Gilligan

Once you've created the markpoint, set it as the current steerpoint and TMS down to "unlock" or zero out the cursor, then re-set your lock with the area track. You can also use TMS down (once the cursor is unlocked) to set an INS track - similar to an area track but even less likely to lose the lock point when maneuvering.

Yes the viper gets very loaded down in CAT3. Remember, the Viper itself is very small and light compared to some other jets, so adding ordinance and fuel has a relatively greater impact than it would on larger jets. Slick it comes alive, however.

Looking at some of the bug reports in the main f16 section, if you have you WPN page pulled up on one MFD with the HAD on the other then the HAD will not lock. I was able to repeat this bug so I do believe that is the case. If you have any other page pulled up on the other MFD (HSD, SMS, etc) it will lock on the HAD page, fire, and track just fine.

If you are flight lead you generally need to order your wingmen to do whatever it is you want them to do, even if your flight is cleared hot, you still need to direct your wingmen. Although that said there was one mission where they engage without me going into the coms menu and ordering them to, however there is an audio file that plays ordering them to attack. As far as the other campaigns I've done, it varies. Sometimes there are scripted actions that take place regardless, especially if it's something like a pre planned strike, but a majority of times you have to order your wingmen what and when to engage if you are the flight lead. Agreed on the AI fuel management, they really struggle and bail out 30 seconds after calling bingo. Don't know what you mean on the audio thing. It's supposed to sound like a radio. There are radio volume controls in the cockpit but i'm not sure if they work for the pre-recorded audio lines.

Mission 13 - the second one with boat touching NPC Heli flight 2-3 lands on top of NPC heli fight 2-2. Fireball ensues. Tested a few times. Happens every time.

My bad. It was the Seal team extract mission, which ever that was.

MIssion 8 rife with audio bugs Some missing lines here and there that appear in text but don't play. During the F15E's cas role, there's a point where some text appears with "Rife, Rifle..." but the ATC take off approval audio plays. The Rifle audio plays a few minutes later with no text on screen and is followed again by the same ATC take off approval.

Something I've noticed going through the campaign documents, the text for the loadout line for each one is incredibly small. I have to zoom way in to be able to see it, and even then it's not super legible. There is plenty of room available in the box so I don't think this is a necessity because of a space constraint or anything. It's a super small issue, as I tend to double check everything in the mission planner anyway. Still, thought I would mention it. Normal Zoom and Full Zoom captures attached.

LOL yeah no sweat man. Campaign is blast so far. The AI in DCS never ceases to amaze me, and usually not in a good way. They probably just ran out of crayons to snack on.

Mission 7, is the entire flight of f18's supposed to crash on landing? lol 2nd attempt they pulled it off. Marines, man.

Ah. That was it then. One of the J15's survived a 9M to the face from one of the eagles and went straight to RTB. I let him go, focusing on the IL76's.

Instead of cluttering up the forum should I just update this thread as I find potential bugs? Mission 6 possible trigger bug:

There is supposedly some problem that lots of players are having with the HARMS and the HTS pod/HAD mode. I haven't experienced the problem, but lots of others have. I have read in the past that using the ECM pod can interfere with the HTS pod tracking and locking ground radar emitters. If I were you I would try turning it off when attempting to use the HTS Pod. Honestly, the ALQ ECM pods are mostly useless in the current state of the game for the Viper so I usually just pull them off my Jet and add extra fuel. I was able to complete this mission (albeit with heavy blue casualties) by more or less the following process: I put the radar codes for the target ships (409, 410, 411) as briefed into table 3 in the HARM menu via the DED (AG MODE -> LIST -> 0(MISC) -> 0(HARM)). I don't think it matters which table you put them in, that's just where I put them. On ingress I got an approximate location on the enemy ships using the HTS pod and then created a Mark Point with the TGP. The HTS pod got me pretty close, roughly in the center of the ship formation. I didn't really have to search much to confirm the location and create the MKPT. Flew to roughly within range (Had to fly moderately defensively and at an angle to the SAMs to reduce their range while I closed distance) and launched all 4 harms using POS mode, with the Markpoint I had created as their target. I sent two at the Type 52B radar, and one each at the Type 52C and Type 54A radars. NOTE: I was not really expecting these shots to hit anything. As I read the briefing the goal was to try and deplete as many of the ships missiles as possible, and in my experience sending a full volley of harms likes that tends to draw the most repeat shots from SAMs. All 4 missiles were shot down but the ship shot about a dozen missiles at them to achieve that. I told my flight to engage mission and rejoin before I launched my HARMS, but I honestly don't remember if they did anything. I was having an issue with them running out of fuel and ejecting near STPT 3. Once I sent the HARMs I went defensive and flew as low as I could before coming back nose hot to engage the J-15's, staying low. I did a popup attack against them and took out 3 or 4 in about as many passes, getting low again each time I went defensive. The F15's may have gotten a couple. The other F16's didn't do much if the were even still around at this point. The SAMs on the ships inflicted massive losses on most of the Blue Air. The Buffs were able to get their missiles out though, and maybe a half dozen got through and sunk at least one ship. It did take 3 tries to succeed, and this approach was refined over the prior couple attempts, however even in my first shot at it I was able to track and lock the ships radars with the HTS pod and fired all 4 harms using that process. This one feels like a suicide mission but it is doable. Details were all confirmed in TACVIEW. I'll see about attaching the tacview file after work if anyone wants to review it.

I just did that mission today. I didn't have any issues with my HTS pod locking up the ship radars. Are you actively jamming when with the ALQ pod while trying to lock up the SAM radars in HAD mode?

