flameoutme

I feel we did Deathlight and others, perhaps unspoken, a disservice in this thread. He asked a reasonable question, and IronMike gave a reasonable response. We don't know Deathlight's specific situation but I think we should assume he has his reasons. If anything, this thread taught Deathlight and potentially other's, don't ask a question because sometimes fellow simmers play Whac-A-Mole with you. I don't feel that's who we should be. Deathlight now knows what the reality of the situation is, and can now make decisions on how and if to play based on that reality.

This campaign is the perfect setup for a sequel. I hope I hope I hope...

Thanks!!! And I am off with the F10 feature. Love the campaign, BTW.

I've played the Relic campaign a couple of times last year. Then I took a break from DCS. Now back to it. I can't seem to get "Mission Success" at the end of Mission 2 - the speedboat one. I follow along, get rid of the speed boats, hang around, return with the helos, they send me off with a thanks, I land at Sonchi. And then park. But I don't see the mission success notification. I've done this mission several times in the past with relative ease. I've tried to get past it twice now, and it still wants me to do that same mission. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Any thoughts anyone?

In homage to the 70's superstar Billy Joel: Don't go changing to try and please me You never let me down before, mmm Don't imagine you're too familiar And I don't see you anymore I would not leave you in times of trouble We never could have come this far, mmm I took the good times, I'll take the bad times I'll take you just the way you are

The F-86 is easy to learn and fun to fly. I don't fly it because it's the best/fastest/most lethal in the sky. I fly it because it isn't. But it's a solid piece of aircraft, as the 9000 units produced will attest. A real champion for its time. And it's a looker. I own the majority of the modules. My other favs are the F-14B and M-2000c. But the one I enjoy the most is the F-86.

Thanks for the clarification, 'appreciate it. Even if it's a hit to immersion, until I can see the radar screen better certain compromises are needed. Once the VR that I use (index, but limited by a 1080 card) can show the regular radar screen clearly, I'll happily use that. The VTB really made a difference in eye comfort, plus immersion. Maybe not exactly reality, but immersion as in able to enjoy the game with less eye strain.

Definitely check out the helmet mounted display, I think its called VTB. It is in the key binds. When activated, it puts a large yet not too intrusive copy of the radar in your helmet display area. It makes VR so much easier to use.

I had been away from dcs for quite a while, and when I fired up my fav F-14B and took it for a spin, the sounds grabed my attention as highly immersive and a significant improvement from the last time I played. Enough that the words "Holy C%$^" were coming out of my mouth. I was totally impressed. Only after I flew did I catch up on the changes history.

i use voice attack. that doesn't break the immersion... much... and doesn't use valuable hotas buttons. i have three such commands... center vr, zoom closer and zoom further. works perfectly. For the zoom closer command only... make sure in voice attack to use the "key press" option instead of the default "press and release"., that way you stay zoomed in until you give the command to zoom further. as an added bonus tip... put these three commands in their own voiceattack file, then use the feature in voice attack that allows you to call that file by name. so, your various profiles like for the f-14, f-18, etc can all call the same common file to handle zooming and any other common commands across moduals. this is optional, but if you have a lot of moduals it's the only way to fly. pardon the pun...

I recently watched a you tube video of the DCS f-16 with fpsVR running with a 3080, and I was amazed at how smooth and clear the image was. It may be that with hi res ground textures turned on would exceed that, but all indications are that it's the power of the GPU that will take DCS far. I for one can't wait to find one and buy one.

The thing is, not everyone has the same hotas. It took me years to get to a warthog for a stick. And it's probably my old feeble mind, but remembering the more obscure button commands can be an issue for me. The beauty of DCS, and the community, is that we can each find a play style that is right for each of us. I think it good you raised the issue, because we never want to infer to a new player "here is the formula" here's how it should be done. Now the user knows there are options, and some of the pros and cons. All the best, Flameoutme

Someone inferred Voice attack was crap in the above thread, and I wanted to address that. In VR, hotas buttons are highly valuable. You can run out of them. It's also important to realize that not every command has a cockpit equivalent too. In fact, there are a good number of them that can only be reached by Hotas or Keyboard. And using the keyboard in VR pretty much is not practical. And sometimes, saying a command is just less mind-numbing then trying to remember where you mapped one of the lessor used and more obscure commands. It's also got to do with your play style. I've no doubt that the person that said Voice Attack is crap gets by just fine with his chosen play style. But, for example, I like music when I fly. I say "Play a song" and voice attack does that by randomly selecting a song from a directory. Or if I am in the F-14 and I want to cheat start. (OK, I'm a cheater...). No magic controller button for that one. Hotas? Yeah it would work. BUt like I said you run out of buttons and besides, I want those buttons for things that I'll need in flight. Or in the F-14 and I want to bring up "Jester". I could map that button. But I'd much rather say "hey jester". Or I want to center the VR view. I say "Center VR". Hotas button? I suppose. But I have better uses for mine. It's all about play style. Not saying Voice attack is needed, obviously it's not. But it sure is a nifty little program that has made my flying experience, and the experience of many DCS flyers, better.

