Redglyph

bump. Is Belsimtek reading those error reports? Also, there seems to be a problem with the update of the Huey weight. When I hook a cargo the first time then unhook it, as soon as I hooked a cargo for the 2nd time the helicopter gets a lot of buoyancy and climbs quite fast, as if its mass was suddenly reduced dramatically.

To add to what the others have already said, there is a "P-51D High Stakes" campaign which runs on the default Caucasian map and is quite nice. You can also simply download DCS 1.5 for free, which has this Caucasian map and the TF-51D, this will give you a pretty good idea. The P-51D is of course more polished and has the weapons system. Regarding the Normandy map and the Epsom campaign for the Spitfire, make sure you have a top-notch PC, currently it's almost impossible to play otherwise (I'd actually wait a bit for this one). Among others, a fast SSD is mandatory to help with the long loading times and especially the stuttering.

Nice article, thanks! :) "I can remember that in the default Spring Tension campaign soldiers boarding the helos were animated." :huh: I've never seen this in DCS, with the Huey or the Mi-8... was it long ago? I've not owned the Mi-8 for a long time, so I suppose it's a DCS feature that was removed. I've always felt those missions were breaking out of immersion when troops or people were supposedly coming aboard the helicopter but couldn't be seen.

I landed the cargo softly without any collision or obstacle around with which it could have collided. The cargo looked intact, when it crashes in DCS there is a message, like you said, and the cargo looks destroyed. The score was 100, even though there was this mission message that the cargo was destroyed. So if that's not per design, it's an anomaly. I've also noted there was a pouring rain, but a nice blue sky with a few clouds, it's not really consistent nor convincing ;)

I'm not sure. I've tried with a little test mission in attachment (just 3 cargos to play with at Sukhumi), and although I could hook the first and unhook it, as soon as I hooked the 2nd the helicopter got a lot of buoyancy and climbed quite fast, as if its mass was suddenly reduced dramatically. The vision turned black for a while, the cable snapped and the cargo crashed. Very strange. Looks like the mass is not updated correctly, but perhaps it was just a glitch? UH-1H.Cargo.Sukhumi.miz

Hello, BSM support? Any reply? This bug is still in 1.5.7.9411.361.

I confirm 1.5.7.8899.335 seems to still have it. Has this bug been reported to BST? If not I can post there (there's little chance they read it though...)

They are trying to apply the FSX/P3D/XPlane paradigm to DCS, that's a bit weird and I'm not sure they'll find the same type of customers here, but oh well, let's see. The Mi-8 is a great module after all. In a general note, and not necessarily speaking of this case, it's always left me nonplussed how much vendors were trying to make a profit of so many little things in these other sims, aircraft (OK), sceneries (very much OK too), aircraft add-ons like this GPS (err, why not), subscriptions to navigation charts (eh? for hobby simmers, really?), push-back tractors, ATCs, fuel estimation tools, ambiant sounds, good-looking clouds, weather engines, online courses on how to fly an add-on (I've seen it, I swear it exists!), and more :D They're surely creative. That being said, the day a good developer sells a nice C152 or a Schweizer 300, I'm buying it! :)

Without log files, unfortunately, it will be hard to find a common ground between those occurrences :/ And then we'd have to make sure Belsimtek see them.

I've put the fix in the User Files section in case anyone is interested, since I don't expect it to be integrated in a DCS release anytime soon. (link will be functional once the file has been activated by moderator) https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/2855916/ There isn't any TF-51D unit in the list, so it's in the "other" category...

Ah, even with the language settings to English, you're correct. I was looking at the labels, and what must be the only gauge with Latin characters :D In any case, it's pretty ugly, even the standard English cockpit has a problem with the labels:

Most probably the settings is back to default. Also, M3LLC has added a new drop-down to let the user choose between several custom/default cockpits. Check the main menu settings, in the "special" category, click on the Mig-21bis, you'll see the drop-down. Select "custom" or whatever folder name you have used for this cockpit livery. That should do it :)

DCS 2.1.1.8244.248, settings on first screenshot. The cockpit isn't visible at night either, so no night mission at the moment. The red labels (central knob) are not working anymore, see 2nd screenshot. The flood light is a very bright magenta, even on the first settings, see 2nd screenshot. The white flood also produces the same magenta lighting on the first settings. The flood light also radiates outside the aircraft, see 2nd screenshot. From outside, it is not visible though (which isn't a concern), see 3rd screenshot. EDIT: somehow the forums won't show my settings screenshot, so 1st screenshot is missing.

