TheHighwayman

I want to establish moving trigger zones to compel the player to maintain a loose formation with a craft he is escorting. Too close and too far are both bad. I can fix moving zones ti an aircraft, but I only want this condition to be active for a time, so I need to switch these trigger zones ON and then OFF later. Is it possible to do this? I cannot seem to find an answer by searching here. Thanks.

Thank you. I'm not sure I know how to read and understand what those lines do? I mean, is there a Rosetta stone kind of resource/key where it explains what each bit does? I need to learn the language. I understand triggers quite well. But scripting is new to me. I know you can do a lot with it. Thanks!

Thank you.

I am experimenting with turning Unit AI off and on. Is it possible to turn off the AI of a unit in flight? The mission involves a drone which I want to fly into a hill, or make a belly landing. Now that the FBI is listening... LOL I don't think it is possible to convince an AI to fly into terrain without its wheels down?

Thank you. I've +1 repped you for helpful information. :)

I am working on a mission that involves one pilot speaking to another. I'd like the interaction to be a little dynamic. Specifically, the player gets to choose between 1-2 or three responses, and a "correct" response improves the outcome while an "incorrect" response contributes to a consequence. I would then need to link the player selections to triggers or flags. But how do I implement this? I have not tampered with radio communications before. However, I have seen custom responses in a user designed mission, although that was about 1-2 installs ago. Thanks for your help.

Here is my latest mission, Double Duty Aggressor. It is in a beta state, so I appreciate feedback. VR recommended for the mission, which starts in the dark before dawn. If you don't have VR, you can still play, but you need your room to be dark. You will fly an F-5 Aggressor as part of a Red Flag exercise. A detailed briefing is included. Pay attention to messages delivered in flight. There are not voiced-over, but the text will appear. Feedback is welcome. This mission is for intermediate to advanced pilots. Novices may find it very difficult. Good luck and let me know what you think! Double Duty Aggressor.miz

I may have same. B-52 does not climb above about 10,000 ft, except intermittently. I have been testing a scenario I designed, sometimes it works as it should, other times not. Not sure why or how to fix.

Yep, that was the problem. Ugh me. Thank you for the reply.

Dolfo, that may be the issue! I was able to fire normally, but only if I did not drop my tank. That was when the thought occurred to me, it could be the jettison switch. I will be testing it again shortly. I think that's the issue.

Could we please get an Aggressor skin or two for the USAF Aggressor F-16 and F-18, please? There is already an Aggressor skin for the F-18, but it is only under USA faction. Could it be copied to the USAF Aggressors faction too, please? Thanks!

YES, I read the manual. And yes, I know how to fire the missiles in the F-5. LOL I am building a custom mission on Nevada. Here is my procedure: 1. Power on pylons 2. Set Mode to MSL 3. Take off 4. Master Arm switch cover up, Master Arm to MSL/CAM (up position) I hear the seeker growl and I can fire a missile into space at nothing. No tone required, just shoot into space. However, when I repeat this procedure against a target, regardless if I have radar on or not, or have a target locked or not, nothing happens. I can fire guns, but the missiles don't shoot, even with a good tone. There is a moment in my flight when I power off the wingtip pylons to selectively jettison my centerline tank, prior to combat. Then, I switch them right back on. Not sure if this could be the problem. Either I am missing a step, or this is a bug. Occam's razor tells me I'm the one that's at fault, but I have no idea why. Thank you in advance for helping.

I think you need to power ON the pylons where the fuel tanks are, in ADDITION TO switching their fuel feed on. So that means you must turn on switches on both the left and right side of the cockpit. The switches on the left power on the pylons, the ones on the right feed the fuel.

I would like to organize some human vs human training. It would be great if we could find someone who can coach a bit. I know what I know, but I'm certain there's a lot more to know. Also, I received this information from a FB post. I did not write what follows, but it is good enough I think I should repost it here. The author, if he reads this, is welcome to accept credit. ACM is a game of inches, and the Tiger II is working with a 6' tape measure in a world most others are 12 or 24. This means you have to be precise in both your decision making and technique, because your margin of error is so small- they can afford to be sloppy. You can't. The biggest single factor in wringing more performance out of the F-E is your feet. There is no aircraft in DCS that the jet can't best in roll rate, and capitalizing on that requires cutting out the middle-man in many situations- the unload. Get comfortable tagging the pedals to roll while loaded up; this applies to most aircraft, but the F-5 even more so, because you've got the shark nose variant to aid in control at alpha and your rate is nowhere as low, or as uncontrollable, as most types with the stick back in your lap. Turn up the ambient cockpit volume- you need that wind noise, unless you've got one of those seat shakers. Learn the sound of 15 degrees AoA. Make it a notification sound on your phone. Maximize your time with the charts and your notes realizing where that sound resides based on the stick and your entry speed for a sustained turn. We don't have the cues a pilot has, and in a jet that doesn't have the smash to recover from excursions below it's best sustained performance, surrendering it means death, or a long road out of defensive to get back into fighting trim. Speaking of trim, ABT: Always Be Trimming. If it takes as much work trimming out as she does to maintain stable flight, think about how much you should be using it in the fight. Trimming to expectation between maneuver can help accelerate transitions, as well as increase your precision for finding the best performance. And if you're having trouble with the sustained rate AoA, trim nose down- make your muscles work to get to the best turn, rather than overshoot it. Lie, cheat, and steal at every merge. Fight for lateral separation- get out of his HUD, stay there for a moment, then point directly at him in pure to make certain your smallest possible aspect is showing. If the situation permits, be beneath him to compound the problem. This won't help against AI, but practicing it cold makes it natural when shooting at warm bodies. Lastly, remember why you're having to pay so much attention to AoA- energy, and how it needs to be conserved. We naturally want to turn early; vocalize that you need to wait. Go for 5 and 7 where you normally start turning at 4 and 8. Combine that late turn with rudder, and you gain back what you lose in lower sustained G and a larger circle. Put even two of these things into practice, consistently, and you'll notice dividends. ADDED LATER: Also, if you really want to get a good feel for the aspect and pedals, and have Nevada, run the Air to Air mission against the F-14. Burner, gradual climb to his altitude as he goes vertical at the start. Dont get below 350 in your incline. He should break left or right, and down into you, maybe a mile lateral. Every instinct in your being is going to say start turning at his 2 or 10. Wait. You'll see the window open around 4/8- run it twice, once turning there, pure stick, and a second time with the rudder, gradually putting it in at 5/7. You'll see it, and it will feel natural. You'll be slightly higher than him, and you'll see how the carve of the latter lets you make more angles than the former. You'll start seeing Sidewinder on that first turn with pedal, and stuck in lag without. If you get really comfortable, you can make the earlier entry with the rudder and kill him with guns on that first turn. When you can see that picture, you're getting where you want to be.

And get tacview, if you haven't already, to watch your performance. You might notice a thing to two that can help you.

Same here. It's sluggish and underpowered. I set up a match with and F-15 vs an F-5, and with me in the Eagle, there was no match. The plane loses a lot of speed in turns, so you have to turn gently, not aggressively, unless you're turning to take a shot. The plane was never designed to be an air-superiority fighter, so you can't expect that it will perform like one. As always, tactics help a lot. I've been studying BFM in detail, watching the "Art of the Kill" and reading "Fighter Combat Tactics" as well as sundry tactics videos. In the past month or so, my skills have gone from always dying to at least staying alive against each opponent. I can now kill 1 of my two opponents almost half the time, and I still die perhaps ten percent of the time. However, this is a big improvement over always just dying. Learning what to do, when to do it, and why, and how made a big difference for me. If interested, PM me and we can work out some time to practice some maneuvers if you like. I'm by no means an expert, but the practice will help both of us. I wish there were more instructional missions and more people to train with.

Ha! Just got the book today, reading pg. 155 trying to pick out something relevant. I tested the idea that the AI goes vertical when you're slower. I can now confirm this. When I'm faster, he turns horizontally. So, now it's just a matter of practice. Thanks!

Same exact problem. No solution yet, I guess?

Thanks guys. I'm going to test this out. I know what to do when they do a horizontal turn, but those vertical fights are something I haven't mastered yet. I'm keeping the practice up! +1 to both of you for the helpful info.

I've created a variety of missions to practice my BFM in the F-5. I do a lot of F-5 vs. F-5 still. But I've also done vs. MiG 21, and F-4. No matter who my opponent seems to be, after the pass, they just love to go vertical, despite the fact the F-5 isn't well suited for the vertical fight. 1. Why the affinity for this as a first move after tha pass? 2. How do you like to counter it?

I keep losing energy in my turns in the F-5. I'm a bit of a noob, so that's my official excuse. I've tried finding a solution on YouTube and in the forums, but I can't find an answer that makes sense to me. Ergo, I am posting here. How do I turn in the thing during a dogfight, without losing energy to the point of stalling. My Tiger always wants to stall. I have tried turning slow, I have tried turning with flaps down, I have tried turning with my nose down. No matter what I do, I am losing energy. Can you please tell me how you turn efficiently in combat? I appreciate your time and answers. Thanks!

The installation program for the Saitek G panel SAYS it is installing a profiler, but I have never seen one for the panel. The profiler I have, which adjusts my Saitek Rhino controller, does not seem to detect the panel. However, the good news is you don't need to worry about that. 1. Install the Saitek G Panel driver from the Saitek site 2. Follow these instructions https://github.com/jdahlblom/DCSFlig...ion/Manual.pdf and make sure you have the correct files and folders copied to your saved games folder. (Note, there is NO folder called "Saved Games" within DCS, it is instead the "OpenBeta" folder or something like that. 3. Install the ProUSBPanel program 4. Run the ProUSBPanel program 5. Run DCS And it should work. The tricky part is having the correct files copied to the correct spot. That's the part I don't remember very well. A list of those files and where to find them would be most useful. We need someone who has this down pat to revise the install guide and make it so simple to follow a child can do it. At this point, a person has to view 3-4 different sources to get the complete run down of what to do, how to do it, why, and when.

LOL Yeah. I love my new panel and it is easy to use, once it is configured. I do wish I could use a different config for each airframe. One of the problems I've encountered is each module has different names for the same command and different keypresses. It's difficult for me to decide what to send to the panel vs. what to send to the stick and throttle, or leave on the keyboard. But that's nothing to do with the panel. As for the panel, I think there's a need for a new, clear and concise installation guide. My feeble attempt is posted above, and while incomplete and crude, it worked. It took me a few hours, but I found some of the problem was I needed a fresh brain, which I had yesterday. The day I got the panel I was tired and impatient which added to my confusion. Thanks for your work!

I got the darn thing to work! Do not plug in the switch panel yet, leave it unconnected to your computer. 1. Install the driver from Saitek http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php From the "Choose Your Product Range" pulldown, choose: -Pro Flight (even though nothing on the Saitek G product, packaging, or manual labels it a "Pro Flight" item, I suppose it is implied). Under Select Product choose: -Pro Flight Switch Panel Under "Select Operating System" choose: -Your operating system Pay attention to which OS you choose and 32 vs 64 bit. This will download your driver. 2. Run the downloaded program to install the driver. -The driver will install, this takes only a few seconds. then it will ask to install a software package. Agree at the prompt to install this although it does not appear to install a particular software for use, the software is essential. 3. FOLLOW these instructions which are good, but a little confusing. https://github.com/jdahlblom/DCSFlightpanels/blob/master/Documentation/Manual.pdf "Step 5" is awkwardly worded. You need to copy the specified files TO that folder, not from it. (You cannot copy files from it, since they are not there initially. However, a literal reading of the instruction will cause confusion as you look for files to copy that aren't there. Obviously copying FROM cannot complete an installation, which is your hint do copy TO that file.) 4. You need to find "export.lua" and copy it to your saved games folder. For me, this was This PC> Windows> Users> My Name> Saved Games> DCS.openbeta> Mission Editor There are several files that need to be copied here but I do not have a list of them. They are all JSON and LUA files for different aircraft. This is where I become unclear because I don't remember precisely what I did. Perhaps someone can come behind me and correct me. 5. Open the ProUsbPanels application. 6. Click on NEW and choose NONE or the Module you wish to configure to panel for. 7. This part is unintuitive and isn't explained anywhere, but click the little tab on the screen that says "PZ55." This will show you the panel and you can begin configuring your buttons. This is the best I can do for now, I hope it helps someone out there.

I got the darn thing to work! Do not plug in the switch panel yet, leave it unconnected to your computer. 1. Install the driver from Saitek http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php From the "Choose Your Product Range" pulldown, choose: -Pro Flight (even though nothing on the Saitek G product, packaging, or manual labels it a "Pro Flight" item, I suppose it is implied). Under Select Product choose: -Pro Flight Switch Panel Under "Select Operating System" choose: -Your operating system Pay attention to which OS you choose and 32 vs 64 bit. This will download your driver. 2. Run the downloaded program to install the driver. -The driver will install, this takes only a few seconds. then it will ask to install a software package. Agree at the prompt to install this although it does not appear to install a particular software for use, the software is essential. 3. FOLLOW these instructions which are good, but a little confusing. https://github.com/jdahlblom/DCSFlightpanels/blob/master/Documentation/Manual.pdf "Step 5" is awkwardly worded. You need to copy the specified files TO that folder, not from it. (You cannot copy files from it, since they are not there initially. However, a literal reading of the instruction will cause confusion as you look for files to copy that aren't there. Obviously copying FROM cannot complete an installation, which is your hint do copy TO that file.) 4. You need to find "export.lua" and copy it to your saved games folder. For me, this was This PC> Windows> Users> My Name> Saved Games> DCS.openbeta> Mission Editor There are several files that need to be copied here but I do not have a list of them. They are all JSON and LUA files for different aircraft. This is where I become unclear because I don't remember precisely what I did. Perhaps someone can come behind me and correct me. 5. Open the ProUsbPanels application. 6. Click on NEW and choose NONE or the Module you wish to configure to panel for. 7. This part is unintuitive and isn't explained anywhere, but click the little tab on the screen that says "PZ55." This will show you the panel and you can begin configuring your buttons. This is the best I can do for now, I hope it helps someone out there.