SharkBait

I know the Air Tactical Assault Group (which hosts a server for a different sim) has a lively TeamSpeak server, and they even created a channel for DCS. Their TS info is below. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people that use it for DCS (likely because people don't know about it), but what I found is that if I let people know in chat that I'm on TeamSpeak and provide the address/password, sometimes people join me. Maybe you can try it too. The Air Tactical Assault Group (ATAG): Address: 216.52.148.29 Password: calais Like you, I'm a big proponent of using voice-chat for flight simming. It helps promote cooperation and calling out enemy contacts (and in a sim like DCS in which it is incredibly difficult to spot targets, this is very important!).

Nice! Has the Spitfire bug been fixed?

No problem at all. Thank you for spending time to answer my question!

LeCuvier, Your suggestion to try setting the ministick to "relative" is interesting. I looked in the Axis Tune panel in the controls, but couldn't find it. The only 3 check boxes I see are "Slider", "Invert", and "User Curve". I figured "Slider" might be what you are talking about but it didn't seem to be the case. Is there another way to set the ministick to relative?

LeCuvier, Thank you for your response. Would you happen to know why the P-51 would be any different from the OP's plane or other controls he is trying to adjust sensitivities for? I'm struggling to understand why our cases may be so different. In any case, I will go ahead and try to set my settings to +/-0.01 and report back. Appreciate your spending time on this! I have the CH Pro Throttle, which doesn't have any secondary axis to use for the RPM control (I believe the ministick provides axis control, but it's not helpful for the RPM lever). I was trying to bind a couple of the buttons on the throttle for increasing/decreasing RPM. At present, I' have it bound to the throttle slider on my joystick (Logitech Extreme 3D Pro...), and it's a bit of a hassle to have to let go of the throttle and reach over to adjust my RPM. Cheers, SharkBait

Thanks, all. I ran the editor as administrator and I was able to save. Much thanks. I was trying to reset the button sensitivity for Engine RPM increase / decrease for the P-51. Unfortunately, I am now having another issue, similar to imacken. I changed the values to 0.1 and -0.1 for all the .lua files that had the engine rpm settings mapped (a couple files in the DCS Wold OpenBeta / Mods / aircdraft / P-51D / Input / P-51D / joystick, including "default.lua" and "Saitek X52 Flight Control System", which, by the way, I don't own so not sure why it's there). However, when I return to the game, there is no difference. I believe I changed all the .lua files available for the P-51 (I even changed the ones for the TF-51). Is there anything else I need to change?

Whenever I make the edit on the .lua file and try to save, I get an error message saying that I could not save the document because access to the file path is denied. I am the administrator of my computer account, so not sure what the issue is. Has anyone else come across this and know a fix?

Sincere thanks to everyone who responded and offered insights. The discussion has been very helpful for me! Some of my key takeaways: Try to enter the attack with as much speed as possible Yaw tendency is normal; compensate with rudder or trim; that the aircraft is yawing becomes clear even when not looking at the "ball" since the gunsight moves to either left or right Try to cripple the enemy in the first pass (practice gunnery!) Look for the most energy efficient way to regain separation and altitude advantage (avoid high G maneuvers) P-51 can outrun a 109 in a shallow dive (per Solty) - this is a new revelation for me! I'm actually very surprised that there is a mod that people can use which allows them to hear aircraft 2nm away (or that it's even allowed on a full real server like Burning Skies / ACG!). I can't say whether that is realistic, since I have no experience in these planes, but I remember reading about how your own plane's engine noise is so loud that you can't really hear anything outside. In my gameplay experience, I don't remember hearing a 190 or 109 close behind me, but maybe that's because I'm more focused on the warning bell.

Thanks for your note, cromhunt. I was actually not fighting with an AI controlled plane (the fight was in the Burning Skies server), but good to have this context. Thanks!

Magic Zach, I was definitely behind his wingline. If memory serves me, I think I dove in from ~45 degrees behind his wingline and saddled up at his 6. Do you usually dive on your target head-on?

