Hello all

I am new to Sims (at least in the past 15 years). I used to love military Sims when I was in my teens in the 90s, Microprose games, TFX, and F22 ADF (which was the last Sim I ever played). I became aware of Falcon-4 just as I went off to University, we could not realistically have our own computers at Uni back then so I really missed out there! I also used to regularly go to air shows when I was young.

I have been focusing on my career for the last 10 years and left behind my interests in Sims and aircraft. However I now have some time on my hands I am very keen to re-visit this old hobby.

Looking at what is available today, I am amazed how far thing have come on! I am particularly interested in DCS a-10c Warthog. I got it off Steam. After doing some reading on these forums I wish I had got it directly from ED. There is such a fantastic community and great support for DCS a10.

I would be hugely grateful if I could be pointed to some threads that help me get setup correctly.

As a starting point I have got a Saitek X52 (non pro) off ebay. I have ordered Track IR 5 which should come sometime this week. I am quite prepared to get some peddles as well at some point. If I really get into it as much as I hope I will (time permitting) I will look at investing in the Thrustmaster HOTAS later down the road.

Can anyone point me to a ‘beginner friendly’ profile for the X52? I am having trouble getting the basic functions to work at the moment.

I am using my work computer. Luckily I have just upgraded (I do a lot of video and general multimedia editing/programing etc):

Core i7-3930K (LGA2011) stock speed
16 gig of ram
GTX 570 2560 mb
Crucial M4 256 gb SSD (system)
5 x Samsung F3 1TB
2 x 24” 1920 x 1200 screens
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular

I have done some of the basic training in DCS a10. It runs really well with everything maxed out using one 1920 x 1200 screen. I have not downloaded any patches yet though. I am guessing that it might slow down a bit in missions due to the complex nature of the sim.

While looking at what was available before I got DCS a10, I looked at many awesome YouTube videos; many made my people on this board. They have really helped give me an insight as to how much fun can be had, especially when in the multiplayer version of DCS a10. Any pointers as to getting started in multiplayer? I currently have no friends that share this interest. I can see there is some online training available on the forum which would really enhance the learning experience for me. I have only a basic grasp on the sim so far. I am reading the manual whenever I have a bit of spare time.

As I said before I am new to all of this so any help at this stage to get me off the ground will be fantastic.

Sorry for rambling and thanks in advance.

Rob, UK

Know the basics of operating your A-10C, and just jump right in. Warn people that you're new and it'll be ok. You may or may not run into someone willing to help you.
You'll make friends a lot faster if you hop on a given server's teamspeak.

Hi Rob, welcome to SimHQ and the A-10C, good choice

Page 39 of the Quickstart PDF has a real good picture of the HOTAS. An X-52 can replicate it well with some shift-doubling of controls. Look at X-52, look at picture, match them up as you see fit. Don't bother with borrowed profiles (most are bad or overly complex). It's 10 minutes work to bind your own directly with a minimal SST profile for anything that needs special config and the educational experience is valuable. Also the "virtual keyboard" approach can cause some grief. Let it be suited to you and evolve as you learn if necessary. TrackIR is better closer to 1:1 in my opinion. Default has a huge groove for center that isn't necessary in DCS.

Don't worry about ED/Steam. If you have a CD key you can download it directly from ED and plug it in as if you got it from ED direct.

As for multiplay, there are a few unpassworded servers which you can fly in. People tend not to be too talkative but be friendly, ask to work together, and you should come across helpful folk occasionally. It only takes one. My complaint is that most pub servers are on super short mission rotation so you'll get real practiced at start up and not so practiced at landing. Organized units can be a bit too serious/commitment heavy for casual intro to MP but they tend to know their stuff well and are reliable if you can workout guest or buddy sessions. SimHQ servers are middle-ground where you need a little organized investment and a server password (oh, get TARS, it's a must have) but are essentially pub games.

As for learning, it's fighter piloting, so it's a long road and there's no such thing as done learning. Just eat the elephant one bite at a time and enjoy the ride.

Hi Robstockuk, I'm a new pilot myself but I might be able to save you some time on one issue:

If you patch, get the full version, not the individual patches (that method invites some problems apparently), and be sure to either delete or rename your C/Users/Your Name/Saved Games/DCS Warthog folder - if you don't then the game will hang when you try to enter the logbook.

That's about 2 confused hours avoided!

You can use your serial key from Steam on the version from the ED site as well Rob, just do as XRay says and download the full, latest version.

Hello Rob!

To get you up to speed quickly, I will point you to my newbie guide and once you are familiar with your cockpit, head over to Sim's How-To guide on using weapons.

As per #1 on my guide, you can use your Steam key to activate the game even if you downloaded the game from ED. I would suggest a FULL INSTALL instead of patching, and I would recommend torrenting the files simply to ensure a "correct" download.

You have a nice set of hardware there, should be no problem to run the game with great eye candy. As to your X52, check out page 38 of the Quick Start Guide (see #2 on my guide) found in the Docs folder in your A10 install directory. That is what is mapped to the real HOTAS, that is what you want mapped on your X52. I would suggest printing it out as well as it shows the default keyboard keys for the relevant commands. That is important because most "help" you will get from here is worded that way. We will constantly talk about TMS Up Short, TMS Up Long, China Hat Forward Long, etc. etc. BTW, "long" is simply a long press of the button/key, about 2 sec, while "short" is a short press, about your normal push-and-release of 0.5 sec.

As for "getting started in multiplayer," there really is no requirement. Or rather, it is up to you and the guys you are flying with. A few of us here in SimHQ are willing to teach new pilots the ropes, so the minimum requirement is having your profile set up properly (or having the print out in front of you!) and a quick read through my guide so you at least know where things are in the cockpit.

Welcome to DCS A10!

As a new pilot and an X52 owner I'll echo what Ice and others have said since I've just been through what you're starting. Learn TMS, DMS etc and apply them to your X52. Wrecking Crew walked me through something the other day using those terms and i was very glad I could easily relate what he was saying to my own HOTAS. Also the X52 isn't a TM Warthog button wise but I've found mine very capable since I've set up a shift function on the throttle. I tried two peoples' profiles before just making my own. It both enabled me to quickly learn what to press on my own stick/throttle to perform a given action AND what a CMS/TMS etc button did.

Welcome aboard Robostock!

Looks like we got through the issues of hosting a stable DCS server this past weekend. When you are ready, hop onto Eno's server and give the multiplayer environment a try. You will want Teamspeak - look at the Zalman ZM-1 microphone if you don't have one - they are under $20. I drape mine over the top of my monitor right under the Track IR.

We were shooting for a multiplayer Fly In for last weekend but it took a bit longer to get everything into place. We will likely plan one for April.

There is lots of good material in the Training and Reference sub-forums to help get you started.

Wrecking Crew

Eh man- welcome to the addiction.

I started out with the Saitek non-pro as well and promptly decided that the amount of time it was going to take me to switch all my controls over to nearly mimic was going to be way too much so I committed to the Thrustmaster HOTAS very quickly. I also went the track IR5 route- no complaints there... the device is unbelievable.

As for my server- go into the multiplayer side and go ahead and join. Password (mentioned a few times in my other thread...

Hope you enjoy! I know I sure am!!!!