Noluck

I'm pretty new here and to DCS and came across this thread, reading and learning what I can about DCS and the F/A-18C. Having spent 5 years on a production line as an engineer that manufactured the KY-58, KY-58 RCU and the KY-57 back in the late 70's. I would assume that the reason for even implementing CRYPTO COMM in a game/SIM would be to limit communication between only the players that held the proper 'cipher key'? Plenty of things need to happen as in possibly a simulated FILL unit, or a working RCV mode on the '58, or... hmmm, just thinking out loud. Are there other games/SIM's that use simulated crypto for COMMS? I find this topic interesting, for sure. Brings back old memories! ---

First, I'm using 3ea 1920 x 1080 displays/monitors. As I had mentioned, using '1Camera', it's actually 1 Viewport/Camera, and setting the Options Resolution to display on all three monitors (i.e. X = 1920 X 3 == 5760 x 1080 resolution) , the MFD's are thick and blurry. I believe this is due to using one screen setting on a 3 display setup as it appears that DCS is stretching the view to fill 3 displays. Not to mention the view distortion on the left and right displays. Switch to '3Camera' and everything looks better, nice and readable. That sets DCS to using 3 separate Viewports/Camera's for rendering, instead of one as above. That's not an option to me as I still need to build a system to properly run DCS. I get one heck of a FPS hit using '3Camera', about 1/2 the FPS compared to '1Camera'. ---

I have 3 monitors, all 1080 HD. I have distorted fonts on MFD's and HUD only when running in Options Menu '1 Screen' mode. When I go to '3 Screen mode' they are clear and readable. ---

As a new DCS user, this helped a lot. Thanks. ---

2.5.6.4591 OB Upgrade on a 10 year old system, it works now. Even though I've been a DCS user for only a couple of months, I though I'd share some info here. You can see my 10 year old system spec's in my signature. Started out with 2.5.5 stable. Even with my outdated hardware I had it running pretty good with medium settings. Hardly ever dropped below 20 FPS. I then decided to try updating to Open Beta v 2.5.6.4591. Here is what I observed. BTW: I also added a 3rd monitor, was using 2 monitors. Test scenario : F/A-18C, open Instant Action, select NTTR 'ready on the ramp'. Settings : Same menu settings as 2.5.5; Monitor setup : 3 HD screens using '3 screen' settings in setup menu, then 3 screens using '1 screen' setup (see below). After the update and sitting on the ramp at Nellis, in default location (no movement) FPS was around 18. Then taxied out to the runway and aligned for takeoff, FPS went to about 7 and very choppy with more of the parked aircraft in view. This was also the case when approaching downtown Vegas from the north. For grins, I changed the monitor setup to '1 Screen'. Repeated the NTTR scenario as above, this time I got 41-44 FPS then at takeoff point it only dropped to 30 FPS! So, I'm now using the '1 Screen' option instead of the '3 Screen' setting, at least on my old hardware. Now I also get 20 FPS flying low-level over downtown Vegas. 8,000 FT AGL flights to the north around Groom Lake with a F/A-18C wing-man I get around 40 FPS. BTW, Nvidia setting is setup with 3 separate monitors only. So... after the upgrade and changing the monitor settings, I'm pretty much back to 2.5.5. performance. I have not run any missions except for my own which all are north of Vegas with 1 F/A-18C wing man and 2 flights of 4 each F-16's and A-10's, Not sure why it works for me with my old hardware. Upgrading to all new PC/hardware is in the works. One an old system like I have, I can live with ~20 FPS at the worst and 40+ flying. I'm still learning the Hornet and DCS. Of note, I have 25+ years designing and building military flight simulators, the last ones were 8ea F/A-18C's for the US Navy and have only 'flew' one simulator after delivery. Also have every flight sim program since the 80's. All I can say is WOW, what a great sim for the F/A-18C! The detail and functionality along with the cockpit and all other graphics is well... outstanding. Being in the development side for years, it's a slow progress sometime to tweak things, simulation code is never really 'finished', always improvements can be made. But, we had government delivery dead lines, so we worked 7 days a week towards the end. So, I will wait patiently for the dev's here to keep on keeping on. A little tidbit on coding simulators, back in the 80's our military contracts stated the system including flight, weapons, radar, GUI, OTW, etc. had to meet a 'realtime' minimum of 30 Hz. These day's it a lot more! Here is a screen capture of my current settings: Cheers ---

