BeastyBaiter

Avrocar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_VZ-9_Avrocar

I used the X-55 (X-56 with fewer mini sticks but more hats) for 5-6 years. I had ghosting issues off and on for a long time. A powered USB hub fixed most of it but not always. One thing I eventually noticed is it seems heavily susceptible to interference. Using a powered USB hub (PCI-E card with extra power plug from PSU) and routing the wires well away from the PSU, GPU, any case fans and my desktop speakers seemed to resolve the issues completely. Obviously that's a whole lot of junk that shouldn't be needed, but I never had any ghosting problems once doing that unless the wires drifted back towards something they shouldn't.

I've only had the CH Pro Pedals, they are indestructible but also rough and clunky. I've heard their stick/throttle are the same way. Basically their designs are stuck in the 1980's, but they do last. There is the old Logitech X-52 that might be worth considering. They are cheaply made and have had QC issues in the past (don't know about after Logitech merger). I had one a decade ago and it lasted about 4-5 years of heavy use. I used a Saitek X-55 until a couple weeks ago, it lasted about 6 years and still works fine, save for one button (ironically the least used). The X-55 was replaced with the X-56, which has an MSRP of around $200 but currently sell on Amazon for $350+. Currently I use a WinWing Super Taurus/Libra but that's way outside the price range given.

Same issue for me tbh. When I got the throttle/stick/startup panel, I went through and did the updates. What I found is that for each device, I had to click the update button, which would apparently do nothing, restart windows, then go back and press update for that same device again and it would do the update. The program would crash once backing out of that device page and so required a second reboot to proceed. I had to repeat this for all 5 devices (stick handle, stick base, throttle handle, throttle base, startup panel). Massive pain but I've got it all updated and working.

MFD's and alpha. MFD's because I don't need a microscope to see them, alpha cause I don't have time to fool around with you chasing your own tail. Edit: That said, I do like the maverick + GBU-97 spam of the viper.

For the HOTAS itself (including most of the startup panel), I pretty much left it at default. Only things I changed were exterior light knobs to instrument lights, bleed air to radar control (off, stby, on, etc) and I replaced some of the top right switches to things like master arm instead of ground power junk I'll never, ever use. Nearly everything was already mapped in DCS, so I didn't have to do a whole lot for the F-18 thankfully. Converting it to the F-16 was a bit of a chore but I have that mostly done. I don't have the 2 panels at this time, I haven't decided if I'll add them. I also added center VR and VR zoom to the up/down positions of the countermeasures hat since it's only a 2 way hat in DCS but the actual hat on the throttle is 5 way. I also added flaps up/down to the recce hat.

Mine is new, having only arrived a few days ago. I agree with the above, pressing it and accidentally slewing isn't an issue for me either on either the throttle TDC or the Recce button/hat.

Setup showed up early yesterday morning. Ordered on 7-10, showed up on 7-19 on the east coast USA for those that are curious on delivery times. There were no import fees, as expected. Everything seems to work fine so far, definitely an upgrade over my old X-55 though it will take some getting used to after using the X-45/52/55 for the last 15-20 years. Nearly everything was pre-configured for the Hornet, so in game setup was minimal for that particular module. All other module require the usual delete all assignments and start from scratch, except for the F-16 (or was it the Hind) which had absolutely nothing assigned.

Indeed, there is a bit of luck involved. I'm fairly happy with the edge to edge clarity of my Reverb G2 but that was pure luck tbh. I always hated the RIft S ergonomics and it was a terrible pain getting it in the sweet spot. I have a 2080 Super and it can't properly handle the G2 in DCS either. I run about 50% steam resolution and that works ok-ish. It's still far clearer than the old Rift S, can't comment on the Index as I've never seen one in person. I'm planning to grab a 4080 Super/Ti or RX 7800XT when they come out in the winter or spring.

Heh, I know how ya feel. I ended up grabbing a stick and throttle separately last night. It is $100 more that way but realistically, it's the only way to get them it seems. I've been waiting around for a couple months for a package deal to be available and finally gave up. You get a 1.5 hour reserve period during the checkout process and so I took a few minutes to contemplate if I really wanted to pay $300 USD in shipping. I hadn't previously considered it would be that high and so it put the setup at $1400 total (assuming no import fees) which was enough to make me reconsider. While thinking, I checked the store page and noticed the throttles were sold out again, so it seems I had the last one in my cart at the time. I do have some concerns that I'll get an email this week saying "oh sorry, we sold out but we're keeping your money, we'll ship to you in 5 years when they are back in stock." Alternatively I'm dreading the possibility of a defective unit. If that happens and they don't pay return shipping, that puts it into the category of better to toss it in the trash can than send it back and then dispute the credit card charge. Hopefully it all goes well, but they really need to get their distribution situation sorted.

