How best to make the leap from SP to MP?

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Something else that might help you, Notso, are YouTube videos dedicated to the subject.

For example, this channel (which is relatively new) showed up in my suggestion list the other day:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Mwn7U1SSeaDLMVB7ERE0Q

 

It's called 'Tactical Pascale'.

I found the content good and well-explained :-)

[Harlikwin]

I realy doubt he will have a blast, as he is totally new to MP. To get the best experience when starting with MP is to start with a PvE server, as he won´t get killed all the time and will have less frustrating moments and therefore more confidence to learn the MP related stuff (comms, teamwork, tactics). Better would even be private sessions with experienced players, but this is realatively difficult to achieve without knowing some people or joining a virtual wing. Private sessions are definately the most fun of all MP experiences, but as i don´t want to join a wing i´m restricted to RL friends. So public PvE servers are mostly the best way to get into DCS MP. After beeing familiar with the MP specific procedures, i would suggest to start with PvP...

 

Yeah but the dogfight server isn't really anything like actual good PVP servers. Its just an airstart, and start lobbing missiles fest. Not really that hard to get into, I don't think I've ever even heard anyone on comms there. I'm not ragging on it, it can be fun. But its not what most of the PVP servers look like (cold start, load up plane, plan sortie, go fly it, get shot down :D, respawn)

[Harlikwin]

Something else that might help you, Notso, are YouTube videos dedicated to the subject.

For example, this channel (which is relatively new) showed up in my suggestion list the other day:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Mwn7U1SSeaDLMVB7ERE0Q

 

It's called 'Tactical Pascale'.

I found the content good and well-explained :-)

 

Yeah, those look like a good resource.

[DW2020]

I realy doubt he will have a blast, as he is totally new to MP. To get the best experience when starting with MP is to start with a PvE server, as he won´t get killed all the time and will have less frustrating moments and therefore more confidence to learn the MP related stuff (comms, teamwork, tactics). Better would even be private sessions with experienced players, but this is realatively difficult to achieve without knowing some people or joining a virtual wing. Private sessions are definately the most fun of all MP experiences, but as i don´t want to join a wing i´m restricted to RL friends. So public PvE servers are mostly the best way to get into DCS MP. After beeing familiar with the MP specific procedures, i would suggest to start with PvP...

I dont see why he wont. I came from an Xplane 11 background and within a couple of days of starting with DCS I was joining my buddy in multiplayer dogfight servers and havent looked back.

 

Yes he WILL get shot down but you keep getting back up and trying again and slowly but surely it will be him splashing others

[VpR81]

Yeah but the dogfight server isn't really anything like actual good PVP servers. Its just an airstart, and start lobbing missiles fest. Not really that hard to get into, I don't think I've ever even heard anyone on comms there. I'm not ragging on it, it can be fun. But its not what most of the PVP servers look like (cold start, load up plane, plan sortie, go fly it, get shot down :D, respawn)

 

that is certainly true. Tbh i never join dogfight servers ´cause the way it´s handled (as you said, airstart, missile spamming etc) is nothing that realy exites me. No confusion, i like dogfights pretty much, but as part of a coop mission or general PvP gameplay. What i love on proper PvP servers is sneaking at low level on the enemy AWACS, kill it and get the f**k out before shit hits the fan. Paired with the additional thrill of beeing detected by enemy players deep inside their territory (what mostly ends up in a knife fight while beeing totally outnumbered), this is realy fun. But private coop sessions with home made missions are the most satisfying type of DCS mp IMO. 2 or 4 pilots is perfect, no need for a 60 ppl cluster f**k.

[Harlikwin]

that is certainly true. Tbh i never join dogfight servers ´cause the way it´s handled (as you said, airstart, missile spamming etc) is nothing that realy exites me. No confusion, i like dogfights pretty much, but as part of a coop mission or general PvP gameplay. What i love on proper PvP servers is sneaking at low level on the enemy AWACS, kill it and get the f**k out before shit hits the fan. Paired with the additional thrill of beeing detected by enemy players deep inside their territory (what mostly ends up in a knife fight while beeing totally outnumbered), this is realy fun. But private coop sessions with home made missions are the most satisfying type of DCS mp IMO. 2 or 4 pilots is perfect, no need for a 60 ppl cluster f**k.

