New To Sim's

[ruggbutt]

Originally Posted by gmangnall

but I don't find the flight model or avionics at all realistic

Maybe not as in depth avionics-wise, but the flight model in Lock On "feels" more realistic. As any real pilots you see that have flown both. I know an F16 instructor pilot who concurs.

[mike240se]

Originally Posted by ruggbutt

Maybe not as in depth avionics-wise, but the flight model in Lock On "feels" more realistic. As any real pilots you see that have flown both. I know an F16 instructor pilot who concurs.

Falcon 4.0 has an even larger learning curve??!? Damn, lock on is hard enough. Thanks a MILLION to Wildbill for pointing me to the flanker site, those 2 videos were a MUST! I am now flying the a-10, shooting ground targers, shooting down occasional helo's with sidewinders, zooming in mavericks and ground stabalizing targets and understanding missions and the editor completely! I am loving it but i have so much more to learn! I got hit in one of the engines by a sam and it was unfire but i couldnt figure out how to pull the fire supression system handle that was blinking right in front of my face, i even paused and read the damn keystroke log but couldnt find it! But I am having a blast so far! I cant wait for touchbuddy, its a much. I was also thinking that the new OLED keyboard that is coming out soon would be good for flight sim's you can load the graphics files right onto the keyfaces but who knows when that thing is coming out and touchbuddy has way more potential with active connections, etc.

Zorlac, as far as FSX, I am not understanding how running fsx on one machine would affect ruinning a completely different program on a nother machine and blank it out??? Is this only when you run local mode i assume? otherwise i dont see how it could happen in client/server....

PS. you guys with similar pc's to mine, 2gb ram, core 2 duo 6600, 7950gt 512mb, what settings do you use in lock on for graphics and monitor res and graphics card settings? My monitors native res is 1680x1050 but will only run 60hz at that so i changed it in the game to 1280x1024 at 75hz which seems fine along with high settings on everything, i get between 50 and 150 mostly fps. but like when i was at the airport all the mountains had vertical lines going through them which oddly went away after i was airbourne, and sometimes in the cockpit when i am moving my head with track ir i see like a refresh of the screen right in the middle but normally its smooth but the best way i can describe it is like a big redraw that is real fast but noticable.... i have to turn on aa in the video card drivers too, it wont use it in the game at all otherwise (atleast i think, i get jagged edges)

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

There is no fire supression system in Lockon. Shut down your engine or eject.

[blaster454]

Hi, Mike...welcome to the new frontier

I can answer better about FSX, since I have the deluxe edition installed and working. When you start FSX, it comes up on your primary display (if you have more than one). The second display is untouched while you are in the FSX gui. When you select to fly, FSX goes into 3D mode. If it is in full screen (not windowed), and if you have a second display, FSX "takes over" that second monitor and blanks the display. This is not how FS2004 used to work. I believe FSX does it to allow easier pulling of FSX windows (like the GPS or radio stack) onto a clean display.

If FSX is run in windowed mode (use Alt ENTER to switch between windowed and full screen), then the second monitor is not blanked out and you could have secondary programs (like TB or any other app) displayed there.

There are pros and cons to running FSX windowed...check any of the big sim sites (like Avsim or SimFlight) to get opinions on FSX configuration (more than you ever wanted ).

I run a second PC networked into my main PC (second is a P4 1.5 GHz with 500MB RAM). I then run TB in client-server mode and the blanked second display on the main PC doesn't bother me...plus, I don't steal from sim CPU cycles to slow things down. So far it has worked very well. The 2nd PC doesn't have to be a power house or have super graphics capabilities...you are mmainly running static, 2D displays there.

Hope that helped clear up some of the FSX 2nd monitor mystery. So far, MS has not said boo about this display blanking although there have been a lot of inquiries on the various forums (and I presume in trouble tickets). We'll have to wait and see when the SP for FSX comes out whether they change this behavior...I think they'll leave it alone.

I'm working on an FSX TB profile but it's going slowly (cuz I play too much ). Maybe in February if I can get moving.

Again, welcome to the group!

[mike240se]

Originally Posted by blaster454

Hi, Mike...welcome to the new frontier

I can answer better about FSX, since I have the deluxe edition installed and working. When you start FSX, it comes up on your primary display (if you have more than one). The second display is untouched while you are in the FSX gui. When you select to fly, FSX goes into 3D mode. If it is in full screen (not windowed), and if you have a second display, FSX "takes over" that second monitor and blanks the display. This is not how FS2004 used to work. I believe FSX does it to allow easier pulling of FSX windows (like the GPS or radio stack) onto a clean display.

If FSX is run in windowed mode (use Alt ENTER to switch between windowed and full screen), then the second monitor is not blanked out and you could have secondary programs (like TB or any other app) displayed there.

There are pros and cons to running FSX windowed...check any of the big sim sites (like Avsim or SimFlight) to get opinions on FSX configuration (more than you ever wanted ).

I run a second PC networked into my main PC (second is a P4 1.5 GHz with 500MB RAM). I then run TB in client-server mode and the blanked second display on the main PC doesn't bother me...plus, I don't steal from sim CPU cycles to slow things down. So far it has worked very well. The 2nd PC doesn't have to be a power house or have super graphics capabilities...you are mmainly running static, 2D displays there.

Hope that helped clear up some of the FSX 2nd monitor mystery. So far, MS has not said boo about this display blanking although there have been a lot of inquiries on the various forums (and I presume in trouble tickets). We'll have to wait and see when the SP for FSX comes out whether they change this behavior...I think they'll leave it alone.

I'm working on an FSX TB profile but it's going slowly (cuz I play too much ). Maybe in February if I can get moving.

Again, welcome to the group!

Blaster, thanks for the help that really clears it up! I love FSX too and wanted to make sure if i bought touchbuddy that i would be able to use it in more than combat sims. As long as it can be done with client/server mode then I see no problem. I will run client server mode anyway, I have a laptop on my desk that I can use as the client. My only thing now is getting a touchscreen. I dont know what to do, I have spent so much money on sim's, sim hardware (hotas, yoke, headset, track ir), and upgrading the pc t core 2duo e6600, 2gb ddr800, 7950gt 512mb, etc and all within the past month or so. So basically I am way over my spending limit for what I can afford cause I bought so much in a short time, but I feel like i "NEED" touchbuddy to be able to sim. Kinda like I NEEDED track ir and now a yoke thats in the mail for GA and NEEDED x52 hotas I have an extra 17 inch lcd monitor so I am thinking of going with the magic touch ruggbutt has for $200 17 inch overlay but just arent sure. That seems very expensive to me for just the overlay and I dont know about the accuracy and "feel" of it compared to one built in. I guess part of it depends on how far off the screen it sits. Then there are also the 8inch lilliput ones on ebay for $150-175.... So what do you guys think, am I best off waiting or is it really worth it to have it while learning (since I am still learning)? Or am i better off getting pedals instead, like how do you guys rate this stuff in order of necissity?

PS. IL2 1946 dvd is on its way from gogamer! looks amazing... I cant wait for the next series, is there any info on the battle of brittian sim?

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Mike, I've never seen someone dive into Flight sims so fast and deep as you are. And you are picking it all up pretty quick too. Good Job. If money is getting tight, then why not wait. It's not like any of this stuff is going away soon. And you have so much new stuff to play with, learn, tweak, ect. If I were you I'd focus on 1-2 planes in each sim and just try to get proficient with them. If you have that new pc, a Hotas, TrackIR you have plenty of new stuff to learn and play with.

I am way over my spending limit for what I can afford cause I bought so much in a short time, but I feel like i "NEED" touchbuddy to be able to sim.

Most of us here have been simmers for a lonnnnng time, and all had a blast without TouchBuddy. If you can't afford it now, or not sure which way to go, it can wait. (a month ) As far as which way to go, I think you need to think where you are going to put it. Rugg has a pit and can probably sit confortably and reach all his controls. I couldn't do that at my desk, so I have a 8" Innovatek Touchscreen, which I am happy with. Look through the screenshots at our setups and see what you think.

[zorlac]

Lockon is a frame rate killer (its a CPU hog, and not so much graphics card). When on the ground, my frame rate is much lower than when I am airborne, and its worse for me because I usually fly the SU-25T, which hammers the CPU more than the A-10. As a ground pounder, and needing to see ground targets further away, I tend to run at 1024x768, no AA, and some tweaked graphics.cfg options to allow the game to render objects much further away. I can see tanks/trucks/SAMs at about 20-25km. Yeah, its not the greatest smoothed image on screen, but its more than enough, and the ability to see targets before you fly over them is always a plus

I have a 8" touchscren running in client/server, and my second 19" screen on my gaming PC has a touch overlay. I have to say that once the 19" overlay has been configured, it seems far more accurate than the 8". The touch panel is the expensive part of any touchscreen unit, not the actual display.

[blaster454]

I have to agree with Zorlac on this one. I just added a Magic Touch overlay to my 15" LCD (display #1 on my client PC with the 8" touch screen being display #2. The overlay seems to be much better than the smaller touchscreen...meaning it seems more accurate and "crisper". There is a little bit of parallax in my setup since I have the 15" LCD tilted slightly away from me. This makes little difference when using average size buttons in TB but makes selecting a filename in an open-file dialog box a little more difficult. I seem to be getting used to it, though, and put in the correct "offset" when using my fat fingers to make small touch selections...the stylus that comes with the overlay is much more precise.

I think I am going to look at another 17" LCD with an overlay to replace my 8" screen...yeah, the investment seems to grow quickly but it sure is worth the dollars (pounds, Euros, yen, ...) to see and feel the realism and immersion.

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

Originally Posted by Wild.Bill.Kelso

Also, a guy named TekaTeka converted ALL of the training in Lockon to .avi videos. You should be able to get them here , but I just tried and the website timed out. He also has another site I think but I can't find it at the moment since Lockon.ru is down.

Ahh... here is his personal website with all the training videos from Lockon. This guys also made some of the best mods available. Be sure your mods are for your game version.

[mike240se]

Thanks for the websites, they are VERY helpful. I just got il2 1946 dvd in the mail today and am excited to throw it in and start shooting down some nazi's! or allies.... lol


holy crap have you guys seen the bonus dvd that comes with 1946 with video of battle of brit in pre alpha? it looks amazing! omg the graphics, the engine, amazing! when does that game come out anyways, they didnt say in the video i dont think...


EDIT: Do you any of you have the buttkicker? I feel like I am missing something when it comes to sound in lockon, there is just a little engine noise, next to none when after burners arent on, i cant crank my sub late at night in my apartment building so iwas thinking about picking up the buttkicker from gogamer.com... its 69 but currently has a 20 mail in rebate so for $50 it seems like a good deal... what do you guys think?