Juris

On A10c I had a jump from 13.6 = 10-11 fps 13.8 B2 = 18-19 fps (medium textures & scenes) 13.10 = 25-27 fps (medium textures & scenes). Thats the magic mark for me (and the human eye). Its definitely not an illusion. Thats on a 3.1ghz i5 iMac running triples at 5040x1050 with a 1gb Radeon 6970m (mobile variant). I'm still getting drops to 20fps over towns etc so can't wait to start tweaking to see if I can get it higher. Now about to ruin my own night and try BS2 (or Bullshit, The Return as I've started calling it in terms of performance) and wait for the slideshow to load. Fingers crossed.

Title kinda says it all. I have a set of mint Simped Vaio Pro USB rudders and I'm looking to get some money together for a project so may have to sell off some of my kit to pay for it. I'm wondering what they are worth. I can't seem to find much reliable information. Any ideas?

I've just gone from the 13.8 beta 1 to beta 2 and have gone from approx 10fps in triples on my imac 6970m 1gb to 20-25fps in A10C. I have no idea yet how the 13.6 drivers are in comparison but I'm bloody over the moon that even without modding I can get near fluid framerates. Its only on the East Georgia and Georgian Foothills missions in the 1st few minutes so I'm sure I'll be back to 10fps in a serious dogfight but its the 1st time I've been able to enjoy DCS so far. Also Black Shark 2 still runs at 11fps no matter what settings I use in triples which will take some investigation but for now I'm semi-airborne on A10. :) If only I could get the 60-70fps I get in FSX with REX I'd never leave the house. Until they came to evict me for not paying the rent as I hadn't been to work.

Just got my upgraded iMac with the 3.1ghz i5 & 6970m 1gb (couldn't justify the 2gb) over my previous 2.7ghz i5 & 6770m 512mb and performance has increased by.........1 fps. Seriously what am I missing here. Every other game has jumped in performance, iRacing FPS has doubled, BF3 about the same (both on triples), ARMA 3 is now silky in triples on high settings but DCS is still a dog even on low low settings. Any ideas for more fps. Mods, lua editing, vulcan mind meld???

I do understand the points made regards the differences in iRacing and DCS but unfortunately the draw distances etc are only part of the issue. When I mentioned iRacing I stated I was running it on high settings @ 50-60fps. DCS is on low with minimum draw distance, @ 10fps. As for different hardware being used in iRacing & DCS for physics etc and poly counts in iRacing your talking maybe 16 cars in view, each with a significant poly count and they are usually much closer than you ever get (or want to) to an enemy Flanker. I'm new obviously to DCS but with only 1 AI wingman its 10 fps. Theres no excuse at this stage. Its just a graphics engine thats out of date and even then many state the fact it is very CPU dependent & doesn't utilize multicores sufficiently. Its a bi-plane in a jet era, trying to fly jets. We're seeing DX11 graphics engines such as that in Assetto Corsa racing which would blow your mind in poly complexity and terrain detail. Our trees don't even have collision detection. Just look at ARMA 3 in flight, the FPS compared to DCS is in its multiples and thats with significant draw distances. Sorry if I'm harping, I don't mean to. I really want to enjoy DCS but if your have to spend the kind of money to play it most people simply don't (pls don't say its cheaper on pc I know but a GTX680 is serious cash PC or Mac) have then DCS will never grow and expand.

Cheers for the advice. I took it, of sorts. Decided to replace my i5 2.7ghz iMac with 512mb 6770m with an iMac i5 3.1ghz and 1gb 6970m which I reckon after I sell the old iMac will cost me about 50 euro difference so its not much for some extra fps. As its meant to be about 70% in single screen mode all I can hope is I can get another 10fps out of it in triple. Not smooth but maybe passable for now. Will report back with my findings when it arrives later this week. I'm actually a bit pissed at DCS at this stage. Even my 512mb 6770m I can get 50-60fps in triples in iRacing on high settings (its a bloody complex physics engine with some serious calculations going on) but I get 10fps in DCS. To sound like so many broken records here on the forum, we need EDGE or at least for DCS to give a damn about ATI cards.

