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DCS for a newbie

falken76
Expert Consultant
I just downloaded DCS because I keept reading about how great it was.  I haven't loaded it up yet....  Apparently the devs are going to raise prices on all the DLC at the end of this month so the A10 will go from $39 to $59 and many others are going up as well.  I know it's a simulator, but I want to get right into trying to fly.  I played FSX for years, but I really play these as games.  I'm not really trying to learn to fly any aircraft.  Does DCS have an equivilant to CTRL+E ?  I can't remember if that's the command in FSX but I think it was, this would auto start the engines so I don't have to flip all kinds of switches.  I don't want to study a manual to play this, but then again how the hell will I know how to use the weapon systems etc...

Does this game even perform well on a machine that is an I7 7700k w/ 16 gigs of ram and a 1060 6GB card?  Will it be able to do the 90 FPS?  If not will it make me feel sick?  I still haven't loaded it up yet because every damn Flight Sim I get ends up with me spending an entire day setting the damn thing up to fly for the first time.  Hell setting up the Hotas is probably going to take forever.  Is there a profile available for a thrustmaster?

Thanks for any help.  Also, are there groups of rifters (Or vivarians for that matter) that fly together?
9 REPLIES 9

kojack
MVP
MVP
The helicopters available:
Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight
Ka-50 Black Shark
UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)
SA342 Gazelle
Each is a separate purchase.
No Apache yet. The main issue with Apaches is that they are designed as a pilot/gunner arrangement, while all of the aircraft DCS provides can be fully used solo. It would be interesting to network two players as one Apache though, but that's not supported yet. I've read the real pilot's manual for an Apache, the way the pilot and gunner roles were split but also shared was cool.


falken76 said:

Does DCS have an equivilant to CTRL+E ?  I can't remember if that's the command in FSX but I think it was, this would auto start the engines so I don't have to flip all kinds of switches.  I don't want to study a manual to play this, but then again how the hell will I know how to use the weapon systems etc...


Yep, there's an auto start engine hotkey. (Turning on the A10 takes up 36 pages of the manual!)
There's also an easy flight option (at least for the Black Shark) that makes it far easier to fly. That's probably a good starting mode to get used to the weapons and instruments, before worrying about really flying. 🙂

Studying a manual... depending on the aircraft and what you want to do, it may be unavoidable. Flying around and pulling the trigger isn't too hard (if you can work out how to arm the weapons), but there's a HUGE amount of depth in there if you really want to take advantage of the aircraft.
Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

Anonymous
Not applicable
It is very "deep" and has a somewhat steep learning curve - I have been flying in DCS since 2009 and love it myself.
I spent a great deal of time learning to fly the KA-50 attack helicopter, and the Spitfire for WWII action.

Their latest update to DCS 2.50 ( currently in Open Beta) also adds some nice Touch capability for manipulating some buttons, as well as buttons on Touch for VR-Recenter and VR-Zoom.

If you like digging into the weeds and really learning not only flying the aircraft but also their systems, DCS would be right up your alley.

And yes as previously mentioned, it does have an auto-start and auto-shutdown feature - I have programmed these to buttons on my HOTAS.

wanoennogs
Heroic Explorer
I installed DCS and X-Plane 11.   They were way too complicated for me.  I uninstalled them.

If you are looking for a game with planes that are easy to start up and fly get Ultrawings.  It's a fun game. 

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee
If you want some simple checklists for the kneeboard and pictorial start-up guides for any of the fully clickable modules, give a shout and I'll give you access to my files on Google Drive.

Example

Yes, you will spend a lot of time "optimising" and configging stuff, I'm sure. I just spent all day trying to get 2.5 reasonable in VR and haven't managed it yet. Although it is smooth running, it's the worst I have ever seen it.

If you just want the fun and not the procedures, go for Flaming Cliffs 3 - it's the best deal for the non-clickable, minimal procedure modules.


i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee
Have a butchers - this was in 2.5 Nevada earlier,practising my low flying techniques:v10e30dirx8a.png
here in the Gazelle:
i9hri3ktzpdc.png

and the Ka-50 Black Shark in the Caucasus:
lg63wn7yb671.png

This was the best I had it looking today - on the highest settings:

lg6bs4rppfbw.png

...and there are a lot of bugs and things that need sorting out....

1wiswaapu0iy.png

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

MowTin
Expert Trustee


I installed DCS and X-Plane 11.   They were way too complicated for me.  I uninstalled them.

If you are looking for a game with planes that are easy to start up and fly get Ultrawings.  It's a fun game. 


Ultrawings. lol
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

BeastyBaiter
Superstar
For the OP, I recommend Flaming Cliffs 3. These aircraft are highly simplified (as much as they can be at least) and do not feature clickable cockpits. To start them up, press alt + L to turn on the electronics, alt+ home to start the left engine and shift (or is it ctrl?) + home to start the right. That's it, you're ready for takeoff at that point. You still need keys for turning the radar on and off (i I think) and switching between navigation and air to air mode (nav is 1 key (not numpad), BVR mode is 2 key). Then a lock button and a shoot button of course. Can't get any more simple than that tbh short of removing the weapons entirely.

You can sample one of these planes without paying a penny. The free Su-25T Frogfoot uses the same level of fidelity as all the FC3 aircraft. It is the most complex of the lot though, since it can use targeting pods and has a huge variety of weapons available. The other FC3 aircraft are a whole hell of a lot simpler. There is also "game mode" but I don't know of anyone who has ever tried it and so can't comment on what it's like.

In terms of performance, you will not maintain 90 fps with that system in VR. I have a 1080 TI and overclocked 8700k and have to drop settings to hold 90 fps most of the time with a few dips. That said, 45 fps is completely playable and you should be able to get that without any trouble. But as said, you can use the free Su-25T as a test.

As for whether or not you will be puking your guts out. Well, that's half the appeal. Flying combat aircraft is intrinsically a stomach churning experience. Pretty much everyone gets used to it after a few hours, but those first few hours are going to be deliciously uncomfortable. I kind of wish I could get that feeling back tbh, some things shouldn't be comfortable, like riding a roller coaster.

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee
I wrote my impressions in my blog, if you're interested:

https://virtualpilotorguk.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/january-2018-sitrep/

Note this is all about the newest version and is my personal opinion - if they get enough problems fixed it should be great - I certainly enjoyed the versions up to the final 1.5.8 public releases.

PS - bear in mind, the post refers to VR only - on a monitor, with TrackIR, the maps look very good.

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

adrian_gazzard_
Protege
Take the p51 mustang for a spin! - it's the other plane you can fly for free....went for a low level blast through Town last night and it was giving a great impression of speed (the odd split second stutter now and then - poss loading/updates)
Quick enough and smooth enough to make me want to lose my cookies (although I have not yet got my VR legs!)

Running on a GTX970 / i7 combo