Kang

More of my issues with the current patch have gotten slightly better after completely uninstalling (which, by the way also didn't really work well...) and reinstalling DCS. Now the launcher repair does, well, something again, and some of the worst (and most confusing) performance losses seem to have been alleviated slightly. I might make another post with further insights once I've done some actual flying.

My update: fiddling around for a while allowed me to actually load into a mission now. So, yay.

I remember Heatblur did promise an earlier F-14A variant previously.

Thanks for chiming in. I've redone those and at least the launcher has suffered a tiny bit. The shortcuts to DCS are all inoperable now - well no big deal, just got to manually redo one - but in the launcher when I click on 'Repair' it now informs me it has to close the launcher for that, but never does anything anymore. That launcher is sure being helpful. Who doesn't love to hark back to their Win98 days once in a while...

Uhm, so... slight question here: I don't recall Wags ever having specifically said in his videos that 'this was the procedure as of current date'. What is that all about? Does he lowkey expect the workings of the CH-47 might change within the next few weeks? Or does that mean it might change in DCS, which would worry me as well, as it would mean none of the SMEs or manuals have been consulted and we are literally weeks from EA release? The whole 'switches work like the real thing' is literally the one avenue that DCS always shines in, despite a few previous hiccups. Or maybe, and this would of course be preferable, is mentioning the current date just a newly introduced feature to these videos so they don't get too confusing as further development of the more advanced systems happens?

So, re: no issues at all. Any mission I try to start just boots me back to the desktop with this version, no error message, no entry into the log files either. Anybody else? Or is that just a sign that I should give DCS a rest for now?

Does the new FC-fied version have any sort of TACAN controls at all? The regular F5 has the TACAN pre-tuned to the base automatically if put in the mission as 'hot on runway'. Might be the whole thing is in there somewhere and they just removed the controls.

My two cents are, from what I gathered so far: The issue here isn't that there are some issues with the map, certainly not that only a part of the 'full' map is done so far. Some areas evidently do look pretty good and some not so much. What bothers me is how that is reminding me a lot of simulators of my youth, that had one valley or one city done reasonably well, and the rest of the world was literally painted on, but that's a personal thing. More importantly it makes me wonder: why did ED insist on releasing this now. They already split Afghanistan in three separate stages, so they could be worked on one after the other and released as they complete. If there is so much work left to be done on this section, wouldn't it have been wiser to keep up developing for a while longer? Sadly we all know how long it can take ED to fix issues that are reported clear as day when they are busy chasing the next release and a lot of the points people point out aren't obscure and remote locations, but places right where you would expect people to set their missions often. Missions that are more likely than not starring helicopters and low-flying aircraft. Yes... EA isn't for everyone. I'd like to see this improved and finished over time, but the first impression is a bit of a mixed bag.

So far I found the only useful feature of the launcher is that it lets you install/uninstall your modules without launching DCS for each one, but even that I haven't really tried yet, and it could have been a separate utility really. Also, it isn't really placed prominently, as it is hidden under 'Files'? Other than that, displaying the latest news isn't bad, but it is only the 'headlines' from the Website until you click on it, which kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion, it has enormous links to social media, which I can just as easily find on the website, where I would rather look for them if I ever needed them, and it lets me change the settings, which I guess is nice to have, but not all that important either. What I hate is that it looks for self-updates, then disappears for roundabout 20 seconds with literally no indication of it being started or existing, before anything happens. Paired with the fact that the actual DCS launch afterwards goes through the usual lengthy process of splash screens before even properly loading, plus it now opens and closes several windows in quick succession, which at the least looks janky, that is something that should be addressed. Things it does not do which I would find useful is have links to the manuals of all my modules (provided they have one but that's another story) perhaps relatedly have direct links to selected tutorials, at least the official ones done by Wags (Yes, there is a social media link, but if I have to sort through YT myself I don't need the launcher for that) seeing how I am logged into the launcher it would be nice if the shop portion would display things like my current miles balance or perhaps the time remaining on the current big sale Edit: Oh dear, I've forgotten one thing! The option to actually quit the launcher after doing launcher things is actually a big improvement over the old Log-In that had no option to abort.

Agreed. Would not only make access to the manuals a whole lot easier, especially for newcomers who are unlikely to comb through the game files, and give the launcher a little more purpose as well.

Relatedly, a GPS jammer isn't exactly a high tech piece of equipment that only the most premier of militaries in the world could hope to acquire. Quite on the contrary actually. The issue, I think, is that from my understanding GPS isn't actually modeled in DCS, it's more of a 'the missile knows where it is' type of situation, which would make implementing the jammers a little tricky.

Yea, don't get to enjoy all of the issues, mostly probably for not having had actual FC3 around, but my plan of flying some this afternoon was properly thwarted anyway. DCS: CTD - Crash a legend!

I doubt that because I had that waiting time as well and it asked me to log in afterwards, not having migrated over that from the old launcher, so whatever it did all that time before, it did not have any credentials to verify. Edit: Also, I think the problem isn't the delay itself but the way that there is literally no indication of anything happening at all. Then, after you try to launch DCS from the launcher, it opens up four different windows in quick succession and closes them again before getting to the ol' splash screen and beginning the regular loading.

Only thing we love more is evident progress

Reading this thread while an update is downloading is truly filling one with confidence...

That's great news

Well, the fixed wing people hardly venture into this sub-forum, lest they'd let you know: he is a helicopter pilot. He knows that anything that isn't going wrong is just about to go wrong.

My understanding is that it is a general issue with those missiles that you need to keep them on the target to score a hit, but while they are obviously less stable as a platform, helicopters had the advantage of slightly larger range and a much easier line of sight to the targets. Basically, you had more chance to correct, whereas the ground launchers, if you flinched too much, had little chance of getting the missile back onto the target, simply because the angular deviation would be much bigger (and possibly fatal in several directions).

I'd assume that the 'when they are ready' part is the exact reason for delays.

Yes, the HOT missiles got re-arranged when they went from PAH-1 to PAH-1A1. Apparently that made them a little less awkward to work with (e.g. ground crew wouldn't have to walk around them so much), reduced the CoG shift upon firing and, so legend has it, also came with advantages to maintenance.

Yes, but that's just CA. I feel we can all agree that a full fidelity B-450 with actual towing option is the most anticipated announcement in the DCS World right about now.

Did the TOW missiles get scrapped from the module then?

I mean, at this point just start development on «DCS: B-450 Tow Tractor» (Tow any legend).

I won't elaborate on it as the rules forbid me to, but I remember there once was a simulator featuring exactly that and it was quite glorious.

My suggestion would be to try to bring the TGP once, not for aiming yourself obviously, but to use the pod's LST to figure out whether it is a Hornet/GBU problem or, which I would find more likely, a problem with the lasing JTAC.