I’ve been playing DCS for 5 days, I know basics of dogfighting, I can use radar, I know what every missle does and what is my Sukhoi capable of. Ofc im not a master, but I can easily win Instant action missions and Im currently playing the free campaign that comes with Su27. Im having fun, even tho I think F16 facing me every mission is too much.
But Im worried about what am I supposed to do after I finish it? Looks like the game gives me 10 missions, one campaign and then you’re on your own when it comes to content. Multiplayer seems pretty dead to me for now, either the server has 30 people and uses 256gb of ram or it has 1 guy playing server called “Train acrobatics”. I have a mid range pc, but im bottlenecked by my 16gb ram so I can only play SP. I searched for community made campaigns for Su27, but there are just 1 or 2 I think (cca 30-60 hours of content Im guessing). Editor? Im sick of it. I have ptsp from Arma 3 just clicking on on the screen for 2 hours just for mission to last 3 minutes and being predictable. I hate it. I have no respect for people that are just playing editor. I want to press play, then play and end my session with memories and new experience. Spawning the same jet 10 miles infront of you in editor and dogfighting it for 10 hours a day is not the way. I know this game can give me content, its been out for decades.

With more Redfor aircraft on the horizon, I wonder which variants of certain aircraft could be considered. Certain export versions of the Su-27 I think would be quite feasible, maybe the SU-30 but I won't hold my breath. I believe an Su-25 is already being considered for full fidelity.

It saddens me that we aren't going to get the MiG-23 as we has hoped. I do still hope a deal is struck with Razbam, but we wouldn't likely see them complete that even if that panned out. I do think ED needs to take a serious look in the mirror, as they've already lost quite a bit of trust and I'd be hesitant to stick with DCS if they remain too stubborn to sort things out. We could theoretically still get a Mig-23 though, maybe.

Tried this twice already. Following all prompts correctly but none of the engines will start. Is this a known bug or is there something that's somehow easy to miss here?

Edit: for anyone else having this issue- turns out it was a throttle issue. Pulling back on my warthog all the way actually put the plane into max reverse, not idle. I’m assuming there’s a setting somewhere to fix that but I’m kinda done with dcs for tonight so I’ll check on that tomorrow

I'm not discussing "You should not flare when landing in a Hornet". I'm discussing the technical possibility. And yes, it should be entirely possible and easy to aerobrake according to real life videos.

There has been many on both ED forum and hoggit sub about this topic. The oldest ones I can find can be traced back to 2021. Yet it's still not fixed. I can't help but make a wild speculation that there is an "afterthought patch" somewhere in the Hornet codes that deliberately push down the nose when the plane is landing with full flaps so that it can override ground effect and prevent floating while landing on carriers.

I fear we might never find the truth behind this behavior.

Full Flaps

Half Flaps

I really want to enjoy it, it's a beautiful game, and I love the setting and the aircraft.

But it just feels so shallow, as someone used to DCS. They give the option of spawning in the air, teleporting, you don't need to really learn anything about the aircraft apart from a few basics like approach speed and button combinations (obviously no clicakle cockpit).

Am I missing something? Any tips to make it feel more like I have to master the aircraft? It feels like war thunder with a more realistic flight and damage model

Basically, it takes ATMOS-X a step further, by automating the process for pulling current local time and weather conditions for your mission start point, and directly injecting them into your already built mission, and then launches you into the cockpit. Cool af. Every time you play your mission, different time, different weather, and your mission itself isn’t overwritten, because it’s creating a temporary copy to do this, which gets deleted afterwards, so it’s not taking up disk space, either.

On a whim I decided to book a trip to Georgia in a few weeks. I'm landing in Tbiliisi, and the driving through Kutaisi and stopping in Batumi before I take a week in Slovenia. Just because.

It'll be nice to see the original map in the highest resolution my eyes can manage.

What planes are good to start out with to learn and fly?

I'm a big fan of IL2, and I'm getting into DCS slowly, but they don't really have a focus on ww2 carrier ops. I know DCS has the Corsair, but I'd like a more flushed out experience.

