jaylw314

LOL, that's even more confusing I use VR too and haven't found the need to move the camera around?

I think the idea is that all Mavs on one pylon are slaved in the same direction, so that after firing one the next Mav's camera will be pointing in the same direction, allowing for a quick retargeting in the same area. This would not be the case switching to the Mavs on the other pylon, but I've not tested this out. I'm not sure this is such a huge advantage in DCS anyway, since the TGP ends up being a big part of most players' workflow, but according to at least one pilot interview, the Maverick tended to be a within-visual-range weapon IRL. In any case the Hog flies fine with massive loadout asymmetry, as long as nothing's broken

The F-16 to A-10C HOTAS connection is annoying, since the F-16C DMS is actually more like the coolie hat in the A-10C. I don't know why they named it that way in the A-10C if they just stole the stick from the F-16C anyway... FWIW, I have the winwing Hornet throttle, which doesn't quite have enough switches on it for the A-10C HOTAS, so I've mapped the coolie switch to the hat that WW puts on the A-10C's Master Mode button (and I can still press it to change MM's).

Just to follow up on this thread, I've noticed some quirks with ALT hold. Most of the time, it works as advertised, but occasionally, after engaging, it tries to use rudder to counteract attempts to roll the plane. However, if you roll hard enough (but not hard enough to disengage the autopilot), it will 'release' and subsequently work as advertised. Most of the time, though, it works as advertised and even small roll inputs work as expected. I had not realized this was an intermittent problem (which of course makes it harder to troubleshoot), but at least I was able to duplicate @JackFlash's issue at some level.

It's not in DCS, but as a workaround you can use Joystick Gremlin or some joystick firmware to set different bindings for button double-taps and long-presses. You just want to make sure you're not using it in a module that interferes with (long-presses in the A-10C, for example)

AFAIK there's no publicly available W&B data, so that's a straw man. Out-of-CG accident reports are plenty, though (and plenty bad). There is a specific reference in the -1 that <1000 lbs main tank imbalance will stay within CG limits. Since the light can come on at 1000 lbs imbalance, and the speed caution is for a partial ammo load and 1000 lbs difference, that suggests there is some margin for error, but I can't know how much without the W&B info. If the margin was massive for example, that would be nice to know and reassuring. But first reference dictates that >1000 lbs there is a non-zero chance of an imminently catastrophic failure, which gets my attention. In DCS, it's not rare to come home with no ammo, for example.

No, just no. TKS UNEQUAL means you're approaching CG limits, but still okay with those speed restrictions. CG out of limits occurs a few hundred pounds past that, and given that the only solution would be opening the tank gate, if you're pitching up and CG is aft of limit, the laws of physics may not allow for a graceful return to earth no matter how skilled the pilot (unless you happen to be in an F-16). Well, I'm definitely getting needlessly pedantic myself, and I think that putting 'as needed' in a checklist would be great.

Schleiren effects are due to changes in air density from turbulence, the rounds could be ice cold and you'd see the same effect. The rounds themselves are probably too small to resolve in the camera by the time it reaches that distance, either in either visible or IR. 30mm at 2 km is an ungodly small number of mils the confounding variable with the Apache is that it's probably firing the cannon at things a lot closer. Maybe close enough to actually see the rounds in IR?

That's funny, I read that AFI and I interpreted it differently. However, I have no secondhand knowledge of how those instructions are actually implemented, so unless you do, arguing that point is needlessly pedantic. As to the remainder of the points, I disagree with the logic. If a wing pump fails (and you miss the warning), the bad tank will stop dropping until it starts gravity feeding, then it will continue at the same rate as the other. The difference will only be obvious once one wing is empty and the other still has fuel. By that point, the problem may have been going on for more than an hour. OTOH, the main tank starts feeding immediately when the wing pump fails, so after only a few minutes, it's easier to spot a problem knowing the mains should be full, equal and unchanging (with fuel still in the wing tanks). Staring at the wing tanks makes a problem obvious apparent later, while staring at the main tanks makes it obvious early. It does seem to me that whatever setting you prefer, you'd still want to regularly check the other, be it during ops checks or otherwise. CG out of limits is an immediate emergency that detracts from the higher goal of 'keeping the shiny side up'. Improper fuel feeding is urgent but not an emergency. I don't get that logic either. It's worth noting there's an emergency procedure for main tank imbalance, but not wing tank imbalance. Again, I don't have any info on how this is implemented IRL. The fact that only the main tanks are self-sealing and tear resistant may be a reason to do it this way, for example.

I assume we're seeing the Schleiren effect of those rounds rather than the rounds themselves, which would be too small to see at that distance. Is there anything else in DCS that has such an effect? Not just the vapor cone. I can't believe I just used the words 'too small' for anything related to 30mm ammo

Would they even care about a wing tank imbalance? AFAIK you could fly with one wing tank full and the other empty, the only prohibition is keeping the main tanks balanced to stay within CG limits, so it makes sense to keep the the fuel display on MAIN, with the TKS UNEQUAL warning light as a backup. If you need to check the wing tanks when lead calls for an ops check, just flip it to WING and call 'wings dry' if they're empty. It doesn't sound like the sort of thing to monitor continuously, unlike the main tank situation

Waypoints 51+ are supposed to be system waypoints for local airports in the database, based on the ones in the DIVERT page. They're not editable in the ME AFAIK. The verbiage of waypoint attributes is super confusing, but if you have ever used the GNS530 in MSFS, it might make more sense: TO-FROM: works like a VOR/TAC, CDI shows deviation from radial from steerpoint set by CRS arrow TO-TO: works like flight plan navigation, CDI shows deviation from ground path between steerpoint and another waypoint regardless of CRS arrow DIRECT: works like Direct-to navigation, CDI shows deviation from path between steerpoint and aircraft location when DIRECT selected, regardless of CRS arrow SCS: like nothing I've ever seen, CDI shows deviation from radial selected by CRS arrow from aircraft location when selected, regardless of steerpoint I don't know where the terms TO-FROM and TO-TO come from, it's hard to make any sense of them. I think of them as 'radial' and 'magenta line' navigation. Additionally, to add confusion, every waypoint has one of the steering attributes above, but every flight plan can set a different attribute for that waypoint when used. IIRC, flight plan attributes default to TO-TO (which makes sense). All my missions' waypoints 51+ have attributes of TO-FROM, so I don't know how yours became TO-TO.

That's very odd. All the waypoints above 1 are set with the attributes of TO-TO navigation in your mission: nullWaypoint 1, however is set as TO-FROM. That means your CRS needle determines the course heading for waypoint 1 when you start, but not any of the other waypoints. I tested out making a new mission in Mission Editor, and even if you set them as TO-TO in ME, the custom waypoints and the landmark waypoints all show up as TO-FROM. I assume the ME sets the attributes for the flight plan waypoints, not the mission waypoints. So it's unclear to me how you ended up with a mission where all the mission waypoints are set as TO-TO

It could be control problem + inadvertent axis binding if it's only in this module

Yes, that does it in DCS but I was assuming the arrows next to GIMB ROLL meant something. IIRC, they don't have the B-S button on the real Litening pod

I think that footage shows both the GIMB ROLL problem and the gimbal lock problem. The TGP spinning around near the forward sector I think is a true gimbal lock issue, where the longitudinal axis can't rotate fast enough for video tracking only when the other axis is near the forward limit. I haven't found any solid explanation of the GIMB ROLL issue, but I suspect it is because the longitudinal axis can only rotate a certain amount before it reaches a physical limit and can rotate no more. At that point, any further rotation won't happen, and the camera needs to 'unwind'. This could happen with the other axis pointing anywhere. If my speculation is correct: Gimbal lock happens only near center of HUD can resume normal tracking immediately GIMB ROLL can happen anywhere after too much rolling cannot resume normal tracking until unwound What I can't figure out is how to unwind the TGP with GIMB ROLL. I've tried rolling in the direction of the arrows, or opposite the arrows, and neither works consistently until all of a sudden, everythings's fine <shrug>

I believe the flap angle measures the angle of the flap from its original position, not the angle compared to the wing chord (which I think is the more traditional definition). Since the wing is so heavily cambered already, it's actually not as big an angle as it looks. It's pretty much the angle between the section ahead of the white stripe and the section aft of the white stripe

No, but historically there have been some videos out there showing the differences between manually entering wind info and not (just do a YT search on 'DCS wind laste'). It's a tiny difference, and I've never had an issue with it, but I've no idea if this has changed over time or not.

In fairness the MT and OpenXR stuff were pretty big things and probably occupied much of the past 6-12 months, but, yes, IR views remain a pretty big issue.

It's been that way to some degree since the Apache release last year. Some vehicles still don't have FLIR textures, and many terrain textures are brighter than warm vehicles. Sometimes it gets worse, sometimes better.

This is for DCS, it's not clear that the CDU actually records this info correctly in-game. Otherwise you might not have flown through all the layers to get the wind info in the first place.

That is true, even if in real life there is an emphasis on visual site cues and a consistent seating position for formation flying. I recall the Blue Angels specify something crazy like 'the nose of the Sidewinder has to be directly under the 'n' in Blue Angels' or something like that. Given the diversity of aircraft in DCS, that's probably unfeasible, and it's probably better to be primed to look for a visual a cue once you are in the right position, e.g. hit the basket, move up 6 feet, then note that the horizontal stab of the tanker touches the canopy arch and the fuel pod is at the top edge of the HUD (I'm just making those up). If you find two cues close enough together that you can quickly scan between, you should be able to keep any position precisely. Again, you probably do do this subconsciously, and that's kind of the goal for the process to become subconscious. However, breaking down learning how to learn into steps might be helpful for someone else, since it's hard to learn 'subjective' As an aside, while VAICOM breaks script IC in multiplayer if the server has it on, calling 'Ready Precontact' using VAICOM is 1) very cool, and 2) means you don't have to take your hands off anything

Somehow, the image of a military communicating using emoji's makes me smile

wasn't there some bug with motion blur and/or fog? Do you have those off?

That's true. I'm not sure what you mean by that JG changes(?) devices sometimes, but that's not really germane to the topic.