captain_dalan

Hey guys and @IronMike, is this just me? Latest OB, MT. When the Phoenix goes active, the flashing numbers are now more like blinking. If so, is this a feature or a bug? Also, the carrier flashing lights no longer work, so may be related? Made a short video as a showcase:

Roger that. Do update on your situation. I'm also curious on this bug, as it's only a recent development for me

Can an admin please merge these threads?

I generally don't use external views that much, but with the latest changes that 2.9 brought, while calibrating LOD and Sharpness sliders in DCS i noticed something odd. Namely, the texture around the rear of the left engine nacelle flickers from damaged to non damaged. I attached some snapshots bellow. This happens by default in instant actions and missions as soon as you load one. Usually the plane will spawn with damaged texture on. Wait a bit or rotate the camera around, and the texture will switch to non damaged. And then back again and so on. Has anyone else noticed this as well, or is it only on my side? Also, @IronMike, could this be related to the elusive bug of the F-14 sometimes respawning with a dead engine requiring another mission reload to fix it?

I've been experimenting with something on the latest build (2.9). If you experience this on any mission or campaign, open up your pilot log page inside DCS and change something trivial about it. Like say..... squadron. I had another issue after the update to 2.9. I had to uninstall Sinai map to update, as i ran out of SSD space. After the update finished, i installed Sinai again, but some missions on the Persian Gulf, wouldn't work because of hanging load times. And these were build in Instant Action missions. Nothing fancy or custom made. I changed my squadron in my logbook, from VF-1 to VF-143 and tried to run the missions. They loaded without issue. I tried my only active campaign (Zone 5), and that worked as well. I've only tried Through the Inferno MP thus far and that loaded without issues. I can't say for sure, as there a loads of missions i haven't tried yet, especially with multiple aircraft, but if a stumble upon a loading issue, i'll try to record a video about it. Hope this helps!

Thanks mate! It's funny that you mentioned the DLC. Most (ot of the few) viators i've had the chance to interview or ask about it, recommended using it only in few short bursts, usually when starting high, to correct the glide slope lower. However, having the luxury of an axis to assign to it (i use a Virpil TFX stick), i find myself repeatedly using to make very fine adjustments of the slope, often VERY minor. Like.....say, 10% or less of total possible input. And i use it to increase lift as much, if not more then to decrease it. That being said, i almost never resort to full DLC up or down, but only partial inputs and then the spring-loaded axis auto-centers. I have an occasion used a continuous input as well. At times, i just can't seem to find the proper trim or engine power, and while i'm in the groove i may, say push the DLC wheel a wee bit down, to spoil the lift for the amount my trim or power generate extra. Those are very small corrections though. Seldom more then 1/4 or 1/5 total axis input. As for the auto throttle, i've never used it myself. Neither in the B, nor in the A that i usually fly. I don't even have it mapped on the my hotas. Heck, i don't even know where in the cockpit it is! I just don't trust auto-anything in the Tomcat all that much. Be it throttle or pilot! Yeah, you are most likely right on the IFOLS. I think it's a long standing issue to, at least for the A. I'm not sure if they ever fixed it for the B, as i haven't flown a boat operated B in more then a year now

Yeah, probably won't work in the wires on in the groove, but i'll give it a try.

Might go for something like that the next time i try it. No idea, how DCS simulates B-1's RCS, but if anything close to RL, i'll get tracked and locked long before they do. At least in the F-14....

