kingsnake11

Thank you...whitelisted it and all good. ks

anybody getting edcore.dll infected with a trojan message from their anti-virus program?

Hey bad_turbulance, I have been using the free edition of voice attack and for 10 bucks, I upgraded to the full version. It is very good for reducing your workload. I haven't overloaded it with a lot of commands, and I'm still playing with it. The addon is called Vaicom and I'm looking at that too, primarily to improve the AI interface with jester for the F-14, but it is certainly usable with other systems. For now, I would recommend voice attack, and give the guy the 10 bucks...it's well worth it...ok it's like 14.50 for those of us in the great white north...but still very worth it. In multiplayer use and although I have virtually no multiplayer until very recently(big thanks to the VAF), having voice attack reduces a bunch of workload too. If you do intend to do multiplayer, and I feel like an idiot for taking so long in trying it, get SRS, the simple radio add in. It allows you to map push to talk buttons for communicating with your flying mates. It's free if I recall correctly. I have an issue with volume, but that is a windows mixer adjustment and sound slider adjustment to figure out. I highly recommend it too. And remember...above all... enjoy the aircraft and have fun. ks

Both the F-16 and Hornet are great aircraft and very complex. Even though they are work in progress, it takes time to simply fly them well. In my humble view, no use having harms, jdams, etc that are not properly working until they have them working, or at least modeled with some systems working p0roperly even if limited. Further, having all the nice toys is nice but no use if you can't fly well or use the systems, or do carrier landings in the 18, or can't do air to air refueling. Not being able to do those things will limit you more than lacking some weapons. In real life, squadrons are not always flush with weapons of choice...they make do, overcome, and adapt. There is so much depth to DCS that I often tell friends that the only thing missing are the g forces and that smell mix of vomit and kerosene and the smell of rubber and sweat of the mask that I remember from the jets I sat in. I've spent the last 3 weeks just learning how to operate what systems are already on the F-16 and I'm nowhere near complete. Look, go get chuck's guide on the F-16 and F-18 where you can study and see the richness of the modelling. If you want to do simple air to air, or air to ground without a lot of work and complexity, stick with the simpler jets ( and even those are too complicated for some folks), or wwII vintage aircraft. And by simple, I mean that both respectfully and simply in comparison. If on the other hand you want to enter the arena and get an idea of what it takes to be a modern era fighter pilot then you'll have to invest time to learning what is a steep learning curve for some aircraft. The 18 and 16 are up there in my humble opinion, but rewarding as you learn the systems. Just learning the radios and tacan navigation are a challenge. Do you know how to read and approach chart? etc. etc. more to airmanship than just banking stick and throttle. In the end, it really depends what you want out of DCS: the game or Sim?. In my humble opinion, it's that depth and complexity that dcs delivers, and yes, sometimes at a snails pace, but rewarding. My advice would be if you could only get one modern aircraft, would be to get the 18 as it is more complete, and learning to do carrier approaches and basket refueling is a great challenge. ks

absolutely....especially when you consider our eye doesn't "see" in 4k resolution....

I couldn't agree more. I got to fly the F-18 in DCS and even with the known issues in VR it is generations ahead in visual acuity. I was finally able to hit the drogue on the first attempt and had no problem holding the refuel as I could properly judge the simulated distances....I like you, can't fly without VR anymore either. It brought back so many sight memories of flying the real thing (well...not the f-18) 48 years ago. VR may still be in it's infancy, but clearly for sims like DCS, it is the future for sure.

But those who flew it loved it. Most stable and fastest aircraft at really low level...even better than the 105. At altitude and high speed...you could feel it still accelerate past mach 2 not sure if that applies to many aircraft now....ok...didn't have a great turn rate...but it was never designed to be a dog fighter. Still...would be a fun aircraft to add.

No free beer at the O if you saw rabbit legs On the Cold Lake low level course, if you came back with grass stains on you bird...you got free beer that night at the OC.

Like Harlikwin, I went for the Hornet first and it's a challenge to fly properly. It's taken a while to learn to consistently land on the carrier and air-air refueling takes a lot of practice. Regardless, it's a lot of fun and a really satisfying aircraft. I got the F-14 on order simply because I really like that aircraft and it's a carrier based aircraft. I took advantage of the sale an bought the Harrier, and the A-10. I also bought several of the terrains as the deal was too good to pass up. I'm now set with a variety of aircraft that will keep me busy for quite a while. My advice is to get what YOU really like. Have fun.

RCS is important in the real world but I would agree that a table lookup where RCS is cross referenced with range would be a simple and quick way to do it. The datum would be probability of detection as a function of radar type.

What a howl and oh so true. I enjoy the user made missions but most suffer from mission planners not really knowing how mission planning is actually done. I have to change and modify almost every mission I've to be more balanced. Challenging, but balanced. One fun suicide missions was an attack on an overly defended airfield. Impossible to survive, even if you successfully fight your way past the naval ships and air cap. No one today would a) be caught sending multi million dollar aircraft on a mission without any recon to know what they're up against, 2) no one today would arm an f-18 with dumb bombs and fly over a site with 20 sams and 30 AAA sites. The folly of that type of gung ho crap was learned in the 60's. With respect to SA, it's simply a learning thing. The best advice is to pause and look around, learn things in steps, and practice. Getting your ass kicked in ACM training pays off. Learning to fly at 50 feet AGL and using ground cover to sneak into a target pays off. No magic formula...just practice and don't give up or get discouraged.

Well said MegOhm_SD . There is so much to learn to flying the f-18 proficiently that like you, being patient and simply learning to consistently being able to CASE III, A-A refueling etc is a challenge. I know it's fun to go blow stuff up and play with new functions...but patients is a thrice rewarded virtue...right? Take the optimists view that at least they are working on additions, fixes and getting things right...and within weeks...not years.

I would imagine that it would be too taxing to continuously calculate aspect variant RCS values and using a fixed RCS makes sense from a computing point of view. I do know, but it would not be that taxing to have a function of RCS with range. RCS of an aircraft doesn't change, but it's detection should be a function of range with respect to a radar type. Maybe someone here knows if indeed RCS is a function of range with respect to radar detection. GGTharos : I like the photo in your signature block.

Thanks for the pdf's. Great job and looking forward to the next one.

Oh...absolutely....especially the cf-104g. One of the most iconic aircraft of the century series and so lovely making holes in the cold blue sky at 550 IKAS.

My experience and 2 cents worth from a newbee. Regardless of the limitations, the user files in my opinion have some great single, multiplayer, and campaign files. I have mainly used the f-18 missions as both a starting point to learn to fly the aircraft better and to work my way through the systems. I even made a number of my own missions to learn the mission editor...and yes...found it has a bunch of bugs too. Just learning the systems of these aircraft is complex and takes time and rather than wander around, the missions have helped focus the learning curve for me. I actually uploaded one of the missions I made to the user files too. Also, it gives you a chance to modify the user missions to reflect your own preferences and such. For example, there is one mission where you have to use dumb bombs to attack a well defended airbase. After a few tries you realize that 1) no one in real life would do this unless it was back in my day and 2) no matter what you try, you die with the way it's set up. Fix was to add a small flight of sead harriers, timed to arrive just before the strike, and viola...a doable and survivable mission. So yeah... enjoy the hard work folks have done and uploaded to the user files. lots of good mods, addons, and docs.

Ditto on the excellent video. I suspect that this was a lot of work to put together so I would like to thank you for sharing. As bolek suggested, perhaps the key slides to refresh our memory would be great.

combined arms and AV-8b... so tempted for more...but....

That is really great...but when I did a little searching around for online play, there certainly was a "no noob" feel from some corners of the dcs universe. Regardless, like I said, I'm patient and I'm sure to find a fun and instructive place to fly. ks

As a recent newbee to the DCS world myself, perhaps my experience and thought would be helpful...or not. I started with the su-25T and p-51 with the free 2.5 download. The value of these aircraft is that it allows you to experience the really nice Caucuses map and learn to fly the aircraft, and while not as complex as the more modern ones, are a good introduction to the basics of both jet, and non jet flying. Lots of help on youtube and other resources. I then bought the hornet package with the Persian gulf map and Su-33 bundle...which was a great deal. I also bought the Nevada test range map. The Hornet is a great aircraft, and in the last month that I've owned it, all I've done during my DCS time is to spend time learning the systems and flying it to what I think is reasonably well so that I don't make a total fool of myself when I think I'm ready for the step to online play. I made it a priority to learn proper startup, takeoff, landing, weapons and then case I to case III recoveries. Currently, air to air refueling is my bane and I know I will eventually get consistent at it( well that's the plan ). At this point, I am less interested in bombing stuff and A-A although I've done a few missions in that regard. Yes I know that a lot of work still needs to be done on the hornet, but I am patient and with spaced out updates, gives you more time to learn the basics and then incorporate the new stuff. I guess what I am trying to say is that pick an aircraft or two that you really like and enjoy just the thrill of flying and learning the systems. I already ordered the F-14 on pre-release...another one of my favourite aircraft. I know we all have favourites...but think about what's best for you and then decide: a) level of interest you want to put into the sim and b) concentrate on what you like and make purchases to that end. Well, my 2 cents worth; sorry to be so long winded ks

New to all this, but I created a mission with multiple aircraft flights working the Sidewinder route, with some AI aircraft doing the Jedi transition. Works great except that I can't for the life of me get the AI triggers to work. Using the same trigger commands in the Caucasus map work fine. Is this a known bug in the Nevada Terrain? Using the same trigger commands for the player F-18 work fine. I wonder if the Nevada map somehow allows AI triggers to work in the higher detailed areas north of vegas. I'll have to try that. Any thoughts would be great.

Newby to DCS here and I can't believe how impatient some folks are. Look on the bright side...they are constantly improving the platform....how many other sims/games do that? As an old guy, I am loving learning to fly the hornet and all the functions that work....and that is a lot of work. I am working now on air to air refueling. So for me...lots of good stuff and I'm patient enough to wait for stuff to work right and then released rather than get non working or really buggy stuff. Kudo's to ED.

guided munitions...using ccip with dumb bombs gets hairy....