Sandman Simulations

Finally, after three months of work, I have reached the same point where the stutter issue first appeared. A lot of optimization and compromises have been necessary, but now it seems that the project can continue. Next, the plan is to make the player's wingman fully functional. Originally, I had intended to use a stock wingman, but it cannot be commanded to attack enemy airfields or strategic targets, which significantly limits its usefulness. Of course, the stock wingman is still capable of SEAD, CAS, and CAP missions. I will start exploring whether it would be practical to create a separate wingman and give the player the ability to issue commands for specific missions.

Hi, Just tested and working normally with and without the crew. You just need to taxi first.

I think the exact wording in the NATOPS is "maintain 500 feet altitude until 7 nautical miles (NM) from the carrier". Anyway there is a chance to miss the trigger. There was some good reason why it's not triggered by speed but just can't remember what it was.

05/02/2025 update M2 – Missing voice line added again

05/02/2025 update All missions – taxi sequence adjusted to prevent collisions if taxi director disabled

05/02/2025 update Missions 9, 10 and 12 – AI gets stuck while refueling - fixed

Hi, Thank you for your radio instructions. In mission 1 the "Contact departure..." message is triggered when player altitude is more than 100m (about 330ft, no idea why it has to be set in meters in the ME). There is no other conditions to be met so I can't find any other solution for late activation but flying below that altitude.

Hi, You can check the frequency with the switch right side of you front radio. Anyway I checked and frequencies for both radios seems to be right. Also for the carrier. I tested the mission with easy communication on and off but wasn't able to replicate the problem. ATC replied normally. Have you already played mission 2 or other missions of this campaign. If yes was the problem there too? I think you already have but if not check you have the right key binding for mic button for both radios. You need to use both as you are giving orders for wingman with channel 1 and other communication with ATC, tanker and AWACS on other channels. The taxi director is forced off for the mission one. As you should taxi right back to the cat after landing I found that the director is not yet capable for that. It changes with every update so maybe some day it will work also with this mission.

Hi, Thank you for your message. As it's DCS stock carrier atc there is no way I could set any timer. Is the frequency right behind the button 5? I have no idea why it would have changed but everything is possible. I'll check the mission.

Thank you for records. Much easier to see what's going on. Mission 3: AAR is broken. Cougar 1 flight won't leave the tanker and your lead follows them until you kill Cougar 1-1 and your lead desides to fly to wp 2. I have a patch fixing this and I try to get it out asap. Hope ED will fix the AAR anyway. Mission 4: AI seems to fly as it should. You just need to fly with it and follow given orders.

Alright. I checked those. In mission 3 it seems to be Cougar 1-1 getting stuck with the tanker. I knew AAR was broken with F-14 but it seems to be Hornet too. I'll report it to ED. It might be all missions with AI AAR. In mission 4 AI lead seems to fly like it should. You just need to keep on with him. If there were some weird things please send me a track so I can check if it's something else.

Thank you for your report. I'll check. Do you have a track or Tacview file of those missions? It would be easier to tell what has happened.

Strike package will push when bombers are ready. Now that you mentioned it the exact push time is not given in the briefing. That could be an improvement I should do. You are supposed to visually identify the aircraft so you missed some VOs if not close enough.

Great. Then you missed only the contact app call. I'll check why as it shouldn't depend on wingman being around.

Yes ED has the AAR problem under work. Did you get the conversation about enemy AWACS after strike package had done their job?

Thank you for your feedback and patience. I really hope too that this will be solved one way or other

Thank you very much for your comprehensive investigation. If I understood correctly mission 3 worked once with taxi director disabled but with the same setting didn't work again? Unfortunately this sounds something I have no power to fix as with tools given for campaign maker it is not possible to cause (or fix) this kind of behavior. And as this is not obviously happening to everyone it might be some conflict between DCS settings and carrier taxi logic. This is also something that is quite difficult to report to ED as I can't reproduce the issue. I just noticed that there is a new bug if taxi director is disabled. If the player taxies to cat 1 or 2 DEVIL 4 might start up too soon and collide with DEVIL 3. It also seems that ED has already changed something in taxi director code in development version as wingman now starts taxiing same time with the player. I'm working with a patch to fix the collision problem and together with changes made by ED there is a small change to fix this no taxi at all -issue too. Even if those changes has nothing to do with your issue there quite often is some heavy-duty sorcery included and things that are not ment to change will change.

This is very embarrassing as I still haven't been able to replicate this issue. Not in a public version or in the development version. Every time they launch after I have. You said that in the first dynamic mission (Mission 2) it worked fine but not in missions after that. It's very weird as scripting for squadron mates is identical in all dynamic missions. How about if you now return to mission 2? Does it still work or has something happened after you played it? Did you play the mission 2 before or after the latest update? The taxi sequence is optimized for the director at the moment and might be bugged with director disabled. What happens if you disable the taxi director. Do your mates move then?

Thank you for the record. I tried several times to replicate your flight as well as possible and they are still launching normally. I wouldn't be surprised at all that some change in the taxi director code would cause this but I just can't find out why it's working for me and not for you. I'll continue investigating. If you haven't tried yet you could try to skip the mission. This should move you to stage 4 with the same ground war situation, just about 6 hours later. Please report do you encounter the same problem then.

Of course Do you use tacview? If yes send me a file. In my tests devil 2 started to taxi to the cat just before I was launching. Did they move at all or did they stuck somehow while taxiing?

Thank you. Very weird. You don't need to fly a full mission. Just give them tasks, start up, launch and hold at waypoint one for couple of minutes to see are they going to do anything. Do you have the latest DCS update and do you use any unofficial mods? If someone else is having the same problem please report here.

Thanks. I have tested it for three times now and for some reason wasn't able to replicate the problem. The first mission has just a wingman but what comes to squadron mates mission 2 should be similar with the rest of the missions. I really hope it has been a one time bug so I'm asking you to retest. If it still happens please save a track file and attach it here. They should taxi to cat immediately after you have launched.

Hi, Thank you for reporting. I'll investigate. All you need to do is to give them preplanned tasks. Before taxi director update your squadron mates took of before you but after the update they are waiting for you to go first. Do you have the taxi director enabled or disabled?

Just as you said. Tomcat AAR seems to be broken once again. Lead flies about one feet from the basket. Wingman seems to be plugged in but doesn't get any fuel. Reported this to ED. I made some more safeguards to make sure they won't stuck with the basket forever. Hope I get the patch out asap.

Hi, Thank you for reporting. I'll check. Hope it's not all the missions with AAR