wickedpenguin

I do wish they'd have actual collision as well. Not necessarily on a per-tree basis, but at least make forests impassable. The way it is now is almost like an exploit. When I mapped for Red Orchestra: Ostfront and needed to create a forest, I'd turn off all collision models for the individial trees, and then create a single blocking volume that sat on top of the forest. In RO's editor, you can create polygonal volumes, so I'd design it so it would match the curvature of the trees closely. It prevented players from entering that forest while still being very efficient on the engine. How are BS' trees are placed on the map? Are they placed by hand in groups or singly, or are they "painted" in place using a technique similar to Unreal Engine's Deco Layers? In UE, terrain environmental meshes such as grass and rocks are synched with a terrain texture. Wherever you paint that texture on the terrain, that's where those environmental meshes appear. The downside is that, like with BS' trees, they have no collision model.

I think they're being overly harsh on the graphics. They're not perfect, but they're fine. I'd rather get good framerates than see every shadow of every blade of grass. My imagination can fill in the gaps of lower-resolution models and textures. Poor framerate is just plain annoying.

Our portable DVD player's disc motor recently gave up the ghost, so it can't play movies anymore. However, the player still functions as a viewer using the composite video (yellow cable) input. I used to use it like that all the time when I did video production - it makes for a very cheap monitor. I was thinking... I have two real computer monitors already connected to my GeForce 8800. I've done the multimonitor setup with one monitor showing the cockpit and the one to the right displaying the Shkval and ABRIS, however I wasn't pleased with the drastically reduced performance, stretched menus in multiplayer, lack of text chat readout in mp, and the inconvenient placement of the communication menu and readback. I've actually gone back to using just one monitor now, it was so bad. I have a feeling the performance issue was due to being in windowed mode and the placement due to the "phantom monitor". Anyways, the video card also has an S-Video output. Is there anyway I could plug the DVD player into that (I have the S-video/composite adapter) and use it as a third monitor? I guess it would replace the "phantom" monitor. For instance, it'd be great to put the DVD player directly in front and below my main monitor to have it look like the real Shkval screen. :)

Wait - so your freaking targeting laser burns out? Damn, this sim is realistic.

Just loan me the remaining $144.95 + tax/shipping for the TIR 5 + Track Clip and we'll call it squared. :music_whistling: At the very least, Cachya has shown me the possibilities a head-tracker offers. And, for my non-combat simming, it works wonderfully. I look at it this way: you gotta drive the sub-compact before upgrading to the luxury sports car to appreciate the difference. I'll definitely be upgrading to TIR at somepoint. By the time I can afford it, though, it'll be TIR 17.5 and we'll be viewing our games via optical nerve implants. :)

Is there any lag with TrackIR? I bought Cachya recently, which works quite well (and costs only $15). The only issue is a lag delay of about 1/2 to a full second. Under patrol and standoff engagement flight conditions it's not bad, but if you're in the thick of combat it can get quite disorienting. "SAM launch, 2 o'clock." I whip my head to the right (naturally) to spot it. The lag means I've got to wait until my view catches up. Great, there's the SAM. As I'm maneuvering and dumping flares, I swing my head to face forward again. More lag. I overshoot my head turn, and now I'm looking out the left side. It takes it time to catch up as I try to face forward again. By this point I'm freaking dizzy and I'm literally fighting my view. Like I said, it works great most of the time. However, when I demand rapid response, it falls short. It'd be perfect for a non-combat sim like X-Plane or Microsoft FSX, but it's too laggy for the "knife fighting" we do in DCS:BS. What's TrackIR's response time?

Thanks for this. First, the CTRL-ENTER helped me determine that my CH Products rudder pedals are screwed up. I'd calibrated them in the Windows Control Panel and thought I'd corrected them. However, when I centered them they were actually 20% to the right. Because of this offset, I had full rudder authority to the right, but only 60-80% to the left. Not only was I spinning to the right, but my ability to counteract it was curtailed. I still haven't been able to fix this in either software or hardware. Very, very frustrating. I actually yanked out the pedals' USB connection mid-mission and relied solely on the rocker rudder on my Saitek X-45's throttle. It worked much better, though it doesn't feel very natural. Secondly, I think I think I'm getting the hang of the Autoturn. I'm caging the Shkval when I'm not attacking. Also, I've realized that if you kill one target (for instance, if you 1 tank out of a group of 3) and lock up another, the helicopter won't Autoturn to line up the new one if it's still inside the HUD's area. Just good ol' rudder will get it lined up.

I was engaging a trio of T-72 tanks. I killed one and locked up the second one. As I was swinging the Vikhr reticle onto it, I saw this mysterious flash cover up the tank. "Hey, I haven't fired yet. What's-" BOOM!! And that, kids, is how I discovered the tanks can shoot back. :)

God said, "NO FLYING FOR YOU TODAY!" Swat! But seriously, it could have been a radar-guided SAM. The Black Shark has no radar warning receiver.

I'm playing the instant action mission. I slow down, trim for hover, and engage Auto-Hover. I setup my targeting - laser designator to STANDBY, moving ground target ON, HMS to ON, Auto-turn-to-target ON, uncage the Shkval, Master weapons arm to ON, Viikhr missiles selected - and start lining up my targets. The HDG, PITCH, and BANK autopilot switches are ON. In this case, I'm attacking that line of trucks merrily weaving their way from right to left. I lock up the first truck and get the "TA" in the Shkval screen. The helicopter turns and lines up the target circle with the missile reticle. Missile away. I lock the next truck. However, the helo doesn't turn this time. I turn the Auto-turn on and off. I try unlocking and relocking the target. Eventually, it seems to go. However, it appears unreliable under my command at best, and it's quite annoying as it would make life so much easier if I could get it working and understand its logic. I'd thought that Auto-Turn worked by just having it selected at all all times and it would automatically swing you onto whatever new target you locked. Is there a specific combination of actions that need to be accomplished in a certain order to make it work?

You could pick up Dangerous Waters. It simulates eight platforms: 688 class, Seawolf, Akula, and Kilo, plus the P-3 Orion, Perry Class Frigate, and - lastly - the SH-60 Seahawk. The actual flight simulation portion of it is of course lacking, since it really serves only to put you over a target. However, the ASW systems on all the platforms are well-modeled. It's another sim like DCS:BS where you have to read and learn that manual, learn how to read waterfall displays, plot target tracks, etc.. It's very deep.

I just bought Cachya head tracker over the weekend (can't afford TrackIR ATM) and tried it out. It works very well, but it's got about a half-second delay. Between that delay, my inexperience with head trackers, and getting used to the head motions, by the end of a two hour session I was feeling pretty motion sick. I think I was focusing too much on the HMS while moving the heli around and moving my head. Does TrackIR have a delay, or is it instant?

LOL. Sounds like Eastern Airlines Flight 401. "What's this do? What's that do - oh %*!"

Eject you - withOUT blowing off the rotor blades first. :helpsmilie:

Okay, that first image gave me the willies. I'm not even playing BS at the moment and I'm reaching for the eject keys. :) "T" is for trim, not Auto-Hover. You really need to get into the video tutorials that come with the sim. I'm not saying that to knock your abilities. I'm a plug-in and go guy myself, but this sim does not play that way. You need to study the videos, the manuals, and put yourself in the proper mindset: it's not a game, it's a simulator. Studying the materials will help you out so much. This sim is far less forgiving than, say, Microsoft Flight Simulator. In MS FSX, you can just load up a 747, hit CTRL-E to get the engines online, throw the throttles forward to the stops, and take off.

It sounds like it's similar to a run-up you would do in a fixed-wing aircraft. Not sure about jets and turboprops, but in light piston engine planes (Pipers, Cessnas, etc.) you taxi and hold short of the runway, point your nose into the wind, and rev the engine up to check the oil pressure, magneto condition, vacuum pump operation, etc.. If there's something wrong with the aircraft, it's better to find out about it then than when your engine quits at 400 feet, nose high, and out of runway to put it back down. As they say, there are few things more useless to pilots than runway behind you and altitude above you.

Funny enough, my wife's actually a gamer. We play games all the time, from Mario Kart on the Wii to Fable 2 and Castle Crashers on the Xbox. She's a fiend in Super Puzzle Fighter (PS1/XBLA). She amassed the single highest score I've ever seen in Crazy Taxi 2 ($144,000). She doesn't play a ton of games, but she's amazing at the ones she does. Her big problem with me is online games. A few years back, I was involved in an online Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 tournament (super realistic WWII FPS). Several times a week, my teammates on the Russian side and I would get together to practice for an hour or two. Then on Saturdays, we'd have the actual campaign battles, 2 maps rotating for 8 hours. At first, I was just a Private, so I could hop in and out at my leisure. To make a long story short, after many months of play, I wound up as General of the whole Russian side. So... I had to stay... for all 8 hours... every Saturday... for an 8 week campaign. It got old for her real fast, and rightfully so. I also wasn't very enthusiastic about being general, since it was basically dumped on me. I ended up just quitting the tournament outright after a while. But, because of that experience 4 or 5 years ago, now whenever I start playing online - whether it's COD:World at War or a flight sim - she gets concerned. I'm very mindful now of the time I spend online, yabbering away with friends and foes thousands of miles away.

