StrongHarm

I dream of having a grease pencil in VR with Leapmotion hand recognition. This seems possible with the new and more precise Leapmotion drivers. You could use this to write on the kneeboard or the canopy. That would be so sweet.

THE trolliest thread topic, in a forum rotten with trolls. Bravo, sir... bravo. I'm curious though; did you know that every self appointed civilian expert on military engineering would show up to wax poetic... or was that just surprise gravy on top? Anyway, I love your work. People of your caliber have made this forum what it is today. Stay scummy!

From patch notes: Fixed: Wind direction on TSD reporting wrong.

Yeah I feel you.. it seems like an obvious bug. As someone who's been a tester for other modules, I can tell you that it's easy to paint a bullseye around an arrow that's already been fired. With thousands of functions to test it's easy to miss some... and that's not to mention regression bugs (when a fix creates a new problem elsewhere). Luckily, that's what we're paying/volunteering to do; high volume user testing through practical usage outside of the normal testplan (with the added benefit of getting our hands on it early). It's gratifying to watch someone else enjoying a solid product after it's finished and knowing that you contributed to the quality... and really awesome when you see your feedback used. With that being said, I wish I had more bug reports submitted for the Apache... but I'm ashamed to say that I've been too busy enjoying it to contribute as much as I should have.

It looks like someone has already used the bug reporting system to properly report this bug. TLDR / OPINION: Righteous anger: "...typically a reactive emotion of anger over perceived mistreatment, insult, or malice of another." "Perceived" is a key word... but it may be important to identify the "mistreatment, insult, or malice" by Developers who are chasing bugs in an epically complex software which is still in "very early access". I had a friend growing up who had great parents who also happened to be very wealthy. He wanted a new Porsche for his 16th birthday, but instead he got a very nice used car with a promise that if he graduated with honors, he'd get his new Porsche. He would go on about how he hated his parents for this. That reaction is barely excusable for a 16yo, but it's hard to imagine from an adult. I know that the DCS user base must include some children, so it may be noted that guidance from the adults on how to properly identify "mistreatment, insult, and malice" may be helpful to them, especially these days when they're being encouraged to default to "petulant entitlement" From a previous post discussing Apache "Early Access":

Significantly. Yes sir.

I'd pay much more than $65 for the Apache even in it's current state, which all things said, is in great shape. Especially for very early access. I've not found anything that would make me say "this isn't ready for me to fly yet". It's just rough edges, which can be expected for very early access. I'm personally weary of giving any game studio money for early access, but it's important to remember what we're paying for. A helo in an FPS game may have (let's just say) 300 function points which require code. The FPS helo is basically a reskinned player object which is flying and has different weapons. The early access DCS Apache on the other hand might have 250,000 function points which require code. When it's complete it might have 300,000 function points. These are arbitrary numbers of course, meant only to provide contrast. My point is that for an aviation enthusiast like myself, a meticulously and lovingly modelled aircraft, complete with functional subsystems which aren't even visible like hydraulic lines, holds more value to me than to someone who isn't an aviation enthusiast. If I were just "a gamer" I would probably wait until Apache launch to make the purchase... but I'm that guy who goes to visit his son on the Army base, but ends up spending all his time watching the Apaches play. In other words; the value of this module is subjective, and it's purchase is completely optional. In practical terms, early access to this module is, from my perspective, a generous move by ED which also allows me to contribute feedback and bug reports. That payment of $65 was my confidence that ED is going to provide a great final product, and that I'm interested in helping them do it. I'm just glad they didn't charge what it's worth to me... it would have gutted my bank account.

I have a Warthog HOTAS on a 4" extension. I use the F/A-18 grip when flying the Apache. Collective: 0/100/100/0 (default) Cyclic pitch/roll: 2/100/100/20 Rudder: 5/100/100/15

I've had some success by practicing with the sim at half speed (CTRL+Z). This helo is a sports car and things happen very rapidly. Slowing down allowed me to analyze cause and effect with these sensitive controls. The other thing that helped a lot was pumping the collective. Pulling collective and keeping it there doesn't have the same effect as pumping (sometimes rapidly) for 2sec bursts while in heavy pitch. It's hard to explain, but try it out when hard breaking and I think you'll see what I mean.

I stumbled upon a training tool that helped me acclimate quickly. Slow the sim down while hovering and analyze the reactions to input at a rate that's more forgiving and observable. Sounds crazy but it works. Details are in this quote from another post.

Yes, I should have been more clear in that I'm not actually "stirring". For fine control I'm making micro stabs at different points of the "bowl". The important point is that if I'm making corrections at each "mental rotation around the bowl" instead of overcorrecting and recorrecting in opposing directions, I'm preventing overcontrol and oscillation. It's more of a mental exercise. Concerning pumping the collective; if I use smooth increases, or remain in an increased state, it's not as effective as pumping it all the way up for a fast blast to maintain altitude while I cyclic back and cut the energy. The collective pumps continue until hover. It would be easier if I made a video to demonstrate, perhaps I will. With this method I can go from 140kts to nothing and into a hover in little more than 100ft. You should consider trying it before you dismiss it. These methods helped me a lot, but they may be of limited use to others. I have full authority over this bird now. I can funnel around another helo while moving with inches of rotor separation.

I've been reluctant to use the optometrist at the VA. The last time the government gave me glasses, they were BCGs hehe. I'll take your advice and keep up with those checkups. I've used IOBit Booster, it's good. Razer also has a good booster. These days I'm only using "Intelligent Standby List Cleaner". Windows reserves memory and other resources for background processes that it identifies as apps that will likely be opened more than once in a session (before reboot). ISLC periodically de-allocates those resources from windows so they can be used in DCS. More importantly, DCS can studder from time to time due to the standby list. ISLC can prevent that.

No worries, I'm glad it worked out. I think these boards were intended more for sharing experiences and for productive conversation with like minded sim people, rather than the semantic debate and volatile contradiction we can see happening more and more, not only on these forums, but on a lot of social sites. I try to pay forward the respect and consideration others have shown me. I hope we can keep it rolling so this forum grows in the right direction.

How's it looking xmudroller? Are you up and flying? How's your performance and quality? 6/10 and 8/10 or the other way around? If you have any challenges post them up. If I haven't seen the issue someone on these boards probably has. It doesn't seem like there are a lot of Pimax users, but they'll chime in eventually.

Regarding this; After getting a baseline of settings at the lowest possible visual quality (see quote), as I start increasing settings in DCS I'll sometimes take screenshots of my settings and name the files by their FPS reading. I can then review the pictures and make a estimates on where my settings might land. I like to make a simple mission in the DCS Mission Editor and use that for each test for consistency. Most recently I started with the settings above, plus I used the "Low" graphic preset button in DCS video settings. My FPS was 90-110, but as I raised the graphics settings in DCS, I found a happy medium between quality and performance with an FPS of ~60. This should be used as a reference for ratio rather than a numeric target. I have an RTX3090 vid card in a very powerful system (been building them since the 90s), so it's going to be difficult for most computers to meet or exceed those numbers. With my previous system my target was 40fps with graphics settings up to around 6/10 quality. I'm keeping my eye on the new Pimax 12k QLED coming in 2022 Q4. The 8kx is breathtaking but they're saying the 12k is far superior... I just can't imagine how.

DeltaMike, what settings do you run your Pimax at? Do you have the 5k or 8kx?

You're welcome brother air warrior (virtual). When you say DCS on i.4 what do you mean? Pitool at 2.0 is high, but doable. MFAA 4x is unusually high, do you need that to take the jagged edges out? I'm surprised you're getting 35fps with your settings that high. When I'm doing a full tweak, I like to start at the best performance with quality in everything set as low as possible (DCS, PiTool, Steam) and work my way up with quality until it looks good enough. When doing this, I set my PD to 1.0, my MFAA to 0, and PiTool to 1.0. It still looked pretty good at those settings (because of the high resolution of the pimax), but I wanted to squeeze out some more quality for helo flight, so I went with pitool 1.25 and left PD at 1.0 and MFAA at 0. I retained the 60 to 144 fps, but with great graphic detail. I started turning up shadows, etc. in DCS and my FPS didn't take much of a hit with high settings. When I can keep it simple, I'm a happy man. EDIT: Thought of something else. I wear prescription lenses, and in the beginning I didn't realize that eye correction carries over into virtual vision. If you're near sighted or far sighted, it somehow translates into viewing the VR image. I ended up getting some round "harry potter" type glasses from Brookes Brothers that fit in the goggles nicely. Be aware. Also, I've found that vertical and horizontal adjustment of the goggles on your head is critical. I like to bring up the initial screen of DCS and stare at text while I adjust to the perfect spot that isn't blurry. It's remarkable what a difference this makes in my experience with the pimax. Luck to you, and God Bless you and yours as well.

I banged my head for many hours trying to tweak it out right. I'm glad the effort was able to help someone. Did you try PD at 1 and MFAA off to see how that looks? Because I have a Pimax and the resolution is higher than other VR headsets, I don't rely on post processing to pull out more quality. I have crystal clear graphics without them. If PD 1.0 and MFAA 0 didn't look good enough, I think I'd go up a notch on the Pimax quality slider in Pitool.DCS and see what that did for the quality/performance balance. I'd bet you'll go up in both quality and FPS with: PD = 1.0 MFAA = 0 PiTool Quality = 1.25 Important: Make sure you're changing the HMD settings for DCS in the Games > DCS profile in Pitool instead of in the HMD tab, then run the game from there. I go to the DCS profile in Pitool and click Apply then Start everytime I start DCS. I was surprised by how big of a difference this small step made. Always start DCS from there, never from the desktop icon or Steam.

xmudroller, with a 5k and the hardware you have, you should be good to go if your system is tweaked properly. When I first got my Pimax I was running on an old system with an nVidia 1080ti. After several hours of tweaking, and turning the DCS settings down, I was getting 30fps. That's not great, but it was a solid 30fps with no jitter. I've since upgraded and I'm running a solid 60fps in VR. When I first got my new system I couldn't even fly it was so jittery, because I needed to configure my system and DCS. The best hardware that money can buy doesn't guarantee a smooth flight... but patience and good tweaks typically do. if you're interested in seeing how your system stacks up against others with a similar configuration, go to https://www.userbenchmark.com/ . It's an online benchmark. Click on "Free Download" at the top, then run the file you download. It's not an install, just an executable. When you analyze the results, don't be alarmed if it says "performing below potential" next to one of your system components. This is in comparison with superfast enthusiast builds. You're looking for where that piece of hardware sits between "poor" and "great". If it's leaning far toward poor, you may need to do some more configuration on your build.