Hello Aces, I’m a novice P-51 pilot who joined DCS World a couple weeks ago. I come from an IL-2:CloD background, and having a blast so far with DCS! I have a few questions about performing “boom and zoom” attacks using the P-51, as I believe I haven’t been executing them in the best manner in the last few days. The particular fight that prompted me to ask these questions took place last night. I was flying at about angels 18 and saw a 109 about 6k ft below me. I dove and made a pass without doing too much damage and “zoomed” back up. I looked behind me and the 109 was still behind and below me, but gaining pretty quickly. I kept climbing away thinking that my relative speed advantage would place me further ahead and above him to position myself for another pass, but about 20 seconds later, I saw that he had actually gotten closer to me and was almost co-alt! Then he took a long range shot and instantly killed my pilot :P I understand that 109s have an insane climb rate, but I felt like a P-51 attacking a 109 which is about 6k ft below it should be able to make at least a couple passes safely before egressing to regain energy. In my case, even my first pass was not safe since the 6k altitude advantage didn’t even offer me enough energy to get away safely after the attack run. My hope is that I did something wrong – if not, and if it is common that a P-51 can’t zoom away from a 109 even if the P-51 starts from such an altitude advantage, I’ll be very discouraged! So my questions: Angle of “boom”: What sort of angle do you like to make your attack run? I know a shallow dive toward a target is a no-no, since you bleed a lot of energy by cutting altitude slowly over a long distance, but what has been your experience in terms of the bare minimum angle required? And what angle is best so that it increases your chances of remaining unseen by the 109? Angle of “zoom”: What is optimal in terms of energy retention during the zoom? Is it fine to climb up near vertical after going guns on the target and do a hammer head? Or is there a “sweet spot” speed to maintain such that I regain the most energy before turning around for another pass? I know this is situational since horizontal extension is just as important when bouncing on more than one bogeys, but just curious from an energy retention perspective. Engine setting and speed: What engine setting is safe when diving? I’ve heard it’s fine to go on full WEP with 3,000 RPM – is this true? And what speed should I remain below so that I can maintain enough control to easily aim without locking up? Yaw tendency: I noticed that my P-51 tends to yaw to the left HARD when I dive (the “ball” in the turn and bank indicator basically goes all the way left and I need to input a lot of left rudder to correct). Is this a common experience for you all? I noticed that this happens especially when my supercharger turns off because I dipped below the altitude in which it kicks in automatically. Supercharger: Related to #3, can I manually keep my supercharger on during these dives? I feel like most of the “boom and zoom” scenario occurs when I’m at Angels ~20 and the bogeys are at Angels ~15 or lower, which means my supercharger will turn off at some point during my dive. Will setting my supercharger to “on” manually cook my engine faster? Is it even possible to turn it on manually? I haven’t tried playing with it yet. Sorry for the long winded post, but I love the “boom and zoom” fighting style (did a lot of this against Spitfires in IL-2:CloD) and would like to be able to become proficient at it in the Mustang. ~S! SharkBait

tom_19d and Astor87, Didn't mean to offend either of you guys. I agree that spotting is not meant to be easy and it's part of the fun of playing in sim mode vs. "arcade." I actually had a better time spotting yesterday and I do agree that it's a skill that can be learned. Cheers, SharkBait

There was a bit more action (~5 people online) last night US EST. It was fun flying with more pilots! Got my butt handed to me by itsukarine, too, who was flying a 109 (he was up at 25k+ ft with me...). Really looking forward to the weekend.

Yes... Fortunately, it sounds like the developers are aware of the issue: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=199148

Also, I'm a newcomer here as well and have been reading a few pages of this thread. Just want to say THANK YOU to Eekz for all that you're doing for this server!

gabgio, You can check your stats for the game you are in by pressing the apostrophe key (‘ – the one next to the ; ). Burning Skies also has a website where I think you can also check your stats outside of the game, here. http://burning-skies.zzz.com.ua/ Note that I'm not sure how accurate it is, and I wasn't able to find myself (I have no aerial kills yet since I just started last week, but definitely have a few ground kills). I'd be happy to wing up with you and get on TeamSpeak, if you're fine with flying with a newbie! Were you able to get on the server yesterday? I'm in US EST but couldn't find the server yesterday...

