DCS: World

The minds behind the DCS series of games (http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/) have brilliantly unified all their recent games into a single unit, called DCS: World.  It's a fine simulator, with support for TrackIR headsets and those funky joysticks with about a billion buttons and toggles on them.

Anyways, if you're going to give the Sukhoi SU-25T module a try in multiplayer, as my boyfriend and I wanted to do, you might find yourself in deep...

Firstly, we couldn't find a simple team-versus-team multiplayer mission in which to partake.  So, a little searching on the developer's website, and I found a nice little mission called Frontline Kareli.  It's available at http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/232509/.  That might be fun.  Otherwise, have a search in their database (http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/).  You'll end up downloading a MIZ file, which you can save into your Missions folder (...\DCS World\Mods\aircrafts\Su-25T\Missions\EN).  Then, it should show up in the game.

Secondly, the start up procedure is long and arduous.  I could not find the quick start cheat key combo that DCS: Warthog had, but one kind fellow going by the handle 159th Falcon posted his 'cheat sheet' on the DCS forums, at http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1557538&postcount=2.  I'll repost it here, for simplicity:

Originally Posted by 159th_Falcon

Needed for Start Up;
RSHIFT+L = Start APU (put electrical power on, whatever)
L = cockpit instrument lights (for when its dark obviously)
Ctrl + C = close/open canopy
Right Alt + Home = Start ENG #1
Right Ctrl + Home = Start ENG #2
Right Alt + L = taxi/landing lights (take's a while to move down from stowed position under the wingtip speed brakes
W = Wheel Brake
Right Ctrl + L = Navigation lights (steady, alternating Left/Right, off)

Needed for Take-off;
1 = select navigation mode
F = Flaps (cycles between fully retracted and down one "notch" is for take-off)
G = Landing Gear (retract/extent)
Ctrl + ` = cycle waypoints, or cycle airfields when in Return/ILS mode nav mode

Needed for Flying
Assign your axis!!!
` = AP override (is the key left of the 1 on your keyboard)
Alt + 1 = AP Attitude Hold (maintains bank and pitch angle)
Alt + 2 = AP Altitude and Roll Hold (maintains altitude and bank angle)
Alt + 3 = AP Transit Level Flight (panic button, returns aircraft to straight and level flight)

Alt + 4 = AP Barometric Altitude Hold (can still roll the aircraft)
Alt + 5 = AP Radio Altitude hold (can still roll the aircraft, follows terrain, Alt THERE ARE SLOPE LIMITS believe max 5 degrees up)

Alt + 9 = AP Disengage (disengage whatever autopilot mode was selected)

A = Auto Pilot on in selected NAV mode (meaning fly's to next waypoint, fly's to return point, fly's ILS approach, or when in Air to Ground mode and any targeting device lock it will fly to the locked target at the present altitude)

Rctrl + . = Trim UP
Rctrl + / = Trim Right Roll (right wingtip down)
Rctrl + ; = Trimp Down
Rctrl + , = Trim Left Roll (left wingtip down)

Needed for Air to Ground
7 = select Air to ground mode
Shift + E = activate rear hemisphere IR jammer (should help against heat seaking missiles, don't expect magic though)

Space = Launch/fire selected weapon (gun/rockets/bombs/missiles)
Ctrl + V = Salvo Mode (launches selected weapon in salvo, for example 4 rocket pods at same time)
D = Cycle weapon stations
Right Ctrl + O = Mercury LLTV (low light version of Skhval, only if fitted)
C = Select Canon
i = Select Fantasmagoria (needed to lock and launch KH-25MPU and KH-58 Anti Radiation Missiles)

Insert = deploy chaff (only good against radar guided missiles)
Delete = deploy flares (only good against Heat Seaking missiles)
for both, DONT EXPECT MAGIC!

O = Uncage/Cage skhval
; = Skhval UP
/ = Skhval Right
. = Skhval Down
, = Skhval Left
(these also work for the ELINT and LLTV target designators)

Ctrl + W = Jettison Weapons (start whit A-G weapons, outter pylons first working inwards, then continues whit A-A weapons outter pylons first working inwards, pods/jammers can NOT BE JETTISONED)

Enter = Lock Target
Alt + R = Jettison External tanks (also in pairs, outboard stations first then inboard)

V = cycle ripple interval
Ctrl + Space = Ripple quantity



That's just about it i guess, you can download my profile here;
http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.ph...9&d=1270665727
(both for SU33 and SU25T profile is bit dated so some things may not work anymore)

~S~


***EDIT***
Forgot the following
In options, controls, axis assignments look for I 251 zoom this is zoom of the Skhval and can be bound to a rotary/slider or other axis
Also look for "target box size, gun funnel size, gunpod elevation" this can also be bound to an axis.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record

After three hours of troubleshooting Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, I came to a conclusion.  Capcom doesn't test their games enough.  I'm not talking about just play-testing here, I'm talking about just testing the installing and running of their games.  Okay, maybe it's not Capcom per se, and maybe it's one of their studios or a contractor thereof, but either way, I'm feeling pretty gonked off right now.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record is a game with a near-record number of bugs that will attempt to hinder and stop people from playing at all points.  If you're having trouble playing the game, try a couple of these steps.  Who knows, maybe something here will help.  (Most of this only applies to Windows Vista, 7 or 8.)  I got most of these tips from the Steam forums, so thanks to all the folk that posted there.

1. Restart your PC.  Something somewhere might be gumming up the works.
2. Verify your game cache.  Go into Steam, and right-click your game.  Click Properties, then click the Local Files tab, then click Verify Integrity of Game Cache.  It'll take a while, but if there are bad files lurking in there, this should find, excise and replace them.
3. Go into the Control Panel, into Sounds, right-click your device (with the green tick) and click Properties, go into the Advanced tab.  You'll see a drop-down list showing various bit-rates and frequencies.  Try "24-bit, 48000 Hz (studio quality)" or "16-bit 14400 Hz (CD quality)".  Click Apply, then try to run the game.
4. Re-download and install the Games for Windows Live client.
5. Back up the game (Right-click the game, then click Backup Game Files), uninstall the game, and then re-install it on your C: drive (use the Backup and Restore option from the Steam menu in the main Steam window... it will ask you for the installation location during install).  Yes, this is dumb, and yes, this is what I spent three hours trying to work out, but this solved my issue.  I don't know why the game has to be installed on the C: drive, but in some cases, it does.

I hope this helps someone.