Istari6

That's really interesting. This is a user made mission in the DCS Files section, so the requirement to be Weapons Hold until fired upon might not be realistic. We definitely had 4 x MiG-21s closing on us aggressively right down to the merge, and they opened fire as they entered range. It just seemed crazy that the US would risk two F-14 Tomcats by letting Iranian MiGs close on them aggressively, being outnumbered 2:1, and still ask the Tomcats to intercept them while being Weapons Hold. Here's the mission if anyone else tried it and had a different experience, or tips on how to handle this: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3306369/

I'm using Hear Like in Helmet, but other radio calls are really quiet. It's strange, since Jester is super loud, and my own "outgoing" radio voice is normal. I've turned on Subtitles to make out what they're saying, but would prefer the immersion without subtitles.

I think there's a bunch of new gestures with the night update. I haven't been able to find a reference online yet, but there seem to be different animations for lowering the bar and running up the engines. This is in the F-14 Tomcat. I was confused as well, but eventually trying some of the standard steps seemed to satisfy them.

Against R-60 equipped opponents, letting them get into the rear quarter in parameters can be a death sentence. I've had MiG-21s and Su-22s launch on me with R-60M, and as long as they're behind my 3-6 line, even a massive stream of flares and a hard break isn't enough to prevent getting hit most of the time. Hard to believe that real US pilots would let enemy fighters get this close, and if you're outnumbered 2:1 at the merge and can't fire until fired upon, it's very difficult to prevent a MiG from getting a shooting opportunity. Were real Tomcat pilots allowed to open fire if hostile fighters kept pressing close aggressively? If not, how to protect oneself if you're still expected to merge?

Been flying the Tomcat many hours at this point, and I'm continuing to struggle with hearing external radio calls (e.g. ATC, AWACS). My pilot or RIO sound fine making outbound calls, but the responses are so quiet as to be almost unusable. I've checked Audio settings in DCS, and all sliders are at 100% (except for Music). I've also tried turning up the Vol knob on the ARC-182 radio inside the cockpit (which I use for these communications), and while they are a little louder, still very hard to hear the details. I haven't had this problem in other DCS aircraft, is there anything else to adjust in the Tomcat to hear incoming messages better?

This is a great discussion. I've had exactly the same question as the OP, experiencing the RWS as having excellent resolution at very long ranges, yet often requiring closing to 15 nm to separate 4 Backfires in standard formation. These formations aren't flying wingtip to wingtip or super close trail, they're standard tactical formations. Yet the DCS TWS function seems unable to resolve them until surprisingly close ranges. This wouldn't be so bad, except that in DCS, firing on a merged contact at longer ranges can cause loss of the Phoenix when the contacts later separate at close ranges. Over and over in a training mission I created, I've seen 4 clear contacts with RWS at 80-90 miles (Backfires). Under TWS, it's all one contact. I close to 50 miles and fire an AIM-54A, but as we close and while the Phoenix is in flight, TWS begins resolving into 2 contacts, and often the original "track file" starts going sideways off the radar scope at high speed trashing the Phoenix. Same happens if I fire Phoenix missiles when TWS has two contacts, but resolves them into 4 contacts while Phoenix missiles are in flight. The explanation that TWS is creating "cells" with coarse resolution due to the limits of the CPU makes sense. But then trashing the Phoenix missiles as it resolves into greater resolution as they close seems to make the AWG-9/Phoenix combination surprisingly ineffective against exactly the kind of threat it was designed to fight. It seems the only way to use the Phoenix properly is to use RWS to get the number of targets at long range, then wait until TWS resolves to the same number of contacts (which may only be 15nm away), then ripple fire. Is that how the Tomcat was used historically?

