Shock! In an utterly unexpected turn, Eagle Dynamics has… missed another release date. The new graphics engine update will probably be out in October.
I’ll be over there with BMS 4.32 if anyone needs me.
TimJames
1902
After a year-long detour, I’m back to the Falcon 4 training missions. Just did the ramp start again last night. I always freak out when I can’t talk to the damn tower and finally find the right volume knob or whatever. Then I have to figure out where the hell the runway is relative to the random start location.
“Phantom 1-1, what is your problem?”
I usually have this interactive map on my tablet when I’m playing.
TimJames
1904
Sweet. Anyone made an interactive ramp start checklist?
I made another DCS video in the A-10C if anyone cares to watch me learn my X-55 while AAA chews me to shreds :P
Not as far as I know, but I tend to do custom checklists anyway—write down the steps on a piece of paper, along with some fancy location codes (by which I mean abbreviating where the panel is in the cockpit, then adding letters for Forward Forward Forward Left, for instance) to remind me where switches are.
At my desk, I have a cheerful yellow folder full of cheat sheets for various sims and aircraft, from startup checklists to weapons employment procedures to how exactly I mapped the controls.
TimJames
1907
The Falcon 4 instrument landing tutorial is an example where the original manual is poorly written, the Allied Force manual didn’t improve it much, and the mission setup seems to have changed over the years for BMS as well. Add in misleading HUD cues and tower vectors, and/or my own confusion about the runway directions, and it was a frustrating night.
Eventually I pieced together enough tutorial videos to switch to ILS / NAV, type in the right frequency (4 digits!) and course heading for the proper runway, then put the flight path marker on the little circle in my HUD. There, finally.
TimJames
1908
Just finished the navigation tutorial. Man, the avionics seem so complicated at first. I had no idea how to use the MFDs, for example. Then I watched a video and realized it’s as simple as pressing the buttons on the bottom a couple times to configure the pages I want available. At that point my seemingly-useless DMS hat comes to life.
I flew around to a few steerpoints, then returned to steerpoint 1 for a landing. I used that handy reference map to grab the tower frequency and… well, I survived the landing. That’s what matters. (AOA is still magic to me.)
I’m sure the weapon modes will become second nature in time as well. So far the hardest part of this game is remembering to raise the gear after takeoff. Clunk.
schurem
1909
I recall the Falcon viper to be really sensitive about sink rate in landing. Watch your speed. Dont go too fast or too slow! 150 is the magic number. The flight path marker must be inside the vertical bracket to the side of it and the whole thing may not sink beneath the 5 degree line.
In later versions the landing gear became a little sturdier ie more forgivi g to slightly hard landings. Kids these days!
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!!!
The Mig-21 tutorials in DCS World are actually surprisingly good on take off. So long as you remember to turn off the compressed air to the wheel brakes unless you like not being able to stop…
Flight path marker on the hash marks three degrees below level (they appear with the gear down), and both on the runway threshold. Green light on the indexer next to the HUD. You don’t need to know any more than that to make it look like you know what you’re doing when you’re landing.
I love the MiG-21—probably my second-favorite DCS ride behind the Ka-50. In the manner of older Russian aircraft, it’s all very tactile.
TimJames
1912
Oh I know how to land. It’s the execution to get everything to line up right. It doesn’t help that I tend to rush in from a short distance instead of taking the time to set up properly.
I think I’m going too fast because my AOA barely gets down to the top of the damn bracket. But slowing down seems weird.
Are you following the ATC in? They do a decent job, ordinarily, of getting me to the right height/speed for a good final. (Unless the airfield is busy, or I’m coming in too high/fast and can’t shed speed in time.)
Even with the airbrake, it takes the Viper just about forever to slow down to circuit/approach speeds if you’re descending from altitude at the same time.
schurem
1914
Do it like a real astronaut does; S-turns baby!
TimJames
1915
I’m at the point of every combat flight sim where I ask, “what, that’s all the ammunition they’re going to give me in realistic mode?” :(
schurem
1916
And thats when you learn why wingman AI is so important. One small bundle of missiles < four bundles of missiles 😊
Or just fly an A-10. :P I often arrive over the target area and perusing my armaments and deciding which to use first feels like standing at a buffet and figuring out what to eat first :)
schurem
1918
Lol Hog wild!
I miss falcon 4.0 but im too much of a graphics whore to go back that far…
TimJames
1919
I’ve run into my first showstopper. I can’t for the life of me get my AMRAAM missiles to fire. I’m locked up and in range but the pickle button does nothing. My SMS MFD page says “RDY 6 AIM120-B” or something. I can switch to AIM-9s and immediately fire them with the pickle button. It’s the same problem in multiple modes. But the AIM-7s work fine in MRM mode.
Google search turns up nothing. This is bizarre. Anyone have the game setup well enough to quickly pop in and see if there’s something wrong on my end? Instant action, M for medium range missile mode, then spacebar. Or maybe lock someone up first. I don’t know if it’s required. Maybe I’ll post to the BMS forum.
I’ll give it a try when I get home from breakfast.
