DCS World 2.9 (Digital Combat Simulator)

At work right now but will give better details when I get home regarding render resolution and frame rates. I'm kinda new to DCS and haven't logged many hrs yet so still tweaking settings for it. IL2 on most maps hold steady 90FPS except when there's a lot of stuff in the air and on the ground shooting at me.
 
learners permit said:
At work right now but will give better details when I get home regarding render resolution and frame rates. I'm kinda new to DCS and haven't logged many hrs yet so still tweaking settings for it. IL2 on most maps hold steady 90FPS except when there's a lot of stuff in the air and on the ground shooting at me.
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Is it worth it?
 
Blackstone said:
So are any of you guys using VR? If so what headset?
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Quest 2. Works well, except that you have to use Meta's software and it runs on an OS and compressed video rather than direct video output. For around $250 (after you get a proper headstrap and link cable) it is a good way to get into VR. If you have a lot of money you will want a better headset though.

Just be aware of VRAM and performance. I believe the Quest 2's resolution is higher than 4K, and most VR headsets have a higher resolution. DCS pushes 12GB VRAM on my setup which is limiting my RTX 4070 Super. Frame rates are decent, 50-70 or so. But you'll probably want a GPU with more VRAM. I assume if you're buying high end flight sticks and whatnot you have more money to spare, so go with a better VR headset and make sure you have an RTX 4070ti Super, 4080 or 4090.
 
Blackstone said:
Is it worth it?
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Well yes to me it is certainly worth the investment in all regards. The immersion of being in the cockpit and not dorking around with a hat switch to see which direction the enemy breaks after the merge is such a huge advantage in air combat scenarios. The ability to seamlessly scan the airspace around you when spotting enemy flights is also a huge benefit in WW2 combat sims anyway as there was seldom any radar to locate enemy aircraft.
 
learners permit said:
Well yes to me it is certainly worth the investment in all regards. The immersion of being in the cockpit and not dorking around with a hat switch to see which direction the enemy breaks after the merge is such a huge advantage in air combat scenarios. The ability to seamlessly scan the airspace around you when spotting enemy flights is also a huge benefit in WW2 combat sims anyway as there was seldom any radar to locate enemy aircraft.
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For DCS you can use it with the JHMCS for the F-18 and F-16, as well as the HMD for the Su-27/Su-33/-J-11/MIG-29. For the F-16, pull the throttle back, you'll see the knob for the JHMCS around there. Rotate it to on and you can use the AIM-9X as it was intended.
 
Flogger23m said:
For DCS you can use it with the JHMCS for the F-18 and F-16, as well as the HMD for the Su-27/Su-33/-J-11/MIG-29. For the F-16, pull the throttle back, you'll see the knob for the JHMCS around there. Rotate it to on and you can use the AIM-9X as it was intended.
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You mean the in helmet display? Yes it is more than that you can mark ground points and targets that way too.

It almost seems like you can’t fully use the F16 without it.
 
Blackstone said:
lol was "Chappy" Lou Gosset Jr.? I remember this movie? The Cold War definitely resulted in some cheesy cinema.

I actually rewatched the original Top Gun the other night and it didn't age that much better than Iron Eagle.
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Yep that was him. Officer and a Gentleman, Enemy Mine, he will be missed.

Yeah the movies I loved as a kid are so cringe worthy now, it's hard to believe I thought they were awesome. It's rare to see one that has aged well at all from that era.
The original Predator is still pretty good, but I'm pretty much biased.
 
CAD4466HK said:
Yep that was him. Officer and a Gentleman, Enemy Mine, he will be missed.

Yeah the movies I loved as a kid are so cringe worthy now, it's hard to believe I thought they were awesome. It's rare to see one that has aged well at all from that era.
The original Predator is still pretty good, but I'm pretty much biased.
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Enemy Mine I saw once in the 80s but clearly remember. No, Predator is still good, obviously. You are not biased on that one. lol
 
Blackstone said:
Has anyone tried Track IR?
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Yeah bought an equivalent for less than track IR here: https://grassmonkeysimulations.com/ Looks like they have a 10% off coupon at the moment.

It works well in DCS probably the cheapest way to get a VR like feel without a headset. I highly recommend it, but one thing, the camera does not like sunlight, so you may need blackout curtains to play during daylight hours if your space has lots of windows that the camera can see. VR is better for immersion, but I kind of like the ir tracker a little better because my monitor image is better than my VR one (HTC Vive Pro) and I can read the gauges easier (not to mention if you are using a HOTAS you can see it unlike with a VR headset).
 
Blackstone said:
You mean the in helmet display? Yes it is more than that you can mark ground points and targets that way too.

