Magnate

I've been flying in the F15E the past couple of days, as a change from my usual routine of Harrier, with the occasional Apache mission thrown in, and I noticed that one of the many fine aspects of the F15E cockpit (this is in VR - Crystal) is the implementation of the internal cockpit reflections. These are significantly better than those in the Harrier. So, I was wondering: would it be possible to update the Harrier reflections to this same standard? I'm assuming you can't simply copy and paste code, but this would be a nice refinement of the already excellent Harrier cockpit if it could be achieved.

I appreciate that this is quite an old topic, but one explanation for this issue is that if you are one of multiple aircraft tanking at the same time you have to use the drogue which has been allocated to you. So, if the tanker has authorised you to tank from the right hand position your probe will simply pass through the drogue if you attempt to connect to the left hand station. So, if you approach the tanker and it's trailing a drogue before you announce "Ready pre-contact" you won't be able to connect to that without getting approval.

As an HP Reverb G2 user I noticed a significant improvement moving from SteamVR to OpenXR. It allowed me to increase my pixel density a couple of notches without losing frame rate. I went from .7 to .9 and that made a big difference in the A2G missions which I fly. I did try a pixel density of 1, but that was pushing it a bit far when flying the Apache, I found. So, I'd certainly recommend it. The actual process of switching to OpenXR is very simple, if you read the instructions. That was using a 2070 Super GPU. This month I treated myself to a 4090 GPU, and despite the cost I'd say it was a good investment. I'm now flying with everything maxed out other than shadows, and I think water detail, and am achieving frame rates in the mid-40s. That's about 8-9 fps better than what I previously had on much lower settings and I'm very happy with the results. On my original settings the 4090 was giving me frame rates of around 90, but I was more than happy to trade surplus FPS for enhanced visuals. I should say that this is all solo play - not multiplayer.

It might make sense to a VR user. There's a huge difference in the refuelling experience when you make the transition to VR. So, although a 2D user would see some of the effects I've described, it would be less so than in VR and so the return on investment is lower. That was my meaning.

I agree that eye candy like this is not a huge priority, but it would be nice to see the positive engagement of the probe in the drogue modelled, and also to see more realistic physics in the hose - make it appear a little less stiff. Still, I suppose that there's no chance of ED investing in this sort of effect with only 30% of players using VR (according to one ad hoc survey recently). For anyone playing on a flat screen these effects would probably not be noticeable in any case.

Is it just me, or does the TPOD on the FA18 have a much more limited tracking ability than that same pod loaded onto any of the other aircraft? The blank screen of loss of track appears when, in a similar situation, other aircraft would still have an image displayed. It's as if it's automatically stowing itself when it is in anything other than an ideal configuration.

I'm glad you got them working. Just one note, in response to your question about the MFSs being coded for left and right: I notice that my left MFD has a bright green LED in its top left corner while the right MFD has that corresponding LED in the top right corner. In other words, the LEDs are in the top outside corners. While I haven't tested this, I'm surmising that these lights are there to confirm that you have them in the correct positions.

I'm not entirely sure that I follow what you're saying, but I want to just confirm that Cougar MFDs do indeed work very well with the Harrier. So, do persevere. Silly question, perhaps, but do you have them in the right place - left MFD positioned to the left of the other one? It's conceivable that the column order might somehow be reversed in your Harrier controls page, with the result that the right MFD appears first in the column sequence. That would naturally be counter-intuitive and confusing. I fly in VR and have some little self-adhesive plastic "jewels" stuck to various of the keys to allow me to navigate them without actually being able to see them. As long as you always put them in the same place it's surprising just how quickly the muscle memory establishes and I find it very easy and intuitive to use.

Hi All, I'm the original poster on this topic, but for some reason didn't get notifications about the replies. So, let me start by saying thanks for engaging. And thanks for resolving it - for me at least. Setting a small deadzone - value 2 - in the non-sticking axis seems to have done the trick. I stumbled on this post while looking for a solution to another occasional Maverick problem. Sometimes I can't get a Laser Maverick to uncage. Earlier today, for instance, I attacked a group of four tanks with laser Mavericks and the first 3 all worked perfectly. When I came back for a fourth pass I couldn't get the Maverick to uncage. I tried deselecting and reselecting the Maverick, reset both the Master Arm and Master Modes but had no joy. In the mission I just flew to test the IR Maverick slew workaround I also carried a pair of Laser Mavericks and had the same issue. First missile worked perfectly, but I couldn't get the second one to uncage. I'm going to continue searching for a topic covering this, but if I can't find one I'll upload a trk file.

