Ludwig

I got the Virpil base/grip same as Ritter (*edit I actually got the T-50 base and made my own "base plate out of 1/8th" plate steel) ….and I like it a great deal. I ordered two sets of the tube extensions which made for a full length joystick (floor mount) which is identical to what I had in real airplanes and it took about 1/10th of a second to get right back to where I was. I paired this with the Crosswind rudder pedals and I am really quite pleased. I am using the same mixed media VR helmet that Snaggle has and while it is a extremely immersive, and a lot of fun, the restrictions to movement which are already well documented in other threads here make it a decided disadvantage in competition. It reminds me of using the "H" pattern shifter and clutch in the driving sims.... definitely what SHOULD be used... but if you are using paddle shifters in cars that never had them.... well... you have that same advantage as someone with Track IR has over the VR helmet. The full length stick allows EXTREMELY precise positioning (aiming) of the aircraft and while I would often stall the airplane in heavy maneuvers when I absolutely thought it should not have happened... it has NEVER happened with this stick. I will say flat out, IMHO if you have a desktop mounted stick, you are at a disadvantage. Ritter and I had many discussions on this subject over the years and he and I agreed that the longer the stick, the greater the "throw" and therefore the fewer the degrees of travel by inch movement made the stick more controllable. My accuracy increased by almost 50% and the range at which I could shoot and *expect* to hit almost doubled as well. Flying the Dr.I in F.C. is almost sinful, I told Snaggle that I actually expected them to re-tune the flight model because it made the Dr.I so easy to fly. PS... the good news is that my old SAITEK X-52 throttle works just fine as a "stand alone" throttle without the stick.... I thought for sure that they had arranged the plugs the other way so that only the stick could stand alone, but thankfully someone at SAITEK was of the belief that you were more likely to use the throttle without the stick than the other way around. It doesn't have half the buttons and abilities of the T-50 throttle... but …. I am going on 2+ months trying to get one. The hard part is as mentioned... I am 100% on board with the FRUSTRATION of trying to get components... I TRIED to get everything at once (Which saves you about $60 in shipping by the way) but I could not get the throttle... and that was 2 months ago. I too... received the EMAIL from Virpil that some were available back in late October and I IMMEDIATELY attempted to order one but I could not get signed into the stupid website … turns out that I never had an account after all and my order (previous) was processed as a GUEST.... and even though I emailed them IMMEDIATELY and BEGGED them to save 1 unit for me as I was trying to get signed in and got the dreaded "Your account has been locked" which is a pretty good trick considering I didn't HAVE an account.... they did not hold one and I missed out. It took 10 hours for them to be all gone. I check their website EVERY day hoping to get one... but nothing so far. I also have received email from their people on Saturday and Sunday so they are trying to make good... they know that if there were some competition, they would be toast... which means of course, they also know.... that there is no competition to speak of... which means that they can get away with doing things there own way. I am sure since I run a much smaller business using the same model, you don't want to spend money on stuff if you don't have to... and you do want to buy in bulk to get a better rate and sometimes it p-o's the customers.... but if they want the parts I make, I am the only supplier in the world... they don't like it but they can make their own otherwise (and they like that less)

I am with you Butzell.... you held out longer than I did... I still use a phone as a communication device.... heh heh.... sure... handy to have the camera all the other stuff.... but ..... If I want pictures, I use a camera

OK... I am Feldwebel Schultz when it comes to video cards..... other than the PRICE...... I KNOW NOTH-THING..... SO... here's the story. I had to move from San Antonio to Dallas when I got my new job, and it happened FAST (pilot shortage means NOW!) SO.... I went and bought an Alienware laptop that was capable of running the games I enjoy (CLOD, BOX, Assetto Corsa) and it came with the NVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5. OK.... I loaded up and started having fun.... flying with Hook on CLOD and I could not see the Goodyear Blimp if it was next to me. WTF over? I got a nice new monitor BENQ Zowie 2560 x 1440 27".. and I could not see.... Hook says "I see'em" I say... huh? We went back and changed the resolution, in game, on the computer.... slight improvement when we backed off the resolution.... slight.... Ok.… 90 days later I get to go home for a few days and I grab my desktop … old faithful is about 3-4 years old and has GeForce GTX 980.... and I hook it up to the same monitor and just switch inputs as needed.... I leave the old machine on the CLOD setup with joystick and pedals and the new laptop runs the driving sim and I mostly use the laptop display when driving because it can sit next to the sim chair easily... but I use the big monitor to get things setup with the game and the VR... just takes 5 button presses to switch between them. SOOOOO.... you can guess where this is going.... I play CLOD on the OLD machine on the EXACT same monitor... without changing a plug.... and VOILA ! I can see again... I can spot the little buggers out there at least as good as I should....and I am using the 2560x1440 resolution...... Hook can see them miles away but I could not see hardly anything... it was awful.... now it is acceptable at least. Should I just be happy that I can see again and leave it alone??? or is this something that can be a lesson from which to learn? If you have any ideas or thoughts please advise.

