Finally getting back into a flight sim after at least a year of no joystick action. Currently don't have any at all on my pc anymore, Clod and my 4 or 5 installs of il2 are finally history, but i have a hankering for some wings Definitely not back to muck around with CloD, just don't have the time or interest for it.

I still have my x52 pro stick and my faithful old tir2 plus a freetrack setup i have been using in the arma series which works well so that side should be ok for getting my feet wet. No ffb which i may need to sort out if the old flight bug bites deep enough but, you know, cash

I5 @ 3.33, gtx560ti, win7 32 with 4gb, 3tb hdd space across 2 1tb and a couple of 500s. No upgrade options until at least mid year 2014 so it is what it is.

From my scouring around, the opinions vary (soiproise soiproise) on the p51 fm v rl, i'm really over that stuff but just needing a few pointers. Is there a profile for my stick that will help with getting it basically sorted or should i just start from scratch like normal and work it myself. Is there any must watch/read tutorials so i can prepare my nether regions ?

Also, graphics tweaks etc or should my rig be ok and same, jump in and work it.

cheers.

Prepare for a temperamental beauty.

The DCS:P-51 IMO is a pleasure to fly once you get over the initial hurdle of adjusting to a challenging FM compared to what we're used to in WW2 sims. A slight curvature for x and y axis certainly help.

Also keep in mind to keep the stick pulled back when accelerating for take off in order to lock the tailwheel.

Cheers, after soaking up a bit here and on the dcs site and some other places i am ready to just take my time learning to 'fly' again and not worry about the combat side. I am going to try and go into it as a total noob to flight sims and pretend i am a pasty faced 20 year old seeing a Mustang for the first time since my banged up flight school Harvard

Some of the most enjoyable time ever in a flightsim I had with simply flying the Mustang around the Black Sea region with a couple of buddies online. Navigation, formation flying, engine management, there's a full time job right there before you even touch the guns.

Well..that was a short adventure. It seems i may have to finally upgrade to win64, game crashed at the loading screen with settings on high when i chose quick flight. Locked up my pc for a few minutes. Rebooted and dropped all the settings to low and same. Rebooted. Tried the 3g switch and made it to the pre briefing screen then crashed about 60 odd percent through the next loading bar

Might finally be the kicker for a small upgrade if i can afford it before Christmas.

P51 is a beast to fly and dogfight with.

Yeah, you really want to upgrade to 64 bit windows, especially with EDGE slowly edging (ha!) closer to release.

Stop teasing me

I hit the "I" key and it didn't start! What gives?
I agree with Para_Bellum the best time I've had so far is just flying around with my buddies. I have yet to try combat with it. I hope Europe '44 is just like P-51 is.
Hope you get it sorted Ajay, its a blast to fly.

Or try to find 1.2.5, since 1.2.6 removed support for 32bit windows.

Is it possible to fly with the AFM but without the detailed engine management? I don't want to fiddle with carbs and all that, but I do want realistic flight modeling and instrumentation.

Actually the mixture is automatic, and the engine is pretty easy to deal with. Most of what you need to know about the mustang's engine can be summed up in a couple of points:

1) Don't leave the engine at too high of manifold pressure for too long.
2) Don't leave the prop RPM Up too high for too long.
3) If you are in any doubt about the engine being stressed, flip the oil cooler flap and radiator flap full open and carry on.

For high altitude long distance flying, there's a bit more too it but not much. For general flying around the base area, and such there's not much to it.

-Jenrick

Good luck with the OS - if it helps at all, I'm very pleased with my switch to 64-bit and haven't had any serious issues with driver compatibility.

To add to jenrick's excellent advice, there is a placard inside the P-51D cockpit on the right that tells you what the maximum RPM and manifold pressure settings are for different conditions, so you don't need to memorize them or have a checklist/manual handy.

I don't seem to get 15 min out of the 15min max.

shady,

I just flew a test and was able to fly for 15 min in the 1.2.7 P-51D at max throttle and RPM. In fact, the temp gauges were still in the green at the end of those 15 minutes. During the flight, the coolant temp would began to climb out of the green if I let my airspeed drop (climbing, maneuvering). I just kept an eye on it and raised my airspeed back up to get the needle under control.

1) Are your oil and water radiators both open? For my test, I opened them both manually.
2) Are you keeping up airspeed? The engine can handle the power output, but only if being cooled appropriately. You cannot expect to get 15 minutes at combat power in a sustained high-g dogfight - gotta keep those knots coming in.
3) I flew mostly at about 10KFT, but made some gentle dives up and down, to see if maneuvering caused any issues (it didn't, other than the airspeed watch).

Set to auto, so problem number 1, I was 10 degree flaps turn fighting the 190 so there's problem number 2.

Why do they have to model all this stuff!

LOL makes you wonder what the real pilots were thinking during dogfights, doesn't it?