Getting myself ready to come back

[SparxOne]

Hello people,

 

Am writing this thread as i have a few things to talk about, i am a long time member, started playing this game back when it was still called Lock-On, loved it since that day, really enjoyed the modern simulation it gave us !

 

Since Lock-On changed to DCS World, i kinda had moved away already because life, simply. I was still keeping in touch with the evolution of the game once in a while, because i knew i'd properly get back into it someday or the other, and that day has come, or is soon to come may i say ;)

 

A long awaited plane i've always wanted to fly (F-16) is finally in the works, and that really was the call for me, i cannot retain myself anymore ;) So yes, i will be buying the plane sometime before autumn, more a matter of when rather than if.

 

Quite a few things keeping me from getting back properly in the game at the moment, first of, my current computer specs simply not up to date, kind of killing it for me in terms of quality it brings, than the modules i own, too few, or at least not ones in which i am motivated enough to spend the time needed to master them the way i want it.

 

I am planning on doing a major upgrade of my PC by the end of August or sometime in September, thus allowing me to run the game properly with it ;)

 

Second thing i'm planning on doing which will happen in the following days, is to buy a few modules with the current summer sale going on (Planning on getting Nevada Map and Guld of Oman Map), and maybe go for the F-5 as a trainer i'd like to use before getting my hands on the F-16 since i have very poor experience all in all flying DCS (Been too long since i flew in Lock-On).

 

I've been watching so many videos recently of people flying in multiplayer and it really makes me wanna join on those servers, seems so much fun from the moment you can master a certain plane !

 

I own a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick and have owned it for years, really has worked well for all the simulators i own but am asking myself whether or not will it be good enough to fly a proper plane like the F-16 when it's out ? Is it really that more effective to fly the planes in DCS with what seems to be the most common setup people own nowadays ? (The Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS).

 

Am really excited for what's to come and being able to truly get back in the game with my special favorite plane coming out ;)

 

Anything you guys can advise me, tips that could direct me in terms of hardware or whatever you guys feel is important to know as a whole ?

 

Thanks for reading me !

[dawgie79]

Only advice I can give you; get the Hornet in stead of the Tiger. That way you don't have a steep learning curve anymore once the Viper is released into EA. They share a lot of the same weapons and sensors.

[mj3437]

The Sidewinder is an awesome stick but seriously short on buttons. Look into a throttle also.

MJ

[Py]

I have both of those sticks, and while the sidewinder is good for somethings, the warthog is much better for complex planes like the A-10C, F/A-18, and F-16.

 

The force feedback is good for warbirds and helicopters, but when you want to fly precisely eg for A-A refueling or CCIP bombing it has problems.

The centering force drops to zero close to the centre and there is a small hardware deadzone that you can't turn off, so there is some wobble in the middle where the stick does nothing.

When you need to do a fine adjustment, I find I have to do tiny quick jerks out of the dead zone instead of a smooth adjustment like you can do with the warthog.

It is really much more precise to use.

 

The number of buttons is also a problem.

With the sidewinder in the F/A-18, I have to quadriple map each button and hat switch (normal plus combo with shift/ctrl/alt) to get enough buttons.

With the warthog there are enough buttons to map everything properly, including the ones on the throttle.

Basically, get the warthog :)

 

Do you have trackIR (or similar)?

That is the most important thing to get, even more important than the stick in my opinion unless you decide to go VR.

That's another thing to consider...

[SparxOne]

The Sidewinder is an awesome stick but seriously short on buttons. Look into a throttle also.

MJ

 

Thanks for your feedback, see next quote for my thoughts on it :p

 

I have both of those sticks, and while the sidewinder is good for somethings, the warthog is much better for complex planes like the A-10C, F/A-18, and F-16.

 

The force feedback is good for warbirds and helicopters, but when you want to fly precisely eg for A-A refueling or CCIP bombing it has problems.

The centering force drops to zero close to the centre and there is a small hardware deadzone that you can't turn off, so there is some wobble in the middle where the stick does nothing.

When you need to do a fine adjustment, I find I have to do tiny quick jerks out of the dead zone instead of a smooth adjustment like you can do with the warthog.

It is really much more precise to use.

 

The number of buttons is also a problem.

