FeistyLemur

The Mig 21 is ultimately a very simple plane. The cockpit looks kind of intimidating, (particularly if it's all in Russian labeling.) But there are ultimately very few systems to memorize. I think my most common mistake early on was having the switches in the wrong position for missile launching. That and flaming it out with negative G maneuvering. The A10 has a lot of things to remember. But the cockpit itself and the hotas controls are very well laid out. I've only begun to learn the a10, but it's easy to fly and easy to get overwhelmed in combat with so many capabilities. I don't think any other plane I have in DCS can compare to the way the mig21 "feels" to fly. I've tried all the FC3 planes, the, a10c, the shark of course, and the mig 15. But none of them are just as fun to fly as the 21. It's just so fast and responsive I find, and I really like the analog flight instruments. I've gotten kind of used to the russian style ones.

Ok, well you keyboard ninjas that can press ctrl left win pg-up or some other crazy double modifier with your eyes closed, in under half a second, and with zero peripheral vision to even orient your hand from the controller to the keyboard can keep living that illusion.

So your solution is I take both hands off my controls, orient them to my keyboard by looking for the f and j, the keyboard is also in front of my stick mounted vertically I might add. Um no, and if you say you can press random 2 modifier combos in a "split second" with accuracy, with your eyes closed, Then ok Batman.

I don't know if I write things that are too long and people just don't read them but I explained above pretty much everything about how those boards work with DCS. I had an email conversation with the desktop aviator guy telling him it works well in DCS as well so I don't know why there's still misinformation out there. The inputs show up as windows joystick and are usable by any command in DCS that supports joystick buttons. If you redirect it to keyboard output with autohotkey it supports any DCS command that is keyboard only as well. End of story.

I avoided the track clip pro for ages because people said it was too fragile. But I finally got one and there's no comparison to the hat clip. It was a massive noticeable improvement for me. And it fits the steelseries headsets really well, which I have. I've had no problems at all with the foam getting too loose, or with the clip. It does look delicate and could easily break if you drop the headset, but overall I'm extremely happy with it. If the latch does beak like some people say it does, a wrap of electrical tape will solve that issue. As for the foam, if it does develop issues I would probably just cut some packing foam to size and replace it. I thought of making my own because it's not really that hard. But in the end I went lazy and just bought one.

I see a problem with a solution. ED just needs enough money to buy an SU-35 for testing. I mean hey if they'll export them to china and other countries. Get a kickstarter going, I'm sure Putin will go for that.

Yep, I use one of his pulse boards. It works good and you don't have to use any scripting if you don't want to. Also he's good to deal with. The downside is you get less bang for your buck number wise by using up 2 buttons for each switch. If I had to do it over, I'd just get the on off switches and use autohotkey. I was resistant to auto hotkey but now having tried it, I love it. I'm looking at getting rotary encoders and 3 way toggles for my next project. That is totally wrong information someone gave above about separate on / off commands. His pulse boards are ideal for that. The on/off boards can also easily be scripted with autohotkey to work with any on off commands you can dream up. I use the 2237 shown on this page. http://www.desktopaviator.com/Products/Model_2230/index.htm Things to consider. Is the function you want to bind directx joystick button bindable. This shows up as a joystick button so if not you cant bind it. EG: the radio + - in the mig21 can only be keyboard bound (you can still do it, you just have to use autohotkey to rebind it to the keyboard). You get less toggles with pulse than constant on, but can be easier to use. Make sure you get the right board for what you want and give it some thought first. And don't be scared of autohotkey, it's fantastic. Also, I recommend getting his ready made connector cables. I soldered everything with solid hook up wire and it was kind of a pain doing up that many tiny connectors. Basically he's using Leo Bodnar chips to make his own product. But Leo Bodnar doesn't offer the pulsed models. His deals for toggle switches are reasonable too. Those things are pricey at all the electronics retailers. Best I can tell he's ordering them in large lots from alibaba. They're of decent quality. I bought SPST toggles from him as well. He's in Florida so the shipping is ideal for U.S. buyers. With the Canadian dollar, I'm kind of screwed right now for buying more stuff from him. Adding a picture of mine. It's not painted yet because it's a pain to get custom spray paint mixed and I haven't gotten around to it yet. But when I do the steel will be ugly soviet mig21 green. I ordered the modeling paint from ebay to get color matched. This is using the 2237-sp and it works great. I use it daily in dcs.

