Ventus_Clu

you haven't mentioned what resolution you're running on but one solution may be to lower it, also if you download both a CPU/GPU monitoring program like MSI afterburner and CPUID's Hwmonitor and run it while you play the game it'll give you some ideas as to where any bottlenecks are. What ever is at 100% is likely the part that's bottle necking your system. However with your specs it does seem unusually low for most games, but I'm not sure what DCS likes to have more of to run better. A few easy wins may be to lose AA effects, draw distance and anisotropic settings. I don't run Nvidia cards but maybe they just released bad drivers and there's a hotfix out already?

I do love these "changed the course of the war" debates, however ultimately I feel that unless it could have stopped the "Manhattan project" very little could have been done to truly change the course of the war. Nuclear bombs aside, I think anything that could have kept the Nazi's going even a few more months would have allowed some of their other planned tech to come into service, giving an even greater delaying effect to the end of the war. But I think unless something dramatic could have been done early 1944 or before then nothing could have stopped the inevitable. Going back to nuclear weapons, I know the Nazi's were creating them but does anyone know if they weren't disrupted by allied operations would they have created them and used them before the allies?

From my UK Mil ATC experience no britmil airfield is capable beyond CAT I approaches so restricts pilots (as they are similarly not trained and aircraft don't have the capabilities as there is no need) to having to be visual with the airfield or lighting system at 200ft QFE and the airfield has a runway visual range (RVR) of at least 550m for FW aircraft and 300m for RW aircraft. in the UK all military aircraft are capable of RVSM in class G airspace regardless of radar service, so if I was controlling an A-10 then I'd happily place it 500ft above/below a typhoon however as I'm not qualified to control in controlled airspace (except Class E under certain rules) I can't say for sure.

Pretty awesome find there. It was only the other week I was reminiscing about the fact we used to paint our aircraft in awesome ways, when I saw a GR4 painted in the old desert pink for the gulf war anniversary.

Don't mean to necro this thread, but it came up in a search I did and figured I'd chime in and explain how the military do it for those who are interested or search for it in the future. The following is how BritMil control their circuits for FJs, however I've controlled C-130's breaking into a visual circuit as well as light aircraft (Tutor, Tucano) as well as semi-civilian (i.e. FA20 flown by ex mil). I've also controlled foreign Mil (USAF, USN, Danish, German, Turkish, Saudi, Swedish amongst others and have found that while most visual circuit patterns are similar, no-one seem's to understand how we do it) I know some people know how civilian patterns work but BritMil work quite differently. Circuit Positions Firstly I'll talk about circuit positions. We use 4 of them, deadside, upwind, downwind and finals. Civilians and pilots from other nations, including some of the "old and bold" try to pretend that we have extra positions (i.e. crosswind, base leg, long/short finals) but we no longer use them in the RAF/RN. Upwind, is any position between the runway and flying in the opposite direction to the runway. Downwind is the straight section which is flown in the opposite direction to the runway. Final is from when you begin your turn from downwind towards the runway until the runway threshold. Weather you touch it or not in the case of a low approach (for the "old and bold" they are no longer called overshoots no matter how many times you request them you will only ever get cleared to low approach) Deadside is the airspace the side that the circuit pattern is not flown usually used when aircraft join the circuit but can also be used for various other purposes if the controller or local orders require. I.e. I have used it for RW training when I had FJs in the circuit, kept them separate and thus safe. General Circuit Information Circuits at RAF/RN bases are usually flown left hand (I was told it was because in the "old days" it was easier to turn left as the control stick was in the pilots right hand how true this is I don't know) If a circuit is flown right hand for whatever reason then we call the runway a right hand runway i.e. RW 23RH. this does not mean the airfield has 2 runways and you are being asked to join for the right one unlike civilian ATC. A typical height will be 1000ft QFE (AGL) however local orders may differ or have different heights on occasion such as RW or light aircraft fly circuits at 500ft QFE. For safety whenever this happens you never mix and match circuit heights. The only exception to this is sometimes a FJ will ask to do a low level circuit (if local rules permit) this may be approved with others in the circuit provided the controller thinks it will be safe. personally I've never allowed it with more than 2 others of the same type in the circuit evenly spaced. As a "Visual Circuit" is just that "Visual" they are rarely open if the cloudbase is low, usually 1200ft is the cutoff, or visibility is poor, in the region of 4km. However if there is any doubt as to the visual integrity of the circuit or that safe integration of joining traffic either IFR or VFR cannot be guaranteed then the circuit may still be closed. Circuit Calls The basic calls made in the visual circuit are a Downwind call and a finals call. The downwind call is where the pilot confirms he is now downwind, to both the controller and other pilots in the circuit, and his intentions for the runway, land, touch and go or low approach (sometimes more intentions are added such as low approach then a VFR or IFR release from the visual circuit, or a request the next one is a low visual circuit or even something else). ATC will acknowledge this by passing the surface wind. The next call is the finals call where the pilot will again confirm his position in the circuit followed by a confirmation his gear is down, then providing it is safe ATC will clear his approach or tell him to continue or flat out tell him to go around. If continuing a later call by ATC may clear his approach or to go around, if ATC says nothing (or breaks) then by 200ft the pilot should initiate his own go around and call it. This is where he pulls up (obviously) and turns off to the deadside. This may be because ATC had hoped an aircraft would have taken off by now so the pilot could land but instead the stupid trainee pilot took forever to do his pre-takeoff checks, rant over. There are no other calls required, if the pilot is doing circuit training then after his touch and go or low approach he just turns left when its safe to do so and wont speak to me until he is downwind. Joins There are several different joins available depending on what ATC want however what is often referred to as a "visual join" is actually a VRIAB (Visual Run In And Break) the propose of this is that it's the fastest way to get a FJ on the ground. It begins by the pilot being handed over to the tower Fq and a decent range normally +10nm, the pilot will check in on fq with his intentions. ATC will respond with a join instruction giving the pilot permission to join the runway (with circuit direction if other than left hand) and number of aircraft in. The pilot then positions them self into the initials point, a point about 3-4 nm before the threshold of the runway in use offset to the deadside by 1 nm, depending on the local rules his speed could be anything below the speed of sound (although I've never seen local rules allowing them faster then 450 kias) Pilot will then call "initials" ATC will respond with either "callsign" or the position of all the circuit traffic starting at deadside then upwind, downwind, finals finishing with on the runway. Pilot will then look for said traffic and say if he can't see anything, ATC will assist (remember it's a "Visual Circuit") When abeam the runway pilot will then "break" into the circuit (lots of G's YaY that's why I became a fighter pilot) he may even aim for a point between an aircraft upwind and another downwind, especially if it's typhoon Vs tucano (probably something said pilot will talk about with hands later in the bar) The pilot will also call "on the break [intentions]" ATC will try to respond(work out) with how many ahead and the surface wind, this is the same as a downwind call. the rest of the circuit is as discussed. In addition to being the fastest way to join, it also keeps the aircraft safe by way of, if anything was finals or on a instrument approach the joining aircraft will be deadside of it and should be visual with it before entering the circuit so if aircraft on finals decides to go around then the joining aircraft can react (and curse). in the case of IFR aircraft the joining, aircraft will not be given to tower (and even re fed in) until they are visual with IFR traffic. In the case of departing traffic, as the joiner should break above the runway at 1000ft there is no confliction. The aircraft taking off should have SA listening to the tower Fq so as to know not to do a performance take off (not a worry with GR4's LOL) and the Joiner should be visual and have been told about the departing aircraft so if a late break is required the pilot can say over radio so departing aircraft knows not to be stupid. Other joins include straight in joins and downwind joins. Downwind joins are only ever done if the circuit is empty or one is departing and is told about the joiner. straight in joins are given to tower at about the 10nm point and call tower with a request for a SI join, ATC reply with SI join approved and number of circuit traffic then to report 4 miles gear down (we have to remind pilots you see) at 4 miles the pilot will(should) give ATC a 4 mile call his intentions and a gear down, ATC will then give him a clearance or a continue. Hopefully the pilot has had time to see all the circuit traffic and will ask for anything he can't see (it's still a "Visual Circuit") To avoid confliction with circuit traffic a priority will be set up in local orders, usually that a SI will have priority over visual circuit traffic, this means that if there is doubt that a visual circuit aircraft and a SI joiner can both get their approaches is then the visual circuit traffic will be told to go around. I know this was a long post in an old thread but I have seen so many post both here and on other forums with misunderstandings on how visual circuits are done or not understanding them I figured I'd finally shine some detailed light on the matter. As I said this is just for BritMil airfields and civilian and other NATO countries are usually different. but maybe it'll help out those in the UK who listen to Mil bases on scanners and wonder whats happening. Any questions feel free to PM

