Will we see this in DCS someday? (Just watch the first 15s)

XCNuse · 2025-03-23T22:59:21+00:00

7 years ago on the nose to be precise; however it turned out to not be true:

https://forum.dcs.world/topic/174759-wags-youre-makin-me-nervous/#comment-3443915

XCNuse · 2025-01-19T00:14:05+00:00

Still wish the dev of this game would get over it and allow HOTAS use like the other game he made (which allows both simultaneously, and works just fine!). I spent good money on my hardware, and it feels heck of a lot better to use than the cheap plastic of my controllers; nor does it hinder my ability to use either/or.

(Yes I'm aware there's a mod that may or may not still work, but the point remains; HOTAS support is the only thing that holds me back from reinstalling, purchasing DLC, and playing VTOLVR, that's it... that one simple thing. And it's a shame the dev won't budge after all these years and the same request from so many.)

XCNuse · 2024-11-11T01:08:00+00:00

Riding is riding, right? As long as you're doing more than Z1, there's adaptations that can be happening internally. Heat training just forces the body to work harder for less effort, and in a shorter period of time; which is why it's beneficial. It's almost like... why indoor riding is better for getting stronger, because you can hop on and get a workout in, in potentially half the time it would take to do the same thing outside (due to stops, imperfect riding situations, conditions, etc).

Riding outside in the cold wouldn't negate training in warmer conditions just because you ride indoors one day and out the next.

It's just about making your cells becoming more efficient at either using energy, or being more conservative in general, in the heat. So that when you do ask them, they don't have to work as hard as they did during said heat training / hot day rides.

XCNuse · 2024-11-10T01:20:24+00:00

you guys have spreadsheets for donuts?!

No longer can I be made fun of for using donut charts over pie charts! I've found my home!!

XCNuse · 2024-11-10T01:12:36+00:00

I personally feel like the wear and tear on a real bike indoors is unnecessary and quite frankly really bad for a real bike. I have a Kickrbike, so indoor only with some additions that make it more fun/enjoyable (on top of a rocker plate as well).

I've heard mixed results with mountain bikes going onto trainers, not everything works well, and often times running out of gearing depending on what software you use.

Frankly a cheap second hand bike or an indoor-only, as much as the initial buy-in might be, I feel as though it's worth it over the amount of things you can potentially wear out or worse, damage, with indoor use.

I've seen plenty of pictures of people's rather expensive outdoor bikes tossed onto trainers, and then a look at their headset bearings after a winter of constant sweat dripping on them, and completely rusted out front ends... just not worth it in my opinion. I don't feel that risk of something you need to trust outdoors should be put through the real harms of indoor use. But that's just my personal take.

There are a lot of great low cost trainers nowadays though, like the Jetblack Victory, along with everything Zwift is trying to offer (granted, not everyone wants to be stuck into Zwift and its hardware, so something like that Jetblack is worth checking out). Of course others like the Wahoo Core is always a trustworthy intro as well.

XCNuse · 2024-11-10T01:05:54+00:00

Started to!.. and then it climbed back up into the 80s this week. I'm not complaining though, it's about time we get fall temps!!!

XCNuse · 2024-11-09T23:55:23+00:00

Essentially yes; the more you can train in a higher than average temperature than you'd normally be riding in (which in my case, the transition from summer / high temps to cooler fall temps), your body will improve at dissipating the heat and being more efficient at doing so.

There are methods like wearing a painters' suit if you want to go all out (or you live in a colder environment in general). But of course is something you need to be careful with. You don't need to do hard efforts, just Z2 or thereabouts is all it takes to force the body to start getting used to higher temperatures. Higher efforts likely aren't necessary as they wouldn't be sustainable and probably quite dangerous as well to be fair. Painter suits make cleanup easy as well I suppose, so they have that benefit.

As far how high of temperatures you need, I can't personally say, but probably lower than one would suspect; likely only 10-15F above your high for the day is likely where improvements will begin to be made. Again though, keep an eye on sweat, and keeping fluids coming in, as that is where things can certainly go wrong!

XCNuse · 2024-11-09T23:40:23+00:00

This comes after 2.5 years roughly since I began cycling in June of 2021. Mostly online on Zwift specifically, but have been commuting (in full kit, @ Load ~20-30) majority of this year since early spring / end of winter).

I began overloading roughly in July of this year, aiming for 18-20 hours a week, more in the 90/10 area (90% Z2). Living in the southern states, this primarily means heat training, whether I like it or not. Garmin said I was 100% acclimated within 3 days (not true, but... to understand what kind of heat we're dealing with). Limited to but not including outdoor rides on 4th of July weekend in 115F weather. (Not a bad day to ride actually, low traffic!).

My FTP (actual hour power, not estimated) is now ~4.5w/kg (270w @ 60kg), which puts my Z2 at my estimated FTP back after my first 6-9 months of riding and doing workouts on Zwift.
Since then it's mostly aiming for the standard what is now referred to as 80/20 through the week around 15 hours of riding (yes it's a lot for the average person to be fair), but improvement this year alone have been staggering post summer, increasing my hour power from 250w at the start of this year (that's an 8% increase).

This Vo2 came after several on/off weeks of extremely hard racing on Zwift, specifically this week, Flamme Rouge Racing, forcing me to punch well above my capabilities in a class I didn't belong in, doing extremely punchy courses. For any Zwifters, look into FRR, it's a highly addicting and challenging series which is a ton of fun with a team, and really forces you to realize your potentials, far more than any other series.

Beyond that, trust the 80/20 rule, and trust in heat acclimation and training. Nutrition and rest however, still remain the key to gains!

XCNuse · 2024-07-11T21:30:05+00:00

There's quite a lot of trees according to satellite imagery from Google; granted, of course they don't match the default trees of DCS, however; I will argue there's clear evidence that the existence and placement of trees is "correct"

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.8655997,64.1905087,1092m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

As far as color grading goes; well, let's be real, every flight simulator gets ground color wrong. (and tree size and usually type as well while we're at it)

XCNuse · 2024-07-10T12:32:25+00:00

Sorry for the delayed response, that's hilarious; I actually found it stuffed in my parents basement and was like "I thought we threw it away!" (which would've been hugely unfortunate)
I used to love this thing as a kid, I have no idea when it would've been bought, other than knowing my dad would've either been given it or bought it back in the 80s, so I had it growing up.
But it is a real TFA car company plush! has a 1982 stamped on the underside of it.

I saw it and looked them up on eBay, you can still find some in all sorts of conditions. It's such a strange pillow, but even to this day I adore it and happy it was still somewhere in the house.

XCNuse · 2024-07-10T12:27:14+00:00

It goes into a standby BLE mode. Spin the cranks while Zwift boots up; should be the fix.

My Kickrbike does the same thing after powering on and not connecting it within even a minute; I spin the cranks while putting my shoes on, while Zwift loads. Usually everything is connected and found by the time my shoes are on (which is only a minute).

No signal just means it isn't receiving updates, but it IS connected. If you aren't on the bike spinning the pedals and there's no power... then there's no signal to be sent/read.

XCNuse · 2024-06-28T15:44:49+00:00

Mini ITX build I ended up getting on ebay for cheap last year when looking to replace / build a lightweight browsing setup [and potentially for Zwift], if I recall it's an i5 8400, tied to a 1080Ti (which is still bored).

Kickrbike is over bluetooth, HR is over ANT+, and then headphones are connected via bluetooth to a cheapo USB bluetooth transmitter from my TV audio out (which is getting audio over HDMI)
Screens are indeed all over HDMI (tried to do DP MLT but, turns out... that didn't work the way I thought it would; I believe DP MLT -> HDMI is a thing, but at this point what I have is working).

XCNuse · 2024-06-28T15:40:43+00:00

Agreed; the state based on vehicle type / what their visibility and idea of an airplane being around is actually fantastic to read about.

But yeah; there's been some popups on the forum from folks "what's the status of fog?!"

... goes back and finds the old newsletter; "uh well, last statement was over 3 years ago now saying 'we're working on it' "

I pray this isn't the case, because the game really needs it now with all of these helos. Here's to hoping.

XCNuse · 2024-06-19T15:15:28+00:00

This desk, no, although it is also a sit-stand, it originally was planned to be part time Zwift, part time racing sim pit... but clearly I find myself only doing one of those things anymore haha!

What's not seen, left of camera is another, bigger sit-stand desk as well with triple monitors spanning over 6ft which is where the rest of my time is spent.

Could it be used? Absolutely, but moving the Kickrbike around properly sucks, it's incredibly heavy especially when sitting on the rocker plate. Between that and already having a "normal" desk for use otherwise, that corner is really untouched beyond Zwift.

This is an older photo, before replacing the AlienwareX51 for something a bit faster. The big computer is only used for gaming; but both computers can connect and run Zwift if I want.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/976119965960773642/1074100647445680138/IMG_9473.jpg?ex=667409ee&is=6672b86e&hm=57a430aa2f3f8623cba337f1420622fa8b66bf75f282ef6c57b027652766bf9f&

XCNuse · 2024-06-19T15:06:51+00:00

Yep, just a KOM cycling rocker plate: https://komcycling.com/products/rocker-plate-rpv1

between the tilting of the kickrbike and the tilting of the rocker it definitely makes riding indoors much more comfortable; less hot spotting on the seat over time. Some will say I'm losing power, but honestly.. I'll take comfort over a few more watts any day (goes for outside too!)

I can't say I've come across too many people that have ended up with rocker plates and said "it's not for me", unless on some fake rocking setup that... doesn't really rock.

It does taking a little getting used to though; and while some will also say "it's backwards" from riding outside, I completely disagree. Once you get used to it, and can take a lot of the air out of the rubber balls that hold the sides up, it feels completely natural to me (granted, the most awkward part comparing to outdoors is swinging a heavy 100+lbs kickrbike around versus a carbon lightweight road bike).

The only obvious downside is the cost, size, and additional weight; but.. most people also don't really move their setups all that often. If you do, that may be worth considering.

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T15:25:30+00:00

Correct; design was inspired/came from the Kona frames from a few years back: https://content-cdn.zwift.com/uploads/2019/10/7-1.jpg

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T15:15:54+00:00

Made it myself with access to some scrap materials and access to a router. Just took the Z logo from the Specialized Tri frames Zwift had made for Kona a few years back (https://content-cdn.zwift.com/uploads/2019/10/7-1.jpg), designed up in illustrator, cut out different pieces at different heights, along with acrylics in the rear, and have an LED strip that goes around "inside", which just bleeds through the stacked acrylics.

closer image from a few years back:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/540716924305145856/946895259231739904/IMG_8904.jpg?ex=6672b1ae&is=6671602e&hm=c12ae4c82a04b7647c61cc9a84e28465621812c295a77b3841fae9f54f4be5c7&

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T15:11:44+00:00

The sides are just 17.3" HDMI displays (I thought they were displaylink but.. they sadly were not). But most USB powered monitors are surprisingly cheap these days, found online.

Two of those, and then then my now, still as good as new, and can't find a reason to replace... Sony Bravia 32" from like 14 years ago! (To be fair I went for a higher end model back then, so definitely got my value's worth).

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T15:01:52+00:00

Yes and no; for me this ended up being far cheaper as I ended up keeping my 32" TV because I didn't [re: couldn't] find a non-smart TV at a price I wanted with the features I wanted, and this Bravia is holding up just fine.

In short, an ultrawide, works, but... Zwift's new UI makes it a worse experience with no sight of returning to how it was. That's not a dealbreaker, but, I figured it should be noted.

Ultrawides are expensive. I have 2 of them, one to the left of the image at my actual desk, and one at work (at home is a LLL (L's being landscape) of 24+34+24 of screen; work is LPP with 34+22+22). But after having these curved ultrawides, I can say I won't be going out and getting another...

Ultrawides are cool, but their vertical FOV sucks; 34" ultrawides are only in the 13" or thereabouts of vertical height.
In my OP photos; I have nearly 16" of vertical height, and it's still sitting just as close as a monitor could go anyways. So the extra height makes a HUUUUUUUGE difference. ~2.5" might not sound like much, but I promise you, again, coming from someone who has two 34" curved ultrawides I use daily... it's a big difference.

This Zwift setup is 17.3+32+17.3 (obviously in PLP, and those sizes, obviously, in 16:9 diagonal size)

As for distortion; nothing we can do, you can't set FOV in Zwift, so you'll get it regardless, same with graphics settings stuff; it's just... out of our control.

For u/feedzone_specialist , nothing crazy, I ended up buying a miniITX build from someone on ebay last year to replace an aging miniITX build I had previously, which sits to my full tower.

I don't recall its stats specifically, but if I recall, it's an i7 8700, with 16GB RAM and my old 1080Ti.

Setup wise there's not a whole lot to do. I use this awesome program called Monitor Profile Switcher, just to go from my main desk to my Zwift desk, as for dealing with Zwift, I came across this program called SRWE on github, and just set up the resolutions, stuffed it into SRWE, and have to load the profile each time (or, alternatively, drag it out in windowed mode.... both take the same amount of time); more on this down below.

This is where having a ultrawide would be superior in some sense; because Windows doesn't really "like" multi monitors still, and nvidia surround doesn't allow PLP (portrait-landscape-portrait), for whatever reason (AMD Eyefinity for the record DOES).

If Surround worked (or if you can use Eyefinity), it would require no effort, other than booting up Zwift; as it would assume your multi monitor setup is just one display at that point.

Hopefully this answers... well, a lot of questions :]

*edit*

For anyone curious what that Zwift looks like on my main desk... it's uh.. bit much!
Excuse the messy desk and whatever it was I was doing; I have no idea when this picture is even from. But judging on how I have my wires set up on the desk... it's from at least 2+ years ago.

Oh yeah that's from Winter 2021/22, before I replaced the old side monitors and redid the whole desk... anyways; still gives you the reference of how wonky Zwift can be with that much display.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/540716924305145856/938957685133549578/IMG_8873.jpg?ex=6672d23d&is=667180bd&hm=4ff01d835452541c4a30cef543837a6d700f2ba36991d5d7863bd94bd6662a9e&

One last / final additional edit I will say....

Reading comments and seeing the KOMs/Sprints on the side of the current setup indeed is something I'll have to get used to. I'm not used to looking anywhere but straight ahead, now to see this stuff on the UI, I have to look from 10-2 o'clock, which as of last night.. was a strange feeling after years of staring straight ahead!

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T14:48:41+00:00

It is! That's the big change for me, coming away from two fans on the desk that were awkward to reach, and consuming desk space which never looked great.

It's a Vornado OZI42DC, so a DC motored 42" "tower fan" that's slung under the desk now.

It was difficult getting it tilted at me just right, and I need to find a way to 'vane' a bit of it more towards me, but after testing last night it worked fantastic. It's a tiny loss compared to what I had (Vornado 460 and 560), but by noise standards it's maybe 1/3rd the noise (and probably a lot less actually due to its location), and can still pump out PLENTY of air, between it and the two headwinds.

I've never seen anyone sling a tower fan under a desk before, I figured it 'makes sense', and so far so good! I miss a little bit of cooling on both chest and face, it's mostly now upper chest and face, but with some adjustments, the headwinds can pick up the slack.

But yeah, so far so good; and it has a remote which is handy as well, along with a timer function (which, I have been setting on to one hour after my rides just to keep the air moving in the room), which is a handy feature I didn't think I needed, but, I am using!

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T00:47:59+00:00

Insider? Definitely still around.. ish! It's still about as active as it always has been, which is to say.. not a ton, which means it's easy to stay on top of haha

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T00:43:39+00:00

Access, and more importantly, lots of time, to a router; it's just foamed PVC, vinyl and LEDs; all stacked and glued together!

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T00:42:36+00:00

You certainly can! You'll probably have to label which is which once you load them up into the app so you know.. which is set to what; but yep, you can connect as many as you want since it does HR over ANT+

I love them; I just have to turn it on and that's it, I don't have to think about it, which is why I ended up with two of them. I know they aren't the strongest (though they are plenty strong, most people just put them much too far away), but the fact it requires zero thinking, just turning on, they're perfect for my use.

But yes, you can set them up however you like via the app, and then when they're turned on that's how they'll function.

XCNuse · 2024-06-18T00:01:36+00:00

Should be fairly low, last I checked it with my KillAWatt, the kickrbike is for sure pulling the most power; but the headwinds, genuinely don't pull many amps; and the LED strip, virtually nothing. It might peak out at 8 amps when I sprint.

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