With the sidewinder in the F/A-18, I have to quadriple map each button and hat switch (normal plus combo with shift/ctrl/alt) to get enough buttons.

With the warthog there are enough buttons to map everything properly, including the ones on the throttle.

Basically, get the warthog :)

 

Do you have trackIR (or similar)?

That is the most important thing to get, even more important than the stick in my opinion unless you decide to go VR.

That's another thing to consider...

 

Thanks for the indepth reply ! It really gives me an idea of what to expect at least now ;) I really would love to own a proper joystick like the Warthog, i saw one that looked similar, i think it is the Virpil (Your thoughts on that one ?). BUT, the problem once again is price, i have a very set budget and can't allow myself more, the money i currently have is fully going into the new computer, didn't spare money for anything else, and i always thought the Sidewinder would do the job even though not the best for a complex jet, i'm now considering it even more as i really want the best experience straight from the start :p

 

Talking about TrackIR, no i do not own it but was actually thinking of getting it too as a lot of people have already recommended it to me outside the forum :) Good thing about it is it remains quite cheap compared to buying a new Joystick ;) So i could somehow afford that in the short term :) Just to get back on the Joystick quick, if i were to buy a setup, i'd have to buy the stick and throttle piece, both of them together are worth around 400-500€, that's a lot unfortunately, and i thought it was wiser to invest that money into the new computer itself rather than the joystick since i already own one (Even thought not the best).

 

Thanks again for reading me :)

 

Only advice I can give you; get the Hornet in stead of the Tiger. That way you don't have a steep learning curve anymore once the Viper is released into EA. They share a lot of the same weapons and sensors.

 

Well thought indeed, couldn't go against that, only thing retaining me at the moment is the price of the F-18, a bit expensive for my budget, plus i thought the F-5 was a good idea in the way that it was a fun little "easy" jet to use whenever i needed something different from a complex jet, plus the fact that i'd own a vietnam era jet for future use (Who knows what ED will bring us in that era for the future). But i'll think about it now :)

[CBStu]

I've been back a little less than a year. I bought a cheap stick and headset at office depot. Headset is fine, the stick crap. I upgraded the stick to a VKB Sim Gladiator. This is a really well made stick for $99. It has a throttle and twist for the rudder so it can do it all. The only negative to it is the throttle is a small lever w/ maybe 1 1/4 inch of travel. When I started getting serious about carrier traps, I found it just too difficult to make tiny adjustments. Works fine for every other type of flying. I upgraded to a Warthog throttle which is wonderful but lots of $. I also have TrackIR and can't recommend it strongly enough. I'd dump the throttle before I'd dump TIR. One side benefit of TIR is it free's up a lot of button usage by taking the place of at least 12 of them. I also fly XP and another bene of TIR is it works the same for both. Previously I had to remember two sets of buttons because the view buttons are not all the same between XP and DCS. I agree w/ you on your PC upgrade but would look carefully at what you really need there. Mine is a 6 yr old Dell w/ i7-3770CPU, 16G memory, AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 GPU so far from the top. As long as I watch graphics settings I run the FA18 at 30-35 fps which is fine. Just saying 'maybe' you can back off on the PC for a little while. OTOH, w/ my PCs age, I am going to replace it in the next 3 months. I have looked at upgrading the HD to SSD, better GPU, etc but the whole thing is old enough, I could spent $500 on upgrades and then have something else die and the $500 would be gone. Good luck and welcome.

[dawgie79]

Thanks for your feedback, see next quote for my thoughts on it :p

 

 

 

Thanks for the indepth reply ! It really gives me an idea of what to expect at least now ;) I really would love to own a proper joystick like the Warthog, i saw one that looked similar, i think it is the Virpil (Your thoughts on that one ?). BUT, the problem once again is price, i have a very set budget and can't allow myself more, the money i currently have is fully going into the new computer, didn't spare money for anything else, and i always thought the Sidewinder would do the job even though not the best for a complex jet, i'm now considering it even more as i really want the best experience straight from the start :p

 

Talking about TrackIR, no i do not own it but was actually thinking of getting it too as a lot of people have already recommended it to me outside the forum :) Good thing about it is it remains quite cheap compared to buying a new Joystick ;) So i could somehow afford that in the short term :) Just to get back on the Joystick quick, if i were to buy a setup, i'd have to buy the stick and throttle piece, both of them together are worth around 400-500€, that's a lot unfortunately, and i thought it was wiser to invest that money into the new computer itself rather than the joystick since i already own one (Even thought not the best).

