Jayhawk1971

Could you please elaborate more? How did the mission advise you to go to the tanker? Maybe post a screenshot or short video of the message advising you to hit the tanker? I ask because I've played this campaign numerous times since it came out, and this never happened to me. Ever. Especially since 5000lbs are more than enough gas to safely make it back to Nellis. Now I've not played this mission in OB 2.8 yet, so maybe something has changed? Edit: did you by chance fly close-ish to one of the tankers on your egress (probably "Texaco's" track between ELKXXX and MOOSE)? Maybe you have inadvertently triggered the "AAR protocol" = when you get near one of the tankers, you'll get a message that your flight will be waiting for you to refuel and IIRC you need to take some action - either F10-menu option or space bar - to make them reform with you. It's been a while since I did an AAR in Zone 5, so my memory is sketchy.

A much more immersive and active environment, less of that bland sandbox. A more comprehensive ATC that also interacts with AI traffic. "Pilot legs": the ability to walk and drive around at will, to get into and out of aircraft and vehicles Briefing rooms with working equipment (white board, projector....), ready rooms, and the ability to move from those out onto the flight line, perform a walkaround, enter the aircraft and take off. Interactive ground crew, arming/dearming areas. Real time weather, gusting winds, and better environmental effects: water that forms puddles and spray, snow that builds a cover over time, dust, sand, cut grass More realistic AAR, where the drogue for example behaves like a real physical object (flops around, and probe needs to be "pushed" in) and probe/ drogue can be damaged/ripped off Immersive (!) dynamic campaigns (or story-driven semi-dynamic/ branching campaigns), as opposed to a mere "mission generator". IADS More realistically behaving AI (both air and ground units): not superhuman with perfect SA and aimbot cheats, but not braindead either; and arrange respective skills according to platform (a ZSU should be a better AAA platform than a BMP!!!!!!!). Also give the AI some self-preservation instincts (ability to know when to bug out, and maybe even getting "scared"), and skill levels according to the general training standards of the nations they represent.

I assume release around the end of Q1 2023 (some time between late March and early April).

Only one 3rd party campaign? I was hoping to be able to play "Speed and Angels" during the Christmas holidays.

Tomcat - normally my most favorite module so have flown extensively, currently grounded, hopefully only until the next patch Viper - fly regularly and my "replacement favorite", although in desperate need of fresh, quality SP content (quality = approaching the bar set by BD, Reflected. Ground Pounder et al) Hornet - flown regularly in the past, now "grounded" for the time being (for varying reasons, primarily due to unwillingness to relearn so much when jumping between modules) A-10C and "Tank Killer" upgrade, currently main focus due to ongoing campaign marathon (first "Iron Flag part 1", currently working through "Persian Freedom" campaign) Apache - flown for a while when it came out, currently grounded due to lack of engaging SP content (see Viper) Huey - grounded after finishing "Paradise Lost" early this year F-86 - just did the training missions and some free-flight here and there, mostly to see the cockpit in VR P-51D - same as with the Sabre FC3 - haven't touched in years (other than than a five minute free flight in the F-15 to check out its cockpit in VR) I only buy modules that I have a real interest in, and preferably only once there's good SP content available...except when nostalgia strikes - like the AH-64, which was a pre-order purchase for me. The F-15E will also tax my self-discipline, thanks to fond memories going back as far as "F-15 Strike Eagle" on the Commodore 64.

Yes, yes and yes, and SC. Preload radius is up as well, for good measure. The boldened part would also be my assumption. One can see the same phenomenon with other in-game objects as well (other aircraft). I 'd say that is definitely an area ED should try to improve on. Hopefully without introducing an enormous performance penalty, because I assume there's a reason for why there's an LOD issue: performance Catch 22 situation.

And I didn't intend for this thread to be derailed into SC territory. I was just picking up on "Nasty's" verdict. Anyway, it's a very good video with a lot of helpful and interesting insights into flying the Tomcat. And also IMO a huge affirmation of Heatblur's fantastic work on the Tomcat.

The deck in those images is still not a monochromatic blob. There are visible spots and lines, giving it texture, even in those 20-year-old photos. Which of course is not relevant to the issue at hand, anyway, because the in-game deck isn't nearly as weathered. The engine simply doesn't display textures when over a certain distance. Whether this technical limitation is even fixable or would result in severe performance issues if tempered with, I don't know. I'm just letting ED know that it is a nuisance IMO, and a retired Rear Admiral and former Tomcat pilot seems to share this opinion.

IMO this is a technical - I assume texture rendering distance, but I'm not a developer - issue, not a texture art issue. Weathering and all is fine, if it would render further away from the boat. Even when "weathered and grimy", you would still be able to see something, not a monochromatic light-grey blob. The ball is also affected in the same way. Greenish-yellowish blob. All that changes magically once you reach a certain distance from the boat. Or if you zoom in. All of a sudden everything is visible, "weathered" or not. Look at the video below. The deck markings seem to be in a similar (if not worse) worn condition as currently in the game. Now, despite this being GoPro wide-angle lens, tiny sensor footage, which also suffers from YouTube compression, you can still see features very well and can make out the deck when he rolls out into the groove. The deck appears to be a much darker grey than in-game, which gives everything a higher contrast. This is what I would like to be able to see when I am at the same distance in DCS. That's all. Preferably In VR, with affordable hardware, without having to use crutches like "zoom view".

18:03 "I can't see the ship. It's too grey. [...] see the centerline". Ha! So those of us who thought that the centerline was too hard to spot were not crazy after all.

But do you like movies about Gladiators?

I assume the same, but I hope it's the subesquent delivery of the third-party fixes that couldn't make the deadline for yesterday's patch (that apparently was moved ahead on short notice).

I don't know/ have forgotten if there was a "regular" (= Jester Wheel) way, but using VAICOM with AIRIO, I say "open canopy", and Jester does just that. So there definitely is a command there, somewhere.

I believe Reflected posted on one of his social media channels that he's already sent all the files to ED, so the ball is completely in ED's court.

Good luck! I hope you can find a fix. Reflected is off surfing for two weeks, without in internet connection, so it may take a while before he can react to your post.

Did you check in your settings if your space bar is bound to fire (forward-firing weapons)? If it is, unbind or bind another key to that function. Reflected uses "press space" to trigger certain events, so that could cause a conflict with the settings, which would also explain why everything works fine outside of this campaign.

I actually did check if I was still on the same freq a couple of times (I was). I also tried via all three radios numerous times, just to make sure. I did remain in orbit pretty much over the base when looking for that position, though. Could it be that I wasn't in the correct "zone" for the trigger? I'll try the mission again tonight, see if it works. Maybe I just ran into a glitch. And, since I have VAICOM installed (albeit it wasn't running when I played the mission), I wouldn't rule out possible interference from that program. Otherwise, great campaign so far! If all else fails, I'll just skip and push on. I've watched Lankypilot's video (to see if I did anything wrong), so I know how the mission ends now, anyway. In his case, not so well due to a slight booboo he's made.

Hi Chris, ran into a problem in mission 3. The mission won't progress, as clicking/ keypressing the option in the F10 menu unfortunately does nothing. I'll put the context in spoiler tags, just in case: Could you check if 2.8 maybe messed with one of the triggers? The first two missions went without a hitch, and up to that point mission 3 worked fine as well. Thanks!

This is the quintessence of what I have distilled for myself, from reading and listening to hours worth of pilot interviews, many of whom flew both aircraft during their careers: "An average pilot in a Tomcat is more likely to lose against an average pilot in a Hornet, whereas an expert Tomcat pilot is more likely to win against an equally experienced Hornet pilot."

I ran into the exact same problem. It seems to be a re-occurring old one, as this has apparently been around since after version 2.5.24. I opened a bug report over at GitHub, hopefully someone from the awesome Discord community will have a look at it. In the meantime, the workaround is to press and hold the TX button in question and wait for the beep, then release the button. That way, commands are being executed. Not the most elegant solution, but better than nothing I suppose. Still doesn't help with ICS hot mic in the Tomcat, as I like to "talk" to Jester without pressing a button.

I'm now confronted with the same issue, with the 2.8.0 community fix. Also, your tip with holding the PTT button until the confirmation beep can be heard seems to work. I tested it only now, 5 minutes ago "dry" (=without DCS running), but VA acknowledges and executes the command, and the dreaded "is currently disabled for this session and was not executed" disappeared. Still, would be nice if the awesome volunteer group could maybe look into the issue?

I don't know if you're already aware (or even better, already a happy customer ), but just in case: On the 3rd-party side, @Reflected has released two great DLC SP campaigns for the Tomcat: "Zone 5" (which he made together with "Bio" Baranek , that emulates a TOPGUN training detachment), and "Fear the Bones", which is more like a Hollywood action film (story wise), albeit with realistic procedures and tactics. He also already submitted the files for his upcoming "Speed and Angels" campaign to ED, which he made with "Paco" Chierici, a "training campaign" which basically adapts the stories from both Paco's documentary "Speed and Angels" as well as his novel "Lions of the Sky" into DCS: so about half the campaign will be spent in the RAG, where you learn the basics of Tomcat operations from a real former F-14 pilot, and the other half is with the Fleet. Also, check out the voice actors for this campaign! Further down the road, @baltic_dragon is working with Mooch on a Tomcat campaign as well. But that's still a long while off, I believe.

Any chance of getting a checkbox in the Tomcat "special" tab for "realistic seating position" for VR users later down the road? I mean I can position my virtual head at approximately the correct height, but then the HUD projection is not optimized/ calibrated for that angle.

Flew this mission a couple of minutes ago, same thing happened to me. I was in the observation position and about to slot into pre-contact when Biff took my tail off while banking hard left. After 2+ hours of mission time that's a bit of an anticlimactic letdown. Never trust an AI! @baltic_dragon Maybe if you could put Biff into an echelon left formation after hitting waypoint 5? That way the player would definitely be safe from rogue AI. I tried the AAR part of the mission again, and this time I was ready for Biff. He's in a very close right fingertip, and suddenly banks hard to the left, into the player. I was anticipating this move and pushed the nose down hard, avoiding a midair by a hair's breadth. The rest of the mission worked flawlessly.