F-14B Tomcat known issues

[krostar]

Hi ED, HB and DCS community,

 

This is my first post about bug reports, I'll try to keep it clear.

I did a quick research on the forum, to see if those problems were reported, but I did not find anything. Sorry in advance if I missed them.

 

I mainly play the F-14B of Heatblur for more than a year, both in VR and flat monitor, on the last stable version.

Here is a list of bugs I found over the time, and are still active to this day :

 

- Cockpit White flooding light is very low. (I know there is a lot of work on lights, just reporting the current state)

 

- Some exterior lights are broken. May be solved by the latest OB version.

 

- The taxi light is not visible from certain angles. Sometimes it reflects on the runway, sometimes not, depending of my POV.

 

- Jester in TWS : Sometimes, Jester keeps tracking friendly units in TWS, while bandits are straight ahead on the DataLink.

 

- Jester Menu Beyond Visual Range : Some items are missing randomly, like radar range, after an aerial engagement. Jester seems blocked in a weird state, I have to switch to AG mode and Landing mode multiple times to solve the issue.

 

- Jester Elevation search : Sometimes Jester does not find any target ahead of it, even if you leave it time to scan the area. You need to specify the elevation manually, even when the target is directly ahead and same altitude. Switching to Auto elevation does not help.

 

- If you are in AG mode, with bombs selected, and ask Jester to jettison the fuel tanks, he is gonna drop the tanks AND the bombs. Makes sense, but Jester should unselect the bombs before jettison the fuel tanks. Workaround : do not ask jester to jettison fuel when in AG mode.

 

- Random behavior in TWS : Sometimes, when I shoot Phoenix in TWS at multiple targets, one of the target does not display its countdown before impact, even though the missile seems to track correctly.

 

- Jester calls for friendly aircraft locked in STT, while it is actually an enemy. Happens mainly in ACM.

 

- Carrier launch : When the aircraft is launched on the catapult, black screen occurs sometimes (high G tolerance ?)

 

- There seems to be a slight mismatch between the supercarrier LSO and the E bracket of the HUD. If I am on speed in the Hud, the LSO says I'm too slow. When the LSO is silent, I'm slightly up on the carrier landing sheet (kneeboard).

 

- Could we have bindings for flap positions ? Right now we can set max flaps or flaps up ; we must use the mouse to set an intermediate position, which is trivial.

 

- NVG brightness adjustement is smaller than before. Minimal value is too high, cannot see well in certain situations (around sunset and sunrise). Not sure if it is a bug from 2.5.6 or a normal feature.

 

- TACAN and ICLS stop working from time to time, even when close to the carrier and in line of sight. I have not been able to figure if the bug comes from the carriers or the F-14B.

 

- Fuel consumption difference between 100% RPM and full AB seems massive at low altitude, even though the fuel flow is similar on the pilot gauges (FF). Not sure that is a bug, but I think there are the F-14A gauges :)

 

- Fire extinguisher buttons are impossible to reach behind the fuel shut off buttons. Not sure if they are modelised yet.

 

- Wing sweep system : Sometimes, at the beginning of a mission started in the air, the Wing sweep system is in error. CADC error is on the panel. Must press the Master Reset button of the wing sweep system to remove the CADC alarm. Otherwise the wings will not move properly. You can try on Fast Action missions of Caucasus - Carrier landing or Supercarrier landing case I. The problem happens randomly.

 

- RWR : F-14B RWR is so powerful that it beeps for missile launch from 100 or 200 NM away ! And these missiles are not targeted at me. Way too sensitive, lot of false alarms.

 

- Jester calls for friendly missiles, not heading at me (Missile ! Break left ! While my wingman just sent a Phoenix to a target far away).

 

 

 

I think that's all for now.

Some issues may be related to me only, although I use a vanilla version of DCS Stable.

I hope it will help you solving these little bugs.

 

Great job from ED and HB for this amazing simulator, it has well evolved since LockOn in 2004 :)

 

 

Config :

i7 8700K / 32GB RAM / 2080Ti / HP Reverb Pro / DCS Stable / Pure client / Latest Nvidia drivers / Windows 10 2004

I play the game in VR or on my monitor, depending of the temperature ;)

All bugs happens both in VR and on monitor.

Edited August 19, 2020 by krostar

[Flappie]

Hi krostar, here's the F-14 Bugs and Problems subforum: https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=628

[krostar]

Oh I didnt search in the right section of the forums, my bad...

 

I'm a noob :D

[draconus]

Try to make separate threads for each issue and describe it thoroughly. The list won't cut it as a bug report. As a general questions batch it's fine. Some of those bugs are known, some need your understanding. I'll try to address some here:

• Generally, Jester does not scan with the radar. He reacts to what he sees on the current settings and changes modes accordingly to your actions too (like mode and weapon selection).
  

 

• There are two Jester menus - first hit of "A" key will bring you first one (quick situational menu, depending on mode and what is happening) and second one with the second "A" press (full menu, but the options change too, depending on many things).
  

 

• TWS (or STT) cannot "use" DL contacts - it has to be radar detected. If you see DL contact ahead but your radar not it may be because of multiple reasons:
  

- it's not in your set azimuth/elevation/bars cone

- DL host sees the bandit from the other side, but for you it's not in LOS (ex. behind terrain)

- bandit is notching you

- heli going too slow in PD mode

- ...

• Fuel consumption for AB is not shown on fuel flow indicators (and will not show on newer indicator either).
  
• Fire buttons are not yet modeled.
  
• TACAN shut down bug is known in DCS but ICLS - haven't heard of.
  
• Lights are constant WIP but cockpit lights generally are fine atm and were fixed lately.
  
• Current supercarrier IFLOLS/LSO is catered more for Hornet. Try to use AoA indexer in the Tomcat instead of the E bracket.
  
• It's known for a catapult launch to cause high G sometimes for a brief moement.
  
• For binding request go to: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=235229
  
• The auxiliary flaps in the Tomcat are either fully extended or retracted - only the handle can be left anywhere between. http://www.heatblur.se/F-14Manual/general.html#flaps-and-slats
  
• Read more on the Tomcat RWR: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=4266306&postcount=17
  

[krostar]

Thank you draconus, I found topics on most of my issues.