My buddy and I just played a user-created mission where we need to patrol the Persian Gulf around Oman. The Iranians have been sending out their fighters to test the US Navy patrols, much like Libya did in the Gulf of Sidra events historically. In this mission, we're told we're under Weapons Hold ROE until fired upon first. 4 MiG-21s race up and close with us, yet we're under Weapons Hold ROE. We turn to meet them, and as they close within a few nm, they launch a salvo of R-60M missiles. We're given Weapons Free immediately, but we're already at knife-fight range with the MiG-21s and outnumbered 2:1. My buddy goes down to an R-60 hit in the initial salvo, and I escape by plugging in burner and diving away to get some distance, then returned and started shooting down MiG-21s from range while an Alert 5 CAP came up to help. Final score 4 Iranian MiGs splashed for 1 Tomcat lost, but it was frustrating for my buddy. We were both left wondering how real Tomcat pilots dealt with aggressive merges like this in peacetime situations. The opening scene of Top Gun is a 2-v-2 IIRC, where the Tomcats and "MiG-28s" could joust with each other and see which was better via getting STT locks (which freaks out Cougar). But how do you deal with letting 4 MiGs close within WVR while they hold the ability to open fire at any moment if they get an advantage? In real life, I think the 2nd Gulf of Sidra incident (1989) saw the Tomcats going weapons free when the enemy aircraft kept closing with hostile intent within a certain range. Is that more realistic?

Well, I was testing to see what the Tomcat can do from maximum level speed at 36,000 ft. Topped out at 94,000 ft and came back down, certainly wasn't doing 330 kts up there. But once down in thicker air, I was trying to restart without luck. Haven't had a chance to try all the tips here yet (traveling currently). Thanks.

So for TF30s on engine failure, just keep speed above 330 KIAS to prevent engines from winding down, then bring throttle back to cutoff, then back up to IDLE to try reigniting?

Thanks all. The tips on putting out the fire are helpful. Where I'm really focused is how to restart the TF30 if I have an engine failure. I've done zoom climbs in the Tomcat to 94,000 ft, then both engines fail from lack of air. I come back down into thicker air, but can't restart them. When I look at the emergency procedures in the Heatblur manual and Chuck's Guide, they seem to be for the F110.

Ah, good to know. I was concerned with a raging fire still burning back there. If that's just a visual effect and the Tomcat won't explode once fire extinguishers are triggered, I can live with that.

Sorry if this topic has been covered elsewhere, my search-fu is failing me. I'm diving into the F-14 Tomcat, starting with the A model. My goal is to learn the A and fly through the various campaigns (Zone V, Fear the Bones) before transitioning up to the B model. Figure it'll be fun to experience the historical progression of real Tomcat pilots, and to really appreciate the extra power and reliability of the F110s. However, for the A, I'm unclear on where to find emergency procedures for the TF30 engines. The Heatblur manual and various YouTube videos cover air restarts, etc, but they all seem to be tailored for the B's F110s (PRI vs SEC, etc). Do these procedures work exactly the same for the TF30? Bonus question: I've suffered single engine fires several times in training (Backfire 23mm tail gunner, usually). I pull the yellow Fuel cutoff for that affected engine, and I even mouse under and click the fire extinguisher button underneath. The fire never goes out. Is there something else I should be doing for an engine fire?

Thanks for creating this guide! Just received my Varjo Aero a few days ago, spent the weekend working through issues. Can strongly recommend the --force SteamVR and Cross Eye fix to eliminate most of the new user issues I was encountering. One question: improving color saturation. I've been using a 2018 HTC Vive Pro, and the Aero offers a leap forwards in clarity that is jaw-dropping. Small cockpit instruments are finally readable, and I'm spotting individual ground vehicles from 10,000 ft. However, DCS in the Aero looks far more "washed out" than my old Vive Pro. Part of this is the move from OLED to LCD, and I'm accepting that nighttime missions now look more dark grey than true black, but I'm hoping for options to increase color saturation. I recently finished the Hormuz Freedom campaign for the AV-8B, and some of the best moments were the rich colors of the sunsets over the Persian Gulf. I haven't tried Reshade 5 yet, but I was also hoping to move to OpenXR to improve smoothness. Seems that Reshade 5 only works for SteamVR? Any suggestions from other Aero users?

Yes, I just tried this and it works! Problem solved. Still working on other issues with Aero (color saturation, frame rate, weight distribution), but getting closer.

I just received the Varjo Aero a few days ago. Was struggling with multiple issues (offset mouse, jittering display, ghosting), but using the -forceSteamVR option has resolved many of these. Thanks! However (perhaps like Turbohamster?), now I'm left with a weird zoomed in view that also suffers from a modest "funhouse mirror effect". The FOV is too zoomed in, making it hard to see the cockpit, and objects outside the center of FOV are further away, then when I shift them into FOV they get closer. Very unpleasant, hard to fly any length of time with this. I have enabled the Experimental Distortion correction in Varjo Base, but it doesn't make any difference. Any ideas from other Varjo users? Love the clarity, but the rest of the experience is inferior to my old HTC Vive Pro from 2018 until I can get these last issues fixed.

Agree it seemed pointless, but other folks earlier in this thread had mentioned that as a possible solution. Can confirm it didn't help. I'm using Windows 10. How would I verify if I have the latest .NET and redistrubatables? I've been looking for another way to convert PDFs to DCS Kneeboard. There's a newer utility called KBQuick, but it only allows RTF and cutting in images. My DCS aircraft kneeboards are created in Evernote, saved as PDFs then I was using Kneeboard Builder to import. I'm open to other ways to get PDFs into Kneeboard format. I've emailed the creator of Kneeboard Builder per the email address on his homepage, but nothing yet. Assume he's no longer supporting it. Any other suggestions I can try? I'm stuck, and not being able to import kneeboards really makes learning aircraft much harder.

Thanks Rudel, I downloaded this and tried it out. Same error. So there's something on my end that's causing problems, but I can't figure out what it is, particularly after repairing DCS and uninstalling the few mods I had. I'm going to look on the User Files section to see if there's another Kneeboard Builder app, although it's too bad since this application worked perfectly for me.

Good thought. There have been some Windows updates lately, that would make sense as a cause. Unfortunately, I just tried running it as an Administrator, same error. Went into Properties, set to run as Administrator, tried again. Same error.

Guys, I tried editing the path to include the full directory for Saved Games, still same error :(. Thanks for checking your file to compare. I really like Kneeboard Builder, but not sure what else to do. Are there any other kneeboard apps you've used that you can recommend? I'm just starting the F-14A Tomcat, and updating my procedures regularly is key to making progress.

Thanks Rudel, Here's the file. KneeboardBuilder.exe.Config

What's particularly strange is that I don't think anything major changed, after using it for years. I did install the VRUX mod for the Tomcat a few days ago (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3313661/). I think I used Kneeboard Builder after installing successfully, but not 100% certain. I've done the complete Repair (including the slow and complete version of the process), which I thought would remove any lingering effects of that mod. Yet I still get the error. Not sure what to do now.

Apologies if this has been answered, but I've searched the thread. Haven't found a solution that works. Been using Kneeboard Builder for years, and it's essential to how I fly DCS. Tried to fire it up tonight, and I get the following error: --------------------------- There was an error! --------------------------- Use Ctrl + C to copy this error and e-mail it to s13solutions@gmail.com : System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: path at System.IO.Directory.GetParent(String path) at KneeboardBuilder.Viewmodels.MainViewModel.BackupAircraftDefaultGroups(String _origPath) at KneeboardBuilder.Viewmodels.MainViewModel.LoadAircraftData() at KneeboardBuilder.Viewmodels.MainViewModel.Initilization() at KneeboardBuilder.Viewmodels.MainViewModel..ctor() at KneeboardBuilder.Views.MainView..ctor() --------------------------- OK I've tried the following: * Deleting and redownloading latest version (1.8.0.6) * Repairing DCS - fast mode * Repairing DCS - slow and thorough Any ideas on what else can be done to get Kneeboard Builder working again?

SUMMARY (NO SPOILERS) This was my first time flying on the Persian Gulf map, and Hormuz Freedom provided a great experience. In particular, the narrative sequence of events is brilliantly crafted (spoilers below). Within the missions, there are really atmospheric moments. A few examples: A Scud hunting mission at night made my jaw drop. There are F-14s racing past in the darkness, afterburners ablaze and sonic booms echoing while Oliver Hazard Perry sends Standard SAMs right over our heads. Another illustrative moment is coming over Qeshm Island at night, heading towards Havadarya with great streams of red tracers climbing skywards to protect a key target. There are some suggestions for minor improvements in the spoilers below. Overall, I really enjoyed this campaign. Recommended for others here, and my thanks to the designer for the large amount of work this must have taken to create. A longer review below behind the spoilers tag... (SPOILERS BELOW)

Ah, thank you. Will do.

How do you input MGRS into the system? I'm only familiar with creating a new Waypoint (EHSRD>DATA>WP 77>etc.) and entering Lat/Long via ODU POS.