carbolicus

Thanks very much, appreciate your replies, that’s reassuring for now!

I have a Reverb G2 which I like enormously, and I would like to keep using it as long as possible, which means until Windows 11 dumps WMR. I have heard that the end of WMR comes with the 24H2 update, and that this will not become compulsory until late 2025 - can anybody confirm this? Also, is it guaranteed that WMR will still work with the 23H2 updates - I have one pending to download but I’m nervous about it! Thanks!

Of all the DCS maps I have Sinai is now the one I like best. Yes it needs a lot more work, but I think it looks excellent. To me, built up areas look better than those on the Syria map (which is also excellent it has to be said). I find performance pretty good too. Also, having flown quite a bit IRL over semi-desert terrain I find Sinai particularly convincing. It’s a very promising map.

The Heatblur Phantom is absolutely fantastic and is now more or less the only DCS plane I fly. And Jester adds so much to the to the experience; I’m all for him. Gotta love a guy who said my last landing was smoother than Meg Ryan’s bottom… (or maybe I mis-heard that…)

Just not sure about you saying that the HSI is ‘…far less accurate due to drift’? I’m not an expert on the Phantom nor any fast jet, but surely by the time the Phantom came along, HSIs in sophisticated aircraft such as fast jets did not drift and were driven by Radio Magnetic Indicators or something similarly advanced? It’s just that gyro drift is a phenomenon you find in relatively simple gyro-driven instruments such as Direction Indicators - any private pilot knows that every 15 minutes or so you need to hold the Cessna or whatever steady and re-set the DI by the magnetic compass. With the Phantom I’ve flown for over an hour using TACANS and when intercepting the final approach course for an ILS approach the TACAN is always aligned with the ILS localiser.

I believe he was flying the RAF Hawk trainer, and he certainly didn’t mean that he religiously left the control column untouched and flew the approach and flare by pitch trim clicks! I think he just meant that he made slight adjustments via trim clicks on the approach rather than applying stick pressure. This of course is not how you are taught to do it in primary flight training, but it seemed to be acceptable to him in that aeroplane. It doesn’t work well with our Heatblur Phantom!

Absolutely agree with this. The Phantom module is a fantastic piece of work, and I want the real deal. There are other flight sim options if you want to play a 'game'! I have just completed a long IFR cross-country (using TACANs) and ILS landing in the Phantom at night and in bad weather, and it was hugely satisfying. The concentration and instrument-scan techniques are as crucial as in real life, especially when hand-flying the ILS. Yes, trim-wise it's more fiddly than commercial aircraft and requires more frequent attention, but that's realism, which is what we want isn't it? As has also been pointed out here, proper trimming techniques help a lot - you shouldn't use the trim as a primary pitch control, you should use the control column to set attitude and then trim out the forces (and the Phantom seems to work better with this technique). Slight power adjustments rather than trim changes can also help with electric (as opposed to more precise manual trim wheel) systems. Having said that, I have recently heard a fast jet pilot say that once basically trimmed out on an ILS approach, he'd leave the joystick alone and adjust attitude with pitch trim clicks... But he was flying something more modern than a Phantom!

Absolutely - manual trim wheels in real flying are more precise than electric trim buttons. I do have a PC control unit with a trim wheel but I can never get it to work properly so you have to use a hat switch, which means trimming e.g. the MSFS Cessnas is much harder in the sim than it is in real life. Trimming jets in DCS, including the Phantom, can be fiddly but I understand it’s authentic and feels right to me. However, I have just discovered that assigning pitch trimming to the small wheel on the top of my newly-acquired Virpil joystick (plus extension) is much easier to use than a four-way hat or button. It might not be as realistic but is easier to use.

I think I’ve found the answer to this by luck! Yesterday I tried my VSN Mirage III for the first time since the last update, and couldn’t get into the cockpit. On a whim I edited the mission to add a Flaming Cliffs 4 F15 with it set to ‘player’ (since the Mirage cockpit is based upon the F15). Having hopped into the F15 cockpit I then switched to the external view of the VSN Mirage, and pressed the right-Alt + J to take control, and got into the Mirage cockpit no problem. The Mirage III is the only VSN mod I have, but this process certainly works for that one!

To anyone else struggling I’ve now got MT! All you have to do is launch via Steam ‘Play’. If you launch via bin-mt exe you still get ST, even if MT Preview is selected in Steam launch options.

Yes, it seems that DCS is still only launching for me in ST! I’ve just launched it with both Steam set to ‘MT Preview’, and also using the .exe in the bin-mt folder, and I STILL only get the version number 2.9.7.59263 without ‘MULTI-THREAD PREVIEW’ showing before it. Can anyone tell me how to force DCS to launch in MT? Do I need to change a Windows setting somewhere? Everything else seems to be set correctly!

Getting very frustrated here - I have set Steam launcher to ‘Play MT Preview’, and also tried the ‘Steam VR MT’ option, rebooted PC numerous times and I still have the blue maps. Hence I can’t create meaningful missions now. Being not very computer literate, please can someone explain in simple words if I have to do anything else. Do I have to do something in the bin-mt folder, and if so, what? I have no mods apart from three aircraft, the Hercules, Skyhawk and VSN Mirage. Windows and everything else is completely up to date, and my anti-virus is solely Windows 11 Defender. Most people seem to simply launch with MT Preview and the maps come back. Why not for me?

Just to confirm, I am launching in MT and still have the problem, totally blue maps and the option for satellite etc at the bottom toolbar is also gone. I verified game files and still a problem.

I've got the same problem since the recent update. Hope it's fixed soon.

