FoxxyTrotty

FireManDan, I have played DCS about 3 years (since i had VR and it was the only flying sim at time that supported it) and since then bought up all modules and got hundreds of hours in it. FC3 will be a let down for you after the a10c, as it is simplified (low def some call it) models. You asked F14 vs F16. I disagree with mike, and the F18 is probably as complete and up-to-par as the A10c is now (i wouldn't have said that 6 months ago). If your choice is between F16 and F14, and you favour carrier plane and pheonix, then clearly F14 is for you. The F16 is not a carrier plane, and while at some point, they may add the hook option (there's a switch in the cockpit) - this is for land based wire traps - there is no catapult/launch bar system. the much older F5 module in DCS also has this, a hook but no catapult. Yes you can land on carrier, but you won't be able to takeoff from it again (unless you run across the whole deck with a very light load - not practical). Other differences between the F14/F16: F16 is much more modern, so flybywire aside, you have a much more advanced datalink (its a better version of the a10c's datalink, you have SAM sites marked on map, with threat ring ranges, as well as friendly/enemy aircraft). The F14 has a very much older basic datalink, that displays aircraft, with much less detail, but at least they are marked. The f14 obviously is multi-crew, so if you have a friend in DCS or someone interested, they can fly with you in the same plane, operating the radars and weapons systems (its a lot to learn, aka RIO, and they can't ever fly the plane, once you start mission, thats it. if you choose to fly alone, jester (AI) will do that job for you, and is pretty good all things considered). It can carry a big load out - 14x Mk82 bombs, plus 2 fuel bags, plus 2aim9s & 2 pheonix's at once. To use stuff like laser guided bombs, lantirn (TGP) you wlil require real life RIO, the AI can't use that. But with jester AI, you can use a smaller, built in camera up front the F14 (bit like the harriers built in camera) to get some CCRP bombs off, as well as CCIP mode. It also has a well implemented auto-land function for the carrier traps. It is a really good plane for both CAS and CAP, and fun to fly. F16 has land based ILS, and a Helemt mounted display (if you have VR or trackIR, you can "look" at the enemy in visual range to get a lock, both for radar and for IR missile seeker ) The A10C was probably the best module in the game until the last year, when F14, and F18 both matured into decent modules. The F16 will likely be up there too, sometime this year, but if I had to get rid of every module I own, and only keep 4, those 4 would likely be it. Certainly in combat servers, I use all those 4, alongside harrier and KA50 (helo). so yeah, go ahead, you'll be happy with either choice, and don't take F18 off the table for a future purchase - you have many more options with it (harpoon, TGP, glider bombs, anti radiation missiles, the Link16, fuel mangagement - upto 80 waypoints - the cat has 3.) Hope some of this helps.

I'm reading the many comments here and many more colourful versions bluntly put over on redit. ED developers, we know you had a great year last year, the sales proved that ontop of Waggs video's saying the same thing. Congrats and well deserved. That said, this community has put up with a lot since the F16/JF17 releases, and the same 5 people posting over and over "nobody forces you to play beta" is as pointless as the replies they get. We all can at least agree, beta is still in community testing and nobody expects perfection. However, quality standards since F16 release (DCS was about as good as I've seen it, right up until that point) have fallen. Many people have made their feelings known, from the singles like me with no following or real input, to those with massive youtube followings and everything in between. Please Don't make 2020 into another modules galore year alongside sale after sale after sale, while the core of the game disintegrates into several minutes of eye candy bliss, followed by endless frustrations and "don't you know u don't have to play beta version...." Take the good year, and the revenues and plough it back into "lets make DCS great again" (someone had to say it). Don't screw this up, not just for my sake, but the communities sake, while is ultimately your sakes too. Stability and performance must take extreme priority, releasing patches that instantly mess up the entire game (steam 2.5.6) is one such easy example that shouldn't be acceptable in public alpha states. Thank you if any of this is taken on board, seems many people are on similar wavelengths, some speak out more than others, and to those who only ever lick the rears - that's not cool, you know who you are.

Players updating their DCS/steam client to latest patch (14 Feb - 2.5.6) will be unable to start DCS after update. ED is aware of this issue, so have temporarily rolled back the patch to 2.5.5 until able to resolve this issue.

