Skyjoos

Lack of external vision and the shear number of switches and controls you need is a challenge in VR for sure. I've found extensive programming of the hotas, macros and Voice attack to be the only answer. With the X56 and it's mode switch allowing around 150 switch controls, plus 11 axis, I'm able to get the majority of what I need at my finger tips with a separation of functionality. Mode 1 is for TO/landing and Nav. Mode 2 is exclusively for the radios and Mode 3 for master arm on ie combat. For anything not programed into the hotas I have a head look cursor I can switch on and off as well as a left and right mouse button click so I can look at a switch with my head and click it with a couple of buttons configured on the stick. Voice attack takes care of the hard to reach switches such as O2 flow and to arm the ejection seat etc. With the addition of a few macros to handle cold startup/lights you should have everything you need. I still find myself reverting to the mouse occasionally, mainly to recenter the cursor, but it's a lot better than trying to see outside of the headset to find a keyboard button. While some functionality is common to most air frames one of the biggest draw back of all this is the number of hours it takes to set up as each module requires a custom config. While it's a pita to get right the immersion of actually sitting in a 3d cockpit as opposed to looking at a 2d screen, even with TIR, is well worth the effort.

I did wonder why the master alarm wouldn’t go out at first but spotted the fuel lever to full thing as doing this cancels a bunch of other warning lights on the console as well. Yes, it’s mapped to an axis on the HOTAS along with the brake. Couple of questions from Wakeshifts post; Nav Align. Not sure I’m doing this correctly as while I do turn the NADIR on I don’t really understand the system so pay little attention to it. I thought the Gyro was the system that the AP depended on. The AP Hold button is the one on the cyclic, correct? The reason I ask is because in the control mappings the one in the Autopilot section reads Master on/off and the one in the Pilots Stick reads Autopilot Master. Don’t seem to be able to find an Autopilot Hold mapping anywhere. I’ll give the overlay a try to get some feedback on the AP engaging and read what it takes to confirm the NADIR is fully up an aligned. Thanks for the feedback.

Apologies but I've posted this in the wrong forum. If the mods can move this to the Gazelle forum I'd appreciate it.

Hmm, haven't worked out the trim yet but you hit the nail on the head as this was my other question mentioned in the subject. I have set the pitch/roll trim to a stick hat in the same way I do for a fixed wing but it doesn't appear to do anything even after flipping the console switch. I've noticed that there is a stick button mapping for a Trim button as well as the console switch. Do you have to hold down the stick trim button before the hat switch will respond to changes? I also flip on both the Trim and the Mag Brake switches in the console during startup. Not sure if I'm supposed to do this as I don't have a force feedback stick so was expecting not to bother using the Mag Brake.

So I'm new to flying choppers and since I have managed to get to the point where I can fly in a straight line and not just spin around and around (something pretty vomit inducing in VR) I have been trying to work out the autopilot. Apart from the conditions needed to get the auto hover to kick in being really sensitive and something that I can only get in a hit or miss fashion there doesn’t seem to be any indicator to tell me that the autopilot is functioning. I get the gyro up, switch on the master On/Off (panel) and the r/p/y stabilisers then set it to Altitude mode then get above 120kts. I was then expecting that when I hit the Pilot Stick Autopilot Master I could let go of the stick and just use the collective and rudder. More power and the autopilot should pitch down maintaining alt and increasing speed with the opposite for less power but this doesn’t seem to be the case. With more power the SC342 gains Alt. the lack of an indicator to tell me the AP is on is really frustrating. I’m I doing something wrong or misunderstanding how the AP is supposed to react to changes in the collective?

So this kind of worked as the frequency that the problem occurred was noticeably less in that it only happened once during my testing last night. I'll take another run at it with the cursor restriction on to see if that makes a difference.

Is anybody else having problems with VA and the X56 programming software losing focus when using VR? I'm on a Rift S and have a bunch of commands that can't be easily mapped to the X56 triggered from VA. Occasionally VA just stops responding forcing me to come out and refocus DCS. The X56 software is also experiencing the same issue. I use all three modes of the X56, one for Nav, landing and take off, one for combat and one for the radios. So I program all DCS functions as keyboard key presses and then program up the X56 to replicate. As with VA the X56 software randomly loses focus with DCS and I can no longer interact with the controls. A new development which has been happening only recently is that DCS will even lose the axis inputs. While in VR I also use the mouse to interact with the instrument I don’t have VA/X56 commands for. I suspect that the mouse is clicking out of the window but it's difficult to pin down as I obviously can't see what is happening on the computer screen when in VR. I've tried switching on the cursor restraint but all this seems to do is make it harder to click out of the DCS window to force a refocus. I've also tried explicitly setting the VA focus to DCS instead of the Active application to no avail. Does anybody else with this kind of set up experience the same and if so do you have any tips for mitigating the problem?

Is anybody else having problems with VA in VR losing focus on the DCS app? I'm on a Rift S and have a bunch off commands that can't be easily mapped to the hotas triggered from VA. Occasionally VA just stops responding forcing me to come out and refocus DCS. I suspect its cause has something to do with using the cursor to interact with the cockpit, maybe it's position when you click, but after a bunch of testing I'm still none the wiser as I haven't been able to identify what is causing this. I've tried using the Rift controllers but they don't appear to have had the right click implemented yet which renders them unusable at this time. I've also tried switching on the cursor restraint but all this seems to do is make it harder to click out of the DCS window to force a refocus. I've also tried explicitly setting the VA focus to DCS instead of the Active application to no avail. Any suggestions on how to mitigate this problem would be welcome as exiting VR every few minutes to refocus is a real bind especially when "Eject! Eject! Eject!" is a voice command.

New to DCS and having problems with the night CA missions in that I can't see anything. Only a few positions appear to have Night Vision equipment and I don't seem to be able to switch on NVG for any of the exterior views at all. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong? I experienced the same problem in the DCS training mission that tasks you with an instrument landing at night in bad weather. While I guess in this scenario night vision isn't strictly necessary I was surprised that the external views were useless. When investigating this further I found a user mod that apparently made it so you could switch on NVG regardless but this mod no longer seems to be maintained or updated for the v2 so I couldn't see how to get it installed. Am I just missing a switch somewhere that allows night vision for all views when it's dark. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as currently I'm restricted to day time missions as it's the only way I can get my bearings.