IRL, in the RAF at least Bingo is calculated at Est. fuel from tgt area to home (pre-calculated inc. weather, wind, transit level) + 1 IFR approach at HOME + Est Fuel to predetermined diversion airfield (pre-calculated inc. weather, wind, transit level) + 1 IFR/VFR approach (based on the forecast weather at diversion airfield) It involves a lot of pre planning (which I know not everyone does) but it allows you to attempt to land at your destination and if the weathers too bad (In the RAF if your not visual by 200ft then go around) goto your diversion and attempt to land We get a high proportion of our emergencies from when we change the diversion state to an airfield further away and the aircrew are at the end of the sortie and get told you need X amount more fuel, then incomes the emergency call...

I've seen youtube vids of some setups for DCS using 4 monitors (3 across and one under the centre display) and the framerate looks very reasonable so I'd imagine theres nothing holding DCS back from a 4k resolution, the only issue would be a GPU one because AFAIK DCS only supports the use of a single GPU at a time.

Another place you'll see a lot of aircraft using the published ILS is on airfields with no radar. Have ED announced when an update to ATC will actually happen?

I believe the GR4 pilots often use the TGP when fitted just because it's easier and lets be honest the guy in the back doesn't do anything else anyway :music_whistling:

Additionally I think it might also be worth mentioning tactical approaches, these are approaches to airfields which have a distinct surface to air threat, be it RPG, MANPAD, SAFIRE etc. as opposed to SAM sites (In this case you'd probably use another airfield) Think Kandahar/ Camp Bastion. The airfield defence on the ground typically only have enough people to cover about 5-10 miles either side of the runway along the extended centreline. 5 typical 10 if your lucky. so a tactical approach is designed so your not flying around at 1500ft asking for someone to take shots at you with their AK47 etc. The idea is to be high and then throttle off for decent to reduce your heat signature and make you as harder target to hit as possible. There are 3 main types of Tactical approach which can be done by just about any aircraft (personally I've seen Tucanos all the way up to USN P-3's and C-17's use these approaches) 10,000ft Straight in... basically as it says on the tin, get to about 10 miles final at 10,000ft QFE and I believe the decent point is about 6 miles, then open up everything (airbrake, flaps even landing gear is lowered on GR4's) and throw the aircraft in a dive with no throttle. Procedures differ but you should be visual BY 1000ft QFE otherwise it's go around circuit height. If you are visual then level out and you should hit a 3 degree GP by about 1 mile. 10,000ft Run in and break... This is just a normal visual join except you begin at 10,000ft QFE, and initial call should be made at about 4 miles (offset to the deadside) so the tower controller can tell you about visual circuit traffic, again procedures differ but a good rule would be... If not visual (in this instance visual means both airfield AND circuit traffic) by 1500ft QFE then break off into a max rate climb... if visual then descend to 1000ft QFE and execute a standard break into the circuit. no need to worry about speed for this as you will bleed it all off in the break into the circuit. Blackhole Approach... This is a little trickier, begin at 10,000ft QFE and fly to initial point (but remain at 10,000ft) then begin your decent and follow the ground track of a normal visual circuit but in a decent that will get you to a height on your finals turn that you can land from, takes a little practice. Again visual with airfield and aircraft by 1500ft or go around at 1500ft and descend to circuit height when dead side. With all approaches throttle can be used short final but any further out you risk making too much of a heat signature. Also individual airfield procedures differ and the information regarding both missed approaches and minimum descent heights are what's used at my airfield and are SAFE (it's hard enough to dodge SAM's and AAM's let alone friendly aircraft) Hope this also helps.

Just thought I'd clear up some of the confusion in this thread as a RAF Air Traffic Controller. With regards to the pressure settings there are 4 different types of pressure settings used by aircraft QFE is the pressure measured at aerodrome level (the touchdown zone for the runway in use) when set altimeter will read HEIGHT (above the TDZ) It is used mainly by military aircraft for T/O landing and flying in the visual circuit, you altimeter will read 0 on landing (in practice it will usually read about 10 feet or so because the aircraft cockpit is a few feet above the runway) additionally aircraft flying in the vicinity of an airfield will usually be asked to set it in the interest of aircraft deconfliction but this isn't modeled in any ATC system I have seen. QNH is the pressure taken at airfield level adjusted for airfield elevation above sea level and when set the altimeter will read ALTITUDE (above mean sea level) It's mainly used by civilians or the larger/newer military aircraft. That doesn't stop some airfields (usually smaller airfields which fly mostly light aircraft) from using QFE. The RAF only use QNH for Civilian aircraft inbound that ask for it (by default we give them QFE) or when the Air Transport fleet are inbound (C-130, Voyager, C-17, VC-10 Etc.) I have also given the QNH to some larger inbound US Mil aircraft (P-3, P-8, C-130...) SAS Is an abbreviation for Standard Altimeter Setting (1013.2 MB/hPa / 29.92 inHg) when this is set on an altimeter will read FLIGHT LEVEL This is used by all aircraft above the transition altitude (18,000 ft in the US/ and I believe in europe. 3000ft in the UK but plans to change to 18,000 ft for standardisation) Unless directed to be on something else by ATC, AWACS, Aircraft Controlling Ship (think aircraft carrier) so for example if my aircraft inbound was at FL 240 I would give him the QFE and a decent, in this case the aircraft would have the QFE set above the Transition Altitude. With regards to a missions military aircraft tend not to have the SAS set... I'll get onto that later RPS is the abbreviation for Regional Pressure Setting and is the lowest forecast QHN for an altimeter Region that hour (this is very UK, I would assume there is something VERY similar elsewhere maybe called something different) as this is a QNH when set on an altimeter it will read ALTITUDE Aircraft use this for flight whilst away from an aerodrome (usually more than 10/15 miles) and below the Transition Altitude FQNH is the FORCE QNH this is the Lowest RPS for the entire mission area for the duration of the mission (may be several thousand miles square so may encompass many altimeter regions) again as a QNH when set the altimeter will read ALTITUDE This will be pre briefed on the ground and is used because the brief will normally include hard decks (do not go below levels or do not go below unless cleared) and if there is a huge pressure drop and your aircraft are IMC (read bad weather) they wont fly into terrain. It usually gets set about 10/15 miles away from the airfield (some pilots are lazy/clever and will set it on the ground, lets be honest if your on the ground before T/O you probably don't really need your altimeter to tell you that) Aircraft may set the SAS and fly at FLIGHT LEVELS if the mission area is a long way from the departure point and there are civil aircraft flying outside the mission area (so think training missions where flight to the mission area will be through unclassified airspace or through airways/corridors - in the case of DCS i very much doubt there are civilian aircraft flying about but this will be mission dependant) With regards to real life approaches in a mission this will almost always be a visual approach (why mess around if you don't have to) aircraft will talk to the approach controller to tell them they are inbound (behind the scenes the battlespace manager/ AWACS controller will sometimes prenote the inbound airfield about their intentions) the range will depend on weather the inbound aerodrome has radar and how effective it will be (in my experience it will be no more than 80 miles usually 40-60, if no radar talk to the approach controller about 20 miles, you want to be under radar surveillance for as long as possible in the real world especially if your aircraft has no radar itself) you will then tell the controller what type of approach you want. VISUAL Fly towards the Aerodrome until visual then position yourself to the initials point (varies with airfield, civillian airfields may not have this in real life but in the case of DCS where the aircraft operate out of civilian strips someone will be nominated as liason with ATC and will basically tell them we want an initials point... MAKE ONE) this point will usually be at 1000ft QFE 4 miles final and offset to the DEADSIDE if you think of a visual circuit its an oval with one side that is over the runway, usually flown left hand (i believe this is because it's easier for a pilot to turn left than right due to the right handed control configurations of aircraft, this is what I was told by a long standing RAF Tornado GR4 pilot, he could have been pulling my leg but I see where he's coming from) DEADSIDE is all the area to the right of the runway. Some visual circuits are right handed due to land, noise abatement (keep the locals happy) or the fact another airfield or runway is in the way of a left hand circuit, some civil airfields have no published visual circuit (think Heathrow) but if you needed one i.e. you've lost an engine/ on fire etc. you'll get one... trust me. so basically aim for a point 4 miles out from the runway your after slightly to the right and when you pass through that point you should be at 1000ft QFE then fly towards the airfield keeping to the right (there may be something else in the visual circuit, plus ITS THE PROCEDURE) when overhead the runway put in 90 degree bank and swing it round 180 degrees to join the normal visual circuit downwind you should be pretty much flat out full throttle when this is happening and reducing throttle / applying airbrakes whilst in the turn to bleed off speed/ get into circuit speed. YES you can cut up other aircraft as the pattern you will take cuts out part of the Visual circuit, YES this can be done as a pair, 3 ship 4 ship... the red arrows do this.... the order for a break will be left to right (right to left for right handed circuits) the red arrows do it differently but they think their awesome so apparently their allowed... no bitterness once downwind, commence pre landing checks (landing gear/ flaps etc) then fly to about 1 mile beyond the runway then turn around 180 onto finals line up and land/ touch and go/ low approach in poorer weather you can fly R2V (radar to visual) this will be done by the approach controller and he will vector you to 10 miles final offset to the deadside and you need to be visual by 5 miles, if not you shouldn't be doing a visual approach ILS this can be done self positioning (i.e. you know where you are so fly to SOMEWHERE where you can pick up the localiser/ glidepath and do an ILS controller positioning... take his headings/ heights to get the localiser (should be vectored to about 10 miles final then given a 40 degree cut onto the localiser to pick it up then fly the ILS TAC2ILS fly a tacan hold then follow published procedures to pick up ILS if you don't have published procedures then fly tacan hold (talk about later) then when pass initial approach fix (final approach fix doesn't technically exist for ATC but for pilots its about 4-5 miles final) turn onto a 1-+ degree cut to the runway centreline and pick up ILS and fly TACAN with this set fly to about 12 miles final doesnt matter which heading you approach at (there is an actual procedure which can be found online on how to fly/join tacan holds what I say here is a basic overview) then turn onto runway heading... when 12 miles runway heading turn around 180 degrees (facing away) when 14/15 miles away turn around 180 degrees (runway heading) until about 12 miles... thats a tacan hold... you then need to follow the published procedure for heights distances and headings. ATC will stack aircraft apart by 1000ft separation if multiple aircraft recover IFR (read bad weather) then the lower aircraft will commence procedure difference between ILS and TACAN ILS is precision approach as described earlier and britmil aircraft need 550m runway visual range to commence ANY approach if not DIVERT for an ILS britmil aircraft WILL have a DH (decision height) the height at witch you have to be visual with the papi's, runway, runway lights to continue... if not go around (missed approach) this is often 200ft QFE but due to terrain, pilot rating, aircraft allowance may be higher non instrument rating trained britmil pilots usually add 200ft making their DH 400ft TACAN is non precision... its a published procedure and a case of do this here... do that there and by this point (missed approach point) you must be visual or go arround (missed approach) this will be slightly different each time you do it due to speed, turning angle, decent speed etc where as ILS you should have the same glidepath each time (making it precision) because of this a TACAN is no precision and has a minimum decent height MDH see published procedure if you don't have it 450 ft is a safe bet if traveling inland and 350 if traveling towards sea (its basically a terrain safe height) you can actually decent to this height whenever (even against published procedure) but you cannot descend below this until you have one of the visual references as mentioned for ILS... if you are not visual by the missed approach point (see published procedure if you don't have it assume 1.5 miles on TACAN) if not then go around and you should execute an ILS if you can. but you SHOULD so an ILS as standard... tacan is only used when ILS fails or for training... we do love some training... IAA is internal aids approach not really modeled in DCS.. or maybe the A-10C can't do it I'm not sure... basically get the airport set as steer point... fly to 10 miles final then when the hud marker is at 3 degrees below the hud horizon then descend at a 3 degree glide path as mentioned 500ft per mile this is my fabricated way of doing it... then when i am at a MDH if not visual then go around ILS and IAA are typically conducted at 1500 ft QFE from 10 miles unless damaged or SSE (simulated single engine) then this will be 15 miles which airfields are used and frequencies and diversion conditions will all be discussed before flight I know this was a long post but I hope this helps people who are unsure of the correct procedures... some things have been very simplified so sorry if you knew all that.