2 - If you fly a lot of modules and want to have a lot of manuals (like 5+ at least), newer low per/page cost inkjet printers make it possible to get good quality prints in quantity if you put in a few hours of your own time. Very high initial expense, but can be worth it in the end if you value them enough.

I started to look at the cost of different types of printers - thinking that a color laser could handle the volume / color requirements of the manuals with a lower cost per page offsetting the additional capital expense of the machine. I then came across the HP SmartInk line of printers which optimizes for color cost per page, while still being relatively inexpensive like other inkjet printers. While this machine printed a lot slower and needed to have its paper try refilled mid-way through a print, it ended up being a perfect lower-entry cost, low cost per page mix. I need to print things on paper maybe 3 times a year in my personal life, so I really couldn't care less about the extra benefits of other machines.

So began my quest to find a way to materialize the manuals as cost efficiently as possible. It was clear pretty quickly that any pay-for-print place was just not going to cut it. The cost was never going to down to the "meh nice to have" price point.

In all - I'm glad I went down this road and I would do it again. I learned about so many things that I didn't know exist just by putting the manuals together. I imagine this will be interesting to all of about 10 people who google "DCS manual printed" in the future, as I did to start this. If you have any questions let me know - or if you have a way lower cost solution of your own (that isn't an iPad) - please keep that to yourself so I can stay in bliss...

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TLDR: I went on a quest to find a way to get printed DCS manuals for as low of a cost as possible - $700 later I ended up with a setup that costs ~$15 per manual which is pretty good in my book. Link to everything used here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13IanBCSlaYeE-9b7D2m9kdPZmgLNgoEdgCyr4YzKJSI/edit?usp=sharing

Now I know what you're thinking - the manuals get updated pretty frequently, there are youtube videos, Chucks Guides. that are all much better for learning, etc. I know - I know, I actually don't use the manuals for "learning" either.

3 - If you only want 1-2 manuals printed - you're still SOL. The method I jumped into is just too expensive to be worth it - at least to me.

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I went a little overboard this Christmas break to solve a problem I've had since I started with DCS - how the heck do I get my hands on a printed version of the manuals!

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Welcome to /r/hoggit, a noob-friendly community for fans of high-fidelity combat flight simulation. Discussion primarily focuses on DCS: World and BMS. This is not a full on reprimand-you-for-having-your-navigation-lights-on-when-you-shouldn't-have type outfit here. You'll find we foster a laid back atmosphere to learn how to work the various modules available in DCS.

In an alternate version of modern day America, every person in the hood is born with a superhuman ability. Some have impressive abilities: Control of fire. Manifestation of clones. Invisibility. Flight. Telekinesis Teleportation. Others minor abilities. They can make water boil. They can summon a light breeze. They can track runaway cats really, really well. A vast range of powers have made the people special. But there’s a catch…These powers only manifest at night. This means that from dusk until dawn, the hood is a dangerous otherworld, where gangs wage epic battles with powers so strong, full city blocks can be eradicated in a matter of minutes; where the average citizen hunkers down in fear knowing that as long as the violence stays in the hood, the police will be of no help. But, as soon as the sun comes up, everyone’s back to normal. Back to work, back to the grind.

With printing services out, I was going to need to get the equipment to do it myself. I've never done anything printing related before, so it was a learning experience for me.

For the bindings of the manuals I got a Rayson binding machine. This was a lot more expensive than I was expecting, but the result was much much better than a regular 3 hole punch. The ability to fold the book in half was great and the pages have much less of a chance of ripping out. Combined with a laminated cover and a leather back, it really turned a stack of a few hundred 8.5" x 11" pieces of printer paper into an actual book.

Initially I had only planned to print out the F-16C manual as that has been what I have been trying to learn recently after flying the F/A-18C for a while, but the process was so easy that I ended up going all in and printing all the modules that I regularly fly.

Dark Lights, is an American original English-language manga series written by RDCWorld and illustrated by Giorgia Lenzi. It began serialization on RDCUniverse in October 2023.

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Dark Lights Information Volumes 0 volumes (on-going) Chapters 1 chapters (on-going) Author RDCWorld Illustrator Giorgia Lenzi Original run October 13, 2023 - Ongoing Publisher Self-published Simulpublish RDCUniversePublizr Type Manga Genre Action, Fantasy, Shounen

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Here's my argument for why they're useful: In my professional life I'm a software engineer - and as such I'll have to learn new technologies pretty frequently. When I start to learn something like a new programming language I'll always buy a book - not because I'm going to sit down and read it cover to cover to learn that language, there are better ways to learn and I can probably transfer the majority of my knowledge from areas I already have expertise in, making the majority of the book pretty useless. But the reason I do it is so that the book is there to tell me what I DON'T know.

The project ended up costing me wayyyyy more than I was expecting initially. At >$500 the upfront expenses of this make it a really steep investment to get started.

But once you get past that initial expense, the cost for each manual on just the consumables was extremely affordable. With just my initial purchase, the only thing that I actually need to restock on are the Ink and Paper. The bindings, covers, etc. will last me for far more manuals than I could ever want to print. So when the next major F-15E update comes out and it needs to be re-printed, I'm only looking at ~$15 of actual cost. That is absolutely the kind of cost efficiency that makes it worth it to me!

Now when it comes to DCS I can't google search or watch a youtube video on a topic that I don't eve know exists yet, and the manuals are structured in such a way to give you an excellent way of opening up to a random page to prompt a question like "What the heck is the LABS system in the F-86? - it's the only part of the panel left that i don't recognize". The book is going to give me some context on how to answer that question but 9/10 times I'm still going to just watch a youtube video on it.

That ended up being 7 different manuals coming out on 15 different booklets, which is ~3,500 pages! Way more than I could possibly read, but it really helped fill out my bookcase ;)

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1- Don't pay to have someone print a manual for you unless you've got some kind of special in. The cost per page is just too high to make it worth it, especially on modules that will be updated in the future.

The metal bindings did have a couple downsides though - it limited the maximum bindable length to ~250 pages, which forced some of the manuals (like the monster 800 page A-10C II one) into multiple booklets. This wasn't too huge of a deal - I just split the book at a major section and include the table of contents in each booklet. The binding machine I got can also only punch 12 sheets at a time, which meant there was a few hours of manual effort to work my way through the books.

Mark Phillips, of RDCWorld, confirmed that their new manga will also be accompanied by an animated show (anime) and is being animated by Powerhouse Animation, based in Austin, Texas, and produced by Issa Rae and Michael B. Jordan.

You can see a breakdown of everything that I bought (with amazon links if you wanted to pick it up yourself) here on this Google Sheet.

In March 2023, RDCWorld officially confirmed that their manga, Dark Lights, will be published. This project will have a unique American touch. It aims to blend realistic and detailed animation with the storytelling elements prevalent in Japanese anime. This fusion promises to offer viewers a fresh experience that caters to their diverse tastes.

So that's what I'm planning on using the manuals for - but my problem has always been that the cost to get them printed was just too high to justify the "nice to have" nature of them. Especially given the frequent nature of updates. At printing places like Kinkos, mimeo, etc. the A-10C II manual with a spiral binding was being quoted between $400-$800! That's insane!