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Everything posted by Buzz313th
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I’m speaking from pretty low time in the DCS F16, but for me, the easiest and most flexible designation method is to use the Weapon Sub Mode “Visual”, which gives me unlimited control of the TGP, allows me to quickly designate and slew the TGP to the active SP, HUD TDC and or the HMCS Pointer. Then I can slave “most” of the weapons over to the TGP designated LOS or SPI. Only caveat is that the weapon types aboard and active on the jet define the sub mode that limits the operation of the TGP. This method of mine is the closest method to how the A10C2 works which IMHO is a very flexible and logical workflow that does not force the pilot to “Reverse Engineer” themselves out of a logic dead end. With regards to working with JTAC, on the DCS F16, you’re stuck with having to create a new SP from his 9-Line. Which prompts me to ask the question, why can’t the JTAC send “Data” to the F16 Flight via DataLink like they can with the A10C? Again, seems like a simple fix that might just be a software upgrade.
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One quick comment I do want to add regarding your point quoted above. Some of the most guarded war fighting information is “Tactics” and “Methods”…. and more often than not, foundational workflow for tactical system will reveal the methods available and thus potential tactics. “Acquisition Time” is a paramount metric when considering the other sides capabilities, especially when technology is so close that both sides are hunting for marginal gains. This “Time” is often the efficiency of the workflow we are talking about.
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Very valid point.... LOL, I flew and am typed for the EMB-120 and Single Pilot IFR in the Metroliner, (I'm dating myself here) Both in the same time period roughly. Both were Clunky, but not nearly as Clunky as the DCSF16C.. I know, apples to oranges, but needed to make a reference to two of the most "Interesting" aircraft to fly, especially the Metro for a part 135 company with the single crew waiver... But I digress... I would guess that if the Blk50 was this clunky that the test pilots would of raised hell until General Dynamics, Raytheon, Hughes or Lockheed Martin redesigned the logic. There is no way the real Blk 50 is this limiting in workflow. It's too easy and inexpensive of a fix to make it flow way better.
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100% agree with you. I have done the same mission numerous times. I have succeeded in showing SP21 HUD and HMCS symbology only after recycling the selected SP back to an active Flight Plan SP. Recycling back to an inactive, or NULL SP then back to SP21 limits me from seeing SP21 Hud and HMCS symbology everytime. I have a bug report up and I intended on submitting a track file, but I keep forgetting to click "Save Track File" when I exit during my testing sessions. I'll get to it when I get home later. But, there is enough clear and concise info here and on the bug report that should give the "B" Testers the ability to reproduce.
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I have a weird feeling that some of the modules we are privy to as civilian consumers , especially the modules that are still representative of current frontline assets are lacking features, or even very small details that would nicely tie everything together by design. I think ED has to ride a very fine line between representing the reality of an aircraft and what the DOD allows them to reveal to the public.
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Until your current SP is no longer valid and you need to create a new one, or simply use the HMCS to point a new SPI, but you don't have any weapons that enable the "Visual" or "DTOS" sub-modes. Then without those Sub-Modes your locked out of using the HUD, HMCS or TGP as a SPI pointing device. Not so quick unfortunately... Once you convert the JTAC 9-Line MGRS coordinates at SP21, you can't just stay selected on SP21 and also get Hud or HMCS symbology to reference the SP. If you want that "Out Of The Cockpit" visual cueing, you need to step all the way back to an active flightplan SP and then back to SP21. If you just step back to SP20, (As "WAGS" has advertised in his videos) then back to SP21, you don't get any HUD or HMCS Symbology to SP21. The period post JTAC clearance and pre "Run in" is a critical time where the pilot needs to be "Heads Up" and flying the jet any extra and unecessary work at that point is simply a liability.
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The DCS F16C is my 2nd FF module. The A10CII being my first. And even though the Hotas assignments on the A10CII is daunting to remember, once done so, I find the A10CII to be much more straight forward in workflow. Not so quick.. Before you can use the HMCS in the Viper to simply point and click an SPI anywhere, you need to be in Visual mode, defined by an onboard weapon type or in DTOS mode, again defined by a weapon. What Happens if you don't have that weapon onboard and on? Or like in my case, what happens if your already set up with Rockets ready to roll in. In Rocket sub mode, the TGP is slaved to the Rocket CCIP. I can't ground stabilize it, or move it. What happens if I need the TGP to visually ID, or use the TGP to define a new out of the cockpit reference or SPI for a CCRP run. Then I need to start dancing with the buttons on the UFC, the SMS, out of TGP format, into SMS format, use a temporary weapons mode to get sensors on point, then switch back to the intended sub mode for weapons release hoping that I just didn't zero out my New TGP LOS. It's not easy and it's not intuitive and I'm very suspect this is how the workflow works in the real viper. In the DCS Jet, the initial sensors used to define a variable SPI in a fluid environment (Radar, HUD, HMCS and TGP) are limited in function by the weapon deployment sub-modes that are defined by the weapons onboard the jet. This means, if the functionality you need for a given workflow to define an initial SPI isn't available because that particular weapon isn't loaded or selected, then it breaks a common workflow and forces the pilot to find an alternate workflow path that unnecessarily adds workload. Not very intuitive IMHO. The logic at present is forcing the pilot to work backwards from weapon deployment to Identification and Initial Designation.. Workflow IMHO, should move from Initial designation, to identification, to weapon deployment in every situation and should stay consistent to build mental and muscle memory..
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Bizaar to be honest.. Working my way through the last 10 - 15 % of my self imposed Viper training and last night came upon the first included single player mission if you have Nevada, mission is called "Home On The Range". Where you depart Nellis for the "Range" just North of Creech and south of Groom to do some work with a JTAC controller, then head off to the West, bust the Groom restricted airspace LOL and shoot down two aggressors in 29's. After approach to SP2 I am instructed to Check in with JTAC, I get a 9 Line, Switch the AP to Alt Pitch mode and Att Roll mode as I establish an orbit over SP2 that allows me to get busy with the conversion of SP21 to a usable SP from JTAC's MGRS Coordinates. Get everything entered in the DED, do the conversion, dobber left to get back to the home screen, cycle from SP21 to SP20 and then back to SP21 to make SP21 the active and referenced SP. Start looking in the helmet or the hud for a position reference to roll out on for the attack run and can't find any. SP21 is active, as I can see it as a solid dot in the HSD, it's just not showing up in the "Out of the cockpit displays" (HUD or Helmet). Flounder that mission while "Fat-Fingering" the UFC trying to un-fook myself and get some geo references to the target. Showtime reports I have died while playing space Invaders with the Jets systems as an SA8 gives me an unexpected enema. Not an easy or intuitive workflow and has pushed me the young low time pilot into overload causing us to lose one young war fighter today. I find out later, after trying the mission again, that my mistake (My inability to get visual symbology for SP21 up on the HUD or Helmet) was simply due to the fact that I needed to cycle all the way back to an active flight plan SP (SP3 instead of an empty NULL SP20) and then back to SP21. Wait what? Really? Unnecessarily too many steps to achieve a simple foundational function of wartime operation of a frontline fighter. If this is the way it is in the real jet, then Lockheed Martin needs to re-design. Cheers
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Solid advice I will apply it... I came from Old Falcon4 in the day, then FA18 Hornet, FA18 Super Hornet, Janes etc.. I know I'm older now, but I don't remember any of those sims being this difficult regarding an A-G Flow. As a matter of fact I do remember the Hornet sims having a nice groove to them and the block 40 of old Falcon 4 not being this clunky. I am pretty proficient with the A10CII, as it was the first Full Fidelity Module I learned. Once you wrap your head around the HOTAS assignments, then the A10 will give you anything you want it to do and you never feel like you backed yourself in to a corner workflow wise and always find a quick way out. The DCS Viper on the other hand, sometimes feels like you can just stuff yourself into a corner and need to reverse engineer your way out. It's not comfortable. If this is the way it is in the real jet, I am surprised that Lockheed Martin didn't smooth it out and make it more intuitive. Viper pilots don't get to spend that much time flying nowadays, mostly brief, post brief and sim time, then maybe an hour or two in the actual jet per week. Considering the evolution of learning that the USAF has gone through since Vietnam, which has emphasized the need for a force to be fluid and adapt quickly, where quick flexibility was a design staple, I'm even more surprised the viper's logic was designed this way. Either way.. Cheers..
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It wasn't offsets or deltas, it was that Steerpoint 21 that I made from JTACS MGRS coordinates was not showing up as a diamond in the JHMCS or the HUD. I just tried the same mission again to make a track for you and found that I needed to cycle all the way back to steerpoint 1 through 3 and then back to 21 for the diamond to show up in the HUD and HMCS. When I had the issue of the symbology not showing up, I had only cycled from steerpoint 21 to 20 and then back to 21. I guess you need to cycle all the way back to an active and actual steerpoint... My issue is solved as it was operator error. Feel free to delete this thread once you see my reply. Cheers and Thanks
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fixed 2.9 VR Spotting Dots - can't disable ?
Buzz313th replied to Phantom_Mark's topic in View and Spotting Bugs
Thank you. -
Or is the DCS Viper still that far away from giving a true representation of the aircraft and it's systems? I'm about 85-95% done with learning the systems of the viper and god does it feel like I have to fight it to get sensors to point where I want them to. There is no real "flow" to the workflow. The process is just painful and cumbersome. Please tell me that the DCS Viper is not even close and there is still a ton of polish needed.
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Still working my way through learning the DCS Viper and I am currently on the Viper Single Mission called "Out On The Range". You depart Nellis for some air to ground practice with JTAC, then after dropping mud weapons you fly west to engage a few Mig 29's. During the JTAC portion of the mission, I hold at steerpoint 2 and contact JTAC for a nine line. I convert steerpoint 21 into a usable steerpoint from JTAC's MGRS coordinates. I step back one steerpoint then forward again to recycle to steerpoint 21 making it the active steerpoint. I notice that on my HSD, I see the new steerpoint 21, on the HSD I also see a cross next to it, which represents the SPI I believe. I switch to AG mode, select rockets and look left out of the canopy to get a visual reference from the JHMCS as to where steerpoint 21 is so I can roll in and start my attack run.. Nowhere in the helmet can I find a steerpoint line that points to steerpoint 21, a tadpole or a diamond, I continue my left turn to roll onto where I think the steerpoint should be and I can't find it. The only reference I can find is head down in the cockpit on the HSD a solid dot and a SPI cross, no reference or symbology to the steerpoint in the helmet at all. As I roll out on where the steerpoint reference should be, I also notice that there is no HUD symbology for steerpoint 21 as well. I struggle through the inconsistencies and what I expect should happen, haphazardly drop my ordinance and turn to the west to engage the 29's. Then I notice the diamond in the HUD on steerpoint 3 to the west of me, I glance right to the DED and confirm that steerpoint 21 is selected, but the HUD is referencing SP 3? Why is the HUD and JHMCS symbology not referencing steerpoint 21 correctly? Why when SP 21 is selected, is the HUD and JHMCS referencing SP 3? What is the point of going through the workflow of copying down the nine line, to input MGRS coords into the DED, convert them to a valid steerpoint and then have the wrong HUD and HMCS reference symbology at the worst possible time? Surely the real F16C shows the pilot the JTAC MGRS converted waypoint in his visual cuing devices without having to drop his head into the cockpit to line up for an attack run? What am I doing wrong?
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This was supposedly the way to disable it last patch when the new spotting logic was implemented, but it did not work and ED acknowledged that the next patch would have a successful way to disable the new spotting logic... In order to disable new “spotting dots” and revert to previous logic user can put “DotRendererExperiment = False” in autoexec.cfg file located in \Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Config\ I haven't tried the old way, I just assumed ED would mention it in today's release notes.
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How do you toggle it?
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Thanks for the patch, thanks for the work and the support... Outa curiosity, did the "New spotting system" enable/disable toggle make it in to this patch so that users who prefer the old spotting system can turn the new logic off?
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fixed 2.9 VR Spotting Dots - can't disable ?
Buzz313th replied to Phantom_Mark's topic in View and Spotting Bugs
Did the Spotting Dot toggle make it today's 2.9 beta patch or update? -
After todays update, I noticed that the current spotting system has changed slightly. In VR I am still getting the oversized dots at beyond model render distance, still going from large square to small rendered model at the transition distance for a given object, but... I have noticed that on the Quest 3, as I get to somewhere around the rendering transition distance from me to the objects I am looking at, one eye display will show the spot dot, while the other eye will show the rendered object with no spot dot. I can clearly see the difference if I close one eye or the other. Furthermore, as I turn my head and change the angle of my POV to the objects I am looking at, the spot dot and the rendered object will flip, or switch in and out of the spot dot or the rendered model differently between the right and left eye displays on my VR headset. It feels as if a POV change in VR is confusing the spot dot logic of each individual VR eye display independently of one another. If I did not explain this well enough to be of help, please let me know and I can try to do better.. Cheers
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In today's official ED training mission #18 - JDAM deployment, I was not able to complete because I was not able to select GRND mode in fusing options.. I found a one year old thread on it that had been closed. A reminder to ED that this is still an issue and needs addressing. Here is the link to the old thread.. And unfortunately, I feel I need to rant just for a moment... Kinda new player to DCS. Flaming Cliffs was first purchase, love the F15C, no issues here. 2nd Purchase was A10C2 - Brilliant module, works as the manual states. 3rd and 4th purchase. F16C and F18C. Currently learning the F16C, working through the manual, the training missions and anything else I can find to get me proficient in the DCS Viper. Just about every 3-4 lessons or topics in the F16C, I come across some kind of road block, usually it's a bug, or an unfinished feature. The training missions aren't updated, the manual is incomplete, and so far, my experience with the F16C Module has felt a bit unprofessional. The bugs or roadblocks I discover can be found in the forums dated months, if not years ago. Threads are closed, official statements are "WIP". The further I dive into DCS, the more disappointed I am with the lack of follow through on the newer modules I purchased. The modules aren't cheap and DCS seems to pride themselves on realism and professionalism. It's not showing. I am now the type of customer that is more skeptical, than optimistic. It will and has affected my purchasing habits towards DCS. I know the last two modules I purchased are listed as "Early Access", but lets finish and complete before releasing more half done projects. "Early Access" is doing more to hurt the game industry than it is helping it. Rant over.. Cheers
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reported F-16 Agm-65 Maverick crosshair disappearing with 0x MSAA
Buzz313th replied to Shiny's topic in Bugs and Problems
@BIGNEWY I have reported a bug that feels like it may be related to this one, as the cockpit display resolution setting is causing unexpected and illogical results on the kneeboard maps.. Link below to the newfound bug. -
Lately, my Kneeboard maps have been displayed at very low resolution. So low, that it is impossible to see the smaller text on the map, such as terrain elevation and often even the waypoint numbers. I did not know at the time what was causing it, but I did make a post outside of the bug forum, not knowing if it was a bug or a design feature. Through some experimentation we found what was causing this bug and I was able to reproduce it on my system. The following thread is where I first reached out for help. Linked for reference.. The following is my findings and then the steps to reproduce. The issue is tied to the in cockpit resolution settings under "System", but, the resolutions will not change or correct themselves unless you set a higher cockpit display resolution and then quit DCS and force a recompile of all the shaders in "SavedGames" folder upon starting DCS again. But here is the caveat, if you change cockpit display resolutions back to 256 after fixing the low res maps (To get better VR performance) and restart DCS, on the next mission load, the maps will be back to a much lower and unusable resolution.. If after I correct the map resolution and change the cockpit display res back to 256 within the same DCS session, the maps remain higher res until a restart of DCS. Here is my method for reproduction of what I would consider a bug that needs fixing... Set cockpit display res to 256 Restart DCS Start mission Open kneeboard and recognize low res maps. Quit mission Set cockpit display res to 1024 Quit DCS Delete shader files in FXO and Metshader2 folders Restart DCS Open same mission as before Open kneeboard and recognize High res maps. Quit Mission Set cockpit display res to 256 Restart same mission Open kneeboard and recognize High res maps even though you set cockpit display res to 256 Quit DCS leaving cockpit display res at 256 Restart DCS without forcing a shader recompile Restart same mission Open kneeboard and recognize Low res maps - The restart of DCS changed or recompiled the maps to be rendered at low resolution Maybe we can get this fixed so that In Cockpit Display Resolution has no affect on the kneeboard map resolution? I think this bug is related to the maverick WPN page bug where the crosshairs and fov markers disappear unless you run at a higher cockpit display res with MSA off. Reporting this finding in the bug section of the forum... Cheers and thanks for helping me find this. My system 12900k, RTX4080, 64gigs, Win11, Quest3 @ 4800x2600 and flat screen at 2556x1440 on a 52" sony TV. dcs.log
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Ok, so just tried a few methods and found the culprit to my extremely low res, auto generated F10 maps on the Kneeboard. The issue is tied to the in cockpit resolution settings under "System", but, the resolutions will not change or correct themselves unless you set a higher cockpit display resolution and then quit DCS and force a recompile of all the shaders in "SavedGames" folder upon starting DCS again. But here is the caveat, if you change cockpit display resolutions back to 256 after fixing the low res maps (To get better VR performance) and restart DCS, on the next mission load, the maps will be back to a much lower and unusable resolution.. If after I correct the map resolution and change the cockpit display res back to 256 within the same DCS session, the maps remain higher res until a restart of DCS. Here is my method for reproduction of what I would consider a bug that needs fixing... Set cockpit display res to 256 Restart DCS Start mission Open kneeboard and recognize low res maps. Quit mission Set cockpit display res to 1024 Quit DCS Delete shader files in FXO and Metshader2 folders Restart DCS Open same mission as before Open kneeboard and recognize High res maps. Quit Mission Set cockpit display res to 256 Restart same mission Open kneeboard and recognize High res maps even though you set cockpit display res to 256 Quit DCS leaving cockpit display res at 256 Restart DCS without forcing a shader recompile Restart same mission Open kneeboard and recognize Low res maps - The restart of DCS changed or recompiled the maps to be rendered at low resolution Maybe we can get this fixed so that In Cockpit Display Resolution has no affect on the kneeboard map resolution? I think this bug is related to the maverick WPN page bug where the crosshairs and fov markers disappear unless you run at a higher cockpit display res with MSA off. Reporting this finding in the bug section of the forum... Post to the bug report Cheers and thanks for helping me find this.