=VG= SemlerPDX

Thank you very much, Cobalt! I thought I was gonna be flying today, and my body was all "I don't think so, bucko!" - it's 6pm and I'm finally feeling better, so I'm hoping and praying I'll be there tomorrow. I LOVE the first days of the war!! Dodging SAM's and chucking spears at MiG's -- a little piece of heaven!

Definitely would like to see how this plays out. Jeffu and I hit some tank battalions in East Pyongyang and some A-10C's were also dropping bombs in the area. Static said he's been hoping to see this one to the end as well, so let's keep up the pressure!

Thanks for the notice! I've updated the server, it's back online, we tested mumble, all is well.

Announcement added here to website, upcoming calendar events added to home page (which would be an easy place for people to comment "I'll be there"), PR COOP TS3 Channel Description, and in-game MOTD updated, I assume it will go live on next server restart or maybe next mission load: "WELCOME! Join us November 11th 2017 for a Public PR COOP Event! Details at VETERANS-GAMING.COM" edit: when I updated the server just now, I did a mumble test with Kenji (who was in TS3) - before I left, I asked "you gonna be at the Event?" and he hadn't heard of it. Like Kav said, so many don't come to the website, so when you're playing, ask your friends and the people you play with if they are going to attend - if they've not heard of it, it's a good chance to direct them here to the website. I'm sure more than one will be impressed with the Mission Briefing that TEDF has prepared and we'll get more people joining it if we hype it a bit in-game over the coming weeks.

I will update the in game Message of the Day with a promo for the event. I will also put up an announcement here at the website linking to this thread. I've already added it to the calendar here, but it's not used and not pinned to the home page.. I might find a space for it above the chat. Kav and I were talking about hosting weekly training events for various games, not just PR, and the calendar would help with that. Anyway, didn't mean to get off topic.. We'll get some active promotion going for this event.

Because GameTracker is not perfect. It is a known bug in GameTracker - do not worry about it. All of those players are legit (except FastJack - he really is a bot )

Thank you for that clarification! Just wanted to know what I'm signing up for beforehand

So... this will be a PvP event?

No offense, but I'd still like to hear from Double what HE meant by this...

What exactly is that supposed to mean?

Are you unable to ban them? Please just ban them if you can.

