A "hello" from a new guy who has a few noob questions

[Megagoth1702]

Hey folks!

 

I always was a fan of realistic gaming & games. I used to play FS2004 back in the days, but nothing complicated... Basic flying & landing & missions etc.

 

A few weeks ago I have stumbled upon this A10 simulation. The plane has fascinated me for a long time. The brutal ROAR of the gun, the simple "gun with wings on it" concept and it's full of electronics! I have the biggest respect for the company that has managed to put all of this awesomeness into a simulation... And I understand that once you have mastered it there is nothing more satisfying than flying with your buddies in a complicated mission and... BEATING it!

 

I asked around below Youtube videos if I could play this "game" properly with a Saitek Cyborg Evo Joystick and I was told that I had to remember some keyboard shortcuts but I'd be ok.

 

Well - I am just learning the very very very easy basics of this game. I have never seen so many switches at the same time! Big respect to everybody who put his patience to learn and really knows this stuff by now...

 

I need some help.

 

I am willing to learn this "game" but do I really need to study every detail of the manual before going into the action? Or is it enough to just look up what you need when you need it?

 

Is there a way to view your own keyboard configuration when ingame and flying?

 

Is there a way to change visual settings when flying? I currently have a 3.2 GHz Quad, a HD6870 and 4GB of ram, running WIn7 x64. I am still trying to dial in the right settings for my system. Any tips are welcome.

 

Is there a "completely reset cockpit camera" key? The numpad 5 key works for some situations but sometimes after playing with the camera too much (hitting numPad 0, hitting numpad comma) I just can not go back to "default".

 

Are there joystick layouts for download for the Saitek Cyborg Evo?

 

Are there more, maybe "downloadable" tutorial/training missions?

 

If I get any more questions into my mind... I will ask here.

 

But for now - I really thank you a lot in advance guys. A lot of this is probably "read the manual"-material but I just wanted to say HI and add some questions...

 

Have a nice day! :)

[Ragtop]

Hey, and welcome to the forums! You've picked a great community to be a part of.

 

It sounds like you're already taking to it pretty well, but there will of course be moments of facepalming!

 

So, to answer your questions as best I can!

 

No, you don't need to read the manual cover to cover, I'd reccomend you just learn to take it up in the air and get it home safely after cruising around the mountains for a while. Learn the way the aircraft feels at different speeds and altitudes, what it will and won't do. This will make your life a lot easier when you move onto learning the avionics.

 

Next up I'd suggest you look at learning the navigation systems. Focus on the primary systems t get started, don't stress out on things like HARS and radio ADF until you've got the EGI down, as you'll be using that most of the time. TACAN is also a useful one to pick up.

 

Once you're comfortable that you can get the Hog to the fight and back in one piece then get into the weapon systems. Learn the DSMS and the HUD symbology first, then look at the cannon, move up to rockets and dumb bombs like the Mk.82/84. Learn the TGP and then step up to Mavericks, lazy bombs and finally GPS bombs.

 

Of course this isn't gospel, and I'm sure you'll want to start blowing stuff up in an instant, but in my opinion you'll develop the best habits and discipline this way. Too many people cobble their way to the battlefield, throw weapons around with no real intent and then fall back to base!

 

No way to view your KB layout ingame, I recommend printing your important ones.

 

5 should be a total reset of zoom, position and view angle, so you may want to check its settings are configured correctly.

 

I'm not sure of a profile for your stick, check the DCS Wiki (Linked at the top right)

 

I know Dragon did a training pack but I haven't looked at it personally.

 

Hope this gives you some ideas to jump off from! If you need any other help, pop online, if you can find a server running Teamspeak/Vent someone will usually be happy to talk you througj drills! Happy flying :)

[Megagoth1702]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

And I'm sure you'll want to start blowing stuff up in an instant, but in my opinion you'll develop the best habits and discipline this way. Too many people cobble their way to the battlefield, throw weapons around with no real intent and then fall back to base!

 

Haha, absolutely not man! I did not buy this "game" to just blow shit up! I can do that in other games. I really enjoy doing stuff "the right way" etc.

 

I am currently struggeling with trimming... In the "taking off the first time" tutorial I am currently always fighting with the trimming, it pulls up too high...

Am I correct that the trimming is done in the emergency control panel? Also - there is a "speed brake retract" option in the controls. Does it control the air brake? What key is that?

 

Thanks a lot in advance again!

 

I will totally pop on some server soon to check out what people do around here... :)

[Guest Fury_007]

You will be trimming this plane a lot, so I suggest you map it to your joystick right away. I'm not sure about your joystick, but if it has a hat switch then you can use buttons as modifiers combined with the hat switch to control just about everything you'll need.

 

For training, may I suggest YouTube. Everything you want to learn, someone has created a video tutorial on it. Watch the video, take a few notes, check your keys setup to know what keys you will need, then try it yourself.

[Megagoth1702]

Thank you Fury!

 

What are the exact commands for trimming and where to find them in the... HUGE controls matrix?

 

Thank you in advance! I will follow your tips. :)

[Guest Fury_007]

You can find most of the needed controls in the "hotas" section. Trim up, trim down, trim left, and trim right.

 

On my hotas I have 1 throttle button setup as a modifier. Then I use my hat switch with it. So in game, I hold the button on the throttle and press hat up, to trim nose down.

 

I also set up other buttons as modifiers, along with my hat switch, for dms, cms, coolie, tms, and radio, because I only have one hat switch.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Fury_007

[Harzach]

Trim commands are located in the HOTAS section, at the bottom. Which raises an important point - most of the commands you'll be using are HOTAS commands. These are commands like "DMS Aft short" and "TMS Forward long". By themselves, they do nothing but move the relevant switches/buttons on the virtual HOTAS. The actual function that is executed depends on the situation.

 

I'm not explaining this too well as I am nearly unconscious, but the bottom line is: learn to think in terms of HOTAS commands, not their end result.

 

[Megagoth1702]

Ah, I finally know what "HOTAS" means , haha! :-D Thank you so much guys, I thought it's some kind of display electronic radio thingy that I dont understand.

But now I know!

Thanks!

 

Unfortunately the only modifiers I can use are alt, shift etc. No button from my joystick... I guess I will have to stick to keyboard trimming. :(

[nomdeplume]

Unfortunately the only modifiers I can use are alt, shift etc. No button from my joystick... I guess I will have to stick to keyboard trimming. :(

There's a MODIFIERS button at the bottom left of the controls configuration screen. Click on that and it'll list all the configured modifiers, and let you add/remove them. So you can easily add one (or more) of your joystick buttons as modifiers, and then once you've done that, you can assign controls as "modifier button + another button".

[Steel Jaw]

Who said "game"...? ;)

[cichlidfan]

Who said "game"...? ;)

 

At least the OP put it in "quotes" :D

[jeffyd123]

Uh oh,,,, mower heard the "G" word

[Balu0]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

 

Am I correct that the trimming is done in the emergency control panel? Also - there is a "speed brake retract" option in the controls. Does it control the air brake? What key is that?

 

 

No no, those are for emergency situations, when the primary systems failed. They will do squat if the corresponding switches are not in emergency setting.

 

The main trim is on the Stick, and the speed brake is on the Throttle. You can find both in the HOTAS section of the control options.

[Megagoth1702]

Thank you guys.

 

Obviously this is not a "game", thats why the brackets are there, hehe. I spent the whole last night with the proper start up procedure, took off, had an awesome flight at 26000 feet and brought the baby safely back to the ground. :) Ah, lovely...

 

I am starting to realize how important HOTAS is. In the navigation training mission it is used all the time to switch between different displays. I will definatively try to map that to my joystick.

 

Are there any tips on what functions are MORE important and LESS important? I obviously do not have enough buttons on the joystick... :-/

[159th_Falcon]

TRIM is vital on roll and pitch channels, you only need the rudder in case of a damaged engine or such.

 

DMS Left and Right as well as up

TMS Up, Down optional

China hat FWD and AFT

Boat switch is handy but key combo could work fine.

 

Ofcourse a button to fire the gun would also come in handy as well as an weapon release button. (bombs and missiles use a different launch button then rockets and the gun)

 

~S~

ps, hope i got the abbreviations right, never really use em once you get used to your HOTAS config.

[Guest Fury_007]

 

Are there any tips on what functions are MORE important and LESS important? I obviously do not have enough buttons on the joystick... :-/

 

I guess it depends on how many buttons you have,because this sim uses a lot of buttons!

 

A couple for sure:

trigger - to kill $hit

weapon release - to kill $hit

tms - to mark spi

slew - to control sensors

coolie - to change between soi

 

How many buttons do you have?

[Balu0]

Thank you guys.

 

Obviously this is not a "game", thats why the brackets are there, hehe. I spent the whole last night with the proper start up procedure, took off, had an awesome flight at 26000 feet and brought the baby safely back to the ground. :) Ah, lovely...

 

I am starting to realize how important HOTAS is. In the navigation training mission it is used all the time to switch between different displays. I will definatively try to map that to my joystick.

 

Are there any tips on what functions are MORE important and LESS important? I obviously do not have enough buttons on the joystick... :-/

 

Here are the real functions:

Stick:

http://dcswiki.com/index.php?title=HOTAS_control_stick_%28A-10%29

 

Throttle:

http://dcswiki.com/index.php?title=HOTAS_throttle_%28A-10%29

 

The 2 together called HOTAS (Hands on Throttle and Stick)

 

Most important things to get mapped :

Trim

TMS

Slew control

 

Nice to have:

China Hat

DMS

CMS

 

:joystick:

[Megagoth1702]

Yeah I have already mapped the weapon controls properly. :) Stage 1 and gun buttons as well as weapon release. :)

 

DMS TMS, China - set! :) Should I also use the "right" & "left" stuff? I mean once I got a modifier I can always use my coolie hat for that. Or is it not that important?

[Megagoth1702]

Currently I am using 3 modifiers on my joystick. I have 3 more buttons open for "modifying"... Currently mapped are:

-Coolie Switch controls

-DMS controls

-Slew controls

 

I can add 3 more controls.

[FreeFall]

 

Ofcourse a button to fire the gun would also come in handy as well as an weapon release button.

 

Actually you need a two stage trigger (or two buttons) for gun (PAC-1).

 

(bombs and missiles use a different launch button then rockets and the gun)

 

????

[159th_Falcon]

I'd suggest TMS forward then, used quite a bit whit the TGP, MAVS and setting SPI's

 

***EDIT***

Oops, Rockets are fired using the weapons release button, gun whit the trigger.

My bad.

 

<<<<finally start to understand why his rockets never work...

Edited October 23, 2011 by 159th_Falcon

[104th_Cobra]

Hello Megagoth.

 

Just to give you some ideas...

 

I'm using a very precise T16000M joystick. The only "no-go" is when trying to aerial refueling: the throttle isn't precise enough. In Black Shark I don't have any issues.

 

In A-10C, to manage DMS, TMS, Boat, China and Collie, I'm using combinations of Hat Switch with Shift (Boat), Ctrl (China), Win (TMS), Alt (DMS), Right Ctrl (Collie). I use Freetrack so I assigned Slew control to Hat Switch.

 

Cheers

[Megagoth1702]

Thanks! :)

[Jona33]

Are there joystick layouts for download for the Saitek Cyborg Evo?

 

Are there more, maybe "downloadable" tutorial/training missions?

 

For 1., I can make a profile if you still need one with my old one.

2:Look in the Missions and Campaigns area, flight qualifications campaign thread. Should find everything you need there.

[Megagoth1702]

I think I am fine for now. Now I understand the system of modifiers and buttons etc. I understand that HOTAS is really important. I will find out which functions are the most important and map them out accordingly. :)

 

It's a HUGE HUGE bummer that you can't change your settings in game... Is there any chance that there is going to be any patch that will allow that?