Hi I can choose between 5040x1050 and 5760x1200. The limitations in available resolutions come from a combination of the iMacs & Cinema displays limited selection. Its not a dedicated gaming system so I'm kinda stuck upgrading to iMac to another iMac & space in the room is such that a desktop tower just won't fit.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm repeating myself (didn't get an answer before to another iMac thread) but heres the deal. Current setup: iMac i5-2500S 2.7ghz, 24gb Ram, Ati 6770m 512mb (desktop equivalent = 5670) I have an offer for the next 2011 iMac up iMac i7-2600 3.4ghz, 24gb Ram, Ati 6970m 2gb (desktop equivalent = 6790) With the 6770 512mb in Eyefintiy I'm getting 10-12fps (pathetic) when not in a dogfight, just gliding around. Simple Question: Will the 6970m cope with Eyefinity at the following resolutions and provide decent (25-30) fps. 5760x1200 5040x1050 Its going to cost me approx 300 euro to upgrade to the higher iMac from my lower one & as its very hard to find a 2gb iMac for sale I'm under serious time pressure to decide if this will suit. Its also hopefully to run Assetto Corsa racing later this year. Pls don't say build a PC, I need to keep on the Apple side of things for work & a Mac Pro would eat me alive in electricity bills (I know I've owned 2). Please help. Thanks. Edit: Apparently the 6970m is on a desktop par with a 6790 not the 6850.

Hey all, I know something like this has been done before but wanted to show my take on using speaker stands as HOTAS mounts. Also re-jigged a few of the parts from a Thrustmaster Warthog Hotas set and got myself a surprisingly flexible setup. Just bought myself a set of Atacama Nexus stands 2nd hand for 60 euros (600mm height version) and set about turning them into Hotas mounts. While playing around I stripped off the Warthog joysticks base plate and left it aside. Then went to remove the throttles base to discover there are actually 2 base plates in use (yes I'm thick & you all probably know that but its a minor victory for my tiny brain). When looking at them I decided to swop the joysticks base and put it under the throttle. As 1 of the screw holes lined up perfectly I I attached the throttle to joysticks base plate with the base plate at 90". Viola, throttle on speaker stand with mousing space (or mfd, tablet, usb panel et al, whatever suits ya). Then swapped the throttle base plate over to the joysticks side, turned it 90" again, moved the joystick to the left most edge of the base plate, screwed it back in with the original TM screws and attached a butterfly clip (10c) to the back right of the plate & speaker stand to secure it in place. Viola 2, perfectly stable joystick mount with mousing space (again see above for options) to the right of the joystick. As I'm also into racing I stripped the shifter mount from my Wheelstand Pro, removed the speaker top and wedged it in to the open strut top before re-securing the speaker top with the original screws. My G27 shifter has a large front section but I'm about to replace it with a TM TH8RS which will give perfect access to the mouse. If your not a racer as well as a flier you end up with Hotas mounts which allows centre stick with mousing space just above your knees. End result is a multipurpose mounting for DCS, racing sims and as I use a Razor Orbweaver FPS games etc. Putting sand in them next week and they'll be rock solid. I also used a set of 1 euro felt non-slip pads on the forward most part of the joystick speaker stand front plate which prevents forward movement of the joystick plate when in use. I'll be placing more pads on the underside of the throttles mount (really the joysticks base plate) which will prevent if from moving in any direction (not shown in the pics yet). Hope I didn't bore anyone with the long description but for 61 euros odd thought it was a bargain versatile setup. Any questions please ask but its late in Ireland so if you don't get a response for 12hrs I'm just sleeping. Put up as many pics as I could with a few different mice for size comparisons & apologies about the prevalence of my feet.

imposter71 would I also be able to impose on you for your profile as well. I'm in that 80% almost there zone with ftnoir using an imac HD (2mp fixed position) cam using Accela Filter Mk2, smoothing on 1, internal filtering off but can't quite get zooming in Z translations perfect. Left/right yaw/pitch/roll is now fine after tweaking and response times are looking really good (think I can still tweak further). If I can perfect Z zoom I'll post my profile for others.

