Another newbie

[Cmooradian]

Hi,

 

Very excitedly awaiting my new Alienware computer and HP reverb vr headset to get my DCS career going. I’m a U.S. based Airbus 321 Captain, been flying planes since I was 18. My primary goal was to fly fighters. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as planned. I first started on PC based flight simulators F15E Strike Eagle and F19 Stealth fighter both by Microprose, later moving on to Falcon 4.0. I had one of the first Thrustmaster Hotas setups back in the day. Lol

 

Anyhow, as flying became a job I lost interest in it being a hobby, especially when technology just wasn’t even comparable to what the real experience is. I believe now with VR the technology can simulate some of what was missing.

 

I have already been watching many You tube vtutorial videos and reading manuals on both the F16 and F18. I’m going to have to choose one for the start. Any suggestions? Also is it smart maybe to get tracker 5 to start so as to read checklists while learning startup procedures?

 

I purchased the Ch flight stick/hotas throttle, rudder pedals, Open wheeler 2 chair with fighter jet add ons, Hp reverb vr, and Alienware Aurora R9 with

Intel Core 9th Generation I7-9700K Processor (8 Core, Overclocked Up To 4.60GHz On All Cores, 12MB Cache, 95W)

1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

16GB (2x8GB) 2933MHz DDR4 HyperX FURY XMP Dual Channel

Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) And Bluetooth 5.0

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)

Windows 10 Home.

 

You guys seem like a great group of helpful peeps and any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. I know I’m due for some headaches getting everything setup but hey isn’t that what BEER is for ?

 

 

Cheers,

 

C Mooradian

Edited March 11, 2020 by Cmooradian

[Caliboy42]

Hi,

 

Very excitedly awaiting my new Alienware computer and HP reverb vr headset to get my DCS career going. I’m a U.S. based Airbus 321 Captain, been flying planes since I was 18. My primary goal was to fly fighters. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as planned. I first started on PC based flight simulators F15E Strike Eagle and F19 Stealth fighter both by Microprose, later moving on to Falcon 4.0. I had one of the first Thrustmaster Hoyas setups back in the day. Lol

 

Anyhow, as flying became a job I lost interest in it being a hobby, especially when technology just wasn’t even comparable to what the real experience is. I believe now with VR the technology can simulate some of what was missing.

 

I have already been watching many You tube vtutorial videos and reading manuals on both the F16 and F18. I’m going to have to choose one for the start. Any suggestions? Also is it smart maybe to get tracker 5 to start so as to read checklists while learning startup procedures?

 

I purchased the Ch flight stick/hotas throttle, rudder pedals, Open wheeler 2 chair with fighter jet add ons, Hp reverb vr, and Alienware Aurora R9 with

Intel Core 9th Generation I7-9700K Processor (8 Core, Overclocked Up To 4.60GHz On All Cores, 12MB Cache, 95W)

1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

16GB (2x8GB) 2933MHz DDR4 HyperX FURY XMP Dual Channel

Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) And Bluetooth 5.0

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)

Windows 10 Home.

 

You guys seem like a great group of helpful peeps and any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. I know I’m due for some headaches getting everything setup but hey isn’t that what BEER is for ?

 

 

Cheers,

 

C Mooradian

IMO, F-18. I own both and the F-16 is a great fighter and a blast to fly, but... Unless you are part of the group of people that want the F-16 hook to work so they can land on carriers (yeah...), the F-18 has more flying options available, meaning carrier ops. Nothing like getting together with your friends and attempting a Case III landing in a storm. Literally shaking afterwards.

 

In terms of reading startup procedures, you can kind of see through the HMD nose piece. Another option to learn, you can setup your knee board in the F10 menu to have the startup checklist. That way you can see the procedure on your display and save yourself a couple hundred bucks.

[dave-uk]

Welcome to the forum. i used to jump out of C-130's and the odd Chinook for a living.

 

DSC is the best, i also have the HP reverb VR but i take it slowly as it gives me a headache and a sick feeling, especially when spinning into the ground after getting shot, happens a lot. :) Get yourself another 16gb of ram, and enjoy.

[Cmooradian]

Thank you for the suggestion Caliboy42. I have been leaning towards the F18 seeing as that was what I wanted to fly back in the day along with the carrier ops. Already read most of one guide for it. I due love that unobstructed view of the F16s canopy though. Oh well will save the Viper for the next jet.

I did read some about that way of doing the checklist, so it does work well then?

 

 

Thanks,

 

C

[Cmooradian]

I thought the 32 fb would be the next option to add. Looks to be a very inexpensive upgrade at that about $100 u.s. The Chinook and C130. Great rides yah had there, jumping out of perfectly good birds!! Lol.....sweet!!

 

 

Thanks,

 

C

Edited March 11, 2020 by Cmooradian

[Pikey]

Hi,

 

Very excitedly awaiting my new Alienware computer and HP reverb vr headset to get my DCS career going. I’m a U.S. based Airbus 321 Captain, been flying planes since I was 18. My primary goal was to fly fighters. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as planned. I first started on PC based flight simulators F15E Strike Eagle and F19 Stealth fighter both by Microprose, later moving on to Falcon 4.0. I had one of the first Thrustmaster Hotas setups back in the day. Lol

 

Anyhow, as flying became a job I lost interest in it being a hobby, especially when technology just wasn’t even comparable to what the real experience is. I believe now with VR the technology can simulate some of what was missing.

 

I have already been watching many You tube vtutorial videos and reading manuals on both the F16 and F18. I’m going to have to choose one for the start. Any suggestions? Also is it smart maybe to get tracker 5 to start so as to read checklists while learning startup procedures?

 

I purchased the Ch flight stick/hotas throttle, rudder pedals, Open wheeler 2 chair with fighter jet add ons, Hp reverb vr, and Alienware Aurora R9 with

Intel Core 9th Generation I7-9700K Processor (8 Core, Overclocked Up To 4.60GHz On All Cores, 12MB Cache, 95W)

1TB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

16GB (2x8GB) 2933MHz DDR4 HyperX FURY XMP Dual Channel

Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) And Bluetooth 5.0

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)

Windows 10 Home.

 

You guys seem like a great group of helpful peeps and any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. I know I’m due for some headaches getting everything setup but hey isn’t that what BEER is for ?

 

 

Cheers,

 

C Mooradian

You purchased that in one shot?

Here we go girls and boys, this is your proof that it's not worth aiming for "Fighter pilot". Airliners is where the moneys at! :P

 

Advice... be very patient with DCS. It takes a long time to get used to it and it's quirks. It has a bit of a glass ceiling and can cause frustration. The frustration is mitigated by some of the most compelling multiplayer experiences I've had in any PC game, where humans bring everything. But there is a wide variety of experiences to be had. Finding the right group (and there are plenty of real world aviators and such in groups) is vital to help you over the bumps with the software.

 

Take the Hornet, since the F-16 is a bit behind in development and you are getting both (and then become addicted and want to fly anything) you can afford to wait a bit whilst the development catches up. Please do look at all the modules, the current array of full modules has some extraordinary differences in them. One of the most compelling things is watching the cockpit designs and workflows evolve from Post war all the way through 50 years, like how the early Migs took something of the German and British designs both, and then trying to get your head around Russian design philosophy. Assuming you are interested in aviation in general. That might be some years down the road, the American jets will take some time to chew through anyway.

[Pikey]

Hi,

... Also is it smart maybe to get tracker 5 to start so as to read checklists while learning startup procedures? ...

 

 

For VR workflow it's awkward. DCS supplies a customisable kneeboard for simple 2D work. It will accept a copy paste of most images and is quite ratio friendly, but keep to the ratio to avoid distortion.

I use a small tool for copying and pasting in VR https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=229077 good for coordinates on the fly like CAS, although nothing beats touch typing skills or binding your UFC numbers to numpad.

There is a full on VR tool https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=246970 that I am yet to try out, mostly because I can't find my old tablet.

Dont bother with trackir, I gave mine away after a decade of customer loyalty, you cannot swap between them and "de-helmeting" from VR once in it is about as fun as stopping sex half way.

[Rudel_chw]

... I have been leaning towards the F18 ...

 

The F-18 by itself is 80 bucks, so may I suggest that you get this bundle instead?

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/bundles/fa-18c_and_pg_map_bundle/

 

Welcome

[Burt]

Welcome !

 

You'll find this place very helpful. Great advice and tutorials in here too. I also went with the R9 just the other day.... can't waiting to get started. You should of bumped up to 32 gb on the memory tho, it was not to steep of an upgrade either. Curious of how your R9 experience will be. Hopefully by next year or 2, I will attempt to build a unit myself after I learn a little more about it. So much reading and learning going on now which is good for the brain and makes the beer taste good too.... lol ! I'm gonig to go with the F-18 for now...as Rudel_chw provided ... thx for the advice totally makes sense to get that bundle.

 

Take care and welcome again !

 

FNG out.

[Rudel_chw]

... thx for the advice totally makes sense to get that bundle.

 

Yes, that Bundle is really a good saving, even when not in a Sale period. It also awards US$ 8.5 in discount towards a future purchase using the Miles :D

[Burt]

Yes, that Bundle is really a good saving, even when not in a Sale period. It also awards US$ 8.5 in discount towards a future purchase using the Miles :D

 

Right on :thumbup: thx again

[Noluck]

Howdy,

 

 

I'm also new at DCS. Being involved in the design and construction of civilian and military flight simulators since the 1980's I decided to finally learn DCS, and man am I glad I started this trek. In fact, the last simulators I was responsible for were 8 full cockpit F/A-18C's that we built for the US Navy. I had also done some F-16 work for a while.

 

 

That being said, all I can tell you is go slow and enjoy this awesome program. I have never witnessed, even in a full up military simulator, the level of detail in particular the Out-The-Window (OTW) scenery. This is very addicting in every aspect, including the advanced flight models, in particular the F/A-18C which feel damn close to what I was allowed to fly, the military used a 'guest mode' flight model though for those without the 'need to know'. Only cleared personnel had access to the 'real' flight model and weapons.

 

 

Within a week of downloading DCS, I purchased the F/A-18C with the Persian Gulf Map combo as mentioned in the previous post. Reason for the F/A-18? It's more flexible, Has one of the best avionics and displays and is just easier to start learning compared to others. The big AND is... you can do carrier op's. I highly recommend it. Also to mention, downloaded every manual/guide, knee-board's, checklist, etc. I could find and printed most off all of it. Yes, the printer ink supplier's love me right now.

 

 

Also, I love the west so I purchased the Nellis NTTR map. My God, I'm in heaven. The level of detail is amazing and I'm only running a older PC with OC'ed 4GHz AMD CPU, 8GB 1066 RAM and a Nvidia 1060 video card. Running an average of 40-60 FPS. Buzzing Vegas, Hover Dam, flying the Grand Canyon... yeah man.

 

 

 

All I can tell you is make sure you have the time for this, it's very addictive! The learning curve is going to be steep for a while... can't wait for more. Good luck with you DCS experience and enjoy, I know I am!

 

 

BTW: here is a way to quick start flying. Play with liveries and get a load-out without the mission editor.

 

 

Here's what I do:

 

o on the instant action menu choose the aircraft and then the map (mod) to fly in, chose those first.

 

o hopefully you will see a "on the ramp" as a starting point. Not the "cold start" unless you know how to do that.

 

o you have to be at an allied airport/base

 

o once the load is done and your are running and sitting on the ramp, then...

 

o I apply the parking brake on the aircraft (mine is the F/A-18C), keeps you from rolling off, you must be completely stopped for this to work

 

o you MUST OPEN the CANOPY

 

o hit the '\' key to bring up the comm menu

 

o hit the key for main menu

 

o hit the key for ground support

 

o select the re-fuel/re-arm item

 

o a menu will come up where you can change your livery and load-out

 

o hit OK and and take off (don't forget to release the parking brake or you will blow a tire and 'crash')

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Noluck

---

Edited March 14, 2020 by Noluck

[122sqn Bruv]

I think you could have done with a bit more system ram. If your going all out (why not)

[Burt]

Howdy,

 

thank you I just copied paste and printed it.

[draconus]

@Noluck: actually ME (or mission planner) way is faster to start flying with the livery and loadout you want as you don't have to wait some fictional time for rearming. If you still like it find a direct binding to rearm/refuel - one key.

 

In what parts would you say DCS lacks most compared to military grade sims, if I may ask?