bilbosmeggins

Yes, like a series of stepping stones. I’m loving it more with each passing day. Um... I don’t want to push my luck just yet. Just slowly cranking things up ;) Thanks for the tutorial suggestion. I have been mainly following the Grim Reapers videos, but a fresh perspective is always welcome. I shall have a look tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep :)

Such is the feeling of elation right now I just had to post something and share it. Right, I’ve had DCS on my pc for what seems like forever. I bought the original Black Shark, and A10C on disc when they were first released many moons ago. And, to be honest, as much as I liked to dabble about with them, actually sitting down and learning how to fly and operate them properly seemed like an absolute mountain to climb. So I just messed about in the sky, hoping to get lucky and shoot something. Of course, I never did, as I could never figure out the weapons systems. So I’d be happy with the odd, successful landing. And so it went on, with the sim mainly gathering dust. Then the lockdown came, and I finally found myself with time to spare. Watched a ton of DCS videos on YouTube, and decided to start at the beginning, and get some mileage out of the SU25T. Followed some tutorials on YouTube, and made a concerted effort to map my HOTAS properly as I fly in VR. Undertook some basic start-up, take-off and landing lessons, and some rudimentary navigation. Enough to get me airborne, and back down again in one piece, and on the right airfield. Practised what I had learned until it became second-nature, then looked at what next.... Decided to go through the official training missions, and thought it was time to launch a few missiles. Found a mission to take out some SAM sites, and thought it would be nice and easy. Watched a Grim Reapers’ video outlining the procedure, and what controls were needed for the mission. Right, this will be a doddle, thinks I. Erm.... actually it wasn’t. Each time I got anywhere near, they would put missiles into the air well before I could get launch authority. I died. A lot! Okay, back to YouTube to see if I could find anyone playing that same mission, to find the secret of their success. I found a video of a guy playing who would approach at about 2800agl, and entice them to fire, then he would run away chucking flares about. I think the plan was to get the missiles all spent then he could go in for the kill. Right, I need flares then. Quickly map flares to my HOTAS and off I go again, employing those tactics. Again I died. A lot! it turns out that you can twist and turn chucking flares, and some missiles will miss you, but it’s a dangerous game with ever diminishing odds. I was now starting to get a trifle despondent. How the hell do I do this? Then I had a plan. I would go in, high enough to draw fire, but low enough that I could jink off to the right, and duck down into a nice, deep gorge. Sure enough two missiles went up, so I dipped into the valley, and was shielded by the hills as the missiles thudded into the other side. So I did a u-turn and stayed low, going away from the site. I then did a 180, and made a point of arcing up, well above the hill top as I turned. Again, up goes two missiles, and again I ducked down into the valley, safely hidden from the now confused missiles. But this time I flew much further along the valley to a point where I believed that my missiles would now be close enough to achieve launch authority. I quickly crested the hill, with my nose pointing to roughly where I believed the SAM site to be. Bingo! It was dead ahead. This time I was able to get two missiles off, on two of the targets before I had to break off and repeat the run. It went like clockwork, as did the second run. Four missiles, four targets taken out. My heart was racing. So I got the congratulatory message and headed back to the airfield. I made my worst landing of the week as I over-compensated on the rudder input as I rolled down the runway, setting up a pendulum effect that I was lucky to get under control. I think it was because my legs were shaking still, from the adrenaline-filled mission I had just negotiated. I was so ecstatic because, not only had I completed my first combat mission, and achieved all objectives. But because I had formulated a plan, or strategy that seemed to play to the Frogfoot’s strengths, and it actually worked. I know that most of you will be thinking, “So what? It’s no big deal”. And to you lot it probably isn’t. But, to me, it was a true eureka moment. I’m still buzzing. And playing the whole episode out in VR just made the experience so very real for me. I now plan to really try and get to grips with this plane before I turn my attention to anything high fidelity. It’s such a great plane too. So, a great, big thank you to the team behind this incredible piece of software. Truly amazing stuff. Just wish I would have knuckled down all of those years ago, and tried to learn this sim then. So many wasted years. Oh well, better late than never :)

It sounds really good. I’ll be sure to look into it at a later date. Right now, it would just add another layer of complexity and confusion for me. I’m having a tough enough time with the planes, lol.