Further to that post, here's a track file which demonstrates the unrestricted slewing in the TPOD and limited slew in IRMV mode. Some downwards movement is visible but there are repeated inputs which don't show any downwards response. Mav seeker slew.trk

I'm having a very specific problem with slewing the IRMV cursor. A couple of years ago I put the excellent DeltaSim ministick into my Thrustmaster Warthog throttle and it works very well. I'm currently flying Harrier, Apache and FA18 and the slew works fine in all modes. However, I've recently had problems specific to slewing the IRMV seeker head on the right MFD in the Harrier. It slews perfectly up, left and right but doesn't want to move downwards. Or, it will stay stationary and then suddenly move down way past the desired point. There's no problem at all in the TPOD. I'd read somewhere that unplugging the throttle might help, but that didn't work, and I've also changed to a different mission in case it was something specific to the mission I was flying. Also, on a related note - the appearance of the Maverick seeker box on the HUD is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it's there, and sometimes not. Any ideas?

I noticed an interesting thing just now, on an Apache mission. I took out four BTRs using Hellfires, and the smoke and flames from the destroyed vehicles were fairly modest, both in terms of height and volume of plume. I then moved in to take out the final BTR in the column using the gun. Not only was the smoke plume possibly ten times higher and larger, but I also got a nice secondary explosion a good couple of minutes after the initial one. I can't swear that the units hit with the Hellfires didn't also have secondary explosions at some point, but the difference in smoke height and volume was very apparent and also much more realistic-looking. In fact, before I'd destroyed the last of the BTRs with the gun I had been mentally comparing the smoke from the destroyed units with that seen in an earlier mission against trucks and tanks and had assumed that the smoke level was associated with the vehicle type. I should also say that I orbited the burning BTR for several minutes just to check that this wasn't an issue of timing. I wanted to be sure that I hadn't missed an earlier, larger plume from the first four vehicles because I was head-down in the TADS. Also, for clarity, I don't have any 3rd party smoke mods installed. So, that's what I've observed, and I'll now fly a mission to see if I can replicate these results and establish whether there is a correlation between weapon type and subsequent smoke/explosion effects. Good old scientific method: observe, hypothesize and experiment! I do enjoy the current smoke effects, and when I'm creating a mission I usually add a little wind at low altitude to make the smoke plumes look more varied and interesting.

I completely agree, which is why I went looking for this topic in the forum. I have created a practice mission for the Apache and it includes several trucks, two groups of infantry - of six and three men respectively - and a group of tanks. When telling George CPG to engage, the list presented to me shows the tanks first - even though they're a few km away - and then each of the individual soldiers, before the trucks. Now, it's true that the soldiers shoot at me, while the trucks don't, but this is only relevant if I'm engaging at close range. So, it would be nice to have a bit more control, although of course that has to weighed against a more complex interface. As a G2 user I also find that the placement of the list - low to my left - is not great, particularly when I'm trying to maintain a hover (without recourse to active pause!) and really don't want to be looking down into the cockpit more than I have to. Having said all of this, I do find the system reasonably intuitive, and I'm enjoying using it. And, there's also the argument that if the situation on the battlefield in front of you is that complex you should really be in the front seat.

I use a variation of this approach with my Cougars. I have little self-adhesive rhinestones/jewels, rather than the silicone dot, but it's the same principle. I put one each on buttons 1, 3 and 5 in each row (horizontal and vertical). In addition I have one of the dots mounted on the horizontal surface of the MFD frame above the centre buttons on the top and bottom rows. And then on the vertical rows I have the same on the inside of the frame next to the centre buttons. These dots on the frames are useful for centering at the start of a session as my muscle memory gradually kicks in. I believe that using dots on alternating buttons is the best solution since it means I never confuse buttons 1 and 2 or 4 and 5. I bought the dots on a sheet which included a few different sizes but I don't think my fingertips are sensitive enough to distinguish one size from another. I'm also planning to make use of the corner rocker switches. So far, I'm using just the top left one (Gain) on the left MFD which I use for Master Arm On and AG Mode in the Harrier. I must check to see whether I can use the Pinky switch as a modifier with these rocker switches to get even more functionality out of them. As you'd expect, I position the MFDs so as to closely correspond with where I perceive them to be in VR, so the whole setup works very well and feels very intuitive.

Thanks for these. As someone who spends a few weeks in one aircraft and then goes back to another, trying to keep track of HOTAS set-ups can be challenging - and frustrating - so this is a very useful resource. I haven't tried it in earnest yet - just loaded a mission to confirm that they were in place. I like the fact that you've included a graphical representation of the button/switch too, and I'm sure that will be really helpful to users who are relatively new to their Thrustmaster Warthogs. I've always thought it was a shame that DCS doesn't include a graphical representation of the stick and throttle in the controls configuration interface. Trying to remember button numbers is a bit of a challenge - particularly in VR.