I've got myself a Thrustmaster T.flight HOTAS and wanna try out the F18, I'm learning it rn and almost done. I'm here to ask if there is any guide to binding with the Thrustmaster T.flight on the F18. Yes, there's not a lot of buttons but I can use 3 modifiers and the keyboard. Don't come here and say get a better one. I just wanna get started with something small that can do the job. Thanks in advance :)

Hi there, I'm concerned about my safety. I bought a creality ender 3V2 with the 5W laser but I don't trust the glasses that come in the box at all. I've read on the laser that the wavelength is 455 nm. Can anyone's recommend some good safety glasses on Amazon? My budget would be max 40€. My dream is to be a pilot so my eyes are the most precious thing ever. I don't want to ruin them in any way. When I buy safety glasses I would put them on with the one that come in the box for extra protection. So I would have 2 safety glasses on at the same time. I would also build a very large cardboard box to put on the 3D printer when it's engraving to that I'm completely sure that no laser light can come at me. Is this enough protection? Do I need to do something else? Is having 2 safety glasses on at once good or do they contrast each other? What are the best safety glasses for that wavelength on Amazon (40€). Thanks in advance, I'm really really concerned about my eyes, I don't want to ruin them not even ONE LITTLE BIT. Thanks.

i have an I5 11400f, 16gb of ram, and a gtx 980TI, i could swap in an RX 570 (8gb) because i just have one laying around.

Hi there, I want to start 3D printing my own panels, I would print them in light diffusing filament, paint them black and then engrave them. My question is, which is the best filament to diffuse the backlight? White? Transparent? Would white actually diffuse light or would it block it? Thanks in advance!

First time VR user, purchased a Quest 3 after weighing up it and the Pimax Crystal Light. I half entertained trying to come up with funds for a Somnium VR 1 for all of half a day before I decided that was ridiculous.

In the end I chose the quest 3 as I wanted pass through and hand tracking. I also had concerns about Pimax quality. The bigger sweet spot on the quest three was probably the final deciding factor, and coupled with the pimax quality issues is why I didn't splash out for an OG Crystal.

Some background - I'm a RL pilot with low level, aerobatic, and formation experience.

I fired up the quest 3 in dcs tonight and whipped around in the hornet free flight mission for ten minutes.

My first thoughts : fucking blown away. Clarity seemed fine to me. I couldn't see any screen door effect. I could look around without moving my head and not notice any blurriness. I was blasting around the valleys low level and was it not for my wife giggling at how much fun I was having I could have been in the hornet. My body was sweating, I was having to stop myself from wanting to AGSM. I was anticipating airframe buffet that never came.

If you are on the fence, and your system can run it, I don't think you will be dissapointed with the quest 3.

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/233848-patch-status/#findComment-5561653

So I installed syria map and ah64 that I got in the autumn sale. And after installing, 2 issues have come up that I have never experienced previously.

1. my moza r9v2 wheel base starts shaking/oscillating uncontrollably even though in the Controls section of DCS i have disabled the base. to fix it, i have to power off the wheelbase.
2. The 'K' key on the keyboard is constantly pressed no matter what I do. So while in game, i see the kneepad constantly going on and off. When I go to the controls section, it wont let me change anything, becuz the K being constantly pressed keeps getting me stuck on the kneepad row of the controls menu/table. (this is only in DCS nothing else)

I repaired my dcs folder but no joy. Im positively bamboozled. My assumption is, its a USB issue. Because I have about 11 things connected to my pc.

https://preview.redd.it/e33qrv5awc4e1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0c092696e1a138c514fa8ac1f61b19aa0df00a1

It works, I can detect contacts and stuff. But it's just so dim and red.

I bought the f4 phantom as my first module. Probably not the best first step but oh well. Can I use the phantom in this server? If not I’ll be in the frogfoot.

I was watching a dozen DCS cinematics, liked the tunes, didn't like the footage, liked the footage, didn't like the tunes.

Then this came along. This is epic. So much detail and history in every shot. Tunes are okay too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1DVJYxmO9g

It's "last year", but if you haven't you haven't.

Disclaimer: I'm a passionate VR enthusiast, I watch many Youtubers that fly & drive with DoF Reality, and I'm eager to get one myself because I know they are of great quality and they even improved a lot lately. I want to see them successfully rewarded for their huge contribution to our passion, and hope they can achieve mass market production so the cost diminish even more, and vice versa.

So I've been lurking a DoF Reality platform for months and even years but the investment is huge, after adding options, shipping & VAT the price jump by 30% and more outside special sales, so I watched the price evolution through the last months and I was SOOO ready to make the jump for this Black Friday edition, but thinking they would probably not discount the last anti-cog version which is what I absolutely want for flying. So imagine my joy when it finally happened, and realized they even did discount those version !

-15% seems great on paper ! But wait a minute... I want to compare with my last Quote from 2 weeks ago because this total quote doesn't seem right, something feels weird, I need to see the numbers for myself.

Comparison between a quote from 2w ago without discount, and same quote with actual black Friday Sale.

oof ! Not so great right... Why the base price had inflated ? Why all options have raised in price ? Why the shipping cost has raised ? Why the French VAT, which didn't change, can be higher with a lower subtotal price ?

So out of curiosity I went to quote a P6 and H6, but I didn't have the reference price from 2w ago, once again: many anomalies !

Quote for a P6 & H6 \"Heli\" during actual Black Friday Sale, but with no reference price from 2w ago.

Here I don't have the price point from two weeks ago but I strongly suspect the base price was also inflated. Select extension set cables at 55€ in options, then turns into 70€ once in cart ? Also HOW THE F*** can the VAT be the same between subtotals of €7505 and 6350€ ???

Maybe they have a severe bug in their cart calculator, or maybe it's shady practices, I don't know, but I made sure to clear cookies and cache, and force refresh the page before starting a quote.

With so many anomalies I couldn't stay silent, and I hope me and the community can get official answers. Cheers.

Hi Ladies & Gents,

Of all my modules, the Mirage F.1 is my favourite. When flying it (like all other modules), if you watch the sim stick in the cockpit, it exactly matches what my Virpil joystick is doing. Any issues with control are due to the idiot behind the stick and not with the stick/flightsim interface.

When flying the F-4E, the roll axis of the sim stick exactly matches my Virpil but the pitch axis does not. When centering the pitch axis after a turn, the sim stick lags behind my Virpil, then overshoots the centre position, sometimes several times, leading to the F-4E to porpoise. I find there's a definite lag between what I'm doing with my Virpil stick pitch axis and what the sim stick/aircraft is doing. This gets worse as the aircraft slows down and I find it far easier to make small corrections in pitch with trim rather than trying to fight the oscillations that will occur if I move the pitch axis. Once I've landed the sim stick (and elevators) goes fully forwards, even though my Virpil is still centred. This is killing my enjoyment of the F-4E.

I've checked that FFB is off in DCS, turned off the 60lb limit and stick force blending in the F-4E special menu and tried with pitch stabilisation turned on and off in the F-4E cockpit and nothing seems to help. Does anyone know what the issue could be?

I know with the JSOW it's either the broach one or the cluster one, but there's such a wide variety of JDAMs, it's hard to determine what kind to use in a certain use case.

Hi there,

For Christmas, I am getting the Orion 2 HOTAS and was wondering which NATO module you would recommend.

I have already done some research and was considering the F-5, but I heard that it might not be ideal for beginners. Additionally, I am interested in flying either the F-18 or the AV-8B later, and I would like to know which of these would be the better choice.

I was originally considering the F-15E, but as far as I understand, the company behind the F-15E is no longer active.

I was traveling for 11 months, so I have been away from DCS a long time. I remember a year ago Overlord Bot was being retired, and many servers have replaced with Textlord bot since. Textlord sucks. Textlord is like playing a 1980s flight sim again, and is counterintuitive because it doubles the usage requirements of your eyeballs, instead of offloading critical information to the ears. Are there any popular servers presently using something like Overlord Bot for GCI/BRAA/AWACS/etc.? If so, which ones?

I really wish ED would build this functionality into their sim...

I've had my eyes on the AH-64 for a bit now, about a year and I've finally saved up enough to get it on sale while it's going on. I've seen a few videos of Wags explaining how you can use the FCR and the AGM-114 L from the pilot's seat.

I usually play solo, and my setup is minimal, a T-16000M HOTAS and rudder are those two pedals infront of the throttle.

I just wanted to know if I can operate the Ah-64 from the backseat now that the FCR is implemented (I will have limited keybinds so I don't know about if/how I'll use George) so can the AH-64 be flown from the back seat? Just the pilot operating all the systems alone from Engine start to shut down?

I do play with friends at times when CPG can be used but about 60% of the time I play solo. Should I look towards the Ka-50 instead since it is pre designed to be a single seat helicopter? Or can I still get the Ah-64 and be able to use all of it?

Note: I know the AGM-114K need George to lase targets, but if I'm flying Guns/Rockets and AGM-114L exclusively can the AH-64 be flown with a crew of one? And this is specifically for MP flying where I won't be able to change seats.

Thank you all for your help!

After an hour or so with the kiowa, I have noticed the following:

1. My weapons although loaded and assigned, somehow vanish once I am airborne.

2. The eye ball thingy is looking backwards and I can't make it look the way I am going.

3. Taking off needs tail rotor input in spades.

4. Messing with HYD button during flight, crashed the chopper.

5. I fly with the A/P on. Is there a way to let it do auto-hover while i set up and send rockets to the bad guys, or is it much like the Gazelle ? (Something to see in U-tube, but impossible to do yourself)

Love the sounds and starting it up, love it when I can manage to take off, hate it when it rolls smashing the blades on the apron. (again the tail rotor thing)

This is no chinook. It's a feather light helo... Even feels lighter than the Gazelle.

https://preview.redd.it/e3te99rkv94e1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d08ff10042818736583a547abbcd8defdba9b17

Graphics and everything else about the sim is ok but campaign is extremely boring and repetitive. Missions where I encounter nobody in the target area. bomber escorts where no enemy tries to intercept them at all. Missions feel empty and lacking of any fun at all, they are not even historical missions so at least why aren't the developers making them more fun?.

I cannot understand why it's so difficult for the developers if they cannot create historically accurate missions at least design a campaign that is fun to play.

Just getting into it and was curious about what I should get. A lot of the things that I see are like $300 for one thing and that's a little bit too much imo. Anybody got some cheaper options to start off with? Also is face tracking required? I have three monitors and I was wondering if it was needed. Thanks in advance.

Hi all I feel the need to share with you my frustration. I loved dcs, I waited for years the f15 strike eagle release and after all the razbam-dcs drama I really lost trust and will to play the game. why I should keep playing and investing money maybe in another module knowing that with the actual dcs policy it may end development anytime. I really lost faith and interest in the game. maybe someone else feel the same as me. sorry for the rant and English (not native speaker of course :) ) looking forward to dcs and razbam to fix the current drama. best regards to you all!

I am looking for a Hornet group that takes DCS fairly serious, and do different A/G combat sorties with briefs, debriefs and comms. Is there anything somebody might recommend me here? I am interested in DCS as a sim to train as a NAVY hornet pilot, and consider it as my future career. No guarantees that's gonna happen of course, but it's worth pursuing. So far I met only "gaming" groups, people who simply enjoy the scenery and the tech you can employ, but yeah, no sorties, they respawn mid-air, that sort of things...

https://preview.redd.it/yh15z8l5p84e1.png?width=1003&format=png&auto=webp&s=7564ea3fd6fb700e6857a27e71ae2fb3c6814cca

I figured my warthog hotas is now about 10 years old, time for an upgrade and an early xmas pressy for myself.

Hello and welcome to December's development newsletter for the SkyEye project! These monthly posts summarize new progress, the current status of the project, and what to expect in the near future.

What is SkyEye?

SkyEye is a GCI bot. You can talk to it over the radio using SimpleRadio-Standalone - or through the in-game chat interface - and it will tell you useful information like:

• Where are the enemy aircraft? Which are most dangerous right now?
• Is the contact I'm looking at on my radar hostile or friendly?
• How far away is the threat on my Radar Warning Receiver?
• Where am I?

What makes SkyEye cool?

• It doesn't require external, paid cloud APIs for voice recognition
• It has a high-quality voice, while still responding to you in real time
• It uses real world communication procedures wherever it makes sense to do so
• It is very flexible - it can be run in singleplayer or muliplayer, on a player's PC or on a remote server, without any modifications to the mission file

November in Review

In November's newsletter I set three goals:

Use API keys when authentication is required by DCS-gRPC.

This was successfully implemented.

Replace the Speed filter with an AGL filter.

By default, SkyEye filters out hostile aircraft which are moving slower than 50 knots. This is a useful heuristic to remove fixed-wing aircraft which are not airborne, but also removes slowly moving or hovering helicopters which should logically be visible to radar. Ideally, SkyEye should use the aircraft's height above the terrain as a filter, but TacView's official exporter for DCS does not provide the necessary data.

To provide this data, I've begun work on a companion tool, acmi-exporter. This tool bridges data between DCS-gRPC and TacView's ACMI format, allowing the data to be enriched with additional data from the DCS scripting environment. Goals for this tool include:

• Easy customization of data polling rate. This is currently possible by modifying the TacView exporter Lua scripts, but acmi-exporter makes it as easy as changing an option.
• Export altitude above ground level for all aircraft.
• Optionally omit hostile aircraft which are not detected by a friendly sensor.
• Optionally omit certain classes of units from the export, such as ground units.
• Support recording to ACMI files and streaming via real-time telemetry.

This tool is early and work-in-progress, but my dev build already produces valid ACMI files that can be played back in the official TacView client. Progress has been slower than expected; as I've previously blogged, developing against DCS-gRPC is far slower than developing against the official TacView exporter, and my real-world schedule makes it difficult to find large blocks of time for this work (versus the official exporter, with which I can knock out a feature or fix in as little as a few minutes). Expect this work to continue into 2025.

In the meantime, I've staged the code to use AGL data into SkyEye; SkyEye will intelligently use the AGL data if it is available, and fall back to the current speed filter if it is not.

In-Game Subtitles

Unfortunately, I did not make progress on this goal in November. Expect this work to continue into 2025.

Fixes and Improvements

In November, the following was completed:

• Using playtest data from Flashpoint Levant, a large number of minor improvements and fixes to the command parser have summed up into a significant and noticeable improvement to speech recognition accuracy. There are too many fixes to individually list, but in general:
  • Used real-world data to expand the table used to post-process text from the speech recognition model to normalize commonly misheard keywords
  • Add post-processing to handle cases where the speech recognition model merges words together, or merges a word with a following number
• Fixed a number of grammatical and brevity issues in the bot's responses, especially:
  • Fixed phrasing issues in the Core Information Format for describing a hostile group which is currently merged with friendlies.
  • Fixed an issue where a group separated by more than 10,000 feet in altitude was reported with a single altitude instead of altitude stacks if the Core Information Format used a BRAA position instead of a bullseye position.
• DCS-gRPC integration now allows use of API key authentication
• Bot now uses AGL data instead of speed data to filter out parked and taxiing aircraft when available (AGL data source is still a work in progress)
• Players sometimes tried to check in with the bot (e.g. "Magic, Eagle 1-1, checking in"), but this is ambiguous between a radio check and an alpha check from bullseye. Added a workflow for the controller to ask for clarification in this case.
• Players sometimes attempted to DECLARE without providing the contact's position verbally. In the real world, this would be possible by using datalink to send the contact's position to the controller, but this is not possible in DCS due to a scripting limitation. The bot now responds in this case with a TIMBER SOUR message (real-world brevity to indicate that Link-16 is degraded) and hints that the player should provide the position verbally.
• A few of you encountered the easter egg when players try to use OverlordBot-specific commands such as TRIPWIRE, which are considered obsolete in SkyEye's GCI implementation. However, these workflows did not cover all possible aliases for the TRIPWIRE command that were present in the OverlordBot LUIS model. Players who used these alternate phrasings encountered confusing and frustrating generic error messages, so I've changed the workflow to:
  1. Detect the alternate phrasings for the TRIPWIRE command that were used in OverlordBot, plus additional invalid phrasings that players seem to misremember
  2. Sadly, adjust the response to this command to be less silly and more explanatory
• Added an easter egg for another obsolete OverlordBot command :)
• Updated player guide with some more tips and examples

Additionally, the following is in progress:

• I have purchased an Apple Silicon Mac and am working to promote the macOS version of SkyEye to a fully supported platform, including GPU acceleration using Metal. Initial benchmarks on the base model M4 Mac Mini are, in a word, incredible. SkyEye is able to respond in real-time, running on an affordable commodity mini PC. This work is not yet merged into the main branch because the changes to the build require rigorous testing across platforms, but this is incredibly promising for the future of SRS bots.

2024 and Beyond

I have decided to push the remaining DCS-gRPC features to 2025 and release a polished v1.0 before the end of the year. This is slightly less than I hoped for but due to my work schedule for December I have limited time to work on major new features. The target release date for v1.0 is December 31st, 2024. The v1.0 release will include:

• Official support for Linux and Windows
• Improved administrator documentation, including a quick start guide for setting up SkyEye on a cloud server
• Improved developer documentation, targeting 100% documentation coverage of all public interfaces
• Stretch goal: Official support for macOS

Is it normal for Winwing to have such obtuse customer service like I've been experiencing?

So far, they've sold me a faulty product (FSSB stick base) and it's sensor has wandered and developed slop around the roll axis. They keep sending piss poor documentation that isn't clear, asking for videos of what I've tried. I'm sure with their terrible guidance, I've made the issue worst as I've been trying to decipher what it is they're telling me. When they send video documentation, they don't provide any explanations as to what it is they actually think the fault is and why the fault is present.

When I've asked for it to go back to them to fix it, they say that because it was bought through their UK whareshouse, they can't offer that, and when I ask why it can't go back to HQ, they just go silent. Under UK consumer rights, I'm entitled to have it repaired of replaced, and they just seem to be content to leave me with a glorified paper weight.

Is there a way to get what I need and am entitled to out of them?