That’s good to know, thank you. To be honest, I have little to no idea of what to expect in multiplayer, as I’ve never tried it before. Just trying to get to grips with a few planes before I try online. Don’t want to be going on now and ruining people’s sessions because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Hi MAXsenna. I‘ve contemplated using VoiceAttack, yes. I already have it, as I use it with Elite Dangerous. The only reason I haven’t used it in DCS is in case I try multiplayer. Don’t want to be shouting out commands in the heat of battle, and confusing comms too much. But it is a great piece of software.

Sorry, I think I was posting at the same time as you. I didn’t expect you to go so much trouble. And I shall, indeed, try the file you have created. Not sure if any more things pop up later on, as I didn’t complete the full start up. Just enough stages to prove to myself that I was wrong, lol.

I must be going senile. Went back to the SU25t training, and it obeyed nicely, and I was able to continue. The Huey mission was a partial success. I chose the “Cold Start” mission, and the closing of the doors is, indeed, a sticking point. I closed the doors with the Touch controller, but then had to peep under my headset and press right ctrl+c to proceed. After that, the training went smoothly. So just a bit of a glitch there I think. So, case closed. I am definitely going mad. But, on the bright side, I can now continue with my training. Much appreciate your input :)

Hi Rudel. Thanks for your reply. I did try advancing things with the space bar, but got nowhere. I shall fire it back up shortly, retry, and then get back to you. Although I do remember, specifically, trying the Huey “Cold and Dark” training mission. The instructor said something like, “Shut the doors to continue”. So I used the vr controller to “grab” the door handle and pulled it shut. Then nothing. Pretty sure I would have pressed the Space Bar in order to Try and jolly things along, but you’ve got me doubting myself now, lol. I’ll have another look.

Hi all. Not sure if the problem is unique to me, or whether it’s a “thing” in DCS. Right, I’ve attempted to do a few training missions in both the Huey, and the SU25T and haven’t got very far. The voiceover guy requests that I press certain keys to activate various actions, and then waits for those keys to be pressed. Trouble is, because I play in VR, I’ve mapped most things to my HOTAS, and the game doesn’t recognise that I’ve followed the instructions because I haven’t pressed those exact keys. So the game just waits, and cannot progress. Is there a way around this, so that I can continue training in vr, or do I have to give up on it? To play “flat”, even just for training, would be awkward because of my monitor placement. Plus, I don’t want to, lol.

I installed this mod yesterday, and it went perfectly. I was expecting problems, given I’m not that clever with computers. But it was a breeze to install. It has made a huge difference to my gaming experience. Excellent work, Devrim. Much appreciated :)

What a wonderful gesture. That’s amazingly generous of you. Hope the lucky recipient is happy with his gift

Thanks for that. I’m away from my pc for a few days, but will try it when I get back :)

Oh, I know how good it is, as I implemented it quite heavily in Elite Dangerous, back in the day. Trouble is, because I’ve been away from simming, and gaming for the best part of two years, everything seems like a foreign language to me again. I have Voice Attack installed, but am almost scared of clicking the box :lol: I’ve barely got my Hotas performing how I’d like it, and getting the toe brakes properly mapped on my Crossfire pedals is proving quite the challenge too. Axis moves fine in the menus, but sod all happens in-game. I will most definitely get Voice Attack integrated again. Just slowly coming up to speed :)

Personally, I have the Touch controller at hand anyway, as there are usually a few things that I haven’t assigned to the Hotas, that I can just click with Touch. I need to implement Voice Attack properly to overcome this, but just haven’t got around to it yet.

Hadn’t realised it had mounting options for the Hotas. That actually looks quite good. There is no way that single bar would support my MFG Crosswind rudders though. Not unless I learnt how to tread like a ballerina :D