 

I'm mostly with you on that. I rarely do the DF server (though for a while it was the only one that worked with 2.5.6).

[Notso]

Something else that might help you, Notso, are YouTube videos dedicated to the subject.

For example, this channel (which is relatively new) showed up in my suggestion list the other day:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Mwn7U1SSeaDLMVB7ERE0Q

 

It's called 'Tactical Pascale'.

I found the content good and well-explained :-)

 

Sweet! Thanks, that looks good.

[Notso]

that is certainly true. Tbh i never join dogfight servers ´cause the way it´s handled (as you said, airstart, missile spamming etc) is nothing that realy exites me. No confusion, i like dogfights pretty much, but as part of a coop mission or general PvP gameplay. What i love on proper PvP servers is sneaking at low level on the enemy AWACS, kill it and get the f**k out before shit hits the fan. Paired with the additional thrill of beeing detected by enemy players deep inside their territory (what mostly ends up in a knife fight while beeing totally outnumbered), this is realy fun. But private coop sessions with home made missions are the most satisfying type of DCS mp IMO. 2 or 4 pilots is perfect, no need for a 60 ppl cluster f**k.

 

Yep, the private co-op sessions are what I’m mot interested in.

[Sprool]

I now have a gaming headset + Mic, keen to test SRS on a multiplayer server, but there seems to be virtually no-one using SRS, so I dont even know if its working properly or if I have it configured right.

Can anyone recommend me a newbie-friendly MP server with some SRS chatter I can check my settings out on?

[BlacleyCole]

Go on a open server or better yet go on discord or TeamSpeak and test them there once they work there you’re almost home with srs

[Sprool]

Go on a open server or better yet go on discord or TeamSpeak and test them there once they work there you’re almost home with srs

Not sure where to start with that, any guides ?

[VpR81]

I now have a gaming headset + Mic, keen to test SRS on a multiplayer server, but there seems to be virtually no-one using SRS, so I dont even know if its working properly or if I have it configured right.

Can anyone recommend me a newbie-friendly MP server with some SRS chatter I can check my settings out on?

 

Start SRS-ClientRadio and click on "audio preview", there you can test your mic and headphones to see if they work and how other ppl will hear you. Teamspeak also has audio test functions and i´m sure discord has as well.

[Sprool]

SRS is detecting mic input, now are there any recommendations for friendly servers using SRS a lot? I cant seem to find any where its very actively used?

[Harlikwin]

SRS is detecting mic input, now are there any recommendations for friendly servers using SRS a lot? I cant seem to find any where its very actively used?

 

Georgia at war uses it fairly heavily, or Blueflag.

[Raisuli]

Might have to give this a try. Learning SRS seems daunting, but I can take off and invariably all the pieces eventually hit this ground, which is kind of like a landing...should be good to embarrass myself.

[Raisuli]

Well. That didn't go completely as planned. SRS and I don't get along. Had the radios tuned, you could see them going amber, couldn't hear a thing (not even ATIS). Once in a while someone would say something, but rarely, and never more than a single transmission.

 

 

 

Guess it's time to go find something called...um...documentation?

[Eldur]

As someone playing online games since Counterstrike 1.6, i´d say the most important thing is comms. Typing while playing in order to communicate simply sucks, in MMORPG´s as well as in FPS or a flight sim. A solid headset with a decent microphone is mandatory and IMO the only additional hardware you realy need (if you´re not owning one already). As for the software, a common VoIP software is also nice to have if you don´t want to rely on the ingame voice chat. Besides Discord, SRS is very popular among DCS pilots, but you could also use skype if you´re only playing in a 1 on 1 or 2 player coop session. I personally prefer good ol´ Teamspeak 3, but i´m also a dinosaur when it comes to VoIP. All these software is for free, so you can try a few out and then decide wich one you like most.

 

Teamspeak 3 is still the best. Simply put. Probably the main reason for people to switch over to Discord was that you wouldn't need to setup a server somewhere. Next benefit though is you don't even need a forum or a website anymore. But you pay with your data... I ran a TS server on my router (was a ct server that ran both a router software and debian on a hypervisor) 10 years ago with up to 12 people on it behind a 16M down / 1M up connection. And when the HDD of that thing died, I decided to split the server and router up and let the server run on a friggen netbook with a 270 first gen atom, 2 gigs of RAM and a SSD (my very first one actually, OC Vertex 60GB, got that thing in 2009). No problems either. Best thing was I had full control over the thing and ran both a TS3 and a webserver with some board software on it and made it accessible via dyndns when it still was free... and that thing took some 10-12W, not much to care about

 

By the way, with that avatar pic you just made me fire up DOSBox and run JF2 to down a bunch of MiG-29s with that F-23...

 

At least the OP has some rig to run MP. At the moment I just get around 20-30fps in DCS and MP usually halves the frame rate... cuts just one third off on a good day with a light mission. Always keep that in mind. I could fly online, but it definately wouldn't be fun.

[QuiGon]

Well. That didn't go completely as planned. SRS and I don't get along. Had the radios tuned, you could see them going amber, couldn't hear a thing (not even ATIS). Once in a while someone would say something, but rarely, and never more than a single transmission.

Maybe people there only made single transmissions? If a you can hear some transmissions then there is no reason why you shouldn't hear other transmissions that are beeing send over the same frequency as well.

[Raisuli]

Maybe people there only made single transmissions? If a you can hear some transmissions then there is no reason why you shouldn't hear other transmissions that are beeing send over the same frequency as well.

 

 

ATIS is a loop

[QuiGon]

ATIS is a loop

What's ATIS? :music_whistling:

[dave-uk]

Lot of good advice and tips. I too want to take the leap into MP. Do you use a keyboard or bind a button on your joystick to push to talk? I have the TM warthog HOTAS

[Raisuli]

Lot of good advice and tips. I too want to take the leap into MP. Do you use a keyboard or bind a button on your joystick to push to talk? I have the TM warthog HOTAS

 

 

Used the 4 way + push thumb switch. Up channel 1, down channel 2, push to talk. Forward channel 3, back channel 4, but I don't know any aircraft with 4 radios. Maybe those should be for countermeasures (used to be for MIDS). I had to UNmap those as radio buttons in the aircraft settings.

 

 

 

Found a couple YouBoob videos that discuss SRS, so I'll take another crack at it when I get home this afternoon. Started watching the Grim Reapers until Cap got to the part about cheating.

 

 

There are one or two interesting things I can do in an F-18 (besides creating spectacular fireballs when I crash) so that's where I'll start.

[Harlikwin]

Might have to give this a try. Learning SRS seems daunting, but I can take off and invariably all the pieces eventually hit this ground, which is kind of like a landing...should be good to embarrass myself.

 

SRS is stupid simple once you figure it out. There are setup instructions. Just use the built in audio test to make sure you can hear yourself. Once thats done you just have to tune the plane radio to the right freq. Once SRS is set its super easy.

[Harlikwin]

Lot of good advice and tips. I too want to take the leap into MP. Do you use a keyboard or bind a button on your joystick to push to talk? I have the TM warthog HOTAS

 

Yeah, the typical binding is the hat switch up down for radio 1/2.

[Raisuli]

SRS is stupid simple once you figure it out. There are setup instructions. Just use the built in audio test to make sure you can hear yourself. Once thats done you just have to tune the plane radio to the right freq. Once SRS is set its super easy.

 

 

Figured as much; it's only hard until it's easy. I've got some ideas for things I may have fouled up, and using the (currently) unused hat with auto-talk is a nice idea.

 

 

 

I could hear myself fine, it was everyone else who had problems :music_whistling:

 

 

Oddly looking forward to getting out of Meeting Purgatory this afternoon so I can have another go at it. I could be screwing up publicly in a few short hours!