Rex

Fair enough, I've heard it called all manner of things, and I was using the colloquial term I've heard for it, I kind of figured it wasn't the strictly-technical one ... which why I posted a photo. That said, I feel like I've only seen that form in the transonic region and higher. Are you saying that the "cone" is present even when the condensation is not, and can occur at any speed? What would you call the phenomenon that's pictured? Is the condensation in the mach cone?

I've never seen this in the F/A-18, and I've gone pretty low, which planes have you observed it with?

I couldn't mix words in with the pictures for some reason. Anyway, I know it's a lot to ask, but those would be cool if at all possible ... someday.

BTW, I just saw on YouTube that the world *IS* flat, so maybe DCS just knew before everyone else?

I always understood it to be AL Tanf (with an "L"), but I looked it up too and like you said, both are used. I dunno why.

I am having a hell of a time unwinding it. Let me explain: I have made a lot of drawings on the Caucasus map. The entire birder of Russia & Georgia, the territorial waters of each (approximately), I've drawn in Sevestapool and so on. So, I want to preserve my drawings. But, unfortunately,if I have the VPC mod pack installed, then DCS crashes when I try to fly. So, I delete the mod,then try to load the mission, but it won't let me load it because it says I need the VPC mod This being the case, I restore the VPC mod, open the mission, and go about trying to delete all of the objects on map. 2,000+, but most of them static (I have 64GB RAM). I takes a very long time, but somewhere in the process, the ME always crashes to desktop. I can't delete many items before it takes a dive. Good grief trying to recover my drawings has become such a scrotal itch. I think you templates are awesome, but something about the VPC mod is very unhappy on my system. I'm just going to unzip the mission and see what I can recover.

Nevermind, I figured it out. There's a required VPC Equipment Mod at the end of the template that I didn't see and installing this fixed it. The weird thing is, the whole time, the template is loaded into the ME, and it appears to be both working and saving fine. It's not until you come back to it later that you realized nothing saved ... after putting hours of work on top of it. Maybe we could gen some kind of warning on 0 byte file saves?

Loading the attached template causes all subsequent [Save]s of the mission to result in a file size of 0. I downloaded the set of templates from: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3312219/ And they all exhibit this behavior. The Log is as follows: 2022-03-20 21:19:04.894 INFO APP: Screen: MissionEditor 2022-03-20 21:19:52.845 INFO LuaGUI: Loading Static Template: CAU - Red - Airbase Gudauta (by Rudel_chw).stm 2022-03-20 21:19:55.265 ALERT LUACOMMON: Error: GUI Error: [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: attempt to index field 'mapObjects' (a nil value) GUI debug.traceback: stack traceback: [C]: ? [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: in function 'scale_group_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6436: in function 'scale_mission_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2254: in function 'setZoom' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2235: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:395: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:30: in function <[string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:29> (tail call): ? 2022-03-20 21:19:56.436 WARNING LOG: 21 duplicate message(s) skipped. 2022-03-20 21:19:56.436 INFO GUI_MAP: levelformap=0 2022-03-20 21:19:56.445 ALERT LUACOMMON: Error: GUI Error: [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: attempt to index field 'mapObjects' (a nil value) GUI debug.traceback: stack traceback: [C]: ? [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: in function 'scale_group_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6436: in function 'scale_mission_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2254: in function 'setZoom' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2235: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:395: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:30: in function <[string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:29> (tail call): ? 2022-03-20 21:20:36.143 WARNING LOG: 112 duplicate message(s) skipped. 2022-03-20 21:20:36.143 ALERT LUACOMMON: Error: GUI Error: [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:3398: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value) GUI debug.traceback: stack traceback: [C]: ? [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:3398: in function 'unload_static_groups' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:3718: in function 'unload' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:3881: in function <[string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:3868> (tail call): ? [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_toolbar.lua"]:655: in function 'saveMissionFileDialog' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_menubar.lua"]:675: in function 'func' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_menubar.lua"]:237: in function 'onChange' [string "./dxgui/bind/Menu.lua"]:26: in function 'callback' [string "./dxgui/bind/Widget.lua"]:368: in function <[string "./dxgui/bind/Widget.lua"]:363> 2022-03-20 21:21:09.061 ALERT LUACOMMON: Error: GUI Error: [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: attempt to index field 'mapObjects' (a nil value) GUI debug.traceback: stack traceback: [C]: ? [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6466: in function 'scale_group_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_mission.lua"]:6436: in function 'scale_mission_map_objects' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2254: in function 'setZoom' [string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:2235: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:395: in function 'onMouseWheel' [string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:30: in function <[string "./dxgui/bind/NewMapView.lua"]:29> (tail call): ? CAU - Red - Airbase Gudauta (by Rudel_chw).stm

I now gladly get to destroy the second-rate version I made a year ago out of general objects. Very nice job!

I'm a software developer, but I never used Lua before writing scripts for DCS. I notice quite a few other games/sims use Lua as their scripting language as well. Of all of the interpreted languages out there ... why Lua? I think it's a fine language, and am not complaining about it in the slightest, I'm simply curious. Edit to add: I did some searching, and found this. Unless there is some specific reason for DCS, perhaps it answers the question: https://www.makeuseof.com/why-is-lua-popular-for-game-development-how-to-use/ Why Lua Is Popular for Game Development There are tens of game engines using Lua with many developers using the language in these game engines. Here is why the Lua programming language is very popularly used in most game engines. Lua Is Simple Here is a fact difficult to believe – Lua is simpler than Python, and it has a very short learning curve. With its simplicity, all data structures are represented almost the same way. It is easy to write functions, conditional statements, loops, and everything. With its intuitiveness, you can guess almost any statement, method, or function you don’t remember. This feature of Lua makes it suitable for game development. Lightweight and Fast Although Lua is an interpreted language just like Python, it’s very fast and lightweight. In fact, it is one of the fastest interpreted programming languages, consuming little memory. Embedded Language Lua is also used for embedded scripts. You can use Lua for embedding an interpreter within a larger program in a different language. Lua also offers C APIs and this feature allows easy binding to C. Moreover, you can embed Lua in other languages like C++, Java, etc. and this means you can create modifiable programs with that. Free and Open-Source Lua is free and open-source software. The source code is available and can be modified by any developer. Roblox uses a modified version of Lua, known as Luau (formerly RBX. lua), which is derived from Lua 5.1. 4; it wouldn’t have been possible if Lua wasn’t open-source. Large Community Hundreds of companies and game engines use Lua because of how suitable it is for game development. The growth of the Lua community is vast because of the many game engines using Lua. Help is available for almost anything, and you will never feel lost when using any Lua framework. For instance, Roblox as a company has its own educational services, where instructors can teach you how to make use of Roblox Studio to build anything you imagine, including how to code using Lua.

I use the speed/altitude envelopes from: Source: http://www.japcc.org/wp-content/uploads/JAPCC_AAR_Flight_Plan_web.pdf

So, I have a touch of the ADD, and half the time I discover a "new" feature and get excited about it, someone tells me it's been there forever and I just didn't notice it. See: Well, fair enough, but I jut found the "draw" feature in the ME, and it's cool as #$%. I no longer have to create superfluous plane flights just to mark things like maritime boundaries. How long has this been in the application? Nice job, ED!

Just downloaded this as well. Awesome! Thank you.

Thank you!

Interesting, I had no idea. Well, it's new to me I guess. Thanks!