Ok I'm pretty sure I'm fighting an impossible battle but I like fighting impossible battles so I'm going to fight (its an Irish thing). I'm trying to get an Eyefinity setup working with semi-decent framerates. So far I'm getting around 10-12. I need 20. Its an iMac so I can't upgrade anything such as GPU unless I sell the machine and replace it with another. This may happen at a later stage but I don't have the funding right now. Again as its an iMac there is no BIOS to tinker with. I will be trying to set it to AHCI later on but thats a bit more in depth and will take a bit of time to get setup. i5-2500S CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2701 Mhz, 4 Core(s) 1tb Hdd (DCS on external 500gb mobile HDD over usb 2.0) 24gb DDR 3 ram Radeon 6770 512mb (not good for this I know) Monitors resolutions native: iMac 2560x1440 2x 23" Cinema Displays 1920x1200 Due to Apple being idiots both the iMac and Cinema displays only have a few available resolutions which limits how I can set this up. The 23" Cinemas can only display 1920x1200 1680x1050 1280x800 800x600 The iMac can only display 2560x1440 1920x1080 1600x900 1280x720 800x600 AFAIK Eyefinity will only run on panels with identical resolutions so I'm limited to certain resolutions. In DCS I can select 5760x1200 5040x1050 Both of which are simply too much for my card to handle. When I ran Battlefield 3 and Metro Last Light I was able to select a res of 2400x600 but this is not available by default in DCS and when I try to input this into the DCS GUI it won't allow it and reverts instantly to 5040x1050. I've tried following the instructions in this thread to add a custom res http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=87104 but it doesn't show in my DCS graphics options afterwards. Any ideas. I reckon if I get 2400x600 it'll be silky smooth (as on other games) and I can AA it and change other settings up to compensate for the low res. * I've applied mods from this thread, namely the configtweaks and smallfx mods http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=68060 * I've also applied the 'high performance framerate' mod from here http://lockon.co.uk/en/files/203584/ (am I conflicting with the other mods above, sorry I'm a newbie to lua modding) * I've defraged my Hdd's (I keep DCS on an external portable 5400rpm mobile drive with main C drive for Windows on an internal 3.5" 7200rpm) * Pagefile disabled (24gb ram on the system) * Running Razer Gamebooster to reduce system load (MOM.exe & CCC.exe, anti-virus, dropbox etc shutdown on DCS launch) * Used ProcessLasso (which is brilliant & free btw) http://bitsum.com/processlasso/ to give DCS high priority and set a permanent CPU affinity for cores 3+4 only so 1+2 can take care of other tasks. * Aero Disabled. * Preload is maxed (with 24gb why not) * TSSAA, shadows, vis, cockpit shadows, water, civ traffic, trees, clutter all low/minimum or off were available * Scenes and textures to medium (haven't seen any real gain from low) * In CCC everything is turned off or set to application settings (morphological filtering off as it caused a 50% drop in fps and text was appalling) The question is what else is there I can try to boost framerates. Mods, utilities, throw a few rounds into an Anglo Irish Bank executive (no wait thats just for my own pleasure), altered textures, smoke alterations. Anything (apart from buying a new pc). In single monitor I can get 31 fps (it appears locked at this possibly due to the mods applied???). I also have a Vaio Duo 11 Win 8 Hybrid tablet as seen in the attached pic which I was hoping would be able to take some of the load off regards instruments and use as a touch panel as possible in FSX but I believe this isn't possible in DCS at present. Any help would be great. Cheers.

No need for any sorrys. I posted it up here in the hope someone on the forums would get a bargain. Of course I'm being a bit presumptuous you got it because of my post but sure let me live with my delusions :) Enjoy.