I have some advice for you. You are exactly right to wonder how to deal with the need to use the keyboard from time to time. Speaking as someone who started with the Rift S - great, comfortable VR headset by the way, here's things to consider. They worked for me, but your mileage may vary. 1. Get and learn voice attack. Take for example the need to center the VR view, or zoom in or out in VR. That's something you will be doing quite a bit of. By programming it in voiceattack, for example, I just say "Center VR" and its centered. Works beautifully. You can get a free version fo voice attack but you'll only be able to have one profile in it. So really, spend the $15 or whatever it costs and get the full version. I have programmed my voice attack to respond to a function call (e.g, F6 hits teh F6 key.) I've also trained it to type (Letter a types the letter a). These took a while to set up but man it is worth it. 2. If you don't have a "hotas" you'll need that. Personally, I use a Warthog stick, and a TWCS throttle which I feel for VR use is superior to the optional companion throttle with the warthog. The reason? Buttons are much better layed out for VR. And by the way, its way cheaper. 3. I have learned how to use a few keys on the keyboard by feel. Mostly left CTRL, Left ALT, and the number 123 and 4. You can easily find them without lifting up the headset and that just works nicely for some modules. 4. Lastly, although the planes in FC3 are less complex to fly and require only keystrokes (cockpits are not clickable), they are the exact opposite of what you want for VR. You want a clickable cockpit. The only downside to the clickable cockpits is that some of them, for example the F/A-18 and F-16 among others, require a LOT of study to learn. Personally, my favs that are full clickable are the mirage 2000 with optional english cockpit turned on, and the F-86 probaby because I'm an old guy. The Mirage comes with a very strong campaign that doubles as a teacher to show you the systems in the aircraft step by step. It's a rather brilliant approach. And it works. Well. You'll be enjoying a level of competency in no time. BONUS: The mirage has a in-helmet radar screen, that you can easily turn on (I use voice attack). It really makes seeing the detail on radar a breeze. To be honest, I loved my Rift S, but it's at the lower end of clarity. So having that big radar version in the helmet is HUGE. And you can shut it off just with a voice command with voice attack. Hope this helps!

I love the F-86, maybe it's because it was from a simpler time and the systems are easy to learn. Spend more time shooting and bombing and less time watching you tube tutorials. As for a campaign, I own Yula and Relic. I LOVE Relic, it's so well done. I won't spoil the concept but it is a brilliant story approach as a way to use the F-86 in modern times... and live to talk about it. I have the Mig 15 as well, and to be truthful, I'm having too much F-86 fun to be able to spend any time in the '15.Maybe someday.

The Mirage 2000C is a modern interceptor that is fairly easy to learn (very well engineered). It comes with an out-of-the-park campaign that serves to show you the ropes while being entertaining to play. Note: if you get it, you can select an "English cockpit" in preferences. As for maps, that's complicated - some will have more campaigns and missions then others. However I wanted to mention something I did not see previously mentioned in this thread - the more "stuff" on the map, the more omph is needed by your computer and graphics card to show a smooth experience. For example, many people rightly rave about syria, and there is a lot of detail, but that comes at a FPS cost. At the opposite extreme is Nevada, but it flys oh-so-smoothly. The default map that comes with DCS has plenty of play, missions and campaigns that are available for it. It might be good to decide on maps later.

I don't sweat fps numbers, but I do sweat smoothness - fluidity in flight. My graphics card isn't that strong, it's a 1080 (not ti), and I owned both the Rift S and now own the index. I have found that to have the fluidness I want (I hate micro stutters) I have to run the index at 80mhz. As soon as I kick it up the fps goes up but so do microstutters. I'm waiting to get a 3080.

I want one!

I know this is not an answer per say to your question, but have you considered using voiceattack for teh vr zoom functions? I have my set up for "VR closer", "VR further" and "Center VR" and it works beautifully and doesn't take up a valuable hotas button.

Swivel chair works for me. Mostly.

Your decision is a good one for you. I've made other kinds of analogous decisions over the years, and I just promise myself that I will check back from time to time to see if whatever the new technology is for me.. is for me. Things are moving quite fast on VR, check back in a year. BTW, I love my valve index. But that's just me. And I totally respect your choice. See ya in the skies.

I don't play MP, but love the M-2000. So well engineered. So well presented.

Where I live the ISP blocks ports unless you specifically call them up and ask them to open a particular port. So, do as Gruman and SacredRaziel suggested, and if you still can't connect, check with your isp to see if they block ports and if so, will they open the one needed.

It does, I have measured it, but it was in terms of reduced reprojection rate - and only by less than a half percent when I took my 1080 graphics card down to 1024x768. (I'm on the Valve Index) . While the FPS remained the same, reprojection influences quality of the VR experience because it substitutes projected frames for the real thing. Again, it's a very small amount, and if you run with other settings turned up such that the experience is not already fluid, you'll never notice the difference. I keep (almost) all settings cranked down because I want absolutely fluid gameplay. So I always kick my screen into a low resolution before playing because for me, every little bit helps (I even use a mod to shut off all trees).

I recently tested my 2560x1440 monitor, kicking the windows resolution down to a low 800 x 600. When I did, I recovered anywhere from .3 to .5 GB of VRAM on my 8GB 1080 card when flying VR. This measured with the help of fpsvr. Since your monitor is even higher res, you might get back a bit more. Just 'saying. Side benefit, reprojection went down slightly, too. I am on the Valve Index.