 

Thanks again for reading me :)

 

 

 

Well thought indeed, couldn't go against that, only thing retaining me at the moment is the price of the F-18, a bit expensive for my budget, plus i thought the F-5 was a good idea in the way that it was a fun little "easy" jet to use whenever i needed something different from a complex jet, plus the fact that i'd own a vietnam era jet for future use (Who knows what ED will bring us in that era for the future). But i'll think about it now :)

You could go for the A-10C in stead, it has TGP and smart bombs you would also find on a Viper. But no radar nor it's capable of AA combat (it can carry AIM-9s but in no way it's a fighter of course). The F-5 in that regard is an old bird, nothing wrong with that by the way. ;)

 

Regarding Virpil: I have their WarBRD base with stick and MT-50 throttle. Great stuff, built like a tank and all metal, the base is customizable too in terms of spring force and center cams. Bit expensive though, but really worth it!

 

TrackIR is a must on a monitor, but there are much cheaper DIY solutions. Search Input/Output for examples and more info on that. If you really want to be in it, go VR. But, even more expensive because you need a powerful system to run it decent.

[mj3437]

This what I use and it works very well.

https://www.trackhat.org/

MJ

[Py]

I haven't tried any Virpal products myself, but have heard they are good.

The brand doesn't really matter, as long as it has enough buttons and people who have it have said the quality is good.

Personally, I prefer to save up and get the best rather than buy something "ok", because I will eventually get sick of the "ok" one and buy the best as well, costing more overall.

 

You'll definitely need a good throttle too, as I've heard the F-16 is very HOTAS integrated.

Perhaps you can find a used warthog stick+throttle?

 

You've said you're putting a lot of money into the computer, maybe if you post what you plan on getting people can recommend you alternative parts that may be cheaper.

 

As for modules, it depends on what you are most interested in.

Single player or multiplayer or both?

Air-air or air-ground or both?

 

The summer sale lasts for another week, so now would be a good time to buy.

The F-5 is ok, depending what you want to do with it.

Personally I think the F/A-18 is the most interesting at the moment as it is very versatile, but as you said is a bit expensive.

The A-10 that someone suggested is good fun (though very slow), but only if you have a good throttle+stick setup with lots of buttons, preferably the warthog ones.

Perhaps the AV-8B harrier? It is currently $35 on sale and is good for air-ground but not air-air.

[Eldur]

The force feedback is good for warbirds and helicopters, but when you want to fly precisely eg for A-A refueling or CCIP bombing it has problems.

The centering force drops to zero close to the centre and there is a small hardware deadzone that you can't turn off, so there is some wobble in the middle where the stick does nothing.

When you need to do a fine adjustment, I find I have to do tiny quick jerks out of the dead zone instead of a smooth adjustment like you can do with the warthog.

It is really much more precise to use.

 

 

I never have had these problems with The Best Stick In The World. On the other hoof, I found it totally impossible to fly precisely with the TMWH thanks to it's utterly hard spring which makes any precise movements around the centre literally impossible. It's a nightmare for me at least which is why I don't use it... but the throttle unit is something I wouldn't wanna miss. Alas, I generally recommend the TMWH with MFG Crosswinds, especially for people who never had the FFB experience. Be aware though that neither the TMWH nor the awesome Virpil and VKB sticks have a rudder axis. The FFB2 does have that still and a set of pedals is some more bucks to take into account in order to get flying. I'd never recommend doing that without a rudder axis.

 

Once there's a true FFB (not that over-expensive Brunner thing with it's own tech which doesn't even support DCS) base, I'll probably switch over to the WH with that.

 

 

@OP: TrackIR is a must. Or a fancy VR HMD instead.

 

 

As for modules: The F-5E is easy to learn and it's a great asset, you wouldn't do anything wrong with it. For the same price tag you could get the Viggen (totally AG, not too hard to get into either), the Mirage (more AA than AG, has some complexity), the Harrier (AG focussed, also more complex) or the MiG-21 (both AA and AG, looks more complex than it is).

You should definately get the PG map. NTTR if you like is great as well.

[pickafivestring]

@SparxOne

 

 

One thing about you're current joystick. If you do go with the F-18, there are no toggle options to help us out. Because it's "not realistic", you cannot conserve stick buttons by having a sensor cycle option, or a weapon cycle option. Everything, and I mean everything needs its own button. If you don't have a Warthog, or at the minimum a X-56, you are screwed. Plan on a lot of keyboard work then.

 

 

Tim

[Snowy55]

I second the Trackhat suggestion by MJ. I actually prefer it to TrackIR and it is less expensive as well. It needs an hour or two to set up but is well worth it in my opinion. Like CBStu I can also recommend the VKB-Sim Gladiator Mk II. I expect it will be part of my setup for some time. It is doing well for me with my WWII modules and is quite ok with the F/A 18 until my Virpil throttle arrives but I have much to come to grips with on that bird. I may get a second joystick that is more suited to modern jets at some point. The Gladiator also has a twist for rudders should you not have separate rudder pedals at this stage or not want to use them. The Trackhat and Gladiator may help keep costs down without compromising in quality. My son uses the Thrustmaster T16000M and matching throttle and likes that combo. I had just a T16000M for many years and it served me well. VR is the next big thing of course but I recommend some form of head tracking solution as a near must have and over a separate throttle or rudder pedals. That is just my opinion of course. I highly recommend the F/A 18 module and have the F16 on pre-order. I recommend getting just one module and learning it well before getting more modules. I got a number then the summer sale came along. I am banking most of them for later. Exciting times!

[SparxOne]

I've been back a little less than a year. I bought a cheap stick and headset at office depot. Headset is fine, the stick crap. I upgraded the stick to a VKB Sim Gladiator. This is a really well made stick for $99. It has a throttle and twist for the rudder so it can do it all. The only negative to it is the throttle is a small lever w/ maybe 1 1/4 inch of travel. When I started getting serious about carrier traps, I found it just too difficult to make tiny adjustments. Works fine for every other type of flying. I upgraded to a Warthog throttle which is wonderful but lots of $. I also have TrackIR and can't recommend it strongly enough. I'd dump the throttle before I'd dump TIR. One side benefit of TIR is it free's up a lot of button usage by taking the place of at least 12 of them. I also fly XP and another bene of TIR is it works the same for both. Previously I had to remember two sets of buttons because the view buttons are not all the same between XP and DCS. I agree w/ you on your PC upgrade but would look carefully at what you really need there. Mine is a 6 yr old Dell w/ i7-3770CPU, 16G memory, AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 GPU so far from the top. As long as I watch graphics settings I run the FA18 at 30-35 fps which is fine. Just saying 'maybe' you can back off on the PC for a little while. OTOH, w/ my PCs age, I am going to replace it in the next 3 months. I have looked at upgrading the HD to SSD, better GPU, etc but the whole thing is old enough, I could spent $500 on upgrades and then have something else die and the $500 would be gone. Good luck and welcome.

 

Thanks for the feedback ! Good to know there is something out there in the market for relatively cheap, indeed the rudder integration to the joystick seems a good addon to any kind of jooystick as it allows to save up on a set of pedals.

 

On the TrackIR part, seems like i will definitely have to buy a set, everyone is hardly recommending it :p

 

PCwise i'll talk about it in one of the following quotes :)

 

Thanks to you though :)

 

You could go for the A-10C in stead, it has TGP and smart bombs you would also find on a Viper. But no radar nor it's capable of AA combat (it can carry AIM-9s but in no way it's a fighter of course). The F-5 in that regard is an old bird, nothing wrong with that by the way. ;)

 

Regarding Virpil: I have their WarBRD base with stick and MT-50 throttle. Great stuff, built like a tank and all metal, the base is customizable too in terms of spring force and center cams. Bit expensive though, but really worth it!

 

TrackIR is a must on a monitor, but there are much cheaper DIY solutions. Search Input/Output for examples and more info on that. If you really want to be in it, go VR. But, even more expensive because you need a powerful system to run it decent.

 

About the A-10C, an interesting plane i cannot lie, but unfortunately not for me, i'm more into AA before AG, something i really enjoy about the upcoming F-16, it is built for AA but has had with time a very good ability to be used as AG (F-18 is the same on that note). Yes the F-5 is older but has some cool usage, old style AA and old style AG, Vietnam era, just has something to it attracting me when i feel the need to fly relaxed if i may say :p

 

The Virpil setup even though expensive really stands out to me, i'll have to find a way to either get that or at least the Thrustmaster Warthog, sooner or later, but they seem essential now :p

 

I will be getting TrackIR, no doubt about that, will have a look around for what's there on the marked and what suits my budget and quality ;)

 

I haven't tried any Virpal products myself, but have heard they are good.

The brand doesn't really matter, as long as it has enough buttons and people who have it have said the quality is good.

Personally, I prefer to save up and get the best rather than buy something "ok", because I will eventually get sick of the "ok" one and buy the best as well, costing more overall.

 

You'll definitely need a good throttle too, as I've heard the F-16 is very HOTAS integrated.

Perhaps you can find a used warthog stick+throttle?

 

You've said you're putting a lot of money into the computer, maybe if you post what you plan on getting people can recommend you alternative parts that may be cheaper.

 

As for modules, it depends on what you are most interested in.

Single player or multiplayer or both?

Air-air or air-ground or both?

 

The summer sale lasts for another week, so now would be a good time to buy.

The F-5 is ok, depending what you want to do with it.

Personally I think the F/A-18 is the most interesting at the moment as it is very versatile, but as you said is a bit expensive.

The A-10 that someone suggested is good fun (though very slow), but only if you have a good throttle+stick setup with lots of buttons, preferably the warthog ones.

Perhaps the AV-8B harrier? It is currently $35 on sale and is good for air-ground but not air-air.

 

Let me give you the parts i'm planning on getting (Even though not final decision) :

CPU : Depending on the overall budget i've set myself i'd like to go for one of the new AMD CPU's, smallest one i'd go for would be the 3700X and best if i can afford it would be the 3900X

 

GPU : Would like to go for an RTX 2080Ti but the prices are killing me, but on that note, i really want the best out there even if expensive, something that will last me a good few years.

 

RAM : 32GB DDR4 running at 3200Mhz

 

SSD : Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 (1To)

 

Motherboard : Anything that can handle my CPU, GPU, SSD and RAM while being able to handle a CPU overclock maybe in the future.

 

I wanted to get a new screen too and go for a double screen setup that a few friends hardly recommended to me, but a new screen (27" @ 2K resolution) is no less than 200€...

 

So yeah, all in all, my current budget for all of that is about 2200-2300€, very hard to squeeze anything in as i've already checked around a few sellers :cry::helpsmilie:

 

Talking about modules, i must say that i'm more into something that will be used in Multiplayer on the long run while being fun to use for personnal created scenarios and being something very versatile in terms of AA and AG ->F-16 or F-18 ? Already planning for the F-16 without a doubt so yeah :pilotfly:

If there was one plane i'd buy right now to could suit what i'm looking for it would be the F-18, but since i'm already going to buy the F-16 which is more or less going to work the same way, i find it a bit of a waist of money to buy the F-18 and investing my time learning it when i'll be spending all my time on the F-16 when it's out :music_whistling:

 

I never have had these problems with The Best Stick In The World. On the other hoof, I found it totally impossible to fly precisely with the TMWH thanks to it's utterly hard spring which makes any precise movements around the centre literally impossible. It's a nightmare for me at least which is why I don't use it... but the throttle unit is something I wouldn't wanna miss. Alas, I generally recommend the TMWH with MFG Crosswinds, especially for people who never had the FFB experience. Be aware though that neither the TMWH nor the awesome Virpil and VKB sticks have a rudder axis. The FFB2 does have that still and a set of pedals is some more bucks to take into account in order to get flying. I'd never recommend doing that without a rudder axis.

 

Once there's a true FFB (not that over-expensive Brunner thing with it's own tech which doesn't even support DCS) base, I'll probably switch over to the WH with that.

 

 

@OP: TrackIR is a must. Or a fancy VR HMD instead.

 

 

As for modules: The F-5E is easy to learn and it's a great asset, you wouldn't do anything wrong with it. For the same price tag you could get the Viggen (totally AG, not too hard to get into either), the Mirage (more AA than AG, has some complexity), the Harrier (AG focussed, also more complex) or the MiG-21 (both AA and AG, looks more complex than it is).

You should definately get the PG map. NTTR if you like is great as well.

 

Maybe my only choice for now would be to keep my current Joystick and invest later this year in a proper setup ? I guess i'll have to deal with the key combinations for the time being but at least having a joystick to use ?!? :) Thing is, if i invest into a new joystick, i want something really good straight from the start, that would either be the TMWH or Virpil, but i can't see myself spending less than 400€ for all that :x The force feedback is really something that came with the Sidewinder i own, nothing i really wanna keep, just that my joystick has it but wouldn't be a must for me to keep in the future ;)

 

Like said previously, i feel the F-5 is something that i could see myself having fun in until the F-16 comes out and allows me to go much more indepth with a complex plane, not mentionning the AA and AG capabilities of the F-5 that seem fun and somehow able to do both quite well for its era :) For the maps, reason i'm going for both of them is first of the fact that i wanna be able to fly on as many multiplayer server as possible, therefore needing the maps in some cases. Second, i feel like NTTR is a must in terms of training playground for an F-16, it simply is so realistic to fly it over there as i'll train myself in it :p Than about the Guld of Oman, just seems like a good map to create interesting combat scenarios or simply fly in multiplayer servers with lots of action :)

 

@SparxOne

 

 

One thing about you're current joystick. If you do go with the F-18, there are no toggle options to help us out. Because it's "not realistic", you cannot conserve stick buttons by having a sensor cycle option, or a weapon cycle option. Everything, and I mean everything needs its own button. If you don't have a Warthog, or at the minimum a X-56, you are screwed. Plan on a lot of keyboard work then.

 

 

Tim

 

I understand you, definitely is something i'm now considering for the future, might not be able to get one at the release of the F-16 but at least i'll have something to fly it with for the time being :) Even though i'll have to go through the hasle of keybinds etc ;)

[SparxOne]

I second the Trackhat suggestion by MJ. I actually prefer it to TrackIR and it is less expensive as well. It needs an hour or two to set up but is well worth it in my opinion. Like CBStu I can also recommend the VKB-Sim Gladiator Mk II. I expect it will be part of my setup for some time. It is doing well for me with my WWII modules and is quite ok with the F/A 18 until my Virpil throttle arrives but I have much to come to grips with on that bird. I may get a second joystick that is more suited to modern jets at some point. The Gladiator also has a twist for rudders should you not have separate rudder pedals at this stage or not want to use them. The Trackhat and Gladiator may help keep costs down without compromising in quality. My son uses the Thrustmaster T16000M and matching throttle and likes that combo. I had just a T16000M for many years and it served me well. VR is the next big thing of course but I recommend some form of head tracking solution as a near must have and over a separate throttle or rudder pedals. That is just my opinion of course. I highly recommend the F/A 18 module and have the F16 on pre-order. I recommend getting just one module and learning it well before getting more modules. I got a number then the summer sale came along. I am banking most of them for later. Exciting times!

 

Hey thanks for the feedback, very good infos you're giving me there, will definitely keep that in my head for later, unfortunately money is the only thing blocking me at this point, and that will be the blocker in terms of decision of what is bought and what not, on the long run i hope to be able and invest into all those proper setups, but that time will wait for now :)

 

Thanks

[0414 Wee Neal]

Hi

 

regarding the hardware, personally I would go for an RTX2080, use your current monitor, which will save you £500. That will leave you enough for an Oculus Rift S and more fun than you could dream off with your clothes on!

 

Neal

[dawgie79]

About the A-10C, an interesting plane i cannot lie, but unfortunately not for me, i'm more into AA before AG, something i really enjoy about the upcoming F-16, it is built for AA but has had with time a very good ability to be used as AG (F-18 is the same on that note). Yes the F-5 is older but has some cool usage, old style AA and old style AG, Vietnam era, just has something to it attracting me when i feel the need to fly relaxed if i may say :p

True that, F-5, whilst I don't own it is a nice plane which I'll definitely will own some day. ;)

 

But still, consider this: The F/A-18C comes with carrier ops, which is very enjoyable itself. Especially with the new Nimitz carrier module coming up in the near future! Almost a must have in my humble opinion. :)

[Py]

regarding the hardware, personally I would go for an RTX2080, use your current monitor, which will save you £500.

 

Apparently the RTX2080 Super will be coming out soon, with better performance but the same price as the RTX2080.

 

I agree keep your current monitor for now, don't get a second.

After a while you may decide to go for VR anyway...

[SparxOne]

Hi

 

regarding the hardware, personally I would go for an RTX2080, use your current monitor, which will save you £500. That will leave you enough for an Oculus Rift S and more fun than you could dream off with your clothes on!

 

Neal

 

Thing is, the major reason i'm so stubborn into buying the 2080Ti is because i also play many other games, and some of them are very ressource hungry (Arma 3 for exemple), i know for a fact and from many benchmarks that the 2080Ti is simply the best at the moment, it is so powerful it can handle everything, even though being so expensive, the real downside of coarse, but since that GPU is the only one of its category, it's hard to choose anything else :noexpression:

For the monitor, i could actually sacrifice that no prob, buy a second one in the future when finances allows it :P But for the VR set, i'm really not planning on getting that anytime soon, i've talked about it quite largely to a friend of mine working in the videogame industry, he's very well up to date in that domain and has tried/used quite a few different VR sets, from the conversation i feel it would be wiser to wait a few years before jumping in, as of now the investment doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

True that, F-5, whilst I don't own it is a nice plane which I'll definitely will own some day. ;)

 

But still, consider this: The F/A-18C comes with carrier ops, which is very enjoyable itself. Especially with the new Nimitz carrier module coming up in the near future! Almost a must have in my humble opinion. :)

 

I do agree that the F-18 with the whole carrier operations is an undeniable plus side ! Especially knowing that there is proper carrier module coming up ! I just don't see myself going for it since like said previously, i will own the F-16 and wanna master it before anything, i will spend 90% of my time flying it when playing DCS, learning a plane like them is time consuming and doesn't easily allow to master 2 planes of that complexity, and since the F-16 is truly the one attracting me, it would be a shame to buy a 60€ module to not even master and fly it often :/

 

Apparently the RTX2080 Super will be coming out soon, with better performance but the same price as the RTX2080.

 

I agree keep your current monitor for now, don't get a second.

After a while you may decide to go for VR anyway...

 

Yes i will wait and see how good those new cards actually perform, maybe i could change my mind, even though i doubt it :P

 

Answered the second part already a bit further up :)

[SparxOne]

Back to you guys with a little question, i've been looking around for a set a new Joystick and Throttle lever, the Virpils are really looking neat ! I think i wanna go for them...

 

So here is what i'm currently eyeing out ;) Your thoughts ?

 

Grip : https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-vfx-grip.html

Base : https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-warbrd-base.html

Thottle : https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-mongoost-50cm-throttle.html

 

This setup would allow me to spare money on a set of rudder pedals, as apparently the grip allows yaw axis ! To be honest the pedals themselves is actually something i don't fancy much, so if i can skip them, i'd be happy with that :)

Now the thing is, the Grip i like the most doesn't allow Yaw Axis

-> https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-mongoost-50cm2-grip.html

Kinda sad because that one really had tons of buttons compared to the one i had to select...

[dawgie79]

You can always use an axis on the throttle for rudder inputs. Like the volume-like knobs, or the lever on top. That way you can go for the MT-50CM grip if you prefer that one more.

[Py]

They look pretty nice, but doesn't that add up to more than the cost of a warthog HOTAS?

 

If you go for those, I would get the grip you like most.

You're not going to have enough buttons on the other one.

The rudder is going to be the least used of your controls flying the F-16, a cheapo set of rudders or even the keyboard or a throttle switch would work.

Make sure you are completely happy with the stick+throttle because you will be using them for many years!

[hansangb]

Another option to overcome the lack of buttons (if you're not going to buy the Virpils). VoiceAttack and Vaicomm gives you the ability to say the commands so you can overcome the limitation of lack of buttons.

[SparxOne]

You can always use an axis on the throttle for rudder inputs. Like the volume-like knobs, or the lever on top. That way you can go for the MT-50CM grip if you prefer that one more.

 

Sounds like a solution, but isn't that a bit strange when you need to use some yaw while flying ?

 

They look pretty nice, but doesn't that add up to more than the cost of a warthog HOTAS?

 

If you go for those, I would get the grip you like most.

You're not going to have enough buttons on the other one.

The rudder is going to be the least used of your controls flying the F-16, a cheapo set of rudders or even the keyboard or a throttle switch would work.

Make sure you are completely happy with the stick+throttle because you will be using them for many years!

 

Yes the price is definitely high, didn't make the calculation but i'm almost certain it's more expensive than the Warthog HOTAS.

 

The grip i like the most definitely has all the buttons needed, probably even more than what is needed especially combined with all the buttons on the throttle lever too :P But the lack of yaw axis really puts me off even though it is indeed possible to use something else as the axis, but making it very counter intuitive no ? Plus the fact that not being able to control the intensity of the yaw axis is just wrong to me, if i were to use buttons to yaw, it would be like going from 0% axis to 100% as soon you press the button, the taxiing must look quite funny if done like that :P Analogue yaw feels much better and smoother :)

 

After reading your comment i thought about it for a bit, relooked both the sticks and came to the conclusion that with all the buttons available on the throttle lever already, a few missing on the stick couldn't render the experience that bad, at least not from what i could imagine, hopefully i'm not wrong :)

All in all, i prefer sacrificing a few buttons and have the yaw axis rather than the opposite :)

 

Another option to overcome the lack of buttons (if you're not going to buy the Virpils). VoiceAttack and Vaicomm gives you the ability to say the commands so you can overcome the limitation of lack of buttons.

 

Indeed that is something to keep in mind, could do with that if the situation calls it :)

Thanks

[Py]

<axis on throttle for yaw> Sounds like a solution, but isn't that a bit strange when you need to use some yaw while flying ?

 

I'm assuming that flying the F-16 will be similar to the F/A-18, where you barely ever use the yaw axis in flight. You mainly need it for taxiing and staying on the runway for takeoff and landing.

You can use it it assist in very low-speed maneuvering eg during a dogfight near stall, but at any decent speed it does almost nothing.

If you want to fly the F-14 or warbirds things are different and the rudder is much more important.

 

But the lack of yaw axis really puts me off even though it is indeed possible to use something else as the axis, but making it very counter intuitive no ? Plus the fact that not being able to control the intensity of the yaw axis is just wrong to me, if i were to use buttons to yaw, it would be like going from 0% axis to 100% as soon you press the button, the taxiing must look quite funny if done like that :P Analogue yaw feels much better and smoother :)

Actually it works quite well. The wheels/rudder don't turn instantly, they have a certain slew rate.

So eg to taxi at 50% you hold the button for a bit, maybe 0.5s until the wheel reaches 60%, then keep tapping it regularly to maintain the turn.

It doesn't oscillate 0%-100% as you're thinking, it would be more like 40%-60%.

Not smooth like an analogue axis for sure, but very manageable.

 

After reading your comment i thought about it for a bit, relooked both the sticks and came to the conclusion that with all the buttons available on the throttle lever already, a few missing on the stick couldn't render the experience that bad, at least not from what i could imagine, hopefully i'm not wrong :)

All in all, i prefer sacrificing a few buttons and have the yaw axis rather than the opposite :)

 

In my opinion, a good HOTAS setup is MUCH more important than a yaw axis, particularly for highly HOTAS-dependent aircraft like the A-10C and F-16.

The concept of HOTAS is that you rarely need to take your hands off the controls to press buttons, and you don't need to look away from what's important (eg a target outside or on a MFD) to find and press buttons. So the important buttons are the ones that you can access quickly without looking, not the ones on the base of the throttle.

 

It's also not just total number of buttons that matters, its also the distribution of workload over both hands.

The F-16 stick has 4 hats, while the stick you showed has 1. That means you will have to use combo buttons, probably using your other hand.

They will need to be easy to access without looking, so you will use up important buttons on the throttle...which means you have to use something else for the F-16 throttle buttons, which you may want to be using at the same time...

It won't be comfortable.

 

The number of buttons etc may look like plenty if you haven't flown a modern aircraft, but look at all the controls you will need to map for the F-16:

http://www.f16simulator.net/hotas/hotas.htm

That is just for the HOTAS. You will also want to map things like gear/flaps, and DCS specific things like zoom.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Py
added link