wowbagger

Great, thanks for the update.

Yep. With copy protected missions you just load them into the mission editor, make the changes, and fly straight from the editor. The only thing to watch for is when you switch the player aircraft from one type to another the mission editor has a strange habit of moving the starting parking position and you can end up spawning into a parked vehicle. So take note of the proper parking spots before you change the aircraft type, or select show all BLUE vehicles, and show Hidden to make sure you won't spawn in the middle of something. The Mirage campaign and any campaign which comes with a module isn't copy protected so you can make your changes and save the missions and fly it as a normal campaign. I like to either write down the default radio frequencies or change them in the new aircraft using the mission editor - sometimes they aren't listed in the briefing or they use aircraft specific designation like 'channel 1, green radio'. I think the Viper has short legs compared to the Eagle so make sure to take plenty of tanks or manage your ingress speed, or your wingman will end up 'punching out' instead of RTBing.

By the way, I have been flying the Georgian War (F-15C) using the Viper and it works a treat and is lots of fun. I also converted the Mirage base campaign to use the Viper instead.

Exactly the same for me. The Hornet feels utterly lifeless. So many blinky lights and beeps, but it never feels like I'm sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft. I never had any interest in the Viper but last summer the sale brought it down to less than $30 so I grabbed it. I had very little expectations given the state of early release and my complete lack of interest. But I instantly and continually like it sooo much better than the Hornet. The best view in the game! The cockpit is simple, straightforward, and functional and mostly stays out of your way. Despite FBW it produces the feeling of flying much better than the F-18 in my opinion. Folks always recommend the Hornet because it can 'do anything'. But I'd much rather have the Viper or the Tomcat because they just feel better and are nicer places to spend time in. I really wish the Hornet wasn't the new flagship - because currently many new campaigns and missions are only focusing on the Hornet. Hopefully that will change with time. Eventually I will finish Raven One (I've been on mission 2 since release week) only because it's Baltic Dragon - the campaign seems great, it's only the Hornet itself keeping me away. But right now I'm far, far more happy spending time in the Viper, the Tomcat, the helos, and a couple of warbirds.

Okay, thanks. That's good to know. cheers

Just quick question about the Anton. Is it being looked at to work with Vaicom, or is there some kind of fundamental problem with the module which will prevent that? As it is, I have to close VA when using the Anton or Vaicom prevents the comms menu from showing up at all. Cheers

All controller considerations aside, stay well and healthy.

Stick with it. Definitely looking forward to your take on the beast.

I was hoping that might be the case. Okay, I'll give it a shot now while the bias is in my favour.

How manageable is this campaign with the current state of FLAK? I have been waiting to start it because of the current deadly ground fire issues. Cheers

I find most of the modules don't give enough (barely any) feedback of this sort. They feel far smoother and less affected by aerodynamic forces than even any jumbo jet I've ever been on. It's one of the things that sets the Tomcat apart from say... the Hornet. And I love this feedback. It feels much more like I'm in a real aircraft instead of just managing some video screens in a tiny office with too many beeps and bings.

Actually, I had that with the Tomcat for a brief while; whenever I got hit by an enemy missile my DCS would CTD. Definitely helped to focus the attention. Thought it was an enhanced realism feature, but apparently it was just a bug.

Awesome. Thanks much for the update. Time to relearn the Warthog ...again.

This is soooo very true. Can't understand why there isn't a more rigidly enforced standardization for things that all modules share. Recently, when asked why their module didn't recognize the show pilot in cockpit options setting, the Community Manager for that developer responded with "Well we dont make the other modules, were a different 3rd Party Developer trying different things all the time and experimenting with new features." I couldn't believe they were actually serious.

For me the nights are too dark, pitch black, without enough ambient light. If you switch on any kind of NVG many of the aircraft have non-dimmable indicator lights somewhere that cause a blinding distraction while NVGs are activated. Plus, helos can be very difficult to navigate at night, constantly having to switch NVG on/off to check instruments but also avoid crashing into trees etc. It's doable, but flying by yourself, it feels neither realistic, nor fun - at least for me. I have no doubt that others feel completely differently.

Frankly, anyone who regularly flies their Warthog, Tomcat, Gazelle, Sabre, Viper, Mirage, Harrier, Aviojet, or Viggen around the Caucasus, or indeed flies their Blackshark anywhere, should not be overly concerned about the suspension of disbelief needed for using "live" fire in a DCS training environment. I'm not. But I am definitely looking forwards to this campaign! Can't wait. Happy New Year all!

Nice work! The yellowish tint is there by design - I think it's an electro-magentic coating to try to reduce radar reflections from the canopy area. But I have always found it really distracting in game. Granted it seems less noticeable in the II than in the I, at least to me. I have never liked the A-10 HUD. It always feels too small and misaligned for a proper head position (my opinion). Your changes though definitely look great in the screen shots.

I've been playing the Georgian War by changing the player's flight from F15s to Vipers. It's been great fun (I never played it in the Eagle), and it's a good way to get introduced to the F-16. I have also done the same changes the entire Mirage base campaign - but I've only played 2 missions of that. Works well (just note down the radio frequencies when saving the new missions). If you have the Syria map, it plus Liberation together feel like they are made for the Viper.

I personally think the Gazelle would be great as a two person coop module, but it isn't greatly optimized for the realities of single pilot combat. The auto-hover is incredibly picky about engaging and there is no indication for the auto modes unless you have the big red controls indicator open. It also needs an automated pop-up button that would help significantly with weapons employment. The second thing is that the campaign has great voice acting, but most of the missions are in the middle of the night. Navigating and fighting in the Gazelle in pitch black is not fun for me given DCSs current night lighting. I actually changed all the missions in the editor and am now flying it at dawn/dusk conditions, and in the Ka-50. And I'm really having fun with the campaign. After changing the axes inputs and learning to use the autopilot button (whatever it is called on the stick) I enjoy flying the Gazelle, but not fighting in it. (That reminds me - the nomenclature for some of controls is quite confusing and hard to figure which one relates to which button/function. It could use some more clarity.)

Maybe, but it's worth remembering that the Forrestal is only part of a module, which has/will offer up multiple versions of an aircraft and which has things no other module currently has (multicrew AI, working multicrew), all for basically the same price as the others. If it were a paid module/addon, then I could concede your point. However ...

Nice work! Matches with my experience as well after checking it today.

You can mouse click to hide the Hornet stick, but must use keybinds for the Tomcat. I'd love for this kind of thing to be standardized across all aircraft - not just ED's birds, but everything in DCS.

I tested it last week and I'm pretty sure the ADF volume switch still does nothing. I'll have another look again just to be sure.

bump

Oh, I was under the impression that it was a known issue and that everyone was suffering from the stutter - which lead me to believe that the new DM simply wasn't ready for release. For me it is game breaking. If that's not the case, then it changes things for sure. There had been a number of threads talking about it, but they don't seem to have survived the forum changeover for some reason. Thanks for your reply. It's good to have others feedback about the actual game, rather than the tired "you're wrong, you're the problem, get good" argumentum ad hominem which are all too common on this forum. Cheers