Bearfoot

At least, as things stand now with the architecture of DCS, user map modifications are purely cosmetic/aesthetic, and visible exclusively to the end user who has downloaded them. The "purely cosmetic" bit means that any changes to, e.g., airfields, will only not change the airfield functionality, however it looks ... and these cosmetic/aesthetics will only be seen if you download the mod. Having said that, servers may employ object-based mods, which will not only look different, but will also behave differently --- e.g., https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=124251 . These, too, however, IIRC, you will have to install on your end to get on the server and get working. All of these have you "opted out" by default: you have to take active measures to join servers supporting these mods, which may range from the fanciful/ridiculous ahistorical to highly rigorously (para-)historical but post WW2-era.

(1) The map will be whatever map mod you have locally: if you have a special "Southeast Asia" jungle mod for Normandy, that's what you see, regardless of what's on the server; if you have a special "Ice Age Earth" mod for Normandy, that's what you see, regardless of what's on the server; if you have stock, that's what you see, regardless of what's on the server. (2) Servers that go "ahistorical" (in quotes, because it need not be so much ahistorical as historical but post-WW2) will advertise themselves as such, target, e.g. jet combat, as opposed to classic warbird combat ... you, in this, as in every thing, have the choice. You would choose not to go online on these servers and stick to the stock WW2 servers that will be available. (3) I am, as you know, a warbird fan. But I, for one (and I also know for a fact many others as well) am seriously looking forward to flying helo's over Normandy in a "Cold War gone hot" scenario, which would include, probably 3rd gen jets and other other contemporary assets. I do not consider this any less realistic or authentic than any other scenario we have in this great sand box that is DCS. Or rather, the realism/authenticity of this will be up to the mission designers and player community, but the potential for the realism is very, very, very, high. With the P-51/F-86/Mig-15 and possibly the Sioux mod, we get really good Korean-war era "Cold War gone hot in Europe" possibilities. With the F-5/Mig-21/Huey/Mi-8 we get really good Vietnam-war era "Cold War gone hot in Europe" possibilities. Fast-forward 10-20 years, and we can throw in the Gazelle, BO, etc. Lots of interesting fun all around by all, in no way which will impact your personal warbird experience.

BRILLIANT idea!

:lol:

Thanks for the info. Wow, that's a lot of hassle! In any case, as I still have not got a shipping notification, it appears, for better or worse, that this will be an academic issue in this instance ... no delivery this week :( :) But good to know for future reference!

Thanks! I guess the air is filtered, so that the air it blows is not dusty? We have two dogs, four cats, a baby, and live in an old country house. "Dust" doesn't even begin to describe the air -- there is regular dust, outside dust, field dust, pet dander, human dander, etc. etc. etc. I try to keep the computer room a little isolated, but you know how it goes ... :( I'm actually considering setting up an air filter like this (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N9CPQK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER) in the room just to help a little bit. The case's filters have done a decent job --- after 1 year there is only light coating of dust on the inside --- but the intake fans have thick almost sticky smear of dust that took me long time to wipe off with microfibre and alcohol. I did not want to take said microfiber and alcohol to the motherboard and other interior surfaces, though, hence consideration of mechanical assistance!

Thanks! I purposely got myself a big case, a Corsair 708T, so I hope space is not an issue. I was actually considering a Noctua nh-d15s, till I got swayed by the all-in-one water cooler idea, like the Corsair Hydro or Kraken. Will revisit the Noctua in my considerations!

One more question! So, if necessary, would there it be possible to communicate to the courier to leave the box, e.g., in our garage, without signature if I happen to be out of town for the delivery? (I still have not got the shipping notification yet, so I am assuming that it is unlikely that it will come at the end of this when I will be out of town, but just in case ... )

The Reddit post to which I linked earlier summarizes this more lucidly and accurately than I have ever seen anywhere else. You should probably read it even if you have no interest in getting either the K4 or the Spit. Yes, dogfighting is not just turning. "Which plane works better" has, as I'm sure you know, only one accurate if unsatisfactory answer, "it depends"! Yes, any plane can be learned, but: (a) some planes are easier to learn than others; (b) some planes are more fun to learn than others; © some planes are more fun and/or easier to fly after you learn them, regardless of how easy/difficult they are to learn. Just like your A-10C question, the issue is not the initial investment in learning, but what you do with the a/c after you learn: does it "fit" who you are? Having said all that, the Bf-109K right now probably holds the clear edge across most parts of the combat flight regime as the Reddit post describes. But that does not mean: (a) a good pilot in a Spit cannot give a good pilot in a Bf-109K a shellacking; (b) you will necessarily find the Bf-109K a better fit for your style and temperament than the Spit; © you will necessarily enjoy the Bf-109K more than the Spit! The Reddit post says that the Bf-109K is "difficult to learn, easy to master". The Spit, on the other hand, is "easy to learn, difficult to master". If it is the bigger/better challenge you are looking for, the Spit is your ride. If it is the bigger/better gun you are looking for (both figuratively and literally), the Messers is your ride.

Thanks!

Yep, I have the Dora (FWIW: I love helos and WW2 warbirds far more than jets!). Here is the strange thing. Before I got the Dora, the FW-190 was my favorite Luftwaffe fighter. Maybe the my favorite WW2 Western Front fighter. Loved its lines. But strangely, once I got the Dora and flew around in it for a while, found it ... a little less enrapturing. Don't know why. I quickly got over the initial difficulties in taking off (for me, probably the trickiest take-off of all the DCS WW2 birds), so that was not it. I found that, even once in the air and in combat, I just did not enjoy it that much. It felt sluggish and, if not quite underpowered then at least more "built for comfort rather than speed", compared to the 109K (the "K" here is important!). I remember reading once that the Bf-109 was likened to a superb thoroughbred and the Fw-190 was likened to a solid cavalry horse, and I think that the comparison is apt. It takes greater skill to fly and fight well in the 109, but once you get there, it is easier do well than with the 190. Or, to quote what was said in the great reddit thread: the 109 is difficult to learn, but easy to master. At the end of the day, I found the 109K more compelling to both fly and fight it. My flight hours speak for themselves: I really have not touched the 190D in a couple of years after trying to get into soon after I got it (and I got it and the 109K the same time). I still think the Dora looks so much nicer than either the 109 or the Spit or, for that matter, the Mustang: I think this every time one whizzes by my as I crank around to try and get on its six! Why are you against the Spit, might I ask? I think it pushes all the buttons you want pushed, is not just capable but a legendary aircraft, and you will not have to worry about shooting down pixels with USAAF pixel patterns! Right now, I think in DCS it is the most interesting WW2 combat aircraft to fly from both a challenge as well as achievement aspect.

So, how easy is it to "restore" the Warthog grip to its original after modding it to fit on the Gunfighter?

My 2c: The Spit is a (much) easier plane to take-off and land in than the Bf-109. But the Bf-109 is a far more easier plane to fight in. This is mainly because with the Spit, you have to keep the speed above 180 MPH to avoid your engine blowing out at any major (i.e. combat-level) boost. This leads to the paradoxical situation of sometimes needing to throttling down while climbing (anticipating speed dropping or even coming near stall at the apex; whether or not this is need/advisable/avoidable is another discussion) and then throttling up again when diving (but wait till IAS > 180!). This adds a massive dimension of complexity/task-loading in combat! The Bf-109, but contrast, is faaaaaar easier to manage in combat: keep your RPM's to more than 2600 and you have no problems for duration of a dogfight (typically < 30 mins), knowing that when you really, really, really, need some extra, you can go to 2800 (no more than 10 mins). The mental workload of this engine management is so much less than the spit's, it is like night and day, and in this respect the Bf-109 comes across like a highly-automated smart car from 2018 compared to a 1930's Le Mans F1 racing car. It comes down to: in combat, it is easier to track and manage RPM than it is to track and manage speed, especially when the critical threshold is so high (180 mph)! With the Bf-109, I can spend all my time looking out of the cockpit, while with the Spit I am always glancing at my airspeed (and also engine temps for good measure!). And in things like a climb after a 109 trying to pull a yo-yo on me or a steep turn, I always have a nervous eye on the MPH so as to be ready to chop the throttle the moment in nears 180. Now, the above discusses the relative merits of the aircraft in terms of pilot workload while fighting. In terms of the physical combat capabilities of the two aircraft, I could not summarize better than this: So, the Spit takes quite a bit more skill and mental tasking to fight in, and, furthermore in most parts of the combat regime is either at a distinct disadvantage or equal with the 109, and even in the few cases where it has the edge over the 109 (e.g. high speed turns), it takes a good pilot to pull it off. But here's the rub: more and more, I find myself drawn to the Spit, precisely because it is such a handful and is forced to struggle for its win! I love it! Hopping back behind the 109 stick after a few hours in the Spit feels like half the challenge has been taken out of the equation. It's like I have all this extra mental space that I don't know what to do with during the dogfight. I love both a/c (and the Mustang), and, in the hands of a capable pilot, both the Spit and 109 are deadly --- I would not be able to put money on or the other. But I do know that when I take out a 109 in the Spit, the thrill of achievement and glowing satisfaction is sooooooo much higher than the other way around .... especially if I pull it of without having blown an engine! So, if you want the pride and thrill of the greater challenge while flying and fighting, the Spit is the ride for you, IMHO.

