DCS F/A-18C Hornet In Flight HMD Alignment & Misalignment Errors!

[@Spudknocker]

Hopefully this video will help you guys correct for and fix any HMD errors you may have in the DCS F/A-18C Hornet. In my opinion the errors in the system really show the hard work Eagle Dynamics puts into modeling these systems to such a high detail, seeing a ground target drift over time with a misaligned HMD shows just how awesome the DCS F/A-18 really is!

[@vovochen]

thanks

[@Golden5er]

No Spud, this is actually not accurate at all. Icons will drift no matter if you align your HMD or not.

[@Iamgroot377]

A 17 min video to get 5 mins of viable information 😩 while i appreciate how thorough you are, i find myself having to f-fwd thru your vids just to get to the point. 🤣🤣🤣

[@watermanpc85]

HMD alignment is one of the coolest things ED has made for the Hornet. It really goes that extra mile in terms of inmersion, realism and atention to detail!. Amazing video btw!!

[@Spudknocker]

Absolutely! I can’t wait till it comes to the F-16!

[@watermanpc85]

@@Spudknocker Sure!!, me too :-)

[@general99411]

@@Spudknocker ive just got track ir 5 and set it up how i like it but even tho i line up the HMD evry time when starting the fa18 the center of the hmd never lines up with were my eyes are looking with track ir. If i move my head to were im looking to my 90degree lefet or right the fov is perfect with track ir but the hmd is offset to the right and down mitch makes designating ground target really stranning on the eyes any ideas

[@faelwolf1177]

I recently fine tuned my default head position in the sim so that with TrackIR in it's default position and paused, when I do the HMD alignment, The crosses are overlapped exactly. It's then pretty fast to align, just a long click, and two short clicks, and I'm good to go. The big bonus is that as I look around in flight, my default head position is also in line with the sim for everything, so I'm not getting any parallax issues with what I'm seeing vs, where the sim sees it. Getting everything set up where I wanted it, position and FOV vs seeing the HUD, etc. along with this was a bit of a chore, but it really was worth it! The trick is to get it as close as you can using the keys in the game (there are good guides for setting default/snap views) and then manually editing the .lua file in ED's saved games folder (don't edit the .lua in the main game folder) to get it dialed in the rest of the way. (There are guides for that too) Then when it's all done, back up that file!! You can create or use an existing runway start mission and use the alignment routine for the HMD so you don't have to go through the startup process to check alignment as you edit. (You'll be launching and closing the game a lot, this saves a heck of a lot of time) For that matter, use this to get it roughed in, too, so you can see the HUD as you adjust your head position to make sure you don't cut off the HUD data.

[@xurxotroche366]

Love the wear on those Spanish Hornets, pretty close to the real thing for sure! Awesome vid Spud, thank you for the explanations along the whole thing, loved it

[@Spudknocker]

Aweosme man I hope it helped you out!

[@jameswilliams1085]

I REALLY liked that you used the Spanish Air Force skin!!! Viva España!! Great video sir!!! Thank you!

[@Maverickf20]

Thanks a lot, I never aligned it because i never noticed any difference. Now I know!

[@rex_grey0813]

Great video. I had been wondering about time savers if I need to get airborne as fast as possible. Nice to know I could take off, and then align, if the situation requires.

[@Spudknocker]

Just keep in mind you have to fly nice and straight and level to align, cause of that I think it’s less time consuming to align your JHMCS on the ramp. But it can definitely done as you’re describing

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

7:01 Just hit the brakes and he'll fly right by!

[@aaronIBEW]

Nice video. I don't believe you need to press the TDC to lock in the fine alignment crosshairs for DX/DY and ROLL. I believe all you need to do is lineup the smaller cross hairs for DXDY then press the cage/uncage button and then line up the roll crosshairs. Once those cross hairs are aligned you just push the OSB button for align on the DDI. Let me know if you have experimented with with pushing the TDC button and not pushing the TDC button for fine alignment. I do not want to give any incorrect information but from other tutorials I have read and watched Including Chuck's guide this is what I came up with.

[@richjones859]

Wow well done, Pretty cool this is all simulated.

[@Spudknocker]

Thanks!

[@carlosmoliner2752]

Extremely useful, thanks!

[@arzhangsadeghi]

Dear Spudknocker what joystick curvature setting values resembles real F-18 joystick the best ?

[@SDlETRICH]

Do you know if this is irrelevant to VR users? This doesn't seem to work on my Index when I try to bring up the crosses.

[@WestriderzNRW]

No its relevant. I also use the Index. Do you press and hold the Cage/Uncage button like he said?

[@thekardinal848]

Agree with west rider. I use Reverb G2. you need to do it.

[@mjcandy9153]

If you use Auto-Start(Blasphemy, I know), do we have to independently align the HMD or will it be done for us?

[@Spudknocker]

I dont think its included in the Auto-start

[@mjcandy9153]

@@Spudknocker So we would just do the inflight BIT or is there a way to ground align it?

[@general99411]

@spudknocker ive just got track ir 5 and set it up how i like it but even tho i line up the HMD evry time when starting the fa18 the center of the hmd never lines up with were my eyes are looking with track ir. If i move my head to were im looking to my 90degree lefet or right the fov is perfect with track ir but the hmd is offset to the right and down mitch makes designating ground target really stranning on the eyes any ideas ?

[@RKDriver]

Pause your TrackIR to do the alignment.

[@10-ka59]

Хорошее видео! Спасибо!

[@ALPHARICCO875]

Super 👍 Thank you

[@mickyoloo9478]

Thanks alot spud...

[@Mako-sz4qr]

Appreciate it man 👍🏻

[@spitfire_7132]

You know I think this would help me a lot, if I could fight in the first place XD

[@EdadTace]

TLDR: You can use the HMD alignment in flight as well. I just save you 17 minutes.

[@DCSWorldGunGunGun]

Thanks

[@julianmorrisco]

I get the realism imperative but boy, this is a boring thing to have to do and I wish it wasn’t there.

[@Spudknocker]

Flying is hours of boredom marked by seconds of sheer terror! Haha

[@Ammoguy1]

Autostart-done.....