There are a couple of new help guides out there that you may want to know about. DCS: CH-47F gets an early access guide ahead of launch which gives us a good look at features and capabilities as well as checklists to work through. We also have Chuck who has released his latest Chuck’s Guide for the DCS: F-15E. Chuck talks about the guide and about the ongoing saga with ED/RAZBAM in his launch of the guide so we’ll look at that too. Let’s go!

Get the CH-47F guide

Eagle Dynamics has released an early access guide for the DCS: CH-47F. It’s an 142 page document with quite a bit of information in it. There’s an overview of the aircraft’s history and development and then quite a bit on operation of the CH-47 in DCS World.

There were some features that I was curious to see how well it was covered and how much was not. There are pieces that I’m impressed with and obviously some stuff that’s not present just yet because its early access. There is a CDU (which you airliner folks may know as a FMS or MCDU) in this helicopter which lets you build flight plans for the aircraft. There are sections for procedures and patterns, however, these are not in early access.

Moving on to trim, we saw that some forms of trim was a feature that wasn’t in early access, however, it appears to be the more advanced functionality that isn’t in. A basic force trim system is present and that should be sufficient to keep the aircraft flying correctly without needing to be on the controls at all times. Good!

I was also curious to see what the cargo load management looked like. It does appear that we have a basic system in place with the armament and fuel loading page being extended with two additional windows showing available and loaded cargo. Load order matters so you if have four cargo pallets loaded, you may need to unload one if its in the middle of the package.

The guide also confirms external cargo carriage with sling loading, countermeasures, and RWR/MWS operation.

So I’m pleased to see these features here while acknowledging that this will be an early access release with a bunch of features that won’t be present. Minimum capability is important and some of these features are looking good. There are still many questions around damage models and just how much cargo capability will be baked in but we’ll have to cross those bridges when we come to them.

Chuck’s Guide for the F-15E is out

If you’ve been around DCS at all over the last several years, you’ll know about Chuck and Chuck’s Guides which have become essential reference and reading for quite a wide variety of modules. Having one of his guides on hand while learning a module has been essential for my own learning.

His latest contribution is to the F-15E. Because of the modules current troubles, the release timing may seem unusual but I like Chuck’s description of the situation.

This project was a roller coaster from start to finish. Two cockpits, many heavily-integrated systems modelled to an unprecedented depth, RAZBAM-gate, a community ever-hungry for anything Eagle-related… and much more. It was a difficult endeavour to say the least, but your shared excitement to see it all come to fruition is what kept me going throughout these last months of sheer insanity.

This is probably a somewhat controversial decision, but I have chosen to publish the document regardless of the outcome of the ED-RAZBAM situation for posterity’s sake more than anything. Even if hundreds of man-hours go to waste, I would rather share with the community what the DCS F-15E is/was meant to be as a sort of digital museum in pdf form.

Chuck on r/Hoggit

I empathize with Chuck on the hours spent alone. His guides take a lengthy period of time to write and after pouring those hours in, I think as a creator you want to see other people see your efforts even if the module itself becomes unusable in the future.

Chuck’s F-15E Guide is now available for download on his website.