It’s a truly great module and easily my favourite to fly. It certainly feels authentic to me, and I’m hoping an old mate who used to fly Phantoms will be able to come round and confirm this. No glass cockpit means it’s relatively simple to set up nav aids etc, and you don’t have complex software menus to work through - the A10C does my head in from that aspect! I’m not a typical DCS user as I’m not that interested in combat, but it’s incredibly satisfying to set up cross-country navexes using TACANs and ILS and fly them in bad weather. No moving maps etc means you have to do a lot more mental arithmetic than in modern aircraft. It’s a genuine flying experience.

MAXsenna, thanks!

I have only the Steam version of DCS World, and bought FC3 from Steam some years ago. I now want to upgrade to FC4 for the offer price of £8 (or so) which is available to me as expected on the Steam store. My question is: If I simply buy the FC4 upgrade now, will all the aircraft, both the originals and the new FC F86, MiG15 and F5, be available and fully working? I get the impression from various posts that all seems to be OK if you are simply upgrading to FC4 from FC3, and if you have never combined Steam and stand-alone versions of DCS in any way. But I want to be sure before I buy it rather than end up with any hassles like re-installing, re-doing key binds etc!

I have only the Steam version of DCS World, and bought FC3 from Steam some years ago. I now want to upgrade to FC4 for the offer price of £8 (or so) which is available to me as expected on the Steam store. My question is: If I simply buy the FC4 upgrade now, will all the aircraft, both the originals and the new FC F86, MiG15 and F5, be available and fully working? Or are we still awaiting bug fixes? Is it best to wait? I get the impression from various posts that all seems to be OK if you are simply upgrading to FC4 from FC3, and if you have never combined Steam and stand-alone versions of DCS in any way. But I want to be sure before I buy it rather than end up with any hassles like re-installing, re-doing key binds etc!

Many thanks Mike145, that's reassuring, I'll give it a go!

I've owned DCS World (via Steam) and bought quite a few modules since 2016 or so, and as far as I can remember I've never needed to set up a DCS account in order to play it. All I ever needed to do was to log in to Steam. But this week's update now won't let me run it unless I log in to DCS. I'm perfectly happy to set up an account now (which the new load screen invites me to do) - but I'm puzzled why this was not a requirement before, and also worried in case I screw anything up by creating an account now! Any advice please?

Recently got this and I like it enormously; it’s got a lot of beauty. It’s certainly not finished, but if the impending update adds important airfields and sorts out the unfinished/low resolution areas, then it will be one of the best terrains out there. Already it has huge scope for 1967 and 1973 conflicts and I don’t find the modern aspects (vehicles, much larger cities etc) detract too much from that. Hopefully it will not be too much work to produce a ‘60’s - ‘70’s version - presumably just reducing the size of some cities, and removing the modern vehicles, will help a great deal without taking too much work to do.

Hi ASAP - Definitely not a troll here, I am an ex-professional pilot honest! However, not greatly experienced with DCS nor hi-fidelity aircraft! It’s just that with all the aeroplanes I flew you selected the ILS frequency, and localiser and glideslope indications then appeared on the ILS display with no further action and there was certainly no need to dial in the runway heading on the VOR as well. However, I never flew military aircraft (except for basic trainers Chipmunk, Bulldog and Slingsby) and so have no idea about how they handle ILS systems, and thanks for putting me right on the need to dial in the runway heading for the A10C. And yes, I was wrong about the need to set up your own TACAN - just experimented and realised that with TACAN off and ILS selected, if you dial in the runway heading on the HSI you do indeed get localiser info. However, if there is no TACAN near the airport (as in some on the Caucasus map which I’ve been using), setting up a man-portable TACAN at the end of the runway does mean you can get DME. This is useful, and in real life DMEs are often co-located with the ILS.

I’ve recently got the A10C and am just getting into the basics of instrument flying. Having commercial flying experience IRL I’ve noticed that the ILS, whilst functional enough, doesn’t seem to be quite realistic and I gather from this thread that it’s a DCS limitation that the course to the runway has - unrealistically - to be set in the HSI for the ILS to work. (Whether or not this works if there is no TACAN near the airport I haven’t yet discovered.) Whatever, here’s what I do to make the experience realistic enough to be satisfying: First, use the ruler in the Mission Editor to measure the exact heading of the runway and convert it to magnetic. Second, set up a man-portable TACAN beside the near end of the runway. This will effectively provide the localiser information which DCS currently seems not to (at least, that’s how it seems to me as I see it so far!) Now when you fly your ILS approach, if you dial in your TACAN frequency to the man-portable TACAN and set course to the exact runway magnetic heading, then the steering bars on the ADI will behave more or less exactly as the ILS deviation bars do on a conventional civilian-type VOR/ILS indicator. To be super-realistic, stick a bit of tape over the DME information on the HSI (if only, VR makes you feel almost as if you could do this!) and use the altimeter (set to QFE of course!) to gauge your distance from the runway threshold. And do it at night, in a strong gusty crosswind, with a 300 foot cloud base, in an under-powered light twin with one engine out, and in the words of Kipling “you’ll be a man my son!”

Just bought it and love it. It’s a pilot’s aeroplane and flies really nicely. It’s also great for old-fashioned instrument flying - if you want a challenge set up some bad weather and fly a cross-country just using the HSI and ADI, culminating in an ILS landing. It’s ideal practice for any trainee pilot in real life who’s studying for an Instrument Rating; wish I’d had it when I was doing mine!

Thanks guys, really appreciate you sorting this. Rather basic though the A10A is, the HSI is such a useful instrument for navigation when you don’t have moving maps etc! Just another point, reviewing an old instructional video on the A10A INS and HSI I did notice that the course indicator window in the top right of the original HSI presumably never has shown the correct course (as set via the Mission Editor). But this isn’t urgent to fix since you can’t dial a course in anyway with the A10A, it can only be set by the Mission Editor.