The i16 is by far the most difficult to takeoff. Aside from the biplane (which I'll never get) i find every other module (side from the i16) relatively easy. I never used assists, I'm trying to get as close to real as DCS allows, obviously having rudder pedals (especial the toe brakes) is a massive boon with regards to controlling all aspects of the older tail draggers. The i16 has some other weird properties as well, for example it is also the easiest ww2 aircraft to taxi at very slow speeds (arguably easier than the p51 because of how easy it is to do a sharp turning circle. Its also easy to push the stick up and get sharp turns in the Stang too, but i16 you don't even need to push the stick). Taxi over 10-15 kts or whatever it is, the i16 becomes very unstable. The takeoff requires passing through these very unstable speeds and until you get decent rudder authority with the i16, like with the K4, I find myself having to use the right toe break to help maintain a straight line. If people don't have the i16, the next most difficult to take off is probably the K4. The spitfire is only difficult for people who ignore trimming the rudder, and also don't use rudder pedals, if you trim the rudder (fully right as in the spit tutorial) it is very easy to take off, almost as easy as the p51. No toes required so a twisty stick will do. The spit is the only warbird not to use organic (full) differential braking, it is akin to some Russian jets where the wheel brake pressure is directly proportional to rudder use, ie full left rudder plus standing on pedals will only slow the left wheel. The German ww2 have no rudder trim which will make them more difficult for people who don't use pedals. Someone recently flying with me in ww2 who only used racing pedals in combination with a twisty stick, and that certainly was a big help to him with the takeoff/landing phase.

These are a great set of missions over all the 3 modern maps and i've enjoyed many hours playing them, great fun, well made, going around capturing bases and spreading across the map like the conovirus until all your base belong to us and mission completes. I would like to ask, if there's any chance on one of the servers (not the insane difficultly version) that a couple of the longest range weapons be restricted, for the purposes that other pilots can employ and practice shorter, or direct methods. We all know that getting in the f18 you can fire 8 INS guided 154 glider bombs at once, with pin point accuracy, while remaining completely outside the threat radius, killing the enemy with impunity, however this gets a little boring seeing 2-3 people of the 20+ others, doing this over and over. Just an idea, so that practicing other methods get a good chance too, without having to find empty server. Someone might say this would lead to ever more requests then to ban the next longest weapons etc, until we are down to guns only, but i'm hoping everyone can be realistic and see that this 1 weapon, both variants, are far and out above even jdam 38 with respect to stand off range, accuracy and kill ratio etc. thx

yeah when i host a mission for my friends on a private mission i made myself, the game always starts in a paused state and nobody can do anything - i (server / host) literally just press the pause break key and the game suddenly spurts into life for everyone. try starting a few slots in the air to see if this more obviously the case, or not.

In my experience the 2 different missions i've enjoyed on GS server have been about as balanced as it could be, considering the way different units are all unique, and the map not being a symmetrical square like would be required for a perfectly 50/50 balance. My only issue with the place, and its not the fault of GS, is the way most people will log in and join the bigger team. This is a human wanting to win, and sadly this means more to most people than having a good game, by joining the smaller team. But in today's age where every kid at school is a winner and everyone gets a medal etc, we can't expect otherwise. Props to the minority who do join the smaller team, we are a minority.

are you trying to use the harrier by any chance when this happens?? It's a well known bug (over in harrier section) that fiddling with the nav page (in multiplayer) can cause total CTD (often so hard, you don't even get the DCS crash window). Also - if not using the harrier, many players have noticed a massive increase in CTD since the F16/JF17 came out. Prior to these being released, DCS was very stable, and as someone who flew about 500 hours before getting my first CTD, I am now seeing a crash every few hours. Other than submitting all the required info over and over, I suspect we have to wait this one out, because so many people are going on about it now. bigger DCS channels on youtube are starting to take note, so I'm sure ED have noticed. At some point they are going to have to completely rewrite the 10+ year old coding, because the technology has moved on so much since DCS was a10, than adding in, and swapping parts of the existing code, and that's a massive job, I feel for them, and I guess they are dreading, but sense is looming. Fly the F14 for a while, and then land, switch to F18 (same session) and you see jester in the F18 nav start-up.. This is just 1 small example where the addition of a new module is conflicting with coding or variables and has caused a (very minor) bug in an existing one. DCS is layers and layers of these conflicts from what must be 500 updates since first launch. but we still love it and it is still by far the best air combat sim

Yeah trying to dodge the phoenix with a bit of notching and chaff ain't the easiest thing to do. For 1, how many times do you see the missile miss you by couple hundred feet, only to die 2-3 seconds later from it/follow up. The smokeless are a nightmare, and unless you got clear intel on who shot it, you've very little idea where the thing even is, especially when its busy. Ultimately you can only ever truely put 1 incoming on your 3-9 and even from the same guy, the second+ missile is always going to be a couple degrees or more off that line. There's a reason the majority of the blue team spends much their time tree dodgin on GS server these days. That being said, tree huggun has its advantages when u got the HMD+9x =)

Oldpop I will try my best to help, so forgive any parts of this post which are already obvious. 1 - In real life, those switches would activate a video camera(s) on the real jet, to record things like heads up display footage, TGP footage etc (like we sometimes see on news reels) 2 - In DCS (as someone mentioned) they do nothing, they are simply to accurately recreate the cockpit model, and the fact u can flip the switch back and forth is also purely cosmetic. 3 - If you wish to record your F18 flight, there are 3 methods. I shall list them Single player a) Track file. After your flight finishes and you quit (to menu, not desktop) you will see a mission summary screen and there is a "watch replay" and "save replay" button. Clicking save replay creates a track file, allowing you to watch the flight back (and re-take control of it at any time). This is a useful way to practice getting out of a situation instead of constantly replaying the easy 15minutes it took to get there (see replay/fast forward control) b) Fraps/Nvidia shadow play etc - this is very different from the first option, and has nothing to do with DCS itself - before you start DCS you would load up a screen video capture software - If you have an Nvidia graphics card - you already have one - called shadow play - see nvidia icon -> geforce experience. What this does is record as a video file, what your monitor is showing you - if you fly VR - you will still record what 1 eye sees as is shown on the monitor. c) Tacview - this is a seperate application (search tacview) that integrates very well with DCS (and several other flightsims) and constantly records several vital pieces of data from any and all mission objects - including aircraft, land units, weapons etc. It won't bother recording things like the external light settings, but will record everything like speed, height, AoA, weapon launches, and is very useful to assess any sort of combat situation where you might be looking to improve, see growling sidewinders youtube channel for great examples of this. Multiplayer a) Trackfile Is (optionally? someone chime in) saved in the same way as single player, although there may be a time delay (to prevent cheating). It will be in a multiplayer folder when searching for replays, and records a couple times a second or so, all the information about all the players and mission units - much like single player - although u cant retake control for obvious reasons. b) video capture - just the same as single player c) tacview - just the same as single player - although a 15min delay is enforced as standard and can only be reduced IF the server ALSO HAS tacview installed, and the server admin manually reduced this limit - to prevent cheating, and avoids forcing server admins to buy/install tacview - the 15min delay is automatic. So assuming you did something really great and want to show it off from every possible angle (again see growling sidewinder showing off his kills in slow motion from 2-3 angles) you would firstly: 1) save the track file, in game, (save replay) after the event finished 2) load up the same track file - to replay it 3) fast forward to the event, choose the camera angle you want, and hit the hotkey to start video recording ( recording your monitor) until the scene is over. Hit the hotkey to stop recording 4) jump back to step 2 and repeat until you have every angle you could dream of. remember when in replay (or single player) you can pause, live pause, slow down & speed up replays. Many youtubers will [left alt] + Z a couple times to get slow motion missile launches /dodges etc. PS to get the "camera zoom effect" (not just moving camera closer) you press [right ctrl] + (numpad) / and * - makes for some nice dramatic shots. I hope this somewhat helps you, or anyone else.

Have you noticed in landing config the F18 - when trimmed out - keeps a perfect angle of attack if you don't touch the stick? Have you noticed, you can steer the F18 by giving 1 engine more power than the other? Have you tried putting these 2 together, and flying the downwind leg -> base -> landing using only the throttles? I'll put a short video in, showing this being done. It's actually a lot easier than it might sound, I found myself often using the engines to keep dead straight on longer taxiways and that gave me the idea to try this.

oldpop - If you do what has been suggested here - correctly - then you will see the TRG option appear on the OSB button (above where you can see RTCL). So to be clear 1) setup as you were in the image you posted 2) check master arm = on 3) check A-G mode = on 3b) check you have laser bomb (ie GBU12) selected on stores page 4) by your right elbow (in cockpit) check both FLIR switch is in forward position (it will be if your TGP is working) 5) and LTD/R switch is forward position (it wont let you, unless the above conditions are met) 6) now TRG should appear on your TGP page (note: TRG will replace your gun firing with laser firing when you press trigger, so make sure to unpress TRG when you're done and/or need to use your gun) edit: oh and make sure you gave your GBUs (all pylons) the code 1688 on stores page - you can of course change this code for the bombs, but then you must manually change TGP laser code - default is 1688

I agree with you WindyTX - I did try to make that point as clear as I could (although probably not very well). I am refering to level flight (but inverted)... edit - the issue I was describing has been resolved in the last few patches, I am unable to reproduce, it is now behaving in the correct manner - so flying inverted the heavier wing still dips, and if you pull positive G (while inverted) the heavier wing now "pulls towards the sky" as it should. Thanks for the fix and also for clearing up the difference between inverted flight and positive/negative G effects on the loadouts/mass.

Thank you Yurgon, idk that, helpful yeah 2 rudders certainly helps. I also have a habit when retarding the engines on finals, to move 1 throttle a half second or so before the other, to help kick (any) plane straight that has 2 engines.

I put every module through some nasty crosswinds and found the a10c is BY FAR the easiest, most capable plane in DCS when it comes to heavy crosswinds / turbulence. Here in Dubai, I measured runway heading and added 90 degrees on and put a 25kts ground speed wind. Also turbulence 125 - giving 14m/s wind at sea level gusting another 4m/s. At one point on approach, you can see a 61kts crosswind from the aircraft computer - this is because winds double (by default) a thousand feet up and as you can see from the smoke trails, this is some wind. These are winds that would flip a few modules over the instant they touch the ground. The mirage is one of the harder modules to land in this kinda wind, because the wheels are quite easy to pop/break. The F18 runs out of rudder authority, and even with differential toe braking, is unable to stay on the runway (although it doesn't die). This is A10C only, I replay the same landing back, from inside and out. edit link maybe not working here it is-

For anyone who doesn't know - you can "fix" this issue without having to land or restart etc... If you're in the air and stuck in the nose up/trim up situation do the following 1) make sure you slow to 250kts (or less) 2) put your wheels down 3) pul your flaps to stage 1 (middle /takeoff position) 4) press/hold takeoff trim button for 1-2secs 5) problem fixed - clean up and enjoy the rest of the mission

Bunny Clark - changing the radar bug down to zero will disable the radar alt altogether (you will getting a flashing on your HUD if you switch Bara Alt to Radar Alt mode. To clarify, the radar alt bug setting at anything over 0ft is also the on/off switch at 0ft

When you have load imbalance (usually after dropping a bomb from 1 wing) the F18 will begin rolling towards the heavier wing - all good and as expected. But when you fly inverted (ie during low level CAS operations / overbanking / terrrain hugging etc) the roll continues to pull the aircraft in the same direction, even though the heavier wing is now on the other side of the aircraft (with respect to the direction of flight). here is an image to better explain the issue within DCS... Hopefully it is somewhat obvious that in inverted (but level) flight that the roll direction on the right image is the wrong way. The heavier wing, with respect to the direction of flight, should always favour towards the ground (unless pulling/pushing G force would cause otherwise) I get the programming likely has something along the lines of "if left wing is heavier than right wing, then add left roll " but what is missing from this (oversimplified) line of code is "but if aircraft is upside down, then the heavier wing is other way around - thus add roll force right" I understand if you were inverted (as in the image on the right) but were to pull any G force at all (over 0G) then it would be correct as the heavier mass, is now causing a force on the plane (even though it is upside down, much like being pushed into your chair during a loop, despite being upside down). I hope this makes sense to someone who can perhaps better explain it.

the harrier has various CTD issues when it comes to using the MAP / navigation / mark points / waypoints - especially in multiplayer. Various workarounds, like adding waypoints before (mission editor side), using inner pylons only for jdam etc - but I agree, these are kinda show stoppers that have been reported by many users, and yet harrier is such a great, fun module, certainly top 3 to bring in for CAS, great for formation and aerobatic stuff too, these couple minor issues (yet major issues) need fixing asap. until then, workarounds and other setups need to be used

Messing about the other day in harrier, doing 500 in level flight near the ground, i began to do some slow rolls and noticed the speed began to INCREASE (no change in power). Usually stick ailerons into the airflow adds drag, and slows a plane down, so I investigated further, and found by inverting the aircraft, maintaining level flight, either thrust is drastically increased, or drag is almost zero - so much so, flying the harrier on idle power, inverted, is almost able to maintain level flight. So while this is great news for those short on fuel on the home run, i thought it worth a mention, and i ain't gonna report it with logs and what not, so if someone can do that, or if devs can recreate the issue without logs by just rolling the harrier, either continuously, or stop half way, its be great to fix in future. thx

also RWR picks up Radar signals - so you need to setup a SAM configuration that will emit a radar/lock you up. This might sound obvious, but for example, an enemy SA8 SAM site will track/lock you up ONLY if it has missiles it can fire, so even if the unit is 100% alive, but gone through all its ammo, it will no longer show up on your RWR as it isn't using its radar.

i noticed that my frames in VR didn't reduce as much as they did when many players online were dumping smokes in the same place. Coming off AO just now, at least 12 smokewinders of all colours were painting the sky over Kob and usually i notice a bit of jerkiness if i look into the thick of something like this in VR, but today there was no noticeable issue... I'm not sure i recall this being mentioned, how or why it might be, but great job regardless, thx

I just gave the a10c a spin over Kob in AO, with smokewinders (of course, its AO).. I really liked the cockpit - I have flown VR for 3 years now and while the scaling of the cockpit never really bothered me before, I can certainly see now why it would bother those who have some idea what the real was like - it looks amazing, loving the new, darker theme as well. Notes, workarounds and stuff i noticed: -I found the internal instrument lighting to be a lot darker than it was before. Nothing to prevent readability, and its great at night, but you notice about 75% of the glow is gone (max setting) - The green HUD is pretty unreadable during daytime /bright mission over snow.. Oddly enough flipping the HUD into night mode resolves this issue (adjusting HUD brightness didn't help with the right green/white contrast/clarity). - I found the DMS, TMS and slew hat controls on the hotas didn't respond when HUD was my SOI (thats gonna be gibberish to none a10 people). To get around this, firstly I manually adjusted waypoints using the switch (i had put a route in), and later I found switching around SOIs a bit, suddenly the HUD as SOI, i could do all the usual stuff like before (designate mark points, switch weapons, waypoints etc). (not sure if my last point is a bug, or my hawg was still warming up a bit, as i set off coldndark.

no it's not backspace - i tried, and also searching through the controls for things like "show" or "stick" or "view" comes up with nothing that would enable the stick to be shown. I also have all the hotas stuff hidden in the aircraft modules by default (using VR it can obscure things that i like to glance at) so I enable them module by module at the right time - if suitable. Some modules I own, do not allow you to enable the view of the hotas (usually just the stick) if you turn it off (global settings, not module special). the mig15 is one such module, where as mig19 allows it, f18 allows it, f16 allows it. i can't be too sure on the rest right now, or it isn't an issue with blocking a view.

I went in police chopper here, with it's flir, and it's very sensitive and has great zoom, the camera can read number plates from 2 miles, and the flir can spot 0.1c temperature changes the size of chewing gum from 500m. So anyone should be easy to spot with all this, right? No. If they find someone, they have never lost them afterwards, but finding them initially is another matter. This is from a Heli that can hover and twist and turn and get into any vantage point, as well as (being in the UK) never seen what a bullet looks like.... My point is, even with everything on your side, you can't always find people from the air. Sometimes realism in a simulator sucks