Interactive cold start help

I know you can start with the plane allready started but I think I´ve seen in the MS 2020FS videos a step by step helping mechanism to start the plane highlighting the clickable items one by one as intended in the checklist order.

Is that a feature DCS allready have?

I think it will be fine to have that enabled by default so you can get used to properly start your plane and then you decide if it´s worth to disable the feature for the added inmersion.

It´s because, at some time, you have too much planes to correctly remember all the starting procedures if you don´t fly them too often.

I think it will help to bring new people to DCS.

Damm!, that FS2020 will be such a heavy contender that I´m sure will give ED the right ammount of stimulus to bring DCS to a new and higher standard.

(Fierce competition is good at that).

The 'start up' missions already do the highlight part.

Mig-15 module also has a helper that does exactly what you ask. It's the only module that does atm.

Already available in training missions.

Good to know, thanks.

If there was only an option to leave it there....

why dont you just use the autostart cheats if you have no interest in learning the procedure

One thing is learning a plane and the inmersion to start manually, and other different is to have various games and sims and planes that you play not so regurlarly. So, I think, it´s a midterm proposal.

And if it´s allready done it will be a no hassle checkbox in the options panel.

The porpouse of any game is to entertain and not necessarily be a pain if you don´t need it.

You just check or uncheck the box so more people will find the pain curve that they feel comfortable with.

It doesn´t exist on the contacts info, etc?

I also have trouble remembering all (startup) procedures when I step in an aircraft I haven't flown for a few months. I usually end up doing a lot of training missions again, before being able to properly fly a mission.

An on/off option for startup helpers would be nice, but I doubt if it'll help you much though. Sure, you'll be able to take-off, maybe navigate and land, but you'll still need to go through tutorials for all weapon systems, radar, countermeasures, datalink, etc. So you still probably won't get very far without some essential training.

You're pretty much going to have to take at least a quick refresher if you haven't used a plane recently. If you can't even remember the startup, you're not going to remember any of the complicated stuff, either, which puts you back to relearning some stuff. The cheat start is for when you can't remember and are just joyriding or something, and even then if you pay attention it tells you what to do. It shouldn't take more than one or two practice runs, maybe ten minutes, to ''re-memorise'' anyway.

As others said, most/all the planes have interactive startup tutorials already. I prefer a quick youtube video, personally. Easy way to filter : if the vid is more than 5 minutes long, he's prattling unnecessarily.

The best solution is to do this so many times you can’t forget it. Make it muscle memory. It’s not a stretch since you have to do it every time. Landing is optional... so basically just go get shot down a lot and you’ll be an expert in no time.

Bit of a solution, mayhaps: have custom kneeboard pages (or an actual piece of paper if you aren't insisting on being VR only) that you write yourself a few pointers on. Previous posts are entirely right about start-up being the easy part for many modules, especially the more modern ones, and plenty of other things coming after.

All of you are right: The easiest part of an F-18 may be the startup..... So much features....

Sometimes I think I should keep myself only on the warbirds..... But the jets are so fast......

All of you are right: The easiest part of an F-18 may be the startup..... So much features....

Sometimes I think I should keep myself only on the warbirds..... But the jets are so fast......

I've learned the Harrier and Ka-50 pretty extensively so far, as well as the Sabre, F-5, and some of the warbirds. Honestly, once you learn one, in a category, it makes learning more trivial. For example, the Harrier, A-10, F-18, and F-16 in particular all have very similar cockpits and systems. Yeah, some of the details vary, but if you know one, it's REALLY easy to learn another. Similar with the warbirds, granted RPMs and boost are different for each, but the basics of starting and flying them are pretty similar. And again with the helos, they're the most complicated, and they share the least commonality, but principles are similar at least.

Regarding you learning, don't get intimidated by all the switches and buttons. Ignore all that, focus on one thing at a time. As you get more familiar with the cockpit and where stuff is, it'll make expanding your list of ''skills'' easier (reading manual ''I saw that button before... THAT's what it does!) It was the same for me, when I first started branching out. You see all the stuff and it's like ''woaaaah'' but once you get used to it, you see they're all the almost the same... almost like there's a ''best practice'' for design or something :p

Thanks Zhukov.

I just want to fly the VR experience.

How deep I´ll go apart from that, it´s unknown for me at this time.

Time will tell.

In fact: how many of you play other "normal" games?.... I think that getting deep in DCS and aviation sims in general will let you very little time to enjoy other genres of games, isn´t it?

how many of you play other "normal" games?

I just don't play anything else but I heard many do. To get decent results you'd have to make a poll in general DCS forum.

Well, I uh... recently knocked out about 200 hours over two weeks on Assassin's CreedOdyssey... I didn't think I'd like it... but uh... I did. A lot. I also play a fair amount of Arma 3. I also play Kerbal Space Program, Subnautica, etc.

For DCS, the initial ''break in'' period can be a little demanding, but once you get an aircraft learned, it's not to hard to remind yourself about stuff. It sounds like you're in the stage where everything is new and a bit overwhelming, and yes, it's important you stay semi focused. I've been away working for two months, had minimal difficulty picking up the Ka-50 and remembering how to do everything within about an hour.

My suggestion when training somebody newish is for them to try to fly at least 2-3 times a week, even if it's just a couple touch and gos, which translates to 1.5-2 hours a week assuming 30 minutes session, just to avoid ''regressing'', while not getting overwhelmed. Too many people go hard for a few days, then get frustrated and burn out and don't come back for weeks, during which they lose everything they learned ''starting over'', getting frustrated, then burnout and give up.

Protip: most REAL LIFE instructors will tell you to limit training to no more than an hour at a time, preferably 2-3 times a week. Consistency and frequency is more productive than long marathon sessions.

Good.

I´ll keep that in mind, Zhukov.

Thanks.