SPS48A

Seems silly to me. If ED is modeling a flight sim based on classified information then there is a much bigger issue going on. I'm guessing anything found on the internet is not classified material as it relates to the Hornet. If it is in the model, it is safe to talk about it.

New to the targeting pod. I have the main ideas down and have read through Chucks guide and watched several videos on YouTube. I find that most of the videos rely on having a waypoint to designate as target and then the pod slews to that target. Are there other ways to get the pod pointed in the right direction? Or perhaps a better question might be how many ways are there to get the pod pointed into a general area? I totally suck at trying to do it freehand. Let's say you are patrolling an area and notice AA fire coming from your 2 o'clock position. How would you go about getting the targeting pod pointed in that direction?

Dynamic objects disappearing, static objects are fine. I noticed this as well. I placed a camera directly above objects and then moved up in elevation. I noticed that static objects are fine, I can move out until they turn into dots before they disappear. For dynamic objects like tank groups, They disappear somewhere around 1600 - 1700 feet above the object. Took me a while to figure this out, I thought I had lost my ability to see targets on the ground. Kept circling the targets and descending in altitude. Low and behold they started popping in around 1600 feet relative altitude.

"Sure, they're cheaper, but they're also less effective. If a dumb bomb is only effective 5% of the time (it's rate in Vietnam)...." Is Vietnam a good benchmark? I don't know. Seems the jungle would make bombing pretty ineffective with either FF or guided bombs. How does that 5% in Nam compare to middle east FF bombing, do you know? And then Napalm, seems to me dropped in close quarters it would be pretty effective! Just curious.

I am struggling choosing load outs from the high number of combinations. IRL who determines the load out for a mission? Does the pilot have input to that? I can see a pilot being in a situation in which he/she says, "Damn, I wish I had XYZ..." Also with all of the precision weapons available, does the Navy actually use dumb bombs anymore? If so why? So to my point. Do you have a favorite load out for the particular mission you are flying? If you could list a mission type here ie. CAP, CAS, SEAD, et el. and the load out you like to fly for that particular mission, I'd appreciate it. Regards,

Yes I struggle with altitude combined with the ballooning. I will practice getting gear and flaps in in the crosswind turn. I've been getting gear down OK but not flaps until in the downwind. Then it is chasing the AOA and altitude all the way in. Thanks for all of the feedback. This thing has been a beast for me to learn to fly.

******* Show Off*********

I have Banklers mission. Don't do very well with it for the same reason. I have set up a ground based approach with a break complete with gates. I just have to practice more I guess. Question: Do you guys have your HOTAS throttle axis tune set linearly or have you applied a curve to it to give you finer granularity in the center? Right now mine is set up linearly. I may put a curve in it to help prevent over correction. Not sure what might cause in other flight configurations.

I am using the Thrustmaster T16000M. I like it a lot. It seems to be pretty smooth with no slop. I have the pitch tuning set up as: Deadzone: 2 Sat X and Y: 100 Curvature: 21

Damn, I must have made 200 attempts at landing this thing and can't seem to get it right. I can do OK with a 10 mile final with plenty of time to slow down and stabilized before the threshold, but I am really struggling with standard overhead patterns. There just doesn't seem to be enough time/distance to get this thing slowed down and stable before turning to base. What I find is when I make the brake and pull the speed brake, it starts to slow and when I hit 250 the gear goes down and I am fine. It continues to slow and when under 200 I put down flaps and bam, it balloons up and I have to apply forward stick to keep from shooting up well over 1500 feet AGL and then bam, airspeed drops like a rock and the thing falls out of the sky. There doesn't seem to be much time between the two to manage throttle. If i try to apply power to keep from dropping out of the sky, it just adds to the balloon and off I go into the wild blue yonder. I've even tried a two step flaps process - apply half flaps, delay while it slows, and then apply full flaps. By the time everything stabilizes I am either way downwind with a 2 mile final or into the base/final transition and unstable. I understand stroking the throttle and have tried that, but haven't found the right method to make that work. Not bitching, just frustrated. Any hints to get this under control? I have watched every YouTube video I can find. I'm also having trouble maintaining pitch and altitude in normal flight and turns. Perhaps I have something set up in my joystick incorrectly. I do have a curve in as recommended by others but the Hornet sure appears to have a lot of pitch instability to me. Comments?

**** Resolved ***** I was getting very frustrated with this problem so I became very slow and deliberate in my actions to narrow the problem down. The problem occurred when I tried to measure a distance with the measuring tool while holding down the left mouse and right mouse buttons concurrently so I could scroll to a distant part of the map without zooming in. What I discovered is while performing this process I was inadvertently pressing one of the side buttons on my mouse. This had been programmed to do send a rapid double click. Not sure why this was causing the software to get hung up, but I haven't had any issues since I reprogrammed the mouse to disable this button in DCS.

Bit confused. 1) Doesn't seem to be implemented in DCS - is this correct? I cannot get my throttle to go into cutoff by lifting the finger lifts and going to minimum HOTAS throttle. 2) & 3) Seem to conflict with each other. 2) says lock out fingers should not stop advancement into AB and 3) Says it should. Are you just saying we may want to choose the option that keeps the lockout active all the time? Or is this how it really works? 4) Makes sense, wouldn't want to mistakenly go into AB on a flight deck. Also, do you have your HOTAS thrust curve set up linearly? I struggle with throttle control on the F18.

