CBStu

I agree 120Cs seem much less effective than a couple months ago. I fly the included missions in SP mode and the 120C used to be nearly 100% using the HUD to aim and releasing on the 'Shoot' cue. Yesterday I shot a couple and then bugged out because there were 4 Migs nearby. I got a 'LOST' cue in the HUD and couldn't get rid of it. 'Undesignated', clicked 'AA' to off. Clicked 'Master Arm' to off. Each time, as soon as I got the 'AA' and 'Master Arm' back on, and the 120C aim cue back on the HUD, there was 'LOST' again. Shot another 120C and still 'LOST' showing. At this point the 'LOST' was referring to 3 missiles ago. Jeez, I get it, it was LOST, but I no longer care.

I would like to add a bit about self learning. I have my DCS set up on my PC so the bar across the bottom of the screen is not covered by DCS. I did this because my buttons for the web browser and my file folders are easy to get to. I often pause DCS and go to either a file I have saved, or to Chuck's guide, or to Youtube videos. This way I can access info, switch back to DCS un-pause and compare what I am doing to what I should be doing. I also make a lot of use of 'L SHIFT-R' to restart a flight. Whether I was shot down or just screwed up on my own, doing a restart is a quick easy way to try again.

I suggest your forget pattern landings for now. Just do straight in landings. Find one that starts you 10-15 miles out at 3-4000ft. Cut the throttle to idle. Let speed drop to just under 250 and drop the gear. Let speed further drop to about 180-190 and go to full flaps. Start trimming up to get the VV in the E bracket and watch speed carefully. At about 145 start bringing on some throttle. Your speed will be about 135 when fully set for approach w/ gear and full flaps. You will almost never stop making throttle adjustments all the way to the ground. But they must be fine because speed below about 130 and you drop like a stone. Speed above 140 and you stop descending. Once you have a stable descent put the VV on the tire marks on the runway and hold that until you touch down. Throttle will adjust where the VV is in relation to the tire marks height wise. Left or right stick will adjust your left to right alignment w/ the runway. A very unofficial but maybe helpful note: If you are not lined up w/ the runway yet, you can still use the throttle to control your descent. Look at how far the tire marks are from the top of your screen and put your VV at that same distance. A note on equipment. You need a throttle that allows fine adjustments. I flew another game for a year or so w/ just the throttle that was built in to the base of the stick. Then I started w/ DCS and the FA-18 because I wanted to learn carrier landings. AT that point the throttle was just too crude. I ended up buying a TM Warthog throttle which was quite expensive but it was also a game changer. BTW, once you find a mission that puts you where you want to be to start your approach, when you hit the runway, use 'shift + R' to reset and start over. This take a LOT of practice. Maybe a 100 approaches to get comfortable.

A little over a year ago I Replaced a HD w/ a new SSD. I bought the kit to clone the old HD onto the new SSD before removing the HD. A 10 inch wire w/ USB on one end and a plug that matches the SSD on the other. I did the clone process, removed the HD, installed the SSD, fired up the PC and everything was exactly the same except much, much faster.

I solved my slew problems when I got a VKB stick w/ and extra hat switch. I use the WH throttle slew for radar attack and the VKB for MavF and others. Each slew control can be tuned individually.

I have TIR centering bound to a button on my VKB stick base. I find I use it more than maybe I should but sometimes my headset moves some on my head and then I don't get full range of pitch. SO I hit DCS pause, go to TIR, hit 'center' and check my range of movement. I am slowly trying to get everything off the keyboard but I don't think it will ever be everything. I have also thought about making some kind of quick setup bracket to set my keyboard on the desk at maybe a 45 degree angle. That would make using it a lot easier.

I have a practice mission set up w/ 'armed speedboats' I think they are called. They are very hard to see on the MavF screen. Playing w/ the brightness and contrast knobs can help a little. But generally I often fly by them w/o getting a lock. I have to be so close to even see them that there isn't time left to get them slewed and locked.

Well no I don't. Why not start w/ deleting the profile that caused the problem?

Yes you can. I have done it. Set them both to 1 so, since there is always a 1 in the display after you hit the 'ON' button, that eliminates needing to put numbers into the pad. I am sorry that it has been long enough since I did it that I can't give you directions as to how.

I didn't know that they were supposed to show on the F10 map. They do show on the kneeboard and SA page though.

Yep I like MavF. Best thing for me was getting a new stick w/ an extra 5 way hat switch. I use that for MavF and the TDC on my Warthog throttle for the radar attack screen.

I am having trouble also. I set up a mission of my own similar to one of the provided ones but w/o any SAMS. I keep moving my flying start point further away so I can have more time trying to find my 4 tanks sitting on a road. I am flying at 20,000ft and am not sure if being higher would be better or not. I need to try at 30,000 I guess. I fly directly at the tanks but often can only take out one. At one point I thought I would try flying by them and pointing the pod at 90 degrees. A terrible mistake. Even at just 300 the plane is going by so fast it's impossible to lock onto the tank. Also something happens where slewing control up/down gets swapped w/ left/right. So far the pod is pretty useless to me. I hope more time will help.

Maybe 6 weeks ago I decided to give guided bombs a try. Did JDAMs in TOO w/o the pod by designating waypoints. While that worked fine I didn't think the name 'target of opportunity' jived very well w/ using waypoints preset on the ground. So I thought I should try the pod since I see it is on Gen 2 and I haven't touched it yet. Let's just say I haven't figured it out yet. So back to waypoints and maybe find and try other methods. I had created my own mission since I was tired of getting blown up by a SAM while I am trying to learn a system in the provided JDAM training mission. Bomb 1 hits. Bombs 2, 3, and 4 miss by a bunch. I realize I had my head down in the SA page and didn't look for coordinates so I try again. Coordinate 1 transfers to the MSN page but the rest do not. OK maybe my mission is messed up so I try the provided mission. Same thing. Do a quick search here and find a bunch of threads about JDAMs and JSOWs not working. I am thinking not much use getting frustrated w/ my performance if it's actually the program that doesn't work. So should I just move on to learn something else and come back when this stuff works?

I agree. Change back please. You can change the overall coloring at the very bottom left side of the page it says either 'Default', Dark', or 'Denim'. Makes it look a little different but doesn't fix anything really. W/ all the wasted space I will wear out my mouse wheel before anything else.

I am understanding what all of you are saying but I still blame this on ED. We generally fly looking at the VV. We shoot guns looking at a cross hair. We fire rockets looking at a different type cross hair. We shoot missiles looking at various types of aim reticles usually in the form of circle. Every one of these works just fine w/ the default view. Then I try the HMD planning to use the HMD to fire 9x missiles. W/ HMD on, when I look straight I see the standard Aim9 aim circle in it's standard position and the HMD isn't really visible. (I know the HMD is there but it is not very visible) If I turn my head slightly to either side, the HMD circle pops into view but it is much lower than the conventional circle. Well this is just great. If I am wanting to use the HMD I am generally cranking through a turn and, if the HMD were higher, that would be helpful. W/ it being lower it is actually almost a hindrance. I am NOT going to mess w/ my default head position (or default view) to get the HMD to work better and screw up my view for every other facet of flying the FA-18. Here is an idea which I know isn't realistic, but what the he11, let's use the dang HMD to aim MavFs.

The Warthog throttle stop can be modded very easily yourself w/ a small file. Or a piece of 100 grit sandpaper wrapped over the edge of something like a popsicle stick. AB throttle detent by craig stuard, on Flickr Just file a 90 deg corner off to form a 45deg chamfer indicated by the 2 green arrows. I did mine in about 4 stages so I didn't go too far. The two allen head screws remove the cover piece between the two levers and the piece in the pic lifts out from the forward end of the slot.

My 72 yr old brain was having trouble remembering all the functions on my Warthog throttle so I grabbed the illustration of it from the online manual. Popped it into paint.net (a free download upgrade to Windows Paint) and added my own labels. This is an early version. I keep the current version sitting on my desktop. Throttle by craig stuard, on Flickr

I 'think' I have read some comments on the Syria map needing significantly more computer power. Is this correct guys? If so that might affect which map you should buy.

I use zoom also. My Warthog throttle has a slider that has a slight notch in the center of it's travel so I use that as my normal view. Moving it forward zooms me in and I can easily get back to standard by moving the lever to the notch.

I agree. For me this has been enough of a mess I seldom use the HMD. With HMD on I note that if you are looking straight ahead you don't really see the HMD just the normal crosshair. If you hold your head perfectly unmoved up and down but turn a little to one side the HMD appears and it is substantially lower then the normal crosshair. 99% of the time were are banked over w/ the stick pulled back a bunch trying to get the crosshair on the enemy plane. So having the HMD lower than standard makes things even worse. Since the radar controlled gun aiming came out I haven't bothered w/ HMD at all.

Reminds me of when I was an auto tech and someone would start w/ the how long will it take questions. My comment was usually something like do you want it right now or do you want it right?

Yep, I just saw the info on the NXT and thought 'wtf was it a 3 month sales life for the K?'. But it looks like my K has more buttons than the NXT so I am satisfied even if a little surprised. The K is a REALLY nice stick for the $ and I expect the NXT is also. And the new GNX throttle quadrant looks like it will be a neat way to make a cockpit as a desktop unit.

Turn it off and use the E bracket instead.

When I have problems it is caused by sunlight shining into the area behind me. It is not shining toward me but creates bright spots on the walls and floor behind me. I assume the sensor is picking these up. It is especially bad if my wife is walking around in that area because she blocks and unblocks the light patches. My screen goes to a crazy angle and I flop my head side to side and it comes back to correct.

Thanks. I didn't know the answer but that makes sense to me.