I just started working with VR and while it is great fun, it is really not something I would use if I was trying to play for score. Track IR is much more efficient and.... No kidding... WAY more effective than trying to look out of the aircraft. You constantly have to kick rudder to look behind you, something I rarely hear or see someone doing. VR simply can't get behind... I tried a swivel chair and even revolving 180° failed to give me a clear look behind. Also the graphics mean that I can only see a blur which turns into an aircraft which can later be identified. More realistic… certainly... but you can't compete.

a bunch of my stuff for my new driving rig was in that time period and some from New Egg so I will let you know if there are any repercussions.

Can I be the first one to COMPLAIN about the inaccurate flight models? my girlfriend of 32 years has been an agent/flight attendant for 30 with AA and ATA) I hear this EVERY SINGLE day.... I can't wait to get this for her for her birthday... probably would be hers or mine last birthday. Didn't have to put in his credit card to access that phone.... wow... I hate to think what THAT costs these days... I am always dumbfounded when I see these things.... I can't imagine anyone wanting to sit in the cockpit for that long much less in the back. At least 20 years ago it was a lot of fun...but today.... man.... 9/11 changed everything and it will never go back.

I absolutely LOVE these videos... and I tripped over this one accidentally. I have lost count how many times I have watched it... beat my hands sore on the arm of the chair, and I just can't stop laughing. GOOD DOGGIE ! https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-k-9-chases-down-suspected-car-thief-and-wrestles-him-to-the-ground/ar-BBN0XZb?ocid=spartanntp

When he says "course" he means coarse as in rough. Just FWIW.... He says that the manual pitch control was a big disadvantage in combat.... but in reality the "pitch" of the engine (sorry, couldn't resist) was SO obvious that it was really easy to keep the RPM in your head. You can most definitely tell the engine is straining at very high RPMs. This is a question mark in the aircraft I cannot address... but in the game it is about the only thing that the Bf-109 has going for it (CLOD) is the ability to squeeze extra performance out of the airplane when flying against the SUPER-marine Spitfires. (emphasis on the SUPER) If you leave the E-4 in auto pitch control you give away a LOT of performance. If you learn to manage the manual prop control.... and the game designers slowed down the ability to change the prop pitch which makes is that much tougher.... anyway... if you learn to manage it you can improve your performance particularly in the vertical when you need it the most.

What a hoot.... I had been thinking about this plane for some years now.... with the advent of CNC and other fabrication techniques... I knew it was only a matter of time before the F-82 would get repaired. We had one in Harlingen that had been force landed gear up (never really knew WHY that happened) but the problem was that because it was counter-rotating props, one of them was left-handed. That killed the deal. Props,engines, even those things could be had back in the 70's and 80's when the CAF was really starting to make money.... but a left-hand P-51 prop??? What tree do THEY grow on? SO... it sat... and sat and sat. Talk about crew coordination... the left cockpit was the primary and the right cockpit was extra... they could use it for a weapons or radar dude but he had one really important function. The landing gear lever was in the right cockpit... so if you were flying from the left (and you would) you had to get the guy in the right seat to put the gear down for you. You had flaps on the left... but the rollers came down from the right side. The other thing was after talking with one of the guys that flew it he said that because the roll center was between the pilots... every time you banked the airplane it became a positive/negative g event. He said the first flight the guy flying him from the left side warned him... and that he banked the plane 45° and he went down about 25' and that was ok because there was a guy over to his left that did the same thing only he went UP 25'. You could have a 20' altimeter error between cockpits in a turn. Crazy....

the 1967 F-1 cars are my favorites, those along with the Can-Am series sports cars. I wish that they would add the rest of the Season to the AC lineup..... I have the 1967 "mod" season cars and they have added the Ferrari 312 so I am hopeful that some of the others will be added in time. My favorite is the Gurney Eagle, but it doesn't have quite the performance of the Ferrari and the Lotus. I would really enjoy getting to race some more... but until I get all this business finished in training all I can do is watch your videos. Really looking forward to it... Snaggle is doing great in all these series, getting a lot of top 10 finishes.