Reread what I wrote, you're agreeing with me while trying to argue that I'm wrong.

Bullet ballistics are trivial though, if spread across our modern 12-64 thread CPU's instead of just using 1. The calculations themselves are reasonably simple even. But as said, I'm sure DCS is sufficiently messy under the hood that fixing the single thread problem is a monumental task.

That lag is due to DCS being single threaded (not counting sound). Each CPU thread can only handle so much, currently it has the physics for all objects (including bullets and aircraft), the AI and the graphics all on the same thread (or so has been claimed and appears to be true). Ideally things like bullets would be spread across all the cores along with the graphics but DCS is ultimately just a very heavily updated version of Flanker from the 1990's. I can only imagine how messy it is under the hood and updating it to utilize modern CPU's would likely be an absolute nightmare. Needs to happen though, that lag from firing those guns shouldn't be a thing. It's a completely trivial amount of work for modern CPU's if the workload is properly balanced across the CPU. Assuming the Vulkan API conversion happens, proper multi-threading support would be the next logical step. So hopefully we can go completely nuts with a full flight of hinds doing that in the future without any loss of FPS or stuttering.

Using a mouse in VR is very easy. I have a normal desk setup with an X-55 desktop hotas. Throttle is on the left, keyboard in the middle, stick on the right and mouse just to the right of that. If I take my hand off the stick and move my hand down to the right side, the mouse and pad are right there. Very easy to find and very easy to use blind. The keyboard is the problem, I basically only use that for gear and maybe flaps on some aircraft, but f and g are fairly easy to find given the bump on the f key.

It occurred to me to try this as well. How'd you convert it? I've built a fair few missions but never bothered with the campaign side of things.

Indeed, what you classify it as is irreverent along with what it was originally designed to do. What matters is what it can do and how it's used. In practice, it's an attack helicopter best compared to an AH-1J or W. I think it just does fine in that regard.

Use S-8 smoke rockets, they are bright orange and last a long time. I think they are S-8 TSM but I'm not sure on exact designation.

Thanks for suggestions, good to hear the TPR's don't slide around. I didn't think they would given the design but you never know. I have noticed the little wall braces sticking out on the Crosswinds, it's a good solution too but sadly my desk has some cross bracing a good bit from the wall and so I'd still need to throw some spacers behind them. Under desk space isn't a huge concern, it's a tall desk and empty underneath with the exception of the PC tower to one side and that cross bracing at the back. The price difference between the two is substantial but I'm willing to spend the extra money to get the right set of pedals. Both are in stock and can be purchased immediately.

Retreating blade stall goes into full effect at around 350kph. This is the absolute never exceed speed and is based on true airspeed, so higher up it will be a lower indicated airspeed. 330 kph seems reasonably safe, I try to treat that as the max speed to avoid crossing. Beyond that it starts getting dangerous fast. Getting to that speed during an attack run is very easy if in a shallow dive.

To me it seems easier to avoid VRS in the Hind than the Hip, but it isn't at the Ka-50's level of forgiveness. In terms of recovery, with a little altitude even the Hip can recover from full blown VRS where you're plummeting out of the sky like a brick. Just nose forward and get some movement going. Main thing is just don't drop the Hip at 50m, not much you can do in that situation. But honestly, you probably shouldn't be hovering 50m off the ground in the first place. That's a really dangerous place to be in any chopper. Too low to recover from a problem, too high to survive impact unscathed.

General rule of thumb, VR = half pancake mode performance for a monitor running at either 1440p or 4k, depending on the headset used and some of the resolution settings for it.

I've seen it too.

Did you turn on VR in DCS settings? If not, open the settings, go to the VR tab and check the VR checkbox. This will restart the game in VR mode.

I wasn't going to say it but yes, anything DIY or custom order is not something I'm interested in. Spare time is a little too scarce for me these days for that kind of thing. Right now I'm leaning towards the TPR's. Primary reason is I play on a hard laminate floor and so sliding is a concern.Spending a lot of time with choppers also makes their design fairly appealing. Might completely yank the springs out and use gravity centering. To deal with sliding, my current pedals are braced with some spare case fans wedged between them and the wall but I'd like to get away from that kind of solution. From the few reviews I've been able to find, the super chunky TPR's slide less but it's hard to say since the only actual reviews I've found were sponsored by Thrustmaster, and so must be taken with more than a few grains of salt. I'm not terribly concerned about price differences as I expect to be using whatever I get for 5+ years much like my current pedals and HOTAS and ideally go much longer. My current setup still works, just looking for something nicer and more precise (especially the pedals, CH Pedals are inaccurate and gritty even when new). Going for a gaming chair setup with mount points is also a no go do to it also having to be a home office for work. Side mounted stick/throttle and pedals under the desk are fine, but losing the general workspace is not.

Good find, should come in handy. In the Ka-50 I almost always use manual override.