Ruggbutt

TrackIR 5 Review September 21, 2010 Immersion. It's what all flight simmers want for their games. To feel like you're part of the battle. To imagine ourselves as part of a real battle in a real world. To accomplish whatever mission we've chosen and to return our aircraft to home plate in one piece. We like our flight sims to be photorealistic. We like our aircraft flight models to mimics the real aircraft in performance. And sound, there's nothing like the sound of a Merlin engine. Those of us who have heard one for real appreciate it when our virtual P-51 put out the same dulcet tones. It helps us step into the game. Yes, immersion is what flight sim enthusiasts have wanted since we started flying the virtual skies. So we buy hardware, often the newest and most expensive in our quest to become one with the sim. We buy a larger monitor at better resolution. We buy faster processors and more powerful video cards. We throw an aftermarket sound card in and use 5.1 surround speakers. Or we buy a nice headset to replicate the sounds of the planes, weapons, radios, etc. We buy joysticks. We buy a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick). We buy rudder pedals. We want to be Eddie Rickenbacker. Chuck Yeager. Robin Olds. All of these items helps get us closer to the dream that all of us have. To be a pilot. Commercial, private or fighter, it doesn't matter. We want to fly, as bad as the Wright brothers did. One of my earliest memories with any type of computer gaming was my grandmother's (then brand new) 386. Yeager's Air Combat was my holy grail. I flew the heck out of it with the keyboard. I'd fly with my face right up against that monitor, trying to spot enemy Messershmitts as far away as Chuck could. Yes, the graphics by todays standards were horrible but the game was enthralling for me. I felt like I was up against some of Germany's finest, doing my best to survive and to protect my wingmen. In those days it was as good as simming got. I spent hundreds of hours flying that sim, often all night and into the early hours of the morning. I was hooked. I went to the computer store and bought Jetfighter 2. The salesman at the store (being the fantastic salesman that he was) talked me into spending a goodly amount of money on a joystick. I couldn't wait to get home and plug it in. I'd hit the jackpot, those Messerschmitts never knew what hit them! I was twice as deadly with my new stick as I was with the keyboard. That's when the hardware race started for me. I speculate that many of you have similar stories. The joystick put me into the game even more so than I've ever been before. How many of you would even consider flying your favorite sim(s) and ditching your joystick/HOTAS? Me neither! No way am I taking that step back. TrackIR is immersion exemplified. TrackIR has changed simming for me the same way my first joystick altered my experience. I compare it directly with flying your fave sim with the keyboard. I had the baddest joystick sold anywhere and it had an 8 way coolie hat. No way was this piece of equipment going to trump my snap view skills. Boy was I wrong! We rely primarily on sight to disseminate information that helps us complete our tasks. Even more so with computer games. TrackIR mimics how we look around and view the world. We don't "snap" our views to 3 or 9 o'clock in real life. We look around. Everything is fluid. So is TrackIR. You move your head and your in-game head moves as well. How much and how fast is completely up to you. I fly Flaming Cliffs 2 and the A10 sees alot of action. I am a killer on the virtual battlefield. And I have fantastic situational awareness because I'm able to look around just like I do in real life. I can make a gun run in the jet, pull 90 degrees off target and as I'm turning keep the target area in the center of my screen. And I don't even have to think about it. It's that simple. Hardware. TrackIR consists of a transmitter/receiver (TrackIR Unit) and a reflector source (Track Clip). Light reflected off of the Track Clip is read by the TrackIR unit and it translates your head movements digitally into similar movements in game. TrackIR has a feature called 6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom). If your game supports it (many new games do) you can turn your head right/left, up/down, tilt your head right/left and you can move your head forward/. All in your virtual cockpit. When in my trusty A10 I'm searching for targets I no longer have to change course to scan the battlefield for targets of opportunity. I can look around that HUD bracket. Or I can peer around my canopy frame to see that bad man in the Shilka trying to send 23mm death my way. In game,even in a hard bank you can keep the horizon level. No more feeling that your head is seatbelted in place in the pit. TrackIR is one more tool in our aresenal to immerse us in our game and to provide us with superior situational awareness. Every single person that I know (and fly with online) will leave a multiplayer game to start their TrackIR if they've forgotten to before joining a server. I have even teased a couple of my squaddies about leaving and told them "just fly without it". I won't repeat exactly what was said but it wasn't polite. Nope, once you've been bitten by the TrackIR bug you will NEVER go back. Ever. TrackIR 5 is the model I've been testing. This is the 5th incarnation and upgrade of their product line. I started with a TrackIR 2 and fell in love with it right off the bat. As time progressed the TrackIR 3 was announced, although I didn't upgrade. I secretly thought to myself "they're just upgrading like TV or stereo manufacturers do" and I thought I wouldn't see much of performance upgrade. So I passed on the