breakneckPace

maybe....MAYBE....(this is all wishful thinking) the reason these systems broke is because they're trying to unscramble and clean up the code that makes up the F-16? this is ALL speculation, and I'm just being optimistic at this point. Perhaps there's a chance that they're trying to clean up a lot of code so it's easier to implement things in the future (without breaking what already exists) Though cleaning up code means that some things will break in the process. Some sort of analogy about breaking eggs to make an omelet or what have you? Since the f-16 is kind of back burner'd for the moment to get things out for the f-18, maybe they're trying to clean things up a bit to make future developments more streamlined and easier/faster to implement? IF that were the case, the shouldn't have released a broken system, that's still on them. but I'm still being hopeful. why an update would break potentially unrelated systems, is beyond me. but there's a chance that somewhere in the code of everything, something is linking one system to another. All of these craft can't be easy to code for, with plenty of variables to deal with. again. all speculation. but until then, the f-16 is broken. I love this jet and want so badly for it to be great, but I too experience all the issues mentioned above and feel like the only thing the f-16 is good for at the moment is flying at sunset to look at all the pretty vistas with fancy lighting, which looks awesome, by the by. I await the hot fix to remedy the situation. (I noticed in Wags' latest movie he conveniently used the CCRP to navigate to his steer point, and didn't try using the tadpole like you normally would on the HUD) let's hope they see the issues and get a quick fix out for this sucker!

I'm actually interested in the responses to this as well. I've been doing a few head to head dogfights with my friend. Me in the f-16, him in the f-18/f-14. I'll start by saying i know there's a good deal attributed to talent in all this, but I don't think our skills are THAT far apart. (I could be wrong on this.:smilewink: ) but I'm finding that more often than not he's out turning me, weather I try a high G pull, or pull less but try keeping my speed in the optimal range, I tend to lose out in the end. On the first pass I can get around about the same rate he can, but any subsequent turns after that it just seems like I'm losing out. Again, there's a good chance he's just better than me, and I need to work on my BFM skills, but I'd like to think I'm not THAT horrible at flying. I'm sure the answers is, "You just need to get better at your flying skills." Or something along those lines. but I'd be happy to have another excuse for a little while. hahaha.

just posting a bit of an update (in case someone has a similar issue and this can be helpful at all) I've managed to get a little bit closer to the effect I was looking for, but still not the full "Michael Bay movie" I was intending, which is probably good, that means what I have is more realistic. haha. Similar to what nomdeplume was saying above, the distance from chopper to target played a bigger role than I expected. There were still issues with some of the choppers turning away from the target while others would fly up and shoot that took some fiddling to sort of deal with, but here's basically what I did: In the general area I wanted the helicopters to attack, I put a group of friendly units on the ground (or enemy units from the helicopter's perspective) and gave the ground units of "hold" command so they wouldn't run away after the first volley of attacks. I have the helo's spawn in and at a nearby waypoint 1 I gave the command to "attack group" and selected the ground group. (I also tried "attack unit" and duplicated that command for each unit in the ground group which had a sense of success as well.) From there I would run the mission as spectator and watch the helicopters. if they didn't attack I would go back to the mission editor and position them further away, and run it again. a sort of trial an error method. yes, it's tedious. haha. I would do this until I got them far enough away that the choppers would all attack the ground group instead of just turn and fly a different random direction. from my experience, it took them about 30-40 seconds from the time they spawned in, to the time they got to a position where they could launch rockets at the ground targets. If I tried to pop them in right at their 'firing point' or closer to it, they would just change course and fly off into the sunset. then to set it up in the mission I just had a trigger point set up somewhere that when your jet flew into it, it would trigger the choppers to spawn and run their route. so ultimately it's still not the look I wanted. but it got me closer at least. My hope was that when you, the pilot was flying by some markers (in this case some buildings in the UAE) that seemingly 'out of nowhere' a group of helicopters would appear, roughly within view without needing to turn your head much, attack the ground right in front of you, and bugger off. What I have now, they spawn in, but they need that 30 seconds or so to get to their firing point so they're a bit more noticeable. and by the time they fire at their targets, the helicopters are at about your 9 o'clock. so it's not QUITE as obvious that the shots are coming from them. ah well. I'll keep working on it and see what fun things I can come up with in the future.

Hello ME guru's. In creating my mission I want a moment to be triggered with some helicopters attacking the ground with a barrage of weapons. I've hit my peak of know-how with the ME (which admittedly isn't substantial at the moment) and figured it's time to turn here for the proper method/set up. here's kind of the basic run down of how I want it to go: pilot/user enters a trigger point telling the late activated helicopters to spawn in. helicopters (almost) immediately attack the ground in front of them. <i don't necessarily need them to hit a specific target, I just want the effect of them launching a bunch of munitions (preferably propelled weapons, not dropped bombs or anything) in a general area.> once out of ammo, they continue flying along their designated waypoints to their specific landing area. seems simple enough, right?! I've got no problem getting them to spawn in late, and even follow their flight path. the biggest hurdle I'm encountering is getting them to do an all out attack on the ground. I've tried giving them different weapons to use. ie rockets, missiles, guns, and what not. I've had them attack "map object" and I've also tried placing in a few ground units just to give them specific targets to shoot at. The BEST result I've come up with so far is the lead chopper will fire a single rocket at its target, then move on. Not quite the big cinematic moment I've been looking for. So this is where I'm hoping someone much smarter than I can help. how do I get a group of 4 helicopters to all launch a smattering of rockets or missiles in a general area? Thanks in advance for the help. ~J

