Lava

Chip, just curious, how many of those high quality add-ons do you have to pay for? I've never bothered much with MS-FS. If the highest quality ones are pay products, that could explain quite a bit. If they're user supported, well, that's also very interesting. The communities around those products are old and very large, with development tools more widely available. Could that contribute?

Thanks, that and the other linked posts answers some questions I had too.

Migo, the G940 has incredibly strong force feedback. The calibration process also sets off force feedback testing, and it nearly shook my cheap IKEA desk apart during extended testing. That's at 100% force feedback, and you can jack it up to 150% in the control panel. I don't know why you think it's got weak force feedback! The software still has a bug or two and could always use a bit of improvement though :) It currently hard-crashes a few of our computers when the shift-button is enabled.

The resolution change is on the Track IR Camera itself, meaning it's a bit more capable of picking up small changes. It also has a slightly wider FOV if I recall. I sprung for the TIR 5 as it was my first Track IR and I'd wanted one since the days of being poor in college.

Okay, for anyone who's not getting what GGTharos is saying... ECM, ECCM, jamming, and radar systems in general are CLASSIFIED. They are black boxes, and I've read about pilots who don't even know what goes on in them, let alone software developers in another country. They are considered prized secrets and anyone who told ED about them would most likely be arrested. Sheesh. We'll have to make do with whatever substitute ED can come up with, and it'll be quite usable and 'fun'. It won't however have the exact characteristics of the real thing! (edit) On the upside, you can all whine about how it's not 'balanced' and 'unrealistic' in an effort to get your MiG a bit better jamming capabilities ;-) I can hear it already!

Dethmagnetic said it first, practice! I find it pretty difficult to land properly! I still screw up a lot and I don't do it the 'right way'. Currently I creep in at low altitude and edge my way onto the pad slowly, never going fast or exceeding about -3m/s in vertical speed.

Try using FRAPS instead.

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence about exploding helicopters, airplanes, and even cars. A reasonable number of bad car accidents I've seen involve a fire. I also have read about plane and helo accidents where there's very little to recover, due to fire. Cases where they just had to sit back because the flames were so intense. That helo crash linked in the video isn't very convincing as a reference for exploding helicopters. That was at high altitude (less oxygen), in cold temperatures, and with the snow greatly cushioning the copter body, the debris, and the flailing rotors. Any time you get any fuel leak, combined with extremely hot metal, you can get a fireball. The hot surfaces of an engine would be enough to vaporize and ignite any fuel instantly. The autoignition temperature of jet fuel A-1 is 210C and 410F. Your turbines run a great deal hotter than that.

Does throttle R1 still move the collective even when nothing is assigned to the collective in-game?

What are your framerates? I think that's pretty much the only concern. The work for the computer increases disproportionally more with the resolution increase :)

Those touches, along with better ground AI and solid trees (hah on the last one), would be nice. Not essential, but really nice and immersive. I remember being startled when I read Ed Macy's comment about the detail in BS. He said something like there's more detail in BS's ground vehicles, troops, and scenery than in the military sims! So, it's not too bad if you think about it that way :)

I do what blaster does - make sure the profiler is open and set to BS. Then I launch using the appropriate desktop icon. The odd mish-mash of executables Black Shark uses makes things a bit more difficult. TrackIR these days is having trouble changing profiles when BS is open too.

dgamble, I have to say that the initial setup with the G940 was rather painful. First, don't launch the game through the Logi software. It's best to go through and clear EVERY single assignment in the "Axis Assignment", in game. Also clear all the in-game button assignments by "Clearing Category" in each G940 column. You should see 5 separate columns under Axis Assignment, Action, Keyboard, Logi G940 Joystick, Throttle, Pedals. Make sure they're all clear and then assign the two cyclic axis to the joystick, the rudder to the pedals (careful NOT to press the toe breaks while doing this!), and then -separate- your throttles and move the rightmost one to set collective. Don't bother setting the other to anything for now, and after you're done with the axis config you can rejoin the throttles.