v.3. Then TrackIR 4 was released. My unit was old and I had some extra cash so I upgraded. I also liked the new Track Clip, there would be no more messing around with those reflective dots! To this day I've never tried a v.3 unit, but the change from the 2 to the 4 was tremendous. It wasn't like a stereo or TV upgrade where the bezels were new but the guts were basically the same. Mind you, this revelation didn't really have the impact it has now since I've tried the TrackIR 5. Trust me on this folks, the 5 isn't just a repackaged upgrade from the 4. There is a noticeable difference. In this case I love to be proven wrong, the crew at Naturalpoint have done a fantastic job with this model. It has a wider field of view than the 4. It feels more refined than the 4 was. I'm not saying the 4 is a bad unit. I'm saying there's a difference between the two models along the lines of how the P-51D was improved over the P-51B. TrackIR 5 is more precise as well. I am using the current version of TrackIR software and I used the same profile that I was using with my TrackIR 4. I did alter my favorite profile as a result of a conversation between Erik (CA site owner) and the folks at Naturalpoint. They requested that I test the new unit with the smoothing slider dropped below 20. Mine was at 40. The reason behind this was that the new unit was so precise that too much smoothing can work against the data the unit it outputting and it can sacrifice precision. He went on to say that the quickness of the tracking might be hard to get used to at first, but in the long run that it will give the user way more control over the unit. I'm glad I was offered this bit of advice. My profile really came alive and I haven't adjusted any of curves in the software. Good call!! The unit tracks fast. As fast as you can move your head. Some of the older units felt like they had a bit of input lag to them, nothing that was a deal breaker because even the TrackIR 2 was a good unit. I equate the input lag to what you feel when you're playing a first person shooter with a wireless mouse. The corded mouse always feels more accurate, quicker to me. Some of you might not even notice it if you own an older unit. Side by side comparison between the TrackIR 4 and 5 . Installation. Mounting the hardware is a cinch. There is a three legged base for the Tracker Unit that articulates in a wide range of movement. Place the base where you intend to mount your unit and set the Tracker Unit on top. The Tracker is held in place magnetically. You can tilt the unit back and forth to fine tune where the Tracker is seeing the Track Clip. The Tracker Unit is attached to a USB cord, don't plug this in just yet. Software for the TrackIR is not included with the unit. Naturalpoint updates their software so often that they prefer you download it from their website, so you have the most current version. How many of us have bought a video card and thrown away the driver CD right away? I always do as the most current set of drivers are available online. The drivers aren't a large download so bandwith shouldn't be an issue for anyone. Installation is a breeze. Install the program you've just downloaded then plug in your TrackIR unit. It's that simple. TrackIR will run off of a USB hub as well. I recommend a powered hub. Placement of the TrackIR unit can be on top of your monitor, off to the side or even underneath your monitor. All you need is a clear line of sight from the Track Clip to the Tracker Unit. Some people have even turned the unit sideways and mounted it on the side of their monitor. This won't affect tracking as you can change the Tracker's aspect 90 degrees in the software. The Track Clip installs on the brim of a baseball cap. It's a friction fit. I tend to grab my ball caps by the brim and I was continually knocking off the Track Clip. So I punched two small holes where the brim meets the cap, on either side of where the Track Clip fits. I used a small zip tie to secure the Track Clip to my hat. It hasn't accidentally fallen off once! If you wear a headset and don't or can't wear a ball cap with it, Naturalpoint sells a unit called the Track Clip Pro. It's USB powered and it attaches to the head strap on your headset. It comes in black, white and red. You can buy the unit separately or bundled with a TrackIR 5. Track Clip Pro in Black Software. The first thing you want to do when you fire up your software is check for game updates. When Flaming Cliffs 2 was released there wasn't a default profile for it in the new TrackIR software. You had to make your own. Within a matter of a few weeks Naturalpoint did a game update that included the FC2 profile. The game updates are small and quick download, and you can do it right through the software. You can also choose to be notified of news updates regarding TrackIR. You can also option whether you want TrackIR to start when you boot up, whether to start it minimized or whether to keep it active in your taskbar. There are several tabs in the software that allow you to pick which profile will be your default profile, or whether you want one to be default for racing, flying, shooters, etc. TrackIR auto detects which game is active and will autoload that profile for you. It's possible to not to have to touch the software again once you have it configured. TrackIR knows if I'm playing ArmA 2 or Flaming Cliffs 2. If you don't like the default profile you can create your own. I took the default FC2 profile and modified it for my needs. You can choose to modify each axis in several different ways (one to one, smoothing, etc) and you can also change the curves of each axis independantly. To the novice this may seem a bit daunting, luckily Naturalpoint has done their homework and most people are satisfied using the default profile for the game that they're playing. You can change the hotkeys to toggle on/off the unit, to center and for "precision". Precision is like a slowed down version of tracking and it works well for when you're at extreme zoom. You can choose to not use an axis as well. I prefer to manually zoom in my pit so I have the Z axis disabled. Some games may use the same hotkeys as is default so you can choose for the TrackIR software to "trap" those keybinds. They won't be sent to the game. You can also change the hotkey assignments. For those that are new TrackIR owners I recommend you spend some time in the software using the head viewing option in the software. You'll have a solid shaped head that mimics your exact movements. Superimposed with that head is a wireframe head that will show you how far your in game head will travel in comparison. You can also choose several different views of your head. Back, side, top are all there. I found that this addition to the software gave me a better idea of what I wanted for my FC2 profile. I prefer just a tad of deadzone, and for the first 30 degrees of head travel I prefer only about 50 degrees of view change. I like to ramp up my curves as I turn my head farther to the side. Remember, you can do this for every axis so you aren't stuck with the same speed when looking up as you are side to side. The software is infinitely programmable to cater to anyone's needs. Lets say you have limited mobility in your neck the farther you turn your head to the right. You can adjust the right side curves of your X axis to counter that without affecting the left side curves. There's a speed control that will allow you to turn up or down the tracking rate. There's a smoothing slider that allows you to super fine tune that profile you've completed. You can adjust the intensity of the infrared LED's on the unit. You can adjust a filter to remove extraneous light that might interfere with the Track Clip. The Tracker Unit has LED's that show the user with a glance what mode it's in. One red LED left side shows the user the unit is active but not tracking and not in game. One red LED right and left side shows the user the unit is active, not tracking but is in game. One green LED left side shows unit active and tracking, not in game. Two green shows active tracking, in game. The software even allows you to dim the LED status lights if you like. Naturalpoint has thought of everything! Specs. # Raw Sensor Resolution: 640 x 480 # Reporting Resolution: 96,000 x 72,000 # Field of View: 51.7° # Resolution/Horizontal Degree: 1850 subpixels/degree # Sample Rate: 120 fps # Size (without base): 2" x 1.5" x 0.57" # Weight: 1.8 oz # Response Time: 9 ms Comparison TrackIR allows you views from your virtual cockpit that you cannot achieve any other way. An example is the F-15 from Flaming Cliffs . You cannot see behind nor around the Aces II ejection seat no matter how hard you slew your view. Your coolie hat can't help you here. TrackIR can. Stock view, slewed as far right as possible With TrackIR 5 There's my wingman! Ahh, but what if it was a bad man in a Mig? You'd never know anything was wrong till your jet fell apart. Bottom Line. TrackIR 5 outperforms all previous TrackIR units. By a wide margin. Resolution is more than doubled, FOV is 20% larger. Subpixel resolution ten-fold. What does that mean to those of us that aren't stats junkies? It means that if you're able to upgrade from a 4 or were thinking about purchasing a TrackIR now is the time to do it. Price difference between the 4 and 5 is $50. Spend the $50. I promise you'll be happy you did. The TrackIR 5 is cheaper now than my 4 was when it was brand new. That's another reason to buy. TrackIR is supported by more and more games, 105 at last count. TrackIR isn't cheap. It's roughly the cost of a quality joystick/throttle combo. It's also a peripheral that will see as much use as a joystick or HOTAS setup is. In the importance of peripherals to get I rate it number two right behind a quality joystick. You won't be disappointed. A few thoughts and ramblings. The TrackIR takes a little bit of getting used to. Some users experience minor motion sickness until they get used to using the unit. I'm one of those that isn't affected by motion sickness but I did experience a bit of disorientation when I first started to learn how to use the TrackIR. It didn't last long and I have yet to hear of anyone who couldn't get over any disorientation. I had no idea I moved my head around as much as I did when I flew until I got my TrackIR. I got used to the unit very quickly (a couple of hours) and I haven't had any negative effects since. One of my closest friends had a check ride in an F-16, he had use the barf bag. He gets motion sickness, even in automobiles. He had very little trouble with the unit as well. I've tested or used TrackIR in Lock On, Flaming Cliffs 1&2, Black Shark, ArmA 1/2/OA (Operation Arrowhead), TK's series of flight sims, Microsoft FSX the IL2 series of sims and Dirt 2. It works flawlessly in all. You can visit the Naturalpoint website (www.naturalpoint.com) to see if your sim or game is supported. There's nothing else I can say except that TrackIR 5 is a MUST HAVE for anyone who is a serious gamer. The amazing thing about reviewing the TrackIR 5 is that I have no negative opinions on it. No negatives about the software either. I can't even think of a "wish list" item for Naturalpoint to add to a software upgrade. Not even the price is a con. It's cheaper than the TrackIR 4 was when it was first released. This is a first folks. I rate the Naturalpoint TrackIR 5, 10 out of 10 points. Shot of my pit with TrackIR 5 active, this unit is a keeper!

HOTAS Hands On Throttle And Stick. The HOTAS can do many important functions in the cockpit without having to look down. It's how fighter pilots control their aircraft while keeping their heads out of their cockpit, increasing their situational awareness. It decreases workload. How can that help the virtual pilot? As computers get more powerful flight sims are becoming more complicated to navigate in. Even the most simple of flight sims has dozens of commands that need to be chosen quickly. There's an urgency. Looking down at your keyboard and remembering the right sequence comes only with lots of virtual flight hours under your belt. Many of us have a "cheat sheet" we rely on because time can be of the essence in a virtual dogfight. There are several offerings of HOTAS available to us flight simmers. Some are inexpensive and some are (IMHO) overpriced and over-hyped. You can buy a joystick for as low as $30 or spend $600 or more on an old design heavily modified by aftermarket offerings. I'm going to review a tried and true design that has had longevity in the market for at least a decade. I'll explain the capabilities of the software as well, a good HOTAS isn't just a pretty piece of hardware. CH Products CH Products is located in Vista, California. It's literally in the shadow of Camp Pendleton. I say this because it's a product that's made in the U.S.A. They've competed with products produced cheaper elsewhere and still are a driving force in the market. There are several reasons why this is, and I'll get more into detail about that later. One thing that most people don't realize is that CH also produces joysticks for real aircraft. They produce commerical controllers for industry as well. If you've played a video game with some kind of joystick controller in an arcade you've most likely had your hands on CH Products. Requesting units for Evaluation I contacted Debby McDowell at CH Products and requested a Fighterstick and Pro Throttle for evaluation. The response was quick and a request back for my home address. I received the Fighterstick (FS) and Pro Throttle (PT) within a few days. That is by far the quickest I've ever received a unit for evaluation, including some that I paid for with my credit card! I'd like to say that I've heard that CH is on top of things customer related. I've had experience with CH Products in the past so it's much more than something I've heard. I've experienced it. More on that later. My history with CH I own several CH Controllers, the FS and PT being two of them. I'm a member of CH Products forums, the CH Hangar. I've uploaded profiles for the community as well as providing custom graphics for those that have purchased one of CH's MFP units. As a CH owner I've found the CH Hangar (or to us cool kids: The Hangar) to be one of the best resources available for programming the CH controllers. Since I've had my current CH HOTAS for 6 years I thought long and hard about what was the best way to do a review for CH Products. I've gone through more joysticks and HOTAS than I can shake a stick at. Some lasting only months. Unpacking I opened the boxes with the new controllers and found that nothing had changed with the packaging. It was the same as mine had been 6 years ago. I double checked to be sure, I still have my original CH Products boxes. The controllers haven't changed in appearance. They look identical to the ones I own. Software - CH Control Manager CH Products isn't just about hardware. A good HOTAS has programmable software that will allow you to customize which button/hat sends which commands to your game. CH's sofware is called Control Manager (CM). It's an extremely versatile software that allows the user to do everything from programming simple keystrokes and macros to full blown scripting of how your CH Products controller operates. Any new software can be overwhelming to the new user. I've helped out countless people over the years who had questions about how to do this or that with CH Control Manager. I've also been the guy who needed help and guidance. I found it at The Hangar. Bob Church, the creator of Control Manager was often one of the guys who answered my questions. He would carefully explain how and why things worked the way they did. He also offered scripting examples. If you dowload one of my profiles at The Hangar you'll see I have heavily scripted my controllers and Bob is just one of the guys there that has helped me learn how to use Control Manager. There are a few others as well, and I feel I have to name them by name: Ken "Ghost" King, Ulf, Michael CH (he works for them) and Revvin (who is the owner of The Hangar) are just a few. The answers always came quickly. Some answers I got in an hour or two. The worlds record for the longest wait (for me) was 18 hours! I've never seen this kind of tech support from anyone, regardless of whether they make shoes or computer gear. Where else can you talk to the guy who wrote the software? I dare say, nowhere. Except The Hangar......... It's time for some examples of what scripting can do for you. Some don't fully understand what scripting is, so I'll give you the quick and the dirty. With scripting you can make a controller do something that isn't programmed for in the sim. For instance, I fly fast movers (jets) in the sims I own. I can't count how many times I'd forgotten to drop my airbrake over the years. That is, until I learned about scripting. I now have a script running in CH Control Manager that will automatically drop my airbrake if I move the throttle all the way forward. No more flying around in afterburner at 350 knots wondering what the heck is wrong with my jet..........Another example, programmed countermeasures: The main sim I fly has offerings of chaff, flare or chaff/flare on a toggle. I wanted something more along the lines of what the real jets can do so I scripted my Control Manager profile so that I can release a set amount of countermeasures in a set amount of time. One setting is 4 pairs of flares, one second apart. Instead of having to program the flare button and press it myself 4 times, I have it scripted so that once 4 pairs are dropped in the correct spacing the script stops. I also have another hat switch programmed that will release 4 pairs of flares and 4 chaff bundles 100 milliseconds apart. I start the sequence and it automatically stops. In the sim I fly when using wheel brakes there's only off and on for brakes. I have a script for that as well. When I press the wheel brakes on my CH Pro Pedals I get the equivalent of pressure sensitive braking. I press the brakes down 1/4 of the way and the script sends the wheel brake command 10 times a second to the game. I press halfway down it sends the command 15 times a second. 3/4 of the way, 20x a second and if I press the pedals all the way it sends the braking command constantly, as if I'd locked up the brakes. "I don't care about scripting" What about those people who don't want to mess around with scripting, what can Control Manager do for them? There's plenty. Control Manager by default has DX (Direct X) commands mapped, so you can program just a few buttons/hats while using default mapping for the sims you fly. You don't have to install Control Manager if you don't want to, the CH Products controllers are plug and play. You'll want to install Control Manager, trust me. You'll also want to peruse the fantastic Control Manager for Dummies guide that Ken "Ghost" King created. It's available on The Hangar. There are several different ways to program your hardware. You can use a CMC file for example. A CMC file is a text document that has all the available commands for your game/sim. You create a new profile by choosing from a list what hardware you have and you assign the CMC file to that profile. You can then pull down commands from the CMC file and assign them to the button/hat of your choosing. Say that flaps down is CTRL F, you don't have to remember that when you're programming. You choose the hat or button you want to program, right click and choose "Flaps Down" from the list of commands. You can download a CMC file for just about any sim made, they're all at The Hangar. You can also right click and choose to record your keystrokes and hit your control and f keys. You can also choose a "List Mode" to program your commands. Let's say you want to use your castle hat-right to send a zoom command, but your sim has two (or more) levels of zoom. Program them one at a time in List Mode. The castle hat right with repeated key presses will scroll through all your zoom levels and back to no zoom if you like. It couldn't be easier and with all the help available at The Hangar you'll be up and running in no time. Installation Installing Control Manager is a cinch. Go to the CH Products website and download the newest version Control Manager. They don't provide a CD with the software because often it will be an older version as Bob Church updates Control Manager regularly. You can run Control Manager with XP, Vista, Windows 7 in both 32 and 64 bit. Control Manager was first retail sim controller software to be available for the new OS platforms. CH and Bob are about leaving no customer left out. To install the software make sure your controllers are unplugged. Install the software and follow the prompts. Drivers will be installed. Then plug in the hardware. If you're using a USB Hub make sure you're using a powered hub. I'm running 5 CH controllers off of a 7 port Belkin powered hub and they never lose power. Once you've plugged in your controllers more drivers will be installed. You'll get confirmation that your hardware was installed correctly. Hardware CH's Fighterstick and ProThrottle are made of a glass filled polymer. Some folks call it "plastic" but that's like saying a Ferrari is just a car. Remember earlier when I told you that CH makes joysticks for real aircraft? It's not just "plastic" folks. I've dropped my Fighterstick several times from counter top height to the tile floor. There was no damage to the stick. CH uses quality parts in their controllers. They use high end pots (potentiometers) and switches rated for an extremely high amount of cycles. Don't let the word "pots" scare you away. Some of the competition likes to tout the fact that they're using "Hall Effect Sensors" in their hardware. They say that Hall Sensors are more "accurate" than pots. Maybe cheapie pots...... I have a 1961 Fender Stratocaster guitar. I played as a professional musician for 13 years and not once have I had to replace a pot in my Strat. That's because Fender used quality pots in the construction of that guitar. CH uses quality pots as well. There's no way they'd have survived 6 years of my abuse if they didn't. I used to own an X-45 HOTAS. At the time CompUSA sold warranties on them for about $25. It's a good thing I bought the warranty because I went through 3 of them in a year. Their cheapie pots kept dying on me. CH is more than just tough on the outside, it's about tough on the inside as well. Once in a while their hardware breaks. I've seen people post at The Hangar asking how to warranty their hardware. Often a warranty rep will handle that right from the forums at The Hangar. If you need to speak to a rep you can reach him on the phone. There's very little time left on hold when you call. They want to help you, they don't treat it like a chore. And their warranty? Two years!!! There's no other HOTAS manufacturer out there that offers that kind of warranty. Old v New, Calibration Test I mulled over what's the best way to show prospective customers how reliable CH Products are. There are plenty of people who post at The Hangar that have had their controllers for years. I picked my brain for several weeks before I came up with the (obvious) answer! I requested a pair of brand new controllers that I would pit against my 6 year old controllers. I hadn't handled a new CH Fighterstick/Pro Throttle for many years so I was excited when my new package arrived. My criteria for comparison would be simple: I would test each controller side by side against each other for "feel". I wanted to test dead zones, spring resistance, etc between old and new. Then I would plug both in, run a calibration test on them and check the pots for spiking. In CH Control Manager when you calibrate you move your controller and the movement is shown not only in a digital graph but by numerical value. The value range is from 0-255. For example, when the Fighterstick is centered, at rest both X and Y value is 128. In moving the controllers to each extreme I moved as slow as possible to see if there was any spiking or "skipping" of the numerical values, which would show wear or damage to the pots. For the "feel" test I kept it simple: I wore a blindfold and my girlfriend swapped out controllers (several times) to see if I could feel the difference between my gear and the new test examples. Test Results I was mildly surprised at the results. For the "feel" test I couldn't tell the difference between my Fighterstick and the new Fighterstick. The same results occurred for the Pro Throttle. I had (incorrectly) guessed that the new gear would feel "tighter". There was literally no difference! Under the calibration tests both old and new performed identically. All pots went from minimum to maximum (0-255) with no spiking or skipping of values. For all intents and purposes there was no difference between old and new. This will surprise many of you. I'm used to offerings from other manufacturers that just don't hold up. I had a Cougar last 6 months before I needed replacement parts. I went thru 3 X-45's in a year. I've owned just about all of the joysticks available and CH Products are the first controllers that have 1) been used constantly for 6 years 2) that still work! To be fair, I got about 3 1/2 years out of my old Microsoft Sidewinder and it was still working last time I plugged it in. When comparing modern releases CH exceeds the reliability of everything else out there. As far as I know, this is the first test of it's kind and CH wins it hands down! Final Thoughts When I originally purchased my CH Gear I was fed up with my previous controllers not working when I expected them to. CH was roughly the same price as the several other offerings and I thought I'd give them a chance. I heard other CH owners speaking positively about them so I jumped in head first. I consider myself fortunate that the events laid out as they did. I've come to love CH and Control Manager and the fact that I can do absolutely anything I like with the software. I can speak to Bob Church directly on The Hangar regarding programming questions. Bob helped me out with a script not a month ago. No where in any flight sim community will you be able to speak not only to the software creator, but people like Debby and Michael who are instrumental in the every day operations of CH Products. Never have I seen customer service managers do their job sometimes as a result of a forum thread. These things are more common than not and they all happen on The Hangar. When you take all of these positives and add them up, you have a company who delivers a product that is superior to anything else available. The CH Community is amazing and way back when I was a newbie who had no clue about programming there was a forum dedicated to helping someone just like me. 6 years later nothing has changed, the new CH owner can post his concerns and have all his questions answered. Bang for the buck CH Controllers are WIN! They're moderately priced and made in the U.S.A. You'll find no cheapie chinese electronics inside. This cannot be said about every other option from other manufacturers. You can pay $500 retail for some of these controllers and there have already been unacceptable failure rates along with software that's unfinished. Buy CH. It works. Every time. I'd like to thank Debby for sending me the eval CH gear. Michael (CH), Bob Church, Ulf (and ex-Cougar guy) and Ghost 531 for all their help past, present and future for all their scripting help. Be sure to check out Ghost's "CH for Dummies Guide", it's a must read. Last but not least Revvin deserves a huge thanks for creating and keeping The Hangar up and running for the community. Other Products CH also offers two different kinds of yokes, Throttle Quadrant, Pro Pedals, MFP (Multi Function Panel), several other joysticks, and DT225 Trackball. The trackball is amazing, I use it for my radar and targeting cursor in game.

File Name: Weathered Mig-29 Skins File Submitter: Ruggbutt File Submitted: 10 February 2008 File Category: Mig-29A/G/S Skins These are original LOMAC/FC skins (in the same resolution) that have been detailed and heavily weathered. Install using ModMan into CDDS files. Click here to download this file

Same here. Then again, my country wasn't betraying me when I was a kid.

While I'm not doing anything morally, ethically or legally wrong my government is spying on me and the rest of the citizenry and doing so illegally. Is dude a traitor cuz he exposed the unconstitutional actions of the U.S. government? I mean, cuz the government is and has been acting illegally with the Patriot Act, NDAA, the Anti-Terrorism bill, etc. You can't have it both ways, and just because a bill is passed by traitorous politicians and is wrong and anti to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, does not make it legal. If congress passed a bill tomorrow saying it was ok smack a person of asian descent every time you saw one, technically said bill would be "law", correct? But it's not. The Constitution states that bills passed that do not abide by what's written in the document are illegal. Personally, I think dude had a lot of balls to stand up to the Fed which thinks it can do whatever it wants to whoever it wants. He doesn't fit the definition of traitor either. He's more of a whistleblower.

Too many inconsistencies in the developer's claimed background, whether it be military or software related. My favorite is "Award Winning" claims. That and the whole "I'm a fighter pilot" B.S.

That might be a good thing. Have you ever eaten svickova? It's heaven. And if you're a beer drinker then you're doubly blessed. The Czechs drink more beer per capita than anyone else, even the Germans.

It's at the least $100 better. Seriously.

With the new 1.2.3 patch, it appears that the performance of the AIM-120 has been diminished from 1.2.2 in terms of range and low speed maneuverability. However, short range IR systems have been much improved as well as several of the other medium range systems like the AIM-7 and R-27 series. As I prefer to fly the F-15C, I think I will focus my time on 1.2.2 until the performance of the AIM-120 and R-77 are improved in later BETA versions of FC3.

I don't believe he's a member here, but you must see his latest movie. It's fantastic!!!

So would the Su27SM...................

Even if they did do an F-5, I can think of several dozen planes that I'd prefer to see.

Good points Jedi. One would think that the jammer on the Eagle would have a different burn thru range than the one on the Su, or the Mig.

IMHO Eagle are doing the a/c that they believe will sell very well. They let the 3rd party groups choose from the rest. I saw somewhere someone was doing a T-38. Yeah, not interested one bit.

There ya go! Don't be afraid to ask here, especially since GG has shown up. He's quite knowledgeable about these kinds of things.

That's a good question, Jedi. I would imagine that ED would just incorporate the new missiles into their AFM.

If ED fixes the AMRAAM to the point where it has performance as IRL the Crane fanbois will be bitching and moaning again all over ED's forums. Just do all the modules "right" and the rest of us normal folks out here will be thrilled. Good to cya here, GG.

So would the two RL Hornet drivers in my squadron.

Dave feeds his obsession. :) And wait for m/p to get fixed.

I know in Arizona that there would be charges filed, people thrown in jail and heads would roll. http://newyork.newsd...-home-1.4441678

Pure awesomeness.

S!

Sometimes I pulsate. That is all.

