Replay System Please Fix

[jwflowersii]

ED,

 

I love this game so much, but I'm really frustrated that I can never show off the game.  Everytime I run a multiplayer mission, I can never put together any videos of the excellent in game action due to the horrible replay system.  The track file system is so broken, that within 2 minutes of my flight, my plane simply dives into the ground.  With today's social media, you're really doing a disservice in your fanbase's ability to showcase what this game can be.  Please fix the replay system and update it.  I've never once jumped back into a flight within the replay.  Add the functionality to just record position information.  TacView is able to replay entire multiplayer missions and we should be able to.  Again, I've had some many awesome experiences in WWII, modern aircraft online and I can't share the excitement and explosiveness of this game.

 

 

[Flappie]

In the meantime, you can use OBS. I've been using it for a few weeks for live recording.

[razo+r]

How does OBS help you getting exterior shots when your plane is going into the floor?

[Flappie]

"Into the floor"? You mean crashing or landing? I assume it's for landing. Well, I recognize one won't be able to see me landing in F2 view in my OBS-made videos, but that's not the part people want to see, really. However, you can ask a buddy to film this for you.

[razo+r]

Into the floor as in crashing.

 

Just re-read the first few sentences of OP...

 

It's about the broken replay system that sometimes makes it impossible to replay a track. And for those who create videos, it's sometimes simply impossible to get video material from an exterior perspective...

[jwflowersii]

This is the issue.  I use OBS to record the videos, but I can't ever get any of my multiplayer sessions to replay back.  I'm flying with 12 to 14 guys regularly on missions and leading flights.  We just finished a low level bombing run on an airfield and drop MK-20 Rockeyes after low level flight through mountains.  I mean these are really cool experiences when flying, but external videos after VR flight would make it so much better.  

 

 

[Flappie]

@razo+r

I'm talking about recording the flight at the moment I'm flying, not afterwards. No need for a track to replay.

[razo+r]

How else do you want to get some exterior footage of your plane if not in a replay when you are busy flying and/or not allowed to switch to the exterior views inflight?

Edited December 20, 2020 by razo+r

[Flappie]

I use a hack called "autopilot". Please don't spread the word.

 

I agree you can't use this one when in the middle of a dogfight.

[jwflowersii]

How old are you, I don't think you're fully understanding the issue.  

Watch this video and see how the replay shows me diving away from the tanker and dying?  Yeah, this mission was really cool and would love to have show the two of us dropping rockeyes on airfield.

This part shows my plane diving into the ground.
 

 

This part shows my wingman destroying the airfield without me. 

 

 

[Scoll]

35 minutes ago, jwflowersii said:

How old are you, I don't think you're fully understanding the issue.  

I don'think it's an age question, but it seams that some are specialists to not "fully understand issue"...

Btw, track replay is not to be fixed soon as i am told in the headset : "...but it is not going to happen overnight, we have other work to finish first. "

Btw² i think that we all prefer a "Flight Crew" reply instead of a "Ground Crew".

[jwflowersii]

The problem with this attitude is that it will never be fixed.  It's been broken for years.  Why can't they simply use the same logic that they use to capture every other aircraft.  This is getting ridiculous.  I'm normally on ED side, but with this I've been waiting forever.  They need to fix these bugs.  It's been since the beginning.  

[Flappie]

Sorry guys, I'm rather pessimistic about the track recording system being fixed someday. I just wanted to say we can record movies thanks to software like OBS, even if those will never be the next Top Gun movies, I agree.

 

Without a decent track recording system, the most reliable solution out there is to make your movies as they are done in real life: several camera-equiped aircraft. Ask your friends to record their game session. My 50 cent.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Flappie
typo

[Flappie]

I was dead serious about OBS and the autopilot thing, because that's what I use when I make DCS videos. But then, as the conversation went on, I realized it wouldn't help getting exterior shots of things such as dogfighting (I mostly fly mud) and aerial refueling (I just can't do this). Now that I'm aware of this, I know why you guys need a reliable track recording system.

[BIGNEWY]

Track replay system is very simplified in that it only records your inputs, it can be temperamental, and any things can effect it, weather, wake, AI making different moves, large track replays, scripting, and so on. 

 

As a way of showing bugs it suits us currently, the tracks should be short and to the point, they have a better chance of success then. We plan to redo the replay system, but it is not in our immediate plans, other tasks and projects have priority.

 

thanks

[virulosity]

This is fairly disappointing to hear, I think if you were to poll the user base you would find that this means a lot to many users.  There are many threads with this same title, just buried in other areas (especially Heatblurs F-14 Bugs).  This is a feature that most users expect, and is present in pretty much every other sim.  People in other parts of the forum talk about how they are spending exorbitant amounts of money to buy hardware so that they can see the beautiful realistic graphics, if not for replay then for what?  This is what sells the game, people see a sexy video of a new module and they are excited to buy it.  Personally, I like the ability to review my flight (especially the landing) so that I can see details external to the cockpit and improve. 