Alex, I'm impressed by your design. Having been in military flight simulation since the late 80's I've seen some designs before, but your very well thought out logical approach to this is nothing but spot on. This is one of the best, if not best of implementation of latest hardware/software integration that I've seen in a while. Back in late 80's I worked with McDonnell Douglas on a F/A-18 reconfigurable simulator for Navy CVN/Carrier use. Back then we use what was out there to replicate the front instrument panel. The front cockpit art was rear-projected onto a screen in which had a touch screen membrane over that. Back then, there were no development hardware and software as we have today, we did what we did with what we had. Actually, once used a large glass CRT monitor with touch screen overlay, boy was that a beast to mount. Pilot knees into the glass touch screen = not good. Next was to make some 3D parts to add to the screen, never got to it. BTW: the whole simulator ran using a multi-buss II rack running about 10 parallel 386 CPU boards under UNIX. After retirement, I'm still an avid PC simmer (own about every title since Sub Logic's Apple II sim). This definitely has my attention as I'm a new user of DCS, in particular F/A-18C. In fact, the last simulators I was involved with, designed for the US Navy, were 8 each F/A-18 C Block 20's. So I'm home here. Just wish I had that complete spare set of all those actual flight hardware cockpit and panel switches I had. Not sure what happened to them... they probably got tossed. Just found this thread and I'm VERY interested in your project, this is exactly how I was going to approach a possible sim build. Need to keep my software, hardware and integration skills up to speed. I would be very interested to carry this design approach, I/O, etc. over to the remaining consoles to complete the simulator if you have no immediate plans to. I hope you might find to share your design and doc's sometimes in the future? Or offer them for sale, I'd sure buy them. Keep the awesome work! Cheers ---

Nice setup and build. Very similar to what I will be doing in the future. Any chance sharing who makes those panels and if they can make them for some of the rest of us? Also, are they backlit? Keep up the good work. ---

The source files must be edited with Notepad++ as mentioned. A very good 'real' source code editor for windows is Atom. It will highlight you syntax for you automatically. The reason it will not load your personal monitor configuration file is that there is a syntax error in your source file. Suggest you open the file and carefully go over it line-by-line. A lot of times one of the ';' at the end of a function is missing, or a note separator, the '--' is missing or too many. Check the braces, there should be a beginning and end. Here is a sample from my F/A-18C 2 monitor setup with main monitor on left and DDI's, MPCD on black, on the right monitor. _ = function(p) return p; end; name = _('CL 2 Monitors + (MFCDS on Right)'); Description = 'CL 2 Monitors and MFCDs on Right Side' --[[ Author: C. Luck REV: - -- To Be Local VARS: mon1_X = 1680 -- Samsung MON1 center mon1_Y = 1050 -- Samsung MON1 center mon1_aspect = 1.6 mon2_X = 1280 -- Dell MON2 on RT mon2_Y = 1024 -- Dell MON2 on RT mon2_aspect = 1.25 total_X = 2960 -- 1680+1280, Windows Extended Desktop mode total_y = 1050 -- MON1 native, Windows Extended Desktop mode total_aspect = 2.81 NOTES: Displays Center/Cockpit on MON1 located left. Displays LEFT MFCD, RIGHT MFCD and CENTER MFCD on black background on MON2 located to the right of MON1. 1) Using Extend Desktop mode in Windows, BOTH monitors = 2960 x 1050, aspect 2.81 Nvidia Surround mode puts TOTAL resolution at 2560x1024, Aspect 2.5 2) Windows primary monitor number always set to the most left (or upper left) monitor. Usualy number 1. 3) Set DCS in-game screen to : total screen width = 2960 -- with Windows Extended Desktop total screen height = 1050 -- with Windows Extended Desktop or total screen width = 2560 -- with Nvidia surround enabled total screen height = 1024 -- Nvidia surround enagled 4) Insure in-game Full Screen = OFF --]] Viewports = { Center = { x = 0; y = 0; width = 1680; -- Samsung Native height = 1050; -- Samsung Native -- width = 1280; -- Samsung w/Nvidia Surround -- height = 1024; -- Samsung w/Nvidia Surround viewDx = 0; viewDy = 0; aspect = 1680 / 1050; -- Samsung Native w/o Nvidia Surround -- aspect = 1280 / 1024; -- Samsung w/Nvidia Surround } } LEFT_MFCD = { x = 1680; -- w/o Nivdia Surround 2960 X 1050, upper left y = 224; -- w/o Nvidia Surround 2960 X 1050, upper left -- x = 1280; -- w/Nivdia Surround 2500 X 1024, upper left -- y = 624; -- w/Nvidia Surround 2500 X 1024, upper left width = 400; height = 400; } CENTER_MFCD = { x = 2120; -- w/o Nivdia Surround 2960 X 1050, bottom center y = 624; -- w/o Nvidia Surround 2960 X 1050, bottom center -- x = 1280; -- w/Nivdia Surround 2500 X 1024, bottom center -- y = 624; -- w/Nvidia Surround 2500 X 1024, bottom center width = 400; height = 400; } RIGHT_MFCD = { x = 2560; -- w/o Nvidia Surround 2960 X 1050, upper right y = 224; -- w/o Nvidia Surround 2960 X 1050, upper right -- x = 2160; -- w/Nvidia Surround 2500 X 1024, upper right -- y = 624; -- w/Nvidia Surround 2500 X 1024, upper right width = 400; height = 400; } UIMainView = Viewports.Center -- GU_MAIN_VIEWPORT = Viewports.Center Start with a fresh file that is close to what you want to do by copying a ED supplied monitor configuration file to one of your own like I did here, re-naming of course. Hope this helps some. Let me know. Cheers ---

As a brand new DCS user I agree with the OP. ALL switches should move the same direction regardless of number positions, types for consistency. In fact all rotary/pot controls also, left click to rotate CCW, right click to rotate CW. I kept on lowering flaps on takeoff until I memorized how it worked. Left Click: switch = down/left : rot/pot = CCW Right Click: switch = up/right : rot/pot = CW While we are on switches. My last job was as head engineer designing and delivering 8 F/A-18C flight simulators for the US Navy. Many are 'lever-locks', locked into position until you pull the switch knob out to move it to the locked out position. Speaking of hornet switches and controls. Need to get with the dev team. One control that we could not figure out was the HMD control. Since this block was the first to use that, we had no documentation on what type rotary control this was in the real AC. I had to run digital input lines (DI's) and a analog input (AI) channel to the HMD switch due to the I/O harness had to be made and could not wait for the proper data. No one could answer our questions, I mean it was a brand new control at the time. Someone from the Navy called me one day and handed me over to a real F/A-18 pilot sitting in a cockpit over in the Persian Gulf! The Navy rep said here you go, the real thing! The pilot got on the phone: He said "what do you need to know?. Me "Just exactly how does the HMD control work or feel to you?", Pilot:"9 click positions, full CCW it's off then increasing intensity as you rotate CW" Me "Thank you very much sir!, you made our day over here!" Then we talked a little about the Hornet and a few other items. Me "Thank you for your time and your service! Stay safe over there, we are keeping everyone in our thoughts." The pilot was elated to have been of help, I'm sure talking back to someone in the states to solve an issue makes for a good day. Go NAVY! I finally could hook up that HMD control to the I/O harness, inform software it's ready and have it working in 2 days. Kind of miss that job! Of note, a little tidbit : we used actual flight hardware switches. Those GND PWR toggles on the ground power panel on the forward LC, well those are magnetically held in position and switch off when ground power is disconnected. 'Someone' had ordered the wrong type before I got involved in the program, the key position was 180 degrees out. Had to re-order the correct ones, 6 month lead time, 16 switches at ~$1,200 a piece. They made very expensive paper weights! And before you ask, did I order a 'spare set' of all the cockpit switches, knobs, controls? No, I sure wanted to, for my home cockpit build... ahem. Cheers ---

