Nix Mills

Thank you so much for that, IceyJones. I have corrected the orbit reminder popup to say that you should be on 275.500 on COMM1. I have increased the trigger zone over Deir ez Zuir to a radius a little over 9 nm (it was 7 nm) and I removed a single insurgent in the town that could cause the AI wingman to return to attack that instead. We'll do our best to get this included next time they run a patch update. I'm impressed that you're up to M12 already.

The campaign uses the Supercarrier module and it does have carrier crew. However, the flight directors were introduced before we finished testing the campaign and we have therefore removed static objects and more from the deck so that they shouldn't cause issues.

Hi all We've had a couple of users dealing with various odd issues relating to AI behaviours, DCS mechanics and missed triggers that are not necessarily appearing when replaying a mission. This advice applies for any campaign really, not just The Rampagers. Also refer to the campaign manual, which can be found in: (drive)\DCS World\Mods\campaigns\FA-18C The Rampagers\Doc\Rampagers - Campaign Guide.pdf GENERAL ADVICE Downloaded mods not purchased from store can be the cause of issues for any DCS campaign. SRS and OpenKneeboard (mostly VR users) seem to be ok, as we test these missions using both. Voice Attack and Viacom generally seem to be causing odd issues. Make sure to remove any and all mods before flying campaigns. If you have no mods, or if removing all mods still does not fix the issue, take the following steps (test after each step): 1) Delete fxo and metashaders2 folders in your saved games. Can get gummed up with old files. 2) Rename you DCS Saved Games folder, run DCS and let it create a new one. Close DCS and then just copy the Config folder from the old to the new so you don't lose your bindings and also copy your logbook.lua from saved games mission editor folder. That way you don't lose campaign progress. Some mods can write to places like your scripts folder in your saved games location, but this also seems to help sometimes even if you never run mods at all. 3) Do a full deep repair of DCS to clear up any unwanted stuff in your main game folder. Some settings to check from the main menu: 1) If you have easy comms enabled, DISABLE it (it'll change your channels). 2) Under gameplay options, make sure the tick box on the bottom right for "No force from mission, use mine" is NOT ticked. 3) Try disabling TacView under special options. It can cause issues, usually performance, that can lead to bugs if your cores are overloaded/too busy and it misses a trigger point due to that. EXAMPLES AND SOLUTIONS Flight Deck Operations Issues with getting flight directors to start directing you to the catapults. Follow these steps: - Battery and APU on - Salute for engine start up (deck crew raises arm) - Finish Starting Up - Salute Again for taxi clearance - Follow Taxi director orders Issues with flight directors directing you into other units (particularly when these have recovered ahead of you): - Ignore flight director and exercise own judgement (he is a robot after all). Wingman unresponsive If wingman is not responding to normal radio orders (e.g. formation, engage ground targets, rejoin, go to tanker): - Check you are calling wingman on their channel (usually AUX channel 1, 305AM). - Remember: Radio menu commands can be activated both on COMM1 (PRI) and COMM2 (AUX), but it has to be on AUX otherwise wingman is not registering it. Wingman not responding to anything on any channel: - Order wingman to "RTB", if responsive, then order "Rejoin". Air-to-Air Refueling Issues with wingman stuck behind tanker and not refueling: - Order wingman to rejoin, try again (if unresponsive, see above) Issues with wingman stalling and then eventually crashing: - Order wingman to rejoin, try again (if unresponsive, see above). - Position yourself with wingman behind the tanker with some distance in between, heading in the same direction and about the same altitude. Player not connecting to tanker's drogue (basket) and not taking fuel: - Make sure to request refueling from tanker on correct channel (check kneeboard for Arco, Texaco, Shell) and get your "cleared contact". - You will be able to take fuel from the left-side drogue, unless you sent your wingman there first, then use the right-side drogue. Wingman not attacking targets This is specific to The Rampagers campaign. When cleared to engage, you normally get an F10 option to order your wingman to attack a target. When this order has been given, or the target is destroyed, the option will disappear. If the target, for example, consists of multiple vehicles, wingman may sometimes destroy some of the targets, then rejoin. You can use normal wingman and flight commands to attack (or re-attack) targets. Use the normal option "Engage Ground Targets" to attack (or re-attack) ground targets. Do not use the attack option "Mission", which won't work here and may confuse the AI leading to the wingman heading off and not responding (if so, overrule by ordering wingman to RTB, then rejoin). Wingman cutting in front me during carrier recovery Check your kneeboard for checklist and visual showing correct CASE I recovery. Make sure you 'kiss off' your wingman after you have made the first pass over the carrier (350 krs at 800 ft) and then make your break (starting at 3.5G). Your wingman will then continue straight a make their break some 10 seconds or so later. Wingman AI does however seem to be a bit buggy during CASE III recoveries, and might just remain in the marshal stack 20+ miles behind the boat. Just make your recovery and end the mission.

