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Thanks Colt for the heads-up about the Franken Potato mod. I didn't realize that was a TQ "crammed" into the Pro Throttle. Honestly, though I knew CH had come out with the TQ, I never looked at it at all as it seemed like something only GA sim pilots would want. I had no idea until I started chasing this thread what you can do with a TQ. Now I'm wanting one real bad! I'm especially excited that it doesn't present a problem for my "left handed" rig. I tend to ignore most hotas products for that reason. Ruggbutt, I've "stolen" some of your really nice script work (e.g. differential brakes) and your setup is probably where mine is going. I am really intrigued with your ergodex. I suspect though that the TQ with 12 flip switches and all those axes will take me down the road pretty far. Maybe after I settle in with the TQ I can start thinking about an Ergodex. Thanks for all the ideas guys. This is really becoming a great thread! -mark

>Zuki wrote >Mines semi unique Zuki, Dude! That is NOT semi-unique! You've got to expain what all that is. Are those toggle switches on the base? What is the big knob thing on the back? Does Control Manager see that stuff? Details! Details! Details!

guru, Not that this is a big deal (certainly not intended to argue) but what you're describing is a wingover, not a hammerhead. A hammer is a gyroscopic maneuver which requires prop wash and prop torque to accomplish. The two are very close to one another but if you ever see a pro (e.g. Patty Wagstaff) do a good hammer, you'll certainly see the difference. A jet (even one with thrust vectoring) simply cannot do these kinds of 3D maneuvers.

anivanov, The manual you see there is the Falcon 4 Allied Force manual. A friend of mine payed $55 to have that printed out. It's like 750 pages! I just borrowed it from him. I don't have F4AF myself, just Falcon 4.0 with the SuperPak 4.2 update. I borrowed the manual to see what's different and to decide if I wanted to go out and buy F4AF. Problem is, I have gotten so addicted to lomac that I haven't gotten back to Falcon.

Thanks Goon, I've been building radio control planes for years so doing this was not much different from building an engine cowl or something like that.

Someone asked to see what my hotas setup looked like since mine is rather unique. After going to the trouble, thought I'd post it here. Oh yes, concerning the uniqueness... When I got this setup about three years ago, I never could get used to flying righthanded so I made my own handles out of fibreglass. So much for the warranty!

This post caught my attention because I used to compete in scale aerobatics with remote control aircraft (I flew an Extra 300). The Hammerhead was one of my maneuvers of expertise. It was performed by going vertical while throttling back and maintaining a good line with slight rudder and aileron input. When the plane comes to a [near] stop (stall), you throttle up quickly and then back to idle while "kicking" rudder full deflection. This "goosing" the throttle prop-washes the tail around beautifully if timed just right. The key is to do it at the exact moment of the stall and before the wobbling etc. occurs due to the stall. You get point deductions if there is too much tail wobble or other eratic behavior but the judges liked to see a slight wobble of the tail on the down line as proof that a stall had occurred. That's how to do a hammerhead with a prop plane, a very overpowered plane I might add. I had no idea that a jet could even do such a thing as the key to this maneuver is "prop wash" which a jet doesn't have. Can a jet do a hammerhead? I would think a wingover (which is similar except that there is no stall at the top of the turn) is the closest a jet could come to executing a hammerhead.

Strike Eagle! It would be a reasonably easy add-on. Adding the ability of moving mud to the C would be great.

xylem, I have done all the training missions for the A10 and F-15 using the FC1.12 patch. I was just too lazy to uninstall just to do the training. It's really not all that bad. All the A10 missions worked fine, even those labeld "For 1.1 Only." There are a couple of the F-15 missions that would not work properly but they worked well enough to get the basic idea of what it was trying to teach. In fact, one F-15 mission gave me a real laugh when the instructor gets painted by a Mig29 and says "Let's turn on the Radar Jammer..." then BOOM! Too late! Oh well! So, before you peel back to 1.1, you might just try working with 1.12a and see what you think. I haven't tried any of the Russian planes yet so they may not work out as well. It's probably going to be a while before I want to start flying those planes anyway.