That is kind of what I get my satisfaction out of in sims. Learning all the complex controls and the different procedures, as well as building panels. If I had the space I would build a full proper sim pit separate from my desk. Maybe when there's a better interface and the resolution is better it will be more interesting to me.

I also use Vaicom, a full TM warthog hotas setup, and a custom toggle panel I made with 15 additional switches. I don't use much on the keyboard either, but I do still use it for some things. And I find using toggle switches without being able to glance at them frustrating as well. I'd much rather glance and hit the switch quickly than feel around the whole setup looking for the one I want and still make a mistake at a crucial point. VR would have to be really, really amazing to make fumbling around blind worth it for me in sims. Now if you could make hand motion controls that weren't clunky and awful that allowed me to have a virtual avatar in the plane that actually was pleasant to use and interact with the clickable cockpit, I would be down for that. Until then though, I think I'll pass on vr.

I can touch type perfectly fine. Over 60 words per minute. I can't take my hand from my side off my throttle and quickly press ctrl shift {key}. If you can when your hands aren't oriented to the keyboard and your eyes are covered I'd love to see it. Pressing complex key combos is a lot different than finding a light switch. My toggle switch box is a dead simple grid and if I don't glance at it with peripheral vision I can even make mistakes and flip the wrong switch. I'm sure it will be fine for FPS games. I can't see it working well for more complex sim modules. Unless you plan to learn braille or something.

I use a 1440p 27 inch monitor right now. When 4k becomes doable, ie when Nviida's hbm2 cards become commonplace, I'm debating the idea of a 43 inch 4k tv as a monitor. But I'm skittish about the whole TV as monitor thing.

1771 already, he's made a lot of pedals in just a few months from my 1300 series. The enthusiast flight sim community must be larger than I thought.

I see people saying they don't need to see their controls, I don't know how. I can't ever envision a VR headset working well unless you went full in cockpit clicking and hotas controls only. I mean close your eyes, put your hands at your sides, then try quickly pressing a 2 modifier random key combo.

Missions with AI doing sead seem to be a problem. I have the modified mig29 campaign, over the hump that was adapted for the mig21. I've never been able to get past mission 2 because the SU25's you're supposed to escort have never been able to complete their mission once. They don't get shot down by air assets, the sam site they're tasked with either takes them out or they just run out of ordnance and RTB.

The upgrade of 8.1 has an option to roll back to 8.1 for a limited time. At least mine did when I did it. I think it was 30 days.

Problem, Caster chairs slide away from rudder pedals. But the wheel stand pro has this useful looking quick release latch on the right side of the base. Just add one 1953 SKS sling, and a zip tie for the perfect quick attach (and easily adjustable) solution.

No problems whatsoever with windows 10. Did the "upgrade" path from 8.1 and it was seemingly flawless and fast. I reloaded from scratch after that just because I'm kind of nitpicky that way and I was curious to see what the loading from scratch experience was like. It was really quick and problem free. Overall I have almost no complaints. The forced updates are a little annoying but they haven't caused me a problem yet. I use DCS 1.5.3 mind you not 2.0, but should be the same. Also use TrackIR, voice attack with vaicom, TM Warthog drivers, autohotkey, mfg crosswind calibration software, all of it has worked flawlessly. Target for the TM warthog as well though I didn't keep using it because I just don't care for it. Other gaming has all been completely problem free as well. Objectively it was probably the most seamless Windows transition experiences I've had.

I upgraded to 5.4.1 the other day. Works great. I like that it works without admin mode finally, and it's nice that it properly binds joystick buttons. When I installed it I removed everything I could find relating to the old install, and backed up the profiles. One thing I also removed was the separate "naturalpoint 64 bit drivers" before I did the 5.4.1 install. I don't remember the exact version I upgraded from, something in the 5.2s. If you tried another computer with a totally fresh install and it didn't work that's strange. Maybe its some weird hardware problem.

