VMFA-Blaze

Sorry but I spent the whole day installing ... Star Force was extremely difficult this time, and did you know that Game Shadow is actually the same company?? I'm almost there but having a little problem with TIR 4... My CPU is a intel E6600 and the memory is Corsair C4Pro DDR2 800 Not to worry though I'll keep you informed My Bro... ~S~ Blaze

Stand down Fudd.. :lol: But seriously everything went well.. I found out what the problem was, Somehow the 2nd boot device was loaded with a bogus IDE drive ( I don't know how that happened??) So when the system began to load from the BIOS it would look for this device and not find it... So it would just sit there and do nothing.. I was really difficult to see.. really had to study that section. So when I found the issue I then deleted it and then everything after that fell into place.... Its all loaded up now and tomorrow I'll begin to install All of my flight sims beginning with Lock On of course...:lol: Ok that was the first problem and the second issue that I had with P5N32-E SLI was the memory... Doesnt seem to be any memory problems with the Commando so far, I used Ghost Recon that came with the MOBO to test it and it no lags or crashes and that's with all of the settings maxed... Oh and another thing that actually is cool is the Commando install disc supports Nvidia nForce 680i SLI.. The build date on this is 12/22/06..... So this is hot !!!!! :thumbup: I'm going to o/c in a little while so I'll call on you for some pointers if you don't mind....:happy: Thanks for the suggestion Bro... ~S~ Blaze

You saw that post from GG concerning the F/A 18 ? It was mentioned in the Russian forum that ED is considering modeling this air frame... I don't think that Ed would be interested in producing this without some realistic data.. So from what I've heard the earlier NAVAIR's aren't classified, but there's the entire map, ground vehicles, flight deck modeling and a number of other issues that will most likely take a lot time to simulate.. From my own view point I personally think that Ed's plate is full at the present time. But I'm guessing that because of high demand for the A/C, that when the time is right we'll all see this happen as well.... But this is purely just speculation on my part... I mean there's that new F/A-18 add on for FSX, and those guys have been just working on just this one aircraft, and its taken them 3 years.. And its still not finished.. Also I agree with GG, about adding a little more game play, as a military flight simulator Lock On does a damn good job.. With the addition of a little more game play this would be a great commercial hit and would add a little more interest for all of us hard core Lomack fans.. ~S~ Blaze

Well it looks like the MOBO will be here tomorrow in the AM... I'll have to mount the CPU and connect all of the dots (cabels Ect...) And then the moment of truth, but it should be a little easier to determine a problem should the need arise. The board has an LCD screen that lists each function as it boots.. So if it stops booting the problem will be listed.... But I might need some help anyway Thanks for the offer Cat....:thumbup: I'm sure I'll need some direction with OC as well. most of what I've read says that this board overclocks with the best of them... P.A. : Yes I was very lucky in getting all of the parts that I needed, But the Commando really isn't SLI, but that's all right with the price of the 8800, SLI is slightly out of the question.. :music_whistling: Anyway I read some where that you can do SLI with this board if you want to, there are some modified drivers out there somewhere... :idea: I'll keep ya' posted ... ~S~ Blaze

intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Zalman CNPS9500 LED, Asus Commando w/intel P965 + 1CH8R, Corsair Twin2X2048 6400 C4Pro 2 Gig. KIT DDR2-800, BFG Geforce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR 3 PCI-e, Maxtor X2 Sata II / 300 RAID O, LG floppy disc drive, ASUS CD 52X, Sony CD/DVD Combo 52X, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi W/ Upgrade, Windows XP Pro 32 OEM/ with the Vista Upgrade, Antec 650 W P/S, ASUS Vento 3600, Track IR4 Pro, Cougar W/ NXT mod / Throttle/ with Hall sensors, Simped Rudder pedals / with Hall sensors, Logitech Dinovo cordless Laser key board, Samsung 32" LCD HD TV/ Monitor.... That's about it, there are a few things that I'll most likely add later on down the line.. I'm just going to concentrate on getting a stable running system for now. I've had Newegg ship it next day air so most likely by tomorrow morning I should be able to start rebuilding and hopefully this time all should be well...:thumbup: Blaze

