Sunbather

With this fix you saved my weekend two weeks ago. I want to express my thanks for that!

Have you read the rest of this thread? Long boot times is only the start of this mess. And yeah, that could also be related to a anti-virus program but let's not kid ourselves, it's the usual excuse nowadays. And in most cases, it turns out the anti-virus got nothing to do with it. Just spent half an hour to update all my drivers, clean up my "Saved Games" folder, i.e. deleting all mods, still the same problem persists that just began occuring literally over night. <profanity> this. I've got little very free time currently and bugfixing a problem that most likely isn't even on my end to begin with (source: see all the other people reporting the same problem with very different systems) just feels like a dumb decision right now. I would just like to play the content I've paid 150€ two weeks ago?

Problem still persisting after yesterday's patch... Why is no official person responding to this thread? I've just spend another 150€ on DCS during the last Steam sale and now I am stuck with ~7 to 10 minute long boot times...

Yes, the sound drives me crazy! I just find it superweird that I just encountered the issue this Sunday while quite apparently you guys had the problem much longer already. Maybe a postponed Windows update was the culprit for me but I am not aware of any updates between Saturday (game ran fine) and Sunday (stuttering in main menu began to occur). EDIT: Yeah, <profanity> me. The problem is still there. I had hopes it just magically fixed itself over the past 2 days... And it takes an insane amount for Steam to even open the Launcher, like almost a minute while it opened almost instantly before.

I had zero issues with DCS since I started playing 6 months ago. Now I got this... Out of the blue, loadup takes three times as long now and then I have to wait around in the menu for another 3 minutes until the stuttering subsided. I've already tried to delete all mods but that didn't help. Checked file integrity via Steam, no use. Only yesterday the whole thing ran completely fine. Any fix for this? It is insanely annoying.

Nice write-up! I didn't even think about loiter times and that it can take off from any strip! That is a huge advantage indeed.

I've heard about this plane a while ago and was rather confused. Why does SOCOM need a light-weight turboprop attack plane? The only real advantage I see is low costs. But I am rather ignorant and still rather new to aviation so I'd be happy if someone could elaborate.

A lot of weird reasoning here. Arma 3 performs worse than DCS and is constantly used for fake war footage (and just as constantly the public falls for it), yet it has civilians in it. There is also an argument to be made that it is actually more offensive to not show civilians at all. With new terrains like Afghanistan and a lot of modules to do COIN with (the helicopters, the A-10), having something like civilians, even if only abstracted, is a must to simulate combat digitally. I am also sure that campaign makers would find very good use for it (and already have, see e.g. the Agile Spear campaign with the rallying crowd). Combat Mission does it, Command: Modern Operations does it, Arma 3 does it --- why doesn't DCS do it?

Baltic Dragon, do you have any news on the Raven One: Combat Wingman campaign? Is a release somewhat imminent? Your A-10Cii Iron Flag campaign was superb and it would be pure bliss to have a similar campaign for the F/A-18C which I am currently trying to learn (but the training missions are just too poor and a boring mess to work through).

First of all, thank you for having an open ear! As I said in my previous response posts, I think I failed to bring my point across. Using Youtube videos, Chuck's Guides or the official manual is mandatory and I do it all the time, even while in-game. However, I found the training missions for the M-2000C or for the A-10CII excellent. I did the training missions, did some rough action missions with trial and error, then jumped into Baltic Dragon's Iron Flag and now I am flying and thoroughly enjyoing the Persion Freedom campaign. Overall I feel confident with the A-10CII and I haven't looked in the manual once! The F-16C on the other hand I did learn with the manual, even printed parts of it out. Was a good experience as well but still, the training missions were fundamental for that learning process, too. And I think it was one of the training missions or a normal mission with voice over for the F-4E where I finally learned how to do an IFR landing, learning to navigate via TACAN. And then came the F/A-18C + Supercarrier. No Case 2 or 3 training missions, most of the training missions feel cut short severely (like the one about the nav points: click this and then click that and you have your flight plan, voilà training complete, now fly through the hoops). And there are also errors: e.g. during the HSI/TACAN training mission, the order of which buttons to push is mixed up. This definitvely needs (and: deserves?) improvement! And my take in the end was: the F/A-18C might be the best selling module but how many people will just turn their back on DCS after their experience with the training missions? I think you're just much more thorough and have much higher standards when learning a module. If you saw me landing, you would screech.

Well, 15 modules I've looked into, i.e. setting up the most important controls and doing some action missions, e.g. hopping in the AH-64 learning how to start, then learning how to shoot bad guys with Hellfires and the 30mil. Not learning auto-start, not learning nav points etc. After all, I needed to find out on which modules I wanted to spend time and money on, right? And so in the end, I don't think it is crazy to learn like 4 or 5 modules at the same time. I quite enjoy being able to jump into whatever A/C I am in the mood for or play a Retribution campaign and be able to take on more than one roll. But yeah, in the beginning dabbling with so many modules at the same time really did a number on my brain, hahaha.

You are right about the clickbait. I hate clickbait. But the more I thought about my learning experience with the F/A-18C, the more I got triggered (here's another buzzword for you) and I basically got pulled into a clickbait rage mood. It's all DCS' fault, you see? Joking aside, I changed the title. For those rebelling against self-censorship, the original title was: "Learning experience of the F/A-18C is abysmal --- and it is hurting ED directly" And to digress even further, your training missions are the only selling point for the Sinai map for me right now. As soon as I am finished learning my current modules, I will finally learn the Mig-21 with YOUR help. And I am already looking forward to it.

The F/A-18C must be the 15th module or so I am dabbling with and the 5th I am actually trying to learn thoroughly. Learning the F-16C, the A-10CII, the M-2000C or even the very Early Access, training-wise utterly incomplete F-4E was a demanding but straight-forward task. Now, after almost 200 hours of DCS I come to the F/A-18C and the training missions are a slap in the face. Tutorial for waypoints? A 5-minute show in which you learn to push two buttons to activate a waypoint in the HSI and then you fly through hoops. That's it. Next training mission. The Cold Start Procedure? Leaves out all of Bit tests except for one and also leaves out half of the necessary procedures. There are zero training missions for the Supercarrier. There are only two, very rudimentary training missions regarding take-off from a carrier and Case 1 recovery. Again, most of the important stuff, including ATC procedures is completely left out. Now, I am learning this module still with relative ease. I know my Youtubers by now, I know how stuff works in DCS, and by now - thanks to DCS by the way - I also have quite a understanding of fighter jet procedures. But I must wonder: the F/A-18C is your best selling - and probalby most expensive (regarding the need for the Supercarrier addon - module, and yet it has the worst tutorials of all the modules I've encountered so far. Worse than the Mig-21, worse than the F-4E in its current state. Don't you realize that if that is the first experience for most players after they've spent 70 bucks or even +100 bucks for the module plus near-mandatory additions, that the training missions should at least be on the same level as the F-16C? Or put differently: have you ever thought about how many people just quit DCS prematurely and talk <profanity> about it just because they were nudged into buying the F/A-18C as the alleged top module and then they just found it inaccesible, poorly explained and overall way too complex? (Which is funny because I find the F/A-18 the least complex module I've experienced so far.) Inb4: And no, it doesn't matter if there are myriad of 3rd-party training sources out there or even 1st-party videos by Wags from 7 years ago. People are not out of their mind for wanting a proper in-game tutorial for their premium-priced module and even one or two voiced tutorials for its premium-priced addon that in the end of the day just adds people on a carrier... I am not hating. Please consider it passionate feedback from someone who is rather perplexed by the utter lack of QoL-additions to the beginner's F/A-18C experience.

Agree, needed for the A-10CII as well. It boggles my mind that an A/C module made by DCS for a map made by DCS doesn't have this from day 1.

I just bit the bullet earlier today and bought the Supercarrier module (which made me realize that I wasted money on the Su-33 some months ago but that's another matter of contention for this overpriced package). I did buy the Supercarrier mostly because I want to access all those beautiful F/A-18C campaigns. But before I tackle a campaign, I should learn the jet and the carrier module properly, right? To my surprise, however, the tutorials for vanilla carrier ops are a bare minimum while the tutorials for the Supercarrier module are non-existent. I figured out by myself how to taxi on the Supercarrier, also managed to do a Case 1 recovery (the tutorial wasn't much help) but what about Case 2 and 3? What about radio procedures? It kinda boggles my mind that the most famous and most bought module has such an incomplete and, frankly, lazy tutorial set. So I already hunted down some user-made content (e.g. Gunthrek's 4-part training set, a Red Flag campaign by beppe_goodoldrebel, and Bankler's Case 1 trainer) but none of that is what I need right now. Take for example how I learned the A-10 in the past few weeks: I did the excellent tutorial missions, I fumbled around with some stand-alone missions, then started Baltic Dragon's excellent Iron Flag and then began the Persian Freedom campaign --- a nice, steady learning curve, all the while actually playing already, and not having to look up every little thing on Youtube or in a PDF file. So what would you recommend me to do, as frustrated as I am already with the overpriced Supercarrier module? Are there any campaigns that ease you into it? And teach you radio comms and Case 2 and 3 recovery procedures by implementing it into the story? I've heard the Rising Squall campaign has tutorials but it's a no go: I can't stand the voice acting and it's almost 20€! But what about some of the others? What could be considered a beginner campaign?

Well, I was already on the website but didn't think of searching for the Freedom's Legacy campaign which would have given me the estimated release date. Bought Operation Persian Freedom yesterday! I am only at mission 3 but it's already much better than the reviews on Steam make it out to be!

Oh no, that is a lot of time. I even downloaded a demo from the website today but failed to connect the dots and look up the upcoming Afghanistan campaign. Thanks for the intel!

Any estimate when this will be ready? Just bought the Afghanistan map and I am finally properly learning the A-10CII module. And so I am eagerly awaiting this very campaign!

Idiot me. I did find that thread but was only looking on the last page, not on the first. Bought the Viggen by the way.

What does the updated manual entail? Also, I've been persuing the manual. It would be nice of you to offer us a printer-friendly one, i.e. without the Viggen sketch in the background. And there's something else I wanted to share with you guys: I think it's a missed opportunity that you don't make use of the 'modular' bundle system over on Steam. E.g. I've purchased the F-4 at full price, am very interested in the Viggen, but only mildly interested in the F-14. However, if this was a modular bundle I would probably buy both missing jets anyways thanks to the additional discount. Likewise, I might purchase the Viggen today. It would make it a whole lot easier for me in the future, if my interest in the F-14 arises, to purchase it if it was part of a 'modular' bundle. It seems also like a middle finger towards your customers who might already have purchased two of your modules but now can't buy the bundle. See for a 'modular' bundle, this description text: https://steamdb.info/bundle/16050/ And your 'restricted' bundle: https://steamdb.info/bundle/52534/

Indeed. Especially since the thing we have now is a bit of a mess: when I tried to play a modern day scenario on the channel map it spawned Flak 88 as air defenses; era-appropriate (i.e. historical) scenario creation rarely ever works. So it is indeed good to hear that a new iteration is worked upon and filtering A/C by eras is a focus. In that regard, it would also be nice to have several incremental steps during the Cold War going into the 90s. E.g. the F-16C not carrying any HARMS missiles before ~1985. In short, filtering not only the A/C according to the era but also their loadout, if possible.

There was a mistake during the last sale, this time there is no mistake. In the official store there is shown a base discount of 20% because the map is still in early access. On Steam, this discount is already applied and only the new price is shown. Now you have additional 10% off during the sale on the official store, while there is even a 12% off on Steam which - in fact - makes the Steam version cheaper (depending on your regional price). For me in Germany, the Kola map is 45€ on Steam and 49$ here (which roughly translates to 50€ due to poor conversion rates). What confuses me more is that some modules are not on sale at all on Steam while being on sale here, e.g. the F/A-18C Arctic Thunder campaign.

You might laugh but I wanted to start a career as a graphic designer. Then I chose to become an astronaut.

Although it has been demanded now and BigNewy has already acknowledged our feedback, I felt the need to use my insane skills in Microsoft Paint to visualize the problem. For the Sinai map there are six entries before Rudel-Chw's Mig-21bis Training Missions although they have been updated yesterday! And even that is only because the initial release of his Training Missions is relatively close to begin with. What will it look like in 2027? Rudel-Chw might still update his missions but they will only show up 5 pages into the Sinai section... It would be tremendous help to see right away what has been worked on recently and what is to be considered "use at own risk, the last 20 updates might have broken this user content". It would also give the users who keep their work current and functioning a much more prominent stage. Can't there simply be a new category that takes account of the last upload by the creator? Like so: Similiarily, I am probably going to buy the M-2000C because only yesterday I have found out that even the user campaigns made in 2022 have been updated. I didn't see that before because there are 18 campaigns and I simply didn't click on every single one of them, especially because I had no hopes for a campaign from 2022 to have been updated anyway. And that is only regarding the user files stuff where the changelog is in the description. I suspect there are quite a few files out there that have been updated but there is no way to know and they won't show up as 'recent' either. What I am saying is: if I see at first sight that a lot of user stuff for module X has been updated recently, I am much more likely to purchase said module.

Curiously, for me it worked with the original mission file. Pressing "Rec" showed me an error of about 0.2 NM which rang true. I pressed "Val" and it re-aligned the INS, or at least pressing "Rec" again then showed 0.000 error in NM.