F/A-18C Dynamic Campaign: Battle Group Delta

[MysticDaedra]

I also have the INS alignment issue. UPDT to TCN doesn't work, neither does manually entering in a coordinate via UFC. I don't have this issue in other campaigns/missions, leading me to believe this is a mod bug, not a DCS bug. In the meantime, not being able to use waypoints means I pretty much can't play the campaign. Which is a shame, it seems like a really nice mod.

[QuiGon]

I also have the INS alignment issue. UPDT to TCN doesn't work, neither does manually entering in a coordinate via UFC. I don't have this issue in other campaigns/missions, leading me to believe this is a mod bug, not a DCS bug. In the meantime, not being able to use waypoints means I pretty much can't play the campaign. Which is a shame, it seems like a really nice mod.

It's not a mod bug. It's a feature of DCS. If you either play on RED side or on a mission dated prior to 1993 you will have no GPS available. As this campaign takes place in 1990 this is the case. That means you will have to perform a NAV UPDATE. As your are on a carrier, which is a moving platform you will have to perform a TCN NAV UPDATE. That requires you to have a solid TACAN signal to a land based TACAN reciever.

 

If that is the case, but the TCN NAV UPDATE doesn't work, than it might indeed be a bug. Just to be clearify: You said you don't have this issue in other campaigns/missions. Does that include missions where you cold start on a moving carrier in a mission where you are either playing on RED side or the year is prior to 1993 and the UNRESTRICTED SATNAV option is deactivated in the mission editor? Because if it doesn't, than the comparison to other missions doesn't tell you anything.

 

 

Edit: The TCN NAV UPDATE seems to be broken, which makes it impossible to properly align the NAV system. I've reported the issue here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4356092

So the only option for now to make this work is to change the campaign/mission date to 1995 or later.

Edited May 28, 2020 by QuiGon

[QuiGon]

I wanted to play the campaign with a friend in coop on the weekend but it seems this isn't really possible, because of the spawning behaviour aboard the carrier. We tried several approaches to spawning (both spawn before mission gets unpaused, both spawn after mission got unpaused, one player spawns before unpause and the other player after unpause, spawn after waiting 8 minutes), but everytime at least one of us ended up exploding because we spawned on another jet or another jet spawned on us. :(

 

I guess this is on ED and there is no way to work around it? I hope this will work better with the new supercarrier...

Untill then we will give the Tomcat campaign a try with pilot/RIO coop mode, hoping that spawning works that way at least.

So, the supercarrier has arrived and the multiplayer spawning finally works flawless! I can finally enjoy this campaign together with some friends :)

 

I've got another question though: If we are more players than the player flight has aircraft, would there be any issues if I would go to the Mission Editor to make another flight of the same package playable? So that we can have two playable flights within a single strike package. I can't think of any problems this would cause, but maybe you can @MBot?

[MysticDaedra]

Edit: The TCN NAV UPDATE seems to be broken, which makes it impossible to properly align the NAV system. I've reported the issue here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4356092

So the only option for now to make this work is to change the campaign/mission date to 1995 or later.

 

I guess I'm a little bit confused. What is the purpose of INS align then? Logically, wouldn't you need to enter the coordinates before aligning the INS?

 

I also found that I cannot manually enter coordinates, even if they are off by a little bit. When I hit enter in the UFC, it doesn't save them. Frustrating! But thanks for clarifying this for me. I saw lots of people talking about date, but I didn't understand that it was a built-in equipment limitation.

[MBot]

It seems that the latest openbate has resolved all the singleplayer spawning issues introduced by the previous openbeta. The campaigns now seem to function as intended again.

 

I made some first tests with the supercarrier but it doesn't look encouraging. I had hopes that improvements with spawning and AI on the deck would allow to spawn all AI parked cold instead of hot at the catapults so you would get a better experience for launch operations. But it seems that the player will always spawn in the sixpack, where he will block all AI activities on the deck until the player has completed start-up and taxis away. So the player won't be able to observe launching of his package during startup and the 10-15 minutes delays inflicted will lead the other flights failing their missions. In order to ensure that AI can fly their missions on time there is still no way around spawning them on the catapults. Very disappointing.

 

So far I think that the supercarrier is rather underwhelming and I don't see much incentive to upgrade the campaign to it. The deck crew is fun but the few animations are not exactly game changing either. And the LSO won't talk much anyway (or at all) as long as you shoot reasonable approaches. Not enough to put the campaign behind another paywall. Right now the plan is still to use Heatblur's free Forrestal once it gets available to have the correct USS Independence.

 

I am currently updating all campaigns to a newer DCE version. Primary feature is compatibility for both the DCS release and the beta version without having to mess around with any files. There are also some other new features mostly related to other campaigns I am working on. I will need some hours though to fly a couple of missions in each campaign to verify all things are still working.

[MBot]

I've got another question though: If we are more players than the player flight has aircraft, would there be any issues if I would go to the Mission Editor to make another flight of the same package playable? So that we can have two playable flights within a single strike package. I can't think of any problems this would cause, but maybe you can @MBot?