Below is a little booklet telling you more about the campaign. View the trailer on YouTube here: Frequently Asked Questions Q: Difficulty - Is this for beginners or advanced level players? A: Mid-level to advanced. The difficulty builds up gradually, so if you're new, you can take the opportunity to break it up, do a few practice missions, and come back to it again. Q: How long is the campaign and its missions? A: This is a very big campaign. 17 missions in total. You should expect 1 to 3 hours per mission. However, you can use time acceleration when flying to and from your mission area, which will reset to x1 when something new happens. The time to expect for a mission is stated upfront in each mission brief. Q: Is Air-to-Air Refueling necessary? A: Yes and no. It should be possible to complete the first couple of missions without. If you're not good at AAR, then choose the unlimited fuel setting in your DCS game settings and take the opportunity to practice it a bit. Q: Is this a sequel to the Raven One campaigns? A: No, but if you enjoyed Raven One and Dominant Fury, you'll definitely enjoy this one. Q: Are the missions realistic and based on real mission flown in Syria like in The Gamblers? A: The missions are realistic and based on the types of missions that the Coalition flew against ISIS in Syria at the time. However, the missions themselves are fictional as well as the characters. The reason for this is to keep the campaign accessible, entertaining and educational. Keep in mind that sorties flown from the Truman often lasted 6-8 hours with several refuelings and a lot of time waiting and looking. Q: Are there Easter Eggs in this campaign and what are they? A: Yes, some of them you'll just come across, others only occur in specific circumstances.

Thanks for the comments, @IceyJones. The issue you've encountered here unfortunately is a DCS bug and it can be a little bit luck-of-the-draw whether or not it happens. It usually does not, but apparently here it's happening to you three times in a row, which is concerning. It sounds like you were doing all the right things, though. If it continues to ruin your gameplay, read this spoiler.

Hi guys I was wondering if anyone could help with this one. I'd like to use MIDS for communications in a single player mission, similar to how you can use MIDS channels for communications in multiplayer through the SRS (Simple Radio Standalone) application. Does anyone know of a way to transmit a sound file on a MIDS channel? Or does anyone know of a smart script to check whether or what MIDS channels have been set? null

The radio options menu 'Arrival Inbound carrier CASE 1' (or CASE 2 and 3, if low vis or night) sometimes opens without prompt. We are a couple of people who have experienced this when playing through single-player missions. I have been unable to determine the cause. It seems to happen when things get busy with engaging ground targets, but aside from that does not appear to be tied to anything specific. It also happens when far away from carrier. This radio menu also does not appear to have a key binding option nor the ability to be opened by a custom lua script. Used with these modules: F/A-18C, Supercarrier, Syria map. No mods are in use and no add ons (e.g. SRS, VoiceAttack or TacView). Easy Communications is disabled both in main settings and for the missions. Any suggestions to what might be causing this? null

Version 2.9.10.4160 and .4686. Syria map. Supercarrier. F/A-18C. Fog set to 'auto'. Over Easter Mediterranean, late morning, summer, warm weather, light wind, scattered clouds. Perfectly clear conditions. However, Carrier ATC orders CASE II recovery on inbound. This was not the case (pun intended) before the new fog feature was implemented.

I can confirm this issue. I believe it started occurring after the previous update in early June '24 (v. 2.9.5.55918).

Hi all, does anyone have any examples that they can share where, in a lua script, you can start a listen command? I.e. the Mission Editor command X:Start Listen Command that waits for a certain switch or button to activate a flag. nullCheers

Same here. Actually started around mid-February '24. Pimax Crystal, SteamVR, MT DCS. Tested on Persian Gulf and Syria. (edit: Windows 10, no other apps) Long start up time, with graphic blocks flickering until everything has settled in. Switching between F1 and F10 even causes a crash some times. Edit: Just installed OpenXR, PimaxXR and QuadView. Performance went through the roof. But still uses switching back and forth from F10 map view.

nullIn this example, Tanker is in race track orbit at 25,000 ft. Tanker is ordered to orbit at 0.52 mach. It is actually doing 0.46 mach, which I'm assuming is its max speed and is about 219 on the HUD when rejoining. Wingman weight is about 40,000 to 42,000 lbs here. When ordered to rejoin, wingman slows down, speed and altitude gradually drop until hitting the ground. Wingman, however, will respond to a 'rejoin' command.

I have an issue with AI aircraft - both wingman and separate groups - that when ordered to do air-to-air refuelling, they slow down and drop altitude until they hit the ground. It happens occasionally with F/A-18Cs, but I'm not sure about other aircraft types. I'm not sure whether the issue pertains to the aircraft weight. Reducing the weight seems to some times work, but being heavy doesn't always seem to cause the issue. I'm perplexed. Anyone else having this problem?

I too have found that GBU-32s consistently fall about 100 to 200 ft short of the target point when released at near-maximum range. In my case from the Hornet. At closer ranges, it hits just fine. Images here show a GBU-32 pickled a few seconds after getting 'in zone'. Speed 350 kts at 12,300 ft in PP mode with precise target coordinates (lat/long) and elevation (ft). Target was the pump jack, bomb falls short and hits the building and fence. Hope this helps. Love your work.

@Rudel_chwThank you so much for taking the time to write all this up, Eduardo. I can see that the missing link on mine is the hook file, which isn't there, and therefore there is no mention of it in the log file either. I'll try and reinstall and figure out why it never created a hook.