Hmmm. Well, I created a mission some months back where I created a very strong cyclone on the western end of the map, put static vehicles at certain intervals in Georgia from East to West, then cranked the time compression forward. I sat and watched as the weather went from completely calm, to increasingly windy, to full-blown stormy, to decreasing winds, to calm again ... in one spot, with the previous and subsquent locations being better/worse off as you'd expect. Dynamic weather worked brilliantly, and was quite realistic, IMHO.At least for the scenario I created. I was quite impressed. I didn't realize it was not officially supposed to work, but it sure seems to. Give it a try and see if you find the same. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Oh yeah, I've made quite a few of these. The one I use most often is over the Persian Gulf where I get one of each modern Red aircraft type as an opponent ... if I defeat one, the next one spawns, defeat him, the next one spawns, etc. Opponents are always set to Ace, and I can more or less defeat the AI pilots at-will. I'm decent at getting on my opponents six, just lacking in my ability bring it home. It's like running the kickoff from your own endzone to your opponent's 2 yard-line, and then dropping. Kind of what it feels like at times. I'm getting better but I'm still not as good as the truly skilled pilots. Thanks for all of the feedback, it's been helpful. I haven't had as much trouble recently, but I'm using the Afterburner buffer feature which will let me save video retroactively if I get another really bad session (I have 64GB and I buffer a rolling 10GB loop to RAM).

Wait, wait, I re-read your post a little more closely, and see what I've been doing wrong. Okay, the LAST stop has to be a refuel as well. Sorry, I read it wrong the first time. Now it works! Thank you, sir! You are a pimp in every sense of the word! Except for the, you know, stable of women that you rent out for money. But otherwise, the label fits.

I found this thread while searching for LandingReFuAr , but unfortunately mine doesn't work at all, on any level. I designed a mission solely to test this type of waypoint, and no matter how many waypoints I put before/after, they always do the exact same thing .... land at the designated Landing ReFuAr airport, jump out of the plane, and never takeoff again. It sounds like it's supposed to work, though?

Negative, I just pull when I get the shoot queue. I'll look it up, though. Thanks. Edit to add: Actually I understood more than I thought, but I see where I can increase accuracy a bit. I concede that I do not set the wingspan typically as I always figured the default was close enough. Maybe not. Mind if I ask what you use to create those? I mean I know you can use FRAPS and things like that, but do you have something that you run every session without hurting performance?

I always create my missions from a base template in each region, but I just tried to create from scratch, and you're right. Interesting. Does anyone know why it's like that?

I've had some multi-player dogfighting sessions over the past few weeks which have been downright purple-faced frustrating. In particular, I can get on the six of a bandit relatively often, but many has been the time I've emptied my cannon into a SHOOT queue without obtaining a single hit. Then I'll pull out, look to the side, and another bandit will effectively circumcise me from 4000' away with mohel-like precision with a brief trigger burst. On the positive side, my family has learned some profanities that they never knew existed, but is there some trick to it that I haven't gotten yet. I mean, it seems so simple ... get on their six, get a shoot queue, pull the trigger, and sometimes it DOES work out that way. But I've lost count of the times I've effectively shot through them. Is network lag a factor in these kind of things, or do I just suck? Or both?

Oh so it IS based on an arbitrary map point? Do you know what a point equals? The units seem pretty small, perhaps down to the centimeter?

Get painted, dive for cover behind the mountains, pull out of your dive then realize "#@% I'm going too fast!" Suddenly, you are Tina Turner and the mountain is Ike. Worse still, you just ripped a loud, flapping fart while recording Proud Mary, and Ike is giving you the stare. Current Options: 1) Pull the pinkie switch 2) Eject and possibly die 3) Die Most opt for #1, and I'm embarrassed to say that it happens somewhat often. The lack of G can make you forget just how fast you're going sometimes, and that pinkie switch is the difference between making it to the "Rollin', Rollin' on the river" chorus, or Ike asking to have a word with you in private. Advice: Pull the pinkie switch. You don't want to talk to Ike in private. Trust me on this one. P.S. With all that being said, anyone flying the Hornet in Growling Sidewinder may as just fly into the mountain since they're going to get an IR suppository that they don't see coming anyway.

I don't understand the X and Z coordinate system. X and Z in relation to what? At first I thought perhaps X-0 Z-0 was the map center, but it's not really even close. In Caucasus it's up near Sevastapool. Does anyone know what this system is called and how it works ... at least at a high-level? Thank you.