Now that 2.5 is out, have you noticed a difference in aircraft spotting? I've only started playing DCS last week, so have no reference point to prior versions, but I do agree that spotting in DCS is incredibly difficult compared to other flight sims I've played. I only have the P-51 Mustang mod at the moment, so have been sticking to WWII mostly. I created myself a simple mission to fight a bunch of 109s and 190s (since WWII servers are so sparsely populated). I had about 20 109s in the mission take off from Anapa, while I had an air start near Novorossiysk. When I approached Anapa from about 18,000 ft altitude and looked down to spot the 109s, I saw nothing. When I hit Shift + F10 to turn on labels, I nearly jumped out of my seat because there were 20 109s within a few miles of me, all lower. So I paused the game and decided to focus my view, full zoom, on one 109. I removed the labels and unpaused and tried my best to follow it. It was incredibly difficult and I lost sight of in a couple seconds because the "dot" is not consistent, either. It blends into the ground texture so quickly. Spotting was basically impossible using normal zoom, which I feel like shouldn't be the case since I would presume that one should be able to see aircraft within a few miles without using binoculars. This is in contrast to other games (e.g., IL2) in which I can see contacts 10km+ away, and can certainly make out aircraft against the ground. This is a bit disheartening because I was really looking forward to flying the P-51 at high altitude and pounce on my enemies. But it seems that it will be very difficult to take advantage of this tactic since I won't be able to find any of them until they are too close.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks Campbell! I'll look out for the sale of the Normandy map. And thanks a lot for answering all my newbie questions!

Thanks for the answer. Strange, though. When I logged on today, the server was entirely gone. I couldn't find it.

Hi All, I have not bought Normandy yet, so am stuck flying in the Burning Skies server using the Caucasus map for WWII aircraft action. Just curious - what time during the day / which days of the week is the server busiest? ~S

Whoopie! I think I figured it out. It was the mixture. Now I'm ready to bounce 109s and 190s from angels 24! Thanks Campbell.

I think I figured it out! I had been setting my mix to rich. I pulled it up to run and I think i'm gaining altitude! Will report back.

Thanks for your quick response Campbell. Strange, I've tried following all of your directions. the boost pump is on, both radiators are on auto, the heats are also fully open (forward). I'm keeping my engine at 46' and 2700 rpm. The supercharger kicked in ~15,000. I'm still having the same issue, though. It's very difficult to keep my speed between 170-200 mph. If I keep it there, I'm either gaining no altitude or losing altitude. Something is strange!

Hi All, I am finally able to play DCS stutter free and spent a few hours learning about how to start up, taxi, and land with a P-51. :thumbup: I definitely want to get much more familiarized with the flight model and characteristics of the plane before jumping into multiplayer. :pilotfly: However, I did have a question about flying the P-51. Coming from IL-2: Cliffs of Dover, my preferred fighting style is to always have an altitude advantage over my enemies. This means that I like to get to ~18,000-24,000 ft after taking off. However, as I was flying the P-51 today, I had a very hard time getting to even 15,000 ft, and I could not get past 16,000 ft at all (the engine just did not seem to be able to handle it without overheating). I believe the supercharger was on since I saw the orange light come on (kept the switch on auto). Would someone teach me the proper engine setting I need to be able to climb to 20,000 ft +? Also, my engine started acting weird at ~16,000, as the manifold pressure / RPM kept fluctuating up and down, even if I wasn't moving the throttle at all. I don't think it was the supercharger kicking in and out since the orange light was illuminated the whole time. I would appreciate tips from veterans! ~S SharkBait

Great news! The stutters disappeared after I switched out my old PNY SSD and installed a new Samsung 850 Evo SSD. I'm very excited to fly the P-51 I bought. Finally! The bad PNY SSD was the issue all along. I should have known when disk usage started hitting 90%-100% for no apparent reason. And this started happening in less than 2 years after I purchased the PNY SSD. I will likely try to contact them to see if they can replace it (I think it had 3 year warranty). If not, I'm never purchasing a PNY product again.