 

I recently bought the F-14, the most expensive module available, and I can't get a single replay that lasts more than a few seconds (the plane doesn't even make it to the end of the runway on takeoff).  I could understand if this was just an early access problem that would be fixed with full release in some months, this has been going on for years.

 

How can we elevate this?

Edited December 26, 2020 by virulosity

[mwlue]

 

12 hours ago, virulosity said:

....

 

How can we elevate this?

 

How about making a paid recording module? Otherwise I don't see why ED would raise the priority to fix this basic issues.

[rayrayblues]

FWIW, War Thunder uses the .wrpl system which re-creates the entire flight using the commands stored on your machine and those

on their server. Two main advantages are multiple camera angles and the ability to switch to any other plane within range.

it is very stable and does a faithful re-creation of the mission.

One disadvantage is they cannot store the tracks forever. Whenever the game is updated, the commands are lost and the replay is broken.

You have to do your creating before the next update.

 

On 12/21/2020 at 8:24 AM, BIGNEWY said:

Track replay system is very simplified in that it only records your inputs, it can be temperamental, and any things can effect it, weather, wake, AI making different moves, large track replays, scripting, and so on. 

 

As a way of showing bugs it suits us currently, the tracks should be short and to the point, they have a better chance of success then. We plan to redo the replay system, but it is not in our immediate plans, other tasks and projects have priority.

 

Thank you BigNewy for your input. I understand that ED has a small dev team and they have many

more important things to work on, but perhaps in the future we can have a more reliable replay system similar to this 

for those of us who like to create and display videos. The OP made a good point in that, it's a good way to "showcase what this game can be."

 

If it's not against the rules, here is one that I made about five years ago with my band providing the soundtrack. If not, feel free to delete it.

 

BTW, I use Bandicam for recording. I find it to be more user friendly than OBS.  (personal preference  )

 

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by rayrayblues
Typo

[virulosity]

4 hours ago, mwlue said:

 

How about making a paid recording module? Otherwise I don't see why ED would raise the priority to fix this basic issues.

I think for people that have already spent hundreds of dollars on modules that still have bugs like this, I don't think that would be very well received, unless you were to add some other data analysis features similar to TacView or the like.  That said, I do think there is a substantial portion of the user base that would be willing to pay for it based on the threads I have already read on other parts of the forum.  Also, this is something that has existed for over 20 years in other platforms, so I would expect that the methodology of how to do it is reasonably well understood and shouldn't be a GIANT undertaking (I understand that DCS is probably one of the most complex simulators, but only a small portion of the data needs to be recorded).  The logical (to me) small step would just be to implement the server track system which ED already has!

[rayrayblues]

11 hours ago, virulosity said:

The logical (to me) small step would just be to implement the server track system which ED already has!

But it is not working for video content creators.

That awesome shot that you made can't be saved because the replay shows something else that didn't happen.

[virulosity]

 

[rayrayblues]

Awesome, thanx. As a blues musician myself, I really appreciated the sound track.

[bruennlein]

Oh boy, I just learned about that bug and it´s a bit disappointing. I tired to use the replay-feature to improve my dogfighting skills and rewatch my dogfights for learning. I was wondering why the video was that different from what I remembered. 

Anyway, I can possibly help myself with TacView, but I also would ask ED to please not see this as low-priority. It´s not so good to have a useless broken feature in this awesome game. At least you should probably deactivate it, when it´s not working, otherwise it could be frustrating for people who want to try it out. So basically fit it, or remove it. Don´t leave broken features in the game.

 

Anyway thank you virulosity for that video. I´ll try that.

 

So long, Hals und Beinbruch!

[Exorcet]

  

It's not broken enough to warrant deactivating it. That would be worse than what we currently have.

 

The issue isn't that ED is ignoring this, but that they have many other things to look into. Among those other things are some significant projects like the dynamic campaign that handily won out on popular opinion:

 

 

 

[dorianR666]

ED apparently considers the replay track functionality as merely a tool for bug reporting. There is no need to deactivate it, it serves that purpose well usually. Maybe you could fit in even a 5 minute dogfight before it detoriates.

 

I can see why this is finicky. Other games (IL-2, Warthunder) dont have to bother with the rerun of complicated avionics, they can move and sync positions of objects to recorded places easily without any consequences. Notice how BMS doesnt have proper replay system either (their ACMI files work like Tacview).

Edited March 20, 2021 by dorianR666