Collective lag?

[Apocalypse31]

Just picked up the UH-1, and surprisingly I was able to jump right in (cheat) start and fly around. While I'm not as good of a pilot as I am in ArmA, I dont think I'm doing that bad...for a DCS beginner.

 

My only issue is that the in-game collective feels much different than ArmA, in that it is somewhat laggy - what I mean is that when I make adjustments there's usually a few seconds between making the adjustment and seeing the adjustment take place. This makes things like precision landing nearly impossible. In ArmA, when I adjust the collective, the aircraft immediately responds to my touch and there's never any 'sudden drop', so to speak.

 

On the other hand, I will sometimes make collective adjustments in DCS and my aircraft will suddenly start plummeting out of the sky - even small adjustments. I've also noticed that the aircraft won't lift off of the ground at anything below 90% collective, but will then rocket into the atmosphere.

 

I'm currently using a Logitech Extreme 3d PRO, with my collective mapped to my #5 and #3 keys. I prefer not to use the slider, because its not comfortable, and seems wonky at times.

 

Is there any way to adjust the collective - to make it more like ArmA - tighter control over the collective?

[Socket7]

That's because ArmA is not going for any sort of realistic flight model, and DCS is aiming to be as accurate a simulation as possible.

 

You would be FAR better off using the throttle for your collective on the extreme 3d Pro. As someone who's spent hundreds of hours flying helicopters in DCS, I cannot imagine trying to use the collective via key presses. It requires constant fine manipulation that you cannot do with key presses.

 

I don't even think that putting it in game mode instead of simulation mode will accomplish what you want, but I could be wrong on that.

[Cykyrios]

I don't know what helicopters you fly in Arma, but unless you're using the advanced flight model, Arma's helicopters are pretty unrealistic, with collective acting as an altitude control rather than actually controlling the collective pitch of the rotor blades.

 

Helicopters can require substantial collective adjustments for some maneuvers, and this is especially true when you slow down to get in a hover: you can easily reach 80% collective when out of ground effect.

A simple way to check this in Arma is to simply pitch up slightly to slow down, and you will stop with no issues after some time, without even using the collective (unless that has changed, I haven't played Arma in a while).

 

You basically cannot have the collective in DCS act as it does in Arma, and the only way to emulate that would be to constantly adjust collective to get similar behavior. If you haven't already, try Arma's advanced flight model, as it should be closer to what DCS does.

[javelina1]

As Socket said use the throttle for the collective. (not your keyboard keys). DCS is an accurate simulation. Enjoy, (and yes, it'll take a bit of practice to become comfortable with the controls).

[Apocalypse31]

Initially I used the collective throttle on the Logitech. It's a pain in the butt because you have to physically reach across your body to control the throttle.

 

I will relook it, try to tweak it so that one little movement doesn't turn me into a flaming lawn dart.

 

However, I still feel that there's input delay with the collective. I find it hard to believe that there's delay on collective adjustments in real life. Maybe I'm wrong. Never piloted a RW, only a passenger.

[Cibit]

Might be worth checking your axis tune. You look at torque dial or rotor blade pitch dial you see instant change corresponding to the change in collective setting. No lag that I can detect

[Apocalypse31]

Might be worth checking your axis tune. You look at torque dial or rotor blade pitch dial you see instant change corresponding to the change in collective setting. No lag that I can detect

 

Re-keyed collective to manual throttle on my Logitech and tweaked the curve a bit (20).

 

Works like a charm, but damn, the Huey is a sensitive bird that requires constant collective management.

[Nerd1000]

All helicopters require constant adjustment to stay in the air. Modern ones seem more steady because they have stability augmentation systems in the controls that damp out most oscillations. That kind of tech is not present on our '70s era Huey. Its all up to the pilot.

[bxlplk]

You might be running into Vortex Ring State, it will drop your helicopter right out of the sky if you're flying too slow without enough lift. You might be confusing that with a sensitive collective. But, yeah, even knowing that, the Huey collective is insanely sensitive. I built my own collective just so I could have the extra travel distance to make finer grained inputs.

 

[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZYMkG63cJU]Here's a video on the DCS Huey from an ARMA pilot that I found extremely helpful. [/ame]

[scrtagnt69]

Practice Practice Practice Die Die Die Practice some more is the winning formula..lol

Welcome aboard A31.

[Apocalypse31]

Found a huge issue on my part today, regarding the Logitech ExPro3d and the collective throttle.

 

The default calibration only uses the upper 50% of the throttle. Up until today I was using only a small bit of the throttle to control collective. It made even minor adjustments huge in-game corrections.

 

I went ahead and recalibrated using the entire throttle knob and now collective adjustments are much easier.

 

Also, been flying the hell out of the bird. Finding that the cyclic of the UH1 responds very similar to a fixed wing aircraft in that I can control vertical movement using cyclic more, with less adjustments to collective.