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Everything posted by flameoutme
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Why I love the F-86 in DCS - You Might Too
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in DCS: F-86F Sabre
The flight model, which I understand is based on real life, starts to do that as you approach mach-1. It does become squirrel. Back off on the throttle and bleed a little speed and that stops. -
Why I love the F-86 in DCS - You Might Too
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in DCS: F-86F Sabre
Or if you count DCS liberation free add on, probably over a million. -
Thanks all! It all seemed a bit foggy to me, your comments give me a better sense of it. Love HeatBlur.
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Can someone in a nutshell sum up why I might want the A if I own the B?
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Upgraded to Rift S = absolute train wreck
flameoutme replied to killerquagmire's topic in Virtual Reality
I'm sure you have done this, but temporarily drop all preferences in DCS to the low settings, and see how much that helps. If it helps a lot, bring them back in slowly to see if there are any in particular that are impacting the experience. I used to run a Rift S and it was smooth as long as I kept the settings on the lower side. My CPU was the i-9700k, but my graphics card is weaker than yours. -
When Flying the Hornet in VR how do you Access the Comms Menu
flameoutme replied to melchionda's topic in Virtual Reality
I use voice attack. I've set up a special voice attack file (I named it "BASEROUTINES") which is called within voice attack in addition to any primary voice attack file like one specific to teh F-14 etc. My BASEROUTINES file has the things that are common to all dcs moduals in vr. For example, zooming in vr. But to make it extremely generic, I have added commands that call up teh comm menu, then I can say "F1", "F2" etc as needed. It's not as slick as programming "Give Me Bogey Dope", but it's absolutely universal and works with all moduals as I mentioned. And because they are in their own file, I only have to put it all in one place, and just have voice attack reference the file, no matter what modual I am using. -
Upgraded From Rift S to Valve Index: Part II
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in Virtual Reality
Ah... I don't trust the numbers under "custom", I may have changed that when I first got the Valve Index, I mentioned this in my post. I have no clue what it sets when play at "auto settings", which will have no relation with "custom" But really, all the numbers and stats can drive one nuts. I can only tell ya that the airplanes I fly the most (F-86, F/A-18 and F-14) operate smoothly, the gauges are readable except for the smallest, and there is tolerable (read minimal) ground micro stutters. Now, I am a single player, no multiplayer. It's important when talking about smoothness to define what maps one is on - low altitude in busy maps definitely degrade smoothness and immersion, but they are all at a tolerable level. I hope you are able to figure out what is going on! -
Upgraded From Rift S to Valve Index: Part II
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in Virtual Reality
Mine runs on the "auto" setting. I may or may not have changed the custom setting along the way, so I don't know if SteamVR set the previous "custom" setting or not. I just checked what it was and: 2260x2512 126%. -
Upgraded From Rift S to Valve Index: Part II
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in Virtual Reality
Hello @VirusAM, I'm happy to share my settings but first let me mention that I have a 1080 8 gig card, but I have it in a computer with a i-9700k processor, which is pretty high end. I have 32 gig memory. Don't know how much difference that makes, just mentioning. I know one would not think this next item would make a difference, but I observed it. I recently moved my dcs installation from my F drive to my c drive. Both are identical SSD's. But the C drive has Samsung magician with the "rapid" feature turned on. Essentially, it's a 4 gig ram drive. What I noticed was less "micro stutters" with terrain - runs smoother. It's not night and day, but I find any terrain stuttering immersion killing. I don't profess to be an expert on settings, but below are mine. The 1st two are from dcs (The "VR" box isn't checked because I took teh screenshots on the flat screen). The 3rd image is form SteamVR settings. Something that is not showing - I always set my flat screen to a lo res setting before I play VR DCS. I can't say it makes a difference, but it should.... because it's less taxing on the vid card. Secondly, and you can see in the 3rd screen shot, I run my Valve Index at 80Mhz. When I first got it I was running 120, then 90 and finally 80. What I noticed is less stutter in the terrian, and actually a SMOOTHER image when I rotate the a/c. I know, seems counter intuitive. But I observed and tested it by switching back and forth. There are drawbacks to the 80mhz, and in a game like Beat Saber it would really show, but I think the 80mhz is not over taxing my relatively slow graphics card as much as 90,120 etc. Want to mention one other thing - if and when I do get a new video card (hoping nvidia comes out with 3000 series next year. Also hoping there is a next year...), I would hope to increase the pixel density. IT would make gauges even easier to read. I am currently running it at 1.4 to reduce terrain stutter. -