I'm very impressed by the level of detail and accuracy of the missions, or the part I could see anyway, awesome! A quick report, not sure whether I should put that in the bug reports just yet as it's mostly DCS 2.1 & Spitfire module problems. It's DCS v 2.1.1.8244.248 1) Performance-wise, quite hard to fly, even harder to enjoy. When I start the mission, it's frozen from 5-10 seconds, then remains very stuttery for a long time on the ground, and when flying around the airfield. I don't have that with small missions or flying in Normandy in general, I assume it's the amount of aircraft in the formation. My specs are below, I'm using an SSD for DCS, and the settings are in attachment. I know I let anti-aliasing, but I can't remove it without getting a lot of distorsion, and it's just a constant drop in FPS which doesn't bother me too much. The current problem with this mission is the sim regularly freezing for tens of seconds. Perhaps being able to switch the mirror off again, or solving the Spit propeller performance problem, or optimizing the anti-aliasing could help a bit with FPS. But there's something else in the smoothness of it all. 2) The first time I ran the mission, 2 started rolling and taxiing before I did, went past me while I was still parked, and remained on the RWY threshold, blocking the way. - I used ATC to ask permission to start - started the engine - I may have rolled a little bit, but really not more than a few feet, when starting the engine The 2nd time, it didn't happen. But there's probably room to secure the trigger a little bit, or add another one for the leader to make sure this doesn't happen. 3) The engine sound regularly disappears, completely. So it's not drown, it's just stopped. Apparently because of the (number of) sounds of the other aircraft, I had the same when designing a small mission with a few B-17s starting their engine close by. This can be easily reproduced by switching from internal to external view, for example while flying in formation, or on the ground just before take-off. This seems like the same sound issue that has been reported since the Spitfire was out (with the gun sounds disappearing). If I fly farther from them, and start fiddling with the throttle and propeller settings, the sound comes back for a while, but it disappears again in the same circumstances as described above. Very disturbing to have to fly without hearing one's engine. 4) Same with the gun fire. I tried to attack a ground target but couldn't hear my guns. With the performance dropping, it was even hard to know whether I was firing or not, I could only be sure when reading the debriefing log. => So for me, it's a potentially great, great campaign but DCS simply isn't ready for it yet, I'll let it sleep for now because I simply can't run it properly, let alone enjoy it at all. I'm also really concerned things will get like this when Caucasus is updated too.

It seems one can't even turn it off by disabling it in the scripts like before. Probably an intermediate state before merging with 2.1? The propeller animation is also very annoying, and it was reported before as one cause of slowdown, so it could be either the fake mirror or that. I believe there was a fix for the prop, you may try that and see if that improves the situation. Here's one mod that was improving the framerate: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/2306815/ Not sure it's still compatible with the current version though.

:thumbup:

1) Regarding the framerate, you should check your log file to see whether it's a normal size or huge. Ctrl+L apparently triggers a detailed log feature in DCS (unconfirmed by ED). If you hit that by accident instead of Ctrl+Shift+L, that would slow down DCS significantly, and there is no warning. You have to exit DCS and restart it for this to switch off, you needn't do anything else. 2) A little tip, since it's not in the KNEEBOARD KEYBINDS.jpg file: LShift+LCtrl+C activates a downlook camera, the image appears in a small window that lets you see below and the normal cockpit view at the same time, I found it a precious help. It's mentioned in the mission 5 pdf too. 3) Sorry for the silly question, have you designated the cargo first with the communication/F10 menu?

PFM, but SSM and not ASM at this stage, correct?

Yes, good remark, that would be another way, especially for those who have several mods. Fortunately now they added this great dropdown in the settings and it's not necessary anymore. I just haven't tried in 2.1 to see how it looks with the new updates in the graphics engine, last time it reset to the default cockpit and I left it like that. In any case, glad some are still enjoying it (and once again it's not my work, I barely reorganized the files) :)

(old news) M3 fixed the problem in 1.5.6.4818, now this cockpit can be selected from a drop-down list in the settings :) Not sure Quatermaster's cockpit still works correctly with 2.1, I'll test that later at some point when things get more stable.

It's not only the guns. If I start the engine next to a B-17, I hear nothing at all, the engine sound is absent, even the priming pump has no sound. Sometimes switching from internal to external view and back restores the sound, or simply waiting until other aircraft are far away, but it's not always restored. I haven't noticed this bug with other aircraft. Experienced in 2.1.1, but that was from the beginning in 2.1.

These Spit sounds are a big improvement, but as zionid said, there are some annoying sounds that could be dealt with. For instance, there's a sound at the back of the cockpit which is really weird, or the sounds heard when the canopy is open seems to come from a distance. Then there's the overall issue of the disappearing sounds on the Spit. If one happens to have a B-17 taking off within hearing distance, the engine sounds of the Spit stop and the user has to switch views to hopefully get them back. So we're never sure we're hearing the whole orchestra.

You mean the F/A-18 thingy? ;)

Thanks a lot for trying, it's a bit sad they could only provide this poor sample. I never did any sound mod, but I suppose they require different parts of sufficient length that the engine sound can shift depending on the desired RPM (frequency), and with enough precision. I hope we can find such sample, a Spitfire without its own voice feels just wrong.

Nice compilation, thanks for that and the reminder! :)