Chuck_Henry

I would simply like ED to add ILS/LOC and VOR capability, at the very least. Put it on par with the T-38A in terms of IFR capability, especially since it is definitely going to be a while before the MV T-38A or C is updated for P3D v5.

There isn't one. Just a long, long requested feature for this jet.

Preaching to the choir on that point, man. It's damn near criminal over the last year (AT LEAST) how much ED has demonstrated through their actions how much they don't care about the F-5 despite it being one of their best-selling modules. Don't worry, I'm sure in a year or two, they'll get the bright idea for "DCS F-5E Tiger 2.0," featuring corrected flight modeling, true-to-life avionics, and revamped cockpit textures and lighting, now available for pre-order for $49.99! I mean, that's really what it comes down to. If it doesn't make a buck, it doesn't get put in the development chute. That's the bullet ED put in their own foot by making DCS free-to-play.

I would give ED the benefit of the doubt and chalk this up to lighting being a big work in progress at the moment. F-5 is far from the only cockpit with issues like this right now.

That is *a* way to interpret that, sure.

2 tweaks for campaign bugs but zero attention for the F-5 itself in today's Open Beta.

All I want is DFCS. I hate having to be so active on the rudders in a jet. Not even a matter of fly-by-wire or conventional controls; my most flown module is the F-5. But the Tomcat's Dutch Roll and adverse/proverse yaw is a pain.

Turns out NHawk’s weapons mod was the culprit. I disabled it in OVGME and was able to use the JF-17 again. Thanks as always for the quick and excellent support.

For everyone's SA, this mod breaks the JF-17. You won't be able to select it in the Mission Editor or even load an Instant Action or training mission.

Updated to the latest Open Beta. Suddenly I can't do anything in the JF-17 anymore. It appears as one of my licenses on my profile on the main website. It shows up under the Instant Action and Training menus. But I can't select it as my vehicle in the Mission Editor and if I load one of the Instant Action missions I can't take control of it. When I exit out, it says I'm required to have the A-10C module. ...what gives?

The NATOPS Flight Characteristics section mentions trim all over the place. The "significant" trim changes associated with flaps/slats movement, the trim rate in pitch being slow, having to run trim nearly continuously when accelerating in full afterburner, and it being "very difficult" to achieve hands-off trim with the wings moving are the highlights to me. Yeah, the F-14 was a bitch to trim in real life, and the sim reflects that.

The reality is that both the F-5 and MiG-21 flight models are currently borked. I don't own the -21, but allegedly it's impossible to stall it now, which is laughably unrealistic for that jet. Meanwhile, the F-5 has issues with commanded versus actual thrust, as well as ground speed vs indicated airspeed being used to determine lift and engine performance.

Bumping it isn't going to make ED work on the F-5's bugs any faster, or at all for that matter. Lot of people finding out the hard way what happens when their module isn't the new baby anymore. Expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised at the changelog when they finally get around to it.

The F-5 handles almost exactly like the T-38. In fact, I used the Air Force's "T-38 Flying Fundamentals" publication to learn how to fly the DCS F-5. There are some minor differences like how you operate the flaps (automatic or thumb switch in the F-5 instead of a manual lever) and trim (no takeoff trim button in the F-5; you manually set a nose-up value based on gross weight and stores), as well as the extendable nose strut. The F-5 is still very manual, underpowered, and unforgiving in the hands of a careless pilot and will impart the same basic handling lessons as the T-38. One major disadvantage, though: the version of the F-5 simulated in DCS lacks VOR and ILS, which were optional features on the real jet. All you have as far as instrument approaches go are TACAN and ADF. In real life, if the weather is so bad that you need a precision approach, you'd request a PAR, but that's probably not going to be an option in DCS until the long overdue Air Traffic Control overhaul. If you're looking specifically for a T-38 and/or the ability to fly ILS approaches, my personal recommendation is to wait for Milviz to update their T-38A Redux for compatibility with the newly released P3D v5. Otherwise, the F-5 is an excellent 80-90% solution.

Turns out it was the compression issue. I thought I had set 7zip to not compress files at all, but it was in fact doing so. The mod is now twice as large but it works just fine now. Cheers!

Latest patch borked this mod. I followed your instructions for OVGME to the letter and when you load the F/A-18, you get the green digital camo texture of death all over the place. It happens whether you have the new Special options for baked-in reflections set to None or Static. I suspect it has something to do with ED's recent fix for the F/A-18's cockpit lighting (RWR buttons, flap and gear indicators were super dark prior to the latest patch).

(1) Yes. F/A-18s are the spiritual successors to A-6s, especially in the Marine Corps where the F/A-18D squadron designation retains the All-Weather (AW) suffix even though they have no functional difference from the Cs. F-14s, at least the A and B variants, simply lacked the provisions in the mission computers and weapon control system for stand-off missiles. I imagine the D could have been wired for it, but the early sunset of the entire Tomcat fleet likely killed that discussion.

Also confirming this bug. The Bummer's Tiger Pit v1.1 mod fixes it, but we as a community should not have to fix ED's mistakes like this. NineLine, BIGNEWY, Wags, anybody...the F-5 is in serious need of attention. A couple major fixes (flight and engine model) and a few minor ones. It's been probably over half a year since this jet has seen any kind of update. Not cool for an ostensibly "feature-complete" module.

I'm fine with the B in most aspects, but what I'd really like to see (if a D is out of the question) is a version with DFCS. The Sparrowhawk HUD would be a nice to have, but our current variant can really be a pain to fly even compared to the entirely analog jets (F-5, for one) that we have in DCS. I'll swallow my pride here and just straight-up admit that I do not like having to be active on the rudder pedals and have still not quite gotten the hang of it.

It's a known bug. If you take off with Flaps Auto, the jet will enter an uncommanded, unrecoverable pitch-up. Take off with Flaps Half in accordance with normal procedures and this won't happen, anyway.

Sadly, I don't think it's bindable. I've yet to find a way to do it either.

I guess this is where I really show my weakness at learning avionics newer than roughly 1980 as part of anything but a real syllabus. Where do you actually go to input those things? Is it the Approach page? I haven't messed around with this jet in a couple days, but every time I go to that, it always seems like most of the options are locked in and you can only change the type of approach (ILS/SCA/etc). Not going to insult my intelligence here. I'm actually asking you to walk me step by step, each button push, how you manually tune an ILS and set the final approach course in this jet because I'm at a loss.

All good

But to be clear, there is no way for, in the case of the approach below, to manually dial in 111.5 and set my desired course to 259. I have to input coordinates and let the system do that for me. https://skyvector.com/files/tpp/2003/svg/00662IL26L.svg

I'm asking about dialing ILS, not TACAN.