nomdeplume

Yeah I think I was wrong in saying Germany had voice, I replaced a German SEAD flight with a UK in one of my missions due to this... I guess it's a low priority item for ED, but it'd still be really nice to have at least one voice for every country represented in the game.

Well, even though the DCS series is aimed at high-fidelity simulation, it's still a game. Things like small fuel capacity can be nullified by cheats such as unlimited fuel or reduced consumption, or an AI helper for air-to-air refueling so it's not such a pain for those who aren't very good at it and don't have the interest/dedication to learn it, etc. Even the lower payload isn't that much of an issue, given that most real-world sorties have pretty specific objectives and only take the required munitions for that. In a previous page someone mentioned how you need to be more 'mission-focussed' if you go from 6 Mavs to 4; and even carrying 4 is pretty rare for real-life A-10 ops (if you need more weapons delivered, you send more planes). There's always that conflict around the 'simulation' side of realistic payloads and mission objectives, and the 'game' side of wanting to blow up everything on the map in a single outing. And this seems to apply even to the more hardcore realism junkies, since you invest a fair bit of time to get the jet up and running and over the target area, and to make a single pass and head home may be completely realistic, but it can feel like a bit of a pointless exercise. That said, an airframe that doesn't have the capability to carry enough weapons to destroy a battalion single-handed in one sortie might encourage more realistic scenario design, and maybe give ED an excuse to focus more on higher-level AI to make it easier to build scenarios that remain coherent and interesting if the player egresses to re-arm and re-fuel several times in the same mission session. Or dare I say it... dynamic campaign. :D Or at least improved 'campaign persistence' - just something to make the more realistic sorties with only a small direct impact feel more 'worthwhile'.

Yes it's changing the left MFCD, but only the left. Coolie hat down long = DSMS stat page on left MFCD Coolie hat up long = MSG page on left MFCD In both cases the right MFCD continues to show whatever page it was already showing.

Prepare Mission lets you make adjustments to the various systems (including DSMS, waypoint database, and many other things) and then when you quit, the settings you configured are saved in the mission file. When the mission is run after that, those saved settings are automatically applied to all the systems. So, if you want to set up extra waypoints which aren't part of the flight plan, you can do that using Prepare Mission. Unfortunately, when it re-loads the weapons profiles for the DSMS, if they don't match your actual loadout, weird things happen. So what's happened is that at some point you used Prepare Mission which saved your DSMS profiles (even if you didn't manually modify them). Later, you decided to change the loadout for the mission, and now when you run the mission the DSMS profiles are incompatible with your actual loadout and the game gets horribly confused. The only way I know of to fix this is to manually delete the DSMS configuration information from the mission file. The .miz file is actually a normal ZIP compressed file which contains some specific files, which the game loads in order to run the mission. You can therefore open it up with any ZIP-aware archiver like 7-zip, WinZip, WinRAR, etc. You can also use Windows' built-in ZIP capabilities, if you rename the mission from .miz to .zip. If you look in the archive you'll see a bunch of directories with names corresponding to systems the aircraft has. The easiest option is probably just to delete everything that isn't specifically required for your mission. The only two files actually needed are the ones called 'mission' and 'options' - all the folders can be removed. If you've added triggered sounds to the mission you'll want to leave them as well. If you do want to pre-configure some of the aircraft systems you can just delete the DSMS directory from the archive. And obviously - make a backup copy before you start deleting stuff from the .miz file, so if you make a mistake you can try again. Edit: you might want to read through this thread about the same issue. I recommend avoiding 'Prepare Mission' and just using 'Fly Mission' instead.

Yep, that's what I mean. It does seem to change the logic for the field, but it's not reflected in the GUI which makes it a real pain to tell what it's actually checking for. It's also kind of tricky to fix, as we've seen! Okay I've just re-tested, and it seems the way that actually fixes it is to delete the hold command, save the mission, re-load the mission in the editor, and then add the hold command again. That seems to properly clear up the errant logic that's being saved, and makes it start behaving as the GUI indicates it should. I guess the editor doesn't remove all the logic for the task when you delete it - you need to re-load with a fresh mission to get it properly removed.

Delete the 'hold' task and re-add it. That seems to fix it. Not sure what the issue really is, but it's clearly not saved it out correctly in the original mission. I experimented with it for a while and that was what I found fixed it. There's a surprising amount of stuff that's changed in the mission file just from re-saving it, although most of it's just reordering parameters. I think that some part of the logic is looking for the flag to be false when the vehicle arrives. In fact, I just re-ran it without setting that flag true, and the vehicle stops. So it's that simple: the actual mission logic is only activating that 'Hold' statement when the flag is false. Note that the checkbox next to the flag number (to decide whether the flag needs to be true or false) doesn't work properly. It kind of does (in that it'll save the mission file with the correct logic), but the GUI doesn't reflect it properly (re-open the task and the checkbox will be selected, indicating true, even if the actual logic is false). So my recommendation is to not ever use that (at least, until/unless ED fix it) and only use 'flag is true' conditions in that dialog.

What happens if you move the waypoint you want the unit to stop at further from the bridge? The AI will re-route around unpassable terrain (such as, the bridge when it's broken) - maybe it's repositioning that waypoint or otherwise is no longer actually reaching that waypoint?

There isn't. However in the next patch you'll be able to disable the ground safety and fire the cannon while on the ground. That'll push you backwards. It's a bit of a waste of ammo, but since you're on the ground you can just ask the crew to rearm you once you're done. :thumbup: But seriously, no - you need to avoid getting yourself into positions you can't drive (forward) out of.

When you hit printscreen, the game should save a screenshot into your 'ScreenShots' directory, which on Vista/Win7 will be C:\Users\username\Saved Games\DCS Warthog\ScreenShots. It does sound like you're doing it properly, it should definitely be a 'hold' task with a start condition of 'is user flag 1'. Make sure you don't have any 'stop conditions' checked. Bear in mind that waypoint actions are only run once, when the unit arrives at the waypoint. So if it's already past the waypoint, the 'hold' action would've already been processed (and ignored, since the flag wasn't set) and it won't be processed again. Also, ground units, upon arriving at a waypoint, will re-orient themselves to face in the direction of the next waypoint in their path, even if they've been told to hold. This is useful because it lets you point the group in a particular direction, but can involve a bit of shuffling around which might make you think they've ignored your command to stop. Attached is an example mission, with a stationary tank as the target, and another tank running a series of waypoints (with smoke markers at the ends of each segment). If you kill the tank (or use the radio menu option to explode it) then flag 1 will be set, and the moving unit will stop when it reaches its next waypoint. HoldOnFlag.miz

I think the best 'real' missions to start out with are 'Smerch Hunt' and 'Hideout EN'. They're pretty easy, but do require you to have some situational awareness or understanding of the mission/battlefield as a whole. I think once you're comfortable with that kind of mission, the more challenging ones won't be so daunting. 'Khashuri Gap' is also pretty good for learning, but probably not right off the bat. 'Surrounded!' is good for weapons employment against moving targets with some kind of time pressure on you. 'River Raider' is also a good mission to practice your combat skills, and I might even recommend that one before 'Smerch Hunt' and 'Hideout'. It gives you a series of targets that get harder and harder. Along the same lines are the 'instant action' missions. These let you start in the air and there's a few variations with gradually increasing air defences, so you can start on the easiest one and once you can comfortably blow through that, up the challenge a little. I wouldn't recommend the Quick Mission Generator until you're pretty comfortable with all the aspects of the "DCS world". It doesn't give you a lot of direction and the missions don't necessarily make a lot of sense. Getting comfortable with the mission editor is probably also a good idea, unless you have a strong aversion to that sort of thing. Being able to set up targets with whatever air defences you want to practice against is very handy, and you can put together basic missions like that very quickly.

The post you quoted said I highly, HIGHLY doubt there will ever be an air interceptor study-sim. A multirole fighter is not the same as an air interceptor. Of course 'everyone' wants a fighter that can do 'everything'. Fewer people will want an aircraft that can only do A-A; and the suspicion is that more people would be interested in a dedicated ground-attack aircraft than would be interested in a dedicated air-to-air aircraft, if they had to choose. I don't agree with Frostiken's reasoning mind you, I think he's gotten cause-and-effect reversed here. ED could make air-to-air combat as central to DCS as the ground combat currently is 'simply' by spending as much time on air-to-air as they have on air-to-ground. I think it's more likely that the platform they're simulating dictates the elements of the game world they spend time enhancing, and focussing on air-to-air combat wouldn't have made much sense for either Black Shark or Warthog. The F/A-18 can take off from carriers. The F-16 can't. Ergo, the Hornet is 'better' in the context of the second part of the statement ('for any given situation'). For a specific mission the Viper could do, it'll almost certainly be better at it than the Hornet ('any aircraft is better than the F-18 for a given situation'). Or put it like this: someone says, we need an aircraft to carry out <specific mission here>. You can pick an aircraft that will do the job better than the Hornet. Now if someone says: we need an aircraft to carry out a mission. What aircraft do you suggest? The Hornet's about as good an answer as you can give; it can probably do whatever the task turns out to be, even if wouldn't do it as well as a better-suited aircraft (but since you don't know what the task is, you can't determine what aircraft would be better suited). Yes, the person asking you to suggest an aircraft to carry out a mission without telling you what the mission will be is a douche, but that's not the point. :D

It's a pretty old interview though (July 2010? edit: that was the last-modified date, but I went back a page and that interview is from December 2008?!) and things change. Not all that long ago ED were talking about the AH-64 and A-10A... I'm sure they have a lot of things at various stages of development. Not saying the next aircraft definitely won't be the Viper, but I don't think you can take this as proof that it will be.

In the controls configuration page, there's a dropdown for selecting which aircraft you want to configure the controls for. There's separate settings for 'A-10C real' and 'A-10C game' (or similarly named). Make sure when you're setting your controls you have the 'real' mode selected if you're not playing with game avionics mode. Check on the options screens for those settings. There's also a "use these settings for all missions" checkbox at the bottom of the screen. If you don't have that enabled, then particular missions can override your settings, so the instant action might be running in game mode, but the training missions are specifically set for sim/real mode.

I love you, ED! I've spent ages messing around with parked vehicles to try to block AI aircraft from taking off, and never been able to get it to work quite right. I'm so happy I could cry! I'm also unreasonably excited about trying this out, too. Just thought I'd quote this one ... I'm pretty sure I'm going to get caught out by this on occassion.

You can't make groups activate within zones or anything like that... when you activate a group, it'll start from wherever you placed it on the map. Also, I'd be surprised if the 'in moving zone' condition actually moved the zone around. Pretty sure it only uses the zone's radius to decide whether two units are close enough for the condition to be true. i.e. 'unit within zone' == 'unit within <zone radius> of <zone center>' while 'unit within moving zone' == 'unit within <zone radius> of <other units position>'.

'Toggle goggles' (RightShift+H) toggles the night vision goggles. 'Gain goggles down' and 'Gain goggles up' (RAlt+RShift+H / RCtrl+RShift+H) decrease or increase the gain (brightness) of ze goggles.

In the mission editor, the last field in the time is the number of days. I'm not sure what date day 0 is. But if you set the start time to e.g. 90 days, then it'll be 3 months after whatever 'day 0' is.

Missions will have a .miz extension. You just need to place them somewhere where the game will look for them. The best option is in your personal mission's folder (rather than the 'system' missions folder), which will, for Vista/Win7 users, be at C:\Users\username\Saved Games\A-10C Warthog\Missions Then in the mission selection dialog, there's an option for system missions or user missions, which just changes the directory it looks in. You can also browse your whole system from that dialog so technically the mission can be anywhere you want, but the 'missions' directory is the most convenient.

I don't think you can change the starting time of existing missions using e.g. the mission planner. You could use the fast mission generator and tell you want to fly at night, or create (or alter) a mission in the mission editor. If you do the latter, you can set the mission start time in the briefing window (kinda clipboard looking icon near the top of the toolbar).

The mission editor has a feature to hide units. This prevents them from appearing on the F10 map, in the 'mission planner' prior to a mission, and in the mission editor itself. If you click on the 'units list' button near the bottom of the toolbar you'll get a listing of all the groups in the mission. You can select them and unhide them using that list, at which point they'll appear on the map in the editor (as well as the other places I mentioned).

I think 'D' is used to cycle weapons in game mode. I can't recall if there's a dedicated gun mode or not, but I think there is. Edit: no there doesn't seem to be, and after playing around I can't see any way to get an air-to-ground gun reticule to appear at all. There won't be anything that does the same thing in both game and real mode, as they take very different approaches to weapon selection. Edit 2: page 16 of the quickstart guide (page 17 of the PDF) says: "WPNS OFF - not selected weapon on station, the aiming reticle will display gun pipper." With 'weapons off' you get the air-to-air gun funnel, not an A-G pipper. Edit 3: okay, I think this is a bug, but there is a workaround. You'll need to bind something to the 'HOTAS Master Mode' control which I think you've already done. In real mode the default keybind is 'M', which is used as one of the targeting keys in game mode. To get the gun pipper, use 'D' to cycle to 'wpns off' - it'll say "air-to-air" on the left console and you'll still have the air-to-air funnel showing. Then use the master mode key you bound to cycle until you get either GUNS or CCIP showing. Unfortunately the left console won't show your DSMS display for very long so you need to be quick! Once you're in the right mode, you'll have a circular reticule that indicates the impact point of your cannon's rounds. Edit 4: attached a picture which might be easier to understand than the above.

Air France crash salvage mission ends Spokesman for the victims' relatives Philippe Vinogradoff said 104 bodies - all that were deemed recoverable - had been hauled up from a depth of 3,900m (12,800ft). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13690683

Unrelated, but I just noticed the Su-17 was removed from Georgia's inventory. :( If you load a mission which used it, then they'll be replaced by A-10Cs. They do have the L-39ZA now which I think only Russia had previously. Edit -> just noticed a fairly significant change, ground vehicles that were placed as 'static' are now treated as normal vehicles (without AI, presumably) by the game. i.e. if you have labels on, they'll be labeled, and AI units will detect them and attack them as if they were regular groups.

Dynamic weather dialog seems to be working perfectly as expected for me. Make changes, use the save icon in the toolbar, re-open weather panel and changes are still there. Restarted the game (GUI), opened mission, changes are still there. Are you having this problem with all missions or just some? What if you create a brand new mission?

The events seem to apply to the player-controlled aircraft in single-player. No idea what they'll do in multiplayer. As a quick test, I created a new trigger with the event 'on eject', condition 'time more than 2 seconds' and action just to display a message. Started mission, waited a few seconds, ejected, received the message.