RyanR

The rub is that tracks seem to be broken. Each time I play a track back, I get a totally different result. The plane flies its route, but everything else that happens is like a different game. My favorite replay to date is when, in the replay, a SAM fired out of sync from the original, so my countermeasure and evasions (which originally worked) happened at the wrong time. The plane got hit in the replay.... but because it was a replay, this burning, broken, non-functioning F-16 *had* to keep flying. The game engine was trying to pull the plane out of the sky, but the track kept it in the air. -Ryan

Of course, TRK files don't even work properly in DCS. Play a track 5 times, and you'll see 5 completely different scenarios..... which you can verify with TacView. Even the order of operations by the user isn't correct sometimes. -Ryan

Thanks for the sanity check! -Ryan

For real, Mods? No track file, and cannot reproduce? It's literally a picture of broke..... and yeah, it was actually scanning 173B. Do you think I just photoshop bugs? Why would I buy more DCS stuff when the Mods basically allude to me smoking crack or just plain lying? I was going to post about how much I love the F-16, but sheesh. You guys sure know how to make new users feel unwelcome. -Ryan

In the past, the elevation bars in the CRM would cycle up to four, and back down to the beginning. Last night, it was at 3 for some reason. So I hit it a couple of times to cycle it, and it went to 5. I kept hitting the button...... and it kept going..... up. How up? Um, 173 bars before I quit. I was looking at the RWR and TWS radar to keep my SA up. And going back to RWS to slowly peck at the elevation bar button, thinking that it eventually had to cycle back down. It didn't. I was just sorta laughing as I was hitting the button. I thought that for sure I was misremembering something. I just came out of a stint with the F-5E, so any radar was a cheerful thing. I went back and looked at the manuals, and they all say that I get a max of four bars. What says the team? -Ryan

I've seen this several times now. Once right from the get go when my wheels left the ground. -Ryan

This thread predates the INS work, and we've veered off topic, so the "correct as is" doesn't apply to the later messages here. Fingers crossed a quick fix is forthcoming. -Ryan

Your points make total sense. What the SAM site "sees" is a black box. The fact that the RWR is screaming doesn't meant that the there's still a hard lock. As end users, we'd almost need to do a long distance merge with another human in a plane with a good radar (e.g. F-18). See what happens, and at what distances with each of the three ECM modes. -Ryan

Welcome to the Viper! Currently, there's a lot of "broke" with the module as it's still technically in Early Access. Some new revisions to the avionics kinda bricked a couple things (Mavericks, mostly). Don't let the gremlins frustrate you. The amount of broke is at least offset by the amount of fun. I'm new to DCS from IL-2. Toying with trying to do some online flying with the Viper. -Ryan

I finally had a chance to see how broke the Maverick boresighting is. Boresighted MAV's are less boresighted than those not boresighted at all. Whoops.... I do see "Auto handoff to 7"... but who knows. Basically, I'd assume Mavericks to be unusable until we get an update or hotfix for the INS stuff. Meanwhile, I'm using the opportunity to practice other things (that I desperately need to work on!). -Ryan

Has the jet moved at all? The normal alignment is super slow. The stored with GPS/DL/MIDS of is faster..... not super fast, but it gives you time to set up the weapons and align the HMCS, etc. -Ryan

Fun experiment! I'm such a newbie with EW, that I find this stuff super interesting. I hadn't "flown" with a 131 since my Falcon days in the 1980's. It's been WWII stuff ever since. I had pretty much the same results with the 131: 72nm with 0, 1, and 2. And 30nm in position #3. At 30nm, it's a double edged sword, because the SA-5 will let a missile rip.... and you're kinda boned at that point. It does make sense that you're going to get locked up at the same point regardless with the ECM not transmitting. The 131 wasn't great at breaking the lock. I'm including a TRK that shows a problem at the very end: Sometimes after running the ECM in vairious positions, I can't seem to get the FCR to come back to life, no matter what I do. Sometimes it comes back to life, sometimes it simply won't. I can only restore the radar by turning the ECM completely off. In the track file below, you can see this problem half way through when I decided to see how dangerous an SA-5 was up close, and engage it with guns. I fumbled with all the CMDS knobs/switches before simply turning the ECM so I could use the radar to drive the gun pipper. Apologies if this is hijacking the thread. -Ryan radar issue.trk

Is the steerpoint at ground level? I've had no trouble with JDAM's, if I first point the TGP at the steerpoint. Usually, there are multiple targets at a steerpoint. Slew the TGP at each, and let the JDAM's go. -Ryan

Is there trouble with the 184 and other modules that use it? A-10, for example? I've noticed (by accident, really) that only mode 3 really seems to work. Nice to see some data. Does the 131 have similar issues? Should I give it a try? -Ryan

Well this is interesting! I've noticed that Modes #1/#2 don't seem to be very helpful, with only mode 3 being useful. I'll have to keep track of that post. My question here was more of an "In real life" question, since the latest and greatest Russian hardware seems to use ECM in A/A. -Ryan Very interesting. This is the answer that I kind of suspected. I will check that site out! Thanks! -Ryan

Here's a rookie question. So many modern aircraft seem to use more streamlined ECM packages. Do F-16's typically use ECM pods as "standard" (Say, CAP, for example) nowadays when operating overseas?.... or do they use them just for specific mission types? Thanks! -Ryan

Also: Remember to align the HCMS when cold-starting the jet. I didn't catch this step for a few weeks after starting with the F-16. Super quick, and super helpful. -Ryan

Good gravy. Why do we have a changelog and mini-updates, and however many other sources of info? ED needs a single, tidy changelog/dialog to inform the community of what is done, how it affects the user, and what problems may exist, and directions that ED is taking the feature towards the update? There are so many angry posts in the F-16 forum. If ED just communicated *effectively*, it would solve 99% of the problems. You can't save all of this for some user manual that's totally BVR. If we knew now what ED already knows, everyone would become happy.... at least those of us who can appreciate how hard it is to build the avionics and simulate technology that's at least gotta be partially classified. Better comms! -Ryan

Oooohh! Gotta check that out! Thanks! Agree with all your points with DCC. I also haven't been able to get the datalink to work with it. I do like the surprises with the air assets. -Ryan

I stumbled over the DCC mod/widget/whatever campaign generator, and it's been a lot of fun. It's still pretty basic, and the missions are a bit repetitive, but it's got some redeeming qualities even at its current state of development. Lots of landing and air to air practice, and each mission is an unknown so you don't know what to expect. Since the missions are short, and you've got a lot of fuel, there's a lot of opportunity to climb on full afterburner, and/or jettison the bags and get to know a relatively unladen F-16 in ACM. I just got into DCS, and really enjoyed the Red Flag campaign (learned lots from it). Lots of the lessons learned there apply well to the DCC stuff. I'm just trying to practice a bit more before digging into the FIWOS campaign. -Ryan

I gotta chime in as a new guy to DCS. These problems have a financial reality for ED. I've been simming for 30 years, and I was real close to walking away from DCS. As it is, it's hard to consider another "serious" module. The F-16 is a flagship for DCS, as it's one of the things that ED does well that no one else really does at all. As folks have mentioned, it's really hard to tell if a change is a bug or a feature. This is pretty easy to solve: Better communication with the community. For a software developer, ED is pretty dreadful when it comes to communication with its user base. The changelog is pretty weak when it comes to explaining the affects of a change. In my first weeks of DCS, I learned more about workarounds on YouTube, than I have features from the user manual. A number of training missions don't even work. I still think the F-16 here is a fantastic effort, and I'm having a blast with it. -Ryan

I used to do that, too! They magically fixed this bug with the March(?) update. -Ryan

I'm sure there's also the initial offset from the TGP from simply putting the missiles on the jet. The ground boresight at least gets the seeker in the right ballpark to ease a proper boresight in the air. Opportunities to boresight seem to be pretty fleeting in the NTTR. -Ryan

Funny how DCS makes us all superstitious with keeping the Datalink happy. The voodoo I follow is to align the INS first to the stored heading, then GPS, DL, and MIDS. -Ryan

That problem seems to have gotten fixed. My problem wasn't a problem. Apparently there's a new problem since the 4/10 update. I haven't encountered it yet. -Ryan