Shez, by turning Overall Effects you may be losing some FFB effects from the game. However.... that's fascinating, and I'm going to go try it out myself! (edit) I don't like it, the stick is entirely loose with Overall off. It's too easy to give it excess input. Also, you can't perform what Ed Macy called (if I recall) 'the test' for a sim - you can't trim it to 25% and do a rolling takeoff, hands off the cyclic. I CAN do that with the FFB at normal. I did a little bit more testing and confirmed that I fly a LOT better with Overall on. The inputs do not stay steady, and I can't hold a straight line without it on. Also, again, I don't really have a problem with the normal mode trimmer + autopilot. After staring at the Inputs screen (right-control and enter), it rocks a bit after trimming, but usually holds the position trimmed to well.

If I really want to learn which controls are important, it takes experience. When developing a profile, I run a mission and write down every key I press or cockpit switch I use that is NOT on my HOTAS. Some of them are one-time switches that may or may not warrant a button (master arm's a bit of an iffy one). The real-life cyclic and collective have surprisingly useful controls. Even odd ones like "radio" and "emergency autopilot off" have proven their use. I use teamspeak/ventrilo push-to-talk for radio, and the emergency autopilot off suddenly got used the other day when I had battle damage. Beyond those, I find I need the left targeting panel controls often, along with autopilot buttons/switches. Oh, countermeasure start/stop is useful too! (edit) Use a shift key, doubles your functions. Multiple modes are useful, use them for controls you won't be using as much.

Shez, I see the behavior you describe. Just nose forward a bit more and then trim, it should settle right out. Also, make sure "Central Position Trimmer" or whatever it's called in the Options is unchecked.

Ooo. Thank you, Alec, you adequately described the problem. If I understand, you are saying that this joystick's physical movement does not equal the virtual movement after trimming, even when axis curve is looked at. That does sound like a bug. Does it do this all the time, or just after trimming? I will have to look at the G940 closely, but I do not believe it has this problem you describe.

Ah, you aren't going to like this. I had no problems loading up South Ossetia Pirates, immediately switching the dial on the left to Ground Crew, then asking for NVG installation. Are you touching JUST that dial? Nothing else? This is... odd. Are you patched up to 1.01?

Hm, well, if you can get the name of the mission I'll try it myself.

In this case, I think you're shooting a train, Doc Caliban. There's often ONE vehicle parked near the tracks that you need to take out. Next to it, there is a whole train loaded with military hardware like tanks and missiles. That is not a target. Just a train parked. I'm 95% sure that's what your shooting, as I often play that mission!

The G940 shows somewhat similar behavior. The stick can rock back slightly from the trim position. I'm a bit uncertain if this is software or joystick hardware. However, in BS, it's EASILY compensated for by nosing down just a little more than usual, then trimming. Try it out. I recall my x45 rocking a bit after setting trim, too. In both cases the autopilot easily compensates and the helicopter flies straight, hands off. Nonetheless I'd like to know what's causing it :)

Make sure your radios are turned on, through the switches on the right. You've got the radio set to ground crew already, hmm. Those two things usually do it for me. Is this on all missions? If it's a specific track, maybe that FARP isn't set up to rearm or something similar.

I was pretty impressed by the way the landing gear flexes and moves when on the ground.

Migo, I like the G940, but haven't had a CH stick. The G940 seems sturdy but the test will be a few years down the line. You should know that currently, the buttons on the throttle base do NOT glow any color but green. You have to download a SDK and do some work to change their color. I haven't bothered myself. Theoretically games in the future will incorporate the color changing, or it'll be easier to do yourself. That's my hope at least.

Ruprecht, I've heard that the "a-10 stalling from cannon recoil" is a myth. From the same source, it said originally the clouds of smoke from the gun could starve out the engines or something akin to that. They added igniters which switch on while the cannon is firing to counteract flameout. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger Kirai, let me know how that works out. You can turn up the force feedback strength in the control panel.