 

There won't be any technical issues with that, other than the fact that you may use more aircraft that may be available to the squadron. There won't be any stats tracking in the debriefing for the extra flight you put in, but there should still be stats tracking for all clients. Also if the additional flight is using the established naming convention it should still contribute to the stats tracking of the squadron (kills and losses).

[MBot]

I guess I'm a little bit confused. What is the purpose of INS align then? Logically, wouldn't you need to enter the coordinates before aligning the INS?

 

I also found that I cannot manually enter coordinates, even if they are off by a little bit. When I hit enter in the UFC, it doesn't save them. Frustrating! But thanks for clarifying this for me. I saw lots of people talking about date, but I didn't understand that it was a built-in equipment limitation.

 

The real Hornet can link to the INS of the carrier to align on the carrier's position, but ED has not implemented this. After alignment you therefore need to fix it to your WP0 position. Select WP0, WPDSG, UPD and FIX or something like that. The carrier (with you on it) will have moved a little by that time so your INS will be off by that amount, but it will be sufficient for navigation. The real INS would drift by the time you reach the target (which ED has not implemented either), so the result is the same.

Edited May 28, 2020 by MBot

[QuiGon]

There won't be any technical issues with that, other than the fact that you may use more aircraft that may be available to the squadron. There won't be any stats tracking in the debriefing for the extra flight you put in, but there should still be stats tracking for all clients. Also if the additional flight is using the established naming convention it should still contribute to the stats tracking of the squadron (kills and losses).

I actually don't want to add an additional flight. I want to convert one of the existing AI flights of the player's package to be playable (changing aircraft skill to "client" instead of AI). :)

[QuiGon]

I made some first tests with the supercarrier but it doesn't look encouraging. I had hopes that improvements with spawning and AI on the deck would allow to spawn all AI parked cold instead of hot at the catapults so you would get a better experience for launch operations. But it seems that the player will always spawn in the sixpack, where he will block all AI activities on the deck until the player has completed start-up and taxis away. So the player won't be able to observe launching of his package during startup and the 10-15 minutes delays inflicted will lead the other flights failing their missions. In order to ensure that AI can fly their missions on time there is still no way around spawning them on the catapults. Very disappointing.

I'm using the SC in your campaign and I had thought about changing the AI aircraft to Cold Start as well. The spawn position of the player isn't really an issue in my case, as I fly the campaign in multiplayer coop and there it is possible to let the player flight spawn at a different position. You just need to unpause the game before spawning as the sixpack spawn positions won't be available anymore then.

In fact I have to let the players spawn at the very back of the carrier as I ran into issues with client aircraft colliding with AI aircraft spawning in on the catapults: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=274996

I achieve that by letting the players spawn in after unpausing the game and blocking spawn positions 5,6,7,8,11,12,13 with static objects.

 

As I now let all players spawn at the back of the carrier, cold starting AI would be possible, as no player aircraft is blocking the AI. I will have to look into the code though to find out how to tell the ATO to let the flights spawn early enough for them to be able to stick to their flight schedule.

Edited May 29, 2020 by QuiGon

[MysticDaedra]

Got an error:

DCS: Mission script error: : [string "C:\Users\*myname*\AppData\Local\Temp\DCS\/~mis00006DFB.lua"]:108: Unit doesn't exist

stack traceback:

[C]: ?

[C]: in function 'getName'

[string "C:\Users\Joshua\AppData\Local\Temp\DCS\/~mis00006DFB.lua"]:108: in function 'onEvent'

[string "Scripts/World/EventHandlers.lua"]:13: in function <[string "Scripts/World/EventHandlers.lua"]:11>

[MBot]

I actually don't want to add an additional flight. I want to convert one of the existing AI flights of the player's package to be playable (changing aircraft skill to "client" instead of AI). :)

 

I don't think there should be a problem with that. Just remember that you have to remove the late activation for the flight. Also there will be some unnecessary dummy waypoints that the AI needs to properly descend.

[MBot]

Got an error:

 

This is related to a new script event that was introduced in the second last beta. Parachute landings of ejected pilots will now cause an event in the scripting engine but with a empty initiator that causes an error if being called up. I have written an exception to exclude these events from processing. Will be available in the next DCE version.

[QuiGon]

I don't think there should be a problem with that. Just remember that you have to remove the late activation for the flight. Also there will be some unnecessary dummy waypoints that the AI needs to properly descend.

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of hints I was hoping for :thumbup:

[MBot]

The real Hornet can link to the INS of the carrier to align on the carrier's position, but ED has not implemented this. After alignment you therefore need to fix it to your WP0 position. Select WP0, WPDSG, UPD and FIX or something like that. The carrier (with you on it) will have moved a little by that time so your INS will be off by that amount, but it will be sufficient for navigation. The real INS would drift by the time you reach the target (which ED has not implemented either), so the result is the same.

 

Well I just flew a bunch of full campaign missions in the Hornet and noticed that while the WP0 designation method will fix the navigation system, it will not fix the twisted CCIP. This just goes to show how little I have actually flown the Hornet since the Tomcat was released. From land the WP0 designation works well also for CCIP, but from the carrier I see no other way to align the ballistics computer.

 

So did ED really purposely disable the Hornet's bombing capabilities when launching from a carrier pre-1993?

[QuiGon]

Well I just flew a bunch of full campaign missions in the Hornet and noticed that while the WP0 designation method will fix the navigation system, it will not fix the twisted CCIP. This just goes to show how little I have actually flown the Hornet since the Tomcat was released. From land the WP0 designation works well also for CCIP, but from the carrier I see no other way to align the ballistics computer.

 

So did ED really purposely disable the Hornet's bombing capabilities when launching from a carrier pre-1993?

Well, supposedly you should be able to get an accurate nav system by executing a TACAN FIX: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4356213#post4356213

 

While BIGNEWY says it works for him, it doesn't work for me though and I don't know why... :dunno:

[snaxx]

Quigon: How did you force the client spawn locations to the back? I plan on modding in the SC as well once the new version drops, and would love to have the AI do cold starts and flow through the deck.

[MBot]

I'm using the SC in your campaign and I had thought about changing the AI aircraft to Cold Start as well. The spawn position of the player isn't really an issue in my case, as I fly the campaign in multiplayer coop and there it is possible to let the player flight spawn at a different position. You just need to unpause the game before spawning as the sixpack spawn positions won't be available anymore then.

 

I have been experimenting some more with launch sequencing. Indeed even in SP if you spawn the player 1 second into the mission instead of at mission start, you can get him out of the dreaded sixpack (which is poison for AI deck ops). Unfortunately that still doesn't make cold starts viable for complete packages.

 

The issue is that if the player is spawned as the first flight of the package, the other AI flights of the package won't taxi until the player flight has completed start-up and launched. This makes the whole effort pointless as the idea was for the player to experience the launch of the package.

 

If the player is spawned as the last flight of the package, his spawning will be delayed several minutes into the mission until sufficient flights of the package have completed start-up and launched to free sufficient deck space.

 

What I hoped was that while doing the start-up, the player could watch the other AI aircraft taxi and launch. It seems this still isn't possible even with the supercarrier.

[MBot]

Ok, I think I have figured out the key for AI cold starts:

 

1. One second after mission start, spawn the player flight as uncontrolled. This makes sure that the player is not put into the sixpack where he will block other deck ops.

2. Two seconds after mission start, set task activate the player flight.

3. Any AI flight that is spawned after this (either active or uncontrolled and activated later) will taxi and launch even when the player is still parked.

 

The player must be spawned uncontrolled and then be activated separately before you do anything with other AI, otherwise the presence of the player on the deck will inhibit other AI that is spawned later from launching.

 

With this figured out, I am now contemplating to program this into DCE and update my campaigns to the supercarrier.

[Scotch75]

Fantastic news Mbot. Well done!

 

Cheers!

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[PB0_CEF]

Well done ... as always :thumbup:

[lt_d4n]

Hello, I am writing to ask if anyone can help me with this error. It happens to me when leaving the missions.

 

Attached screenshots

 

 

https://ibb.co/mbPfbsv

https://ibb.co/D5cDcBs

https://ibb.co/hZzdPkJ

 

thanks

[QuiGon]

Quigon: How did you force the client spawn locations to the back? I plan on modding in the SC as well once the new version drops, and would love to have the AI do cold starts and flow through the deck.

I achieved that by spawning the client after the mission has started as Mbot described in more detail here:

Ok, I think I have figured out the key for AI cold starts:

 

1. One second after mission start, spawn the player flight as uncontrolled. This makes sure that the player is not put into the sixpack where he will block other deck ops.

2. Two seconds after mission start, set task activate the player flight.

3. Any AI flight that is spawned after this (either active or uncontrolled and activated later) will taxi and launch even when the player is still parked.

 

The player must be spawned uncontrolled and then be activated separately before you do anything with other AI, otherwise the presence of the player on the deck will inhibit other AI that is spawned later from launching.

 

With this figured out, I am now contemplating to program this into DCE and update my campaigns to the supercarrier.

Looking forward to that! :thumbup:

[MysticDaedra]

Due to the way the supercarrier is designed, anyone who doesn't own the module cannot use it. Unless you don't care about this, I'd recommend finding a way for people who don't own the supercarrier to still be able to use your campaign.

[fridgedigga]

Trying this out for the first time, some of the AIs are spawning in with "unorthodox" loadouts...

Is this an issue?

 

[Scotch75]

Trying this out for the first time, some of the AIs are spawning in with "unorthodox" loadouts...

 

Is this an issue?

 

 

 

Mbot has substituted in the F-18s to be placeholders for the eventual planned AI A-6 strike aircraft.

 

Cheers!

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk