ST0RM

Nope, no gold. Just some credits and experience points now. 20 missions in each Tier 1, gotcha!! And I'll be sure to hang onto the Leichtraktor per your info. Cheers! Jeff

Got it installed yesterday and even had some time to run through about 4 quick missions. Got killed pretty quick on the first and second without any add-ons or upgrades. My 3rd and 4th went much better. Got some assists and solid kills. I ran through the various categories and saw the light, medium, heavy, etc. Stinks that even a Panzer III is really expensive yet and I dont want to waste my limited credits on a POS M2. But we'll see. Thanks for the heads up. Nice little side sim. -Jeff

Thank you for the replies. I'll give it a go over the long weekend. -Jeff

I'll give it a go over lunch. Thanks for the heads up and congrats Julhelm. -Jeff

Very nice. Looks like the weather was cooperative and you were able to take some great rememberance photos. Thanks for sharing!

The aviation fan in me is jumping up and down about Draken's plans. However, the realist is saying "I dont know..." With the current mil budget and cancellation of numerous US exercises and flags, where will these Opfor aircraft be used? So many companies have tried this patch before and failed. ATAC, so far, has been the longest running and is doing well here and overseas. Flight Systems as well with their F-100s and A-4s. I hope they find a market and the jets are used as they should be.

Is there an offline play mode where you can learn the basics prior to jumping into an arena and get mauled? I've heard a lot of simmers trying it out and speaking highly of it. -Jeff

Ok, time for some proper details on this new helicopter. I installed it this evening and took it up for a few hours to get acquainted and write a quick review. The Good: First off, it's pretty. The model is amazingly detailed with open doors, hatches, windows and engine/avionics bays. The sound set is outstanding and replicates the Blackhawk's GE T7000 engines quite well. Pilot figures are animated, as well as a pair of gunners who will either man the M60s or standup and scan during landings. These functions are actuated by the Shift-1 panel. Day and night lighting is done really well with your choice of colored lights (white or blue) and selective to parts of the panel. There is NVG lighting, but we'll get to that in the next category. The FM is based off the Acceleration EH-101, but tuned to match the UH-60 within the available FSX limitations. It accelerates well and is stable. Detailed checklist and manual are included, as well as a paint kit to go with the 5 liveries provided (Brazil Air Force, Columbian Army, Federal Police, US Army and US Customs) The Bad: Despite having an advanced flight control system, I would have expected some rotor torque to compensate for. With my sliders at 75%, I didn't really need anything to input on my tail rotor. Instead it felt more like a rudder. It flew really straight and true. The Night Vision effect is replicated as I mentioned above, but is more like the freeware Enb series where everything in view has a green tint, instead of something from goggles. Based upon my time using and working on the NVGs, they could have reduced the effect at the sides to replicate the peripheral shading. The Ugly: In it's current state, the UH-60L is not compatible in FSX multiplayer. If you do not quickly hit the Shift-1 key and turn on all systems, the sim will either CTD or kick you from the server. After some research, it was found that the two effects that the installer places into the FSX Root/Effects file (FX_tchdwn_uh60.fx and fx_vcuh60.fx) will cause a CTD if you sit on the ground too long. They continue to grow and will over load the sim. This has been passed to Cera for an update. Overall, this is a much appreciated add-on to the helo world. It's light years above the Alphasim/Virtavia Blackhawk in both modeling and FM. But you don't have all the external model choices. There are no ESSS wings with tanks, or Special Operations variants. You have an early Lima without a FLIR or MFD displays. Cera has provided an installer for those that do not have the previously mandatory Reality-XP GPS 530 and wish to use the default GPS 500. For $34, I'd say it was money well spent and I look forward to getting more time in it. Already, I've seen a few WIP repaints so the choices will only continue to grow. -Jeff "Storm" Stoermer

A bit of an update. I purchased mine yesterday at lunch and got my download link from the FSPilotShop. Well, the installer that is hosted there is corrupted (only 12Mbs of a proper 149Mb) so I've yet to get my installer to work. And a few emails with Cera's support just said that they'd get a new installer out soon. Given that the PilotShop does not work on weekends, I'm screwed until Monday. However, I've talked with a good friend who bought his from simmarket and got a good installer and has flown the UH-60L for a few hours. A quick look shows that it's a packet hog, so watch out in M/P. Also, if you don't hit Shift-1 and turn everything on, you'll likely get kicked from the server. But the most annoying problem so far, are CTDs linked to the file sim1.dll (as seen by event viewer). And if you sit too long on the ground, you'll get a Fatal error CTD. So, after just a couple of days out, the UH-60L appears to be in need of more work. Hopefully Cera will get something out ASAP. Until then, I've got nothing to show for my $35. -Storm

NTTR will be the terrain to fly from. And the missions will be pretty epic with all of the RF players. I hope this is a soon to be released from ED. -S

I did a repaint of the new Virtavia A-4 as a Draken Intl A-4K. I need to hit up Fuji via email for a close up of their badge on the tail to finish it off. -Jeff

$15 is not a bad price for an upgrade. Sound sets alone are going for $10+ But my question is how user friendly is it? I've seen the videos of them dropping munitions which look nice. Does the user have to remap every key in FSX to release (VRS Super Hornet) or fly? How much computer power does it pull and slow down the rest of the sim? While on the subject, IRIS Mudhen or MILVIZ F-15E? As I understand it, they are both the same model just tweaked slightly differently. I ended up buying both as I got the IRIS during a huge sale, but liked the A/R ability of the MILVIZ jet. After the MILVIZ Beagle caused a ton of CTDs, I shelved it. -S

From what I've read, yes. You start the Steam install as far as the when the keys appear, copy keys and cancel Steam install into DCS World. Use the modules from ED direct and the keys will work. -S

Ahhh, back in the film/slide days. Great collection. Thanks for sharing. -Jeff

I cant/wont watch baseball on TV, but love live games. Minor league games even more as they often play with more heart. Like many pro sports, the use of PEDs, stupid high bonues/salaries, ticket prices and the "look at me" showmanship mentality have ruined the once fun atmosphere. Plain and simple, the people who used the PEDs cheated. Pete Rose will forever have a black mark on his excellent career. Idiot-rod only got busted for 150+ (?) games. As for the Tigers, I'm headed back up to Ann Arbor for TDY and I'm going to the 27th night game when they host the A's. I'll be thinking of you Dave! -Jeff

I would have liked to see CA's SAM vehicles get "Launch and Forget" for the missiles. The vehicles have radar and it is a function, but the missiles arent guided by it, but by the reticle. Like a bunch of RPGs. At least the Huey is shaping up slowly. I'd expect another patch soon, as the A-10A AFM/module wasnt correctly added. -S

Great summary JM. I've voiced similiar points on the multirole aircraft and how that would help DCS World. -S

The radar gauge to CA vehicles is a nice add-on and a step in theright direction. Of all the modules, sadly it has gotten the least attention IMO. From both sides... Looking forward to 1.2.5

Gorgeous shot Ant! That lighting is perfect. Jeff

Really a shame as I'm finding this more than less. The servers that used to be full of people, are now empty. I ask on TS where so-n-so is and I get the reply, they quit. Or they are on some FPS now. Thankfully the UH-1 is still interesting to me and I jump in at least once a week. Switching gears slightly, I've been following the progress with the Razbam T-2. It seems that it wasnt an easy transfer from FSX to DCS at all. The thing was rebuilt. And the FSX one had a LOT of function already. -S

So after all the sale fanfare, who bought what? I added the Huey to my hangar and was NOT sorry I did. I've become pretty decent in it after a few weeks of flying. Thought about FC3, but simply didnt want to reinstall LOMAC+FC2 etc... just to have it. Again, the P-51 was in the basket, but in the end I deleted it. Its just not my thing in this sim. -S

Honestly my friend, I dont think the hardcore flyers are the target market for this module. DCS (insert any sim here) is full of kids who just want to fly around, go fast and shoot stuff 5 minutes after install. They dont want something difficult to learn. This has the potential to be the plane that makes it even easier for them to get into "combat". With all of the data for the F-35 still under wraps (unless you are in China), it's all going to be a ??? as to accuracy.

The idea of "Pay to Play" a FSX module made zero sense to me. As an experienced simmer, I just couldnt see the benefit and honestly it sounded like a scam. For noobs/kids, it might have taken off but the price was way too steep. This F-35 DCS module smells much in the same as a TV preacher. "Send me your money"...

One of my last TDYs to Edwards in early 2009 was in support of F-22 flight testing. They were flying with the AIM-9Xs and developing it's integration with the jet. It seems that it is still in flight test though and not yet operational. Jeff

It appears that the designers wanted to throw in enough random aircraft just to fill the sky, not go for accuracy. Clips are one thing, but I'd like to see the terrain and actual play in a teaser before committing any $$. -S