WarBirds Online - Complete Beginner's Guide

Lt.Col USAF (Ret) "Wild Bill" Stealey's step-by-step guide for setting up and playing WarBirds online. Includes setting up Teamspeak voice, configuring controls, doing qualification and combat training flights, and getting in-game training from the WarBirds trainers.

What To Do as a New Player in WarBirds? - Setup

A Guide to setting up your WarBirds and getting some early training!

1) Purchase the game on Steam.

2) Start the game installed by Steam - just to make sure the install worked! If it doesn't, see steps 6 and 7.

3) Download Teamspeak 3 client from www.Teamspeak.com

4) Set up Teamspeak using the following settings. The Server Password is “ient1995”



5) Make sure your mike and headset work using the Teamspeak Wizard. Now you can talk to other WarBirds pilots while you are learning.

Also make sure you use “Push to Talk” when the program prompts you from the Setup menu. I use the Left Control button for Talking. You can also set on your joystick or throttle using Input Mapper below.

6) IMPORTANT! Please turn off all programs operating in the background. Having Norton or other Virus Checker/Blocking software can both block you from going online, can drop you when you are playing online, slow down your frame rate, and do other bad things to both the install and operating the game.

a. For Mac Users: Turn off all Background programs from iTunes to Virus Checkers.
b. For PC users. Go to Start menu, locate the box for searching, and type “MSCONFIG”.
c. A Menu comes up with Startup as one of the Tabs.

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7) Open Startup Menu.
a. As in the bottom picture above you can see check boxes showing all the programs that open when you start your computer.
b. Uncheck all but any .dll and anything is you don’t need immediately to run WarBirds.
c. You will have to restart to make all this true.
d. Programs regularly reset themselves to start with the computer. I check this every week.

8) Open WarBirds from icon on your desktop or from the Start/iEntertainment/WarBirds 2015 on your Start menu.

9) When WarBirds loads to the main Splash screen with the aircraft and name on it, find the Settings Tab on the bottom or right side of the screen and double click. You will get the menu below.

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10) Go to Video Settings.
a. I would set Low Quality graphics until you determine how good/fast is your graphics card is. If you have a really powerful graphics card with at least two megabytes of dedicated video memory, you can try High Quality.
b. You want to have at least 30 Frames per Second for good flying.

11) Now choose Sound Settings and open the link.
a. Unclick the Background music if you don’t want to hear it.
b. Here you can change the volume on any sound you would like.
c. I always turn down the engine noise so I can hear TeamSpeak and get good bullet sounds on my aircraft so I know if I am getting hit.

12) Go to Controller Settings and open it.

13) Under Number 1 below, make sure the View Horizontal and View Vertical are Toggled off. If you don’t you will get strange stuck views in directions you do not want!

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a. Please note that your Controller should be shown here. Note my CH Fighterstick USB is for the Roll and Pitch.
b. My Yaw (nose left and right) is my CH Product’s Rudder Pedals.
c. My Throttle is my CH Pro Throttle.
d. Move your stick around and you should see it move in the yellow box. Number 3 in picture above.
e. Lastly leave your joystick in the center, make sure any sliders are centered, and click on Center Joystick (number 2 in picture above). Sometimes when you are flying the center gets off. Just press F12 to center joystick while flying (make sure you are not holding the joystick with any force in any direction).
f. IMPORTANT! Make sure you click on the Save Changes box in the Bottom Right of the screen before you leave this screen!

14) Open Input Mapper

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15) Note the list of commands under VIEW.
a. Highlight Look up.
b. Click on “PRESS TO CHANGE CONTROL on control 2.
c. Now press a key that you want to assign to Look Up.
d. To Test the key, press Key Lookup.
e. It will ask you to press a key.
f. Press the key you assigned to Look UP.
g. It should see Key assigned to Look up.

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16) Now you should use the same procedure to set other commands on your Joystick and Throttle.
a. I would suggest setting these commands on your joystick.

• Under the View Commands, I would set “Zoom In” and “Zoom Out”.
  
• Confirm your hat switch works for Look Forward Up, Left, Right, and Back. If not use input mapper to make the hat switch work that way.
  
• Under Gunnery and Bombing, make sure you set “Fire Guns” and “Fire Secondary Weapons” to keys you want to use for these functions. I set the Trigger to Fire Guns and a button near the Trigger to the Fire Secondary Weapons.
  
• Under Miscellaneous, Note the Effects File below. Click on that and you will multiple effects file. The Zvezda files are the most graphic intense. Use them if you have a very powerful graphics card. If you have an older graphics card, choose Stock Effects.
  
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• Note in the bottom right in the picture above the Mouse Click Behavior. I choose “Call Six for Player” for a mouse Left Click. So if an enemy is behind someone on your team, you can use the mouse to warn him. Clicking on his icon will cause your teammate to hear “Check Six” and he will know to dodge the enemy!

b. Click on SAVE CHANGES in the Bottom Right of this screen!