As my grandfather who died in the 80's always said. "You can never have too many Thrustmaster Warthog A10c HOTAS flight control systems". Only now do we look back on him as a modern day Nostradamus rather than the delusional cabbage we got the psychiatrist to sign him off as. Strange he never saw that missile coming. I'd get it myself but it wouldn't go down well in the household and I doubt I'd have a home for long. Still I'd be the coolest homeless guy on earth with my hip-mount dual warthogs, dressed in rags with a 4ft beard and fighter plane helmet chasing some guy who refused to give me change down the street while making jet fighter sounds. :)

Just if anyone is still looking for a bargain for a TM Warthog just spotted this guy in the UK selling one at a great price and he seems to still have the stickers on. I'm not associated with the seller in any way. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thrustmaster-hotas-warthog-joystick-and-throttle-body-little-use-boxed-/130931049772?pt=UK_Controllers_Attachments&hash=item1e7c19452c

Sorry I didn't get back home till this morning. I rang Maplin and they gave me a very confusing response. Basically they said when you register on their website you get your own discount codes under "Sign In > View Available Discounts". I found that a bit odd as I got the AWIN15 code from from the HUKD website. As GorT said it appears to have finished. Several places seem to be listing the Warthog as out of stock. Anyone know if its going end of life or something?

Was just wondering what are the advantages of using an xk-24 or similar over something like a Razer Orbweaver. I just bought an Orbweaver Stealth mainly for FPS gaming but going to adapt it for DCS gaming, FSX and others. 20 keys, backlit, plus 2 more on the side and an 8 way D-pad and you can pick one up for around 100 dollars US or 100 euro (Razer direct charge 129). The Razer Synapse 2.0 software for programming is exceptional. http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-orbweaver Alternatively might be worth looking at the Razer Nostromo or Belkin N52te (precursors to the Orbweaver) which I got for 15 euro second hand again with backlit programable keys and macro functions. You could have one set up by the throttle & 1 by the stick if needed and they're relatively small so they won't steal much desk space. No need for a keyboard. http://ie.ign.com/articles/2008/03/01/belkin-n52te-review

No problem. I'll give them a call tomorrow once I get back home.

Sorry I can't ring them at the moment as I'm out and about and I get murdered in call costs for ringing UK numbers on the Irish mobile. I rang before from my landline. If you rang them maybe they could get the code working for you and process over the phone

I just tried it there again and it didn't apply for either. 2 other places I saw doing deals were pixmania and laptopsdirect but they are sold out it seems. I'd give Maplins a ring and ask them about the code or see if there is a replacement code to use now.

Just wanted to give a heads up for anyone in the UK or Ireland that PC World are having a sale on flight gear. Seems like only Saitek gear such as radio panels, X-52, rudders, throttle quadrants etc but may be worth a look for somebody. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/pc-accessories/pc-gaming-accessories/game-controllers/731_7110_70119_xx_xx/xx-criteria.html

16364 Republic of Ireland

Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated. I'm going to grab BS1 and A10C to make the most of my TM Warthog. On another note I just picked up the classic Lockon MAC for 25 cents in a 2nd hand games exchange. Next stop a DCS sale for FC3. :)

Just an update to say my Warthog arrived this morning. Quite impressed with Maplin on this one. Ordered around 4pm on Monday from the UK, arrived in Ireland at 11am via Fedex on Wednesday. The green lighting of the throttle matches the Razer Orbweaver perfectly. now to spend the next 2 days acclimatising, tweaking, profiling, and setting up Eyefinity. Coffee time.

Rookie coming back to simming, waiting on my TM Warthog to arrive. After that huge financial hit I'm slightly reeling & I still have rudders to purchase. Just wondering if anyone knows of any good deals on BS1, BS2 & A10C. BS1 on DCS is only $9.99 which I don't think can beat but the others especially A10C have heavier price-tags at $30 & $50 on DCS. I'm running an iMac i5 2.7ghz, 24gb ram, 512mb ATI 6770 with 64-bit Win 7. Which of the 3 above will give me the best framerates. I know there is a changelog as long as your arm for BS2 and I've read reviews on the improvements including to the flight model which is fantastic but am I better just getting BS1 then going to BS2 later on? Anyone reckon there is a sale on the horizon? Cheers.

Wow, great price. Good kill. Sure as long as you have PayPal your pretty much assured of getting your money back as well. His ebay sale price of 250 is one of the reasons I went with the Warthog as the resale value appears to hold up really well so in a few years if I move on to something else I can always get the majority of my principle sum back. Dare I say it its great value in that regard. Let us know how you get on.