General questions to the community. I'm a few months of DCS hiatus, i'm returning to it, and after re-qualifying myself for carrier ops, i decided to give some of the missions that come with the F-14 and i haven't flown before, a go. In one of those, the Bones escort a flight of.... well, "Bones" to Tbilisi on a strike mission. Most of the mission goes largely uneventful, until a pair of Fulcrums goes hot on you some time after reaching steer point 2. So far, so good. Not much difference then a fighter sweep. But then, after you dispatch the MiGs and you proceed to Tbilisi, the SAMs start paining you. And if you continue on the course to SP3, they will open fire, first the SA2 and then the SA3. My question: What to be the proper doctrinal response to such a scenario? In fighter sweeps or CAP missions, both in SP and MP, i tend to stay away from them, and if they start engaging, i usually go perpendicular or sometimes even cold to them. If hard pressed, i may even dive for terrain cover. But do we generally do when we escort packages? Do we leave them alone and hang behind? Do we leave them alone and go around?

OP, is the carrier moving at the time of launch? And is it moving against the wind if any wind is present? Sometimes MP missions don't have any wind.

My pleasure mate! Wish i could be of more help, it's a real pain to reproduce, as sometimes it won't appear for hours, or even days of flying If i found more clues i'll post them over here.

Hey guys, new personal best! 69! Next step, 70+ !!!

A bit of appreciation and bragging on my part! Just scored 69 (no innuendos here) on Bankler's Case I recovery training in the A! And i feel over the moon! To think what got me was the groove time.... and i thought i had those mastered Enjoy!

This bug is a long standing, and it happens to return with variable frequency from patch to patch. When starting a mission for an N-th time, either by selecting restart or selecting fly from the mission menu, sometimes an F-14A will freeze after clicking ok/fly, with a "thump" sound being followed by the engine loop. It can happen in MP and SP, and it can happen in MT and ST. Sometimes it happens every few restarts, and sometimes it takes dozens of repetitions. I found the easier way of reproducing the bug is to re-fly my modified version of Bankler's CASE I recovery trainer. I will attach the mission bellow for those interested in trying to reproduce the crash. I also took this short video as a demonstration. I was originally recording my landing sessions in order to review them the next day and make proper corrections to my technique, but i was lucky (or unlucky enough, depends on how you see it) to have 2 separate occurrences in relatively short succession, so i decided to publish them here in hope of making it easier to reproduce the bug. Looking forward to your inputs. No tracks are being attached, as naturally, DCS freezing prohibits tracks from being saved. Bankler's Case 1 Recovery Trainer_v07-20_Supercarrier_A-4C F-14A.miz

A bit of a necro here. I recently got this kind of load freezes, after buying few new modules in the recent sale. I got the Mosquito, the Mustang and the Apache. I never had the bug happen to me before. Now it happens from time to time, both in campaigns and standalone missions. Sometimes renaming the pilot log to a backup, generating a new log and then replacing the content with the old one helps. Sometimes it doesn't. I experiment with editing the log right now, to see if it helps. But it sure is annoying to have a mission fail to load, seemingly randomly.

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but are there plans for a Forrestal version of this mission?

Who knows what were the engineers thinking when they were designing the thing, but at a glance, if nothing else, it does both that and the other things you mentioned. So.... it saves time and switchology?

Always a pleasure!

@IronMike?

It would be much appreciated!

I use 94 for the Tomcat, as it happens to simulate the position of the canopy bows the best on my screen, from my sitting position. Don't buy into that whole your eyes see focused only 60 degree ahead. You don't see in your day to day life with horse-blinders over your eyes. Your peripheral vision is mostly responsible for movement detection, and that easily goes to 120 degrees, and at the extremes even over 180. Plus, if you restrict yourself to 60 degrees or less, you end up looking around like 1989 Tim Burton's Batman. With your neck instead of with your eyes, which is just.... biologically wrong. In the end, find what works for you, and stick with it. I chose 94, as from where i am sitting, it makes the virtual cockpit feel most natural. Like a.... an extension of my room if you would. It feels most intuitive when i need to (still) turn my head to look for certain indicator or instrument. It still doesn't beat a good VR (especially the lack of depth perception and closure), but heck, i'm too poor be able to afford one. Not just the device, but the machine to run it. On top of it, the best current VRs are just starting to approach to visual quality of a good screen. So who knows, maybe by the time i retire...

Is the AMRAAM, that is the new missile API subject to the same oddities?

That's odd indeed. Some time ago, i changed from a 21' 1080p screen to 27'' 1440p screen, and the visibility range for fighter sized targets ahs decreased from about 10 to about 3-4 nautical miles. Which for me at least is ok, as this should be roughly realistic. The visibility of course will depend on the current FoV of course.

Hello there @IronMike Trying to get my muscle memory back, i plugged in the Dragon's Tooth instant action for the F-14A today. And i got my butt royally spanked. No matter what i did, it seemed like i could only beat the 4 Flankers with sheer luck. Then i loaded the mission in the mission editor and noticed (that probably as an artifact of olden times), our 2 Alpha Turkeys are packing Alpha Phoenix, Foxtrot Sparrow and Lima Winders, while the 4 Chinese J-11's are wielding mid to late 90's ordnance, among others, R-77s. So we are not just outnumbered, but outgunned to boot! So, i gave out 2 ship a more contemporary loadout of Charlie Phoenixes and Mike Sparrows and Winders. Et voila! Bagged 2 Flankers each on the first try! And here's a vid to prove it: My proposal, can we actually change this instant action and include it to the official release? I've already done the changes myself and will attach the mission here free of charge of course! What say you? P.S. Alternatively, we could have a retro version of the mission, when the early F-14A comes around, with the same loadout, but against older bandits? F-14A_IA_Marianas_BVR_JA11_AIM-54C.miz

@Tweety777 To follow up on this: - just because your plane rates best at 330-360 KIAS, doesn't mean you need to restrict yourself to that speed. What i often i like to do is start faster, say 420-450, then bleed down to 350 and stick it there if i want to remain inside the best rate speed (not always the case); - then there are energy transitions and exchanges, which involve both bleeding and building up energy, and unlike the previous case, the A and the B are largely different here. That is, while they both rate best around 360 (in general), the A doesn't regain energy that well between 360-400. It's even worse from 280 to 330. At least not nearly as good as the B, which doesn't really have "holes" in the EM diagram. So sometimes in the A, when i'm not sure i want to commit to a turn all the way in, be it one or two circle, i like to say start at 450, bleed down to 380-390 and then reevaluate. If i don't commit, i can now relax on the stick slightly and i can fairly easy get back to 420-430 and start all over again, or use these knots to extend and reposition, or in the extreme bug out. Now remember the B, the B isn't all that good at regaining energy as well bellow 300, but it's much better above 350. This means you can push the bandit for more and for longer before you need to relax if something makes you change your mind. As for the rest, i mostly agree with what @GGTharos said, except for one thing. Practicing against multiple opponents, even if only AI, still has some merits. Not so much as teaching you how to shoot them, but more to how to practice maintaining situational awareness in such environments and how to always have some energy to spare, if someone jumps you. Admittedly, the AI isn't that useful for the latter, but still, sometimes it can surprise in a positive way. EDIT: Stay away from manual flaps control as long as possible. The CDAC is generally much better then you when deciding when to employ maneuver flaps. As for the the landing flaps and the flap handle, while valid tactic at the extremes, try not to develop the habit of using it constantly, as it'll become a crutch and you'll never really learn how to fight in the plane. On top of it, you will make the plane useless in most tactical scenarios and will only now hot to fly it in 1 v 1 tournaments. However, if you manage to employ landing flaps and NOT consistently NOT break them every time you are up, then you sir, have my salute and a hat off. In case you haven't came upon the data thus far, the landing flaps can break at random pretty much every time you get above 220 knots and then they get stuck there, sometimes just one side, sometimes both. I don't know if HB models it, but they should also jam if you over-g them, not just over-speed them. EDIT 2: I just remembered this one. I recorded this a while ago. It's the Nevada instant action, a guns fight against an AI F-16C. I think it's set to veteran. I illustrates some of the points i left as comment to your F-15 video: