DCS VR 4K | F-15E Strike Eagle | Burning Skies US | Bed Time.. CAS Time!

It’s night time on the Burning Skies command center server currently running the Sinai map. Tonight I’ll be flying a close air support mission targeting a command bunker and any enemy forces in the area. A minor correction from the video being that I called a Strella an SA 8 instead of an SA 13.
For those interested, to clear up the blur of NVG's..
This will not pass integrity checks for Pure Client so you need to play on a server which does not enforce Pure Client. I also suggest using a mod manager such as OVGME or Open Mod Manager as this will get overwritten when DCS updates. It also allows you to quickly remove it if you wish to fly on a server which would not allow it.
in your DCS directory, navigate to:
bazar/shaders/PostEffects/
edit the file: NVD_HDR.fx
At line 65, change it to match the following (just changing the numerical value to 0.05):
#define FOCUS_DISTANCE 0.05
Mods Used:
Better Smoke:
www.digitalcom...
Echo19 Core Ultimate:
echo19audio.gu...
Main System Specs:
AMD 7950X3D
ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero (WiFi 6E)
PNY RTX 4090 XLR8 Gaming VERTO Overclocked Graphics Card
645 G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO RGB Series SDRAM DDR5 6000
SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2
Additional Device List:
Varjo Aero
PointCTRL
ButtKicker Gamer2
JetPad
VPForce Rhino Stick Base
Thrustmaster F/A 18 Grip
VKB STECS Max Throttle
Razer Tartarus v2 Gaming Keypad
SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless Gaming Headset

[@ScarDumb]

if you use obs to record i can highly reccomend a plugin i found for motion smoothing, it will crop the edges of the video (8%~) but it will stabalize the screen and make the vr recording not so nauseating!

[@StrIIker-TV]

Sounds great! Can you tell me what the plugin is called? I will happily give it a try. I usually do stabilization in Final Cut Pro (my video editing software) however this time I unfortunately neglected to do so and I guess it shows.

[@ScarDumb]

@@StrIIker-TV LiveVisionKit , i've used it with vr myself quite a bit. it works really well aslong as the framerate is stable and high (60)

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@ScarDumb thanks! I am giving this a try and will see how it works out. The demo video looks good

[@Kestrel38]

This was a great watch. Is the damage mod you mentioned on that server something of their own do you know? Or is it something that is available opensource?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hi there! Good to see you here and thank you for the kind compliment! The damage mod I mentioned is installed on the server. I had noticed that the bombs and missiles do some pretty nice damage.. much more than on other servers or offline missions. I asked Chazz (the server admin) about it and he said that he has a damage mod but it's just for the 2000 lb bombs. I suspect that it's possible that some of the other weapons have increased effects as I seemed to do better with some of the weapons on the Hornet as well.

[@Kestrel38]

@@StrIIker-TV Ive been stalking for a while :D - Yeah the weapon damage has been severely lacking in the Vanilla DCS engine. When you consider all of the effort and planning to put a warhead into a spot and the result is a tiny puff or a non destruction of something - its a real let down.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@Kestrel38 I definitely know that feeling! I know there is a mod for damage from bombs out there but I don’t know much about it. I think the one on Burning Skies may be a custom one derived from what’s out there. The 2000 lb bombs definitely have a lot more oomf to them and can significantly damage or destroy enemy near by. Personnel are particularly prone to splatter by these which is realistic. Soft skinned vehicles are also much more vulnerable as are lightly armored vehicles. I am not sure about the 500 lb bombs though. I feel at times like they do better but it may be my imagination.

[@jebb125]

great video, all the head movement is making me sick, did not finish it completely

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hah! I feel ya man! Actually, the head movement in general in my videos is the sole reason I include the "VR" in all of the titles. It's my way of warning people that the video is not the nice, stable videos from those shot in flat screen mode. I know it's not for everyone and can be less appealing than flat screen videos. Having said that, I don't post too many night videos for this reason. I find that I need to look around a lot more in general because I just don't have many visual cues to go by and I'm trying to figure out what's happening, which way the plane is oriented, etc. Also, in this video, it had been several weeks since I had really done much night flying and the loss of the Intel option had distracted me. But.. thank you for soldering through what you could and spending some of your valuable time in the process. I sincerely do appreciate your feedback. It helps me when I make these videos.

[@jebb125]

@@StrIIker-TV keep it up I learn much, as i dont have a lot of time with my book habits at work always has me in them, ( check rides). signed.. CHAPPiE...

