New, so some basic questions

[Uriah]

Just fired it up last night and mapped some of the keys on keyboard and joystick.  I have Trackir4.  Can some one point to what some of the views do - some are obvious but some are not.  The right documentation is likely all I need.  And is it true that I can not 'see through' the cockpit.  And once a plane is targeted or padlocked will it stay that way even though I switch to other views?  While I played off line it seems that every now and then the game took control of my plane.  Is that just part of the offline 'training'?  My main sim is EAW.

[DamnedRen]

Im not sure what you mean by the game took control of your plane unless you're referring to getting the message, "Don't move your controls so rapidly" then it locks up. If that's it then it means you are yanking on the stick instead of using smooth pressure to get the plane what you want it to do. The yanking part happens to some of us as we get excited, just miss the shot by a lil teeny bit and yank her around. Planes kinda don't  "yank well".

If you have a tendency to yank her there are ways to deaden (read delay) on the on set of that yank until you've had a millisecond to settle down.

You might also notice you black out due to high speed/hard pull (G's) on your bird. You can also make some adjustments to make the plane behave more like a real one. Once you do that the control surfaces react more readily to your control inputs.

Im off all week and will be spending time in the Training Area (TA). A half hour will get your stick all set up and increase your enjoyment of the game around 75%.  

Let me know if you'd like to get together.

Hope this helps.

[tedrbr]

As to right doicumentation,

http://trainers.hitechcreations.com

And, no, you can't see "through" your cockpit in any virtual cockpit mode.  Bombers get an external view.  Fighters, YOU are at the pilot's point of view.  Only time fighters get external view in arenas is when on the ground to taxi.

Views mostly work with hat switches on the joystick, from my experience.  You are using TrackIR, so I can't comment on that.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by Uriah
And once a plane is targeted or padlocked will it stay that way even though I switch to other views?  

As a TrackIr user, there is absolutely no need for any padlock view mode or even to "lock on" to your target. Actually, any padlock mode is just a try to mimic the capabilites of the TrackIr.

[Mace2004]

The only view you need mapped to your joystick is forward.  With TrackIR the hat switches override the view angles of TIR so when you push forward on the hat your TIR view looks straight forward.  Although the view angle is locked forward TIR4 still lets you slide from side to side, move forward and back, and raise or lower your head position.  This feature really helps in your gunnery as opposed to trying to position yourself directly behind and looking directly through the gunsight.  Also, I recommend you map the TIR recenter (F12) function to your stick so you can access it easily.  As tedrbr and Lusche pointed out you cannot see "through" your plane but TIR lets you look around things like the canopy bows and headrest.  Also, you have no need to use "padlock".

[Jibbs]

I'm not one to fly in the Offline Arenas, but nothing takes control of your plane unless you are flying too rapidly. Here's the view buttons...
(On the KEYPAD)
2=Back
5=up
4=left
7=upper left
8=none
9=upper right
3=bottom right
1=bottom left
F2, or F3, (i can't remember) allows you to see outside your plane.

[Uriah]

Thanks all,

Sometimes it is good to know what is NOT available as well as available.

And yes, in offline at given times the plane does not respond to any commands I give it, neither gun nor flight control.  

Regardless, it is important that a good first impression is given.  I will continue to try the game out.  I am only playing offline to get a feel for the game and controls so offline is important.

[Roscoroo]

one page pdf of commands
http://www.netaces.org/ahsetup/ahquickref110.pdf


every once and a while sometimes you lose stick in AH and you have to reboot ... this never happens to me in offline , but it has a couple of times in the arena's

[Schatzi]

Uriah,

make sure you have both mode1 and mode2 selected, and the box "autoselect mode at start of flight" checked. Make sure that you dont switch mode when "loosing stick".

[GunnerCAF]

Auto-pilot?  This will take control until you move the controls.  There are several auto-pilot modes, and auto-takeoff.

Gunner