Bahger

Hmm, this sounds wrong to me. I am always amazed by the TGP's off-boresight capability. It can look directly down, or even behind you, for short periods of time. For example, having overflown a target you just hit with an LGB, the TGP's FOV will still give you about 6 seconds to lock up another target in the same location before it tumbles so that you can separate and run in again on an already selected and locked target. And the standard MO is always to approach targets with the TGP from 10 o-clock or 2 o-clock. I think you may be missing a keypress in your command sequence. It takes two TMS up presses (short/long) to ground-stabilise the TGP and then lock up the target, especially if you want a "Point" designation. The Maverick seeker, on the other hand, has very limited off-boresight capability, which I why I think it's much better to refine all target selection and aiming in the Mav screen only after an initial ground-stabilisation and sensor slave in the TGP. Just my 2c.

But "a" will work if I map it to my CH HOTAS, right?

Now that is good info, too. Thanks, Speed. (Why "Emergency"?)

That's a good idea! Hope it works. Trouble is, I think my CH HOTAS trim wheels in the base of the joystick are not programmable and are exclusively dedicated to trim x/y axes. There are no other rotaries. (Fascinating coincidence, Castle).

You don't need to set your SPI more than once to target multiple, co-located objects using TGP and Maverick. Once you find a group of targets in the TGP, set one as your SPI to slave the Mav sensor to it. Cycle your MFD to Mavs as SOI, wait until you are in the range bracket, then slew the seeker head, which will "lock" onto a target when in range. Hit TMS UP/Short to confirm the lock. Fire Maverick. Remember there is a fairly weak FOV enhancement in the Mav screen but it helps. If you have other Mavs ready to fire, as soon as the first one is off the rail, do not go back into the TGP, just use China Hat Fwd/Long to re-slave the seeker to the SPI, if necessary, then slew the cursor to your next target. It helps not to run in faster than 250kts. This technique will easily take care of a 4-vehicle convoy, either stationary or moving (a "Point" SPI designation will track a moving object in both TGP and Mav screens) with a little practice.

Wow, heh, well, Active Pause it is, then. No biggie but that's a bit of an immersion-kill. Good to know, though. I'll be requesting a parking brake/chocks in a patch. Wish me luck.

Thank you. It appears to have been 1 in the Beta.

I do not have pedals with toe brake functionality. Now that the Hog appears to roll slowly forward at minimum power, if I want to adjust anything while stationary on the ground I need to either keep W or my assigned HOTAS wheelbrake button pressed or hit Active Pause; these are not elegant solutions. Does anyone know if I can lock/unlock the wheelbrakes? Thanks.

Using my CH HOTAS profile, based on a key command file taken from the Beta, I can no longer engage/disengage autopilot from the assigned button. I'm wondering if the key assignment changed from Beta to release. I obviously need to alter my HOTAS profile but I just wanted to check with you guys; the key command for AP engage/disengage is listed in the command lists published in the sticky as: 1 = LAAP Engage/Disengage Is this numpad 1, or keypad 1 please? I appreciate the assist, being able to engage/disengage AP hands-on is a big asset to me.

Thanks EvilBivol-1, always great to hear from you. I will follow your suggestion and set markpoints at waypoints. If I can get used to this MO, I'm sure it will prove effective.

DCS A-10 is completely unique in this respect. Every other hi-fidelity attack a/c or fighter simulation with the capacity to target ground objects uses radar, which the player can deploy to search within a large, defined area on the ground. A-10 uses optics, however, which is why it is a huge mission design problem to place target waypoints at cruise altitude. There is an associated problem here for the mission designer/player: in most sims, missions can be playtested using AI only, which enables the designer to fast-forward/play through it in map view/relax, saving a huge amount of time, but in order to do this in A-10 he needs to reset WPs for the player's flight, because without doing this, AI will fly at 30ft AGL from the IP to the target WP instead of at a realistic tactical altitude. In "Weapons Training" the player's flight carries LGBs and JDAMs, which can be deployed from the briefed altitude but without JTAC/FAC assistance, the targets cannot be located with the TGP when there is a 9000ft vertical error between WP and TGT location. The lesson here for mission designers is: either place waypoints on the ground when they are co-located with ground targets, or use JTAC/FAC/AFAC or datalink. The alternative is a recipe for frustration. (WarriorX, I noticed my gun pipper veered high when attempting even the amended version of this mission, as the lowest the ME would allow me to place the WPs was 98ft AGL. I did not know that gun target solutions were slaved to WP altitudes. If this is the case, and a WP cannot be placed literally on the ground, it appears to build a regrettable aiming error into gun use against briefed targets.)