^ This here... and ^ this here... I have no idea why you think it was a bad time to post this. I also want you to know this is not a disturbance. I do not understand why you think it is a disturbance, or a bad thing to post. I really hope you understand now any frustration I expressed above was in regards to the initial lack of details regarding this post. For example: I'm about to clean house and ban several people from the server that I did not know where playing here - people with the name Hitler - and I'm frustrated that this is the first time I'm hearing about recent players using this name. I'm NOT disturbed and I am NOT bothered that I have to deal with an issue or work with the server files or logs -- it is ALWAYS okay to report poor behavior on our servers!! "I did this, but HE did that - I got in trouble, but HE did not!" .... just gonna say this once: You are all not part of every warning or action or "talking to" that every other member receives. You also don't get to read every report I get from people other than you. If I spoke with Melon about that incident after receiving private reports, you all would not be informed of such reports or any actions I took. If you think I could even devote my own brain to remember such an event, you are mistaken - I deal with examples such as this as they come, and then I move on. When I receive a private report about someone and have to talk to them, I do not mention specific details FROM the report, such as the name of the person/people reporting or any details that would reveal such information whenever possible or appropriate. In this way, I hope that I am acting with the utmost professionalism and respect for all of you. Many of you know what I am talking about because it's very possible that people reading this thread (at least 3 for sure) have been talked to BY ME regarding something they need to improve, and NONE of you even know about who/when/why because I treat you all with respect and give you all the chance to improve your behaviors or attitudes during your time here. I CERTAINLY DO NOT make these matters public, especially when they involve a PR Admin, VG Clan Member, Server Manager or fellow Head Administrator. Furthermore, remember: It's not always what you say, but how you say it. Attitude is everything. If you act out, police yourself: don't to it again - cool off, and come back and don't do it again! Everyone gets upset sometimes, let's all do our best to keep those events as rare as they can be. It's not like "Melon gets a pass" -- YOU ALL GET A PASS! If you keep up, if you can't improve, like I said: you sign your own ban. Most everyone I've talked to after events that come to my attention has always chosen to improve and to do better. edit: I like to think I do a good job here, but I am always open to constructive criticism. Some people may wonder what it is that I do here, and this is it. Sometimes instead of playing games or chatting with friends, or working with the servers on the back end, I have to de-escalate high level matters directed at the upper management of this Clan, and ensure that people move forward appropriately, otherwise I have to ask them to leave (which doesn't necessarily involve a ban in every case). I deliberate with the other Administrators here as appropriate, and we form a consensus when applicable at times. This is my role. I love what BLuDKLoT and the others have built here so much that I would do anything to help it persist, including making the hard calls when necessary. Some of them got more busy, I have more time - so it defaulted to me to act as "OIC" when necessary. Just FYI. So, here's an example of where I'd like to express myself by ridiculing your statement in a humorous fashion (but in a friendly way), except that I feel I cannot do so because it will be lost in translation. I might sound like a dick, when I only wanted to make you and I laugh at something you wrote. Understand my general point using this example that when words are taken out of context, they can be incorrectly judged. In those cases, it's important that we all get more information, ask others what THEY though was meant by a person before taking action against that person. So, I will sanitize my words so they translate better: I have no idea what you are saying with this quoted statement. Please try again. ...but I'd rather just quote an Adam Sandler movie to be funny: "What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this thread is now dumber for reading it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." If a player deserves a kick, they get a kick. Again, we always give every player the benefit of the doubt, but we can only compromise so much. We have rules - they are posted - we have routes to get unbanned. Now, I'm gonna go ban every player that has the word Hitler in their name who has played on this server recently. I'm surprised, again, that this thread is the first I've heard of this. Those keywords were helpful, but if you see any specific trend forming, let us know and we can scan the logs for names with those keywords. Thanks for the reports!

*Keep in mind that there are certain COOP Maps that look cool, but do not work well online in COOP. The PR Admins know which maps cause frequent crashes, and which maps empty the server because players do not like them - so some of the deciding factors in our current Map Rotation Sets (1-4) include Stability, Playability, and/or Functionality. Here's all the current maplists (separated by large dividers) and you can feel free to edit it in Notepad - change some things around - and then send me a copy. I will run it by MelonMuncher and if he approves, we will make it a new rotation(s) on the server. Melon has to approve because he is the most involved and because he made all these COOP levels, knows which ones are stable enough to run, and knows which ones can empty a server (therefore knows which maps NOT to set as the starting map, for example).

It's your duty to report assholes who use squad names like that. We've made it clear in the past that these sorts of names are not allowed here. If you are witnessing this and not reporting it to in-game admins or with !R for the logs when no admins are online, then you are being complacent. You do not get to complain about such things when you allow them to persist by not reporting them. You give up that right when you become complacent. My duty is to put my size thirteen boot down the throats of dicks who use squad names like those. I can't do my duty if you don't do your duty.

