Hz flatpanel, particularly in areas of high motion. The reason is that games typically lack motion blur. You can't see the difference easily on video footage because video footage has motion blur to make up for movement of objects between frames. When you lack motion blur, its much more obvious when the refresh rate is lower (objects move too far in steps). Then again, back in the days of CRTs I could tell the difference between a 75Hz and a 100Hz monitor just by looking at it. LCDs have dramatically improved that because they don't flash like a strobe all the time. So a LCD at 60Hz is quite comfortable for me, whereas a CRT at 60Hz gives me a headache in no time flat.

Indeed it does. No training wheels if you forget which key has the ^ symbol on it or something :D

I've got three 27" monitors at 7680x1440. I'm seriously considering getting an Oculus when it's available and working for DCS. Vertical FOV with triple-head is pretty woeful, although it's uber for horizontal FOV. Immersion is great with TrackIR, but seriously - the Oculus should blow that out of the water. As for the keyboard? I have a keyboard with no symbols on it. I don't need to be able to see my keyboard at all and I'll still be able to type fine. And with a HOTAS, all the controls you need in a hurry should be on the HOTAS and not on the keyboard. My main concerns with it is whether the resolution will be good enough to allow you to be able to distinguish small targets on the ground.

Fixed that for you :) Seriously though, you're going to look like a goose with an Oculus on anyway, so I wouldn't go being self-conscious about clicking some virtual buttons.

Capping framerate is also a good idea, since it can reduce micro-stutters that you get when you have an SLI setup. And in scenarios where your card is able to render much faster than 60 FPS it'll stop your card from stressing itself unnecessarily. Note, the tearing issue is NOT TrackIR's fault. It's just that when you are using a trackir you tend to swing your view around a lot and therefore change large sections of the screen at once, making the tearing more evident. You can see tearing without TrackIR. I run with maxfps set to 60, vsync off in-game, adaptive sync on in control panel, and display refresh set to 60 Hz. Works pretty nicely, although tbh my usual framerate is under 60 (45ish or so) since I'm pushing 7680x1440 resolution.

If you have a recent NVidia driver, turn OFF vertical sync in game, and then turn on adaptive sync in the Nvidia control panel. Running with vsync on when using hardware that can't actually do more than 60 fps reliably can cause all sorts of framerate choppiness. Adaptive sync does nicely, and seems to avoid most of the tearing. I definitely agree on smoothness over eye candy.

Since it was mentioned, I'd _love_ for the HUD camera to actually be implemented. Make it record in horrible resolution and in black & white so it looks really authentic!

Yep, a few times I've stomped on the left rudder when I've thought that my pedal alignment was out, and it's sometimes been ... exciting. Exciting as in sounding the AoA alarm and making the jet nearly drop out of the sky like a startled pigeon.

The basic rule is to "step on the ball", ie press the rudder pedal corresponding to whatever direction the slip indicator ball has moved. The SAS system on the A-10 dramatically reduces the requirement to use the rudder, almost to the point where you don't need to worry about it for normal flight. It won't cancel out crosswinds on landing though. You'll need to do that yourself.

If money wasn't an issue, I'd agree. But with limited budgets, I'm very happy with my choice of Saitek X52 Pro stick/throttle, Saitek pedals, and TrackIR5. The Warthog just costs too much to be able to justify it, great though it is. You can get a X52 Pro and TrackIR for the cost of just the Warthog. And if you're really cheap and don't want pedals, you don't _need_ them with the X52 Pro. As for the Saitek models, the X65F is a real nice looking stick, but I really didn't like the idea of the force sensing stick. The X52 is very similar to the X52 Pro, but the Pro has much better build quality. The Pro is pretty great value for money.