Mission 4 one of the audio lines for the airfield departure does not play. It shows the text on screen but no audio. I was on the correct channel. Tested 3x. Same every time. Also on mission 4, not an audio bug but unless I put extra fuel tanks on the rest of the flight (2 wing tanks each) they would run out of fuel and eject right after getting near to STPT 3. Even with the bags, my one surviving wingman had to eject after mission complete (I sent him to the tanker when he said he was bingo but didn't make it). Mission 5 the audio line when your player character asks 2 if he is saddled and he responds with something to the effect of "Have visual contact, in formation in two minutes" plays twice, maybe a minute or 2 apart.

I haven't tried with the HTS pod since the update but using POS mode works. Hit an SA 10 track radar on a pre-planned strike in that mode. Tested today with the HTS pod and HAD screen - everything was working fine for me. Could lock and engage with good hits on SA15, SA6, SA8, HQ7. I don't see why it wouldn't be working on other sites. Also able to use the HTS pod to get a lock on a SAM with the HAD screen, slew the TPOD onto the locked SAM, and engage with Mavs/CBU's.

Spoiler - RE: surface contact The JHMCS is not equipped to start the mission, but you can equip it using the mission planner or have the ground crew install it if you want.

No idea if this is working as intended but you need to press CZ while still in VIS mode after you boresight your mavs to get the TGP to look at your Steerpoints in PRE mode.

Your coms with your flight should be on VHF 127.00 (the default VHF FREQ) and I believe the Dev said orders are given like normal via the vhf coms menu. You can use flight/engage/mission and rejoin or flight/hold position. You can also just not do anything and hit the ships. First time I tried I had her engage and rejoin. She successfully employed her ordinance. 2nd attempt I sunk both targets without needing to tell her to engage and she just stayed on my wing. Everything progressed like normal.

Experienced a similar issue. Both myself and my wingman hit both ships with all our ordinance, no misses. Only 1 went down and the mission was scored as a draw. Will try again and see if I can get them both to sink. Just ran it again. Changed which ship I used the mavricks on and swapped the 500lb LGBs for 2k lb paveways and dropped those on the tanker. Both sunk. Easy day.

I honestly don't know. You're creating an 'SPI Offset' in the VIS mode for the mavs, and SPI offsets do tend to carry over from mode to mode - for example if I'm using the HTS pod and target a SAM Radar, that creates an offset that I can use when I change to the TGP to find the radar that was selected. If I switch to NAV mode without clearing that offset, the SPI cursor box carries that offset over to that new mode and doesn't coincide with the STPT anymore, unless your go back to the pod and CZ it. However it the "offset" behavior for this issue is different than the usual behavior described above, as it doesn't seem to be a relative offset carried over to each STPT, rather a "hard lock" on whatever object you selected in VIS mode when doing the boresight. I feel that it is bugged because if you were to be utilizing the different weapon modes in flight it would make for a weird workflow, but that doesn't mean that's how the real thing doesn't work. For example, you're flying along to a pre-planned target and and see a target of opportunity, switch to VIS mode and engage the target, then want to go back to the pre-planned target position that coincides with a created STPT, but the TPOD is "hard locked" to the location you just engaged unless you go back and specifically CZ out the target location you locked up while in VIS mode. Something I've incorporated into my cold start procedure that seems to have fully "fixed" it for me is that after I boresight the Mavs (and the "problem" really seems to be primarily with MAVs) in VIS mode, I unlock and CZ before changing modes, then ensure that the TPOD is facing roughly the correct direction when in PRE mode. As far as "targets of opportunity" go I typically create a markpoint and just stay in PRE mode so everything works like I am used to.

DCS is DCS, love it but at the same time there are definitely limitations and shortcomings that show up when trying to make something as detailed as your campaign. I totally understand the reason's behind a lot of the design choices. It's unfortunate the game doesn't allow more creative freedom, but I know we all have to work with constrains sometimes. If It wasn't clear, I absolutely respect the dedication to realism and trying to accurately depict what the Gamblers actual deployment looked and felt like and trying to provide that experience to us (The Less Exciting moments included!). I don't view that as a negative at all, just pointing out that I did enjoy the liberty taken with the included SEAD mission, so thank you for including that.

Your INS needs to be fully aligned (either Stored heading or regular alignment, doesn't matter), and set set to NAV. Press "6" on the ICP - the top row on your DED should read "GPS SYSTEM" if "GPS SYSTEM" shows on the DED you can turn the MIDS to ON. sometimes starting in a bunker or under a structure can block the satellite's line of site and you will have to wait until it's unobstructed to see the "GPS SYSTEM" text correctly and turn on the MIDS, although I don't recall any missions starting that way in FIWOS.

going to do some more troubleshooting on my end but had a major performance drop after the update. Missions which usually run at an easy 120 FPS were struggling to break 90, and others were running as low as 50, with dips down to 20 or lower and occasional freezes. Tried several F16 instant action missions and all I tried were effected (Caucus - Fighter sweep, night fighter intercept/ Syria - Stop Rockets Rolling) EDIT: Did a little house keeping on the machine, installed windows updates and uninstalled some superfluous security software and things are running better, but still a little down from normal and still seeing some large frame drops. I'll keep messing with it. I know this up date *shouldn't* affect performance, but mine is definitely down from prior to the patch.

I'm fairly certain I have experienced this bug as well, and usually cycling through the modes of the weapon I have selected clears it. EX: Cycle through CCIP and back to CCRP for bombs or VIS/BORE/PRE for mavs. I doubt this is intended behavior but might help you guys out for the time being.