Apparently ASUS is having some huge problems with their 680i MoBo's.. Newegg was supposed to receive a shipment of Strikers today...ARRRGH!!! I was checking their website all day and I kept seeing expt. delivery date 1/16.... this was there all day up until an hour ago and then it disappeared.. So no delivery today , I called Cumbo's as they usually get shipments towards the end of the week.. That was a no go as well, the guy said that the striker delivery date is now the end of February, so that's the same ETA as the P5N32-E SLI... So I had been checking out the Newegg site and I found that the Commando is now available, this must have just arrived as there weren't any reviews for it yet... So I bought it and I'm having them ship it to me overnight... I was reading a review on hardware zone and they claim that this board will overclock a lot higher then the Striker.. So for now this issue has been resolved, I'm looking forward to finally get my system running..... I'll keep you posted :thumbup: ~S~ Blaze

Yes I sort of came to the same conclusion, that the memory was the issue after reading one post in particular on the ASUS site.. It seems that you most likely had a test case and ASUS is now recommending that change. I have Corsair TWIN 2X2048 6400 C4PRO DDR2-800.. My P5N32-E is back at the vendor.. and the next rev. of this board wont be out until mid February. The Striker is the only one that is available at the present if you can find it, as its in limited production.. It figures, the board is between $350.00 and $420.00... But they're basically both the same boards... If I get Lucky enough to get one of these I'm going with your settings and Thanks Guy!!!! ~S~ Blaze

Man.. All I can say is what a frustrating situation I've become involved in .. It all started about three or four weeks ago when I had the bright idea that I was going to build a new system for this Christmas season.. I really thought that I would get a jump on the release of Vista and Direct X 10... And I wanted to get higher end equipment that would last me for a while... So everything seemed to go fine. I shopped around and picked out some nice stuff at reasonable prices.. It was exciting as always, you know, waiting for everything to arrive by truck, laying out all of the pieces for assembly.. So it all came in without a snag.. Everything that I ordered was in stock and got to me before the 25th... So I finished the build, and after a few little issues I manged to install windows XP pro.. I then installed all of my flight sims, and my joystick and began to compare my new system to the old one... At first I was very impressed at how much smoother everything was... My joystick was a lot more accurate, The detail was much sharper, My Track IR 4 wasn't jumping around like it was before.. I mean I felt that flight skills were being depicted more realistically... Everything was great for about 2 days and that's when the trouble started.. I was in a mission for about 10 min when the screen froze. Next came this audio reverberation, I then got a blue screen and the the PC crashed. I rebooted and things seemed to clear up for a while.. The next day I was in a mission and the problem began to happen again.. well after a time began to happen with more frequency.. So after several reformats I began to think that I was having a hardware issue and these problems couldn't be solved by manipulating the software.. So I pulled out the NVidia 7900 GT and RMA'd it for a 8800. after waiting for 5 days for the card to arrive I then installed it and booted up the system.. So I did a reformat before going in the desk top just to make sure I would get a resh install. So I passed the welcome screen without issue and entered the desktop.. It looked like everything was fine, the system seemed to be stable, and then I installed the drivers for the GPU and "BANG".. a blue screen and a hard crash... I again rebooted, and went through the BIOS again and set up the SATA, but that was it.. Now all I saw was a black screen with a flashing cursor, I tried to set up the hard drives three time after that but it was always the same.. So I called up the vendor and explained to them what had happened.. They gave me an RMA and told me that they didn't have the board in stock but expected it in 3 days.. so I said fine and I waited and waited. So a week had passed. My system now doesn't have a motherboard, I have sent the ASUS P5N32-E SLI board back to the vendor.. On Fri I checked my order status and at the top of the page it read discontinued.. I got on the phone right away and spoke with them and they told me that I now have to wait until the second week in FEB for a replacement.. I cancelled my order. this was last Friday and I've checked every store on the Internet trying to get a replacement but its sold out everywhere.. So then I decided to buy the Striker Extreme and this is sold out everywhere also.. I spoke with ASUS and they told me that I have to place an order for the Striker and wait an other week and if I'm lucky I just might get one, and the PN32 E SLI wont be in stock until FEB 12th... I guess you live and learn, I really shouldn't have RMA'd the original board.. If I used ASUS's help desk I might have solved the issue, I think what I should have done was to move the CMNS jumper, remove the battery and then replace everything back to where it was.. After which I then should have adjusted the timing on the memory.. These 680i chip sets are very delicate... I'm keeping my fingers crossed and the next time I get one of these boards I'm going to treat it a lttle more gently... :smilewink: ~S~ Blaze