Similar to above, I’m on a 1080ti, and an i7, and am having a great experience with it. Sure, it could be improved somewhat, but it is more than acceptable. If vr was discontinued somehow, I would abandon flight sims altogether. Once it has been sampled there is no going back to 2D. You really need to try it, as it is difficult to portray the experience it offers in words. But, even the sense of height is genuine. On flat screens, you look out the window and ground objects look smaller and smaller the higher you go. But your brain has to do the maths and make the mental leap to translate it into height. And it is utterly unconvincing. Once you leave the ground in vr your brain can actually perceive the space beneath the aircraft. No mental translation required. I once flew a mission in Il2, and wanted to get to the top of the stack for the height advantage. I reached the top, and suddenly developed a tremendous sense of vertigo, and had to descend again rapidly as the sense of being so high was incredibly overwhelming. That has never happened in 2D, nor will it ever. And, again, the immersion is just light years ahead. Say you are used to TrackIR, you can look around, and it’s all very nice and all. But, if your eyes stray beyond the monitor, you are suddenly looking at your novelty World’s Greatest Dad mug, or the dog licking it’s arse. Immersion broken. In Vr, look around and you see more of the virtual world. Spin right around, and see your headrest. Maybe even catch a glimpse of your tail and rudder movements, depending on the craft. And that amazing feeling of scale, when you look out of the window and see see the wings spread out. And it looks like it weighs every ton that it is supposed to. Nope. I could never, ever return to flat. My advice would be to just jump in. If, for any reason, it is not your bag (unlikely), then the reselling price is fantastic. People are currently selling Index’s for more than they paid, because of the waiting list. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Go for it say I :)

I should imagine it would be a nightmare to attach a decent Hotas, plus rudder pedals. Then factor in mouse and keyboard. And then manage all of the associated wiring as well. Not to mention vr if you are a user.

Being an Oculus user, I just have Oculus Home open in the background and holding the button on the Touch controller allows for resetting the view. It does break the immersion temporarily, but it’s not the end of the world for me.

Excellent news. Thanks for that. I'd better get downloading then :)

Thanks both. If I get rid of the Steam version and d/l from the DCS site, can I still use my rift? The only reason I used Steam was because I thought that the VR element would be easier to access.

Hi all. I've been away from DCS for a couple of years, but, inspired by my Oculus Rift, I've put together a new system and am back. I re-installed via Steam. However, I'm struggling a bit. I went to the DCS store to re-download my previous purchases and tried to get the Huey first. A warning flashed up saying not for Steam. Does this mean that I need to erase my Steam copy, and do it all from scratch direct from the DCS site?

What? You too scared to land? ;) :lol:

Personally, I think ED are making a huge mistake if they don't implement support for the Rift. There is NOTHING in the world of pc hardware causing as big a stir as the Rift. And, when it goes full retail, there will be a clamour of people worldwide purchasing it. And when they've got it they'll be hungry for whatever quality software they can grab to get the fullest experience possible. Games such as War Thunder, iRacing etc can expect a huge influx of new customers as people go a' hunting. When I first purchased my 3D TV, a few years ago, there were hardly any 3D Blu Rays to buy. So guess what? I ended up purchasing titles that ordinarily wouldn't interest me, just so that I could experience my new toy. When the Rift hits the shelves it will be exactly the same. People who aren't necessarily bothered about racing or flying WILL be buying into War Thunder, iRacing and whatever else they can lay their hands on. And if word gets round that not only does DCS sit right at the top of the flight sim tree, but it also has full Rift integration, then it's a no brainer. I see that IL2 Battle of Stalingrad has announced full Oculus Rift integration. If people experience that and get their socks blown off, and the way the game is looking so far there is every chance that they will, then DCS just might start to find it's customer base waning/defecting. At the end of the day simming is all about immersion. And, if the Rift is able to fully immerse me to the point that I come away shaking and sweat-soaked, then that's the experience I shall be seeking. Lets face it, as fantastic as the DCS models and physics are, the world itself is a bit of a stinker. Once I get down low, there is little sensation of speed, and the scenery is just so dire and dated. I don't think that Edge, from the screenshots I've seen so far, is gonna really change much of that. Certainly not in a flat 2D world that's for sure. Bring on the Rift and let's move forward :)

It is an amazing video and looks like BST have created a true labour of love. One question though... Will there be an english cockpit available at any point or will it be kept totally authentic? Whilst authentic is great, I really don't fancy trying to cold-start that baby. Waay too tricky for me. My russian is non-existent :(

I find it a bit of a bizarre course of action to be honest. Regardless of what news is posted takes second place to the fact that some/any news is being posted. It attracts users back to the forums time and time again hoping for some snippet or other. And, while they are here, they might stumble upon a thread that grabs their interest that inspires them to buy a new model. At the end of the day it's all akin to window shopping. And if there's nothing to see in the window you go a' wandering to someone else's window. And, with the likes of BoS on the horizon, there's no guaranteeing that the customers will come a' wandering back in too much of a hurry. Bottom line is: We are all addicts and need our fix.......