Bunny Clark

SEMI and AUTO do not use the manual programs, they have their own independent programs that you cannot edit from the CMDS page - but you can edit them in the .lua file if you want. ASIDE: if you've edited the CMDS .lua file in the past, before the addition of the SEMI and AUTO dispenser modes, you should update your .lua file. The automatically selected programs got updated around the same time to be significantly less wasteful.

The Hornet IRL is supposed to be capable of 1 MoA accuracy in CCIP bombing. That's approximately 5x more accurate than the F-14 when dropping dumb bombs, to the point that the Navy stopped tasking the Tomcat with dropping unguided weapons entirely. Right now the experience in DCS is the exact opposite, and it feels quite wrong.

In that exact same video, Mover also comments on how realistic the Viper is. The flight model being slightly off at the extremes of the performance envelope is hardly "abandoning all realism." Good lord, are you capable of speaking in anything other than hyperbole? ED has multiple real Viper pilots that review the flight model and provide feedback. It's not perfect, they know that, and they're working on it, but calling it a POS is nothing short of disingenuous. There has to be a middle ground between "every nut and bolt perfectly realistic" and "<profanity> it, nothing is realistic anyway, give everyone what they want."

Everyone? I'm not a software developer and I won't ever assume if a change would be "simple" or not. More often than not, things that may seem simple to a layman are anything but. The GBU-54 is already modeled in the game and in use in other DCS modules. But it's not simple as replacing a "0" with a "1" to enable it on the Hornet. At the very least the Stores page and all its associated options would need to be created for it.

The Hornet cannot, and never has, carried either LANTIRN pod.

From my understanding it's not plug-and-play, and there's a lot more involved than just wiring. The Swiss F-18Cs have a different wing structure and different Swiss designed and produced pylons. The Swiss F-18C was delivered as a pure fighter with no A/G capability and rated to 9G, and its pylons reflect that choice. The Super Hornet pylons capable of mounting single LAU-127s are not the same as the Swiss pylons but a new design built for the Super Hornet, they have considerably more A/G mounting capabilities than the Swiss pylons.

IRL, Rack Jettison is intended for an emergency. If you have a hung store (bomb or missile that did not release when commanded to) the first step is to attempt to jettison the store. If that fails, then the next step is to jettison the rack. If a mechanical failure with the rack caused the hung store there's a chance that it'll also fail to jettison. In that case, punching off the entire malfunctioning rack is the solution. Navy planes tend to have more redundancy for this sort of thing as landing on the boat with a hung store is an absolute no-go. In general the preference is not to jettison the rack, stores jettison is attempted first, and the rack punched off only if it won't release the store. It shouldn't make a difference with a fuel tank, as those have no rack.

This is an excellent walkthrough of all the different things you can do with MFD exports in DCS:

Yah, absolutely, if you can send me photos I can draw it up!

Last time we got any solid info on the feature was years ago. At this point, only ED has a good idea what it'll include.

Can you show any evidence to support this claim? Saying the same thing over and over again isn't useful to anyone.

The square with the dot in the middle is not a TGP line of sight, it's the symbol for your SPI. But the TGP will slave to your SPI when it isn't setting it, so it will generally be the same.

This is a known issue. Right now the lock/launch warning cone for aircraft is very large in multiplayer servers. It's some kind of technical / net code optimization thing that'll hopefully get reworked eventually.

Update to tweak some verbiage and add SPOT.

Yah, my assumption would be that it isn't even possible in a CV alignment. But, reading through the NATOPS (INS alignment starts on page VII-24-13) STD HDG is indeed an option with a CV alignment, and the only requirement mentioned is that the aircraft heading has not changed since the last shutdown. My guess is that it would only be used on the carrier for aircraft that are standing alert duty, but then does that mean the carrier can't change course?

Yup, IRL the initial position of the aircraft can be programmed into Waypoint 0 and transferred to the aircraft with the data cartridge, then those coordinates are used for startup. The Hornet has a radio datalink to the Ship's INS (SINS) which is used during a CV align to sync the ship's INS with the aircraft's INS. There is also a data cable that can be plugged into the aircraft by the ground crew to accomplish the same thing if the datalink is bent or if starting under EMCON conditions. This isn't fully simulated in the DCS Hornet right now, though the F-14 and Harrier have some of it implemented.

In theory, it's pretty simple. Create an image file of about the right size (I typically make mine PNGs at 680x1024). Then open the .miz file for your mission with an archive program (I use 7Zip) and create a KNEEBOARD\IMAGES\ folder and drop all your images in there. That's it, you'll see all your kneeboard images when you play the mission. Many of mine get created in Photoshop, though there are certainly plenty of free programs that'll work the same. I also make mission cards that show things like waypoints, comm channels, and airbase info in a Libre Office spreadsheet and then export that as an image file. Setting that up and then making any changes necessary is fast and easy.

Yup, Radar is a deep deep rabbit hole that gets very complex. For example, in MPRF and HPRF radar systems (which are used by nearly all airborne fire control radars), the radar will transmit multiple pulses before the first one has the time to return to the antenna with any reflections. This means to figure out the range of a reflected contact, the radar needs to be able to identify which pulse created it. This is done by changing the frequency of each pulse and then comparing the frequency of the reflection with a memory of the frequency of transmitted pulses. But the frequency of the reflection is also Doppler shifted by the moving object it reflected off of, which means you can't be sure of the frequency of the original pulse that created it. This leads to ambiguity problems, and the radar system will look at multiple reflections from the same contact and run the numbers to see what possible solutions to the problem exist. Once it has narrowed down one solution that falls within its parameters of being physically possible, it will display that as a contact to the pilot. It's entirely possible that in some situations the radar "sees" a contact but can't determine its range or speed with certainty, and so it is not shown.

It's a bit weird right now without all the A/G features for the HMCS implemented. It works well with Mavs and JDAMs with thier own VIS modes, but with Paveways or dumb bombs it's a bit silly right now. When we get DTOS things will get a lot better in that regard. Otherwise, right now you can use the HMCS to set a Markpoint, which would complete your "primary task" of saving the location for later attack. You can then target that Markpoint to attack the target yourself.

In the screenshot it doesn't look like you've given the MiGs any instructions at all. They may have flown off in a different direction, or landed at Creech out of boredom. Set their task to "CAP" and give them a waypoint to fly at you. Then you'll for sure encounter them. It also looks like you've created two groups of one MiG-29. If you want to fight two bandits, you can just make a single group and set it to be two aircraft by increasing the "OF" number at the top. Then you only need to program instructions for a single group instead of two. EDIT: it also doesn't look like you've given yourself any waypoints. In that case you will default to spawning facing North, so if you didn't turn left you would not have even been facing them yourself.

Got it, that's a good note. Actually, going back and looking at it, I typed "Cage / Uncage HUD" as one function, then "Uncage Seeker" immediately after it, which is inconsistent and could be confusing.

I suspect the same as well. In DCS the TOO Box is always perfectly on top of the target transmitter, I doubt if it's always that way in real life, especially at longer ranges. Either way, a HARM TOO designation does not create a normal Target Designation the way other sensors do. If it did, the FLIR would slave to the designation, and range data would be available to assist in calculating a LAR.

Good suggestions, I'll certainly add some of those. Part of the challenge is keeping it as compact and concise as possible, and in that nature this is meant more as a reference / reminder than a full explanation of everything that's possible (which is also why I omitted single-function buttons as well). What Uncage functions did I miss for the AIM-9, MAV, and HARM?

I've updated this with all the proper CMS functions, updated the style, and added a few buttons. Download link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3314231/

I've updated this to include the new CMS functions, and added the MSL STEP button too. Download the updated version here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3314231/