GTFreeFlyer

Hi, I was playing around last night with dropping multiple GBU 38’s at the same time on different targets. I had two stations with two bombs each. I stepped through each station and said it to TOO mode and did the WP designate on one station, stepped to the next station and another WP designate. This was for TOO1 on each station. I did not touch TOO2. Everything went according to plan except for when I pickled, all four bombs were released when I thought only two would release. Both targets were struck by two bombs each. What did I do wrong? Was I supposed to go into TOO2 screen and undesignate each station? I guess I assumed that no target would have been selected for the second bomb on each rack if I never went to the TOO 2 screen in the first place. To summarize, I selected two targets and only wanted two bombs to release, but four bombs went for the gravity ride instead.

I've been away for a while and now that I'm back, I see things got broken with all the DCS updates I've gone in and fixed up this mission. As always, it's still a bit tough to get AI units to do exactly what you want them to, but they get enough of the job done to make themselves useful, if you need them

Thanks. Will let you know once complete. Maybe one thing to consider for future update is to remove the option from the F10 menu one the target is eliminated. I had knocked out 2 of the 3 and all 3 were still showing up as options for the wingman to attack. If there was only one option remind g at that point, I probably would have figured it out pretty quickly. Either way, still a good time.

Upon tacview review, I see what happened. I took out a Zu23, but not the correct one which was labelled TGT. That's where i got confused. Right after my wingman took it out is when the next voiceover played.

Hi, just flew M16 and it was great, but I ended up in a draw and will need to refly it. After scouting out the targets in the stack, I was able to take out the 3 main targets in a single pass and then after that it was radio silence for a very long while. After dodging some manpads, I ended up over the secondary target, so I cleaned up that area as well. Still lots of radio silence, so I tried more than one time returning to the stack, and flipping through all the FM channels to try and catch anything, but nothing happened. I used the F10 menu to tell wingman to attack an already-destroyed target, but no response. I double-checked my radios over and over again. I decided to RTB, and 15 minutes into the egress, I finally heard the voiceover saying all targets destroyed and now ready to make the run on the secondary target, but I had already done all that. Seems like it was a delayed trigger? Before I replay it, I was just wondering where I went wrong, and how the triggers work there. I want to experience the whole thing! Thanks. Still had fun the first attempt. I continued with the RTB because my TGP was shot up and so was one engine. I'm still in one piece!

Yup, that’s how this works. By the way, today I tried creating a new WP with an existing name and it did not create a new one with an incremented suffix. Perhaps this is an old feature that no longer works? I had WP4 named INF (for infantry). When I typed INF in the scratchpad and then hit ?5, nothing happened. I toggled over to WP2, then typed INF, then pressed ?5 and it took me back to WP4’s screen. Same behavior as typing INF and then hitting the name LSK (upper right LSK). Oh well. The CDU is still a fun piece of equipment to play with. Here’s a pic of mine. No, there’s no typo here with this WP.

Thanks for the tip! I feel like I’ve reached the point of knowing *almost* everything about the hog. I search online and YT for all sorts of extra pro tips and nothing new comes my way. However, the incremental suffix was something I did not know about, so thanks for that! It’s a shame that we can’t overwrite using offset. Sure would be nice to have that so that the TAD and HMCS displays aren’t cluttered up with trails of waypoints. Cheers!

I have not experienced this, but thanks for sharing. I'll keep an eye on them. After getting the AI units started up, they will go to a location and wait, unless you give them tasking. After their 4-5 minute startup, and once you see the message that they are ready, new F10 menu options will be available, so make sure you select one of them before the AI units fly too far off.

Cool! Thanks for answering. I got the flare idea from the briefing in Piercing Fury campaign. Not sure it actually does anything, but was a neat idea. Perhaps if the mission editor allows detecting the transponder code set, then pilot can just go with 7600 for lost comms? Either way, I’m going to be more careful flying. So far, still in one piece with no deaths in the campaign. I’ll see if I can survive M15 again, then M16 to wrap it up By the way,

It doesn’t seem so. You must contact the tower thru the F10 Other menu, and you don’t get the option unless you are tuned in to the VHF frequency. If you land without selecting the F10 menu action to request landing, you fail the mission. It was a fun mission, so I don’t mind replaying it

Sometimes when I get hit, the VHF radio is dead. This seems to be an immediate mission fail because I cannot contact tower when I RTB. Correct, or is there another way? Would be nice to have the option to flare over the runway or some other sort of alternate request to land.

Can I overwrite an existing WP’s coordinates using the offset function? For example, I hear there’s a bandit at bulls 045 for 20. I use offset, and create a new WP based on that call, and I name it “Bandit”. A few minutes later, I get another call that the bandit is now at Bulls 050 for 10. Is it possible to use offset again, and overwrite the previous WP named Bandit?, or must I create a new WP for each offset entry?

Wish I saw this earlier. However, I ended up using 10 mA for the brightest setting and also using a mosfet to drive them

Has anyone here ordered this PCB? I know there's usually a minimum quantity order. Looking to see who has extras? I'm also noticing that the LEDs have no resistors? Am I seeing this correctly in the schematic? Looks like they are directly connected to +5V. These green LEDs have a max forward voltage of 2.8 V.

Did you ever figure this out?