I found a great training method for analyzing precision hover and transitions that I thought I'd share, and it's very simple; slow DCS down to half speed. You can do it with keys ALT+Z. Try taking off and hovering like this. If you slow down, you'll really be able to feel what she needs, and finding that sweet spot will really pay off for both of you. Observations of a TLDR nature: My opinion on why this is so effective for me parallels playing my guitar. I've been at it for more than 30yrs and I find that sometimes I still just have to slow down when I'm playing a piece to better understand the composer's nuances. Flying a helo is really more akin to drumming though. You have several parts of your body doing very different things, but doing those unique movements in time and with concern to every other body part... and sometimes in direct opposition to one another. While overing with the sim at half speed, I really came to understand the effect of increased collective on both forward motion and port side torque... and the degree and timing of that effect. When I sped up again my muscle memory was intact and my hover felt better, even though I was already performing hovers pretty well. This exercise, along with Casmo's Hover Recovery exercise, and Eagle7's Tire Exercises will be part of my weekly TTP workout for a long time to come. I'm in love with this Apache! Thank you again ED!

My settings from a previous post (below) may be of some help. This may not be exactly what you need to resolve your issues, but it may be a good starting point for your research. With your hardware you may want to set Pimax quality to 1.0 and SteamVR quality to 100% or less. Your VR device has a higher resolution than most devices, so you can rely on that rather than having to turn up MSAA or PD in the VR tab as you would with a Rift. This is still relatively new technology and DCS has high demands, so it's important to remember that it's going to require a time investment to adjust for performance. Patience is your biggest asset.

Yeah, I thought about splitting it into two pages, but it would be the same width, so the text size wouldn't increase. I just lean forward to read it. To be fair, it is 9 pages of the manual condensed into a single page. @clanitho yeah, I want to put George to voice commands as well (I use VAC) but I'm hoping they're going to translate each function into individual commands at some point. I put a bunch of effort into voicing wingman in the A-10 back in the day, then they refined the functions and I had to start over. If nothing else this matrix will serve as a good reference for creating a voice profile.

I created a George quick reference matrix for my kneeboard and thought I'd share. The commands were copied from the Quickstart Manual. Just click the pic, right click, then save image to your kneeboard dir (ex: C:\Users\StrongHarm\Saved Games\DCS\Kneeboard\AH-64D_BLK_II). XLSX included if you prefer different formatting. GeorgeCommands.xlsx

I'm loving AH-64 so much. Sometimes I find myself chanting f**************k... f************k.. while I fly. It's been a long time since I was that impressed with a technology. It's more breathtaking than a shorn scrotum. One thing I've observed about control of the Apache is that there are a few flight techniques that transfer from other airframes (for me). 1. Stirring the pot - Long ago I had a mil aviator explain "stirring the pot" to me in context of air refueling. The concept is simple after you employ it, but a little difficult to grasp at first. You're moving the stick in very small circles as if you're stirring a pot. As you require correction on one of the axis, your "stir" fades minutely in that direction. If you need to correct it the other direction, it doesn't happen until you get around the "pot" to the next stir revolution. The minute corrections happen intuitively. Sounds crazy, but boy did it make a difference in my AAR. I can connect and hold the boom with ease using this technique. This translates to hover in the Apache. Try slowly "stirring the pot" while holding a hover. It makes it really easy. 2. Pumping the Collective - In the Blackshark I often had trouble controlling my directional velocity in the beginning. Stopping quickly with precision behind terrain features for instance. I learned to "pump the collective" in a way that provided full authority of my velocity and a much higher level of precision. It's counter intuitive because the cyclic requires smooth movements, as do the pedals. It's more natural to use consistent movements and actions across cyclic/collective/pedals. Relative speed and attack. This is incorrect. For instance, when trying to stop quickly with precision, performing a quick and extreme increase in collective, then returning it quickly to the original position, can provide much more authority. I call this "pumping". To put it into perspective, I might pull pitch and give it a quick test pump (returning to original position quickly) and check the effect. Based upon the effect of that check pump, I might intuitively realize that I require a quick pump every 3sec to achieve my precise hover on a spot. I may find that I need to pump faster or slower based upon the weight of the bird, altitude, etc. The point is if I try to use smooth movements of the collective (similar to those of the cyclic) I don't always achieve full authority. Being more aggressive with the collective and working with "pumps" yields much better results for me. I hope this didn't come out as incoherent ramblings, but on a recent flight I had such authority of the bird that I was excited to share what I had discovered, in hopes that others might also make their breakthrough.

Anyone know if there's a switch to list the switches? I tried DCS_Updater /? and --help etc. but found no switch list command.