File Name: zzzspace v2.0 REAL SOUND for DCS World File Submitter: Ruggbutt File Submitted: 30 December 2012 File Category: DCS Sound Mods This is a complete stand-alone soundpack and a comprehensive sound modification which provides sound within all DCS World modules - including DCS FC3. (187mb) It installs via the ModMan v7.3 utility, as modified for use within DCS World by Tom Weiss, which is available from LockOnFiles (links are below). DESCRIPTION: In short; if you have seen videos of jets flying through Mach Loop in the UK, that is basically what this high sonic realism sound modification sounds like. There are few areas that were not reviewed and altered within this new version. I've changed or improved many sounds within this new version and greatly developed the sound imaging quality. These have collectively enabled a more compelling sound environment to be constructed. Areas previously not worked on much have been within v2.0. All helicopters have been bought up to the standards of the jets, with more realistic approaches, flybys and loitering. Armour and vehicle sounds have all been replaced, and re-configured. All weapons, explosions and damage sounds have likewise been reviewed, with numerous improvements, resulting in a much improved and extended ground-battle environment. Given this sim will increasingly become fastjet dominated the cockpits have all been reviewed for both A-10C and FC3 fast jets plus associated external mechanical control sounds reset accordingly for optimising to various flight modes. What I'm doing within this sound mod has never been achieved prior. It's the first example of where it's possible to comprehensively depict a real exterior jet sound with 100% pitch accuracy within samples, plus realistic audio fidelity with distance and aspect changes. The result is a very realistic and compelling modification that is no gimmick. What you hear in this mod is the real thing--real jet sound--in playback. I developed the means for a sound engine like DCS World to portray real jet sound with almost complete accuracy, in most situations. This has not been heard by anyone from a combat jet flight sim prior to this sound modification doing it. I developed the theory and base equations behind how this approach could be made to work during 2000 and 2001. But DCS World was the first sim sound-engine where I suspected it might contain the necessary acoustic model accuracy and modding accessibility needed to finally try to make this work accurately. After some testing it became clear the technique would indeed work in DCS World and would accurately correct for vector changes to Doppler shift, which normally distorts real jet sounds. In this sound pack for the first time they're not being distorted in pitch at all. They utilise the pitch within the real sound files exactly and accurately. The practical result for the sound that the jets make within the sim is that it creates unprecedented and outstanding sound depictions that are almost too good to be true. So the tedious work of enabling and developing the approach and establishing that it does work has been done. The result is a dramatically improved audio simulation, that now has unlimited and unprecedented realism potential from here. It's been my long-term goal to eventually get to this level of jet-fighter audio simulated realism, so it's gratifying to have finally gotten there. A thankyou to Keshman for donation of sounds I've integrated to greatly improve this version's ground-battle detail and especially battle ambience effects. INSTALLING: Install to DCS World using SkyPat's "ModMan" utility's normal ModMan installation procedure. Find ModMan v7.3 here: http://www.lockonfil...ndex.php/files/ Find a 'patch' for its use within DCS World here: http://www.lockonfil...ka-50-v2-patch/ INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (1) Install ModMan v7.3 then extract and copy the patch's files into this folder: C:\ModMan (2) Place the soundpack's zip file called: "zzzspace v2.0 REAL SOUND for DCS World.zip" Into the folder named: C:\ModMan\addons_DCS World\ (3) Open ModMan then go into the "Mods Installer" window and select and install this mod's zip file. (4) Exit ModMan --> go to DCS World's main screen --> go to Options --> go to Audio Tab Ensure the audio sliders are all set to their maximums (fully to the right). Although you may set the 'Music' slider and GUI slider to any preferred setting. You're done, enjoy! zzzspace 12th Dec 2012 Some preview sound examples of this mod from MediaFire zzzspace v2.0 F-16C flybys.ogg (5.14mb) http://www.mediafire...l8odjxd0px1g3nl zzzspace v2.0 2xMig-29 v 2xF15C guns example.ogg (9.27mb) http://www.mediafire...1zdbbchdp4yqqw1 zzzspace v2.0 Audio Sample.ogg (16.48mb) http://www.mediafire...5cn843cn7cv64t6 Sound playback sequence within the final audio sample file: Su25T flyby Su25T diving straff run 2 x A-10C flyby 2 x A-10C shotdown by MANPAD and AAA 3 x Ka-50 flyby 4 x UH1 'Huey' flyby 3 x F-16C flyby (note new fore-sounds, howls and rippling shrieks) Mortar and artillery shelling town while fastjets attack and engage each other above developing ground battle and countered by SAM and AAA bursts. Allied armour enters town and engages defending MBT column and convoy defended by RPG7 infantry. 2 x F-16C take-off and slow circuit flyover NOTE: This sound mod is provided for individual use. You may modify it for personal use only. Permission will not be given for any modified version to be uploaded for re-distribution. The contents may not be used within another sound mod. This sound mod will be hosted for public distribution at LOF and at CombatACE. Permission is not given to upload it at any other host server without the prior obtained permission of the author. Click here to download this file

Glecko, are you really female? A/S/L?