I’m getting errors when trying to save the track file after a mission. Is something broke in my DCS install, or is this normal for DLC campaigns? I’d like to debrief some of my missions using Tacview to see how I could have done better. Thanks

IIRC, this was a Type 1, danger close, situation that called for the cannon. Too risky to drop 500 pounders. I had fun strafing the tree line multiple times here. Currently on mission 12 and still alive. Haven’t been shot down quite yet. I’m expecting it soon though Some tips: AAA isn’t too much of a problem if you snake your way in to the target. Stay high as long as possible before putting your nose on the target. Pump flares out every second or so when in danger areas. Flying low and in a straight line when running in is a death warrant each and every time. Once I dive in to the target, I start popping flares at a much higher rate. Always plan to turn away immediately after firing your weapons. I don’t overfly the targets, and I don’t focus on watching them blow up in the TGP, which is fun, but dangerous. Keep your eyes outside of the cockpit looking for threats. After you circle back around, you can do your BDA from somewhere safe. Also, after you find the target, set a mark point, then continue to scan the area for additional threats before running in, then you can return your TGP to the mark point and go for the kill. When running in, remember to snake left and right. Hold heading steady for just a second when you use the F10 menu to tell the forces you are running in. The mission trigger is looking for you to be running in on the correct heading, so make sure you get authorized to continue and then continue weaving left and right until ready to fire. This method has saved me many times. Having a blast with these missions so far. Really great campaign for sure.

Wait, what? You flew back to Lavan? I actually really looked forward to doing this and was on the way over there when it said the aircraft will explode in 30 seconds, so I just quit. I believed it because I’ve used this trigger in some missions I made in the past to take down aircraft that broke certain rules like taking off the wrong way. Oh well. I’m one of those that enjoys a long ingress and egress. That’s where I really learn the ins and outs of the CDU and IFFCC and just play around with stuff. The time goes by quickly and sometimes I overshoot the waypoint after 200 miles because I’m stuck deep in the learning which never ends

Hi, looking here for an example schematic to connect all the backlight and switches to a panel with an Arduino Pro Micro. I have a decent knowledge of electronics, but I'm confused how some other controllers I have are running lots of switches and LEDs off of a single USB to the PC (such as the TM Warthog throttle). The green LEDs run at 3.5V and 20 mA a piece, so they cannot be put in series on a 5V USB supply. I also have a A-10 UFC I purchased that has a Pro Micro inside it, and lots of LEDs. I can't see how it is wired up because it has a PCB instead of wiring. So, question really is: I want to build my own panel with a Pro Micro and it will need 15 pins for the switches, and I would like to add about 30 LEDs for the backlighting. Do I just pull all the power off the VCC pin for the LEDs? I'm aware of the 1A limit for USB, and that I really need to keep it less than that. I prefer to not have a separate power source if possible. TIA!

I have a new issue that popped up recently after several years of flying DCS. I am hearing the USB connect and disconnect tones only when taxiing. It occurs every 3-4 seconds. It goes away when I pull onto the runway. I don’t hear it at all when I’m starting up the aircraft, and I don’t hear it at all when I’m in the air, or rolling on the runway. None of my devices are actually turning off. I’ve flown a couple missions now to realize that it is reproducible. I am thinking it has something to do with some hooks, but not sure. Anyone ever had anything like this? I’m running simshaker, DCSBIOS, SRS, and Viacom which might be looking at aircraft state (taxiing).

Thanks for the reply. Tried this again last night and didn’t do anything differently and it worked. No clue why, and no clue how to reproduce it. Oh well. It was a GREAT mission!

Mission 6, played it once through and got hit and lost VHF AM and TGP, so I decided to quit and restart the mission. 2nd time around, when I pulled up to the runway ready to takeoff, I could not get the Com F10 menu to show up and allow me to request takeoff. I took an airfield tour and tried taxiing around the whole runway and taxiway again, trying to hit a trigger zone maybe? Nothing. Took off and got yelled at by ATC. Exited, came back, same thing. Is there some bug when you try to replay a mission? Just to confirm: Radio was set to 125.7. I tried manual tuning as well as using preset 1. I have been using ONLY the F10 comm menu for all missions so far. I do not use any DCS radio whatsoever. I did successfully request startup and taxi prior to moving, as always. I didn't have any issues with ATC comms on the first attempt where I made it to the target area. If there's a trigger zone at the runway threshold, how big is it? I tried pulling up and stopping at different distances to the hold-short line. I was never able to get the F10 menu to appear to allow me to request takeoff. I only saw the game F1 and F2 menus to talk to DCS ATC, but I did not use those... well, I did eventually try to when I ran out of options, but still no luck. My thoughts are that maybe I broke something in the script by exiting the mission abruptly? Could it be timing related? I cannot possibly start up and get INS aligned before my wingmen are already airborne. I suppose I can try to taxi while it aligns. Maybe a timer is expiring and I am missing my takeoff window? I'm ready at runway 27 threshold about 2 minutes after everyone has already departed. Just trying to understand how the triggers and/or scripts are working here so I can troubleshoot in the future. Only thing I haven't tried yet, before typing this, is fully exiting DCS and restarting my PC. It's late, so I'm shutting down for the night and will keep my fingers crossed that the tower controller is alive and well when I resume another day. Thank you.

Ooh, I didn't even realize there was a setting for that, but no. I checked and it is not selected. Oh well. I made it back to base safely

I was just playing this mission last night and

Version 2.5 now includes Apaches.