It almost seems like you can’t fully use the F16 without it.
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That is correct. You'll really want either a Grassmonkey IR or VR to use it. Dog fighting without it is much more complicated. Messing around and trying to use a hat switch to steer your head while the plane is moving is hard.

LurkerLito said:
Yeah bought an equivalent for less than track IR here: https://grassmonkeysimulations.com/ Looks like they have a 10% off coupon at the moment.

It works well in DCS probably the cheapest way to get a VR like feel without a headset. I highly recommend it, but one thing, the camera does not like sunlight, so you may need blackout curtains to play during daylight hours if your space has lots of windows that the camera can see. VR is better for immersion, but I kind of like the ir tracker a little better because my monitor image is better than my VR one (HTC Vive Pro) and I can read the gauges easier (not to mention if you are using a HOTAS you can see it unlike with a VR headset).
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I may have to get that. $76.46 shipped after coupon, seems to be flat shipping within the US.
 
Ordered Track IR. That was before I knew about Grassmonkey. My trial of F-16 is up in two days. Pretty sure I'm going with it. I will probably also pick up Syria as my first terrain. I hoping for a sale in September.
 
Blackstone said:
Ordered Track IR. That was before I knew about Grassmonkey. My trial of F-16 is up in two days. Pretty sure I'm going with it. I will probably also pick up Syria as my first terrain. I hoping for a sale in September.
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Typically they have sales every few months. Christmas sales are often the best, but close enough if not the same in other sales for some modules. There will probably be one around October, maybe September.
 
Flogger23m said:
Typically they have sales every few months. Christmas sales are often the best, but close enough if not the same in other sales for some modules. There will probably be one around October, maybe September.
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Question is whether there will be much of a discount on Syria and the F-16.

CH-47 released into Early Excess today, to mixed reviews.
 
uOpt said:
Question is whether there will be much of a discount on Syria and the F-16.

CH-47 released into Early Excess today, to mixed reviews.
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I think Syria was $36 or something, F-16 $54. I bought the F-16 for less than that a few years ago but they don't seem to do 50% off sales anymore. It was $40, I used ED Miles from Syria to get it down to $35 or so. Syria was also more expensive last sale.
 
I got bought the F16 module and a two week trial of Syria. Got 10% F-16 and I’ll snap up more at the next sale.
 
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Blackstone said:
I got bought the F16 module and a two week trial of Syria. Got 10% F-16 and I’ll snap up more at the next sale.
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I originally trialed those two as well. F-16 will keep you busy for a few months. By then there will be a sale. F-18 will probably be your next module, landing on a carrier without breaking the wheels is harder than it looks. :ROFLMAO:
 
Wow so impressed! I have a good handle on the Falcon/Viper now and this game is awesome. Kinda nice that it is a bit dated and so my CPU and 3090 eat it up. The hardest thing imo is the targeting pod. Of course i play with invincibility and unlimited ammo for now. INTENSE study is requires to learn this game.

Finding small tanks and getting them with Maverick is very hard. I must pause the game, I cannot do it with plane moving, provably because I don’t have the patience to put myself at a good stand off distance before attempting it. Also need to get a hang of autopilot.

Thrustmaster Viper is an absolute pleasure to use. The joystick/thumbstick for slewing is particularly good.

So far this is the best sim experience i’ve ever had and a game like no other. Can’t wait for some sales so I can grab the Weasles campaign, maybe World War II assets and normandy along with the P51.

They have great service too. I bought F18 instead of F16 by mistake and DCS helped me and fixed it at 1:30 in the morning got a response to my support ticket within minutes. That instills a lot of confidence.

Doing better now that I found a way to temporarily slave the camera to my hotas so I can look around for dogfighting. Can’t even imagine how awesome this is with track IR!!
 
"INTENSE study is requires to learn this game."
Blackstone said:
INTENSE study is requires to learn this game.
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Understatement of the year. Greatest combat sim bar none. But man, the learning curve is steep. As a newbie it's ridiculously intimidating. I spent days mastering taking off. Just to be as challenged flying. I stooped playing because I ran out of patience. Eventually I may get back to it.
 
celwin said:
"INTENSE study is requires to learn this game."

Understatement of the year. Greatest combat sim bar none. But man, the learning curve is steep. As a newbie it's ridiculously intimidating. I spent days mastering taking off. Just to be as challenged flying. I stooped playing because I ran out of patience. Eventually I may get back to it.
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You need like a vacation from work where you can immerse yourself. Youtube videos are very helpful but you must watch them 10 times. The Chuck’s manual was helpful.

My wife and son happened to be out of town for the past week right after my hotas showed up, so I LIVED the plane for a solid week as work allowed. It was intense. I studied intensely the whole week. It wasn’t something I planned, but I refused to give up.

The key is you need the right peripherals and you need LOTs of buttons, ministicks, ect. Just learning what the keybinds are was a project.

But the rewards are just immense. Once you accept it will take weeks if not months to really get the hang of the basics, and once you accept the sheer amount of learning required (you must also understand the mission editor, what the weapons even are, what all the acronyms are, how to map your hotas) the feeling of accomplishment as you progress is unlike a normal video game. It is more than muscle memory and role playing. You must learn the language of these planes and their pilots.

The systems DO ultimately make sense, they are just not intuitive to learn.
 
Steam is having a Planes, Trains and Automobiles sale 9/16/24, so I am hoping DCS has their own sale around that time.
 
Planes, Trains and Automobiles was another good movie.

Decent soundtrack too, but it's no Iron Eagle!
 
Blackstone said:
So with system in my sig, am I CPU bound or GPU bound in this game? I'm at 4K.
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At 4K probably GPU, but this game does really like a fast CPU. Multi threading changed things, but I assume a 7800X3D helps with performance. Make sure you are running the "MT" build. Be sure it is launching from:

Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin-mt

DCS.exe

A recent patch reverted me to the non-MT build. Had to recreated the shortcut on the decent.
 
Flogger23m said:
At 4K probably GPU, but this game does really like a fast CPU. Multi threading changed things, but I assume a 7800X3D helps with performance. Make sure you are running the "MT" build. Be sure it is launching from:

Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin-mt

DCS.exe

A recent patch reverted me to the non-MT build. Had to recreated the shortcut on the decent.
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Performance is good. I’m on MT. Are there any graphics mods worth checking?

Track IR showed up yesterday. Holy shit is this awesome. It works great. I am shocked. This may be better than VR. I can see my keyboard, after all. For anyone playing this game or attempting to play it, a Track IR or Grassmonkey tracker is an absolute necessity. I wonder what other games I could use this track IR for.

The Track IR just takes this to the next level.
 
Blackstone said:
Performance is good. I’m on MT. Are there any graphics mods worth checking?

Track IR showed up yesterday. Holy shit is this awesome. It works great. I am shocked. This may be better than VR. I can see my keyboard, after all. For anyone playing this game or attempting to play it, a Track IR or Grassmonkey tracker is an absolute necessity. I wonder what other games I could use this track IR for.

The Track IR just takes this to the next level.
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It works great in Assetto Corsa Competizone. I never realized how a fixed view in a racing game really screws up your turns. There are also hacks you can use to have the IRTracker be seen as another analog joystick that you can then maybe use it to map in certain games that have view controls like forza 4 and maybe ace combat 7. I haven't tried it though.

After you get use to the IRTracker you have a real hard time when you play games that can use it without it. It feels like someone took away a limb :).
 
Blackstone said:
Performance is good. I’m on MT. Are there any graphics mods worth checking?

Track IR showed up yesterday. Holy shit is this awesome. It works great. I am shocked. This may be better than VR. I can see my keyboard, after all. For anyone playing this game or attempting to play it, a Track IR or Grassmonkey tracker is an absolute necessity. I wonder what other games I could use this track IR for.

The Track IR just takes this to the next level.
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Most flight sims and racing sims support Track IR. Even ArmA supports it for infantry.
 
Well like I said there is a Planes, Trains and Automobiles sale on Steam in September. I’m almost afraid to ask but what is the top of the line PC racing title these days? Forza?
 
This game is UNREAL. I landed for the first time, in multiplayer no less, today. Rearmed got her back in the air. Also got my radio working and made contact with some team mates. The server I am on allows only short range missiles. So far I’ve been blown up before even seeing the enemy. But having a blast I’d say I know about 65% of my aircraft.
 
Grass monkey IR is on sale. 240 Hz for $95, 60 Hz for $75.

As much as I like VR, I do find it hard to see what plane is what visually. Need to get closer on a Quest 2 to make out the plane shape/type, higher end headsets with pancake lenses and higher resolutions might be better. And every now and then I seem to bit a VRAM wall, where performance just halves with some micro stuttering and I am not sure if I want to turn down the graphics.
 
Resolution is one of the things that I dislike about playing in VR. The IR Trackers alleviate this problem at the cost of some immersion, but I am fine with that because in VR I do get motion sick when using it with car and plane sims. Strangely with the IR Tracker I am fine. I have thought about getting a different headset but given my usage of VR lately I think I am just going with a 5090 at release than a new VR Headset. ;)
 
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