A10 Quick Reference Summary I Navigation Mode [1] NAV mode. ILS mode automatic upon IAF (Only shows up at "landing" airport in flight plan) [l] Cockpit Lights [ALT c] Reset Flight Clock [~] Cycle Waypoints [ALT l] Toggle Gear Light [CTL l] NAV Lights [CTL c] Toggle Canopy II Cannon (GAU-8A) Two methods: AIM-9M Sidewinder Mode [6][sPACE] "Funnel" A2G Mode [7][c] LCOS PipperIII A2A - AIM-9M [6] AIM-9M Mode [ENTER] Target in Reticule, Launch Missile IV A2G Unguided Bombs (Mk20 Rockeye, Mk82 500lb, Mk84 2,000 lb) Bomb Settings[sHFT SPACE] Set Bomb Release Mode [v][V] Set Ripple Interval [CTL SPACE] Set Ripple Quantity Two Bombing Methods -CCIP Continuously Computed Impact Point[7] A2G Mode [d] --> [Mk20, Mk82, Mk84] [ENTER] Release weapon when Pipper passes over Target (Must hold button if using Ripple Mode) CCRP Continuously Computed Release Point Steps 1-2 from CCIP Mode [.][;][,][/] Slew dashed circle over Target [o] Select CCRP Mode Align TDC on top of Bomb Fall Line. Bomb(s) drop automaticallyUnguided Rockets -- LAU-61 Rocket Canister (19 rockets) [7] A2G Mode [d] --> Rockets [ENTER] Launch Rocket Guided Missiles -- Maverick AGM-65K (TV) and AGM-65D (IR) [7] A2G Mode [d] --> [AGM-65K, AGM-65D] Slew Sensor on TVM [.][;][,][/]. [CTL i] Center Sensor [TAB] Ground Stabilize Sensor [-][=] Adjust Magnification of AGM-65D (3X/6X) [ENTER] Launch Missile F-15 Quick Reference Summary I BVR Beyond Visual Range [2] Set BVR Mode Turn on RADAR BVR Modes - RWS Range While SearchSweep the Airspace [-][=] Set RADAR Range between 40-160 (40 typical) [sHFT .] (DN) [sHFT ;] (UP) Sample altitudes by tilting RADAR antenna up and down [CTL -] (Narrow) [CTL =] (Wide) Adjust Azimuth +/- (10 deg, 30 deg, 60 deg) Designate Target [.][;][,][/] Slew TDC over Target [TAB] Lock on Target --> STT (Single Target Tracking) Mode [d] --> [AIM-9M, AIM-7M, AIM-120C] or [c] (cannon) Select Weapon Center the Dot Before Taking the Shot [ENTER] Launch Missile or [sPACE] Fire Cannon (NOTE: If AIM-7M, must guide missile all the way to impact) TWS Track While Scan [ALT i] Set TWS Mode. NOTE: TWS only works with AIM-120C [d] --> AIM-120C Designate Target(s) as in RWS. First Target will be PDT, subsequent Targets will be SDT. Note: Does not enter STT Mode [ENTER] Launch Missile for each Target II WVR Within Visual Range Non-RADAR Modes[c] Select Static Cannon. Gun Mode (Static Sighting Cue) SRM (Short Range Missile) Mode. AIM-9M Sidewinder Caged (Non-Scan) Mode [6][d] --> AIM-9M [ENTER] Launch Non-Caged (Scan) Mode [6][d] --> AIM-9M [6][ENTER] Launch [*]RADAR Modes BoreSight [4][d] --> [AIM-9M, AIM-7M, AIM-120C] [ENTER] Launch Vertical Scan [3][d] --> [AIM-9M, AIM-7M, AIM-120C] [ENTER] Launch Auto-Lock Guns [2][c][sPACE] Fire Cannon Flood Mode [6] --> [ AIM-7M (Must Hold till Impact), AIM-120C] [ENTER] Launch Home On Jam (HOJ) From any RADAR Mode, vertical line of boxes appear on VSD. Slew TDC to one of the boxes [TAB] Designate box [d] --> [AIM-7M, AIM-120C] [ENTER] Launch