Rich: Where did you get the monitor from? Maybe you can get someing thats more compatable to running a PC on... Is the monitor an LCD or Plazma ??? Blaze

HDMI has worked for you, and that's cool but it doesnt seem to be working for Rich... From my experience in electronic retail there are some sets that don't handle HDMI well for PC hook ups... Rich you might try my earlier suggestion using VGA, it really does sound like that is your issue. And if its not ???? :blush: Blaze

I think that your problem is the result of the HDMI hook up.. HDMI is really for running movies..That's why your text is blurred, I have a Philips 32" that only had an HDMI connection and I was having the same exact problem ... HDMI is not really a good way to connect your PC ... If you have a VGA connection on the back of your set you might want to try an adapter to change DVI to VGA.. Another thing that might work if you dont have a VGA is to try to get a dongle that comes with some of the high end cards that allow you to connect to component connections.. I tried this as well on my Philips but with no success... So my answer was to put the Philips in the bedroom and just use it for watching HDTV and viewing DVD's... I then got my present monitor, a Samsung, 32" LCD TV/ Monitor which has a VGA connection .. I've hooked up my 8800 to it and this is really the best the picture by far.... ~S~ Blaze

Zorlac: I just have to really give you credit for those tutorials.... It's helped me to put some more pieces of the Photo Shop Puzzle together.. Well done..... I'm now planning on trying this out.. Thanks ~S~ Blaze

PS. I should get the 8800 on Monday, I checked the tracking no. and it's out for delivery... So... when I get the system flying again I'll take some digital shots with all the lights on. It really does look awesome all lit up like a Christmas Tree.. :laugh: Even the memory has sequential LED's in tri color ... :lol: ~S~ Blaze

I have the Tsunami case as well... :smilewink: I used it when I built my last system, and I really liked the fan set there .. Actually its better then my present case, ASUS Vento 3600... This is my new case, its very stylish, don't you think, but the fans aren't as good as the last one.. I think I'm going to try that fan setup that you suggested.. ~S~ Blaze

Try rolling back your drivers to an older configuration, I would use a driver cleaner first.. But even after you clean everything up your still going to get shimmering effects, like around land mass, the waves will shimmer.. This is inherent to NVidia cards, Ive even seen it happen in IL2 around the cockpit instrumentation.. The effect has finally been resolved with the release of the NVidia 8800 series, but these cards are still rather pricey... ~S~ Blaze

Here are two that deal with combat aircraft Alpha has the BlackJack TU-160 as a flyable and VRSimulations primarily offers the F/A-18.. http://www.alphasim.co.uk/index2.html http://www.vrsimulations.com/product_FA18E.htm Check them both out, unfortunately you can only fly these, as they all use the FS engine, of course... ~S~ Blaze

I've saved the Lock on SF_Key on the hard drive in my other computers in the network.. After doing a reformat or if something might go wrong. After reinstalling the sim I can simply go into My Network Places and pull up the key.. Then its just a matter of clicking on it to active, with this method you woun't use up an activation... :thumbup: Blaze

I just purchased an 8800 GTS, so I haven't actually tried it out yet but from what I've been reading, Nvidia added that huge cooling system because of major heat issues... I have a Zalman 3500 running on the cpu which has kept the temps. at decent levels, but I really don't like making deductions about hardware unless of course I try it out personally... I built the system last week using a 7900 GTS/GTO. Since then I've decided against the 7900 and RMA'd it. I did this for the same reasons that I dumped my 6600 in favor of a 6800 Ultra on my last system.. And I mean Direct X 10 is knocking on our door .. Actually it would have been better to go with a 8800 GTX but the price is just to high right now..Anyway I can always add another GTS a little later on and use SLI... This should bring up the performance even higher.. But with these new cards I'm certainly going to have to up the cooling power by modding the case fans.. This will be after I begin testing the new card.. I'm not even going to attempt to OC until the system becomes very stable.. and has a chance to burn in properly.. ~S~ Blaze

I've just finished a new build, intel e6600 with a Zalman CNPS9500 LED... Its been running at an almost constant 39c to 40c... and it's a lot quieter then the last one, AMD 3200 with a stock fan ... I actually got this because I was have some freeze ups with FSX ... And I wasn't sure if the AMD would handle LOBS... I went all the way out this time and got everything new including the key board and mouse, which I actually just picked up 2 days ago, the Logitech DNovo Laser ... Any way the list is so long it would bore the heck you of you guy's .. Another thing that I like is the case, its an Asus 360 in red... Anyway I'll post some new pics in a few days and give everyone the lowdown of all of the parts... ~S~ Blaze

Gozr.. It will never happen, Lock On is still the best even though its 2 years old... And besides you were never was avid Fan of this sim were you?? Blaze

As far as I know not at the present time unfortunately.. I know I would really love to see them do this for obvious reasons but the team seems to set on front line AtG at present... There's been a lot of communication from them in the past regarding this aspect.. But the future is not certain :unsure: So eventually this might come to pass.. But as you mentioned about most of the work being done already I'm inclined not to agree with you there. The ship weapons systems need a lot of work as well as a lot further development of Naval Aircraft.... And there also a need to develop a new map to enable the aircraft carriers to operate in open water.... so if it does happen it will be after the present plans have implemented... It could happen but not for perhaps in a few years ??? ~S~ Blaze

Why is it ...... Aren't we chatting away here in a Russian form .... The guys that are doing this new F/A-18 sim are from the US, therefore they've had easier access to NAVAIRS.. And they've been developing this add on for about three or four years... Lock On has only been around for about 2 years and there project is and was the F-15... I think that we actually will see a Hornet come from Eagle Dynamics eventually.. But for now they've got a lot on their plate to contend with... So it might take a year or two, don't forget that most likely they'll need a completely new map and work up all the naval weapon systems etc... Its really a long list and will take a lot of resources to do it right .. Those are some of the reasons... Come on we've been over this ground many times.. Like I posted yesterday I'm buying this one for now to prepair for the actual combat simulator from ED.... ~S~ Blaze

I remember seeing it but it was along time ago... In this case your best bet is to run a search... I'm almost sure that you'll be able to find it that way... ~S~! Blaze

I had trouble mounting my last video card, it was to big and the back of the card wouldn't clear the hard drives.. I my situatiion I was lucky enough to be able to reposition the hard drives and then I managed to push the card into place... I hope that you be able do this as well... ~S~ Blaze

Yes I saw this at Simhq some time ago.... Its very nicely put together, and seems spot on for accuracy, even though your not able to actually shoot anything down the systems are all operational and you can view the weapons leaving the rails ... I'm hopeing that he finnishes this soon and gets it out there, I'll buy it.... It should be good pratice until ED has time to release the true combat version... Great find JACN ~S~ Blaze