Hunter_5E

Quick question for you guys - do you know how to get a screenshot that will capture DCS content and Helios overlays together? Tried a bunch of screenshot tools and apps and none can capture the Helios overlays. Anyone know how to do this? A screenshot would be way better than a photo to show what a Helios profile looks like.

Looked and looked for ages in controls but can't find any entry for the "HUD Declutter" switch in control options. Is there one in there and if so, what is it called? The actual switch in cockpit is right behind the cyclic stick and very hard to reach without TrackIR or moving your seat position. The option to "Hide Stick" in the KA-50 doesn't seem to work either. Would be ok if it did... I've got a switch for it in Helios but would prefer to map a joystick button to it.

In the last week or so I've had this happen about a dozen times - in auto-hover and engaging targets or even sometimes just observing and suddenly the helicopter tilts to the right or left and starts drifting quite a bit. I re-trim whilst still in auto-hover and carry on but a few minutes later it will do the same thing to the other side. It's like it had a sudden trim change introduced for a few minutes then cancelled it out again. Always to one side then the other, never forward or back. Weird thing is, it doesn't seem to happen to my flying buddy. Anyone else seeing this happen? I've been through all my controls and axis settings and have no conflicts. I do have Helios 1.3 running while flying. Any ideas as to the cause? EDIT: Went away for a coffee break and was thinking about it - suddenly dawned on me what the probable cause is. Been flying with unlimited weapons and fuel to allow us to concentrate on tactics. Could well be the sudden reloading of a rack on one side then a few minutes and six more vikhrs later, sudden reloading of the rack on the other side. When arming from empty on the ground there is a pronounced rocking of the aircraft as each rack goes on - they are pretty heavy and on the outboard racks. Reason my buddy doesn't see this is that he keeps getting shot down before he's used his original 12 missiles :D. We hunt major groups made up of the whole spectrum of SAM units. Good fun and survival practice. Solved it hopefully...

Been searching around and trying various screenshot tools but can't find one that will also capture the Helios overlays. Seems none can grab anything Helios related. I'm guessing there must be a way to do this? Thanks in advance for your help.

Nice one, thx for updating it. Downloaded from ED site as FraternitySim site still has old version.

I've discovered that you need to check the "remember me" box before you even start typing your name in for it to work. If you type in your name and password then check the box before clicking on "Log In", it doesn't work. Bit weird but at least I've solved the issue.

I've had the same thoughts on the ball being a bit off but also noticed another behaviour which may or may not be connected to the same issue. When trimmed out in level cruise flight the helicopter pendulums left and right and yaws slightly left and right without any control inputs at all, totally hands off. It's like there's an artificial instability built in which I personally believe also shows itself in the hover. The DCS Huey is quite a handful in the hover and requires a lot more constant correction input than I would imagine is needed IRL. I have never flown a real Huey but I do have a PPL(H) and fly R22's. Very different heli I know but if anything the R22 should be twitchier in hover. I just feel that an artificial instability has been introduced so that people don't complain that it's too "arcadey". I feel there's a bit too much control lag and it should be a bit easier to hover than it is. That's just my opinion and I could be wrong but there it is.

In actual fact with an extension that long, you need much bigger movements to achieve the same input as the default Hog. Default hog had full deflection range of 6 inches (measured at top of stick). With my 5 inch extension it now has a deflection range of 10 inches. With your much longer extension it will be around 16 inches or more. Personally I think that extension is just too long to give a good feel on the Hog, but that's just my opinion. I started with 6.5 inch extension and cut it down to 5 which now feels perfect. I took the heavy duty spring out of my hog but left the small ones in, primarily to still have it centre and stay there whilst on the ground with rotors turning. With no springs, you can't let go of the stick as it will flop over. Bit of a pain if you need to do other stuff like typing in chat or whatever. With the small springs in I can just feel the centre point and it will stay there but I hardly feel them while flying. Had to angle the base back a couple degrees to balance out the front heavy stick but it works nicely. With your long extension it might actually benefit you to leave the heavy spring in. You have enough leverage to not have it hinder you and the stick will still centre and stay there when you need it to. I agree with the guys on resting your arm on your leg for support and what Chic said about the grip is also very good advice. Don't grip it like a hammer that your going to hit a nail with. Try to have as light a grip as possible and you can even just use your fingers to make small movements without moving your arm or hand at all. Chic's pic shows pretty much the same grip I use. Hope you find what works best for you. Happy flying.

Yes, edit your monitor config file in \DCS World\Config\MonitorSetup or C:\Users\yourname\Saved Games\DCS\Config\MonitorSetup if you have it there instead. It can be in either location and will work. Remember to only use Notepad++ to edit. Windows notepad will destroy the file. Screenshot of my config file for KA-50 and SA342 below as an example. Yours will have different values of course. Screenshots of my triple screen display here https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=259711

Here is my triple screen setup for the Shark and Gazelle. Works well for me so thought I'd share in case others haven't thought of this particular arrangement and might like it. I tried and tried to get used to full triple screen view while flying helicopters but found the stretch was just too much at the outer edges and was making me feel sick. Using 3 cameras gets rid of the stretch but looks really weird and wrong unless your monitors are at 90 degrees to each other. That mode is mainly for projectors in a room or booth. Didn't want to just settle for a single screen though so tried a few different methods. Eventually settled on using 1/3 of both left and right screens and it is just right for me. Just enough to give you that extra peripheral vision that one screen can't provide and gets rid of the worst of the stretch effects. Means that you have 2/3 of right and left screens to put other stuff on like exported ABRIS, Shkval, RWR, TV, and you can even put Helios panels there if you want. I found it to be very useful as I don't have a fourth monitor to put stuff on. It's a pretty good combi use of triple screen real estate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KA-50 Helios Profile (For Helios 1.3.190)- New, Version 2 - Old one deleted ========== Made some good improvements. Added R828 and all R800 controls to Radio Mini panel. Now a complete package in one small handy panel - has toggles for Frequency lists for each map Added ARK-22 Panel with Inner/Auto/Outer NDB selector included Added KA-50 ADF channels list with Morse code and a Morse code reference sheet Added Views Panel, Labels Panel, Kneeboard with buttons to scroll pages and mark current position Removed old Radio panel as no longer needed and it was a bit laggy as well Removed Back panel as one ballistics selector didn't work - replaced it with Hydraulics panel Removed "F" keys panel and replaced with wingman commands panel - now has Toggle Formation included Moved a few things a bit to improve the look and useability. Probably a couple other things I can't remember but its a lot better than the previous version. Check it out. You will nee CaptZeen's Images folder from his profile for his panels to display correctly in mine. I couldn't include it in my rar file as it made it too big to post here. You can get it here though - its the "Capt_Zeen_KA50_v1.0b" profile, third up from bottom of the page. http://www.captzeen.com/helios/downloads.asp Please read the README.txt in my rar file - explains how to position kneeboard and also highlights a conflict in KA-50 default key assignments. Also explains how to get the viewpoint that I have and the keys you need to remap to your communications menu. NOTE: Found out yesterday that repositioning the kneeboard will cause you to fail an integrity check in online server browser. The init.lua files for the SA342 RWR, TV etc won't though. KA-50 Carbon Fibre 2.rar

I would hazard a guess that your aspect ratio is wrong for your "centre" screen. It should be 5760 divided by 1080 which equals 5.3333333. Hope that helps. PS. You'd be better off setting them up as 7680 x 1080 as it will save on graphics loading. At 5760 x 2160 you're essentially rendering 2 extra screens (6, not 4) - even though they don't exist and there's nothing on them. The physical position of the monitor doesn't mean you have to go "T" configuration in windows and the monitor config file. They don't know or care where you put it.

I do agree the flight model is not right but it is still fun to fly and small enough radar cross section that you can sneak up on BUK units easier than the shark. More nimble too so more chance of evading their missiles if they do fire on you. I'm looking forward to the FM re-vamp but still enjoying it for it's potency on the battlefield in the meantime.

Yes, it got rid of the dead zone altogether. I have a 5" extension on my Hog cyclic and it's mounted on the front of my chair between my legs. I use 50% saturation "Y" on pitch and roll and it feels great. Does your stick have hall sensors in it? They are the only way to go really. No slop or noise in the centre.

First of all - Happy New Year! Hope 2020 is good to you all. Two days ago I re-installed DCS and all my modules. Went in and set up my controllers for each helicopter (KA-50, Mi-8, UH-1 & SA342) then went for a spin in each. All was fine until I got into the Gazelle. I've set all my axis to have no deadzone at all - same for all helos - but the Gazelle has still got a very noticeable deadzone on the cyclic. I've checked the controller .lua file and it reads zero zero in there as well. Prior to my re-install (even after latest DCS update), the Gazelle cyclic felt great. No deadzone at all. After re-install - can't get rid of the deadzone. Tried re-installing the Gazelle again but it's still happeneing. I'm flying with a Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog so got no slop in the centre to confuse the issue. Any ideas why this might be happening? I really need to get this sorted. EDIT: Oops, shoulda posted in "bugs and problems", sorry. Also see topic already mentioned. My bad. RESOLVED: Found the solution posted by Fragbum in the bugs and problems section - after my re-install I missed the checkbox for force feedback in the "misc" tab under options. The Gaz is flying nicely again... phew!! Sorry for my knee-jerk post - in the wrong section to boot. Please feel free to delete this post. Sorry for the inconvenience.

@BLECH Good suggestion but probably easier to go into a dynamic sandbox mission like "The Round Table" and spawn stuff with ZEUS. Only just realised today that was available and how to do it. Goin to give it a try tonight.

Did some more testing - after looking up the minimum range of the BUK launchers online. Turns out their min range is 3km and I think I may have been just inside that. Got my GPS showing miles so was maybe a bit off in my mental calculation. Originally had some units a bit farther down the valley as well which just added to my confusion. Anyway, end result is the mission is working and they do shoot at me - as long as I'm over 3km from them. Phew... sorry for the confusion guys. My bad, but learned my lesson. Thank you all for your help and your patience. EDIT: Despite my confusion with the fixed mission, my first one was definitely broken as I was most definitely more than 3 km away and they wouldn't fire.

Tried your fixed mission Ian but same thing happening. The search radar showed as soon as I entered the valley, followed shortly after by a lock and a missile launch. Looking good I thought but... after breaking the lock and popping back up, they'd all gone for a smoke break again. All the launchers had stowed their missile racks again but the search radar was still spinning. Flew over them and up and down the valley for a good few minutes and nothing reacted to me at all. I could see unit #006 had a missile missing from his rack so it was him that took the early shot at me. All other launchers stowed and inactive. The mystery deepens. I had a good battle with a BUK unit in an online server a week or so ago - which is what inspired me to make a mission. I had to duck and dive to get into a good firing position, scooting from cover to cover hiding behind buildings and they were constantly firing at me all the while. Must have evaded about 6 missiles and I was low to the deck. They were very aggressive in that mission - as they were in mine initially, just can't replicate that aggression. They've turned into lazy sods and I don't know why.

I've done that quite a few times but doesn't seem to make a difference. I keep getting logged out even when writing a short reply to a post and have to log in again after clicking on the "post reply" button. Not the end of the world but somewhat annoying. Thanks for your reply anyway.

Thanks for your help Ian and for posting the fixed mission. Much appreciated and I'll have a look at that today. Weird thing is, I didn't have any commands in the advanced waypoint section, just a single BUK unit and a single gazelle. Hard to get simpler than that really unless it's one guy with an AK against another at 20 paces.. lol. Doesn't inspire confidence for learning when things can go squiffy at the drop of a hat, but I'll persevere with the editor and try to make some missions. Cheers

Thanks for your help and responses guys - very much appreciated. I did notice the speed setting after the mission stopped working but couldn't remember if it was set to 11 in the original. I did change it to zero but made no difference as far as I could tell. I've looked in the encyclopaedia to try and find the various units "time to readiness at deployment" or whatever it's called but doesn't seem to be in there. I remember seeing that info somewhere before but can't find it again. Any idea if that's still listed somewhere as it is pretty important info?

They're definitely not too far apart. I've seen in vids that they can be as far apart as 20 miles or more - mine are only yards apart, plus they worked for a while in the beginning. I thought perhaps I'd placed my FARP too close and started hot and pre-armed so maybe they didn't have time to deploy and be ready. Moved back to Sukhumi airfield to give them time but still no joy. On first try with mission posted below - flying mission in editor - I flew into the valley and one launcher did target me after about 30 seconds and it even shot at me. I dropped down into cover and broke the lock, evaded the missile then flew back up into their view - nothing happened. Flew around for a couple minutes about a mile away from them... nothing. It's like they'd all gone for a smoke break and couldn't be bothered with me. Exited from editor and started a server, flew it in there... nothing targeted me at all - and they're all set to excellent skill level. When I first made the mission days ago I was getting targeted just a few seconds after I flew into the valley at waypoint 1 and had to get into cover quick to avoid getting shot at. Now, I'm lucky if one unit takes a single pot shot at me. What's caused them to all go lethargic? Its' frustrating the heck out of me. Gazelle Test Mission.miz

No, it happened before the update came out - all in one day. Played about in the editor for a few hours and at some point during my editing, the SAMs stopped targeting me. Worked fine to begin with then just stopped. I wasn't even trying to do anything fancy like triggers or zones, just adding some units and moving them around to place them well. I deleted my original mission file as I thought only it was corrupted so don't have it to post here. I'll make another one later today and post it for scrutiny. Seems to me however that DCS has written something to core files when it shouldn't have. Otherwise just starting with a clean sheet and making a new mission should work, especially after doing a cleanup and repair on my DCS as well. What's happened just doesn't make any sense.

Can't be easy to get the flight model 100% right and another factor with the "10 different pilots - 10 different answers" problem is what hardware they flew the sim on. PC specs and flight controls used can make a big difference to the experience so no real fixed reference to go by. Main thing is, you guys are still working on it and trying your best to get it right. Nobody can ask any more of you. Keep at it and we'll get there. Respect.

New to the editor so was experimenting with making a basic SAM hunt mission for Gazelles. Made a simple one with a BUK unit and a single Gazelle and it worked fine - they shot at me with even just my rotors poking above a building. Added a few more BUK units and a FARP for my side - still worked. After only a bit more editing however - tweaking positions and adding gazelles and waypoints - half of the SAMs stopped targeting me. I took out the stuff I added last, thinking it may have caused it but then the rest of the SAMs stopped targeting me. Their radars show on my RWR but they don't lock on me or fire. The BUK CC, SR and LN units all have their antennas up, the SR is turning but the launchers have their missiles stowed. In youtube videos I've heard a lot of people say that over-editing stuff can break DCS. I thought they meant it would mess up the mission you were working on so I deleted my first one and started again with a clean sheet. No joy, can't get any SAM unit at all to target me. I did a cleanup and repair on my DCS - still none will target me. How the heck can a bit of editing break DCS to the point that SAMs won't target you any more??? Totally ridiculous to my mind. Does anyone have an answer on how to fix this? I've searched all over but can't find any answer to my problem. Hoping I don't have to re-install DCS from scratch...

Are you a real life helicopter pilot? Ever flown a real Gazelle? If not, you have no right to comment in such a manner. Furthermore, no need to be so harsh in any circumstance. These guys have put their heart and soul into this project so show some respect please. Provide constructive and civil criticism only. I personally like the Gazelle very much and I'm enjoying it immensely. Big thank you to the guys at Polychop for making this one and I'm looking forward to the Kiowa. PS. I have a PPL(H) in real life - never flown a Gazelle though.