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@jebb125 hey CHAPPiE! Great to see you! I know we were on the server together a few times recently. Last I remembered was the other day when you (I think it was you) were after that EWR site but you had some connectivity issues and dropped. I recall later that you were back on and took the site out. I actually liked the placement of the enemy for that one, in that little area surrounded by hills.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@jebb125 What do you work on? (if ya want to mention it here otherwise can chat later in game). Check rides.. Sounds familiar around aviation and probably other stuff.

[@jebb125]

@StrIIker-TV I kept getting timed out connection.. come back later and finally killed that site..lol.. I always get the timed out connection. Probably out 4mbps Internet at the house.. best that comes that far out in the sticks.

[@redtailpilot]

I've only flown a couple of times at night in the Mudhen (using the NAVFLIR). Which do you prefer, NVG or N/F? I use the Aero as well. Good tip on the LAW setting. I've never used it for anything other than low altitude (250 AGL and below).

[@StrIIker-TV]

Hi! Well, I actually prefer both. The Navflir is handy as it displays heat such as enemy exhaust, missiles etc. I found that using it at altitude has some helpful uses and so I often turn it on. On these servers, I turn it off when I need to see the dots indicating ground forces for a CDIP run as it can obscure them a little. I prefer the NVG's generally for flying at night as I can see everything much better. It was a love / hate thing for a while until I was able to get rid of the blur (using the instructions I provided in the description of the video). It was a pain to turn off and on a lot. It wasn't terrible and I managed but it has significantly enhanced my enjoyment of flying at night. Down side is it violates Pure Client checks so you need to be selective around which servers you want to fly on as you'd need to disable it (easy mode using a mod manager). The Low Altitude Warning maxes at 15,000 which is plenty. It's a handy thing to remind me that I am getting too low. I've taken many an Igla hit as a result when I get impatient and want to drop on a target without first extending (as I should be doing). Thankfully the Strike Eagle is a tank and shrugs off these hits (well, at least 1 hit is okay). I still forget to set it but I am glad I did when I do. 15k can be a little high as you will get yelled at a lot. I think I found 13 or 14 to be sufficient.

[@redtailpilot]

@StrIIker-TV awesome and thanks for the info and tips. So far, I've only played single player and messed around with the mission editor, but I'll keep that in mind if/when I go on the servers.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV So I applied the NVG fix and took the E up for a little night flying, just takeoffs/landings and exploring the area. I only intended to do no more than an hour, but before I knew it, three hours had passed! Flying around at night is a joy now. Thanks so much for sharing this incredible tip! Best of all, I can startup my planes now without using that flashlight (something I never liked in DCS). It's too bright and it times out due to the mouse cursor time-out (great for the cursor, not so great for a flashlight). Looking at the cockpit through the NVG feels better and more natural to me, now that the blur is gone! I'm going to do much more night flying now.

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@redtailpilot That's great to hear! It looks like you will be enjoying your aircraft much more now and that's the main thing! Do what you like and have fun doing it! I just posted another night video in the Strike Eagle. It's fun to fly at night now and then! Different looks, new challenges.

[@redtailpilot]

@@StrIIker-TV Yes! Another question since we both use the Aero. Have you had any success with Quad views foveated? I tried it again yesterday and still get the blurriness intermittently (calibrated the Aero also). So once again, I uninstalled it and went back to regular DCS MT. I'm not even sure if it's worth using now that we have Multi Threading, because I get great performance. Just an occasional noise or flash (not sure what that is).

[@shadowbob4183]

Are you using Pointctrl in this video?

[@StrIIker-TV]

Indeed I am! I use PointCTRL in all of my videos. There are a few where I also have a picture in picture view to show me in my simpit using PointCTRL. Here's a recent one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYjbo6ykia6ZiaMsi=H72Jma8BGUUX88tL and kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIfLhmNuq7CHa9ksi=BsgCSLYbjzrcwFM9 and there are a bunch more. Let me know if you have any questions.

[@bazyli23]

Is that NVG edit IC complaint?

[@StrIIker-TV]

No, it would break integrity checks, unfortunately. There are a few mods that I like to use so I typically look for servers which allow some of these mods to run. Unfortunately, Eagle dynamics has made it a case of where it’s either fully compliant or isn’t and they don’t allow server managers to selectively allow certain mods game to the core game.

[@StrIIker-TV]

I added additional detail for making the modification and also clarified that this will fail the Pure Client check. Thank you for asking. I had forgot that I wanted to provide this information.

[@bazyli23]

@@StrIIker-TV No problem! I used some NVG edits in the past before ED changed the whole shaders check. See you on the server. Kowalsky out o7

[@StrIIker-TV]

@@bazyli23Awesome! I've used Tacca's in the past but this one is particularly easy as it's just a single edit in the file which I like. I created a mod package for mod managers and drop it in when I am not on one of the picky servers. Great to see ya here and look forward to flying the unfriendly skies with you!