Hi, I just wanted to check to see if anyone else was having an issue entering the ILS frequency for Al Dhafra air base on the DED? I go to try to enter the data for for the runway and the ILS frequency of 111.20 (I forget which runway number this is at the moment), which SHOULD be within the limits of the f-16. (it goes up to 111.95mHZ I believe, according to the DCS documentation) when I hit enter though, I just get flashing numbers like something was entered incorrectly and the system doesn't let me enter it. Has anyone been able to enter this ILS successfully? or is it a bug that needs to be fixed? or am I just doing something wrong? is it a different type of ILS that isn't compatible with the f-16? thanks for the help (currently running the latest Beta version if that helps any too)

I like this way of thinking. Assuming I successfully landed (those heavy fog landings are still a bit tricky) I'll just take it as me, as a pilot, properly stored my headings before shut down! :thumbup: OR my ground crew was awesome and set it up for me before climbing aboard. haha

just piggybacking on this if I may, and not wanting to start a new thread. With some of the new patches, it looks like you can now do the start up procedure/INS alignment with INS in stored heading instead of "norm." my question is this: does the f-16 always start with your proper current coordinates programmed in at the DED? every time I've created a mission and the starting status was 'cold and dark' the correct coordinates were already entered as I was going through the start up procedure. This is NOT a complaint mind you, (more of a compliment to ED) as it helps the whole start up procedure go a bit faster. I was just curious if anyone's seen an instance where they've gone to start up their craft and it didn't have (or they were inaccurate) coordinates loaded in already?

yeah that seems to work great! thanks. so let me see if I'm breaking this down correctly: player(s) enter the "Spawn Enemy" trigger zone and it activates flag 20 and 30 the next two triggers look for flag 20 and 30 to be on, activating the first group of bandits (with a 30 second interval between the two) next trigger: when first group of jets is dead, it turns on flag 10 next flag activates the bomber to start flying, and turns on flag 40 last trigger releases attacking fighters if flag 40 is turned on a couple of questions: is there a particular reason for the 30 second delay between Group1 and Group2? does the game just not like 2 groups spawning at the same time? and to activate the bomber, I see it requires all 3 flags to trigger (10,20, and 30). instead of just activating when Flag 10 is 'on'. is that to prevent the bomber to spawn right at the start of the mission? I'm guessing if it was JUST Flag 10, when you enter the map, since the fighters aren't in yet, like you said, they'd be considered destroyed and dead. Thanks again for your help! This will help my missions be way more enjoyable in the future.

fantastic, I'll check it out when I get home! thanks for helping out. :thumbup:

haven't tried using flags yet. I'll put that top of my list of things to learn. Sounds like they might help

I'm hoping I could get a little assistance with my 'seemingly' simple mission I'm trying to make that doesn't seem to be working the way I imagine it would. I'm new to mission building AND DCS, but I really like the potential for what can be done. Right now I'm just making simple missions for my friend and I to run through to get some training in our jets. So here's the basic rundown of what I was hoping would happen, how I have it set up, and where things break that I'm hoping to have some help with: (I'm currently running version 2.5.5 if that helps any) Start Mission cold and dark in a parking lot with A-A loadout (at Sochi) take off and fly towards first waypoint, where you will encounter. destroy enemies at first waypoint then return to base for re-fuel and re-arm. take off, and defend incoming bomber from the new fighters that get created with the task of destroying the bomber return to base with a safe landing, park, and end mission basics of how I have it set up player(s) take off and enter a trigger zone right at the end of the runway to "Activate" the first set of targets, that are set to . (I was doing it this way so the targets weren't just circling as the players start up their jets, we like to go through the whole proper start up process. :) ) players fly to the targets to engage and destroy. When the last target is destroyed, it activates the bomber and second attacking group. (I have 2 target groups to give some extra targets since it's supposed to be designed for 2 jets to fly this mission) The rest of the mission plays out, and hopefully the B-52 is kept safe. Here's where things aren't working/seem broken: The two biggest issues I'm having are: ~sometimes right when I start the mission the bomber group is activated without waiting for the first set of targets to be spawned and destroyed ~When the first group of targets is activated, only 1 group of targets activates, when there are supposed to be 2. Some additional information The first group of targets (2 groups of SU-17's) spawn in, and fly to their first waypoint and I have them just in a circle pattern. Since the mission is designed for my friend and I, that's why there's 1 f-16 group and 1 f-18 group, but I get the same issues if I take out the group with the plane I don't own. the bomber is also on "late activation" though it seems to be triggered right away some times. same with the aggressive fighters going after the bomber I have an AWACS in the area too, but I don't think that's causing any issues. (but I could be wrong) As far as I can tell, I have all my logic correct, but I'm new to all this and I have a feeling I did something wrong. OR there's some bugs that need to be worked out. Either way, I need some help! So thanks to anyone that might be able to help me troubleshoot this. <here's the actual mission file too, if anyone is able to open it up and see where I messed up> Training_02_air2Air.miz