To all lomac beginners (like me). After countless hours reading the manuals, flying the training missions, experimenting in the Quick Flights, and asking many dumb questions here on this forum, I have put together a Quick Reference Summary on the A10 and the F-15. I feel I've done a decent job of reducing everything down into a reasonably organized quick reference summary. I thought I would share it with any of you who have been wanting something like this. Hope you enjoy. Comments/edits welcome. -mark Note: I had to put the doc in a follow-up message due to length constraints

Thank you all for the good explanations. I have a much better understanding now. I still am confused a bit as to why the antenna seems to get "stuck" and won't move at all based on the position of the TDC. I spent half a day yesterday reinstalling Falcon 4 (and SP4.2) because I didn't remember having "stuck antenna" issues with it. Sure enough, it always moves regardless of the position of the TDC, unlike lomac. It's not a big deal really though as I am able to sample all the altitudes with a combination of TDC movement and antenna movement. I just wish I understood what was going on a little better. BTW, I have examined the distances reported in the Theater view (F10) and I have to retract my earlier claim. The distances look right. I don't know what I was thinking on that as all seems well.

Sorry to keep this thread going, but I need more help understanding this radar. I understood that the TDC moves along the horizontal plane. This is clearly not the whole story. I see that when I move the TDC, the antenna moves up and down with it [sometimes]. In fact, about half the time, I can't move the antenna at all until I finally find that "magic" place to put the TDC. This is maddening. It's sort of like the TDC is following the slope of the cone but then about half the time, I can move the antenna as well. This just makes no sense to me. After a while, I find myself just cranking the TDC and the antenna elevation around randomly until I see targets pop up. That is very unsatisifying! I don't mean to be so mentally retarded about this but if you can explain this to me, I'd be grateful. -mark

Bow, I recommend you buy "Lock On Gold." This is a special edition that contains the LockOn game with the 1.2 update plus a second CD containing the Flaming Cliffs addon. After installing that, all you would need to get completely updated to the latest version is get the FC 1.12a patch from lockon.ru. I got my copy of Lock On Gold from Overstock.com for $29.95 Hope that helps ya. Next time, you should be a little more careful where you post your question. This is an odd place to find a question like yours. You would get more response if you had posted in the general forum or even the "Payment Issues" forum. How realistic is it? I personally think Lock On is state of the art for flight sims together with IL-2 Forgotten Battles and IL-2 Pacific Battles (if you like WW2 planes). The only competiton (IMHO) is Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. Many would argue (rightly so I think) that Falcon is more realistic than Lock On, but to me, LO wins in the "fun" category and it still excels in the "realism" category as well. I got bogged down with Falcon and just never got into it. This game was great fun from the minute I clicked the icon.

I'm going to need some practice, that's for sure. After all I learned yesterday, I fired up a Quick Flight in the F-15 and headed south a ways and turned back so that all the aircraft are well within my radar cone. At 160, I barely pick up anything at all. When I went to TWS, I couldn't do much of anything. I sure wish lomac had "freeze mode" like Falcon4. That would make the learning process much easier (those pesky targets keep moving around!). Oh well. I'll keep practicing and will finally catch on to this. BTW, it appears that when a target dips below 2,000 ft you lose the lock. Is that true? What other reasons do you lose a lock? Thanks for all the advice and help.

How about this analogy? If the radar signal is like a flashlight beam that is capable of shining out ahead of the plane (reliably no more than 160NM) forming a cone with an azimuth of +/- 60 degrees (but tunable to 30 degrees) and an altitude equal to how ever many bars of sweep it does (I've heard 2-bar or 4-bar with lomac). From what I remember reading, the sweep delay is a function of the azimuth setting and the altitude setting (1-bar, 2-bar, 3-bar, or 4-bar). It seems I recall that a 4-bar radar takes eight seconds to complete a sweep. So, based on what GGT is saying, it sounds like the VSD simply adjusts the "view" of that beam. That would mean that unless more than one target blip shows up close together and you can't reliably select one of them, then there would be no "real" reason to tune down from the 160 range other than convenience. Does that sound right? Wow, an azimuth of 120 degrees at 160NM, that's a huge path! I'm too lazy to do the math on that but we're talking about at least a couple hundred mile wide beam. Sorry, I'm not trying to complicate this or sound like I know what I'm talking about but I'd like to at least come to a journeyman's understanding so I can use it more effectively. Thanks Just noticed Goya's comment that slipped under mine. Sounds like the effective range is 80, not 160. That's good to know.

Thanks guys for straightening out my faulty thinking on this. I have always seen the scope range as a continuation of the previous range where the "nose of the airplane" only appears at the "10 range." Pretty dumb. Duh! So, the range settings are sort of like a zoom but a zoom that always keeps the nose of the airplane at the bottom of the view. Right? That would mean if I were to enter an unkown airspace and wanted to radar sweep it, I would set the range to 160 and sample various elevations being confident that if a target were to appear in the 8NM range (or anywhere within that 160NM space), it would appear on the 160 screen (assuming it was bracketed within my elevation setting) and I would "zoom" into it for a "closer" view (or I would simply see it visually). I've always been hesitant to go to the upper range settings because I was afraid I was "losing" the shorter range sweep. I've been misunderstanding this concept for an embarrassingly long time. As for the "824>", I didn't realize that those were meant as two separate pieces of information: closure-rate (824) and range ">". That makes a lot of sense now that I see it that way. Thanks Flocke for explaining that. Now, does that mean that if I'm in unknown airspace that I should always keep my scope at 160? Thanks -mark

I'm very new to lomac so please forgive me if my questions are stupid. I'm learning the radar system on the F-15. I'm very confused about "target distances." There seems to be a lot of contradiction in what I see. Last night, I was using the F-15 "Quick Flight" mode to experiment with trying to lock up targets by going to the "Theater View (F10)" and querying a target's alt, bearing and then using the "distance measuring button" to show the distance between my plane and the target. I would then return to the cockpit and try to find that target on the VSD and lock it up. For starters, the distance in the Theater View would show say 34NM to a target way across the map which did not seem right to me at all. Sure enough, when I would finally find it on the VSD, it would lock on the 160 page of the VSD and show a distance of 86NM or some such thing in the lower right corner of the VSD. Strange! I thought at first that there was some sort of "metric-imperial" problem but after investigating that pretty well, I'm satisfied that that's not it. Then, I noticed that when I go into STT mode, the position of the PDT icon does not even agree with the range in the lower right corner. I wish I had thought to turn on aircraft labels so I could see what range that reported. I'm going to try that next. From reading the lomac 1.1 manual (apparently the most recent thing we have), I see the same disagreement in distance. [Assuming of course, that I'm reading this right] On page 86, you see a PDT in STT mode in the 40NM range. In the lower right corner, it reports the target at 24NM. However, looking at the position of the icon, it appears to be at about 32NM. Maybe, that is some sort of radar "estimation error" or something but as I recall from my lock in the 160 range, the difference between the icon and what was shown in the lower right corner was a lot more than just a few miles. [side note: the "824>" on the right side of the VSD is labeled "Current range" which should actually be "Closure rate" (measured in knots - 824 KTAS). That really threw me off for a while too. That's just a typo in the manual. No big deal there.] Also, the "Theater View" for a similar situation as that on page 86 would probably show the target to be about 9NM which is really crazy. So, I'm just complely confused. I must be looking at this wrong but I certainly don't know how. Thanks for thowing me a bone here. -mark

Thank you Brun & Arm, I have it working perfectly now! I'm glad I stuck with this as the TDC is smooth as glass now! I put a ton of exponential in it to make it move very slowly if I don't move the stick much but it moves pretty fast if I put a lot of deflection in the stick; just the way I want it. Actually, having mouse-controlled external view in only NAV mode is no big deal. It's not like I go to that view much anyway and when I do, it's just a quick button to get the mouse or I can just slew the view with the view hat. Works fine! Man, it took me about 30 tries to do the A10 Sidewinder training mission. The instructor hands you the stick and you have to take out a Hind with a Sidewinder while at the same time trying to dodge a Strela-1 SAM launcher while being painted by a ZSU-23. Having the TDC working smoothly really made that doable (it was not before) and now I'm consistently killing them all! Way cool! Thanks again -mark

Forgive me ARM505, I'm not catching on to what you're saying. Can you elaborate? I'm not at my computer so doing this from memory... As best I remember, there are three "view" settings in the Input section of the Options menu: 1. Radar cursor (which is what you're calling BVR I guess) 2. TDC, or Maverick cursor (A2G?) 3. External view movement As I recall, if I set external view to be mouse control, then go and change TDC (A2G) to be mouse control, it will "steal" the view setting from the External Views. The same goes for the Radar Cursor. Can you please clear this up for me? Thanks -mark

The training missions are good about dealing with only a single concept at a time. I am using the TMs to setup and organize my HOTAS. That's basically a fancy way of writing the commands down on paper as anivanov says. I also use the "Quick Flights" together with the TMs to practice what I am being taught. The A10 QF is especially good as you get a full loadout of the weapons and there are plenty of targets that won't shoot back at you. You can practice most of what the TMs teach from doing the QFs. The important thing is to just have fun with it. I learned an important lesson from Falcon 4. I got far too serious about that game (Falcon 4 is WAY more complex than lomac) and it got to where it was no fun and I ended up quitting. I have a much more relaxed attitude about this game. Wish you the best!

tactikal, Why not just start with the training missions and go through each one of them? I have just picked up lomac myself (though I have owned many flight simulators) and I find the TMs just great. The A10 missions are especially good since they have voice-over tracks. Keep going over a mission until you understand what's going on then break out of it (CTRL-Q) and fly it yourself until you can do it just like the instructor. I'm having a ball doing that and learning a ton!

B, I feel like I'm trying to drink from a firehose as there are so many things I want to do with this game all at once! That was the primary motivation to just putting it back to the keyboard (for now). You're very convincing that I should revisit this, and I will. Thanks for that. The CH Control Manager is quite good. It's funny, I used to fly remote control aircraft and we RC'ers would spend a lot of money on hitech transmitters that allowed us to tweek the control surfaces with exponential curves, dead zones, etc. All that technology finally found its way to flight simulators and supporting hardware. I suppose we can thank the USB for that as the old Gameport just didn't have all that much capability. I remember I used to say to my sim buddies "I sure wish there was a way to soften the controls in these games the way we can with our RC transmitters." Now we can. How cool is that? Another temptation that I must fight off is the desire to make things feel like "IL2." It's a whole different deal and I need to just accept that. I remember going through all this with Falcon 4. You wouldn't believe how I labor over setting up a HOTAS map. When I finally finish one, it's almost like a "holy grail" or something. :) Thanks again for the advice. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Update. I tried setting up the TDC they way you guys are describing and played around with it some last night. I am back to mapping the ministick to keys. Let me explain my reasoning. Please correct me where I'm wrong. By default, the external view movement is set to the mouse. When I set TDC to use the mouse, it unassigns the mouse for the external views. That seems weird as why do those need to be mutually exclusive? Anyway, I didn't like that. Also, the TDC and Radar Cursor appear to be mutually exclusive as well. Again, don't understand why that needs to be that way. Finally, even with adjusting exponential curves, deadband, etc., it didn't seem to me that the cursor movement was all that much better than the key assignment. Maybe I didn't hit on the right setup. At any rate, I decided to go back to mapping my ministick to the keys as that seemed to be the least disruptive to all the other things that use the mouse. Maybe I'll mess around with this some more at a later time. Comments welcome.

Vapor, what you're saying is exactly what I was trying to say in my second paragraph. You and Brun are assuring me that this is the way to do this. Thanks guys