Aluminum Donkey

If you're wondering about it's handling characteristics, i.e. how it responds to the control and how it behaves itself in the air, you'll *love* the F-5. It's a really fantastic flying aircraft. Lightning-fast roll rate, very stall resistant. Nice and smooth but very 'sharp' control response--a great handler! It doesn't have an enormous amount of thrust, though. It's not a plane that will hold an 8g turn without dropping speed. :) It's weapons and radar are limited, but appropriate for an older, inexpensive small fighter. Frankly, my favourite thing about it is the theme music. Set the F-5 wallpaper on, and you have a fantastic, moving soundtrack while you poke around in DCS settings and menus. The music is second to none, the guitarist kicks ass :) AD

If you're using an Nvidia graphics card, the thing to do is go into NVCP, select Manage 3D Settings (only for DCS World if you wish) and make sure Low Latency Mode is turned Off. With it set to Off, the sim can queue up frames, and it allows higher framerates as well as averaging out the time between frames. So, you'll get a much smoother, more fluid flying experience. It works great with Adaptive Refresh (G-Sync/Freesync). I've been using Low Latency Mode for 'twitchy' FPS games, it makes the mouse feel more responsive, but it seems like a bad idea for flight sims. DCS just runs so much better overall with it set to Off. Try it and see! There is no perceivable increase in latency. AD

Just tried the Anton out for free, and it certainly is a cool module. Very nicely done, as ED modules usually are :) I've been able to bring down some P-51s with it, but Spits are hopeless, as they usually are--no hope in Hades of turning with 'em :) It's got gobs of firepower, but is pretty underpowered for air-to-air. Didn't the real Anton have MW50 injection and 2,300 HP or something like that? Or am I wrong? It would have been a real killer with that. AD

Nate, Is your graphics card overclocked? Not just the GPU itself, but also the graphics memory? Are the cooling fans working right, nothing running excessively hot? That'll do it every time. Also, always post your complete system specs in your sig, that way we know what we're working with. Much easier for someone to spot something he might be familiar with. Peace AD

Greetings everyone! What are you all thinking of the A-8? Is it worth getting or is the D-9 really much better? I like WW2 modules and there aren't enough of them! But, the Anton has quite a bit less engine power than the D-9. How is it for control feel and maneuverability? Is it a real dog compared to the D-9? It's be available to try for free soon, and I'm wondering if I should get it, especially since the Eurofighter Typhoon is probably gonna be a really long wait :) AD

Forgotten? It's one of the better ones.

I'm sure China doesn't mind too much. We're all using computers made in China, so why wouldn't they want us flying a sim of their newest fighter jet on them? :) As long as it's overpowered and out-performs everything else in the sim, I'm sure they don't mind at all :) AD

I'm surprised they'll even let us know what color the paint is :) We'll probably have a simplified, if not outright dumbed-down, representation of how the radar works and how well it performs. Same thing goes for datalink, IFF, and probably how many cupholders it has and whether the factory stereo sounds any good (gotta crank that techno while flying the Eurofighter) As long as the flight model is convincing and it really goes like a bat outta hell, and can supercruise, I'm pretty much good to go. This puppy should be leaps and bounds ahead of anything else in DCS, even the mighty F-15 and/or MiG-29. Nothing should be able to touch it in terms of flight performance because the real Typhoon is supposed to have the thrust-to-weight ratio of a space shuttle on crack. Radar/avionics though? Good luck :) AD

Sounds reasonable... So, realistically, about 3 years :)

No, I'm not "new to the Internet", not sure what you meant by that...

So... the one question everyone REALLY wants to ask is... When can we get it? :D :joystick: :thumbup: (Not trying to be a douchebag, it's just that it's about time DCS had a new module that I *really* want!) Cheers :beer: AD

If you're going to ask a question like that, you'll have to give us a LOT more information. Don't leave everyone guessing and taking shots in the dark. What plane? What flight controls? Checked your stick deadbands for proper centering? Checked and assigned trim control for proper functioning? That sort of thing. Only Fly-By-Wire jets can be flown straight and level with your hands off the stick. Everything else requires careful trimming (with a trim control that works!) and a flight stick that centers properly. WW2 aircraft are pretty much hands-on all the time, too. AD

I know it's pretty trivial, but I thought I'd bring this up because I've noticed it for a while. In modules that have a pilot body in the cockpit, the dude doesn't have any noggin. Any insights from people that do have one? :) AD

I think it's unlikely you'll ever wear out an SSD in consumer use, such as a gaming rig. I have a 5-year-old 240GB Kingston V300 drive that I bought back in 2015, and I have a 16GB paging file on it. I have installed and removed numerous large games to & from it more times than I can remember as well, and Kingston SSD Manager shows 96% SSD Life Remaining and none of the spare blocks have been used yet. So, I doubt it's a problem. This is an older, "cheap" SSD and it's standing up just fine. If you have an SSD just use it like any other drive, don't worry about it's lifespan. When it fails after 10 years, just buy another. They keep getting cheaper as well as bigger and better :) AD

Nope. You screwed yourself :) hehehehe I've blown a thousand bux or thereabouts on DCS World, and all I ever really do in it is some furballs and fly around like a civilian flight sim, admiring the scenery. Maybe try to strafe the civilian traffic now and then. I generally only buy modules on sale now. I've burned through too much cash on this :) AD

Anyone else noticing this? Shadows are only drawn for a short distance around your aircraft in 2.5.6. There's a circle of shadows, and none at all beyond that, making the ground scenery really 'flat' and bland beyond about 1000m altitude. Any files I can edit to increase this? Setting shadows to Max has no effect. AD

I have Windows installed on a SATA SSD (C drive) and DCS World is installed on my 250 GB NVMe drive. So, I used mklink to move my Saved Games\DCS folder to the NVMe drive, instead of having it on the C: drive (SATA SSD.) Works for me, so... as they say, "Suck it and see"! :) Depending on how fast your USB drive is, it might take an hour to load a mission instead of the usual half hour. Personally, it makes much more sense to me to use a SATA3 SSD for DCS and use an external USB drive for 'bulk' storage (flicks, tunes, misc smaller apps/games 'n' shyte.) AD

Even with SSLR off, it's still not as good as 2.5.5. Framerate is really good, but it still stutters a bit when you look around. SSLR makes lighting look *really* good! I hope they get it sorted out/optimized. AD

Probably the only way to get decent accuracy with dumb bombs is CCIP. Dive-toss & Level bombing (CCRP) aren't very precise--hence the development of more expensive guided bombs. I can't hit the roof of an aircraft hangar with dumb bombs using CCRP :) AD

Yep, it's really, *really* coarse! Same thing here. Just have to wait until they iron it out if you want to use it. CCIP is the only thing I've ever had much luck with though anyway. Level bombing is nowhere near as accurate, or at least I'm no good at it :) AD

As title says, at least on my end. Doesn't quite look as nice, but it's still good, and runs smoothly without the constant un-even framerate. You can also pan around (F2 view) without it stuttering. So, it would seem the new SSLR lighting is the issue. It looks nice but is causing stuttering problems even for people with beefy computers running high framerates. AD

Your system looks great, but you're just getting back into DCS at Version 2.5.6, a new version with stuttering and framerate problems. Lots of people are griping about it including yours truly :) 2.5.5 ran really well. Not so much this new version which is really stuttery. Lighting and reflections are supposed to be improved, but best of luck getting smooth motion on any kind of hardware--even when you're running at the FPS limit and your CPU and graphics card have plenty of overhead. Anyway, that's what's going on in DCS these days :) AD Edit: I can confirm that, for me anyway, a lot (most) of the stuttering goes away when the new lighting option (SSLR) is turned off. Framerates also improve.

If you absolutely will not overclock, it doesn't matter what board you get. Anything will do as long as it's compatible with your new CPU. The VRM on any compatible mobo will do the trick just fine. The reason for 'high end' VRMs on mobos is to allow maximum overclocking, where power delivery under varying load becomes really finicky. No overclocking? No worries. AD

Not a bad idea! We've just selected the radio option from the menu, we don't need to hear it repeated in speech. AD

That's what I'm thinking. The F/A-18 has been around for quite a while, and it's not done yet! AD