LOL No offense taken at all, I may well be doing something really stupid. I did try to click on the measuring tool again. But like the other menu icons it won't take. It is like the screen is stuck in some other mode. When I click on an icon, it is the same as if clicking on the map behind it. For example I can click the measuring tool icon with the middle mouse button and drag and it measure the distance to a point behind the icon to wherever I drag to. If that makes sense.

I've had this problem occur multiple times while using the measurement tool in ME. It seems to work OK but then ME gets stuck and I can't do anything else. I can do the following: Right click and pan around the map. Center click and make distance/angle measurements. Scroll in/out using the center wheel Left click an aircraft or static object but I can't edit it. All I can do is move it around on the map. What I can't do is select any other menu item. So I can't save my work or make any other edits. It is as if I have ME stuck into some sub mode and I can't figure how to get it out. Can't X out of the editor I have had to restart DCS to get back to normal. This happens pretty regularly Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Only Big Smoke Works Perhaps I am doing something wrong. I am running 2.5.5.39384, which I believe is the latest. I can get the static "Big Smoke" to work just fine. None of the others work - "Dust/smoke" "Smoking Line" and "Smoky Marker" produce no results. At all. Is there a trick to getting them to work? There doesn't appear to be a trick for the "Big Smoke" it works fine just by placing it on the map. I noticed the presets are Test1, Test 2, Test 3. Does that mean they aren't implemented yet?

All the new videos are abuzz with the F16. Rightfully so, I guess. I haven't purchased it yet but do have the P51, F5, and F18 which I enjoy and am nowhere near mastering. Just curious if you folks see the F16 as a better/more fun airplane than the F18. I will eventually get it, I am sure, but just wondering about your first impressions. Do you think you would fly the F16 or F18 if they were both at the same level of development?

Can you share Not trying to be snarky or anything at all, just askin. Would it be possible for you to share your spreadsheet with the community? That would be a nice gesture and would save a lot of people a lot of work.

LOL! Well that's encouraging!

So I am getting the hang of flying the P51. Not very good with rockets or bombs yet but I keep trying. I see a few videos on bombing and rockets and a lot of videos on dog fighting. I will admit that I am not an aviation tactical expert so I have a question about how to attack a Bomber Formation. I am guessing the best position is to start high and behind and then dive down and through the formation. Yes? No? Then what? The P51 is pretty slow in the climb so do you just make a climbing turn and take the time to get high and behind again and make another pass? Or do you now climb up through the formation for a belly attack? Or do you level out at the same altitude and make a lateral attack from the front, side, back? I guess it all depends on the situation at tally (is that a correct use of the word) but I am guessing our boys were taught in the fine art of attacking German bomber formations in WWII. I see basic flight maneuver videos showing defensive and offensive moves but not too much on tactics for ground attacks, formation attacks, etc. Any good advice on web sites or YouTube channels that address basic fighter/bomber tactics of WWII and present?

Update Yet? I thought it was just me. I am seeing the dots as indicated. Kind of threw this newbie for a while. I moved from the P51 over to this mod because I sucked at bombing and rockets on the P51. Not much better on this one but it doesn't take as long to get back up to altitude. Anyway, wish the radar scale worked as it should. Is this normal for ED to take this long for what appears to be a pretty simple fix?

Yes seeing the same problem with the headrest, behind the seat, and a label on the left panel in the P51,

**** Resolved ***** Duh! I am an idiot. The problem was after defining and placing the train and its way points, I didn't click on the last tab and actually build the train from the choices given. Once I actually built the train, it works fine. Sorry for the wild goose chase.

Can't get it to work in the Normandy Map Tried on the Normandy map and not getting my trains to show up. With Civilian Traffic enabled, I get all kinds of trains, but not the one's I created. With Civilian Traffic set to OFF, I get zero trains. So it appears that my trains are not working either way or perhaps I have them set up wrong. But all I am doing is putting the trains on a track and creating a 2nd waypoint, just like I do for trucks or ships, the only difference being trains. Attached is the mission I set up. If someone wouldn't mind taking a look at it, I'll be very appreciative. Thanks! I've got to be doing something basically wrong. I tried to put a train on the Caucasus map and having the same problem. Everything seems fine when I create the train in Mission Editor, the train just never shows up during the mission. My setup works fine for other vehicles but not trains. Onward into the fog! P51 Free Flight Normandy.miz

I am new to mission editor and am trying to create a simple mission involving a train. I add the train group and place it in the rail yard North of Faubg De Vaucelles then place several way-points along the track traveling SE out of town. Seems like everything is set up correctly. My mission is set for 10:00 AM. I set the train start time to 10:10 to give me time to take off and get to the area before it spawns. However I cannot tell if it is working correctly. There are so many trains spawning around and in the rail yard that I can't tell if mine is working or not. It appears not as the trains that spawn around the 10:10 time frame turn and go North over the bridge rather than traveling SE along the path I created. Is there a way to eliminate the random trains that are being spawned by DCS and only have my train spawn? I tried taking "civilian traffic" out of the mission options but that seems to have killed all trains including the one I am trying to create. From what I can tell it appears to be all or none. Am I correct or am I doing something wrong? P51 Free Flight Normandy.miz

How effective should the automatic radiator scoop doors be. I am finding not very. Seems to me it should be able to regulate temp in a normal climb or even for high power operation. I find that to keep the oil from overheating I must manually adjust the door. Is this normal? If so, what good is automatic operation?