I had to edit and rename an offficial mission, "Weapons Training" in order to fly it, because waypoints co-located with specific briefed ground targets were placed at 9500ft MSL. This is silly. It is almost impossible to spot a vehicle group with any efficiency at a waypoint when you have to hunt downwards with the TGP cursor from 9k ft to ground level; it takes forever and requires blind luck. I altered every target WPT to the minimum altitude AGL that the Mission Editor would allow. Mission designers should always place prebriefed target waypoints at ground level, or much of the TGP's utility is squandered. Navigational WPs or WPs for AI-only flights are a different matter. It does not fill me with pleasant anticipation for the A-10 campaign if official mission designers have placed briefed target waypoints for the player's flight at cruising altitude. For me, this is an obvious mission design no-no.

I'm baffled. I've read over my thread several times and still cannot figure out what you guys are complaining about regarding the A-10 Release build.

Thanks, I must have missed a trigger, will try again.

Thanks!

I ran the unguided bombing training mission last night and was only able to access "Training" mode via the Master Arm switch. I'm a little rusty on the controls so it may be user error but it seems to me that you can't use live bombs in this training mission any more, maybe for the sake of realism. Can anyone confirm or set me straight? Many thanks.

I suspect x86 is 32-bit but I'd appreciate confirmation as I do not know what x86 means. Thanks!

I've uninstalled the Beta build but I'll keep the components in my iTorrent queue if there is any demand or if I can help anyone out by being able to seed. Otherwise it's about 8.25GB of HD I could free up so let me know what you think.

In my experience, any uninstaller might not be programmed to eliminate user-made content, or, for that matter, files and folders that it assumes you'd need for a reinstall so it leaves them there, such as HOTAS assignment files for example, or the installation folder. For this reason, I prefer to follow up either the Windows or DCS uninstall process with a search for remnants that I can then delete.

I found that my own missions, which were extensively tested and worked very well in the Beta in which they were created, suffered horrible glitches is successive Betas. Helicopters that once performed flawlessly flew into each other and crashed, and enhanced splash damage from weapon effect changes caused friendly casualties to nearby AI that had previously been safe. It's nobody's fault, just a symptom of what happens when you design missions in WIP software. Rather than troubleshoot legacy problems I am going to remake both of my published Beta missions. I will not download or attempt to play missions made for any Beta version, it's just too much of a crapshoot; all decent missions have so many moving parts and it only takes one to be off-kilter for the whole thing to cascade into chaos. I'm hoping most serious mission designers will treat the Release version of the sim as ground zero, because, as explained above, my experience of playing missions built in previous incarnations has not been a happy one and it's sad to listen to users who have downloaded your popular, well tested missions, complain, with justification, that they have fatal errors.

Thanks EtherealN. My missions made in B3 failed to work properly in B4 (helos crashing that previously didn't, etc), nobody's fault, that's what happens when you choose to make missions in a WIP program. Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume I'm better off rebuilding these missions now, rather than troubleshoot legacy problems, what do you think?

I'll say what I'm going to do and maybe other users can comment on or improve this protocol: - D/l DCS A-10 Final Release (English) via torrent - Uninstall Beta via Control Panel/Uninstall (Vista 64x) - Delete all remaining Beta content in Windows, i.e. all user-made missions, control assignments, everything including the installation folder. - Restart PC - Install A-10 - Defrag C: before starting A-10 Maybe the defrag is in the wrong place in the sequence, or the retart, all advice welcome. Also, I'd be interested to know if we still need to go into the text file to change the Force Feedback default setting to "False" in order to get trim to work with a non-FFB HOTAS (CH); I did this in all Betas. Thanks!

Thanks, nemises. As far as my own missions are concerned, it will be better, I suspect, and more enjoyable, to rebuild them from the ground up rather than troubleshoot legacy issues. I admire the ME with its new AI triggers and conditions so it'll be a pleasure. The training missions are another matter, however. Do you happen to know whether the enhanced training missions, with voiceover, that were released on the Web for use with Beta 3 (or maybe 4) are in the release version?

I'm going to jettison everything from my Beta build, including all my own missions in the ME, HOTAS assignments, files, folders, everything; I assume a full uninstall is the best way to go, possibly followed by deleting any files left behind and maybe even a defrag. However, there were some great ED tutorial missions posted recently on the Web (much-improved versions of the initial training mission set) that I'd like to still use, if possible, also Tyger's excellent tutorial tracks. How advisable is it to find them again, d/l, install and attempt to play them in the Release version?

This looks great. Druid. I've been AFK in Europe for the last 3 weeks but am looking forward to trying this. I haven't played the A-10 Beta for a while, mainly out of frustration over the way B4 wrecked missions I had built in B3. PS: Weren't you the one who (rightly) warned me about not investing a lot of time in Beta mission design?