brewber19

Hey Blackrat...are you the same Blackrat as the SYN Blackrat from RoF?! If so, good to see you have your stick back, don't be shy of joining Smudge and I for some suicide runs in the Hog ;) Brew.

I use a 40" Samsung (L87 I think, or F87, something like that), which is 1920x1080 (so 1080P). A TV gives quite a different colour gamut to a monitor, so some fiddling is required with the colour temperature, contrast and brightness to get your LCD TV to how you want it for gaming. Previously I have used for LO/LOFC/DCS:BS and now DCS:WH... Dell 24" Ultrasharp - Excellent clarity etc Projector 1024x768 native - Brilliant for size, ok for day missions, not enough colour contrast for night missions, nearly lead my flight of 6 25Ts in to a mountain, twice, on the same mission, cos I couldn't see the brown of the mountain against the black of the sky. Samsung 40" TV - seems best compromise between size and colour resolution. For my budget etc, the 40" TV is the best compromising option for size & clarity. I'd love a HD projector but having had a projector before and its distinctly average colour reproduction/differentiation, I'm not keen to drop 1500 quid on an experiment! Best thing about a HD TV is that you get a lot of size at a reasonable resolution that most modern gfx cards can run without too much of a struggle. If you were thinking of bigger monitors, or more, you need a much stronger gfx solution. Get a good spec TV, you won't regret it (don't get a cheap spec TV, it'll be awful).

Good work Sabre, thanks. Shouldn't this stuff be in ED's manual to save guys like you time & effort?!

DCS:WH can feel like a really intimidating sim, but once you've "figured out" the whole SOI, SPI thing, and the cold start sequence, suddenly its feels alot less overwhelming (info overload etc) and you can actually start enjoying yourself. As Celticcoho said, there will be plenty of ppl in squads/online happy to help...its why they are successful squads. There aren't many of us in the 504 these days, but when we do fly (couple of times a week, usually on Friday/Saturday night at 2100z) we train each other on the bits we each know. Its worked quite well for us so far, though we all have much to learn. We're now at the stage where we're comfortable taking on layered SHORAD (tunguska, shilka, strela...not quite so keen on those Osas yet though), we just still need to remember those BMPs are nasty critters when we get too enthusiastic with the cannon ;) Go online, don't be put off, you'll soon find a bunch of like minded and like-attituded guys to fly with.

Track IR 5 for sure as well.

I have a TM Warthog and love it. If CH made one, I would buy it in a heartbeat, with complete confidence it would work (I have a CH Fighterstick, throttle & pedals prior to WH). However, its 14 months since this artwork was released, and no news from CH so...not confident we'll see one any time soon.

BMW ;) 330d saloon. understated (no chrome) and nice & quick.

Hi Hassata, My post wasn't in response to whether there is an issue or not, as clearly there is. I bet the only reason mine hasn't bricked itself (yet) is because its "always powered on" due to the USB port its plugged in to. I haven't attempted to upgrade the FW yet either. My post was more in response to Power5s post, which I should have made clear at the start of my post. Almost all HOTAS's have issues, the only exception for me in my experience so far is my CH gear. If they made a WH hotas I would buy it in a heartbeat and have 100% confidence. I do have huge sympathy for those with bricked throttles, and if it were me I would be super pissed as well. You're right about Mercedes as well, still wouldn't buy one - like Audis, all plastic show and no go. Its all twin exhausts, chrome everywhere etc etc. I'm also too young for a Merc yet (I'm only 36....need another 15 years before I've given up on life enough to drive a "boat" like a Merc). I'm sure you can guess what Euro-Brand I drive?!!!

It doesnt matter if the Wh stick bricks itself, its still the best tool for the job re: DCS A10...so if mine bricked itself, I'd immediately go and get another. Is it perfect? No. There is "sticktion" on the joystick so really super smooth stick inputs aren't ideal (my CH Fighterstick was better). The throttle can brick itself at power-on. Is any stick perfect? Nope, and I've tried HOTASs of Saiteks X-45, X-52, X-52 pro, stock TM Cougar (awful), CH Fighterstick & throttle (the best so far for precision and feel, for me) and now the TM Warthog. Honestly? For fast jets the WH will be fine. For BoB:SoW, I wish I still had my Microsoft Sidewinder FFB2!!!! Other than that? Fricking fantastic for the sim. Just the fact that TMS/DMS/Coolie/China Hat/Boat switch etc etc are where they should be, really makes using the sim soooooo much easier.

Before I launch off in to a mini-rant, its worth noting that I've spent at least 150+ hours making skins for BS (see my sig and profile) I am not shy of investing time and effort in to EDs products...so I am not a "casual simmer". I'm too embarrassed to tell you how much time I've spent playing Flaming Cliffs, but I know I spent more than 4000 sterling on PC upgrades, flight sticks, HDTV etc primarily for flight sims. On with the rant... The lack of a 3d editor is probably the most painful aspect of mission making. The sheer ball-aching amount of pointless... 1. Save the mission 2. Load the mission 3. Review in 3d world 4. Back to editor and move unit a little bit 5. Return to (1) to iteratively review unit placement. ...is just so mind-numbingly a waste of my precious time = can't be bothered to create missions. Don't even get me started on the fact that each Client a/c has to be in its own flight = more pointless repetition of way point placement etc. Unfortunately A10C, while a brilliant sim in fidelity of pit, physics and gfx, still has these flaws by having to guess where the hell units will end up, not to mention ME triggers that work in single player but not multiplayer. Is a beta so...I'm sure the triggers will be fixed, though a 3d editor will not of course. Such as shame, as the development of the ME with triggers lends itself to some really stunning SP and MP mission scenarios...but only for those mission designers with massive amounts of patience and disposable time on their hands. For BS I would rate it 9/10 for simulation of heli, 7/10 for gfx and 5/10 for mission editor. The whole non-collidable and non-occludable (is that a word?!) trees debate has been done to death re: limitation of pc h/ware yaddah yaddah...still makes it crap re: not being able to visually hide from units though...even if ballistics will go through trees. You gotta see what you're shooting at right?! Roll on A10C full release (am still really enjoying the A10 beta, just not the ME) and maybe one day a revolutionised ME with 3d unit placement. I feel sorry for ED - they put their lives and souls in to making these sims, and ungrateful whiners like me always want more!

Does anyone know if this actually works? I cant seem to get the start or stop condition to be Flag X = False...it keeps putting the bloody tick back in the box. Anyone know why? Banging my freaking head against the wall and all I want to happen is a group to hold at a WP until its killed its targets, then move on. Aaaagggghhhh...I love and hate the ME in equal measure.

Thanks for the info guys, will try that out tomorrow ;)

How do you tell the number for each parking slot? I cant get ground crew to talk to me at Batumi...so any guidance as to where I should be parking? I also presume I can be rearmed with engines running? But repair takes 3 mins all dark, is that correct? Thanks in advance Brewber.

^^^ what he said. v.good.

Thanks Nondeplume. The WH pilot needs a good memory doesn't he/she, for what mark point(s) are for what group of targets (unless he/she does the "new flight plan" with its own sets of markpoints)...me, I get confused whether mark point H was the last target in the "group of tanks" or the first mark point for the "AD group" I am targeting! I think I need a few extra IQ for this sim.

Nice flying & nice video.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread; just one question from me (for now) and its the same as Garfieldo had...how do you delete a mark point? Thanks in advance for any help; happy to RTFM if someone had point me to the correct page, but I haven't managed to find it. cheers Brewber.

Good to know guys. I have ordered a track clip and we'll see what improvement it brings.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll try the clip and see if that makes a difference. Fundamentally TIR I think is designed to be used 2.5 to 3 feet (0.75 to 1m) away...whereas I am a little further than that...so it loses "resolution" the further away I am. Thats my guess anyway. I'll try the TIR clip and see if it makes any difference. Thanks again for the replies.

Thanks Yskonyn; good tip. Bump, no one else with any thoughts?! :(

Hi All, I use a TIR4 at the moment, from about 5 feet away (1.5 metres) from the TIR sensor as it sits on top of a 40" LCDTV. As much as I've adjusted the profile etc, it still gets jittery, like its not tracking my head reflector (i use the metal 3 point thing from the vector expansion, not the track clip). I was just wondering whether anyone else had upgraded from a TIR4 to a TIR5 and had noticed any difference, OR, if someone else has a similar setup to me and has some advice on TIR profile setup when at a distance like 5 feet/1.5 metres?! Thanks in advance Brewber.

Hi WynnTTr, LOL, you're not wrong about the narrowness of the CH pedsals, I'll admit that. When I use them I just use my heels, so my toes are pointed "out"...in this way I can sit in a "John Wayne legs akimbo" kind of way, and save my delicates the abuse they'd get otherwise. I liked my Saiteks for the pedal width/spread, but not the feel or use. Might be I had a bad one (one of the early batches) or may be I am spoiled by my CH gear. cheers Brewber.

Hi SneakyPete, I was a CH Fighterstick & throttle user. I now have a TM:WH. The TM:WH stick resistance is heavier than the CH, but much lighter than a stock cougar. Its actually a very comfortable stick to fly with. The throttle is clearly very different from CHs offering, but very smooth and pretty comfortable. Just as important as feel, is usability. Having a TM:WH makes using DCS:WH just sooooo much easier I can't tell you. The dual-stage trigger, the proper hats etc on the hardware, really robust switches so no chance of accidentally long/short presses etc. In as a few words as possible: Buy the TM:WH, you won't be disappointed. Sell your CH Fighterstick & Throttle, so you can get some CH pedals (don't get Saitek pedals, they are cheap and imprecise).

Ditto what Crunch said ;) Saitek pedals too imprecise.

Some nice ideas there guys, I like the variety of thinking. I tried mapping it to absolute longitudinal head position, but in Beta3 when I first get in the pit it kinda zooms in, out and finally centres in an zoom position, then when I lean in/out with TIR or use the zoom function, the pit flickers like hell. In the end I gave up. Mapping it to gear would be cool (if target worked). Has anyone else also noticed that even though you might have selected the option for the game to sync with the button positions on the WH throttle...that the sim doesn't for things like flaps? This happens in every runway start custom mission. Thanks for the responses guys, hope your enjoying your sticks as much as I am ;)