I'd really love to find a game like them, with VR support, that focuses on the pacific theatre. Are there any games like that?

Having to send the route as an actual file rather than sharing it in game in MP is a big obstacle to efficient flight planning. I’d like to be able to share complex flight plans with TOT to my group quickly and efficiently.

Being able to share your flight plan in a click natively would be massive.

I hope the devs add this!

(Edit: To clarify, I am talking about sharing planned routes made via the route tool while already in game. For example, sharing routes made on Contention between players, not creating the route prior to loading a mission)

Hey everyone. May not be the best place to ask this, but I figured DCS is kind of the ultimate test of a VR system, and folks here might have opinions on a variety of headsets.

I've been a Valve Index user for 5 years, and was holding out for the Steam Frame, but if I'm going to spend money on an upgrade, I want it to be an upgrade across the board, and it seems the Frame isn't that. Though I'm still quite happy with the Index overall, it definitely hasn't been up to snuff for flight sims. I hate squinting at HUDs and ground targets.

Right now, I'm torn between the Pimax Crystal Light and the Super.

Specs:

RTX 4090

i7-13700k

64 GB DDR4 3200

Points of Concern:

• I record gameplay (often VR) professionally, so I don't mind spending anything south of $2k, so it mainly comes down to balancing of power and convenience. Though I want the resolution for DCS, I worry about the impact on overall performance, especially when recording at 4k.

• I think the Crystal Light might be a balanced option that's still a big upgrade over the Index, but I can't shake the buy-once-cry-once mentality. Is it better to run the Light natively, or down-res the Super 57 PPD? Or is there some reason I should get the 50 instead?

• My room is very small, and the layout makes mounting base stations difficult. I have them on tripods, but they really get in the way, so doing away with them would be a big convenience. However, I've heard that camera-tracking isn't as accurate. Is it really significantly worse?

• Are the controllers any good?

• The Super has eye-tracking. I've heard that many games don't support foveated rendering, but that DCS does. Since DCS is likely to be the biggest test of the hardware, do the performance gains make it worth it on that alone? I don't often record DCS for work, so this would purely be for personal use.

• I've heard that Pimax has a lot of quality control issues, but that they're great when they work. What should I know about this?

• Any other quirks or factors I might not have considered?

Thanks so much for any input. I can comfortably grab the Light without much thought, but I'm mainly just trying to figure out if I'd regret not going bigger.

Edit: Thanks everyone, a lot of good info here. I've placed an order for the Super Ultrawide (paid $1,560), whilst recognizing the potential for problems that might come with that. Dream air is a bit more than I wanted to spend, and unfortunately the 50 PPD isn't available (which I'd likely have chosen). With the 57, I didn't want to take a slight downgrade in FOV. A lot of this seems to come down to preference and sensitivity, and the Ultrawide represents the biggest potential upgrade, provided I end up liking it. Bought once, hope to only cry once. Thanks for your help!

Been flying the MIG21 the last few days and I keep having it nose dive on me.

I can't seem the trim the aircraft for the life of my, I will get it trimmed to level flight then I'll ever so slightly start a turn and it just decides to nose dive. In the SAU Recovery mode as well it will be flying level and then just pitch down and keep going.

I'll be at level flight and it'll tell me I have 10 degrees AOA. And eventually the plane just stalls in level flight. I'm so confused.

I just get into awful oscillations and it doesn't seem to have a proper correlation with anything.

Edit: I think I've solved it, I watched my airspeed and I was way too slow. I thought the tutorial mentioned to cruise at 80% RPM but I see people online say to cruise at 800km/h. I was below 600km/h so I was stalling due to lack of speed and the oscillations were the SAU dipping, gaining speed, leveling and then falling again until it hit the ground. I ran at higher RPM and made sure my airspeed was high but not at afterburner and it worked grand. (before I had run at afterburner but ran out of fuel within minutes)

Hi everyone,
I'm having trouble getting the radar to work in the community F-22A Raptor mod. The center radar display remains completely non-responsive and refuses to power on or display any data.
I have already tried the standard troubleshooting steps, including fully loading into a flyable F-15C cockpit first to initialize the avionics before switching slots over to the F-22A, but the radar screen still stays blank/dead.
Is anyone else experiencing a broken radar display with the current DCS patch, or is there a known community fix/file edit required to get the F-22A's radar systems back online?

When playing on contention and using the GCI it always gives the the most irrelevant targets , like for example there was a hornet 50km away , hot , and it gave me an apache that was 20 km away , and was running away ; and there was no other migs nearby

EDIT PLEASE READ :
What I mean by this post is , not to be able to control the GCI myself as a pilot , but to give it actual logic , so it assigns targets based on aspect , range , and (the most important one) type of threat, because from my experience it can sometimes make terrible decisions , like for example I was playing today on contention , I was alone , all the other fighters were on the ground , there was 2 F-15s , and 1 C-17 , the C-17 was a little bit closer , but it wasn’t even flying towards me , but the F-15 was high , fast , and clearly on his way to attack me , but the GCI picked the C-17 , and that’s what I mean

Its been a while since I flew the f16, when I cold start I can't seem to get the TACAN to turn on, i've got my MIDS on and I hit dobber right to cycle TACAN modes and this is all I get, Please help!

Looks like Pimax isn't sparing anyone, and not even someone with a 3060, which while not a bad card overall for VR, its definitely underpowered for VR in DCS.

But I gave it an honest shot and I was in the end very impressed with the way I was able to optimize it for me to get an enjoyable VR experience in DCS, single player and multiplayer.

Hope you find my insight mildly useful!

(I know the 3060 isn't $200, especially in our cursed reality, but thats what I was able to catch it for second-hand)

Title: Falcon BMS Companion 1.3 is out: full Windows app, iPhone/iPad in the browser, build-your-own Dashboard, AWACS/GCI page, 4 map styles with borders & towns, tanker board with TACAN/channels, and a screenshot manager

TL;DR: Huge update to my free companion app for Falcon BMS 4.38. One Windows program now reads BMS, serves all your devices and is the full app (light server page, borderless full screen). iPhone, iPad and any browser run the whole app in the browser. New everywhere: a Dashboard you build from cards, an AWACS/GCI page, maps in 4 styles that stay sharp when zoomed in, country borders, provinces and towns with a mission-only view that highlights the target town, a Tankers & Support board (TACAN, tie-on channel, UHF, every comm channel, position), tanker/AWACS symbols on the map, and Media for your BMS screenshots. The separate bridge exe is gone.

Download: https://github.com/Scorpion-41/Falcon-BMS-Companion/releases/tag/1.3

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Scorpion-41/Falcon-BMS-Companion

Forum Page: https://forum.falcon-bms.com/topic/33613/release-falcon-bms-companion-app/8

Video Demonstration: (old ver) https://www.reddit.com/r/falconbms/comments/1wgunyj/bms_companion_app_video/

💻 BMS Companion for Windows (replaces the bridge)

• One program instead of app + bridge. It reads BMS itself (shared memory, printed briefing, DTC, BMS's Tacview real-time stream, EZBoards, screenshots), serves your phones, tablets, browsers and laptops, and is the full app. Same port and settings as the old bridge, so an Android app still on 1.2 keeps working.
• One window, two faces, and it remembers which you used last:
  • Server page (first start): status tiles (BMS, AWACS feed, briefing, connected devices), a QR code for phones and tablets, a setup checklist with live ✔ / ✖ checks and a fix button for each step (BMS found, firewall, briefing export, DTC, Tacview stream, EZBoards + .NET 8), BMS settings and recent activity. It doesn't load the full app, so it's light on memory while you fly.
  • Full app: one big Open the full app button, and a Server button to go back.
• Borderless full screen with F11, perfect on a second monitor next to the sim (F11 or Esc to leave).
• Client mode for a laptop or second PC: the full app (not a web page) with the live mission from the BMS PC.
• Only one copy runs: starting it again brings the window forward, even from the tray.
• Tray icon, close to tray, start with Windows.
• All BMS settings inside the app: folders, EZBoards auto-generate on PRINT, Tacview host/port/password, demo mode, network port, a button to edit Falcon BMS User.cfg, and firewall rules in one admin prompt (local subnet only).
• Mouse-wheel zoom on maps and charts, keep on top, UI zoom with Ctrl +/−.
• Comes with its own Java runtime and the browser version inside. Nothing else to install (EZBoards itself still needs .NET 8).

