So yeah, I’m back into sims again. Just had a week off but I’m back at work for two weeks before I get 3 glorious weeks of vacation. Since my SO is working all Summer I’ll be fishing with my son and flight simming for three straight weeks! So preparations are under way and I just sent the A-10A flight manual off to the local printing shop as a test run. Ring bound A5 format, and if it comes out good I’ll do the whole FC3 manual and then the A-10C manual once I get that module (another todo before vacation kicks off).
What are your experiences with printing the DCS manuals? Bindings, sizes etc?
The only manual I ever professionally printed by Kinkos was for Falcon 4.0. Now I have Kindle and cell phones that can view those manuals without much hassle. Even actual airplane manuals are now on some electronic medium to save space and paper.
True, I do read a lot on my iPad and phone. But I just love having a physicall book, especially when doing game tutorials etc. I did dig out my original Falcon 4 manual last week. It really is something special.
I print my own, of course I work in a print shop so that might be cheating. I generally edit the PDFs some, add bleed to the full colour pages, etc. I print the front cover (and blank back) on a heavy cover stock, and the insides just on an uncoated text paper and then spiral bind… I use the PDFs for quick peeks, but I love having a physical book to read from time to time as well.
Indeed - I’m a fan of the physical books. I still have my Nic Cole printed LOMAC guide here. And my Dangerous Waters manual is always by my desk, even though I never get to play it. That said, I have been using my iPad more and more. I wish I could find the link to the ED forums for the guy that was formatting the individual aircraft module’s docs to fit the iPad - I can’t seem to locate it now.
I’ve gone to printing manuals in sections, binding them (staple-hack job), and keeping them organized in file folders near my desk. When I pull up whatever sim I’m into at the moment, I open the drawer and pull out whatever materials I need.
My most commonly used hardcopy materials are checklists, maps, and airfield directories, which checklists by far. I have some RWR reference materials but when I need them I’m usually in the heat of battle! I have a ship recognition poster from Silent Hunter IV pinned to my wall. If (read: when) I get back into WWII combat, I’ll probably replace it with WWII aircraft recognition materials!
Like others mentioned on this thread, I’ve grown to use my mobile device (Nexus 7 tablet) for viewing hefty manuals and other reference guides. Actually it’s easier for me to read them on the handheld tablet than the PC screen, although I don’t get to write notes to myself in the margins!
Well, the nice thing about reading on the tablet, of course, is that you can usually go to the index, put your finger on the hot-linked item and it takes you right there…or you can use a search tool to look for a word. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched the MiG-21 manual now for information these past few months… My index finger is a quarter inch shorter I think…
I printed all my manual at the local printing company. That was several thousands pages. It’s a good reading when you are in your bed. I don’t like reading on tablet, it lack the paper feeling.
