What do I need to start playing?

[bour]

I've had DCS World for quite a while now, but I've never been able to get into it because I lack the peripherals to play it how it's meant to be played. I'm just wondering what is absolutely essential to get into it properly, I'm willing to get a flightstick and anything that I'll definitely need!

[Cyber_Chupacabra]

A flight stick or preferably HOTAS setup is absolutely essential for you to really enjoy the flight and get necessary precision. It does not need to be any fancy expensive stuff to be honest.
Second thing would be TrackIR for situational awareness and immersion.
Also - lots of time and will to learn all those aircrafts :)

[Mr.Rogers]

It depends on what module you fly the most. If you're into the helicopters a set of rudder pedals and a cheap stick would be optimal. If its fighter jets and ground attack aircraft a hotas like an x-55 rhino and a trackir would be something to look into. For ww2 prop planes I'd recommend all of the above.

[[GCA] King Apo]

In my eyes, if you fully want to enjoy most or all DCS modules, a good (expensive^^) HOTAS, some kind of headtracking (doesn't have to be TrackIR if it works for you) & peddals. If you are not flying helicopter the peddals might come last, but they are still important for WW2 planes for example. (kinda must have for helis)

[Piro]

If you're just looking to start, I'd just get a cheap joystick to see if you actually enjoy DCS. More buttons are nice, but not essential, especially for the FC3 planes. If you find you really enjoy flying you can start rounding out your gear with TrackIR and a set of peddals. And of course, once you've played a while you'll want to pick up a HOTAS of some sort. I'm partial to CH gear but there are plenty of people who swear by the Thrustmaster Warthog. I'd avoid Saitek joysticks as a general rule of thumb as they have some rather serious quality control issues.

[General_Hz]

All you need to start is a logitech 3d extreme pro. It's a solid joystick with enough buttons to fly all modules(In the a10c i use shifting but it is still enough) recently I bought the x-55 because I want HOTAS stick. I recommend to buy the 3d extreme pro(which is 30$) to start playing and see how you like it. If you want people to fly with or any help feel free to add me.

[bour]

Originally posted by Piro:

If you're just looking to start, I'd just get a cheap joystick to see if you actually enjoy DCS. More buttons are nice, but not essential, especially for the FC3 planes. If you find you really enjoy flying you can start rounding out your gear with TrackIR and a set of peddals. And of course, once you've played a while you'll want to pick up a HOTAS of some sort. I'm partial to CH gear but there are plenty of people who swear by the Thrustmaster Warthog. I'd avoid Saitek joysticks as a general rule of thumb as they have some rather serious quality control issues.

I was actually thinking of the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog joystick and throttles. I'm not sure yet though, I've heard good things. Thank you for your advice!

[bour]

Also could someone please explain to me how the TrackIR works? I haven't seen it in action, if you have to turn your head to look around, how do you keep your eyes on the screen? Or do you only have to move slightly?

[jester]

Originally posted by Aeurraa:

Also could someone please explain to me how the TrackIR works? I haven't seen it in action, if you have to turn your head to look around, how do you keep your eyes on the screen? Or do you only have to move slightly?

It's an infrared tracker.

You can keep your eyes on the screen by adjusting the sliders of the axes in TIR. So if you move your head 5 degrees to the left in real life, the TIR software will move the "ingame view" 30 degrees to the left, or 50 degrees or whatever else you have it set to. With this, you can make a comfortable profile that doesn't require you to strain you neck trying to look behind it you. It's pretty easy to do as well, simple as grabbing some lines and dragging it to where you want it to go.

Also, I have the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS, with TrackIR 5, and Saitek Pro rudder pedals. The Warthog HOTAS is a solid peripheral. If you are just starting out though, I'd personally recommend the Saitek X-52. I had mine for about 6 years before it finally broke. It was a comfortable feel, easy to use and not tiresome to maneuver. The Warthog Stick is quite heavy and cumbersome and can be tiring to use especially if you are just starting out and getting used to maneuvering your aircraft around and such. But if you do buy the Warthog HOTAS, I promise you that it is a great setup.

If you have the A-10C module, you don't even need to set keybinds for it with the Warthog HOTAS. All the switchs and functions of the HOTAS are built into the game. The only thing you have to do is adjust the deadzone and curves to your liking, and maybe set rudder/wheelbrake controls if you don't have rudder pedals.

As others stated, feel free to add me if you want some help going through the baby steps. I can walk you through ramp starts, combat, avionics, missile defense or whatever else. I've got almost 2000 hours in the F-16 in Falcon BMS and about 300 hours in the F-15C. I've been flying the A-10C lately though, it's a nice plane.

[[GCA] King Apo]

But isn't there with the X-52 this weird Joystick disconnect thing? I hear that alot by pilots using that before they crash into the ground. ^^

I have the same setup as Jester and you can not do wrong with the HOTAS Warthog. Just make sure that it has no issues from the start. (slew control is of varying quality as is sometimes the stick around the centre) The feel of that monster is just awesome, only for helicopters it's not that good because of the strong spring. But you could always take it out or replace it, I know some heli-pilots that did that.

About TrackIR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TASEXUd4Oto This is a tutorial how to set it up by Gerry Abbott. You can see the menu of the TrackIR setup, how is the Camera/Head movement and also a webcam picture of Gerry. That way you can see how this works when somebody moves his head & how you can adjust those settings for the (different) games.

edit: While I strongly recommend the TM HOTAS Warthog, you can also fly DCS with 'bad' or 'simple' joysticks. That way you simply have to put more effort into learning/managing your bindings on the stick. Modifiers is the key word. I played for ~6 months with ~45€ stick (T-Flightstick X).

[Cyber_Chupacabra]

Warthog HOTAS is pretty amazing but if you want less expensive HOTAs you could go for X-55 Rhino - I really enjoy it.

[bour]

Thank you for all of the information. I am also going to use the equipment for games such as: ARMA 3, Elite: Dangerous and maybe other flight simulators that I discover, so I do not mind spending some money on a good joystick.

[Hadji]

If you have the money the TM HOTAS Warthog is a great piece of kit. I use it with DCS and the other titles you mention: Arma 2 and 3 + Elite Dangerous and it works like a charm. It IS expensive but you get what you pay for in terms of quality.

TrackIR is an essential piece of kit not only for DCS. It works great in Arma and Elite Dangerous and I use it several racing games as well. It makes situational awareness so much easier.

Next thing to consider is rudder pedals (especially for the helos and WW2 birds). I use MFG Crosswind pedals which also works great in both Arma and Elite Dangerous. They are in the same price range as the Warthog though... Whatever you get, just make sure you get pedals with toe brakes.

[bour]

Originally posted by El Hadji:

If you have the money the TM HOTAS Warthog is a great piece of kit. I use it with DCS and the other titles you mention: Arma 2 and 3 + Elite Dangerous and it works like a charm. It IS expensive but you get what you pay for in terms of quality.

TrackIR is an essential piece of kit not only for DCS. It works great in Arma and Elite Dangerous and I use it several racing games as well. It makes situational awareness so much easier.

Next thing to consider is rudder pedals (especially for the helos and WW2 birds). I use MFG Crosswind pedals which also works great in both Arma and Elite Dangerous. They are in the same price range as the Warthog though... Whatever you get, just make sure you get pedals with toe brakes.

Thanks for the information, it's really helpful. And as for the pedals, I'm not sure I want to put as much money into pedals right now as I'm just getting into it, so I am thinking of either getting the Saitek Rudder Pedals or Combat Rudder Pedals, which would you recommend? I've been told that Saitek/Mad Catz have bad product quality but they seem like pretty decent pedals for now.

[Hadji]

I think the Combat Rudder pedals are good entry level pedals. My buddy is using them and he is very happy with them.

[bour]

Originally posted by El Hadji:

I think the Combat Rudder pedals are good entry level pedals. My buddy is using them and he is very happy with them.

Okay, cool, I'll most likely be getting them as my first pedals.