Thanks for this. I replied to the original thread with questions!

Interesting. (1) What vacuum do you use/recommend to clean inside the computer and fans? I've heard using vacuums can be dangerous because of static discharge? But would love to have one because my place gets really dusty! (2) This indicates that the best air cooling is almost as good as the best AIO water cooling, but the air cooling is quieter: http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15-versus-closed-loop-liquid-coolers/3 (3) I currently use an EVO Hyper 212 cooler ... this, I guess, is not in the same "class" as the Noctua? Because I certainly cannot run the Prime large FFT without temps going into the 90's!

Thanks! This makes sense, and I guess I can reuse the cooler if/when I upgrade. I am currently looking at an all-in-one water cooler. New to this, but from what I can make out from reviews, the following seem like reputable candidates: Corsair H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken X62 All-in-One CPU Liquid Cooling System Cooling I read that I should be concerned about the mixed metal on the Corsair --- galvanic corrosion --- but at the same time, that Corsair is very, very, reliable.

Personal opinions welcome! The challenge is to translate to my situation. And my situation is that in VR, I am struggling to clear 22/23 FPS in some missions in which some other folks are getting 45/90. So, I have, as noted above, an i7-4790K @ 4.4 Mhz + z97, 16GB RAM [tried 32GB but no improvement], 1080Ti, SSD. Folks getting the higher FPS have: i7-6700K 4.20Ghz | Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha| nVidia GTX 1080ti Strix OC 11GB | 16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz DDR4 CL1 I7 6700K, Asus Z170 Pro Gaming, EVGA GTX1080Ti SC, 32 GB DDR4 @ 3000 though one other person getting the same FPS as me in VR has the following: i7 7700k 32gigs ddr4 3000, gigabyte gaming 3 mobo, intel m.2 ssd, 980ti vid I know there are many other variables (though all these cases including mine using Rift), but everyone involved has played around the with all the graphics settings as well as, e.g. disabled hyperthreading, to get the best performance. So how to crunch this data? It seems both in the "haves" and "have nots", GPU, memory, and memory speed alone are not a factor. The only other thing I can think of is the combination of 1080Ti GPU and Z170/Z270 MOBO and post-Haswell (Skylake and above) CPU's? So maybe even the modest gains of each combine to "break" the 45FPS barrier? Or is this fuzzy-new-agey-hopeful-but-totally-delusional thinking?

What do you think of the idea that my motherboard is the limiting factor here?

Thanks!

What are your machine specs? MOBO/CPU/RAM/GPU? And Rift or Vive?

Thanks for the link. Makes for some really interesting reading. Looking through it with an eye to improve DCS performance --- i.e. a resolutely single-core game --- it seems that there might not be that much benefit? So maybe the only advantage for DCS is potentially lower prices on the i7-7700 and z270?

It seems that the "pick your area of focus" technology is coming to Vive very soon: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/29032-htc-vive-get-eye-tracking-peripheral-add/

Soooooooo ........ How about that A6?

Ahhhh, this explains a LOT! Thanks! OK, so a MOBO upgrade will help and the CPU is just a (small) side benefit. Interesting regarding the X299. This seems to indicate that the early releases will actually be more limited? https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cpu_mainboard/intel_x299_motherboard_spotted_with_an_i7_7740k_cpu/1 http://www.fudzilla.com/news/processors/42821-intel-response-to-ryzen-is-kaby-lake-x

If you did take some time to actually read the thread, or even just the first post, you will note that: (a) all the case examples are on the NTTR map; so GTM and other terrain mods are inapplicable (b) the specified missions are given as-is, no way to modify clouds (though, in one of them the clouds are off anyway) © I, and others on this thread with issues, have tried all the various settings and tips, including shadows mirrors, etc. (d) ASW has been discussed, and kicks in And yes, I too don't care whether or not I have 45 FPS or 52 FPS or 93 FPS. But when FPS drops below 45 to the 20's, gameplay really suffers.