What To Do as a New Player in WarBirds? - Learning to Fly

17) Also most WarBirds players go to their Start/Computer/C:/iEntertainment Network/Setting file and right click and copy to a Save folder on their desktop.
a. That way if they ever have issues with their settings or have to download the game again, they can copy this SAVED Setting file right back into the install.
b. You get all the setting set by you in the Input Mapper back into your game just as you set them!

18) You should now be ready to learn to fly.

19) I would go to the Training Menu and try flying the “CheckOut”
a. This program will teach you many of the controls of WarBirds. Try it a few times until you know all the controls in this section.
b. If you think you know the controls, try the “CheckRide” option. You will be tested in this program. If you pass you probably know enough to go online.
c. If you do not get enough training in “CheckOut” go back to the Training Menu and pick any lesson you want to practice.

20) If you feel ready to try Air to Air Dogfighting, pick “Free Flight” from the menu on the right.

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21) Pick a terrain. In this example, I picked Europe.

22) You will open to a screen like the screenshot below.

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23) Note I have selected the Invulnerable and the Unlimited Ammo Choices.

24) I have also selected the Offline Game Mode link.

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25) I would start with Target Drones and later try Air Attack to practice your air to air combat without getting killed.

26) When you are practicing Offline, remember to click on the LCOS button as shown below. It will get you a Lead Computing Box (in the circled area below on the P40) that shows you where you must aim to hit the real aircraft which is behind and below where you must aim. This Lead Computing Gunsight is only available offline but can be a big help to learn to hit targets!


27) YOU ARE READY TO GO ONLINE!
a. Put your login and password into the Play Online dialog box as shown below.
b. As a new player you will only see the Special Training Arena highlighted.
c. We have made the Combat Qualification Arena specifically for new pilots so they will not be shot down right away.

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28) When you are online in the Combat Qualification Arena, you will see the Map Screen Again.

29) You will be in a P51D with Bombs and Rockets.

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30) Note the aircraft above and note the HVAR (Rockets) and 250 lb GP Bombs (2).
a. Click on the Green Airplane to Fly!
b. You will be airborne and ready to bomb.
c. Note the color on the bottom right of the screen. It is GREEN. You are a Green Team Member. All the enemies are computer controlled (AI) and all Human are Green.
d. In this arena no human players will try to shoot you down!

31) Press F1 to get the Map.
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32) Press Shift [ or ] to change the zoom on the map so you can see where the fields are to bomb.
a. Below is a Zoomed Map.
b. Note your position which is circled in Red Below.
c. The Arrow shows your heading (in this example, south).
d. The Red field, Fs5, is a good field to attack.
e. You will have to turn around and head north to attack Fs5.

33) You might want to turn on your HUD in the top left and right of the screen by Pressing “Cntrl H”.
a. You can change the colors in the HUD to see it better by pressing Control H numerous times! (There are 4 different colors available).
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34) Now we are ready to attack!

35) Note the indicator below that is circled. This shows what weapon is primary.
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a. If you press “backspace” you can change weapons.
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b. You can choose bombs here too!
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c. Now we must aim the weapons. Here I am shooting the rockets. Note the X below the target. It shows where the weapon should hit based on your speed and angle. (This is only available in the Combat Qualification Arena!)
d. Notice the x on the hanger. Although the aiming reticle is above the hanger, gravity will make the rocket hit where the white x is!
e. You can fly these missions over and over again. Just press “Quit Flight” in the bottom right of the flying screen and go again.
f. Continue to practice until you can hit targets with rockets, bombs, and guns.
g. Here you can also try to dogfight with the Red planes. Find them on the map and fly to them. Remember they will fight back so get in and get out!
h. GOOD LUCK and KEEP PRACTICING!

What To Do as a New Player in WarBirds? - Text Radio

36) Text Radio Procedures.
a. To open the text bar, just press the right (forward) slash (/). The numbers to the right are the Radio Channels.
b. The 102 channel is the Green Channel. Typing in the black space (see my message in the bar above!) sends your text to all Green Players.
c. Channel 110 is for your Squadron when you join a Squadron online.
d. Channel 100 sends text to all players online.
e. Channel “WLDBIL” is a private channel that just sends message to an individual, in this case me!
f. After you pick your channel (with the mouse or with the (/, shift /, alt /, or ctrl /) you just type in the box and press enter!

What To Do as a New Player in WarBirds? - Online Training from Humans

37) After you feel you have practiced enough make sure you take advantage of our Online Trainers.
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a. Trainers are in the training arena every Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 2100, and may go as late as 0100 hours USA East Coast time.
b. You can also email [e-mail] to ask for a special training time.

38) YOU ARE READY TO COME ONLINE WITH ALL THE OTHER REAL PILOTS!

39) I would recommend you email one of the Squadrons and join a Squad. It is a great way to learn WarBirds without getting shot down so much!
a. Go here to find a Squad: http://www.totalsims.com/squadrons.php


CHECK SIX AND SALUTE!

JW "Wild Bill" Stealey
CEO iEntertainment Network
Co-Founder MicroProse Software
Lt. Colonel, USAF Retired
Command Pilot - USAF
Aviator and Gamer
[e-mail]
Phone [phone]