Bounder

I think most would agree that historical matchups are very important and it is true that Spitfire MkIX pilots would have faced 109K4 opponents. However, what would be the most common match up of these two iconic warbirds during 1944? If I were a Spitfire pilot in 1944, I presume I'd most likely be flying a MkIX (as the most numerous mark in operation during this period). Out of interest, if I were a 109 pilot in 1944, what variant would I most likely be flying? A 109K4 or one of the 109G series? I'm not sure of the answer and I suspect it may not be that straightforward to answer but my I do wonder if it would be one of the G series 109s? There will always be disagreements over different variants of aircraft, how they are modelled and how things were, I've seen this over the years in a number of games but I do think DCS would be improved with the inclusion of either a Spit MkXIV and/or earlier G series 109s.

Agree with the OP and echo Krupi's comment.

I'm not playing DCS at the moment, so I can't do any testing but a track file from a flight where this has occurred would be really helpful to examine. I experienced something similar when I last played but unfortunately it was during long-ish multiplayer sessions and my track files rarely last beyond the takeoff run (that's a separate issue that's been around for ages).

Fighter: 109G6 Bomber: B17

Thanks for looking into this NineLine.

To confirm this I attach a track file from single player. I will also attach a video to this post for review (this is currently uploading to youtube as an unlisted video - will add when ready - edit: see video below) In this flight I am flying the non-clipped wing Spitfire in single player, cold start on the Caucasus map. I take off and turn the gunsight on in the air at 3 min 47 second mark. The gunsight ‘disappears’ at 4 min 6 second mark. No damage was sustained. I am unable to repair on ground. At 8 min 21 second mark, I show in the accompanying video that no key bindings for gunsight on/off or toggle are present. I know this bug is not game breaking but it’s a bit of a pain when it happens as I’m not the greatest shot at the best of times. If someone from ED could please review this 'bug' that would be much appreciated. Many thanks, Bounder [EDIT] video of gunsight bug to accompany submitted track file: Right at the end of the video the debriefing window is displayed. At 8:04 (4 min 4 secs into the flight) it lists "event: failure" with "details: Aw shoot". I believe this time event corresponds to the gunsight failing. gunsight bug.trk

I tried this in the non-clipped version, it does not prevent the gunsight disappearing.

Flew again tonight, bug is back. Clearing out metashader files seemed to work initially but it is not a fix. I've tried to attach track files, [edit] but all my track files so far exceed the file size limit for upload to the forums

Here's a short video from last night showing the gunsight disappearing. This one occurred after going wheels down (~15 secs into the 27 sec video): Edit: added 2nd example

Is there a reason you didn't delete contents of the folder "metashaders" in addition to "metashaders2"? Asking more for understanding reasons.

So far it seems to me to be a decent fighter when used to its strengths e.g. boom and zoomer. Verus the Spitfire MkIX it has good top speed, excellent dive, roll, armament and can take a hell of a beating.

A friend and I had this too after the update yesterday, also on Burning Skies. Neither of us had taken any damage and initially we tried landing and repairing, however we couldn't initiate repair. However, my friend then deliberately over heated his engine on the ground to force the option of repair, which once completed, brought the gunsight back. We had this ‘bug’ every flight and couldn't figure out what was causing it. In the end we tried deleting (cut and paste files inside the folders to another location on my hard drive for backup in case it went went wrong etc) the files in the metashaders folders (saved games > DCS.openbeta > metashaders) and we have not experienced it since. It might have been coincidental but thought I post what we tried to help. If you do try the same (deleting the files within the metashaders folders), I'd advise backing them up just in case etc etc. [EDIT] deleting the contents of metashaders folders did not fix the bug - see below

Microsoft sidewinder force feedback 2

As others have said, would be helpful to have a (working) trackfile of any incidents so we, and more importantly ED, can see the problem.

The non-refuelling MW50 "bug" has been reported over a year ago (e.g. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=178570). I can't remember if this has ever been fixed or not - perhaps one of the regular 109 jockeys will know?

It's just a matter of experience, you'll soon get a feel for your airspeed and temps without having to look at the gauges in the middle of a fight. I know it can be frustrating but you'll soon get the hang of it. Good luck.

The key to preventing engine overheating is speed. Watch your oil and water temperatures and take care approaching 100'C oil and +125'C water for any length of time. You can, and will often need to use high rpm and boost settings during combat and are fine to do so as long as your airspeed (and fuel) allows. Combat settings for the Spitfire are 2850rpm + 12lbs boost (rated for 60 minutes uninterrupted use), emergency setting is 3000rpm + 18lbs boost (rated for 5 minutes uninterrupted use*). You're fine to use these settings in a climb (page 142/143 DCS Spitfire manual) providing you keep your water and oil temps in the 'green' but be very careful in steep climbs, as your speed will rapidly drop off and you'll overheat quickly. If you don't need to rapidly climb, do as the manual instructs "In all cases where maximum rate of climb is not required, climbing may be performed with a pressure 7lb/in² and 2650RPM. Doing so conserves fuel and increases total flight range". *my understanding for the quoted time limits (page 139 DCS Spitfire manual) are historical and were for best long term engine use. These time limits can be exceeded without killing your engine in a single flight (as Mad says above). What will kill your engine is being too slow.

My advice to the OP would be to watch sharp manoeuvres as you can bleed speed quickly by comparison to some other games if you're not careful. Dive on your opponent with us much speed as you can carry but not at too steep an angle that you have to pull too much on the stick to get your shot and afterwards, don't yank on the stick into a vertical climb as you can kiss goodbye to airspeed very quickly and your opponent might climb right up after you in a sustained climb. The P51 dives better than the 109, but the 109 has a higher horse-power to weight ratio, it accelerates and zoom climbs very well so can be tricky to tackle. I find I have to be careful with speed in DCS, really plan my attack, line up my angles and escape in a fluid, energy efficient manoeuvre and re-assess the situation. You might start the manoeuvre with an energy advantage but if you blow it in your attack and egress through sharp energy inefficient manoeuvres you can be made to pay by some of the very experienced red pilots. *edit: Something to consider - the P51 carries a lot of fuel by default and while this weight helps a little in the dive, likewise it hampers manoeuvrability and climbing a little. A lot of people drop their fuel load online, ~40% fuel in the P51 is the equivalent of 100% fuel in the Spitfire and isn't a bad figure to try out. It can make a small but useful difference compared to engaging laden with full fuel imho. Suggest try it out and see for yourself.

Did you try placing the starting point of the train well outside a station (like in the video) and having a waypoint so the train is moving? If you didn't the train will be invisible, like in the video. I've attached a mission file like Blech, it's for the open beta version of the game. Give them a go and check you can see the train? My mission has a train passing through Bayeux (on border between XV66 and XV65) with Red vehicles nearby so we can use F7/F8 to view them and the passing train. Spawn as spectator or in an aircraft: to the west of the train there is a TF51 and a Spitfire at Le Molay, to the north there is a 109 and a Dora at Sommervieu. Train_Test_01.miz

I found this youtube video from Shiftie Mover really helpful for getting trains to work on Normandy, give it a watch and it should get it working for single player at least. Watch from 8 minutes 17 seconds for the tutorial on trains. [edit] I can get trains to appear in single player but they don't show on the F10 map, nor do they display labels like other vehicles. I've also run into problems using them as targets in multiplayer as other players can't see them (only the host can see trains for some reason) which I reported here to no avail: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=195176

As Aileron says, you can disable the mirror and there are at least two options avaliable: 1) Set a specific enable/disable mirrors control button: For the Spitfire you'll find a control in the Spitfire control settings called "Toggle Mirrors", under the category "View Cockpit". Mine is set to 'left control + M', this may be the default setting or something I've changed so best check for yourself. 2) General game setting for mirrors: tick/untick the "Mirrors" checkbox in the games Settings -> Gameplay tab. I assume this option applies to all aircraft. This option seems to set the default spawn in state for the mirror to be enabled/disabled - note that the mirror can still be enabled/disabled by using the "Toggle Mirrors" control (above).

No.66 Bounder UK No.66 Squadron 1. Spitfire 2. P51 or 109 if needed

Querying a bug regarding trains on Normandy map in multiplayer. A couple of us are experiencing an issue with trains being invisible in multiplayer: the server host alone can see the train (and carriages) but any clients joining the server cannot. I’ve put together a very basic mission to test this (see attached file). If I host I can see the train but my test partners cannot and vice versa. Has anyone else found this with their missions? Is this a bug in multiplayer or are we doing something wrong? Thanks. train test 01.miz

The Spitfire has both machine guns and cannons; as Art-J says you can set up to 3 different buttons in your controls: 1) Fire Cannons, 2) Fire Machineguns, 3) Fire Machineguns and Cannons. In order to fire, you will first need to unlock the safety for the guns (located on the top of the stick. Button in = safety on / button out = safety off). Set a control for "Guns Safety Lever (toggle)" in your controls, I believe the default is left shift + space. Once unlocked they will fire machine gun / cannon or both depending on your input.

People already abuse AAA, running to it as soon as they feel any danger. The AAA is ridiculously effective as it is, let alone adding more, I've lost count of the number of times I'm on a bandit only to realise (too late) he's pulled me near an airfield with AAA and there's no time to react as it always gets me instantly, one bullet and engine dies. People game the AAA and use it as the ultimate get out of jail card. I'd vote for more spawn airfields spread a little (with low/less instant death AAA, especially at forward airfields). If you are being vulched at one airfield, spawn somewhere else. An additional option if possible might be to use triggers on a timer that activate/deactivate flak script(s) once enemy aircraft have spent X amount of time within a radius of the airfield? Persistent vulching becomes more difficult but flying near an enemy airfield doesn't result in immediate instant death. Could think of it as extra AAA being manned to repel an attack.