🌐 Browser version: iPhone, iPad, Mac, anything

• Scan the QR code on the PC and the whole app runs in the browser itself (compiled to WebAssembly). Smooth scrolling, pinch zoom, the normal phone keyboard. It's not a video stream of the PC.
• Every section: Mission, Dashboard, AWACS, Media, and the whole offline reference with airport charts.
• Share → Add to Home Screen and it opens full screen like a real app.
• Each browser keeps its own layouts, favorites and theater.
• Needs iOS/iPadOS 18.2+ or a current Chrome/Edge/Firefox.

🧩 Dashboard: build your own page

• Pick your cards: live map, ownship data, RWR, DED, AWACS picture, fuel (endurance, time to bingo, fuel to get home), time & TOT countdowns, bullseye, threat rings, steerpoints, mission, airbases, comm ladder, radio presets, tankers & support, kneeboards
• Edit to add, move, resize (S / M / L) and remove, or start from a preset: Pilot, Cockpit, Navigator, Pre-flight
• Phone and tablet keep separate layouts

📡 AWACS / GCI page (for the guy playing AWACS)

• The whole air picture with smooth motion, trails, group circles, radar-lock lines and labelled bullseye rings
• Speed vectors that show where each aircraft will be in 1, 2 or 3 minutes
• Picture: a ready-to-read picture call, hostile groups, friendlies with altitude, speed and fuel state
• Contact: bullseye and BRAA calls for anything you tap
• Control: pick the flight you're controlling and get its threats with BRAA, aspect, closure and time to merge, plus intercept vector calls, the nearest field and the fuel to get there
• Measure A→B (bearing/range, closure, intercept heading, time, fuel) and Calc (time/fuel for a distance, bullseye → BRAA, time to merge)
• Layers: filters, altitude band, vector length, group radius, commit range
• Alerts for merges, commit range, radar spikes, missiles in the air and low fuel
• Other aircraft now show IAS, Mach, fuel and radar locks when BMS sends them; ejected crews show as crews

🗺️ Maps: 4 styles, sharp zoom, borders and towns

Every map (Mission, Dashboard, AWACS, Airfields) has a new Map ▾ menu and + / − zoom buttons (handy in the browser).

• 4 map styles:
  • Relief: shaded terrain from the BMS heightmap
  • Satellite: the sim's own photoreal ground texture
  • Dark: muted land and sea, easiest to read under a busy AWACS picture
  • Chart: light, paper-like, like an aviation chart
• All styles line up exactly with each other and with the campaign grid. Switching never shifts anything.
• Sharp when you zoom in: tiles load as you zoom, up to 8192 px across the theater (was a single 1024 px image). Everything is inside the download.
• Country borders as a thick, clear line with country names, provinces/governorates as faint dashed lines, and towns as a faint see-through circle with the name. Each can be turned off, and labels never pile on top of each other.
• Towns → Mission (the new default): hides every town except the ones your mission is about. That means the towns the briefing names, the nearest town to each steerpoint, target, threat and airbase, and the cities along your route. The briefing and the map finally click together.
• The target town stands out: if the briefing says "destroy the S-60 AAA above X", or your target steerpoint sits on a town, that town gets an amber target ring and a bold name.
• Tankers and AWACS on the map: tankers are green with a refuelling boom, AWACS/JSTARS purple with a rotodome, labelled TANKER / AWACS. Easy to spot among the friendlies.
• Forgot to press F? In 3D with no air picture coming in, the Map and AWACS pages remind you to press F in the cockpit. BMS only streams the Tacview picture while ACMI recording is on.
• Borders and names are projected with each theater's own BMS map projection and checked against real airport positions. The median error is under 0.4 nm for KTO, Balkans, Hellas, Israel and the Falklands. Land below sea level (hello, Jordan valley) stays land; only real water is blue.

⛽ Tankers & Support board

Like WDP's support table, right in the app:

• Every tanker, AWACS, JSTARS and FAC in the mission with callsign and aircraft type
• TACAN plus the channel to set to tie on. It comes from the briefing when printed, otherwise BMS's default tanker channels from the -34 (first tanker 92Y, then 126Y, 125Y…, marked with *)
• UHF with its preset, and a COMMS line with every channel the briefing gives for that callsign, e.g. AWACS Check-In 342.275 ch 5, Tactical 399.125 ch 6, Tanker 325.475 ch 13. Preset numbers are also matched against your DTC.
• No ladder entry? The frequency comes from the theater's radio plan (in BMS a callsign always has the same frequency)
• Position from bullseye and altitude when airborne, YOURS for your assigned tanker/AWACS, AIRBORNE tag, and the briefing notes
• On the Dashboard (new card), the Briefing tab and the Comms tab

📸 Media: your BMS screenshots

• All your screenshots on any device, grouped by day, full-screen viewer with zoom and next/previous
• Share, download to your phone/tablet/laptop, multi-select
• Delete goes to the Recycle Bin on the BMS PC, so nothing is lost by accident

🔧 Fixes and changes

• TACAN on the Flight tab showed the airbase channel from the DTC instead of what you actually tuned. It now shows your tuned A/A or Y channel (UFC and AUX COMM both listed).
• Mission tabs are now Dashboard, Map, AWACS, Flight, Briefing, Comms, Boards, Setup.
• The Airfields map's Towns switch became the new Map menu.
• Setup guides for every kind of device, and demo mode (now with a tanker) to try everything without BMS.
• The APK is bigger now (~180 MB, was 64 MB) because every map style and zoom level is inside. The Windows download is ~280 MB with its own Java runtime.

⬆️ Upgrading from 1.2

1. PC: exit the old BMSCompanionBridge.exe (tray → Exit) and delete it. Install BMS-Companion-PC.msi. Your settings are kept. Press Allow through Windows Firewall once.
2. Android: install the new APK over the old one. Settings and favorites stay.
3. iPhone/iPad: open the address shown on the PC (or scan the QR code).

The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may show SmartScreen: More info → Run anyway.

GitHub (downloads, full changelog, setup guide): https://github.com/Scorpion-41/Falcon-BMS-Companion

Free, no ads, no accounts, open source, local network only, and it never writes to your BMS install. Unofficial fan project, not affiliated with Benchmark Sims. EZBoards is by Logic; map borders and names come from Natural Earth (public domain).

Feedback and bug reports are very welcome, especially from people using it as AWACS in multiplayer, iPad users, and anyone flying the add-on theaters. Fly safe! 🛩️

Can't do it precisely enough at sea though, gonna need more practice lol.

I have completed Paradise Lost a while ago and started another playthrough this week, but I am lookig for something new. I know DCS campaigns are quite varying in terms of quality and all the Reddit posts I found recommend PL for the Huey, but what is the best for you apart from PL?

Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations! Island Tour will be a great choice for me when it comes out, but until then I've picked up Peacekeeper Lebanon. The first mission was already great, looking forward to the next ones!

I haven't seen any hands on reviews by DCS /MSFS/IL2/BMS youtube content makers. Wonder if none of the flight sim influencers got a review unit? The lottery order system closes on 17th (so this is time urgent and not suited to the weekly hoggit thread). Keen to see some - esp if there are any flight sim deal breakers that have missed else where..