Well, it is a lot to remember especially when you're on the spot in combat. But repetition and experience should take care of that. After I mastered the basics of starting and flying the plane and the individual weapons systems I decided to take it out on an online server and blow up some tanks. I found just this though. Without the experience and confidence in what to do it's very easy to just panic and forget what to do in combat. So much more practice is needed for myself before wading into a target rich environment like the multiplayer server strike areas tend to be. I still find it much easier to pick up the basics than I found the Black Shark though. Because the plane is basically a really logically laid out and well organized flying computer.

I decided to devote this weekend to starting to learn the a10c finally as well. I bought the module last fall on a sale and kind of set it aside for another day because it seemed overwhelming. I just finished the in game training and found the plane so far to be a breeze to operate. The in game training seemed like a good basic overview of the systems. I think compared to the black shark it's just laid out so well with hotas controls that makes it a treat to operate in comparison. And after mastering landing the Mig-21 all I could do is laugh as the a10 lazily set down onto the runway for the first time attempting a landing. I think I'm going to have a ton of fun online with the GAU-8. Now I'm sorry I waited so long to start learning it. It's really a pretty fun and easy to learn aircraft with a great control setup. I guess having the TM warthog makes it a lot easier as well.

The f5 is being developed, Can't wait really to have f5 v mig21 servers. I just hope there's enough interest to make it work. The thing with multiplayer as it stands right now the only really populated server I have an acceptable ping to seems to be the 104th server. And it's a fine server, but really air to air combat seems it should just be called f15c online more than anything. Problem is I really can't bring myself to fly the f15. It's pretty satisfying when you catch a completely clueless newbie in the f15 and see that joyful chat message of 'so and so in f15c was killed by R3R'. I even just love seeing that when it's someone else's 21 and not my own. I think I have like 3 kills vs the F15 as a lifetime total in the 21. But they were all ambushes from the dirt of course. But not all the missions are 21 friendly since you pretty much have to hide like a rat in the mountains and keep your eyes peeled hoping to find someone who dares to fly too high. And if the mission doesn't take place over mountains, well, I'm sure you know how that goes for poor old 21. The aim 120 is probably in flight toward you when you're still lifting your landing gear. Mostly I've been having a ton of fun flying the shark online doing Air to Ground attack. It inspired me to finally put in the work to learn the A10C, since ground attack is so much fun.

Controls also play a big role. The 50 dollar toy joystick most people use is woeful for controlling a plane. I say this as a former owner of many cheap toy joysticks. A good joystick with an extension and quality rudder pedals is worth every penny for a sim enthusiast. This I find is even more noticeable for non experts like myself. For experienced pilots or even experienced simmers, it's much easier to do well with a shitty joystick. For someone who's learning it's even harder to learn with a shit joystick. I base my opinion on my own experiences starting DCS with a 50$ TM all in one stick/throttle piece of junk, and switching to a TM warthog with 10cm extension and MFG crosswind pedals. For me this was a massive difference that made learning all that much easier.

For helicopters with the warthog just get an extension. I use a 10cm extension from sahaj in Poland. Most reviewers who fly choppers say the 15cm extension is ideal. I got a 10 because I wanted a balance. http://warthog-extensions-by-sahaj.com/ Trust me when I say order a set of MFG crosswinds, you'll never regret. 7000 times better experience flying a chopper. Do whatever you have to in order to be able to use real rudder pedals. http://mfg.simundza.com/blog/

Found the problem. Time for my first bug report. Under "Call ATC' heading, select multipart command "Nalchik*' scroll through the definitions. Nalchik is mistyped as Malchik. It's mis-typed in every one of the profiles. I fixed it in all of the profiles I chose to import and it works good now. Amazing what a monkey wrench a small boy can throw into things when he sneaks into your code isn't it.

Did you make the whole assembly? If so how much did it cost in materials and how much time did it take to make? I've been interested in something like this for a while. There's a local machinist with a full shop who does work for really reasonable prices, I'm now debating taking him the articulation parts and asking can you make this.