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, I just spent another hour reviewing EVERY log for the past several days (albeit with nothing but vague inferences and no way to zero in on the chats that were so offensive) - imagine my surprise when I came up with little evidence of any wrongdoings. We love you all, and we're glad you all play here - none of us here are racists either, and there is certainly a level where "role playing" goes too far - don't think we are not aware of that.... but dude, we're not psychic. We need details! How productive is it to react like this? Hopefully it will be extremely productive! I'm really hoping this will sink in with you lot - if you want something done, you have to do something about it. To quote The Schnurr, "Hope is not an action plan", and you are "hoping" the violators of these rules are going to read your "reminder" thread. My disdain for vague reports that fall to dust when I review logs should be apparent - it's like you witnessed someone get beat to a pulp, then ran to the police to say, "You better do something about all these beatings!" -- while the police then say, "Who got beat? Where and when?! And why won't you tell us?" That being said, I am extremely pleased that Ranger >>>12<<< finally decided to be more forthcoming and posted up more information because I've got no patience for people who don't report bad shit going on around them. There is a report system in game - !R <player> <reason> - in real life, witnesses might rightfully fear for their lives but these are just video games -- use !R if you are a witness! We will curb the behavior. That's MY reminder to players here! It's very simple, soldiers: See something? Say something! I'm gonna try my best to stop random racism as reported but... If you think you can affect a proper change on the VG PR Server among the correct people with a little "reminder" post like this, you've got another thing coming! Be more professional in the future, and file a report like this properly instead of quoting a rule: State what happened, state when, state who (if possible, in private if not). We will always do our best to keep the server a clean, fun place to hang out. To all PR Admins: Please, if you hear or see someone chatting about this crap - even if it's in the spirit or "role playing" - tell them to take it down a notch and PTFO! Minor jokes are one thing, but persisting to the point where people feel like they need to report is going way too far. Set an example and don't let things go too far out of line. u are right. there are getting harder... this sounds like "we cant do anything, so shut up" No, basically I'm saying, "If you do not have times or dates, or people for us to investigate in the logs - if you can't even give us a keyword(s) or anything more than a vague concept of what is happening - if you cannot use the !Report to tag events you witness personally - THEN we will likely not be able to address the matter properly and the issue may persist" I am also saying, "if you don't provide more information, though we will try, we will not be in a position to watch out for anything or anyone's behavior, and therefore by very definition we cannot do anything." Keeping these servers clean is a two way street - if you want to do your part, hold off on the vague reports and "reminders" and use the report system in-game (or file a private report with a Head Administrator like TEDF, Melon, myself, BLuDKLoT, or even m823us). Once again: See something? Say something!

How productive is this thread? This "reminder"? How do you even know the person or people from the VG PR COOP you intend to "remind" will even see this random post here on the forums? If my tone sounds pissy, it's because over the 6 years I've been doing this, I've developed a pet peeve for people who address a problem on our server with the equivalent of "You got a problem on your server - but I won't tell you who/what/when". We know our rules - we're the ones who wrote them, and revised them over the years... What we need to know is who is violating those rules. If you provided this "soft report" because you don't want to single anyone out, or because the person is a PR Admin or =VG= Clan Member and you think we'll play favorites, you are wrong. While we don't immediately ban PR Admins or =VG= Clan Members on initial reports, we do investigate, and we do correct the actions of Admins or =VG= Members, and if they don't improve, they are basically signing their own ban slip. We can't be having racism or religious/political hostilities here, and I need to know who "forgot" about rule no. 5 if you want anything to improve -- passive aggressive "reminders" will not accomplish much, I guarantee it! Things like this don't just "go away". If you wrote this because you don't want anyone to get banned but you merely want the behavior to stop, I can understand that and can tell you that whenever possible, it's our goal to STOP things from happening, not to BAN every person we can from the game -- if we can address this issue by having a talk with the person who violated the rules, would you be happy with that? Maybe file a proper report (via private message if needed) with me or another Administrator here so I can look into it, and nip it in the bud.

