Comm Confusion

So many comm options on servers. It’s confusing.

What’s SRS? (a forum search turns up nothing)

Discord? Isn’t that a smartphone app?

Are these interfering with the radio buttons in DCS? Many times in MP there is no ground crew available so how are you supposed to load out or get power?

SRS is SimpleRadio Standalone, see here. That one does in fact tie in with the in-sim radio buttons, so you can PTT, use various frequencies and bands and even get a signal strength depending on position.

Also I don't share your sentiment that ground crews are generally absent. That is entirely a question of the mission the server is running and most missions come with them.

Discord is not smartphone only. You can also use it on your PC, and I personally like it. It's kind of like Skype and TeamSpeak unified, if I had to describe it for you.

SRS is SimpleRadio Standalone, see here. That one does in fact tie in with the in-sim radio buttons, so you can PTT, use various frequencies and bands and even get a signal strength depending on position.

 

Also I don't share your sentiment that ground crews are generally absent. That is entirely a question of the mission the server is running and most missions come with them.

Looks way too complicated. There are several pages of instructions. Comms are nice but most players don’t use them so it’s not worth the trouble to install something so complicated.

Discord complicated? hardly for a user. Now if you want to setup a server, there are a fair number of options for security and things you can set it up to do.

But for the client, its just setup your input/output device and join a server. Not much more to it.

Discord complicated? hardly for a user. Now if you want to setup a server, there are a fair number of options for security and things you can set it up to do.

 

But for the client, its just setup your input/output device and join a server. Not much more to it.

He probably ment SRS and not Discord.

SRS is SimpleRadio Standalone, see here. That one does in fact tie in with the in-sim radio buttons, so you can PTT, use various frequencies and bands and even get a signal strength depending on position.

 

Also I don't share your sentiment that ground crews are generally absent. That is entirely a question of the mission the server is running and most missions come with them.

Wow SRS is way too complicated. I don't even know what half those instructions mean and the setup would take all afternoon. Not for me... :doh:

and yes I find ground crew not working a lot. Like on Glowing Sidewinder it doesn't work.

SRS definitely needs better installation + setup instructions. It took me about two weeks to make it work...and the "contact us on Discord" is about as effective as...well, let's just say it was futile.

I still haven't talked to anyone yet in MP, apparently one has to have friends and agree on a particular frequency...

Servers that are run with SRS as their primary means in mind usually provide instructions on regular frequencies and the like in the mission briefing.

Anyway, no argument that SRS is more complicated to set up and operate than its 'competitors', but it does integrate into DCS nicely. Of course not always what you might be looking for.

As for other options I definitely prefer TeamSpeak over Discord any given day.

All too often there a few or no options for the MiGs that only have a number of presets in many servers. All too often my SRS goes to waste because there’s one AWACS frequency listed and it’s either not preset or takes random(often futile) tries

SRS definitely needs better installation + setup instructions. It took me about two weeks to make it work...and the "contact us on Discord" is about as effective as...well, let's just say it was futile.

 

I still haven't talked to anyone yet in MP, apparently one has to have friends and agree on a particular frequency...

You download the zip

Extract and run installer

Done

Or was it more how to use it with each aircraft?

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Looks way too complicated. There are several pages of instructions. Comms are nice but most players don’t use them so it’s not worth the trouble to install something so complicated.

Setup is around a minute for most people as the installer does it all

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In MP when transmitting is the mic voice activated or do I use a hot key and is that key the "com" key or do I have to set up another key?

You can either use an option to have it tied to your com key, or use another key for push to talk. SRS is simulating real radio ops, so there is no voice activation.

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble on the Discord, I do my best to help everyone.... I can't see any posts I've missed so what exactly did you struggle with?

 

You download the zip

Extract and run installer

Done

 

Or was it more how to use it with each aircraft?

 

 

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

Ciribob, I appreciate immensely your work and as a regular SRS user I don't find the instructions hard at all. However I am fairly technical savvy, so if you may I would suggest some changes to the release page on Github.

- Focus the first two-three paragraphs on instructions for end-users, not stuff about TCP ports and banned IPs which only affects server owners.

- Instead of putting the installer inside a zip file with a bunch of other files in it, just attach the installer exe itself directly onto the github release page, alongside the zip file for whoever wants to install manually.

- Ask for server owners who use SRS to announce the website you guys made - dcssimpleradio.com - in the server briefing so people who never visit the forums would be able to know where to get it. The website is well designed btw, and it is the first result if someone googles "DCS SRS".

- Whenever describing SRS on the website or Github page, try to not compare it to Discord or Teamspeak, because people who never used these softwares wouldn't then know what exactly it does. Perhaps saying "SRS introduces a realistic voice communication system into DCS that integrates with the aircraft radios inside the simulation etc etc."

I am only making these suggestions because it is frustrating to use this extremely well-made and useful tool and knowing some people just didn't went through the initial hurdles of getting it set up. For any new thing to be adopted we have to dumb it down the installation process as most as possible.

As I know that only making suggestions is easy but implementing them is hard, I offer you my free time to make these changes if you agree with them.

Ciribob, I

For any new thing to be adopted we have to dumb it down the installation process as most as possible.

This. Mods are very difficult to deal with for most people. Then given that most people don’t use commas, any difficulty in dealing with this doesn’t prove to be worthwhile.

I personally avoid all mods in any game.

This. Mods are very difficult to deal with for most people. Then given that most people don’t use commas, any difficulty in dealing with this doesn’t prove to be worthwhile.

I personally avoid all mods in any game.

I take it you never ran the Aries Radio or UniversRadio TeamSpeak Plug-Ins?

They were/are completely brilliant. But in comparison, the "simple" in "SRS" really means simple, and I can't recommend SRS enough.

At first sight, it may not be perfectly obvious what it does or how it works. But setting it up is fairly simple, there's a lot of documentation available, the support here on the ED forum is excellent, and many DCS players will be glad to assist setting it up.

For starters, setting it up Grim Reapers style:

Explained: SRS Radio Installation & Setup

And then a cool example of how it can work with total strangers:

Ralfi's Alley - GCI in Blue Flag

If you have any particular questions, just go ahead and ask them here or on the SRS Discord and you should be set up in no time. :thumbup: