Ramsay

With TPOD HOTAS Mode selected (SSS double tap) Pressing NWS/Undesignate (usually once or twice), will undesignate whatever you've targeted and cycle the TPOD to the HUD velocity vector - you can then fly to place the velocity vector on a target and designate/ground stabilise using TDC depress.

Unfortunately it's not unusual for tracks not to replay "exactly" as they are a recording of your inputs, actions, etc. - your bug may be difficult to track down if it's not easy to repeat. This is how your track played on my PC ... as said, if I took control of your track - I simply had to wait to get in range for the IRMAV to "lock" onto a ground object and I could press the pickle button. Have you setup a dead zone for your TDC axis as, IIRC any drift on the TDC will break the IRMAV target lock ?

Thanks for the track file - what I see ? TL;DR: You attempted to lock a target at too greater distance for the IRMAV seeker, without a valid lock, the IRMAV wouldn't fire until you got closer. Detail: 1. You attempt to lock the IRMAV at ~15nm (using the LH MFD) - as the cross hairs fail to close (i.e. lock), it fails to launch. 2. You switch to using DMT-TV (RH MFD) and attempt to designate, while still closing distance on the target. 3. At 10.2nm, the IRMAV cross hairs reappear, perhaps because it senses a lockable target or a sensor slew. 4. You switch to IRMAV mode again and the IRMAV was able to lock on a railway telegraph pole and you fire. 5. The telegraph pole is hit by IRMAV and a passing train is hit by splash damage 6. The DCS Debrief screen shows the IRMAV was shot at the railway telegraph pole Taking control of your track, I simply needed to close the distance to the target area to lock and fire the IRMAV at 7.1 nm Adding a waypoint near the telegraph pole, I locked one of the nearby buildings at 8.9nm with the IRMAV alone. What did you expect ?

AFAIK Razbam's Mirage 2000C with M53-P2 engine, RDI radar and Matra Super 530D missiles entered service in 1987. IMHO removing NVG filters, digital radio, etc. won't help to increase it's inclusion as most "cold war" servers model the early cold war for balance/fun and the M-2000C is simply superior to older aircraft like the F1, MiG-21, MiG-19, etc. With the F1 and (planned) Kfir Mirage from other 3rd party devs, there's likely already enough cold war options, YMMV.

IRMAV locked and fired ok, when I tested using a "simple" air spawn mission, do you have a short track file ?

Campaign progress is saved in "Saved Games\DCS\MissionEditor\logbook.lua" If the file is deleted or the campaign path/file name changes - progress can be lost. If due to a path/file name change - logbook.lua can sometimes be edited to match the new location. For paid DLC the campaign path name will be something like "./Mods/campaigns/FA-18C Raven One/Raven One.cmp" While for user [save games folder] campaigns, the drive letter is also part the path i.e. "C:/Users/Ramsay/Saved Games/DCS/Missions/Campaigns/en/FA-18C TopGun Release by florenceSSD/TopGun .cmp"

DCS Open Beta Multi-thread 2.8.8.43704 FA-18C Radar Helicopter Test at 80nm.trk

AGM-65H and AGM-65D aren't in the USMC AV-8B's inventory, they use AGM-65E/E2 LMAV and AGM-65F IRMAV versions. The RL USMC AV-8B Master Flight Syllabus Guide make no mention of ripple firing Mavericks. AFAIK to quickly fire on two targets (in a modern scenario) - you'd create TOO mark points or target points and switch between them. I suspect the F-16C's ability to lock separate IRMAV targets per station and ripple fire is an older technique that pre-dates the AV-8B's TPOD (~2004). As said, AFAIK there's no documentation of the AV-8B ripple firing IRMAV's.

TL;DR: CAS = ON is for normal flight, CAS = OFF is a fall-back mode. IIRC CAS trims for 1G and damps pitch oscillations among other things, on initial release the DCS F-15E showed some undesirable pitch oscillations after take off and CAS was tuned to behave in a better (more realistic) way. My understanding is that CAS is why the F-15E has "fly by wire" like flight and doesn't require lots of trim adjustment. AFAIK, turning off CAS is most noticeable by the amount addition trim adjustments needed to maintain level flight, etc. at different speeds/altitudes but I haven't tested this in DCS. Before the CAS fix, users reported that CAS=OFF helped fix the undesired pitch oscillations - so it would seem that the CAS reversion/ fall back mode used to work. It is (if not more so), as explained, AFAIK the DCS F-15E CAS control logic was partly responsible for causing pitch oscillations after take off and required tuning. Flight model/system tuning during early access is an iterative process and to be expected. Detail: https://www.f15sim.com/operation/f15_yaw_control.html

No

The first half of the mission where you use the AV-8B DMT LST mode and DCS's default JTAC on channel 02 of Com 1 (144 MHz) still works as intended. The 2nd half of this 2019 mission is a little broken (as a tutorial) as some details of the Gen 4 TPOD's integration has changed since the mission was created i.e. SSS double tap to enter TPOD HOTAS mode, etc.

I confirm the above, the Gazelle's "68mm SNEB Type 254 H1 SM Red" smoke only burns for ~25 seconds. For Info. • Burn times for other marker rockets in DCS also seem to have decreased i.e. the Huey's "Hydra 70 M156 SM" lasts for only ~40 seconds (IIRC marker rockets used to burn for 5 minutes in DCS 1.5.6 - allowing for player JTAC smoke marking). • The AI JTAC's White Phosphorus marker still lasts for 5 minutes. • Combined Arms player JTAC smoke marks don't appear to expire (+25 minute test). • IRL a M18 Smoke Grenade lasts 50-90 seconds and the larger Hydra M259 (WP) / M264 (red) Warheads provide a smoke screen for 5 minutes. Tested DCS Open Beta Multi-thread 2.8.8.43704

I find the SA-342M pretty well-behaved when fully loaded (used to be under powered), while a lightly loaded L (empty after firing all it's HOT3) is very twitchy. AFAIK the new FM is still being iterated on, so I'm not "concerned", it does make for some "interesting" flights though. YMMV.

I've always had a soft spot for the F-15E, however it's still in early access and missing many Suite 4 features and weapons. So for the moment, the more mature F-16C is my goto module for multi-player/coop despite it's more limited radar modelling. It's also worth mentioning a guilty SP pleasure of mine ATM is the Gazelle's new flight model.

Unknown, the whole release logic got broken, Razbam had planned to divert/add dev resources (time?) to get it fixed but some internal issues got in the way. Their last status update was 15th August, so they are aware we are eager for a fix. https://discord.com/channels/536389125276827660/544227316801208375/1140917416088584224

How would that work when dropped from 12,500 ft i.e. the time of fall for the Mk-20 Rockeyes from 12,500 ft to their 650 ft AGL burst height in DCS is ~29 seconds

I can confirm the Mk-20 burst height was unaffected by fuse settings (always burst at ~650 ft) However I've just finished testing if the CBU-87 worked and like the CBU-97, it's FZU39 proximity fuse was working (I tested 900 ft and 1200 ft settings) CBU-87 PACS settings with FZU39 selected and a 1200 ft burst height

Changing the PACS fuse height of the CBU-97 DOES change the burst altitude in DCS (even in flight) as is shown in the TACVIEW pictures in this post. Whilst unrealistic, changing the CBU-97 burst height while in flight is required ATM as the DCS F-15E's default of 700 ft AGL will have the BLU-108's crashing into the ground if released at medium to high altitudes i.e. 16,000 ft. With the CBU-97 burst altitude changed to 1200 ft AGL, the BLU-108 parachutes have suficient time to deaccelerate and submunitions deploy correctly. I haven't tested the behaviour of Mk-20's

The Normandy 2.0 "upgrade" doesn't "download" additional textures, etc., it is a licence key that unlocks them on the upgraded Normandy 1944 map. Although the lower priced "Normandy and Channel Map" Steam Upgrade has been removed from sale ... it should still work for existing owners who bought prior to it's removal (my textures, etc. are still good). This is how my Steam Normandy install looks, yours should be similar If you still have issues the general suggestion is to submit a support ticket to ED

Yes.

Without a track, it's hard to be sure but typically you'll want to swap 1 and 2 i.e. Select the TPOD first and then the LMAV, IIRC doing it the other way deselects the LMAV (as the TPOD is treated as another weapon), hence why you might select the LMAV twice. Checking this out in single player - I didn't have an issue firing the LMAV E2 but the TPOD's laser did once auto-safe and FPS dropped from a locked 60 fps to single figures when the TPOD target was masked (not something I've seen before). Continuing my tests - I saw a desync at times between the LMAV HUD and MFD status, seemed like the next (caged) LMAV sometimes inherited the previous uncaged status i.e. the HUD showed a target lock, but the LMAV MFD (SSS forward long) didn't have it's full symbology and I needed to cycle the LMAV cage/uncage button to confirm a "good" spot track. All LMAV E2's were fired successfully and hit their targets. Tested using DCS Open Beta Multi-thread 2.8.7.42718

As far as I can tell the £9.99 Normandy/Channel Upgrade I purchased is no longer sold on Steam, https://store.steampowered.com/app/2399900/DCS_Normandy_20_Upgrade/ ... however the individual £12.49 Normandy 1944 and Channel Upgrades are still there. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2314970/DCS_Normandy_2_Upgrade_from_Normandy_1944/ So while annoying - if you still want to get the increased area and additional details of Normandy 2.0, I suggest paying the additional £2.50 for one of the other Steam upgrade paths.

TPOD and Maverick intergration is working as intended and as IRL - the TPOD was a ~2002 addition to the origrignal aircraft (initially only on the wing station) and the weapon/video system treats it as another weapon. It's a real life limitation i.e. the harrier can only display video from one "weapon" at a time, IIRC a software update allowed the TPOD feed to hot swap to the Maverick video, however you can't have both video feeds displayed at the same time. Without a track, it's hard to be sure - a gotta that often catches me out when returning to the Harrier from other modules is that selecting the TPOD i.e. before a reattack, will deselect the Maverick (as the TPOD is treated as a weapon) and often requires the Maverick to be selected a 2nd time - there are indicators as to weapon status, etc. but you need to remember to check for them. Only the Maverick E2/L can be self-lased, the Maverick E cannot. AFAIK the inability to self-lase the Maverick E was a OFP limitation - having both E and E2 Mavericks in DCS allows the earlier software to be modelled (in a limited way).

Yes. My understanding is that most F-15E airframes went straight from the older LANTIRN pod to using Sniper pods. However as a limited few used the Litening II pod - Razbam plan to model all 3 tageting pods, with the Litening planned for CTU 2010 and SNIPER for CTU 2015. DCS F-15E WIP (14th Feb 2023) and subject to change (from left to right - LANTIRN, Litening and SNIPER targeting pods)

There are whole books written on the subject and I'll try to keep my uneducated opinion simple without any politics. Both aircraft are capable, however their roles and how the 2 services use them are different. • The F-16 was/is evisaged fighting as part of a full scale war vs large numbers of enemy tanks, etc. thus it has weapons like the CBU-97 and 105 in it's USAF inventry and performs well in your synthetic scenario. • The F/A-18 is there to defend the "fleet" or provide cover/support to expenditionary troops/marines with a philosophy of mobility and movement - deploying cluster munitions ahead of your own troops hinders that. IRL in your scenario there'd be • more F-16's carrying less weapons due to fuel/drag concerns, possibly ROE* against using cluster munitions. • more F/A-18's as RL warfare is a team effort. *CBU-97 USAF doctrine is to use the weapon to halt/hold an enemy's main armored force in a major conflict, providing time for other U.S. forces to arrive in the theater.