Perfect! It really helps that you are already a sim-pilot with navigation experience, etc. This will cut the learning curve in half for you, or more. Once you get installed and configured, refer to the Docs folder in the BMS programs folder, it includes checklists and charts, and manuals including the Training Manual which corresponds to the in-game Training Missions found under Tactical Engagement (Training) No, we do not have an official structured training curriculum for BMS here at VG, but personally I am willing to give private lessons to interested pilots here. I'm currently working with Kavelenko and have no problem taking on another (especially considering that you have previous flight sim experience). I follow a lesson plan I drew up for myself over 6 years ago, and combined with the in-game lessons and materials, I feel it works very well (though I've been considering updating it due to the removal of tone example sounds in the Tactical Reference of BMS 4.33). I'm USA PST - My normal flight times online here are 1700-2300 ZULU -- sometimes I fly later, but I won't be doing training flights after 2300 ZULU

Just FYI, this is a Study Sim -- it's the real deal, and piloting this sim aircraft won't happen overnight. BUT you can jump right into a hot cockpit in the air in Instant Action to get familiar and have some fun! The F-16 real life avionics data was declassified and therefore this simulator comes closer to real life operations than any other. On top of getting a control scheme set up that you can work with (preferably as close to 1:1 approximation of the real F-16's flight stick and throttle buttons), you will need to teach yourself everything from powering up the jet to understanding the various screens and MFD pages, combat modes, navigation procedures, basic fighter maneuvers, brevity words (i.e. Winchester; Bingo; FLOT; Buddy Spike; etc.) and then eventually weapons training where each weapon system is a rabbit hole in and of itself. The sim includes many training missions, and between them, after a certain point, we can train a little bit together with our friends online - but mostly, there's a LOT of homework. Merely wanted to prepare you for the difference between a PC game and a simulator such as this - anyone willing to put in the time to read, watch some videos, and follow the offline training missions is more than capable of learning the F-16 in this sim - but some of us do make it look easy on the surface, and it would be unfair for me to not mention the weeks it will take before you will feel confident to take combat actions in the bird when instructed (i.e. Fence In; Music On; Clear to Engage Ground Targets; Engage Bandit at BULLSEYE 340 for 8 miles; Clear to land on ILS Runway 18; etc.). Best of luck with the initial technical setup and config - again, any questions, feel free to ask!

Yea, it was GOLD, now it's Collection. Just get the Falcon Collection from Steam or Gog.com (*currently same price) Now, you only need to install Falcon 4.0 which is part of that collection of games. Hope you have enough hard drive space, PC games from the late 1990's took upwards of 600 MB If it's cheaper to get Falcon 4.0 by itself, that's just fine (so long as it's not Falcon 4: Allied Force, because that won't work) Any questions, feel free to ask. Good luck!

*EDIT: For online connection to the VG BMS Server located in Kansas USA, you must be able to achieve >=2048 Mbps Up/Down to Kansas with a Ping less than 300 If all that is good, and you want to get started, go buy Falcon 4.0 (often part of a collection, on Steam it's Falcon Collection) and install only Falcon 4.0 - then follow instructions to download and install Falcon BMS. Due to it's age of 18 years, installation of the BMS mod for Falcon 4.0 requires specific instructions: http://www.unitedoperations.net/wiki/BMS_Configuration_and_Setup

This is because GBU's can still be released in a non-Guided manner -- but those are actually Laser Guided Bomb Units (GBU's) and like Jeffu said, I was referring to GP Bombs (General Purpose) such as the Mk-82 or Mk-84. "Dumb" bombs. I tried to take you on a training mission last week where we would have covered the basics of the A/A (Air-to-Air) FCR (Fire Control Radar), basic maneuvering and max G's in CAT III (Category 3 - means G force turns are limited to 4.5 G's due to the stores configuration) -- and we would have made it to our target to learn a little about the A-G (Air-to-Ground) FCR and TGP (Target Pod) -- and then we would have released our 4 GBU-32(v)1/B's (1000lb JDAM's) at those targets we locked up in the Recon screen on Steerpoints 15-18 for a little confidence building exercise where our 4 big bombs would glide themselves to the targets with little effort on our part. BUT - for basic training and learning the systems, I had recommended you try Training Mission #10 (and read the lesson that goes with it) so you can get the skillz you need for CCRP and CCIP bombing modes with GP Bombs to start with.