[NOT A BUG] Friendly aircraft are labelled hostile on the HUD if ownship IFF is off

This one has been causing a little carnage on MP servers as not all users are aware they need to switch IFF on - but even so, the issue here is that the aircraft are being labelled as hostile (diamond) rather than as unknown (square) on the HUD. If they were showing as squares, people wouldn't be shooting. If the IFF isn't functioning then everything should be displayed as unknown, not hostile.

Just to pre-empt anyone saying 'diamond means unknown/false IFF response' - it doesn't, diamond means hostile, square means unknown and we've never had the HUD symbology for friendly (so yes, the IFF we've got on the HUD works backwards to how real IFF works, it's only telling us when something is hostile rather than when something is friendly). ED's own manual says diamond = hostile. See 12. here in the manual:

To reproduce, simply load into a quick ME mission with you in a Hornet and another friendly aircraft in front of you. Switch off IFF on the UFC and lock up a friendly - they are marked as hostile with a diamond. Track attached showing the issue.

If it's an option, I'd really suggest that ED default the IFF to being on (even from a cold start) - people are missing that it exists and friendly fire has INCREASED from this patch, rather than decreased as everyone hoped!

friendly hornet hostile.trk

Hope to see a reply from ED about the IFF being backwards. With both the square/diamond on the HUD and the SA page symbology, IFF should simply return as friendly or keep as unknown. Why is IFF designating hostile at all? This isn't how IFF works. Is it going to be changed?

EDIT: Wags' SA page video description says they will later on change this to incorporate NCTR and AWACS for hostile identification.

The TD boxes are still cycling between diamond and square depending on being inside or outside of the pitch ladder. Seems a lot of the old IFF code is still there.

Just to pre-empt anyone saying 'diamond means unknown/false IFF response' - it doesn't, diamond means hostile, square means unknown

How would the IFF positively identify an aircraft as hostile? If there is an answer, I'm curious. Oh, and "unknown" can mean, literally, unknown, as in, no attempt at identification has been made.

How would the IFF positively identify an aircraft as hostile? If there is an answer, I'm curious. Oh, and "unknown" can mean, literally, unknown, as in, no attempt at identification has been made.

It's doesn't just use IFF.

This is all very intriguing. Further clarification from ED on the current situation and future plans would be appreciated.

How would the IFF positively identify an aircraft as hostile? If there is an answer, I'm curious. Oh, and "unknown" can mean, literally, unknown, as in, no attempt at identification has been made.

Indeed, IFF should positively id only a friendly, based on response to interrogation.