DeltaMike

Gyah I'm up to my eyeballs in stuff -- Anybody want my old Rift CV1? -- I have a mITX build I'm not using, should be OKish as a starter system for DCS. Choice of gen1 or gen2 Ryzen, R9 nano, 16GB RAM, B350MB. Needs windows. Not appropriate for VR, and never will be basically. Not enough room in the box for a full length gpu. There is potential to drop in a 3600 when you have the coin tho https://www.techspot.com/review/1872-ryzen-9-on-older-motherboards/ -- Finally I have a T1600 joystick (all by itself, I'm still using the throttle and pedals). Everything is located in the Bay Area USA, if you're outside CONUS I imagine shipping will be more than the items.... Make an offer if interested

@OP yeah when I first got started I used to think the same thing. I agitated for a "water" map with nothing but that, and it sounds like that's more or less in the works. Did most of my missions on the NTTR map, which I found a little faster in VR (and it's beautifully done, deserves more love than it gets imo). But I'm coming around to the idea that the action is on the motherboard. Overclock or upgrade your CPU, get a fast SSD. Upgrade to 32gb of RAM. Keep it all cool. Having done those things, I've found the difference between one map and another to be negligible. VR is not an inexpensive hobby. Is what it is. All I can say is, you don't have to worry as much about the GPU as you might think; you just need enough for your headset. Get your mobo sorted. And yeah, forget about shadows, and dial down your vis range settings. There's not enough CPU on the consumer market to choke everything down. Not in VR.

Couple of categories of things: 1. Trim always set to hat switch on joystick, comms always set to hat switch on throttle 2. Speed brake, external lights, and VR zoom always on same switches for every aircraft 3. Gear and flaps are mapped using a modifier, to the same switches on every aircraft 4. F1, F10, and F2 (cockpit view, map, aircraft view) are mapped. Used to have them mapped to the base when I had a T16000, now that I have a warthog I mapped them under a modifier to a four-way switch 5. Also once I got a WH I mapped cockpit camera up-down-forward-back under a modifier to a four way switch 6. I got a gaming mouse for some accessory functions. Kneeboard (show/hide, page forward/back). Show controls window. Show chat window. VR center. I also mapped comm menu to a mouse button, those things tend to go together. Still have some buttons left over. (You don't have to get a gaming mouse, I also used a USB numpad, glued some beads to the keys so I could find them by feel, worked fine. You could also make or buy a button box. Point being, whether on a controller base, a gaming mouse or button box, you're gonna need some extra buttons you can find by feel) To me, that's the stuff that's helpful to be able to get to while under the hood. Still go to the keyboard for engine start, canopy operation, cat hookup. ESC. Flashlight. That kinda stuff, where I don't mind peeking out from under the hood. Took the batteries out of my controllers, I literally never use them.

^Its definitely a good idea to familiarize yourself with instrumentation, figure out what the hsi, rmi and flight director are telling you. But don't forget to get your head outside the cockpit sometimes. :) Try it with a map, compass and stop watch

You're gonna have a blast. Nice rig. Given your r/l experience I have a couple of recommendations for you 1. C101 is a great module, a steal when it's on sale. Great for practicing aerobatics, BFM and manual bombing (2 modules in one, a trainer and attack a/c). 2. F5e. Much the same applies for a faster, slicker jet that rewards attention to aviation 3. F14. In the hands of a skilled aviator it is truly the dominant a/a platform in the game. Key is understanding what the jet is trying to tell you, and why. Interesting study in aerodynamics to say the least. Heard the other day (on the Fighter Pilot Podcast, which you should DEFINITELY check out) that the F22 POH literally at one point said "you can fly this plane with reckless abandon.". That's pretty much true for the F18 and F16 in dcs. You don't have to have that way, though. There are some great modules from an earlier day that can really test an aviator's skills.

You're CPU limited. Which is OK, we all are. Note, some of your graphics settings put as much load on the CPU as the GPU, shadows being a good example Eventually you will probably want to drop a Gen3 Ryzen in there, it makes a big difference. In the meanwhile, when you're on a busy map, reduce shadows and vis range. If you upgrade to a higher res headset, only thing you'll change is anti-aliasing settings. More physical pixels you're driving, the less anti-aliasing you'll need. Won't affect the behavior you describe one way or the other

Event: 1v1 Squadron Name: Lone Wolf Contact person Discord ID: DeltaMike#0835 Aircraft Selection: F-18 Pilots: USA - DeltaMike

^SSD isn't big enough. Slow memory. From the same company, this is a little closer. Still has a pretty small SSD, they probably have Windows on there, suspect you have room for one DCS install, say open beta plus a couple of modules. If you have both open beta, and stable, and a jillion planes and maps, you'll run out of room. But that'll get you started, and the upgrade is cheap. Right out the gate, I'd invest more in the CPU, mobo and RAM than GPU. DCS has to compute a LOT of stuff, GPU power doesn't get you as far down the road in DCS as it might in other games. Depends on what else you're playing, but if you get into multiplayer you're gonna want to upgrade the CPU and RAM pretty quickly, probably best to start from a position of strength imo. That said, I dunno about that 590, may be ok in pancake mode. I could live with a gen2 ryzen to start, they make one with a 1660 super at the same price, mobo isn't as nice tho, doubt you'd be able to squeeze the max out of a gen3 ryzen when you upgrade... sheesh it never ends does it Maybe you can get some dude to make you a system, decent B450 mobos are really cheap now, start with a 2600x and 16GB of 3200mhz ram, 1gb SSD, and then see how much $ you have left over for GPU. Leaves you an upgrade path (main advantage of AMD imo). We kinda have special needs around here, it's kind of hard to find that combo of cheap mobo and expensive RAM in an off the shelf solution, ya know?

Gaming chair and monstertech chair mounts for the win. Recline that sucka, pop a redbull in the cup holder, and do the viper thing in style.

Here's one scheme for setting up functions common to every aircraft. 1. Assign function key. Options - controls - Modifiers - Add. You want to add a "modifier" not a switch. I use the pinkie button on the throttle. 2. On the joystick, assign trim to hat button, NWS to left button, pickle (wpn release) to center button. The right button I usually assign to paddle switch (brakes in eastern bloc jets) 3. On the throttle, starting on the thumb side. Hat switch reserved for comms (including SRS and comm menus). Upper four-way switch: Fn-up = gear up, Fn-down = gear down. Bottom 4-way button: back = speed brake out (slow down). Forward = speed brake in (speed up). 4. On the front. Pinkie button = function/modifier. Two-way switch under middle finger: Fn-up = flaps up. Fn-down = lower flaps one notch. That works for everything. For radar elevation, on the throttle, you will either use the pinkie wheel or the two way switch under your middle finger, depends on the jet (F18 requires the latter). You can use a function button with the joystick hat switch to manage DDI or HUD, depending on the jet. That leaves 8 buttons on the throttle to manage weapons and radar, and several buttons on the base for various things (lights? refuel probe? Views? Idle on/off? Kneeboard?) I've used the slap paddle for various things, it only really words well as designed, ie as a rudder. Never really found a use for the slider on the joystick base, I've used it to control HMD, radar range, and cockpit lighting at various times, with varying degrees of success. When you get it, take it apart, lube it up and set the tension screw just barely right enough to hold it together. It's a great throttle, I've been very happy with it.

Mission Watching these two vids will give you a leg up Also, here's an NTTR practice mission I put together -- Spawn in at Laughlin, figure out the runway and taxiway markings. Practice flying the pattern, note 16 has a right hand pattern, practice your radio calls -- See if you can figure out how to get to, and land at HND -- Spawn "air start" for formation practice and kind of a fun tour though the Death Valley portion of the map (including a run through Star Wars Canyon). Finish at IFP, I'll take a low approach to 16, you can either follow me in or take separation on the downwind Doing those things will help you develop stick skills which should help If you have that licked, and have time to spare, spawn in at Nellis, familiarize yourself with the airfield diagram. Probably worth practicing the visual approach from Dry Lake - Apex, the sloping terrain plays tricks with your eyes. The departure from 21 is a little tricky too, one exercise might be FYTTR departure from 21L, return over Gass Peak, hook right to Apex, practice your left overhead, keep it tight (see here) death valley VFR challenge.miz