Snaggle is doing all the hard part, getting everything setup... I got to drive it tonight for the first time with the VR.... zowie.... another world... I have a lot to learn about this business...but the driving was amazing what a difference it made. Control was instantly better, it seemed grip, braking *everything* was improved which is something I was not prepared for.... but happy to have. Jump in there Klaiber! get a wheel and enjoy it... this is a hoot man... Logitech G-27 off ebay, I am still using mine as a back up on the old machine for the heck of it... you can put in some really good laps with that setup and not expensive at all. Particularly on races with short tracks and basic cars (like the Fiat) no technical setup... heck.. NO SETUP! tire pressure.. there you go... you can worry yourself on that one... ! Get in there and race... we have enough guys here that we could setup a race among ourselves and really have some fun. IT is the same thing as the flight sims... it's the people you know and race with that make it fun, the results don't matter. The GO - Karts are a BLAST !

Hey Barton... enjoyed the race.... I always learn something.... I saw that there was a service that was grading your performance and yours was improved at the end of the race. I have not seen that before. I am really happy to see that because my only complaint about AC compared to iRacing was that the crashing seemed a lot more common and there was really nothing that addressed it. I want to learn more about that. Here is a picture of my new toy.... that bonus check was just burning a hole in me... so I splurged and went whole (oink) hog. I got the MS mixed media VR and Snaggle is helping me get that setup. I got the shifter coming too, but that should not be that hard to get going.

I saw more burning planes in 5 minutes than I did in 5 years of RoF. Too bad they have to put it around a story, leave the sound off and just show the planes would be really nice.

Well... he didn't physically injure anyone... but he really doesn't realize how much he just changed (damaged) the aviation industry. It will be millions and millions of dollars in changes... and this is with the security at an all time high. We can't even walk on the ramp now and I have been a pilot since 1972. You have to have an ID for your company, your home base airport and you have to comply with the security measures at each specific airport since they are all different. I can't imagine what all will happen now. It is getting to the point that even having your company ID, Base ID, Ramp ID you will have to be escorted when you walk around the airplane pre- or post.

We did the original version of this with BH back in the day.... YEARS ago... and it was a ton of fun. Gotha's going on a 2 1/2 hour round trip bombing mission and sinking ships with direct hits from 3000 meters. Yeah ! Luftritter worked his ass off and NAILED his target and was he thrilled. I wish I could do this with you guys, it would be a great time to be had... but I am still chasing my tail in the sim. GO do this, you will not regret it.

lengthy, I didn't get much new out of it... maybe... the fact that he said the 5.0 would be out soon.... that was the best part for me. Otherwise... when you are the biggest fish in the 2 fish world...well.... you get the idea. Wouldn't it be great if there were more.... but there just isn't. SOOoooooooo I guess we are grateful for what he get. Hooooooray for Fusion.... Thanks for posting I certainly would have missed it otherwise.... I had to stay up tonight because we drew the late sim session schedule. 8:30 - 02:30 look forward to getting back with you guys in a month or so.

Well.... just my opinion but that is a real shame, I was very hopeful that they would move forward and make FC into something I could enjoy. I simply cannot abide by the RoF flight models, they are absurd. He is glowingly telling of how the pilots are going to look so wonderful.... wow... that to me is about as bad as it can be... definitely under the WHO CARES section. Now I see this: Well... that's game over for me right there.... that makes FC exactly what I feared, eye candy that will cost even more than RoF did... and for what... so you can have pretty pilots. WELL... I wrote quite a bit more about this subject, but I deleted it... no need to belabor the point. .............. then I got to thinking about this... so one more missive.......... Jason_Williams 10184 Producer 10184 2611 posts Location:Las Vegas, Nevada USA Posted 4 hours ago 4 hours ago, 216th_Cat said: Let's hope that it sells well - the screenies show that it will look better (love the pilots!), but at the same time also shows very clearly that it's a repeat of RoF as far as the aircraft are concerned. As I own everything that came out for RoF what is the real incentive to stump up for it all again? FC is even going to use the same FMs. I want it to succeed but am slightly dubious as to its chances - unlike Tank Crew which looks like it will fill a big need for a lot of folks. I still play RoF offline so will probably get hooked by this; let's hope a few others do as well. If you ever want new WWI planes to become a reality you really should support FC1. Jason Well Folks.... to me......that is a threat ...... if you are going to buy into this product... you better fall in line and pay your money and shout down the people that don't like it.... or you are going to end up with a half finished crappy flight sim (that you already own) with about 4 planes.... because it sure sounds to me that this is a "flyer" that 777 is taking to make some money with minimal effort and if it stumbles out of the gate.... well... to say that ol Jason has his finger on the trigger to punch off the load would not be an exaggeration. I apologize in advance to the die hard fans of RoF that have a great respect and enjoyment for the game, I know you are quite loyal and don't want to hear such things, I am also appreciative of the fact that I am allowed to express such an opinion here which is solely my own and meant for no other reason than expressing my own personal disappointment... I would have REALLY enjoyed this if they had made it even half as good as Cliffs of Dover which is not a great flight sim by any means at all... but at least it isn't ridiculous as the flight models in RoF. I enjoyed RoF.... because of the fun I had with you guys, the sim itself was a massive disappointment. (on another note.... Cliffs of Dover 5.0 still.... looks really good)

Last time I saw this stuff they were hitting 300 and I thought it was insane... this is triple insane...

WELL.... this will be taking up my attention for the next few weeks... I just was hired by CAE Parc Aviation SimuFlite in Dallas as an instructor Type check airman on the Phenom 100 and 300 so I have to bag both type ratings and go to work. Amazing software on this thing and a fair amount of thurst. When I pushed up the throttles it really put me back in my chair. It is a hoot to fly.

HEY.. that looks pretty good... WALMART has it for $452.00...... hmmm............ I will be interested to learn how you like this one.

WEll... crap.... I thought that was going to do it... I changed it.... nope... I changed it again in case I did something wrong.... nope. It seems to be a sign-in error.... message says email address or password is incorrect, and to check and make certain that the registration key is activated.

OK.... the new Spit and 109 are out..... and I go to the game and it tells me that I can't sign in (with it saved... and working for weeks) and to check to see if my license has been activated. I go to the website and sign in properly (with it saved, the same way... user/pw ) and check the license key thing... and it clearly says activated ... back to the game.... no bueno.... stumped.... thanks in advance to all those with knowledge of such mysterious inner workings. LL

I see the Spitfire with "invasion stripes" and I have to wonder if that is how it will appear in the game? Really? D-Day invasion stripes ..... ??? Not to mention that those stripes were ordered off the Allied planes within 2 weeks of the landings.... or approximately 6 months before Bodenplatte took place... more specifically... the top side surfaces were ordered repainted... referenced "Thunderbolt From Seversky to Victory" WideWing publications, 1st edition 11/1/94. The author goes on to reference the rarity of the photograph he displayed of a P-47 with the topside markings in place and challenged the reader to find wartime pics of aircraft with them since the envelope is so small. I started looking and was impressed that compared to other pictures, those with topside markings are not common..... and YET.... EVERY airshow seems to show mustangs and others with stripes... I *never* understood the fascination and chalked it up to aircraft owners trying to do something to make their aircraft more attractive.... Dude.... if you are flying a vintage warbird, and no one notices.... stripes ain't gunna help none. Bonus points..... did you know that there was a pilot in Manfred's Jasta named Bodenplatte? I always wondered if there was a connection. OH well.... FWIW..... the history books talk about this GRAND PLAN to support the Ardennes Offensive with this massive buildup of aircraft.... but according to Dolpho Galland he had been hiding away aircraft building up a large force with the intent to attack a bomber stream with totally overwhelming superiority in numbers for the purpose of inflicting enough casualties in a single mission to give the Allied bomber command reason to reconsider their attacks. Remember that Albert Speer was increasing fighter production each month until the very end of the war. Galland never expected to stop the bombing, but he hoped that he could deliver a single punch to the nose of the Allied planners to buy a little time and there fore increase his numbers further. Desperate times called for desperate measures. When it was discovered that these fighters existed, Hitler immediately ordered that they be used in a counter attack which resulted in the operation. It was not well planned nor executed and while destroying a significant number of allied aircraft, it principally only decreased the fighter population and allowed a few more pilots to be captured by American and British forces and possibly avoid being sent to the Russians. Even that failed to work when the USAAF turned over German pilots known to have flown in Russia to the Russian Army who sent them back to mother Russia for years to sit and wait to be released.

I have had 4 or 5 of these in the last week+ something about everyone changing something regarding security.... so someone must have cracked the universal code on something and now everyone is reacting. I have seen it from all types of programs.