X-31_VECTOR

I'm intrigued. I know you can use a voice command to launch a program, but how do you have Voice Attack launch a program for you (I assume you mean automatically)?

Even showing the sunrise and sunset times for the selected date and map would help. I hate setting up a quick mission in the editor that I think is a sunrise mission only to find it's still dark out when I hop into the cockpit. Between differences in latitude and the presence/absence of daylight savings time, it can be hard to guess for a given map when that perfect dawn or dusk light is happening.

What's the consensus preferred way to launch DCS together with the programs we often run in the background -- TrackIR, Voice Attack/VAICOM, Joy2Key, Oculus Tray Tool, etc. -- rather than launch them separately? And is there an elegant solution for launching profiles within those programs (e.g., starting Voice Attack with an aircraft-specific profile)? Example: Currently I use one Stream Deck button to launch DCS when I want to play 2D, and a different one for VR. The first launches TIR, my Stream Deck DCS main profile, and of course DCS. The second launches Oculus Tray Tool, Voice Attack and DCS. But I'm guessing that without the Stream Deck, this is still easily done via some sort of batch file or script. Even better would be a script that launches a specific TIR or VA profile, rather than just the defaults. (Sorry if the answer is obvious, but my grasp of Windows tricks/tools rates somewhere between that of a smarter-than-average chicken and a dumber-than-average monkey). What are everyone's preferred methods/suggestions?

I've heard the same RE 2070/2080 production. Okay, the plan is wait for the 3080 cards and see what they deliver, and meanwhile revisit the CPU overclock. It's a shame DCS only uses a single core. Interesting thoughts regarding the power supply maybe being behind the voltage transients. I have an 850W EVGA rated 80+ Bronze, and I recently hooked it up to a PSU tester to confirm all the voltages going to the board were within spec. So I suspect this has more to do with the board or Asus OC software. I'll try some different methods and report back. Thanks all!

Thanks Taz! My CPU temps rarely go over 60C, so I've got plenty of headroom there. And good point on the 3080; I imagine some used but perfectly good 2080Tis will go on the market when the 3080 comes to town and upgrade fever hits.

My frame times with my 6700K running at 4.2 are not very far off from yours, actually. What's vexing to me is that CPU and GPU utilization are never maxed out, but someone pointed out that the CPU utilization shown in FPSVR may be averaging across cores and thus masking a single-core bottleneck. This gets into the dark arts of VR behind the curtain, which I do not claim to understand. Makes sense, and thanks! I know my 6700K 4.0 CPU should go well faster than 4.2, but despite having set a voltage limit in the ASUS utility (AI Suite 3) and/or bios, I get scary voltage spikes when I do go higher. Any suggestions for a better utility for managing my overclock? I'm on an ASUS Z170 board if that makes any difference.

As I've gotten more into VR recently, and placed a preorder for the HP Reverb G2 (to replace my Rift CV1), and I know my current rig will be challenged by the higher resolution. I've got an 17-6700K at 4.3 Ghz, and a GTX1080 (not Ti). Memory is 32GB. I'd resigned myself to replacing the 1080 when the 3080 comes out, as more resolution usually means needing more GPU. But this being VR, I'm wondering how likely I am to see diminishing returns due to CPU bottleneck. Am I damned to replacing both? At this point a new CPU means a new mobo too... thus begins the budget death-spiral.

NVIDIA is thoughtfully putting the RTX 3080 on the street sometime around when the G2 begins to deliver, thus ensuring that flight simming continues to be the sucking black hole that swallows my personal finances for some time to come. I imagine a day 20 years from now when I sit down and add it all up and realize I could have bought a plane for cheaper...

Harlikwin, I'm still on a Rift CV1 (yes really), but just pre-ordered the HP Reverb G2. I rationalize this by telling myself that the jump in resolution (which is the same as the Reverb) will make a massive difference, e.g. actually being able to read gauges and identify other aircraft at a reasonable distance. True statements in your experience? Giant leap for VR quality, or small step?

Correct (as far as I Know), but I would avoid the HP EliteDisplay E230t. It looked great on paper, but has never given me full touchscreen functionality, and the most helpful input from HP's tech support was to ask me if I was sure it was actually a touchscreen display. Planar Systems and ASUS both seem to have reasonable options in the same price range ($200-$250).

Let me know what your solution winds up being. I'm looking into just buying a plate of 1/4" aluminum and cutting it to create a heel rest plate in front of the pedal mounting plate on my Wheel Stand Pro. (My pedals haven't arrived yet due to international shipping, so I can't test a solution yet.)

That's why I always use piddle packs during long flights rather than pause and go to the bathroom. My girlfriend is so judgmental about it... she just doesn't get DCS. :)

Well said! The nice thing about such features (when offered) is that they are optional. For those of us who want to fly formation for an hour en route to a target (when we have the time), we can. But if having the option for an autopilot allows someone to fly the sim more frequently, enjoy it more, and hence buy more modules, I don't think the inclusion in any way hurts those of us who may choose not to use them. (I'm speaking in single-player context only.) I note that you ended your post with "Just my opinion," and I think that's really the point -- no one can tell you that you are wrong. Too often I think we tend here to respond to someone's statement of preference not just by explaining our own (different) preference, but instead by suggesting the poster's preference is wrong/dumb/ignorant. We can all want different things without any of us being wrong.

That's a whole lot of great advice in a concise reply. Thanks Quadg!

Makes sense, and thanks for the tip about using the guns as an indicator. I find that often even when I think the ball looks centered, if I re-watch the track from an outside top-down view, I see my centerline is several degrees off from my direction of flight.

In straight and level flight (e.g., 90 knots), I seem to get a regular slow oscillation in the roll axis even when my cyclic is totally motionless, the force trim is set and the slip ball seems to be centered. The aircraft just seems to rock back and forth in the roll axis like a boat in the swells, or maybe it is a slight corkscrewing motion. It's not the same kind of natural instability that occurs in a hover, which can be countered with constant micro-inputs on the cyclic. Does anyone have any tips for eliminating or reducing this? I don't notice it as much on a screen, but in VR it tends to bring on the sea-sickness. Is this just inherent to the flight model, or is it a result of poor technique on my part? Thanks!

Has anyone heard/read if the new damage model that is planned for DCS will include fixes for these issues?

Baur, can you provide any information about how the collective will be mounted? Is it designed to clamp to the side of a chair, or will it have a base that sits on the floor (and is heavy enough to keep from moving when the collective is lifted)? Also, do you plan to sell the grip separately as a stand-alone? I've built my own DIY collective using a WarBrd base in a custom housing, and a left-handed CM2 grip at the end of two extension tubes. It would be great to be able to replace that CM2 grip with your collective head. Thanks!

Hi hegykc. I assume the toe brakes still work with these pedals, correct? If you're willing to ship to the U.S., I'm willing to pay the shipping to try them out. Please PM me to let me know how you'd like to proceed. Thanks!

Wonderful work. Is the throttle functional?

Hi Ctytler, quick question: am I correct that it is not possible to have an image state change and a title text change set for the same button? Or am I doing something wrong? Background: I'm trying to program the Master Arm switch in the UH-1H, which is a three-way switch that has Off, Safe and Arm positions. I've had no problem getting the title text change function to display the state of the switch (-1=OFF,0=SAFE,1=ARM), but I'd also like to have the "Arm" position trigger a different (second state) icon since it's not possible to have different text colors for the different title text options on the same switch. Thanks again for this amazing tool, and your excellent tutorial videos!

The first five posts under the "Flying the Helicopter" section here deal with trim and autopilot, and are extremely helpful: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=33527

The interaction of the trim, the autopilot/damping channels, the flight director, and the collective brake (sort of a trim for the collective) is IMO the single trickiest thing to figure out in the KA-50, and the one topic that creates by far the most confusion and frustration for new users. The confusion and frustration are compounded by many well-meaning people giving incorrect information in the form of videos, posts, etc. There are many, many smarter people than me on this topic, and the content that helped me the most was in the beginner threads on this forum. Rereading the relevant sections of the manual several times also helped. That said... my guess is that what you may be doing is moving the stick, then pressing trim, as you would in the UH-1. Instead (assuming you have the autopilot/damping channels engaged and are not flying with Flight Director on) try pushing trim, moving the stick, then releasing the trim button. If that doesn't produce the desired result, follow the advice of someone smarter (i.e., not me). :)

Another possible option: Use the "multiple action" function that is native in the Stream Deck, so that one push of a Stream Deck button is, say, ten one-degree incremental increase commands. First, drag "Multiple Actions" or whatever its called onto a button. Then in the menu where you specify the actions, create an incremental action from the DCS Plugin for the 1-degree increase. Maybe add a tenth-second delay action after it. Then just copy-paste nine times. That should result in one press of the Stream Deck button sending ten one-degree increment increase commands in rapid succession. Then you just create a second button for one-degree increment increases to fine tune. Not the most elegant solution, but may be less tiresome than dragging the mouse again and again.

And to correct myself: I suppose, depending on what time period you want to represent, you could reskin a UH-60 model with an MH-60S skin, since the MH-60S actually has its tail wheel far aft like a Blackhawk. (The airframe is more or less common with the UH-60L, for reasons having more to do with DoD cost savings than operational reasons, IIRC).