So I've had a week of frequent use of my new Valve Index. Here's an update from my previous post of what upgrading has done for me in DCS VR flying. Note: There is only two criteria in my book for a VR experience - Immersion and comfort. That's it. Let's start with visual immersion and what DCS pilots do a lot of - interact with the cockpit which means reading gauges and switches. The Rift S allowed me to easily read larger gauges and make out some medium ones. With the valve index, I can read the medium ones and read a surprising number of small ones and smaller writing. And I could read even more but I dialed things back settings wise because I don't have a top end graphics card - I have a 1080 not 1080ti. Not too many real pilots I have talked to fly and say "standby, let me zoom in on this gauge I can't read it". Yes, in DCS VR, you can zoom. But it's knock to immersion. And quite often, after awhile, you just simply don't do it. Another hit on immersion. This is huge in my opinion. The additional clarity also helps with immersion when it comes to dog fights and experiencing air-to-air from a distance. It's not quite as startling, but it's there and it helps with immersion. The second improvement - and this one totally surprised me - is what the whole "over the ears" speakers do in DCS. I loved my Rift S but the sound system must have been developed after a board meeting in which the CEO said "And for sound, how can we keep that feature for the new Rift S under 50 cents a unit?" Anyone that has used the Rift S knows this. The very acceptable work around for me was to use over the ear headphones for the Rift S. However, what surprised the heck out of me with the Valve Index was this: In DCS preferences audio, I set sounds to come out the computer speaker and headphone dialog to come out the Valve Index speakers. The result? Because the Valve Index speakers are above ear, they don't block out ambient sounds. The engine sounds are experienced - both from front and from reflection in the room - while the communication dialog that a pilot would hear in their helmet is.... heard "in helmet" (VR helmet). Not to mention the whole "comfort" thing because of the *over the ear* speakers. It's a definite immersion enhancing audio improvement. These are the two biggest reasons I am very happy with the upgrade and feel it was money well spent. Could I have gotten by with the Rift S? - absolutely. Would I be happy with going back to the 'S. Nope. Never. That's my report - to me, these two immersion benefits are significant and justify the additional cost.
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The truthful answer is "it depends". It's all a matter of perspective. You already know what playing on a monitor looks and feels like. It's like you are watching a movie on tv, with a lot of views taken from the cockpit side. In VR, you are 'physically' in a full size cockpit, with the same views and perspectives of a real pilot. With a good Hotas and Voiceattack, you *are* a pilot. My comments as stated above are at the heart of the matter, but they are not all there is to consider. Two things. One, it isn't cheap, because your pc may need to be upgraded depending on its current state/age etc. And the other is visually, monitors still have it over VR glasses. Only because the monitor is so small. Use a 6' tall monitor, and things wil start to be more even. IN other words, since everything in VR is life-size, that means a HUGE image which means less clarity - this is mostly an issue at far distances. That drives us VR nuts to get the better VR headsets if we can afford them. I had the Rift S for a year (not a bad place to start) and now have the Index. Flat screen flying doesn't do it for me anymore.
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[ALL MODULES][SP/CO-OP] Liberation Dynamic Campaign
flameoutme replied to shdwp's topic in User Created Missions General
Just want to say what a GREAT piece of software this is, and how much enjoyment it has added to DCS for me. I've always gotten the feeling in DCS "then what?" with each new modual. Now I know what. Thank you. -
Playing Music In Cockpit??
flameoutme replied to msmith301's topic in Utility/Program Mods for DCS World
Whoops I understand your question now. Nope, don't know how to do that. I am quite sure it is *not* universally implemented in DCS, because, I would assume, these are simulations of actual military aircraft. But it's a cool idea. -
Open Beta, but it's purely personal choice. A lot will depend on what you fly. There are moduals that still are in the gestation phase, and open beta allows you to get additional goodies faster. I don't fly multiplayer much so can't speak to that, but single player for me has been fine in open beta and I've never had a reason to change.
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Playing Music In Cockpit??
flameoutme replied to msmith301's topic in Utility/Program Mods for DCS World
I wrote the 2nd post in this thread. I realieze now it was kinda long and complicated. I discussed 3 methods for playing music. None involves hardware. I wanted to do a shorter post and mention the 3rd method again. Because it's so easy. And that is VoiceAttack makes it so simply to play a randomly selected song. Have a directory with your mp3's. Create a new Voice attack command like "Play random song". Select : Other > sounds > play a random sound > then select a directory on your computer. Its so trivially easy that way. It's a good idea to create a STOP music command, which is: Other > Sounds > stop sounds BTW... while the "hardware" option works, I play vr so I want the music to be coming out of my vr ear pieces. I love music when I fly. I also love air radio chatter when I fly, which is easy to do as well. Use one of the other methods mentioned in my post for that if you want both music and chatter. -
Need 'Hunters over the Yalu Campaign' on Steam
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in DCS: F-86F Sabre
UPDATE: 7/21/2020. Hunters over the Yalu Campaign now in Steam. Attack!!!! -
Playing Music In Cockpit??
flameoutme replied to msmith301's topic in Utility/Program Mods for DCS World
I listen to music in flight. Using the same method, I also turn on background air chatter. I'll try to keep this brief. There are three methods. One is dumb down simple, and the other is almost as simple but provides flexibility as to when it goes on and off. And #3 is easy to do, but will only play 1 song on command. You must issue another command for a 2nd song, etc. Of course, its by voice command so it's easy. 1. Let's start with the simplist way. VERY easy. You get the VLC player (or really, any will probably do, but I use vlc). 2. Drag any music you want in it, press play, turn down the volume, and then fly dcs. Like I said very simple. Start flying with music tonight! 3. I took it one step further with the help of voice attack. Essentially this allows me to turn music on or off while in flight with a voice command (I use "play music" and "stop music"). Here's what you do. a. I don't want to have to add this to every voice attack profile, so I created a profile called "baseroutines". Here I put commands that are applicable everywhere. Such as VR Zoom in (I fly VR). I also put commands to play and stop music. YOu then "attach" the 'baseroutines" profile to the parent profile (e.g, f-14). That way you don't have to set it up for every modual. Simple. b. Voice attack has the ability to fire off an application. So I have it fire off VLC. The command, for me, is: IN voice attack, under "run an application", you enter the path for the vlc program. MINE is: C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe Then in the "With these parameters" box, I enter: --random --mmdevice-volume=0.55 D:\transfer\music\musicplaylist\music.xspf Note: You don't have to use parameters. But to use vlc twice for two different things (music and cvhatter) you do. the path you see there is MINE. The file music.xspf is what I named a play list out of vlc. --random plays the songs randomly --mmdevice-volume=0.55 is suppose to set teh volume but sadly it stopped working and I never figure out why. BUt I leave it in just for hope. Top stop muisc, there's a stop sound command in voice attack. NOTE: Voice attack has, built in, a feature where it will play a random sound file from a directory that you choose. BUt it will only play one and not the whole directory, at least the last time I checked. HOWEVER, playing a random file is VERY easy to impliment. Hope I have not confused. But you are right, flying with music is GREAT. And also, there are website that have recordings of military air chatter - I downloaded a bunch, plopped them in a directory, and set up a "play chatter" command. Keep teh volume low and it really helps DCS sonically sound exciting. -
My rudder controls are on my thottle. When I use them, they move (animate) as they should.
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Can someone confirm that if I switch from Steam to non-steam, VR will still work fine?
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I have to say whomever put together that trailer has a future. It is the best one concerning a product release I've ever seen. It reached right out of the screen and injected me with adrenaline. That, plus it showed off the scenery while doing so. I've seen trailers that are more eye candy than fact. This one had everything. Can't wait to have the real map.
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has anyone figure it out how to set jester comms via Headphones?
flameoutme replied to ustio's topic in DCS: F-14A & B
This is correct. I usually run with headphones going to my VR HMD, and all other sounds coming out of my desktop speakers. Before this change, so was Jester. Now he is wrapped around my ears... yikes! -
Just Went From Rift S to Valve Index - My Brief Report
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in Virtual Reality
I found it! Thanks! -
Just Went From Rift S to Valve Index - My Brief Report
flameoutme replied to flameoutme's topic in Virtual Reality
If there was any performance hit on the Valve index I did not to see it. I usually keep my visual settings towards the lower end, and combined with my high end CPU, there was no performance hit that my Mark-1 eyeballs could detect. -
UPDATED 7/13/2020 - @uri_ba pointed out that in SteamVR settings, if your computer has bluetooth, the power on/off of the base stations can be automatically controlled. Thanks!!! I remove the para below where I gave incorrect info on this. I had been using the Rift S for about a year, and finally pulled the trigger to get the index. I wanted to offer my observations/conclusions about the upgrade. First, to those using the Rift S, know that it provides a good 80% of the experience that the Valve Index does. That % is my own subjective estimation. You get a lot in a Rift S. So, do not feel like you can double your pleasure by moving to the index. But... The valve index has some great pluses. Cockpit dials are 15-20% easier to read. And that makes a big difference because in the Rift S, I often felt some the dials required a bit of eye strain to interpret. Like it was on the border of clarity but not quite there. For the Valve index, it's better. Not fully where I hope it will be someday, but enough better that it's a more comfortable 'ride'. So I am happy about that. I think this ranks among the best reasons to upgrade from a Rift S. Lots have been said about the 120 (or even 144) Mhz Valve index refresh rate compared to the Rift S 80mhz rate. Forget about fixating on the numbers, here's my take. I like running at the 120, things seems smoother overall. however... I also seem to "feel" as much as see the micro movements of the screen as (say) rotating the plane. I know this is confusing. It's like it's smoother, but perhaps because the valve index has a very short "screen persistence" my eyes can detect the individual "frames" easier. >>>But overall, it's a better experience.<<< Audio wise, (again) much has been written about the over the ears speakers. They are indeed hands down better than the rift S strap speakers... (but I have a 'but' in a minute...) In a room scale game (Like half life alyx), that is huge. In DCS however, they excel, but when used differently than expected. ('But') DCS in preferences allows you to output headphone sounds (e.g, communications) to one sound card, and all other sounds to another. For me the magic with the Valve Index happens audio wise if I output most sounds to my desktop speakers, which also puts the sound through my buttkicker. But headphone sounds (like talking to other pilots) are strong because of the valve speakers. In the Rift I had to wear over the ear headphones. Which means desktop speakers don't work well. Understand what I am saying? I am using both now because of the Valve Index. And it works magically. Also, I can call on VoiceAttack to play music and because I've set the default sound in Windows to the headset in this case valve index, the music comes through the index speakers. Think "Iron Eagle". I'm sorry I am blabbing I just found that audio combination so compelling! The Index field of view is also much talked about. Better than the Rift S? Yes. Does it make dcs a better experience? Probably. >>>I just haven't noticed it.<<< (and perhaps that is the interesting conclusion). One downside to the index is its weight. Again, much has been written about its comfort. It does have great straps and pads. But that isn't enough to make up for its weight. THE RIFT S is more comfortable to wear IMHO simply because it is lighter. Well, 'nuf said. I did a 45 minute campaign mission last night, and between the clarity of the index, and audio system I contrived (see above), it was friggin magical. I was out of the normal world. Made me forget about what was going on down below... Hope you like my little write up. My system: i-9700 32 Gig 1080 (not 1080 ti....) SSD storage and operating system drive Note: I normally run with graphic settings at the low end with the exception of textures and civilian traffic. Also I run with dcs VR set to about 1.7,
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I did figure it out, and actually its pretty straight forward, and works every time for me, as long as I am being a good pilot. Note that there are two electrical cage/uncage buttons that can be bound. One of them is for something called LABS, and you do *not* use that for normal bombing. Find the other electrical uncage button and bind it to some kind of button press on your hotas. Here is the process as I use it: 1. set the controls for bombs, auto release. That is straight out of the manual. After I did that a few times I reliezed that its just three settings, 1,2,3 each time. Quick and done. 2. Ungage the mechanical sight cage level. (move it to the right if its not already there) Now, we get to the secret sauce. It really isn't hard, and it makes intuitive sense after you do it a few times. 3. Press the electrical cage button. (Remember, NOT the labs cage/uncage). This will disconnect the pipper and it will just be centered straigt ahead. 4. Best to put on airbrakes, and engine throttled back. 5. Aim the plane at the target, all while holding in the electrical cage button. 6. When you have a good bead on the target, and while keeping the electrical cage held in, press and hold bomb release. 7. so at this point you are holding both buttons in. You can release the electrical cage as soon as you've held in the bomb release. ****At the instant you release the cage button****, that is where the "computer" will take for your desired aim point. 8. So now you are descending, with the bomb release button held in. 9. Now, it's important to understand, that the "computer" is only going to release the bombs if you have your plane aimed at the target such that the targeting solution is valid. They suggest something like 30 degrees to 45 degress dive. SAID ANOTHER WAY... you can go through all teh steps above, and if at the last minute you aren't within "shooting parameters" (basically, have the pipper aimed at where it was when you released the electrical uncage button and a speed and angle that works for the "computer")... then the bomb will not release. This makes sense doesn't it? Note that I think this probably accounts for people saying the bomb won't release. I set up a practice mission and once I broke the "code" I was able to drop it every time I was a good pilot. When I was off, no release. Try it. It will work.