Random n00b questions

[Maulkin]

So I just bought DCS:A-10C (never did the beta thing) so I am learning this from the ground up, and I have some odd things that I am trying to figure out so I thought I would just list them off here and see if some of you guys who have been in the beta can help. :)

 

1) Where is the nav and beacon lights? I have seen videos of night operations but I'll be damned if I can find the switch that turns them on. Did manage to find the headlights however. :)

 

2) I jumped into a quick mission, which convienently had the guns enabled and ready, so I squeezed off a few rounds (oh who am I kidding... I unloaded the thing) but I did not see any tracer rounds at all! Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug?

 

3) Another odd thing is that the TrackIR software detected DSC:A-10C as DCS:Black Shark and loads up the BlackShark profile. This is despite the fact that it has DSC:A-10C in the program list. Any workaround for this? I am trying to use a different TrackIR profile than my BS one as I feel A-10C requires more sensitivity in head movement than BS. (BWT I am using TrackIR version 4.1 build 38 with a TrackIR4)

[EtherealN]

1 - Rear of the right panel. Note that you have to set pinky-switch aft (LCtrl-P) to activate them. I think it was LShift-P to turn them off and LAlt-p for custom, but do doublecheck that on the pinky switch assignment in HOTAS.

 

2 - The GAU-8 does not use tracer rounds.

 

3 - Which versoin of the TrackIR controller software?

[636_Castle]

Number 3 sounds like a software limitation. The profile is tied to simulator.exe, and will load any time it detects it.

[spike2450]

Hi

 

I use Wags Track Ir profile and it works great for me.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=59974:)

[BiPod]

3) Another odd thing is that the TrackIR software detected DSC:A-10C as DCS:Black Shark and loads up the BlackShark profile. This is despite the fact that it has DSC:A-10C in the program list. Any workaround for this?

 

I've had the same problem since Beta 1 and it still persists. The only workaround I have is to set the A-10 profile to "Exclusive" in the TIR software "Profiles" tab. You then have to manually change this everytime you want to run another program such as FSX or Blackshark, but at least you can have a different setup for BS and A10.

 

I have a TIR 4 with 5.1.200 (Build 9414) software on a 64 bit system. The problem existed with earlier software versions and with the 32 bit A-10 software from the Betas.

 

BiPod.

[wickedfastball]

Maybe I'm not exploiting the full functionality of the TrackIR software, but what are you guys doing that requires a separate profile for A-10 vs. Black Shark vs. FSX? I use the same profile for each and it works perfectly.

 

(btw, I'm certainly not being critical. If I can gain functionality I will change how I use it.)

[BiPod]

Maybe I'm not exploiting the full functionality of the TrackIR software)

 

You definitely aren't!

 

The default will work for every application, but better results are obtained by customising.

 

eg. For blackshark you don't need to look up except to see the sunroof, so I have it "snap" to the sunroof and hold.

 

Also, seeing and clicking the rear right panel was hard for me, so I have the X axis pan slowly to the right across the window and then snap and hold on the rear panel to make it easy to mouseclick and forgiving on my neck.

 

It's a lot of messing around though to get your profile just right, but worth it for me.

 

Cheers,

BiPod.

[636_Castle]

You definitely aren't!

 

The default will work for every application, but better results are obtained by customising.

 

eg. For blackshark you don't need to look up except to see the sunroof, so I have it "snap" to the sunroof and hold.

 

Also, seeing and clicking the rear right panel was hard for me, so I have the X axis pan slowly to the right across the window and then snap and hold on the rear panel to make it easy to mouseclick and forgiving on my neck.

 

It's a lot of messing around though to get your profile just right, but worth it for me.

 

Cheers,

BiPod.

 

Which TrackIR hardware version are you using? Mind sharing your profile for the Hog if it's version 4? :)

[BiPod]

Which TrackIR hardware version are you using? Mind sharing your profile for the Hog if it's version 4? :)

 

Here you go. I won't sing its praises too highly, the only real thing I did was put in a steep [?z-axis?] response so that you can lean forward a little and get a good MFCD view. Try that, its cool!

 

I've also restricted lateral head turns a bit.

 

I couldn't attach an .xml for some reason so I changed it to .txt. Make sure you change it back to .xml before you use it (just rename the extension bit).

 

I have TIR 4 with version 5 saftware.

 

Cheers,

BiPod.

DCSA10C.txt

[636_Castle]

thankyou sir! i would rep you but it says i've repped you too much lol.

[Maulkin]

In regards to the lack of tracers, wouldn't that contradict what it says in the manual here:

 

From page 56 of the DCS A-10C flight manual:

The cannon has three possible ammunition loads and can be configured from the IFFCC Test Menu:

- Combat Mix (CM). One PGU-13 High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) for every five rounds of PGU-14 Armor Piercing Incendiary (API) rounds. The API round uses Depleted Uranium (DU) and has a muzzle velocity of 3,240 ft/sec. This is the ammunition of choice for armored vehicles and can destroy a tank out to 21,600 ft. During Operation Desert Storm, 940,254 rounds of CM were fired.

- High Explosive Incendiary (HEI). This load exclusively uses the PGU-13 (HEI) round.

- Target Practice (TP). Inert warhead round version used for training.

 

Does the aircraft carry all three types at the same time (kind of like the Ka-50 which carries two different types of ammo)?

Edited February 26, 2011 by Maulkin

[Sarge55]

Maulkin,

Incendiary is different from tracer.

The tracer element in a projectile is in the rear so the gunner can see the path and will burn out after a cetain distance. Most commonly used in machine guns and typically linked together as 4 ball rounds and 1 tracer round (4B1T).

Incendiary rounds do not function until impact with the target and burn with the intent of causing fire/explosions etc in the target.

 

It only carries one type of load as far as I understand it.

[EtherealN]

Only one belt in the GAU-8. Refer to your DSMS to see which type you are carrying.

 

And as Sarge said: HEI is not a tracer round. It's High Explosive Incendiray - it explodes, and then has a burning agent. Think of it like an explosion that leaves an itty bit of napalm behind, sort of. :P

[jireland607]

I've a couple of questions:

 

First, where is the Ejector seat safety handle? I can not get rid of that warning light on the panel (or eject when things get rough :D)

 

Second, I've had a few failures both starting on the ramp and during a flight, mainly with the HUD.. Sometimes I lose all of the speed, bearing, waypoint information and the numbers of degress but keep the horizontal lines. But yesterday, while flying I lost the entire HUD. I'm fairly sure I was not hit either. I had on my MFCD's "IFFCC failure" then something with a number 3 in it, cant really remember.

 

Anyway, I managed to land. Switched right off, restarted but problem remained. Is there a way to reset that or get repairs? It was in a multiplayer so i tried the get new plane command but it did not seem to do anything.

 

I'm thinking about replacing my ageing Saitek x45. I'm thinking maybe an X52 pro. I really fancied the Logitech 940 with the pedals but read some really bad reviews. Any recommendations for under £200?

[nemises]

seat arming handle is the stripy yellow thing to the immediate left hand side of your seat.

Click on it, and it will go from upright (safe) to down (armed)

[nomdeplume]

Anyway, I managed to land. Switched right off, restarted but problem remained. Is there a way to reset that or get repairs? It was in a multiplayer so i tried the get new plane command but it did not seem to do anything.

Shut down all power and wait about 3 minutes.

 

Not sure what caused your problem in the first place, but are you remembering to enable the pitot tube heating prior to take-off?

[wickedfastball]

You definitely aren't!

 

The default will work for every application, but better results are obtained by customising.

...

 

Ah. Makes sense. I make liberal use of TIR Pause. I have it mapped to both an unused button on the stick and to a mouse button. I tweaked the curves to give me a "valley" around the center in each axis and limit the rotation "over the shoulder" but that's about it. I can see how tweaking for specific airframe shapes would be nice, but I just haven't taken the time. However, I might just use your profile as a starting point...

[jireland607]

seat arming handle is the stripy yellow thing to the immediate left hand side of your seat.

Click on it, and it will go from upright (safe) to down (armed)

 

Thats great, thanks.

 

Guess it could be pitot tube causing my HUD to go down but I would have thought that would have just messed up things like speed readout and vectoring. I'm beginning to think its a bug as it only seems to happen in multiplayer. Either that or I have different realism settings that the multiplayer server is overriding.

 

Thanks for your replies :joystick:

[EtherealN]

Or different missions.