Howdy, I'm also new at DCS. Being involved in the design and construction of civilian and military flight simulators since the 1980's I decided to finally learn DCS, and man am I glad I started this trek. In fact, the last simulators I was responsible for were 8 full cockpit F/A-18C's that we built for the US Navy. I had also done some F-16 work for a while. That being said, all I can tell you is go slow and enjoy this awesome program. I have never witnessed, even in a full up military simulator, the level of detail in particular the Out-The-Window (OTW) scenery. This is very addicting in every aspect, including the advanced flight models, in particular the F/A-18C which feel damn close to what I was allowed to fly, the military used a 'guest mode' flight model though for those without the 'need to know'. Only cleared personnel had access to the 'real' flight model and weapons. Within a week of downloading DCS, I purchased the F/A-18C with the Persian Gulf Map combo as mentioned in the previous post. Reason for the F/A-18? It's more flexible, Has one of the best avionics and displays and is just easier to start learning compared to others. The big AND is... you can do carrier op's. I highly recommend it. Also to mention, downloaded every manual/guide, knee-board's, checklist, etc. I could find and printed most off all of it. Yes, the printer ink supplier's love me right now. Also, I love the west so I purchased the Nellis NTTR map. My God, I'm in heaven. The level of detail is amazing and I'm only running a older PC with OC'ed 4GHz AMD CPU, 8GB 1066 RAM and a Nvidia 1060 video card. Running an average of 40-60 FPS. Buzzing Vegas, Hover Dam, flying the Grand Canyon... yeah man. All I can tell you is make sure you have the time for this, it's very addictive! The learning curve is going to be steep for a while... can't wait for more. Good luck with you DCS experience and enjoy, I know I am! BTW: here is a way to quick start flying. Play with liveries and get a load-out without the mission editor. Here's what I do: o on the instant action menu choose the aircraft and then the map (mod) to fly in, chose those first. o hopefully you will see a "on the ramp" as a starting point. Not the "cold start" unless you know how to do that. o you have to be at an allied airport/base o once the load is done and your are running and sitting on the ramp, then... o I apply the parking brake on the aircraft (mine is the F/A-18C), keeps you from rolling off, you must be completely stopped for this to work o you MUST OPEN the CANOPY o hit the '\' key to bring up the comm menu o hit the key for main menu o hit the key for ground support o select the re-fuel/re-arm item o a menu will come up where you can change your livery and load-out o hit OK and and take off (don't forget to release the parking brake or you will blow a tire and 'crash') Enjoy! Noluck ---

I'm new at DCS, however researched the same issue you are having. Here's what I do: o on the instant action menu choose the aircraft and then the area (mod) to fly in, chose those first. o hopefully you will see a "on the ramp" as a starting point. Not the "cold start" unless you know how to do that. I also assume you can land at an airbase, taxi and stop to do the same thing. o you have to be at an allied airport/base o once the load is done and your are running and sitting on the ramp, then... o I apply the parking brake on the aircraft (mine is the F/A-18C), keeps you from rolling off, you must be completely stopped for this to work o you MUST OPEN the CANOPY o hit the '\' key to bring up the comm menu o hit the key for main menu o hit the key for ground support o select 'refuel/re-arm' item o a menu will come up where you can change your livery (skin) and load-out. Select the one's you want o hit OK and and take off (don't forget to release the parking brake or you will blow a tire and 'crash') Enjoy ---

As my fellow Florida pilot said. Just expanding a little as it's something I checked out and first learned being new to DCS. Actually, I wanted some kind of load-out also. Here's what I do: o on the instant action menu choose the aircraft and then the area (mod) to fly in, chose those first. o hopefully you will see a "on the ramp" as a starting point. Not the "cold start" unless you know how to do that. o you have to be at an allied airport/base o once the load is done and your are running and sitting on the ramp, then... o I apply the parking brake on the aircraft (mine is the F/A-18C), keeps you from rolling off, you must be completely stopped for this to work o you MUST OPEN the CANOPY o hit the '\' key to bring up the comm menu o hit the key for main menu o hit the key for ground support o a menu will come up where you can change your livery and load-out o hit OK and and take off (don't forget to release the parking brake or you will blow a tire and 'crash') Enjoy ---

Howdy, Have you beat on the age thing... you ain't old yet. Just got started in DCS, in particular the F/A-18C since I used to design and build those simulators for the US Navy starting back in the 80's. Man, I wish I had what they have now! Back then I designed some hardware and had to write the low-level code for it so the software weenies could make that part of the sim 'work' like the real thing, be it a gauge, display, instrument, whatever. Anyway, I'm looking possibly to do the same but build a F/A-18 cockpit. Heard of the Pokeys boards, might look into that. Just stared looking into pulling data myself when I have more spare time. If I find something that is not on the list you mentioned, I'll let you know. Good luck I was a