That's something I wish more simulators did. As an air traffic controller, I think they demand the best out of the pilots and controllers. They need to be represented in order to complete the immersion. For instance, MS FSX has a pretty complex ATC system, but zero attention paid to emergencies. It's disappointing. I worked a (real) F/A-18 Hornet in the other day with a hydraulic system issue. That guy was cool as a cucumber. I had a feeling that his plane could have been a ball of fire all around him and his voice quality would have remained exactly the same. Our rules require three questions to be answered: who are you, what's wrong, and what do you want to do? Once you get those settled, you can provide a service for them. Afterwards, time and pilot nervousness permitting, you can get more from them, such as souls on board, fuel remaining (both very useful for fire response teams), and any other relevant info. From an AI/sim standpoint, that could be simplified in a single command: F6 -> Declaring Emergency. Once you do that, AI aircraft would clear the runway. Maybe roll some crash trucks with flashing lights to take position along the taxiways. That's about it. Nothing too complicated, but it would be very cool to experience.

LMAO. Glad I'm not alone in this ridiculousness. BTW, it doesn't do much for the running balance of your marital respect bank account to have her walk in just as you're trying out the paper cut-out for your Cachya head tracking software. "Sweetie, why do you have a black and white polygon taped to your hat?" "Uh... because we can't afford TrackIR?"

First post. Just bought the sim a week ago. I'm a real-life private pilot and long time player of flight sims - IL-2, MSFS 4-X, LO:MAC - and I love getting into the nitty-gritty of operating aircraft. DCS:BS has been awesome, as it's hard to get nittier or grittier than this sim. :) So I've been teaching myself the workings of the KA-50. I've got the Shkval system nailed and I can fly the aircraft fairly well (landings aside... oy), so I decide to try out an actual campaign mission. I spool up Campaign #1. Its first mission is the one where you take off, turn left, and basically wind up on the front lines within a couple KM. I'm plinking T-55s, engaging ZSU Shilkas, watching the enemy SU-25s bomb my guys. Great show. I move in cautiously, work my way around to flank some of the enemy. Then the helo starts oscillating along the vertical axis. I try to correct, first gently, then not so gently. I'm losing rudder authority. I've got auto-hover on and this thing is spinning like a damn top. WTF? Then my wingman calls in, "SAM launch, 4 'oclock." I disengage AH, try to regain control. The thing is still spinning. Boom! Down I go. Take a breath, get the "You're a disservice to the motherland" speech, and give it another go. I'm engaging from a distance, lighting up tanks with my Vkhirs. The rest of the enemy are hidden behind AAA batteries. I need to try to take those out... again. Move in for the kill. Pop off a Shilka. Readjust to engage another target. Then the oscillation starts. Again. "$*%&!!!" I'm trying to wrestle control of my helo from its own grasp. The world is spinning, and I'm drifting closer to the enemy lines. Must. Grab. CONTROL. "SAM launch, 2 o'clock!" "$*%&!!!" BOOM! Fiery bits of my helo tumble from the sky. "$*%&!!!!!!!" Right then, my wife walks into the office. She's looking lovely, fresh out of the shower. As fiery bits of Kamov's finest spill across the ground - and my screen - she says, "Hi, sweetie, how're you doing?" My answer? A very angry, "WHAT?!?!" She stops in her tracks and gives me The Look . Oh boy. I get up, feeling awful. "Wait, sweetie, it's-" She walks out. Oh boy. Again. She storms back to the bedroom. From there we have an hour of silent treatment, petulant "But babies...", snappy "Just go back to what you were doings," and me trying to make nice. Add a few slammed doors for spice. All because I was severely annoyed at a (albeit difficult) game and she walked in on the exact moment of my failure. Try explaining your frustrations to a person unfamiliar with the sim. "But, baby, the auto-hover just wasn't working, and I couldn't get my helmet-mounted-sight to track, and my targeting TV system kept getting swung out of range. And there were missiles. And guns! And I kept trying to throw in more rudder to counteract the rotation, and... and....and I sound like an idiot don't I?" Sigh. I got over my annoyace nearly immediately. It is, after all, just a game. She took a little a longer. An hour after "the incident" we kissed and made up. Browsing these forums, I now discover that it's most likely I'm fighting my autopilot. That's a system I need to study quite a bit more, obviously. I'd believed that it merely trimmed you on your pitch axis, and I come to find it takes into account your heading as well. I've also mapped "Reset trimmer" to one of my HOTAS buttons. Still, I do think flying the KA-50 is akin to a marriage. It's great to be in one, pushing buttons without thinking leads to bad things, and just when you think you're in control of the situation, it's really all just an illusion. :doh: