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Everything posted by StrongHarm
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2.5 Video Settings - VR Quality/Performance Balance
StrongHarm replied to StrongHarm's topic in Virtual Reality
I believe I did see this once long ago. I'm not sure of the cause, but what I did was checked 'full screen' in settings. After that I was able to ALT+Enter with results, even when 'full screen' wasn't checked. -
ED has historically overdelivered on every level with DCS. During Blackshark 1 I was looking forward to DCS going somewhere in the future, but I never imagined I'd be flying in VR with the terrain we're seeing now.. with CA, Normandy, a great ME, and the dozens of other mind blowing things they've done through the years. I have high expectations that we'll see some KA-50 love, and fragmentation physics, etc. I can't imagine how massive their code debt list is considering the high standards they hold along with the mind blowing complexity of this product. They're one of the better software companies where listening to the user base is concerned. The best thing we can do to contribute is write a bug report and be patient.. or if you're really passionate join the test team. It's a lot of hard work and time, but it's pretty rewarding to be part of what they do. I can tell you this; after being a tester you may be a lot more patient with the devs considering what they're able to achieve on a daily basis. I say this not argumentatively, but reflectively.
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2.5 Video Settings - VR Quality/Performance Balance
StrongHarm replied to StrongHarm's topic in Virtual Reality
I edited the OP to add a few additional performance gain methods that I use: Something else I always do when starting a map, and this is going to sound crazy but it works, is hit F11 to switch to various airfields and just spin the mouse 360 to take in the area. I do this on several airfields to preload a lot of ground objects into memory. It sounds crazy, but it cuts down on FPS drops over cities. Lastly, and this sounds crazy too but it works, I hit ALT+ENTER to go full screen. I know that it shouldn't make a difference since I'm using VR, but it makes the mirrored window on the monitor go full screen and it seems to make a difference. -
2.5 Video Settings - VR Quality/Performance Balance
StrongHarm replied to StrongHarm's topic in Virtual Reality
The trade is .3 PD for x2 MSAA. I've found that if you simply go to 1.2 PD with no MSAA, it doesn't look good, but if you go 1.2 PD with X2 MSAA, the 1.2 PD doesn't look much different than 1.5 PD without MSAA, plus you get the enormous visual benefits of the terrain in deferred shading. I did hours of testing with different settings to arrive there, and I was really surprised at my findings, because it didn't make practical sense. -
2.5 Video Settings - VR Quality/Performance Balance
StrongHarm replied to StrongHarm's topic in Virtual Reality
Agreed ram0506. I was set at PD 1.5 before 2.5 came out and wouldn't have set it at anything less because there wasn't enough visual benefit to be had by compromising it for other resource demanding settings values. However, with the 2.5 graphics, the visual difference between 0 and 2x MSAA is pretty significant when you're using deferred shading. You're getting a significant return for the .3 PD you're sacrificing, and the MSAA does compensate for the blurriness some. Give it a try and see if you achieve the same satisfying balance between quality and performance. -
We should give credit where credit is due. If DCS wasn't a labor of love for ED, it wouldn't exist at all right now. They haven't always made profit in equal measure to effort. I would venture to say that they still aren't. They're playing the long game. Wags has discussed many times in the past that you don't develop Sims to make max revenue. Candy Crush didn't require a team of artists, mathematicians, and subject matter experts... but I would bet that it's made more money. What they've done for the sim community is a significant breakthrough, and it was done at much personal sacrifice. These are people who see a value which is beyond a "bottom line". I would have to agree with the other folks in this post when they say ED will take care of the KA-50 textures.. it's just a matter of time and resources.
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2.5 Video Settings - VR Quality/Performance Balance
StrongHarm replied to StrongHarm's topic in Virtual Reality
Hey Cibit! Too much work not enough flying, truth be told. I do have to say that life is great since 2.5 came out. 16x AF doesn't seem to make much of a difference to performance until there are additional assets moving into the area, or until you're flying mid-low alt around cities. For me, I don't want to risk a momentary FPS drop at the wrong time. In theory, 16x AF shouldn't affect performance at all, but I think they're still tweaking these new textures/rendering methods, so it seems that it can cause performance 'spikes'. As we get more patches, I'll probably turn it up and retest. As far as quality, at least for now, 2x AF along with 2x MSAA looks great and seems like a good quality/performance compromise for me. Cheers. -
After a lot of research, I think I've found the sweet spot for my system. I tested in a map that I created specifically for the purpose. There are a lot of F10 radio commands you can use to add and remove assets, etc. I'll post it up in user files as soon as I tweak it a bit. MY SYSTEM: i7-5960x, 16g RAM, EVGA 1080ti FTW3, Samsung 850 pro 1Tb SSD (dedicated), Samsung 850 pro 500Gb OS drive, Oculus Rift CV1. TESTING NOTE: Before testing I deleted the files from "..\Saved Games\DCS\FXO and .\metashaders". I don't know why DCS acts up if these files aren't purged periodically, but it can make a big difference. Something else I always do when starting a map, and this is going to sound crazy but it works, is hit F11 to switch to various airfields and just spin the mouse 360 to take in the area. I do this on several airfields to preload a lot of ground objects into memory. It sounds crazy, but it cuts down on FPS drops over cities. Lastly, and this sounds crazy too but it works, I hit ALT+ENTER to go full screen. I know that it shouldn't make a difference since I'm using VR, but it makes the mirrored window on the monitor go full screen and it seems to make a difference. PREFACE: I'm not going to bore you with my logic for each and every setting in the pic, as most of it is personal preference. I will say that Grass = FULL is not good for FPS, but I fly low level a lot and I think it looks sweet. Most other settings are a compromise between quality and performance. As of this post, nVidia panel or inspector settings have no effect on performance (other than Power Management, but this should be set to "Prefer Performance" in the global settings, in my opinion). SWEET SPOT INGREDIENTS: VR PD = 1.2 MSAA = 2x Anisotropic Filtering = 2x Deferred Shading = ON Terrain Shadows = FLAT Cockpit Global Illumination = ON SCIENCE: I know most people keep MSAA off, and I used to in VR as well, but the key is that if you lower your VR PD to 1.2, MSAA does not create a big performance hit. PD being at 1.2 has very little effect on the clarity of the gauges *as long as* you have MSAA at 2x and AF at 2x. With PD at 1.2 and MSAA off the world is jagged and the gauges are blurry. More about PD. More about MSAA. More about ASW. More about Deferred Shading. HIGH QUALITY HIGH PERFORMANCE: With the combination of PD 1.2, MSAA 2x, and AF 2x, and Deferred shading on, the graphics quality is superb and there's no lag or edge bleed in VR. My FPS is 90 in an empty NTTR map, and doesn't decrease to 45 until I have a few dozen active assets in map or fly into Vegas. My average minimum FPS is 45 stable and doesn't get lower until I throw something crazy at it (like having 5 Bones drop a few hundred MK-82s at once), and even then it only drops down to 30 for a few seconds then it's right back up to 45. I'm sure I could tweak it to maintain 90 FPS, but I'm not willing to compromise the high quality graphics. What ED has achieved really is quite breathtaking (exceeds shorn scrotum). [TABLE] __PD__ | _MSAA_ | _Quality_ |Performance 1| 0 | 0 | 10 1.2 | 0 | 2 | 10 1.4 | 0 | 4 | 10 1.6 | 0 | 4 | 10 1.8 | 0 | 4 | 8 2.0 | 0 | 6 | 6 1 | 2 | 6 | 10 1.2 | 2 | 8 | 8 1.4 | 2 | 8 | 6 1.6 | 2 | 10 | 4 1.8 | 2 | 10 | 2 2.0 | 2 | 10 | 2 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 1.2 | 4 | 8 | 4 1.4 | 4 | 8 | 2 1.6 | 4 | 10 | 0 1.8 | 4 | 10 | 0 2.0 | 4 | 10 | 0 1 | 8 | 8 | 2 1.2+ | 8 | 10 | 0 [/TABLE] Also, take a look at this thread from Sideslip for a great visual analysis of different individual settings. This wasn't done in VR, so we'll have a few different considerations (i.e. MSAA is essential for VR, and MFAA doesn't work), but it's a brilliant baseline presentation none the less. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=202092 PRELOAD RADIUS: You'll notice that my Preload Radius slider is all the way left. I've read a lot of posts recently about how people are resolving issues by decreasing this setting. I decided to investigate and retested with several values. The more I slid it back, the better my performance got. I ended up with it at minimum. Take note though, that I am using a very fast SSD which is dedicated to DCS. You may not get the same results. I would check it at 25% increments and retest. Perhaps the cache mechanism is broken right now, or was interfered with by a recent OS update.. who knows. LOW END SYSTEMS: Also, be aware that going above HIGH for Vis Range is a big performance hit, and really doesn't do much anyway. If your system isn't high end and you need to squeeze some more FPS out of it, make these settings different than mine: Vis Range = Medium Terrain Textures = Medium Heat Blur = OFF Shadows = Medium Grass = OFF Chimney Density = 0 ADDITIONAL TEST NOTES, HARDWARE: With the same settings that I'm using in VR, I tested my system with a monitor at 1080 and 4k. 1080 averaged 173 FPS in the same tests, and 4k averaged 78 FPS. What really surprised me was that the visual quality was still superb on a monitor with the modified VR settings. I also tested overclocking the CPU and Vidcard while in 4k: i7-5960x - from 3.4ghz to 4.3ghz - about 10FPS gained across the board 1080ti FTW3 - from 1500/5500 to 2050/5800 - about 5FPS gained across the board I've always known that DCS has a CPU bottleneck due to the huge amount of physics calcs that ED has blessed us with. I was not however, expecting that with the new graphics I would still gain more performance from a CPU overclock than a GPU overclock. These results surprised me. Also (I guess this would be categorized as hardware), I found the perfect set of eye glasses for use with the Rift. They fit well into the enclosure and perfectly cover the Rift lenses. SOLUTIONS FOR MICROSTUTTER If you've tweaked DCS but find that you have good quality/performance, but you're seeing microstutters, here are some potential fixes. I'd try them one at a time so you'll know which one solved your problem. Replying with this information might help someone else. If you find a solution that's not in the list, be sure to reply with that too. Make sure your BIOS is updated to the latest version. I know this sounds trivial, but I assure you that it can cause some seriously weird issues if you're on an old BIOS version while using newer drivers for components that are plugged into your MB. Perform a clean install of the nVidia drivers. When you're doing the install you'll see a checkmark at the bottom of the screen for 'Clean Install'. Be aware, this will delete any 3d profiles you have set in the nVidia control panel, but it also refreshes all DLLs and gets rid of files from previous driver versions. Make sure that your Rift Sensor is connected to a USB 3.0 connection rather than a 2.0. This can cause stutters and edge bleed. Reinstall the Rift Drivers. If you're using Windows 10, make sure you turn off Game Mode in the OS settings. **This is a common one Download and install Razer Cortex. This app has a database of known 'unneeded tasks and services' that may be running on your system that could interfere with game performance. When you left click on the tray icon and engage 'boost' it automatically ends task and stops services that aren't required, freeing resources for games. After you're done flying, simply left click on the tray icon and select 'Restore Now' and it will restart all the tasks and services it stopped. This is a safe application that has never stopped a service that I actually needed, and has never caused me any issues. It frees up system resources. I recommend this because you may have something running in the background that is causing your issue, but why search for a needle in a haystack when you can burn the haystack down. If you've 'Set Affinity' to specific CPU cores, remove it and choose all cores. Setting affinity can be a good thing if it's done right, but removing it will eliminate affinity as root cause. Delete the files from "..\Saved Games\DCS\FXO and .\metashaders" Bring Preload Radius all the way to low. Test in 10% increments until you receive desired performance I know it sounds crazy, but try hitting ALT+ENTER to make the mirrored view on your monitor go full screen. I know it shouldn't have an effect, and I don't understand it, but I've seen this fix stutters for more than one person. EDIT: I've seen a lot of threads about problems being solved by uninstalling the upgrade then reinstalling using the full 2.5 install. I decided to try it and see if there was a difference. I found that I had about 300 files less in \Program Files\ after the reinstall. My theory is that those files were leftovers from a time before ED launched DCSupdater. I haven't cleaned those folders in probably 5 years. It seems that I'm loading missions faster and that I have less stuttering. I acknowledge that this could be a placebo effect, but at the very least I'm glad that I cleaned up the file structure. UPDATE FOR 2.5: I didn't have to change anything for 2.5, since I was doing my testing in Nellis. I was able to turn AF up to 16x with no performance hit. So I've got that going for me.
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Spetz, I don't believe your NVidia Inspector settings are going to make a difference in VR. PD 1.6 might be too much. I know that as I tried lower and lower settings, I found that 1.2 was sufficient as long as I turned on MSAA 2x (which makes everything look TONS better anyway). Also having Terrain Object Details at default rather than flat is going to eat up 20-30 fps. If TOD is at flat, you can then turn Shadows to medium or high and cockpit to 1024. You have a good performance profile for the most part, but you have a few settings that are nullifying it.. and you're also missing out on some really great visual quality. I hope you don't mind the constructive assessment.
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Unfortunately, I don't believe nVidia Control Panel settings affect VR. The key to achieving my goal of a balance between high Performance and high Quality was: VR PD = 1.2 MSAA = 2x Anisotropic Filtering = 2x Deferred Shading = ON Terrain Shadows = FLAT Cockpit Global Illumination = ON Full post: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3377438&postcount=15
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**Disregard this post and go HERE for a full thread with updated information. After a lot of research, I think I've found the sweet spot for my system. I tested in a map that I created specifically for the purpose. There are a lot of F10 radio commands you can use to add and remove assets, etc. I'll post it up in user files as soon as I tweak it a bit. MY SYSTEM: i7-5960x, 16g RAM, EVGA 1080ti FTW3, Samsung 850 pro 1Tb SSD (dedicated), Samsung 850 pro 500Gb OS drive, Oculus Rift CV1. TESTING NOTE: Before testing I deleted the files from "..\Saved Games\DCS\FXO and .\metashaders". I don't know why DCS acts up if these files aren't purged periodically, but it can make a big difference. PREFACE: I'm not going to bore you with my logic for each and every setting in the pic, as most of it is personal preference. I will say that Grass = FULL is not good for FPS, but I fly low level a lot and I think it looks sweet. Most other settings are a compromise between quality and performance. SWEET SPOT INGREDIENTS: VR PD = 1.2 MSAA = 2x Anisotropic Filtering = 2x Deferred Shading = ON Terrain Shadows = FLAT Cockpit Global Illumination = ON MSAA DISCUSSION: I know most people keep MSAA off, and I used to in VR as well, but the key is that if you lower your VR PD to 1.2, MSAA does not create a big performance hit. PD being at 1.2 has very little effect on the clarity of the gauges *as long as* you have MSAA at 2x and AF at 2x. With PD at 1.2 and MSAA off the world is jagged and the gauges are blurry. HIGH QUALITY HIGH PERFORMANCE: With the combination of PD 1.2, MSAA 2x, and AF 2x, and Deferred shading on, the graphics quality is superb and there's no lag or edge bleed in VR. My FPS is 90 in an empty NTTR map, and doesn't decrease to 45 until I have a few dozen active assets in map or fly into Vegas. My average minimum FPS is 45 stable and doesn't get lower until I throw something crazy at it (like having 5 Bones drop a few hundred MK-82s at once), and even then it only drops down to 30 for a few seconds then it's right back up to 45. I'm sure I could tweak it to maintain 90 FPS, but I'm not willing to compromise the high quality graphics. What ED has achieved really is quite breathtaking (exceeds shorn scrotum). PRELOAD RADIUS: You'll notice that my Preload Radius slider is all the way left. I've read a lot of posts recently about how people are resolving issues by decreasing this setting. I decided to investigate and retested with several values. The more I slid it back, the better my performance got. I ended up with it at minimum. Take note though, that I am using a very fast SSD which is dedicated to DCS. You may not get the same results. I would check it at 25% increments and retest. Perhaps the cache mechanism is broken right now, or was interfered with by a recent OS update.. who knows. LOW END SYSTEMS: Also, be aware that going above HIGH for Vis Range is a big performance hit, and really doesn't do much anyway. If your system isn't high end and you need to squeeze some more FPS out of it, make these settings different than mine: Vis Range = Medium Terrain Textures = Medium Heat Blur = OFF Shadows = Medium Grass = OFF Chimney Density = 1
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Do you have a link for the settings that were used for the video? I've been trying to find out what settings Wags uses for his instructional vids.. it looks so good. Anyone know if he's published them?
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Did anyone else notice that while landing on an unprepared surface in a helo the degraded visual environment is different? I couldn't see through the dust.. it was pretty awesome. Another thing that really blew me away is looking into a treeline from low level in a helo. It looks realistically dark and the deeper trees fade nicely. Smoke, dust, and fog particles are all way better from my point of view. Love the new explosions as well.. great job ED!
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Your best experience in DCS, both solo and multiplayer
StrongHarm replied to wedge_one's topic in DCS 2.9
I was just coming to start a new thread to report my best experience, which just happened. I flew an F-15 at around 1900 hours, from Rouen to Le Havre NOE on the Seine River. Yep.. that's it! I know it's crazy. I've had some great times in multiplayer and I've been flying sims since the 90s, to include ball sims when I was in the USN... but tonight flying along the Seine with Oculus Rif was the best experience I've ever had. Thanks ED! -
Flight of Icarus is a great idea! Or this: Or the dubstep version might be better for the Hornet (purists may disagree):
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NEW KA50 ??? > Ka-50Sh or Ka-50N
StrongHarm replied to Ghost_Dragon03's topic in DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark
I'm personally happy with my KA-50 as is. They've done a phenomenal job creating and refining the bird. If they decide to put effort into creating a 2 seat attack chopper, 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. -
In the missions I create, I like to try and make the environment realistic, but provide deviation for those who want it. A good example is Build Up in Patara Valley. In this mission you take off and hold pattern until SEAD reports decreased threat, then you go in and take out two mech convoys. You have the option to call off SEAD with F10 if you want to take care of it yourself from the A-10, or there are client Blacksharks available to start the mission as SEAD then move to the A-10. If you're an A-10 and in the pattern waiting for SEAD to complete, you can F2 over to Apaches and watch them take out 10 AA positions. You have F-15 cover overhead, which gets in a low level furball you can watch from the cockpit, after MIGs enter low over the mountains. There's about a 20% chance you get shot down at that point. If you F10 to take care of SEAD from the A-10, you have NAV marks at the last known locations of enemy AA assets. Two of the ten move a few clicks, so you have to deal with that. Apaches do SEAD, you say? I watched a swarm of Apaches move into the desert on the opening day of Desert Storm. It was one of the most glorious things I've ever witnessed. Do some research and you'll find that they were tasked with the opening attacks against the Iraqi radar net that controlled their air defenses. Make no mistake, the Iraqis had formidable AA and experienced operators.. just not formidable enough considering what Schwarzkopf had in store for them with Operation Secret Surprise. The Iraqis prepared for HARMs and Stealth Fighters.. instead they got an alpha strike from low level AH-64s and A-10s, and high alt precision strikes from cruise missiles launched from B-52s which had deployed from the US mainland. It was also known as Operation Secret Squirrel, which still tickles me. EDIT: We lost 28 fixed wing aircraft during ODS. 5 A-10s were lost, and ~70 took damage, during 8,775 sorties. Iraq had a modern and formidable Integrated Air Defense System they built with assistance from a French contractor, which included SA-2/3/6/7/8/9/13/14/16, I-Hawk, and ROLAND I/II SAMs. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/air-defence.htm
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Any word on when the AV8 manual will be released?
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That is not my experience. In the mission linked above I've been able to kill 16 tanks with the GAU-8 without reloading.
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I was having the same problem so I created a mission to analyze and practice tank busting. After seeing how effective it was I expanded it into a tutorial with voice overs and shared it out to the community. There's a version for both Caucasus and NTTR.
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Yep, that's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" playing in the background. Isn't that just the perfect Warthog Ready Room anthem?
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For those who trim by tapping the trim button
StrongHarm replied to PeaceSells's topic in DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark
Resist the dark side of 'all or nothing AP' and free yourself with 'AP individual axis awareness'. There is a 12 step program if you're interested... we can provide you a sponsor and pendent keychain... -
For those who trim by tapping the trim button
StrongHarm replied to PeaceSells's topic in DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark
I absolutely agree with you; *pitch and bank* 20% authority does a lot to stabilize the aircraft. HeadingAP tries to point back to the heading queue and forces people to hold the Trim when they want to make a heading change (while, simply turning HeadingAP off, making your heading change, and turning it back on alters the heading of your queue and holds it just as trim does), and AltAP makes you overuse the collective (remember that time when you had the collective overcompensated and your rotors flew to pieces when it went over that 20% authority threshold abruptly?). Since I freed myself of 'all or nothing' Blackshark AP, me and the bird have become much closer friends. -
For those who trim by tapping the trim button
StrongHarm replied to PeaceSells's topic in DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark
I'm proposing that maybe they don't activate the HeadingAP and AltAP channels unless they want to lock in heading and alt parameters. I fly like this and it seems very natural. But of course, I'm just speculating as we all are. Not that the AP channels of the Blackshark should be equated to AP in fixed wing aircraft, but in a loose comparison the AP channels of the F-15 are also not on the HOTAS. Was it bad design to place the AP controls on the right horizontal panel? Yeah, probably. But as in other aircraft, those channels probably won't be used in dynamic situations where heavy maneuvers are required. I actually use the emergency AP release when performing evasive maneuvers such as with incoming missiles. The four channels are bound to the directions of my WH HOTAS CounterMeasures hat, and emergency release is CounterMeasures push. When I have incoming ATM, hitting AP release has saved my digital bacon more than once. The bird becomes ultra agile no channels engaged of course. In a non-evasive non-threat flight profile, while NOE for instance, the alt and heading channels really aren't that useful, whereas pitch and bank are helpful for stabilization. I would go as far as to say that most of the time if I'm using Heading and Alt AP I'm probably also in an autohover/autotarget profile, or in Auto Route. My speculation is that the real pilots of this bird might do the same thing, whereas we in the sim community see autopilot as an 'all or nothing' scenario because of habits carried over from fixed wing autopilot. -
For those who trim by tapping the trim button
StrongHarm replied to PeaceSells's topic in DCS: Ka-50 Black Shark
Can I propose that the reason some of us speculate that the AP/Trim/Cyclic may be unrealistic is because we're not using it realistically? To my earlier post; once I started turning off the *AP heading channel* to make a *heading change* rather than *resetting trim* just to change a single axis, things started feeling perfectly normal and realistic. It took some getting used to, and it wasn't easy to wrap my head around it because I was so dependent on the trim reset, but once it clicked for me it then seemed like the only logical choice and it became clear to me that I was doing it wrong before. Holding trim reset to change heading now seems equally as silly to me as continuously holding the autohover button whenever I don't want to hover. Likewise, if I'm rapidly changing flight profile, such as when I'm terrain masking to get on target, I'll turn on flight director.. or more often just leave the HeadingAP and AltAP channels off. With the channels bound to my HOTAS it feels natural and I've become a much better Blackshark pilot. Now, I can't speak to whether this is *the realistic way* or not.. but I know the Blackshark became much more enjoyable after I weaned myself off of the Trim Reset button.