StrongHarm

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.

I heard Mower's in a Turkish prison.

For anyone who wants crystal clear VR in DCS and you're in the market for a device, take a look at the Pimax. It's the best purchase I've ever made for flight sims. It looks more clear than my monitor, and I have a great monitor. The pimax 12k is coming out soon, and word is it's a lot better than the current 8Kx, but I find that hard to believe. You can get the 8KX right now and they'll refund the full price when you get the 12k. I know the OP question is in regard to the Oculus, but frankly the only solution I could find to the poor quality of my oculus was to get a pimax LOL just the cold hard truth Growling Sidewinder did a great vid on the pimax recently.

We're going to be seeing **a lot** of new folks when the Apache drops I'll betcha. Keep this handy so you don't have to do the "ok <sigh>, let's talk about rotor wing theory first". hehe. I found the animation of the swashplate especially useful. It's hard to put into words.

Excellent video on the operation of the UH-60. If you've never seen the How it Works animation series by Jared Owen, check out some of his other vids, like How a Jet Engine Works and How a P-51 Works. Awesome stuff.

I started creating missions when KA-50 was the only module. I used the Nav Target tab on each helo to create target points. These were not navigation points within the flight plan. I could select NAVTGT+N on the PVI for target location reference and even slew sensors directly to those points. When A-10 came out I didn't have NAVTGT, so I started using the Initial Point objects in the ME to simulate data tape uploaded Pre-Planned Target Points, so my Navigation Flight Plan waypoints wouldn't be cluttered. I could switch to MISSION instead of FLT PLAN on the CDU or UFC, and if I went past the flight plan waypoints, I could see my Initial Points, by name designation, and use them the same way I did NAVTGT on the KA-50... for weapons employment... PPTPs. I've not found a way to reference ME inserted Initial Points while in the Hornet. Has there been any talk of a plan to create a common PPTP interface in the ME so all capable aircraft can configure/consume them, or will we continue to use navigation waypoints as PPTPs?

Sorry to reanimate a dead thread.. but I only now saw this, and I have to say.. what a slime ball, entitled, ungrateful, backhanded comment this is. Is this comment by an actual politician? This is why I cringe to come to these forums anymore. If anyone cares about healing a once great community, study this statement as an example of how not to be.

Stumbled upon this lil nugget on YT: Matt Wagner at the 2002 European Flight Simulation Show. 20 years of putting up with THIS community and he still has the same passion. Is it tenacity or masochism?

ED is very good at incorporating community feedback, while not caving to unreasonable community pressure, and for this we're lucky. Can you imagine what DCS would look like if community complaints effected development priority? We'd have a dynamic campaign and two aircraft to fly. Although the complaints don't seem to affect dev priority, I'm sure it has some effect on the individuals who've worked so hard to make DCS what it is today. Some of these people are brutal. They'd give a surgeon who saved their life a negative review, because their butt cheeks showed through the split in their gown.

The above argument is an example of why I come to the ED Forums only with great reluctance these days. You need information, but you fear toxic debate attitudes may splash on you. It's like peering into the toilet after you do your business. You need to make sure everything is on track, but it's hard to look through the ugly. In relation, a decade ago the forums were like an aviation cheese burger... before it was eaten. I don't say this to start more trouble, but on the chance that it invokes some consideration to how we might communicate better with like minded folks. There are plenty of other people out there more worthy of disdain than our fellow virtual pilots. Kumbaya Actual, out.

I haven't been this choked up from a video since Old Yeller <sniff> My old comments from DCS Forums: Posted May 26, 2015 If ED ever makes a PFM/ASM of the AH-64D, I'll have to dig a slit trench in my office and buy a two year supply of beefaroni.. only to find next time I take a break that my wife has moved out and my dog is bonding with the neighbors. Posted July 7, 2015 AH-64.. I'd gnaw on my monitor and whine like a mutt. Posted February 20, 2018 Me if DCS:AH-64 ever happens: "I don't remember what day I lost my job, my house, my cars, or my wife. I don't even know if today is shower day. I can tell you the launch date of DCS: AH-64 Apache though. Ahh what a glorious day! Hey, does someone on your news crew have a sandwich or something? Yeah ok, I'll take off my VR goggles for a sandwich." Posted January 24, 2018 ..I think my vote would go to the AH-64 instead of the KA-52. The notion does put a fear in me though. I will, very likely, lose my job and my marriage if ED puts out an Apache module.

That's not a Wood Pecker... that's a Metal Pecker. Isn't that a James Bond villain? He'd better be careful. When a Pecker comes out on the playground everything escalates. Seriously though, he really should be careful.. heavy metals can make you sick. A Pecker can get diseased if it taps the wrong thing.

Speaking of FLIR optics, I found this treasure on youtube. I don't imagine these modernized systems will be in our Apache, but feast your eyeballs:

Thanks Sedlo. I did the original matrix that ended up in the manual on the A-10 test team. It seems to have been edited by multiple people over the years. It's now very colorful! I hope they replace it with this one. To view just how much progress they've made with the A-10 module in 10yrs, below is a comparison between the 2011 and 2021 versions. I'm always amazed by what ED has been able to achieve. 10yrs may seem like a long time, but in "impossibly complex sim code" years it's like months.

If you've had a mediocre experience with VR in DCS, try the Pimax 8kx. For me it's running a crystal clear (I forget there are lenses in front of me), very smooth, extremely immersive flight at nearly full settings at 90-114 fps and 4k in each eye. It does take a lot of power to run it though; 5.8ghz, 64g at 3400, RTX 3090, dedicated m.2 drive. I have a 49" LG CX OLED TV which is faster than a lot of gaming monitors due to the Gsync chip, but I can't stand to fly with it anymore. The biggest problems are that after getting used to VR there's a lack of depth for altitude perception and loss of the 1:1 movement SA. Also, as good as the LG CX is, the Pimax 8kx looks more bright, crisp, and the colors are better defined. I attached the Pimax UltraLeap hand tracker to my 8kx and it works beautifully in demos, but it's not quite there yet in DCS... obviously, since native support was only recently added. I'm hoping there will be a setting to disable switch interaction, as I have a VR simpit and really just want to see my hands while interacting with it. Once I have that, I think the only other thing I could do for immersion would be to set up an Air Cycle Turbine to blow dry cockpit air into my face... (already have jetseat simshaker as well as two large subwoofers bolted to my simpit.. which is really awesome... up until the moment I wake my wife, who can't hear it on the other side of the house but can feel it)

I put together a matrix of HOTAS functions for the TM Warthog and thought I'd share. In the attached .zip file you'll find a kneeboard worthy JPG as well as the original Excel spreadsheet. Take note that there are two tabs in the spreadsheet; one for print and one for kneeboard pics. The JPG provided in the .zip is optimized to look good in VR as well as on a monitor. NOTE: To use on kneeboard, place the JPG in X:\users\USERNAME\saved games\DCS\kneeboard\A-10C_2. You may have to create the A-10C_2 folder. Be sure the syntax is exact. Pic of print version from spreadsheet: Kneeboard Version: HOTASFunctions_2021.zip

I've been testing the Pimax Hand Tracking Module on the 8k+. It's amazingly responsive with real time accuracy sync to your knuckles (especially with good light in the room) while using Leap Visualizer to test the device. However, when testing in A-10C_2 I'm finding that the offset ratio between your hands and the cockpit is way off. This might have something to do with my IPD settings. If I get it worked out I'll post. I can click the switches accurately, but only after I reach way too far (due to the offset issues). Also, when in the starting screen my hands look like green flight gloves and it's very cool. When I get in the plane they turn white. Huge potential.. early challenges. They'll get it worked out I'm sure. Can't wait

I just hope ED doesn't decide to stop EA because of the wide misconception of what "early access" actually means, and the abuse they take because of that (Hornet being a great example). Of course, I don't blame people for the misunderstanding, I blame the practices of the "video game" industry. DCS does not fit within that category and should be viewed from an entirely different angle, but that's another losing battle with most end users.

I think it's going to be a matter of level of detail. "AI" is bad nomenclature for air crew, as they don't actually "machine learn" anything... but I guess this is an industry wide incorrect reference. I work with AI and BI systems for a living and I could see some real use for AI in crew operations in DCS, but I don't think it will start that way. I think they'll start with "explicit" commands rather than "implicit", meaning you tell the crewman precisely what you want done instead of inferring what you want done and letting him decide how to do it. In Arma3 back in the day I was able to use the vanilla LUA commands to create a crew control menu that didn't already exist within the game. I wouldn't say it was easy, but it's certainly not as complex as an implicit command AI. I think we can expect something simple like this in the beginning (vid starts at appropriate time):

I've resolved the issue on my system. My DCS Views were bound to other controls. When you have fast response this isn't visible, but if your video isn't optimized it makes the jitter much more noticeable. So, control bindings were the root cause, but bad vid response was a contributing symptom. I'm at a solid 60FPS and 8ms response with a beautiful image free of shimmer/pixels/screendoors. I did the following to resolve the issue: PiTool Create dedicated profile for DCS, do not rely on Common Settings Upscale 114hz Quality to 1.0 (EDIT: I've started using Pimax Quality 2.0 with SteamVR to 100% instead of 300%. Pimax drivers handle the res better. 30fps gain) All options unchecked FOV normal ** Huge visual quality improvement: Backlight 100%, DCS profile contrast +2, Brightness -2** This fully eliminated the "washed out look" in DCS that I experienced with the Rift-s (which I may use for target practice this weekend) Run Automatic Steam Modifications from PiMax VR Experience **Only run DCS from PiTool, not from PiMax Experience SteamVR Quality to 300% (EDIT: Set this to 100%. I've started using Pimax Quality in favor of SteamVR. After using Pimax VR Experience to auto set Steam settings, go back into SteamVR settings and move slider to 100% or the line which shows preferred res) Advanced Supersampling off Notifications off SteamVR Always On Top off Pause VR when computer locked off SteamVR Home off DCS **Check controls and make sure "views" aren't bound to TM MFDs, pedals, or some other device! I believe this was the root cause of the jitter. Sometimes after updates DCS seems to auto map views, even if they were previously unmapped If your visual response is low (turn on display performance graph in SteamVR popup outside of VR) jitter is much more pronounced, which is a symptom not a cause. Pixel Density to 1.0 MSAA to 2x SSLA and SSLR off All visual settings can be as high as you like with little impact (since PD is 1.0. We're relying on the high resolution rather than processing.) Although this worked for me, mileage may vary on other systems. If anyone has other suggestions or a link to a good PiMax/DCS guide, please speak up. Edit: I should add my system specs: i9-10900KF water cooled at 5.4ghz, 64g HyperX running at 3400, EVGA 3090 FTW3 not overclocked, Samsung M.2 drive dedicated to DCS. Edit 2022: See Quality under PiTool and Quality under SteamVR above. I used to let SteamVR handle the high res rather than PiTool, but Pimax drivers are now superior. Pitool quality 2.0, SteamVR quality 100% or less)

Any update on resolving this? I just switched from the RiftS to the 8Kx. The unit works very well in all games and gets great frame rates in DCS, but when I move my head everything is jittery, not just the edges of my view. What's interesting is that when DCS is not in focus (get yellow 'window out of focus' message on screen) it's smooth as butter. As soon as I put DCS back in focus it looks like freeze frame when I move my head. When I don't move my head all animations are smooth. I've tried altering my PiTool/SteamVR/nVidia settings based on a few different posts here in the forums, but to no avail. Does anyone have a link to a good PiMax 8kx DCS setup guide?