Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
Hmm, I may just skip the trackclip, then. I think it's like a $20 difference, so if I don't think I'll use it, it's not worth it. I thought I had read it was more accurate than the reflector, but that could have just been NaturalPoint's marketing.
Well the hatclip is just 3 little reflectors, but the trackclip has to get plugged in. Which is actually pretty annoying as well - since now you have another wire running over to you along with the headphone cable.. so depending on how you have your computer situated, it could be a mess of cables.
But yeah, it gets plugged in and has 3 active IR (im guessing) leds that the trackIR uses to track with. I guess this allow more precision. I need to try it again to see if it helps smooth out what I'm noticing, and I'll let you know. But overall, I sure as hell don't want to wear headphones all the time - and the usb wires all over the place can be a pain in the ass.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Also apparently they'll be releasing a patch 1.1.0.9 really soon. They were going to release a hotfix to fix the tree shadows (that I had been noticing floating in the air), but decided to put a few more bug fixes in it and call it a fast patch.
Cool, that little fix worked. I could see the entire load out line and it didn't seem to mess anything else up.
I just loaded up Dragon's JTAC training mission and took off with a full rack of CBU-103s. Contacted Axeman1-1 and successfully deployed all my weapons on the enemy. I was actually a little rusty remembering all the CDU stuff, and my TGP wasn't slewing to my steerpoint at first. But I got it all sorted out. Six good bomb drops later I flew back to Kutasai and managed a perfect (in my book) landing.
A couple things I noticed. The JTAC uplink is now working correctly and the tasking data turned into little blinking red X's on my TAD, which was nice. Although I still added the coords manually. You can make the TAD the SOI and move the little cursor in there over the X and "hook" it, which I think automatically makes it a nav point.
When I was heading back to the air strip, descending to pattern altitude, I noticed my air speed indicator stopped working (went back to 50, like when on the ground). This was both on the HUD and the mechanical gauge. Anyone else notice this? It started working again right as I was doing my final approach - which was nice cause I had no idea how fast I was going. I wish I could've saved the track of that mission, but it runs in multiplayer mode so no dice.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
Did you have your pitot heat turned on? It could have frozen up. Or it could have been a random failure.
I did not. I think I have random failures turned off. It's weird, cause I only ever noticed this when I'm getting ready to land. Maybe it's something that happens if you dive too hard, but I dunno. It could be the icing, now that I'm reading about it. I'll turn it on next time and see what happens.
Rise of Flight's demo has been changed by the developers. It now allows unlimited flight time, and bought aircraft (of which there are many) can be added into the demo (which they're now calling a "limited version of the game"). Basically it's the full game, minus a few aircraft.
Been wanting to try the game for a while, so I grabbed it and took a few flights. This shit is fucking fun. Great graphcs, good flight model, plenty of options from arcade to balls-out realism, and in general it feels very, very polished. If anyone's got a hankering for ye olde WW1 aircraft, this is a really great way to dive in.
I did not. I think I have random failures turned off. It's weird, cause I only ever noticed this when I'm getting ready to land. Maybe it's something that happens if you dive too hard, but I dunno. It could be the icing, now that I'm reading about it. I'll turn it on next time and see what happens.
Yeah, try that. Turning it on should be one of your take off actions, when you're sitting on the runway. You don't want to turn it on before then because you can actually overheat it if you're just sitting on the ramp.
After watching that JTAC video, I saw that you can have the ground crew connect external power. I tried it last night and it's pretty cool. It basically allows you to get your NAV aligning at the beginning so you don't have to sit there and wait on it. You still need the APU on to start the engines, but you don't need to have it actually providing power.
Still no idea what I'm doing in regards to creating waypoints. I just need to do the training again and watch those videos.
Rise of Flight's demo has been changed by the developers. It now allows unlimited flight time, and bought aircraft (of which there are many) can be added into the demo (which they're now calling a "limited version of the game"). Basically it's the full game, minus a few aircraft.
Been wanting to try the game for a while, so I grabbed it and took a few flights. This shit is fucking fun. Great graphcs, good flight model, plenty of options from arcade to balls-out realism, and in general it feels very, very polished. If anyone's got a hankering for ye olde WW1 aircraft, this is a really great way to dive in.
Gonna have to try it. As much as I love modern stuff A10C is pretty effing tedious in some areas.
('I'm impatient and going through learning pains' rant)
Just seems there's no healthy balance between convenience and realism. I'm pretty old school on sims I think Janes F-15 and F/A-18 were right up there as my favs (along with longbow 2) but they were I suppose "simple" compared to A10C. It's just a LOT to learn. For some reason, I think learning to fly an A10 in real life would be more simple because I wouldn't be moving a mouse to a dial and clicking it to turn a dial and pushing buttons I can't read, and have to take the time to zoom in etc. It's like trying to do instrumentation with a stick in your hand pushing the buttons rather than just pushing it with your finger.
Seems there's either Game Mode which is is just insultingly simple to the point where it's not the same game and then Simulator mode which is pretty much being there (minus the thousands of hours of classroom training needed to accomplish the task). I guess I just wasn't ready! lol
I think I need something a little more simple for a while. But I have a feeling that the Saitek x65 is going to be absolutely HORRIBLE for something like rise of flight since it uses the awkward force sensing. Not sure... anyone try it with older sims?
It sounds like you don't have TrackIR - so I definitely can understand some of your pain. However, after takeoff the only things you really need to keep an eye on (in cockpit) are your MFDs - and maybe the actual CDU panel when you're orbiting and punching in some data. Most of the essential buttons are mapped to your controller. DMS, TMS, China hat, and Boat switch all can be on the stick (plus a few more things). Then the throttle can handle the rest.
Anyway, it sounds like a group session could be real fun and helpful for everyone since we have at least 5 guys with A-10. I probably won't be around tonight, but maybe Saturday we can get a game going and practice some shit. The first of the PA Wang Squadron flight trainings.
edit: also - i know its possible to create snap views of certain gauges / locations of the cockpit. like you hit a button and it overlays the bottom corner with your right MFD for instance. i don't know how to achieve this however. But it could be real useful, especially for those w/out trackIR
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
I just use the numpad to pan around and zoom in. 5 centers your view back on the front and enter goes to the default zoom. I use both of those a lot. But yeah, during flight you're mainly looking ahead. I pan down a lot to look at the HSI, and I go to the left some for radio adjustment and right for ILS and CDU. The main thing that made my life easier was learning how to use the autopilot. If you're fiddling around with the CDU, flicking on the autopilot is a good idea. My X-52 profile has it set for the toggle switches. T1 is enable/disable, T2 is Path, T4 is HDG/Alt, and T6 is Bank.
And as far as the learning curve, yeah, it is steep, but it's very rewarding. When I started with it, I knew absolutely nothing about modern flight technology. I had mainly done arcadey stuff or WW2 sims. I had to learn all of the systems, avionics, everything from scratch. Two things that helped immensely was reading the flight manual (I know it's huge, but persevere!), and doing the training missions. I did both many times. I didn't even touch the weapons training until I felt comfortable just flying the thing. I've probably done the ILS training 10 times now, and still don't have it completely down. I'm also planning on doing the NAV training again, after having done it at least 5 times. There's a lot to digest and you can't just do it all the first time. Do the training, try it yourself with a freeflight. Find the things you get stuck on, do the training again and look for those. Just repeat until you can do it all yourself.
Saturday evening would probably be good for me. I have a D&D game that afternoon, but should be free after 6:30 central. My usual barrier to online play is my toddler, but I get a day off for Father's day, and I think Saturday is going to be it.
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
I'd be down for some group things.
I'd say that a Flight School kind of thing would be better, maybe? I mean, I'm no expert on flying it yet. I can barely start it. As for flying, I just fly to the points manually, and go to the next one, completely defeating the purpose of the auto-pilot. And if I can't use my gun to kill it, I sic a wingman on it.
If not a Flight School, I'd say some easier combat missions. I don't know what would be too 'easy' or too 'hard' for 5 A-10s flying around, except a bunch of other jet fighters maybe.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
I think a group training session would be pretty useful. We could go through a bunch of different things like start up, ATC, waypoints, etc, and just see what everyone knows and doesn't know, and pool our knowledge (and find out if we've been doing something wrong). After a bit of that we could try loading up a mission and giving it a go.
Most of the things that annoy/intimidate me are the smaller things. The things that might seem like trivial little things (in a sim anyway) like setting up radio communications, navigation setup (waypoints aren't a problem but getting to the point where you can actually see the points is a chore), etc. Mainly because I can't believe how tedious they are even in an old plane like the A10 (even though it's the C variant). Just seems overly difficult to set up and communicate. I don't have too much trouble with ordinance and keeping the plane in the air at all because it's very similar to the older sims. But all the little things like startup procedures, communications, etc. are just sooooo over the top.
I don't think the stick (x65) is helping me either. The thing won't center and there's no way to center it aside from assigning a huge dead zone (even with the new drivers). Appears it's a known issue with the stick, unfortunately saitek's support is absolute garbage. They appear to have completely abandoned the x65. It's discontinued now. Yeah, not a great experience so far lol. Just about thinking of returning it and looking for something else.
edit: Thanks for the flight school offer, it's a great idea but I'm pretty booked for at least a week. Just finishing up my free time this past week with the sim. Now that my free time is going to be more limited and seeing the time/cost investment more clearly, I'm eyening that stick and thinking it's not going to survive the cut.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Most of the things that annoy/intimidate me are the smaller things. The things that might seem like trivial little things (in a sim anyway) like setting up radio communications, navigation setup (waypoints aren't a problem but getting to the point where you can actually see the points is a chore), etc. Mainly because I can't believe how tedious they are even in an old plane like the A10 (even though it's the C variant). Just seems overly difficult to set up and communicate. I don't have too much trouble with ordinance and keeping the plane in the air at all because it's very similar to the older sims. But all the little things like startup procedures, communications, etc. are just sooooo over the top.
I don't think the stick (x65) is helping me either. The thing won't center and there's no way to center it aside from assigning a huge dead zone (even with the new drivers). Appears it's a known issue with the stick, unfortunately saitek's support is absolute garbage. They appear to have completely abandoned the x65. It's discontinued now. Yeah, not a great experience so far lol. Just about thinking of returning it and looking for something else.
I'd return it and just get an X-52, either standard or Pro. It's pretty popular and for good reason. It's a good stick. I know you're soured on Saitek and I don't blame you, but the X-52 has a good track record. If you don't want Saitek you could try Thrustmaster, but I think there's less of a selection and they're pricey. I had the complete opposite experience as you with my Saitek. Downloaded and installed the drivers with no problem and the stick worked great right out of the gate. We could also recommend you some good profiles if you go X-52.
As far as the little stuff you mentioned, that's not really the fault of DCS A-10, it's just modeling the real thing. You can try things like Easy Radio to help. The A-10 is definitely complicated, but as you learn what's going on you kinda see a method to the madness, as it were. You'll definitely want to know how to control the DMS, TMS, China Hat, and Coolie Hat, preferably from the stick. I think we could help you make sense of some of this stuff online if you could join us.
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
See, Boogdud, I love that stuff. I hate playing WWII sims, and, at best, I have to worry about speed, attitude, and altitude. I want to play around with all the engine settings (I know that doesn't apply to the A-10), and the communications and navigation systems. I love IL-2 because of that. MSFS isn't too bad either, but it's definitely way more casual. I mean, I don't think, that even with the most realistic settings, I ever had to worry about fuel mixture, prop pitch, throttle, overheating, engines blowing up, not enough power from the alternators, icing, flying through clouds, etc.
On the other hand, having to deal with that while people are shooting at you is really quite stressful.
See, Boogdud, I love that stuff. I hate playing WWII sims, and, at best, I have to worry about speed, attitude, and altitude. I want to play around with all the engine settings (I know that doesn't apply to the A-10), and the communications and navigation systems. I love IL-2 because of that. MSFS isn't too bad either, but it's definitely way more casual. I mean, I don't think, that even with the most realistic settings, I ever had to worry about fuel mixture, prop pitch, throttle, overheating, engines blowing up, not enough power from the alternators, icing, flying through clouds, etc.
On the other hand, having to deal with that while people are shooting at you is really quite stressful.
Yeah, heh, I guess I'm in a different place now. Now back when I was playing the sims I mentioned before, I would have loved that stuff. But that was a good 15+ years ago when I was in my early 20's and had nothing but college to worry about. Much more free time and patience for those types of things I suppose.
another one, lost to casuality
I can definitely understand how someone would really love to get into something like that. I've been there.
I agree to just turn on the Easy Communication option. You can just hit \ and then be able to contact whoever you want. I think you can still use the actual radio button commands to only access the freq you're tuned into as well. And that sucks about the stick. If it's giving that much trouble, I'd swap it for the x52 - however, you say its not centering. Are you sure that's not a trim issue? After you take off you'll probably notice the plane banking to the right - this is due to the asynchronous load on the wings (the sidewinders). Every time you drop ordnance you'll need to re-trim the plane due to the weight change. Please disregard if you already know this, but I just wanted to put it out there.
As far as the group session goes, I was thinking I'd just host one of Dragon's training missions. Either the target practice or JTAC training. Both allow us to practice takeoff and landings until our hearts are content. Then if we want to work on using the TGP and weapon runs we have some available ground targets. And finally, we can go over the stuff related to JTAC. But overall I was just thinking of it as a casual thing, where we can fly around trying shit out, but have the group there to ask questions when stuff comes up.
Then once everyone is feeling good with the basics we could try a real mission at some point OR we can do the same training but at night . But that training mission is nice, and the Hard target area has AAA and SAMs so its definitely a challenge. I'd like to figure out how we can send target data to one another - I'm pretty sure we can do that. I know at the very least I can put my laser on a target, then you can set your TGP to search for my laser and grab that target.
First time I tried a night mission I just sat in the cockpit playing with all the light switches and knobs, adjusting the brightness of all the panels. It looks so cool.
A quick question for those who have the A-10 game already (and probably a dumb question, but figured I would ask rather than curse after). Since I am not 100% into the whole Steam thing yet (even though I bought a few games through them), if I buy the game on Steam can I patch the game using the developer patches or do I have to wait for a Steam patch?
Reason I ask is that I read/see all these posts of patches and mods then wondered this question to myself.
This is my last hurdle to overcome before I buy the game. Thanks guys, you keep me wanting to just go and put myself in more debt every day I read this thread. It really sucks when you have to debate on having to buy a X52 or a hammer drill to attach a patio cover that the house really needs. lol
Yeah, heh, I guess I'm in a different place now. Now back when I was playing the sims I mentioned before, I would have loved that stuff. But that was a good 15+ years ago when I was in my early 20's and had nothing but college to worry about. Much more free time and patience for those types of things I suppose.
another one, lost to casuality
I can definitely understand how someone would really love to get into something like that. I've been there.
I'll just say I'm almost 32 with a wife and kid, and I loved learning the A-10. But for me this was stuff I'd always wanted to learn but never got around to. If you want to just boot up and fly, yeah, this may not be your game.
A quick question for those who have the A-10 game already (and probably a dumb question, but figured I would ask rather than curse after). Since I am not 100% into the whole Steam thing yet (even though I bought a few games through them), if I buy the game on Steam can I patch the game using the developer patches or do I have to wait for a Steam patch?
Reason I ask is that I read/see all these posts of patches and mods then wondered this question to myself.
This is my last hurdle to overcome before I buy the game. Thanks guys, you keep me wanting to just go and put myself in more debt every day I read this thread. It really sucks when you have to debate on having to buy a X52 or a hammer drill to attach a patio cover that the house really needs. lol
I'm pretty sure you'll have to wait on the Steam version of the patch. I think they were a week behind with the last one, so it's up to you.
I chose not to go with Steam for this game and instead bought it from their website. It's still a download, you just download the setup files and install it yourself. I just didn't see a reason to get it through Steam since the overlay is disabled anyway. But it's really up to you. It's the same price and basically same method of delivery. One thing I do like about the DCS site (which is usually an advantage of Steam) is when they release a patch, they also update the big download to include it, so say once they've finished patching the game, you can download the most up to date version and not have to worry about patching ever again.
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
It has minimal interaction with steam. There are no achievements, no time tracking, no overlay or browsing. I wish they'd at least let the overlay work, so that you can Google stuff without having to alt+tab if you need to figure something out.
I've always wanted to fly one IRL, but with glasses and asthma, the best I'd be able to do is work on one, which I'm sure is not very much fun at all.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
It has minimal interaction with steam. There are no achievements, no time tracking, no overlay or browsing. I wish they'd at least let the overlay work, so that you can Google stuff without having to alt+tab if you need to figure something out.
The problem is that it's a 64bit app while Steam is still 32bit. I have a feeling they'll eventually release a 64bit version of Steam, which will fix the problem, but until then....
I Are you sure that's not a trim issue? After you take off you'll probably notice the plane banking to the right - this is due to the asynchronous load on the wings (the sidewinders). Every time you drop ordnance you'll need to re-trim the plane due to the weight change. Please disregard if you already know this, but I just wanted to put it out there.
Yeah, already knew that but thanks for the help anyway. Unfortunately it's doing it at all times, even outside the game. Boo! :x
But for those thinking about the sim (a10c), I don't want to paint a negative picture of it (I don't believe I have). It's probably the most amazingly detailed flight sim I've ever played as far as combat aircraft go. It's unparalleled really. If you are into ultra-realism you can't go wrong with it, honestly. It's definitely me, not the sim
Sweet, thanks for the input on my question. Looks like I'll go with the developer version then.
I pretty much knew what I'm going to get myself into as the game seems more "realistic" than, "grab stick, blow up things" which is fine with me. I'm not a hardcore sim person, but my love for the A-10 is borderline obsessive. So this is the closest I'll ever get to the real plane short of breaking through security and licking a real one (I think the cost of the game is cheaper than jail time). I know myself and will probably regret buying it after. Especially since I had (and sold) probably almost every sim game ever made for the PC (we are talking even those crappy VGA flight sims, say hello to 16 colors woo). Either I never played them, or could never get past the tutorials of how to fly/pilot the craft. But this game is far too cool to pass up in my book. The amount of detail they put into the game just makes me want to reward them for their time and effort by buying this game.
As far as Steam goes, I guess there's no big reason to buy it there but I did. I just like having most of my games on Steam for some reason. They don't do anything weird with the files, so you can definitely use the official patch before its released through steam. I did it before with Black Shark. Steam does track your game time, but besides that no other steam perks.
It's not really important where you get it, as long as you get it. Come fly with us. You can fix the patio next year!
Well Boog, I understand what you're saying as far as time vs effort. Lomac+FC2 could be an option, if you were still feeling the itch for some modern combat. It's nicely detailed, but not as intense as DCS. When you get some more time and want to fly something, I'm sure we'll be available for tasking
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
I can say the amount of detail is what keeps me coming back, and what got me interested in the first place. I would always look at the cockpits with all of the buttons and switches and wish I could use those. Doing a cold startup was always a fantasy of mine. I was pretty meh on the A-10, but now it's up there among my favorites.
As to whether this sim would be different for you, it's hard to say. If you're obsessed with the A-10, that'll certainly help. I've played this one longer than I've played any other, and I think the reason is because of the complexity. I just enjoy learning this real-world stuff.
I do know that we can definitely help you get into the game if you can join up with us online.
Okay, so, I've really wanted to purchase Flaming Cliffs 2, since the idea of LOMAC in the DCS engine is pretty enticing, but my dumb self is a little afraid of accidentally purchasing some mislabeled form of the expansion packs instead of the game (or doing something like buying a mod for sale, like Silent Hunter 3 disturbingly had).
Does this look like the right thing, anyone who already owns it can tell me?
Betsuni - The game has a lot to offer, and a lot you need to let sink in. I will offer the advise of not letting it overwhelm you. The training missions that come with the game are excellent at teaching you the basics, but even they may seem to talk about a lot of stuff (and acronyms.. the military is all about them).
Just remember, taking off can be as simple as putting down the flaps, full throttle, rotate the stick back around 150knots to about a 10 degree climb, raise wheels, raise flaps, profit. You can skip the startup procedure by using the hotkey that does it for you. Once the plane is in the air it handles wonderfully.
If you really want to "grab stick and blow things up" the "Game" mode will allow for this in a way. You can ease into learning all the other stuff as you like. But really, there are only a few core things you need to understand then it all makes sense.
Some thoughts for a group session:
Flight basics
- startup procedure
- radio setup / talking to ATC
- take off
- landing
- using the TAD
- ILS usage
- using the DIVERT navigation option on the CDU
Weapon deployment
- Using the TGP
- Using the DSMS to select and setup weapons
- How to use the laser
- How to create Sensor Points of Interest (SPI)
- How to automatically move the TGP to your SPI
- explain CCIP and CCRP bombing modes
- How to use smart bombs (laser guided and GPS)
JTAC Training
- How to contact JTAC
- Manually entering JTAC data into a new waypoint
- Automatically receive JTAC target data via uplink
A lot of that is already covered in the training missions, but I was just doing a brain dump of the things I used last night when I was flying a mission.
Okay, so, I've really wanted to purchase Flaming Cliffs 2, since the idea of LOMAC in the DCS engine is pretty enticing, but my dumb self is a little afraid of accidentally purchasing some mislabeled form of the expansion packs instead of the game (or doing something like buying a mod for sale, like Silent Hunter 3 disturbingly had).
Does this look like the right thing, anyone who already owns it can tell me?
Actually, you probably want that no matter what cause its cheaper than just buying FC2. FC2 requires Lomac to install, but its a stand alone game. Platinum includes both for $20. I think FC2 still costs $30.. so I don't know why thats the case. I had LOMAC already, so I just bought FC2 a couple years ago.
You mentioned DCS, just want you to know that FC2 only works with DCS: Black Shark currently. BS and A-10 may work together one day, but FC2 and A-10 is unlikely from what I remember reading. Not totally up to date on the rumor mill though.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
That sounds good. I'm pretty good on the basics, so I can help with that. I'm about 50/50 on the weapon stuff, so a little help there. I'm pretty much lost with JTAC, so that would help me a lot. I also know a little about airport procedure (flying the pattern, etc) and formation flying.
I think some time spent on headings would be useful, too, like how runway numbers correspond and why they use which one they do, etc.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
That sounds good. I'm pretty good on the basics, so I can help with that. I'm about 50/50 on the weapon stuff, so a little help there. I'm pretty much lost with JTAC, so that would help me a lot. I also know a little about airport procedure (flying the pattern, etc) and formation flying.
I think some time spent on headings would be useful, too, like how runway numbers correspond and why they use which one they do, etc.
Awesome. Yeah that's a good point, and something I learned from flying FSX. I thought it was really cool that the runway number represented the heading your approach should be on. So if you're landing on runway 8, your approach is on bearing 80 degrees. Or runway 26 the bearing would be 260 (which is the same runway, but the opposite direction).
L Ron - are you playing FSX or an older version of MSFS?
Okay, so, I've really wanted to purchase Flaming Cliffs 2, since the idea of LOMAC in the DCS engine is pretty enticing, but my dumb self is a little afraid of accidentally purchasing some mislabeled form of the expansion packs instead of the game (or doing something like buying a mod for sale, like Silent Hunter 3 disturbingly had).
Does this look like the right thing, anyone who already owns it can tell me?
Actually, you probably want that no matter what cause its cheaper than just buying FC2. FC2 requires Lomac to install, but its a stand alone game. Platinum includes both for $20. I think FC2 still costs $30.. so I don't know why thats the case. I had LOMAC already, so I just bought FC2 a couple years ago.
You mentioned DCS, just want you to know that FC2 only works with DCS: Black Shark currently. BS and A-10 may work together one day, but FC2 and A-10 is unlikely from what I remember reading. Not totally up to date on the rumor mill though.
I don't have DCS: A-10 (only Black Shark), so it's no problem. I own LOMAC already, but if it's cheaper, it's cheaper. Thanks.
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
I need to search for more terrain mods/updates for FSX. I remember seeing a super-detailed version of Dubai years ago that made me drool...not sure if it was FSX Deluxe or a labor of love or what.
Really, any superdetailed cities make me really, really happy.
Cool, yeah I was just curious. I'd like to reinstall FSX now that I grabbed the Gold version. It's fun to fly around in that game. When I flew with the Bush pilot dudes up in Alaska they would do special missions occasionally. You'd have to install a small asset pack and that would put a downed aircraft / campfire (or something like that) and they would do a simulated search and rescue for a downed pilot. They'd provide the last known location and what they were doing as clues, you had to figure out where you think the best place to find them would be. Somewhat of a needle in a haystack, but flying around over the forests of Alaska looking for stuff was cool. I'd be into doing something like that. Should be easy enough to write the little mod/mission for that.
And yeah, those after-market packs that upgrade the scenery are pretty nice. I had a couple good ones. Need to find my external drive where I backed all that stuff up. I had tons of planes and upgrades.
edit: on that note, I remember Carcass saying you liked the whole ATC part of the flight experience as well. I know the goons who play the flight sims are into this: http://www.vatsim.net/ At first I thought it was just an ATC mod for a particular server, but I think its a full network of ATCs that FSX hooks into. So we all fly wherever we want (doesn't have to be online I don't think) and it feeds our flight data to the ATC or something and they coordinate. May be a little much for my likes, but if someone could explain it better maybe its cool. My only experience with it is following the goons thread about it.
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited June 2011
I somehow lost all my airplanes. I had like 3 gigs of compressed airplane files, and I lost them all. Some of them were really good, and I know I'll never be able to find many of them again.
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But yeah, it gets plugged in and has 3 active IR (im guessing) leds that the trackIR uses to track with. I guess this allow more precision. I need to try it again to see if it helps smooth out what I'm noticing, and I'll let you know. But overall, I sure as hell don't want to wear headphones all the time - and the usb wires all over the place can be a pain in the ass.
Also apparently they'll be releasing a patch 1.1.0.9 really soon. They were going to release a hotfix to fix the tree shadows (that I had been noticing floating in the air), but decided to put a few more bug fixes in it and call it a fast patch.
I just loaded up Dragon's JTAC training mission and took off with a full rack of CBU-103s. Contacted Axeman1-1 and successfully deployed all my weapons on the enemy. I was actually a little rusty remembering all the CDU stuff, and my TGP wasn't slewing to my steerpoint at first. But I got it all sorted out. Six good bomb drops later I flew back to Kutasai and managed a perfect (in my book) landing.
A couple things I noticed. The JTAC uplink is now working correctly and the tasking data turned into little blinking red X's on my TAD, which was nice. Although I still added the coords manually. You can make the TAD the SOI and move the little cursor in there over the X and "hook" it, which I think automatically makes it a nav point.
When I was heading back to the air strip, descending to pattern altitude, I noticed my air speed indicator stopped working (went back to 50, like when on the ground). This was both on the HUD and the mechanical gauge. Anyone else notice this? It started working again right as I was doing my final approach - which was nice cause I had no idea how fast I was going. I wish I could've saved the track of that mission, but it runs in multiplayer mode so no dice.
Been wanting to try the game for a while, so I grabbed it and took a few flights. This shit is fucking fun. Great graphcs, good flight model, plenty of options from arcade to balls-out realism, and in general it feels very, very polished. If anyone's got a hankering for ye olde WW1 aircraft, this is a really great way to dive in.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Yeah, try that. Turning it on should be one of your take off actions, when you're sitting on the runway. You don't want to turn it on before then because you can actually overheat it if you're just sitting on the ramp.
After watching that JTAC video, I saw that you can have the ground crew connect external power. I tried it last night and it's pretty cool. It basically allows you to get your NAV aligning at the beginning so you don't have to sit there and wait on it. You still need the APU on to start the engines, but you don't need to have it actually providing power.
Still no idea what I'm doing in regards to creating waypoints. I just need to do the training again and watch those videos.
Gonna have to try it. As much as I love modern stuff A10C is pretty effing tedious in some areas.
('I'm impatient and going through learning pains' rant)
Just seems there's no healthy balance between convenience and realism. I'm pretty old school on sims I think Janes F-15 and F/A-18 were right up there as my favs (along with longbow 2) but they were I suppose "simple" compared to A10C. It's just a LOT to learn. For some reason, I think learning to fly an A10 in real life would be more simple because I wouldn't be moving a mouse to a dial and clicking it to turn a dial and pushing buttons I can't read, and have to take the time to zoom in etc. It's like trying to do instrumentation with a stick in your hand pushing the buttons rather than just pushing it with your finger.
Seems there's either Game Mode which is is just insultingly simple to the point where it's not the same game and then Simulator mode which is pretty much being there (minus the thousands of hours of classroom training needed to accomplish the task). I guess I just wasn't ready! lol
I think I need something a little more simple for a while. But I have a feeling that the Saitek x65 is going to be absolutely HORRIBLE for something like rise of flight since it uses the awkward force sensing. Not sure... anyone try it with older sims?
Anyway, it sounds like a group session could be real fun and helpful for everyone since we have at least 5 guys with A-10. I probably won't be around tonight, but maybe Saturday we can get a game going and practice some shit. The first of the PA Wang Squadron flight trainings.
edit: also - i know its possible to create snap views of certain gauges / locations of the cockpit. like you hit a button and it overlays the bottom corner with your right MFD for instance. i don't know how to achieve this however. But it could be real useful, especially for those w/out trackIR
And as far as the learning curve, yeah, it is steep, but it's very rewarding. When I started with it, I knew absolutely nothing about modern flight technology. I had mainly done arcadey stuff or WW2 sims. I had to learn all of the systems, avionics, everything from scratch. Two things that helped immensely was reading the flight manual (I know it's huge, but persevere!), and doing the training missions. I did both many times. I didn't even touch the weapons training until I felt comfortable just flying the thing. I've probably done the ILS training 10 times now, and still don't have it completely down. I'm also planning on doing the NAV training again, after having done it at least 5 times. There's a lot to digest and you can't just do it all the first time. Do the training, try it yourself with a freeflight. Find the things you get stuck on, do the training again and look for those. Just repeat until you can do it all yourself.
Saturday evening would probably be good for me. I have a D&D game that afternoon, but should be free after 6:30 central. My usual barrier to online play is my toddler, but I get a day off for Father's day, and I think Saturday is going to be it.
I'd say that a Flight School kind of thing would be better, maybe? I mean, I'm no expert on flying it yet. I can barely start it. As for flying, I just fly to the points manually, and go to the next one, completely defeating the purpose of the auto-pilot. And if I can't use my gun to kill it, I sic a wingman on it.
If not a Flight School, I'd say some easier combat missions. I don't know what would be too 'easy' or too 'hard' for 5 A-10s flying around, except a bunch of other jet fighters maybe.
Formation flying should be entertaining.
I don't think the stick (x65) is helping me either. The thing won't center and there's no way to center it aside from assigning a huge dead zone (even with the new drivers). Appears it's a known issue with the stick, unfortunately saitek's support is absolute garbage. They appear to have completely abandoned the x65. It's discontinued now. Yeah, not a great experience so far lol. Just about thinking of returning it and looking for something else.
edit: Thanks for the flight school offer, it's a great idea but I'm pretty booked for at least a week. Just finishing up my free time this past week with the sim. Now that my free time is going to be more limited and seeing the time/cost investment more clearly, I'm eyening that stick and thinking it's not going to survive the cut.
I'd return it and just get an X-52, either standard or Pro. It's pretty popular and for good reason. It's a good stick. I know you're soured on Saitek and I don't blame you, but the X-52 has a good track record. If you don't want Saitek you could try Thrustmaster, but I think there's less of a selection and they're pricey. I had the complete opposite experience as you with my Saitek. Downloaded and installed the drivers with no problem and the stick worked great right out of the gate. We could also recommend you some good profiles if you go X-52.
As far as the little stuff you mentioned, that's not really the fault of DCS A-10, it's just modeling the real thing. You can try things like Easy Radio to help. The A-10 is definitely complicated, but as you learn what's going on you kinda see a method to the madness, as it were. You'll definitely want to know how to control the DMS, TMS, China Hat, and Coolie Hat, preferably from the stick. I think we could help you make sense of some of this stuff online if you could join us.
On the other hand, having to deal with that while people are shooting at you is really quite stressful.
Yeah, heh, I guess I'm in a different place now. Now back when I was playing the sims I mentioned before, I would have loved that stuff. But that was a good 15+ years ago when I was in my early 20's and had nothing but college to worry about. Much more free time and patience for those types of things I suppose.
another one, lost to casuality
I can definitely understand how someone would really love to get into something like that. I've been there.
As far as the group session goes, I was thinking I'd just host one of Dragon's training missions. Either the target practice or JTAC training. Both allow us to practice takeoff and landings until our hearts are content. Then if we want to work on using the TGP and weapon runs we have some available ground targets. And finally, we can go over the stuff related to JTAC. But overall I was just thinking of it as a casual thing, where we can fly around trying shit out, but have the group there to ask questions when stuff comes up.
Then once everyone is feeling good with the basics we could try a real mission at some point OR we can do the same training but at night
First time I tried a night mission I just sat in the cockpit playing with all the light switches and knobs, adjusting the brightness of all the panels. It looks so cool.
Reason I ask is that I read/see all these posts of patches and mods then wondered this question to myself.
This is my last hurdle to overcome before I buy the game. Thanks guys, you keep me wanting to just go and put myself in more debt every day I read this thread. It really sucks when you have to debate on having to buy a X52 or a hammer drill to attach a patio cover that the house really needs. lol
Steam: betsuni7
I'll just say I'm almost 32 with a wife and kid, and I loved learning the A-10. But for me this was stuff I'd always wanted to learn but never got around to. If you want to just boot up and fly, yeah, this may not be your game.
I'm pretty sure you'll have to wait on the Steam version of the patch. I think they were a week behind with the last one, so it's up to you.
I chose not to go with Steam for this game and instead bought it from their website. It's still a download, you just download the setup files and install it yourself. I just didn't see a reason to get it through Steam since the overlay is disabled anyway. But it's really up to you. It's the same price and basically same method of delivery. One thing I do like about the DCS site (which is usually an advantage of Steam) is when they release a patch, they also update the big download to include it, so say once they've finished patching the game, you can download the most up to date version and not have to worry about patching ever again.
I've always wanted to fly one IRL, but with glasses and asthma, the best I'd be able to do is work on one, which I'm sure is not very much fun at all.
The problem is that it's a 64bit app while Steam is still 32bit. I have a feeling they'll eventually release a 64bit version of Steam, which will fix the problem, but until then....
Yeah, already knew that but thanks for the help anyway. Unfortunately it's doing it at all times, even outside the game. Boo! :x
But for those thinking about the sim (a10c), I don't want to paint a negative picture of it (I don't believe I have). It's probably the most amazingly detailed flight sim I've ever played as far as combat aircraft go. It's unparalleled really. If you are into ultra-realism you can't go wrong with it, honestly. It's definitely me, not the sim
I pretty much knew what I'm going to get myself into as the game seems more "realistic" than, "grab stick, blow up things" which is fine with me. I'm not a hardcore sim person, but my love for the A-10 is borderline obsessive. So this is the closest I'll ever get to the real plane short of breaking through security and licking a real one (I think the cost of the game is cheaper than jail time). I know myself and will probably regret buying it after. Especially since I had (and sold) probably almost every sim game ever made for the PC (we are talking even those crappy VGA flight sims, say hello to 16 colors woo). Either I never played them, or could never get past the tutorials of how to fly/pilot the craft. But this game is far too cool to pass up in my book. The amount of detail they put into the game just makes me want to reward them for their time and effort by buying this game.
Steam: betsuni7
It's not really important where you get it, as long as you get it. Come fly with us. You can fix the patio next year!
Well Boog, I understand what you're saying as far as time vs effort. Lomac+FC2 could be an option, if you were still feeling the itch for some modern combat. It's nicely detailed, but not as intense as DCS. When you get some more time and want to fly something, I'm sure we'll be available for tasking
As to whether this sim would be different for you, it's hard to say. If you're obsessed with the A-10, that'll certainly help. I've played this one longer than I've played any other, and I think the reason is because of the complexity. I just enjoy learning this real-world stuff.
I do know that we can definitely help you get into the game if you can join up with us online.
Does this look like the right thing, anyone who already owns it can tell me?
Just remember, taking off can be as simple as putting down the flaps, full throttle, rotate the stick back around 150knots to about a 10 degree climb, raise wheels, raise flaps, profit. You can skip the startup procedure by using the hotkey that does it for you. Once the plane is in the air it handles wonderfully.
If you really want to "grab stick and blow things up" the "Game" mode will allow for this in a way. You can ease into learning all the other stuff as you like. But really, there are only a few core things you need to understand then it all makes sense.
Some thoughts for a group session:
Flight basics
- startup procedure
- radio setup / talking to ATC
- take off
- landing
- using the TAD
- ILS usage
- using the DIVERT navigation option on the CDU
Weapon deployment
- Using the TGP
- Using the DSMS to select and setup weapons
- How to use the laser
- How to create Sensor Points of Interest (SPI)
- How to automatically move the TGP to your SPI
- explain CCIP and CCRP bombing modes
- How to use smart bombs (laser guided and GPS)
JTAC Training
- How to contact JTAC
- Manually entering JTAC data into a new waypoint
- Automatically receive JTAC target data via uplink
A lot of that is already covered in the training missions, but I was just doing a brain dump of the things I used last night when I was flying a mission.
If you don't have anything LOMAC related you want this: http://www.amazon.com/Lock-Platinum-Pc/dp/B003UEREBQ/ref=pd_sim_vg_2
Actually, you probably want that no matter what cause its cheaper than just buying FC2. FC2 requires Lomac to install, but its a stand alone game. Platinum includes both for $20. I think FC2 still costs $30.. so I don't know why thats the case. I had LOMAC already, so I just bought FC2 a couple years ago.
You mentioned DCS, just want you to know that FC2 only works with DCS: Black Shark currently. BS and A-10 may work together one day, but FC2 and A-10 is unlikely from what I remember reading. Not totally up to date on the rumor mill though.
I think some time spent on headings would be useful, too, like how runway numbers correspond and why they use which one they do, etc.
Just be aware that it's a choking hazard.
Awesome. Yeah that's a good point, and something I learned from flying FSX. I thought it was really cool that the runway number represented the heading your approach should be on. So if you're landing on runway 8, your approach is on bearing 80 degrees. Or runway 26 the bearing would be 260 (which is the same runway, but the opposite direction).
L Ron - are you playing FSX or an older version of MSFS?
I don't have DCS: A-10 (only Black Shark), so it's no problem. I own LOMAC already, but if it's cheaper, it's cheaper. Thanks.
Really, any superdetailed cities make me really, really happy.
And yeah, those after-market packs that upgrade the scenery are pretty nice. I had a couple good ones. Need to find my external drive where I backed all that stuff up. I had tons of planes and upgrades.
edit: on that note, I remember Carcass saying you liked the whole ATC part of the flight experience as well. I know the goons who play the flight sims are into this: http://www.vatsim.net/ At first I thought it was just an ATC mod for a particular server, but I think its a full network of ATCs that FSX hooks into. So we all fly wherever we want (doesn't have to be online I don't think) and it feeds our flight data to the ATC or something and they coordinate. May be a little much for my likes, but if someone could explain it better maybe its cool. My only experience with it is following the goons thread about it.
edit: I don't think so Big Isy. I got my copy from microcenter last time I was there. Its on GFW site but I can't tell if its a digital download.