^I'd keep everything the same except anti-aliasing. You're CPU limited, somewhat, should be fine in single player but you can easily bonk up against the limit by pushing vis range and shadows; regardless of GPU you should be at vis range med, trees 60%, shadows off, terrain shadows flat. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest MSAA doesn't really add much in DCS, you accomplish much the same, with more granularity by seeing how high you can push PD. And save up for a Rift S or something. I will say, Rift is nice at night, I'd be tempted to plug it back in for case III's but otherwise, if you actually want to see and all, there's only so much you can do with a Rift

Vis range medium, trees 60%, shadows off, terrain shadows flat. Turn off chimney smoke and clutter/grass. Civ traffic off. Leave textures at high, cockpit displays 1040, should be able to set anisotropic filtering to whatever you want. Should be able to run water at high Start with PD 1.2 and increase it until things start to bog down, then go back to the last setting that worked. Depends on whether you're running MSAA, with that GPU you should be able to do MSAAx2/PD1.2 but probably not much more than that. PD 1.4/MSAA0 should look about the same. One may work better than the other. Load increases exponentially as you go above PD 1.4, small changes can make a big difference. PD and MSAA are strictly GPU, everything else requires CPU power and you're a bit limited there. Should be fine in single player (in fact you may be able to sneak in some shadows in SP) but you're gonna stutter in MP without a RAM upgrade at least (32gb of really fast RAM) and you'll probably need a CPU upgrade at some point

We have a technical support forum. SRS is pretty slick, people only tend to run into trouble when it conflicts with Discord and windows sound panel settings. Which is hard for us to troubleshoot. You just have to log in somewhere to make sure it's working, or fiddle with it until it does. (If you're running Oculus, you'll get real good at that, everything has to be re-done with every Oculus update.) Check out the Georgia at War training server, nice place to get your bearings in the multiplayer world. OVGME is definitely worth having, you just have to google it up. Most common mistake is getting confused about what goes in the Saved Games folder and what goes in the install folder. Simple answer is, it goes in Saved Games the vast majority of the time (which is true for all of our mods)

As for phase 2 pathway, best bet is to swing by the discord to see how things are developing

Training/graduation must occur within the following timeline: Phase I Cadet Level 0) Must take your first class within 7 days of signing up. Must complete your first solo within 21 days of signing up. Cadet Level 1) Must complete VFR qualifier within 28 days of achieving Cadet Level 1. Cadet Level 2) Must complete IFR qualifiers within 28 days of achieving Cadet Level 2. Cadet Level 3) Must be graduated to Phase II within 28 days of achieving Cadet Level 3. Phase II As a phase II pilot, you are welcome to hang out with us at your leisure without time limits. You may audit Phase II instruction on a space-available basis without distracting or detracting from students who are actively participating in that lesson. If you sign up for Phase II instruction (an A2A or A2G thread), you must complete the thread you sign up for within the following timeframe after signing up, and you must fly with us at least four hours per week to maintain currency: A2A Threads 1 & 2: 42 days each. A2A Threads 3 & 4: 56 days each. A2G Thread 1: 28 days. A2G Thread 2: 35 days. A2G Threads 3 & 4: 49 days each.

^Agree with everything you said, Bit. B450 MB's are going for a good price and they are good enough if you don't plan on overclocking, which is kind of pointless for DCS on AMD anyway. Been happy enough with mine. Only downside to AMD is, memory gets expensive. 32gb of RAM really makes a difference in MP and Ryzen wants fast memory, so that's a lot of $. That said, neither first gen nor second gen Ryzen was terrible in DCS, neither was 16gb in memory, so there's the option to start off cheap and upgrade later. Which is what I did OP ya gotta be willing to pop open the hood, opens up a whole new world for ya CPU-vs-GPU wise, I'll note for the record I'm getting by (in VR) with a four year old mined-out Vega56. All the gains have come from CPU and RAM upgrades.

Figure a month or two for basic airmanship, navigation and however much IFR training you want. As for after that, I imagine it never ends. I'll let HomeFries give you an idea of what he has in mind. Also keep in mind you'll probably want to take some A2G classes, and ride along for many, which essentially never ends (think about how complicated it is to get on target on time). Likewise, you don't have to take A2A school but you'll be riding along a lot. The extra set of eyes (and fingers) is part of what gives the Tomcat its edge. After that, AIC training is an ongoing program and I don't know that anyone ever really masters that, too many variables. Ultimately we plan to have Red Flag style exercises, so there will be the matter of coordinating strike missions. Fun never stops. Which is what we are shooting for :)

F18 is a little too easy to land. And if you try to land any other plane like you do the F18, you'll break the gear off. C-101 is an excellent trainer, and it's on sale. The community A-4E mod isn't as detailed but it's also a great trainer. And the price is right.

^ The instructor will fly the thing for you while you're in the back seat. Beyond that I expect there will be plenty of pilots looking for a RIO. I'll drive you around any time. To start, all you need is the Caucasus map and our mod pack, which includes: -- A-4E -- MB-339 -- 476th range targets -- Navy equipment -- Civilian Aircraft Mod We also have about a bajillion liveries you can download at your convenience. You might want to google up OVGME, which is a mod manager. A bit of a learning curve that could save you some aggravation later on. After your introductory lessons, you'll need NTTR. Pick it up right now today, it's on sale. C-101 is highly recommended -- in fact it's required for budding drivers -- although I can see a path where a RIO cadet can get enough stick time in between the MB-339 and the A-4 if you don't mind missing out on some of the IFR training. Note, the C-101 is also on sale right now and it's a fine mod, at thirty bucks it's a steal. 7 You'll need SRS and it's helpful to get it running beforehand. SRS is seamless within DCS but it can get kind of twisted up between windows, discord and oculus settings so it might require some troubleshooting. You'll need tacview advanced eventually. Believe me, in AIC training the question "What just happened???" comes up a lot. if you don't have it yet, wait because we do group buys. -------- My last two checkrides were with retired air force pilots who are current commercial pilots. They were gracious with their time and generous with their knowledge -- they will be great to train with -- and as you would expect, they are moving up the ranks quickly, so we will announce openings in the next day or two. Watch the discord. (And don't get intimidated, we can take people at any level if they are sufficiently self-motivated)

DCS Academy has a couple of instructors with extensive, and impressive real life experience who are interested in doing a RIO school. We seek to simulate what it would be like to go through actual flight training. So, we can start you off in basic fight training (aircraft handling, VFR and IFR navigation) and then move you over to RIO school. Great opportunity for people who want to take the deep dive. If you have a driver, bring him along, our A2A curriculum has been outlined, and our first cadet to earn his wings is an F14 pilot. A2G curriculum is in development. Lord knows the Tomcat is scary enough, I imagine graduates of this program will be terrifying. See thread here https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=255633. HMU with any questions, just remember I'm just a lowly basic instructor; I'm the guy you'll be pounding the pattern with :) Feel free to drop by the discord...

DCS Academy isn't just for pilots, we have a couple of extremely experienced instructors who are putting together an amazing RIO school. A Tomcat team -- pilot and RIO -- that go all the way through this program together would be truly, truly frightening.

Re schedules, most of the phase 1 instruction (intro to flight, VFR, IFR, formation flying) is done by three instructors, one of whom is in Europe. We post our availability, you just have to keep an eye on our subs and make an arrangement. We are very careful not to admit more cadets than we can handle. Re modules, they are like pokemon, gotta get them all. I agree with BlacleyCole, definitely C101 and if your career bird is on sale, get it. PG is such a huge map in DCS, you might as well get it when you can. As for other aircraft -- -- There's been a lot of interest in the Yak-52 lately, worth a look -- F5 is very popular, a real aviator's jet, good for A/A training. On sale? Shoot. I'd buy that. In a minute. I personally have my eye on the MIG 19, I think that would be a really cool opfor aircraft

So, adequate but not at 1080ti levels Personally I think adequate is enough -- we are still CPU limited, even in VR. My vega56 likewise is adequate. True test of a GPU in dcs imo is whether it can support any msaa, and at what cost

I've heard people say the 2080ti doesn't work well unless you load it up. Did you try running a PD of like 2.5?