Moa

Have you downloaded the StarForce update for Vista? (SFUPDATE) http://www.star-force.com/support/sfdrvup.zip Described on the page http://www.star-force.com/support/drivers/

Yoda, have you considered using OpenGL rather than Direct3D? OpenGL is much more stable than Direct3D (programming interface changes much more slowly and predictably than Direct3D). Old OpenGL programs still work but old Direct3D programs do not. Also, OpenGL works on plenty of other platforms as well. For example, you could control your MFD from your iPhone (or Mac OS X, or Linux). Incidentally, there are implementations of OpenGL certified for use in avionic displays (that is, real glass-cockpit displays are done using OpenGL not DirectX). Netbeans is a free tool, works with Java and C/C++ and has a plugin for doing OpenGL (and even OpenGL shaders). Just a suggestion.

In my opinion all TacView needs to do is refuse to display frame sequences that are more recent than x minutes ago. The delay should be around 10 minutes or a player will be able to deduce the general area of the opponent. I often fly the A-10 on the 169th server and if fighters know your general area using TacView that is enough for them to overtake and kill you, since they can usually guess which area you're heading to as there are always a finite number of target areas. A delay means you can't view the TacView straight after you exit (which will grate with some), but then it also means you can't look at the TacView as soon as you die and vector your buddies to avenge you (that is, this extra form of cheating is prohibited). In my opnion there is no real need to waste CPU encrypting the file (which also presents problems with manual file recovery if there is disk corruption), a time delay on display is enough. You're never going to stop anyone smart enough to break encryption-lite from getting the realtime TacView anyway, so just do a quick fix and delay playback . You will also need an incompatible change to the TacView format to prevent people from using TacView 0.94 with the data, so that they will have to use a new TacView version that implements the delay. As Crunch said, thanks for all your excellent work on TacView Vyrtuoz (and <51> Case for your decryption tool).

It makes sense to choose Blender, since everybody is then able to share the same stuff easily without having to either pay a small fortune or infringe copyright. Blender used to be an internal (commercial) product used by a Dutch production company but money was raised to free it and now it is open source.

You're part of the way there. You just need 119 more PCs and graphics cards

One thing we do know about US AESA radars is that they have LPI (low probability of intercept) frequency hopping. That means you are very unlikely to get radar spikes on your RWR. I don't know if Russian AESA technology has similar capability or not.

Have you asked the US Navy/Department of Defence yet? The PR folks of most militaries can be pretty friendly about such things.

It almost sounds as if you are moving the seeker to the target and then stabilising (with the TAB key) but not locking. I know you are probably doing it correctly but it is worth double-checking. Also, remember that the Maverick seeker won't track until its central cross is flashing. You can have the missile seeker stabilised (with TAB) but the seeker isn't locked until it flashes. Even then it can still miss (usually if the missile hits an object when coming in low to the target), but this should be rare.

No worries. I was just pointing out the *real* procedure so that nobody got the wrong idea about how it's supposed to be done - lest they try it in their Piper. Cheers, Moa.

In an real aircraft that'll get you killed. The stick must be slightly forward of *center* otherwise one wing will remain stalled after the other and you'll increase spin. It is ok to not be wings level as unstalling into a spiral dive is ok, you just don't want to spin. Countering spin is done with rudder alone and must be done quickly or Gs will build quickly. Eventually Gs will build to a point where the rudder cannot correct the (flat) spin and the pilot must eject. In days before ejection seats this level of Gs were fatal (the pilot would not have the strength to stand-up and bail out). Also, care must be taken not to overcorrect with rudder as it is easy to correct the first spin and then induce a spin in the opposite direction.

Good point. Maybe they (incorrectly) treat the TV seeker as a thermal/IR seeker and sun angle ruins the lock. Can you lock the vessels at night?

Unaccelerated stall, practice and recovery: 1. Head to '3 mistakes high' alititude, around 3000 feet. 2. Fly level 3. Reduce throttle to idle 4. Maintain level flight by progressively raising the nose to keep the vertical velocity zero 5. When you can no longer maintain level flight (around 95 kts in empty A-10) you will stall. Recovery: 6. Ensure throttle is idle (having throttle on will delay recovery) 7. Centralise stick or maybe even slightly forward to ensure nose it pitched down to longest glide time attitude (not longest glide distance attitude) 8. Use rudder to compensate for any wing drop, don't overcompensate 9. As airspeed starts to increase, increase throttle to full 10. When airspeed has increased past stall speed gently level off. You should be able to do this so that the altitude loss between stall and recovery is a couple of hundred feet, any more and you need practice. You don't get pre-stall buffet in the game and the nose drop isn't as dramatic as in real-life. Yes, the flight model of the A-10 not as realistic as the Su-25T. You can do accelerated stalls in the Su-27 and MiG-29 simply by holding a sustained max-g turn nose level. At around 350 - 400 km/h (that is, much higher than unloaded stall speed) your aircraft will stall. If you leave afterburner on you will buck wildly until you recover so you must remember to reduce throttle before you pitch nose down and correct any spin.

Hi jalebru, I have some stats software you may be interested in. It is not quite finished yet but is nearly there. I've emailed you directly about it. Cheers, Moa

The 150-160 is at the start of finals (you should be at around 1000 feet altitude in a 3-5 degree nose-high descent). Once you're lined up with the runway make sure you land with full flaps (SHIFT + F) rather than half-flaps. You can use the split airbrakes as well but if you have: * full flaps * gear, and * idle throttle then you should find you don't need them. I generally cross the threshold around 100-110 kts and then usually get the stall warning (at 95 kts) just as I flare. This means I don't float for long. It's great to hear you are practicing your landings. Many virtual pilots seem great at killing each other but a bit soft on basic airmanship like landings. Don't forget to also learn and practice single-engine, flameout, and two-engine no-hydraulics landings as well (I often find I have to do these on the 169 server after getting sloppy and getting pinged by the Avengers there).

Excellent idea. One of the best things you could do is document the RN format. That way the whole community learns from you. Otherwise everyone has to keep re-discovering the formats etc.

Yes, but there is Black Shark. I suppose if you wanna sling stuff around then DoDoSim is the thing for you. Otherwise it's Black Shark for the rest of us :thumbup:

Fantastic! Where can I get your model Presidio? I've love to give it a go converting from Argentine colours to RNZAF (New Zealand) colours.

I don't know why such a program would be cheating. For example, I started writing a little program that can send keyboard presses to an arbitrary other window. How is this any different from any of the joystick programming APIs (both CH and Thrustmaster have this). What this program needs to do it send a series of keyboard presses to an arbitrary window (using the window 'handle' identifier, HWND). This is a huge security hole in the Windows API (read up on "Windows shatter" attacks), but was how window-to-window communication was handled in Win32. The reason I was writing it was not to cheat, but to automate chat messages to be sent in-game. I can't see why someone should be kicked for that. Are you sure Black Shark has it?

Thanks for the info. I'm sure those EOS ranges are the maximums found under good conditions. It is good to question all manufacturer's numbers and ask what the range is under a variety of conditions. It would be a stretch to say manufacturers release deceptive numbers, but you have to remember they are trying to sell systems so always 'put their best foot forward'. In practice the EOS probably works reliably (and without too much effort for average pilots) at shorter ranges than published. Here's an analogy, the maximum speed of most modern fighter aircraft is quoted as ranging between Mach 1.5 to 2.5, so it is easy to wonder why you're not getting that speed when in game. Then you find out that while the quoted speed is true is also was the maximum clean (true) airspeed over a 2 minute non-maneuvering sprint when level at 60 k feet, and the actual airspeed at sea level you should expect is Mach 1.1 after diving and armed, and in a short-range flight where fuel is a limitation. Guess which top airspeed (1.1 or 2.5 Mach) is going to be more typical of an aircraft in normal use?

In the high threat (Warsaw Pact vs Nato) scenario Hogs (and indeed almost all tactical aircraft) would routinely fly at 100 feet. They might pop-up in the target area. The USAF realised it was suicide to fly any higher against an IADS. That's the reason for moving the B-52 from high bombing to low-level peneratration, and the raison d'etre for the B1. SHORAD and AAA are dangerous so you keep an eye out for them (and never overfly them), but they're less dangerous than a SA-10 at 50 km. To develop the reflexes to be effective at low level you must practice down there constantly, so I do my warting at low-level exclusively. Plus you stay off enemy fighter radar for much longer at low level (and fighters are far more dangerous than any SAM). In fact, the fact that Su-25 bomb sights are designed to be used in a dive from medium level is a very major flaw in my opinion. Those Frogs would not last long against a competent opponent (but do well against tribesmen), even the realtively poorly armed Georgians recently did far more damage than they ought to to their opposing Frogfoot squadrons (ironic, since most Frogfoots were manufacturered near Tblisi). In Desert Storm the Hogs could fly higher, but that was because there were several carrier air, F-16, F-117, and F-15 wings doing SEAD for them. In most LockOn missions no one cares about the attack aircraft enough to set this up for them. Whether a Hog can deal with Osas or Tors is moot in real life, since thats what Wild Weasel crews do (just as Hogs on Flankers is moot, since thats a job for the knuckleheads [fighter jocks]). In not-real-life the hogs gotta deal with them, and they can if they stay low when near enemy air defences. Yes, you must be higher to use cluster bombs. The reason I use cluster bombs down there is because I can't get ballute retarded bombs. Otherwise I'd be using those. There is a major bug in LockOn that you can drop a Mk-84 below 2000 feet without fragging yourself. What's with that? Thanks for pointing out the landing is scripted. Please note the landing technique I mentioned is correct (pitch controls airspeed, throttle controls descent rate, and airspeed should be at a particular value [unless you're an F15 with one wing :)]). Should work in DCS provided you are wings-level at touchdown.

You're very welcome littlejohn1959. Thanks for posting the flankertraining link, that is also a great site.

Q: -At what airspeeds the A-10 usually flies? especially when on ground attack missions. A: It flies around 300 kts when fully loaded. Since the A-10 has a turbofan there is no reason (within the game) not to run it continuously at 100%. Q: -How do Hog drivers defend themselves against air defenses like SAMs & AAAs? Back in the Hornet (c/o Jane's F-18 ) i usually jink with speed & acceleration. I believe that's not the case in the A-10 since it's a lot slower A: Stay low and use the terrain. A shallow gully is all the cover you need if you are low. Unlike chaff and flare your supply of terrain is inexhaustable. If you are attacking an IR SAM drop pre-emptive flares before they launch. Remember that SAMs will fly to 'where you will be' not 'where you are', so if you descend slightly early enough the SAMs will impact the ground before you do. Try and avoid approaching air defences over flat terrain or sea - instead approach from hills if you can. Slow speed gives you time to line up your shots. Use longer-ranged AGM-65D (rather than K) on short ranged IR and AAA air defences. Then come in under 30 feet altitude and drop cluster bombs on tracking radars (they can't track you in the ground clutter under 30 feet). When you are close to a radar guided SAM they can't hit you (even at slightly higher altitudes). Once the tracking radars are down an entire S-300 battery are good for target practice. Whatever you do: Don't hit the ground, and don't run out of fuel! Q: -Does the A-10 approach like an airliner? I mean nose low about 0-2 degrees.. back in the F-15, i focus on the AoA and usually land at higer nose attitudes. My current landing technique is to approach at 0-2 degrees then flare passing 25 feet above the runway with nose attitude at 5 degrees. I wonder if i'm doing the correct thing. A: The key to any landing is a good approach. Line up with the runway with an altitude of around 1000 feet and half-flaps (press F). I use a 3 degree descent and an approach speed of around 120 kts dropping to 105 just above the runway threshold (that's for the A-10, for the F-15 your speeds would be around 150 and 120 kts respectively). Your nose should be slightly above the horizon, not below it. This keeps you nice and slow. The rule for landing is: * pitch controls approach speed * throttle controls touchdown point (that is, descent rate). The 3 degree descent is easy do do as you do the following: * Fly level at 1000 feet and 150 kts. Flaps (F) and landing gear (G) out. * Line up with the runway. The runway is lined up when it is a vertical strip in your HUD (not diagonal). * Once you're lined up with the runway press SHIFT+F to extend your flaps fully. * Press \ F6 F3 to ask tower for landing permission. It'll let you know if someone else has permission to land instead (they may be on approach ahead of you) * Press CTRL+L so other aircraft can see your navigation lights. * Once the runway is 3 degrees below the horizon in your HUD you reduce throttle to descend. * Keep making small throttle adjustments to keep your flight path marker on the close end of the runway. * Keep an eye on airspeed so you don't get too slow or too fast. You must control your airspeed. * Once you cross the runway threshold throttle back and raise your nose slightly until the flight path marker is on the far end of the runway. * Hold the flight path marker there until you touch down. * Once you are down clear the runway as soon as you can so other aircraft can land. * Taxi to your parking spot and do engine shutdown, lights off, canopy open. You shouldn't need speed brakes during the descent. Use them *before* you start your approach to get your speed under control then close them. Also practice landing in cross-winds and with one engine. Often you'll have end up with a single working engine if you've been engaging AAA (hint, use the rudder to compensate). You should also be calculating fuel usage in flight (not just how much is left, how much you'll need for the remainder of your journey). If you get a fuel leak from AAA you'll need to work out whether you'll get home or need to find a straight bit of road to land. A successful mission is bringing yourself and your aircraft back, anything else is a failure. It doesn't matter how many SAMs you kill if you don't bring your bird home. Another hint: when using the cannon don't 'spray n pray'. Get close (0.3 - 0.5 nm) to your target and fire an aimed burst instead. Your rounds are a lot more accurate that way. Don't get too close and always consider how you'll exit the target before you start your (shallow) gunshot dive. Get the Simmod A-10 package and install with ModMan. Simmod is outstanding and really improves the experience with the aircraft (many thanks Simmod crew). Hope this helps and enjoy the Hog. It is a different world when everyone above and below is shooting at you.

Outstanding suggestion Bob. Payload change at airfield would be fantastic.

The following situation ought to be fixed: 1) Player is damaged by enemy aircraft but still flyable. 2) Lands at friendly base and repairs 3) Later crashes. The plane is then recorded as killed by the enemy who damaged them. This should not happen. When your aircraft has 'repaired' any previous damage information about it should be removed.

I believe they detune them because the MiG-29 engines have quite a short effective life without it, and aircraft engines are not cheap. Other aircraft don't need this as much as their engines are designed for longer lives even at full rated power (which also makes them much more expensive to produce and maintain). That is interesting about the short chamber causing the smoke. I guess with a short chamber there is not enough time for full combustion, which causes smoke. The F4 was also a notorious smoker and they were easily spotted by their smoke trail on mil power. I thought this would be a realistic suggestion for the MiG-29 (and very easy for ED to implement given the have contrail code already).