Thank you all for this post. I have followed all the instructions but I seem unable to actually connect to DCS. I'm getting a green light on connection to Virtual Cockpit and Systray Settings Lua Console, but no table to tick in DCS Connection even though I have added the BIOS script line to Export.lua. When attempting to execute return list_cockpit_params() in the Hub for Mission (running an Instant Mission, not from a mission from ME), I simply get the error response that it could not send snippet to DCS within 1 second. Does anyone know how to overcome this problem? Cheers Nix null null

Alright, seems to work if you drain their fuel level a bit first or start them at a lower level. These were Hornets with three bags that needed a top-up before entering the stack.

Hi all I am trying to create a mission where a building has to be destroyed with a 2,000 lbs guided bomb, but where you'd first go "roof knocking" by detonating a Maverick over the building to warn off nearby civilians. Only problem is, this three storey building gets destroyed by the impact of the Maverick. And it has to be a Map Object, because there are no multi-storey residential or commercial buildings among the static objects. So I'm wondering... Would it be possible to make a script that increases the "life" points of a Map Object, or to make it "immortal" like you can do with units? Or would it somehow be possible to make a zone within which only certain weapons have effect? Any help with this would be so much appreciated - I've spent many hours fiddling with this already.

Hi there DCS 2.8.6.41066 Open Beta - June 2023 With the latest update, running in MT, F/A-18C wingman and AI groups are unable to reach a KC-135 tanker. They will slow down to about 100 kts and slowly descend until crashing. Cheers Nix

Hi @Alerax Sorry for the late reply. That was a tough one. There doesn't appear to be a 'get' function for onboard / board / side / tail number. I found a few clues in the DCS World scripting file Scripts/Speech/common.lua in the lines under USNAVYPlayerAircraftCallsign. Here is a little script that looks up the three digits in your side number and prints them in a message. Each digit is multiplied by 10 and rounded down as they're otherwise some odd decimal numbers. Let's say your unit name is Aerial-1-1, which we will refer to as "player". local player = Unit.getByName('Aerial-1-1') local sidenumber = '' .. math.floor(10*player:getDrawArgumentValue(442)) .. math.floor(10*player:getDrawArgumentValue(31)) .. math.floor(10*player:getDrawArgumentValue(32)) trigger.action.outText('Player number is:' .. sidenumber, 30) Hope that helps you or anyone else who is looking for help on this. Nix

+1

When taking off from the carrier, and after making their breaking turn, AI aircraft go into a steep climb with burner until they reach 10,000 ft. Even your wingman will do this, irrespective of what you're doing, which of course makes them expend a lot of fuel right from the start (especially for the F/A-18C). Real life Case I procedures (good visibility, daytime) require departing aircraft to, after the clearing turn, to proceed on a parallel course to the carrier (BRC) at <300 kts and <500 ft until 7 miles out. Real life Case III procedures (low visibility, fog and/or night) require departing aircraft to not perform a clearing turn (as each departs with at least 30 sec intervals) to proceed on a straight course and a steady climb at <300 kts until 7 miles out. (After that they'll arc towards their first waypoint maintaining their speed and climb until 10 miles out, plus there are some radio procedures for this, but all that is not quite as important for this purpose). My wish for this list is to include this AI behaviour for Case I/III so that they don't burn right up to 10,000 ft. Love your work.

AI air-to-air refueling seems to work alright now but after completing refueling, the AI seems to want to return to the carrier. I'm trying to create a mission that requires flying deep into Syria with two F/A-18C launching from a carrier. I have set up the wingman as a separate group so that in can fly as my lead and attack its own targets. The steps I have up are as follow: - upon entering zone, orbiting KC-135 pushes to next waypoint -- it then flies in a straight line - at waypoint, AI gets Perform Task -> Refueling -- AI cathes up with KC-135 and starts refueling - ON REFUEL, AI inside the tanker's moving zone, it sends a message that the AI has started refueling -- this works like a charm - ONE REFUEL STOP, AI inside the tanker's small moving zone, it sends a message that the AI has stopped refueling and AI TASK PUSH to follow tanker -- AI breaks away, message appears and AI heads back to carrier I have tried giving additional orders, such as AI TASK PUSH to follow play or head to next waypoint, but to no avail. Gosh - these quirks are really frustrating me. Does anyone have suggestions to how to get this to work? Edit/update: After trying a few other approaches, it appears that all the AI's waypoints disappeared after completing refueling.

Having the same issue here with missions I had created that worked just fine until now. As described, AI Hornets drop into the water after carrier take-off. Vikings and Hawkeyes don't seem to have that problem.

I'm having the same issue. I've been trying to create a mission where the player and wingman in Hornets (technically another group so as to make it lead) refuel on their way back over Syria. From reading the posts above, I've also been in v.2.7, using KC-135 flying in a race-track orbit, refuelling one at a time from the left basket and both carrying an external fuel tank. I have tried using 'Push AI Task' to next waypoint or follow, and stop refuelling task, but the AI Hornet is stuck refuelling.