Getting into DCS, could use some advice

[Parkranger]

Hello! been looking for a good sim to play for a while and I've decided on DCS but I could use some help (I've never played a proper sim)

 



Along side this i am seriously considering joining the Air Force or the National Guard in the future, primarily for training.

My main interest is some day becoming a commercial heli pilot.

 



Basically I am trying to decide on the proper equipment i'll need to get started and to get a feel for the cost of a good setup.

 

 

My first instinct was to buy the highest rated pedals and stick on Newegg like I do with computer parts, however someone pointed out this wasn't a good idea for what im looking for.

 

 

 



Thank you more than a lot for the help

[Vivoune]

It depends on your budget really and tastes. Some are plenty happy with a 30 dollar 3 axis joystick, some spend several hundreds on a HOTAS setup such as the Thrustmaster Warthog along with a dedicated controller for rudder control such as the Saitek regular or combat rudder pedals, others spend several thousands on it while some are only satisfied with custom made high end gear.

 

If you want to look at the best possible gear with a budget that doesn't equals the price of your car I'd suggest about $400-500 on a HOTAS (I would go for the acclaimed Thrustmaster Warthog, The X52 hotas is also a good lower priced alternative) and if you can, about the same on rudder pedals (the most common being the Saiteks but I would invest in something better, from my experience the Saitek pedals are mostly made of plastic, not very smooth and jittery very quickly but it gets the job done). Then you must have a head tracking system, either a TrackIR or Freetrack (home-made trackIR).

 

It really depends on how much time you invest on simming, if it's quite a lot then spending that much money on quality hardware is a good investment, the more time you sink in that hobby the more you get out of every spent dollar. I'd suggest you have a look at the most used/known gear in the sim community and read reviews about it to have a good idea of the usual quality/money ratio.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Vivoune

[DieHard]

After wearing out a Logitech joystick and later, a Saitek "twisty" AV8R-01, I now use CH Products gear and still use my 1st purchase items, now, 3 years old with no sign of wear, I do not even use deadzone correction, and I play a lot. A bunch of current CH Products' users told me, "They are the last flight sim controllers you will ever buy." I realize someday I will need to purchase another trio set and send my current stuff for repair or replace one-by-one as needed.

 

I have the Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals, all USB connectors and are ballpark $125 per each. I purchased the controllers online from the manufacturer. Each sim aircraft requires its own (.map); I use the CH Control Manager utility.

 

For the A-10, I think the Thrustmaster Warthog is probably better, but I already had my CH gear and I spent enough money!

 

I agree, Track IR 5.

 

 

CH Products

========

http://www.chproducts.com/13-28464-Home.php

 

 

CH Hangar

=======

http://www.ch-hangar.com/

 

 

Capt Crunch's Black Shark Profile (.map) is what I use for the Ka-50

==========================================

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/files/file/131-dcs-blackshark/

 

He goes by Crunch to the 104th Phoenix squad.

 

I use the Pro Throttle's throttle as the Ka-50 Black Shark helicopter's collective.

 

 

CH Control Manager (download)

====================

http://www.chproducts.com/13-29170-Downloads-and-Community.php

 

http://www.ch-hangar.com/control-manager-4-55-released-0057c057-eclipse-support/

 

http://www.stickworks.com/control_manager-v4.55.exe

 

I am still using v4.52 but I did not see a current link for it.

 

 

CH_Control_Manager_Tutorial

===================

http://www.stickworks.com/contents.htm

 

"Tutorial for Dummies"

===============

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/topic/1887-control-manager-tutorial/

 

 

A printout utility for the controllers

======================

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/files/file/174-cm-print-v450-beta-1/

 

 

I am a consumer, I have no financial interest in CH Products. Just saving guys time looking stuff up, if interested.

 

 

Playing with DCS and FSX and modding stuff is great for creative brain exercise. Though the DCS: World (Auto-Updater) took away some of the fun of installing it, but I am not complaining.

Edited October 6, 2013 by DieHard

[Parkranger]

I am hoping to spend close to $400 for the tracking, pedals and stick.

 

I don't really need to replicate real helo controls to the finest points, im just aiming to get the broad strokes and feel right so that when I am in an actual helo down the line I can be more confident.

 

Also thanks for those links Diehard, will definitely check all that out

[Bearcat]

You can get an X-52 Pro, a TIR-5 and a set of Saitek Pro Flight rudder pedals for under $500. If you decided on an X-52 and a TIR-4 and the same pedals for close to $400. Most of the issues with Saitek sticks come from ham fisting the twist rudder which would not be an issue if you had rudder pedals. Saiteks are decent products. CH is good stuff too but I think Saiteks are a great alternative.

[Parkranger]

Been looking around for an X-52 Pro, unfortunately they are sold out pretty much everywhere I've checked haha ill keep an eye out though.

 

As for pedals been debating on getting either

 

http://www.amazon.com/CH-Products-Pedals-Simulator-300-111/dp/B0000512IE CH

 

http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Pro-Flight-Rudder-Pedals/dp/B000H67DDY Saitek

 

both are on sale atm ^^

Edited October 7, 2013 by Parkranger

[GriffonBR]

Stay sharp with the CH Products support, they really make some good stuff for in terms of joystick but the support it´s terrible in terms of spare parts. I have a CH Fighterstick with just one year of use that I bought on a trip to USA, it works grate and still working but after one year the Y axis pot starts to spiking a little (it dosen´t affects my flight too much but it sucks sometimes on DCS Mustang on tight turns). I asked CH Support for buy some potentiometers but the only thing that they´ve said to me is YOU SHOULD BUY ANOTHER ONE, that simple...

 

In spite of this problem, I do recomend the CH stuff, for you that live in USA, the support should be more friendly.

Edited October 7, 2013 by GriffonBR

[Vivoune]

If 400$ is your budget then yea I'd definitly go for an X-52 for about 140 (although I think Amazon is about to receive more soon for $110), Saitek flight pedals for about $90 and trackIR or Free track to save even more. I've owned all of these for some time and it's good enough stuff, imo it hardly gets better in terms of bang vs bucks.

 

You're set for about $230 with a full HOTAS, Rudder & Head tracking. It's all good products. You can half that price if you're willing to buy second-hand which often come in "as new" condition.

[AhSoul]

If you want headtracking, I'd suggest FreeTrackNoIR and a Delan IR clip. Seems to do just as good a job as TrackIR for about 1/6th of the cost :) I've got a thread about the clip somewhere so a search for Delan should pop it up...

[DieHard]

Been looking around for an X-52 Pro, unfortunately they are sold out pretty much everywhere I've checked haha ill keep an eye out though.

 

As for pedals been debating on getting either

 

http://www.amazon.com/CH-Products-Pedals-Simulator-300-111/dp/B0000512IE CH

 

http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Pro-Flight-Rudder-Pedals/dp/B000H67DDY Saitek

 

both are on sale atm ^^

 

When the X52 first came out, my local BestBuy had them. They also have an online store. I do not know their current availability. Food for thought.

 

As to the CH gear pots, I would just buy a replacement controller and send the old one in for repair (mine is now out of warranty). Some guys cannot afford this alternative, though. Other thought is to Google search for guys doing a pot repair on their own and see what they used for replacement. There is a guy out there that modded a CH Controller to be "left handed" and the same guy, or another guy added more switches to his---something like "Franken Potato" . Go pick his brains.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Frakken+Potato&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=Franken+Potato&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&spell=1

 

Also check out the Google Images listing, first few rows down for ideas and links/e-mail addresses.

 

My experience picking brains for info in industrial manufacturing, I would talk to the engineers of a targeted company and not some front office flunky answering calls. When troubleshooting a machine, especially if I was buying repair parts from them, the engineers were usually most helpful.

 

The old CH Forums got hacked awhile ago, so the website owner started over and why old referenced messages via Google cannot be found. So I search for a post on the new forums and hope for the best:

 

Some ideas for bad pots:

================

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/topic/7486-ch-pro-throttle-usb-no-longer-accurate/?hl=%2Bperfect+%2Bthrottle&do=findComment&comment=48504

 

My search results for Perfect Throttle (don't know if these search items will reiterate here):

=========================================================

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1

Edited October 8, 2013 by DieHard

[DieHard]

If you want headtracking, I'd suggest FreeTrackNoIR and a Delan IR clip. Seems to do just as good a job as TrackIR for about 1/6th of the cost :) I've got a thread about the clip somewhere so a search for Delan should pop it up...

 

I finally broke my TrackClipPro for Track IR 5. I did fix it. But in the interim I used the ballcap and TrackClip metal stamping and that easily works just as as good. I saw no difference between the two. The ambient lighting off my PC's LCD monitor screen is sufficient to reflect light back to the Track IR 5 camera in my spare bedroom office space.

 

I have been researching the Free Track forums and Google search referrals to get ideas for modding the flimsy TrackClipPro design. Actually, the mold design to create the TrackClipPro is a complicated design. I would love to see the plastic mold they use. I'm guessing it cost at least $100,000 to create it, and hence, why Natural Point is reluctant to change the design.

[Vivoune]

They did change the design once. First trackclip pro was fragile and most people would break it, as they grew aware of it NaturalPoint eventually did a more resistant TrackClip Pro which people are quite happy about. Maybe you still have the old design.

[MTFDarkEagle]

They did change the design once. First trackclip pro was fragile and most people would break it, as they grew aware of it NaturalPoint eventually did a more resistant TrackClip Pro which people are quite happy about. Maybe you still have the old design.

 

Interesting! I'm using the trackclip pro (very happy with it!) And it's broken of at the rotation point to the three-pronge attachment (duct tape to the rescue :) ). How can you tell the difference between the old and new model, do you know?

[AhSoul]

If you've already got a TrackIR then yes keep fixing the clip if it breaks makes sense. But if you're starting from scratch I can't see a reason to spend £150 when £30-worth of Delan IR and PS3eye gives you the same thing. Not quite as plug 'n' play I guess would be the only downside.

[Cdr.Instigator]

Hello! been looking for a good sim to play for a while and I've decided on DCS but I could use some help (I've never played a proper sim)

 



Along side this i am seriously considering joining the Air Force or the National Guard in the future, primarily for training.

My main interest is some day becoming a commercial heli pilot.

 



Basically I am trying to decide on the proper equipment i'll need to get started and to get a feel for the cost of a good setup.

 

 

My first instinct was to buy the highest rated pedals and stick on Newegg like I do with computer parts, however someone pointed out this wasn't a good idea for what im looking for.

 

 

 



Thank you more than a lot for the help

 

 

Forget the pedals and joystick for a minute...

 

 

Tell us about your Computer.... Without this important piece of hardware, the joystick and pedals will only be collecting dust and your hair will get much grayer and fall out... trying to get this game to run on a crappy computer!