CBStu

I got 2.8 maybe 1.5 weeks ago and since am having a problem w/ 120Cs. When not using the radar screen but using the small dashed circle in the HUD to aim, it used to be that you get a square outline and a 'steering dot' I think it was called. So fly the plane toward the dot and eventually the square and the dot will be inside the aiming circle. Now it seems like the square and dot are going crazy. The square will eventually get into the circle, sometimes it turns into a diamond (saying the plane is actually an enemy) but the dot rarely does. And we now have that delay after the trigger is pulled. All in all, it is now much harder to use 120s than it used to be. Is there something I may be doing wrong especially w/ the crazy dot and square? I thought it might be too early to find a new tutorial that includes any changes from 2.8 but if anyone has found one a link would be great.

My brakes are on two buttons so no partial brake possible. When I land, I hit air brake almost immediately. Somewhere I 'think' I saw to stay off brakes until 100k. So I wait until speed drops to use brakes. I pull full up elevator a little after the air brake. I have a twist stick for rudder and nose wheel and that is what I use to correct for any left or right drift. It is kind of touchy so I often give it several little quick short twists rather than a long one. I believe on the landing rollout the twist is actuating rudder only. At some point it starts actuating the nose wheel but I don't know whether it does that below X speed or how it works.

You can also choose any 4 way switch your stick has. I happen to use one on the forward surface of my throttle. So it is L=gun, R=120, UP=Aim9, DN=AIM7.

If I were you I'd go right to carrier traps using Banklers training mission. If you select an air start you are behind the boat at about 1100-1200 altitude, 350k, tacan is already set on the left DDI as is a boat course arrow, flaps are set to drop but will not drop until you slow to 250, you need to set ICLS but it is easy as it is on channel 1, flight direction is 355 or so I think. As you approach the boat, your goal is fly by it on it's right at 350k and 800ft and just far enough away that you can look down and see the clear deck. You get comments throughout the entire approach as to altitude, distance from the boat, etc. Your first 180 should be at >30deg. You can use compass reading or the boat course arrow to determine when to roll out. I look for either 175deg or being parallel to the course. As you roll out onto the downwind, tacan gives distance from the boat which will be at maybe 1.5 because you are ahead of the boat. As you get closer to abeam the distance will drop hopefully to the 1.2 to1.4. I use that distance right before I start the second 180 to set bank angle. < 1.2 = 35deg bank, 1.2 to 1.4 = 30deg, >1.4 = <30deg. Also now w/ DCS 2.8, the wake is very visible so you have an additional clue as to your position. When you grab a wire, sit still for 10seconds or so and you get a score# and a synopsis of your comments. Then I just hit L Shift-R and do it again. BTW this is not easy, I have been flying the FA-18 in DCS for 3 years. Each time I decide I should make some Bankler flights, it takes me 4-5-6 tries to get my score >55-60 w/ 75 being the top. Just keep trying.

I never noticed a difference when I went to 3 deg pitch deadzone.

I just did a few Bankler traps in 2.8 Stable. YeeHaaa- we can now see the ships wake. Man is this an improvement. Thanks guys and gals.

Art and Tom thank you both very much. I have flown only the FA-18 for 2 yrs now so every time I get into controls I never even look at that left column since I never need to change it. So far, after just two missions in 2.8 Stable this is all I have found changed. I will see if it stays this way tomorrow.

Tom like one of the guys in the link you posted , UI layer?? Module dropdown list?? I see 'Module Manager' and 'Options' and I see nothing. I expect it is in 'Options' somewhere and I missed it. Any help would be great.

Did active pause go away w/ 2.8? I don't remember if it was something built-in or if I did it, but my 'P' key used to be active pause and 'pause/break' key was complete pause.

Realize one other thing. If you were to get to a perfectly straight and level flight at say 350, then increase speed to 400, the plane will climb. Drop to 300 and it will descend.

Go to thisPC; OS(C); Users; yourname; Saved Games; DCS; Kneeboard. You can drop them there. I think I remember that there are restrictions on file types as I see mine are all PNG. This will put them in your kneeboard no matter which mission you are flying. I don't know if there is a way to put mission specific info so it only shows when flying that mission.

Looks normal to me for a crosswind. When you cage it, it moves to the center which makes viewing easier for some things. But there is also a reference provided so you know there is a cross wind. If you do a straight-in approach to a runway w/ a crosswind, you use the reference symbol to line yourself up to the runway.

Glad you found the solution. I am far from a PC guy but I have noticed similar problems here over the last couple of years. Apparently some DCS updates change some things. I also have noticed w/ mine, and others here, that some sticks, throttle etc will have some assignments built in by the manufacturer. I think their idea is that you plug in your shiny new stick and it would be nice if you can do at least simple functions right away. I think the combination can have undesirable effects at times.

Good point NineLine. I doubt we could ever get them to comment on a plane that first went into service in 1983. I had to look up that date to be sure. Then I tried to remember what kind of PC I had in 1983. I think maybe we tried one in 1990. With that in mind I guess we need to give Boeing a break sometimes.

Why not have the image size smaller than the screen size. See the OP's second picture and look at the right DDI which has surface radar displayed. It has a black border all around the screen so the green labels really stand out.

When I am having a problem that might be a double binding I go to the Options- Controls section like this. It takes a couple of minutes but I scroll from the top all the way down and look for that key to pop up somewhere. It may appear in the section you expect it to but also in another section. If you find it where you don't want it, click on it to highlight it and then click the 'CLEAR" button below. If you don't see the F2 button anywhere, scroll around until you get to all the view options. Find the option you want (I don't remember exactly what the outside view is named) and click it. That will put a lighter bar across the screen like 'Rudder' is in my picture. Now push the F2 key and you should see 'F2' pop up in the 'Keyboard' column and then click the 'Add' button. BTW once you get F2 to give you an outside view, you can move around the plane using your mouse ---IF--- the radio communications list is not on the screen.

The 'Pause' key stops the entire game but will let you look at the F10 map. I don't know if it came this way or something I set up, but my 'P' key gives me an active pause. My plane stops flying but the rest of planes etc keep going. But, while my plane is sitting still, all it's functions remain running. I cheat this way often when flying a new mission and having trouble finding a target, or if I didn't set up a weapon correctly. My wingman just circles around me until I continue.

Thanks guys for your help. I think I am going to rearm w/ an ATFLIR on most all missions.

Exorcet thanks for the info. I realize this may differ mission to mission but...I like to download and fly missions from the user files. In general would doing a re-arm to the ATFLIR mess up a mission that had the Litening originally?

Is there a reason we have 2 types of FLIR available. Just thinking, things are difficult enough trying to learn the FA-18, a single FLIR would reduce the study needed to be competent. Does 'our' FA-18 span a long enough time period that in real life it had both systems? If so, do we need both systems? We had Litening first and then got ATFLIR. Is that the real life progression? Is ATFLIR generally better than Litening? If it was the second system in RL, one would assume it is better. For me anyway, I'd be happy to pick one and discard the other.

I fly single player on the current stable version. I have downloaded quite a few missions and campaigns. As we all know there are problems here and there w/ how a feature works. I wonder if some of the problems are due to the current DCS version flying a (for instance) 2 year old mission. Let's say the mission used AG missile 1. But that missile has had several updates in those 2 years since the mission was created. Is DCS going to work well? Is missile 1 going to work as it should making use of all the advances that have been applied to it?

BALT works just fine for me. There have been quite a few questions about it though and the fix is usually adding a small dead zone to the pitch movement of the stick. I know it fixed my problem. W/ this in mind, I think equinox137 is correct.

That could be it. I didn't get a detailed enough look to see what it was locking on to but it sure wasn't the moving tanks or trucks.

Thankyou Rob. I thought maybe it was a time zone thing because I noticed that the minutes part of the two displays matched. I will look into the TOT stuff. I have been using airspeed of 360 = 6 miles/per minute to try to come out of a circle and pass over a WP on time. That works reasonably well but since I am never sure when to launch from the carrier I often circle for 20 min to make a WP time. I figure I should sit on the carrier for 15 of those 20 min.

I am on the 3d mission in campaign Measured Imperative. This campaign is strict on times which I enjoy working with but...I can not find a way to get the correct time to display until in the air. I can't get any time in the hud. There is a time display below the fuel gauge which shows a time but it is not correct. So far I have managed to get through missions 1 and 2 because there is a specific time to cross WP2 but I do it by circling for 20 minutes or so somewhere before WP2. Help please.