General plea connected to map updates

[Tippis]

This is not a wish for a new map or terrain.

This is a wish for how old maps and terrains are handled.

 

With the December 17 patch, I noticed a number of mentions in the changelog related to added TACAN stations and one airfield getting ATC frequencies it didn't have before. So I sighed and went back to check what these were so I could update my kneeboards with the new information, except, to my horror, I quickly realised that the changelog was… not wrong, as such, but woefully missing in detail.

 

A large number of ATC frequencies have changed, mostly (but not exclusively) in the UHF band. This means that pretty much all the missions I have made on the Persian Gulf map now are broken, and I need to go in and 1) figure out exactly what frequencies changed to what, 2) redraw a large number of kneeboard images listing those (now incorrect) frequencies, 3) change the frequencies on several hundreds of individual aircraft across all those missions.

 

The vast majority of aircraft in DCS have some kind of radio presets. Some aircraft only have presets, and they can't be changed in flight. This means that every time you move a fixed frequency up by 0.05MHz, missions break with those aircraft. They can no longer talk to the ATC, and while that may be a small detail on the scale of things, the same holds true for when you add/remove/change NDBs and TACANs and similar nav aids: suddenly a mission that relies on those aids to get the player to where they need to be no longer exist; the player can't navigate; the mission is broken.

 

This is not to say that you shouldn't fix things that are obviously wrong, but it does mean that you need to be exceedingly clear about what you change when you alter something hard-coded into the map because every time you do that, any mission that is based off of that map runs a significant chance of no longer working as intended. These changes need to listed — in full — in the patch notes so that mission-makers can go in and do some bulk search-and-replace in the lua files (and make new images and mods and plugins to reflect the new reality). You need to specify that Al Bateen  has changed from 250.550MHz to 250.600MHz, and every tiny such change needs to be included.

 

It gets very annoying very fast when you have to check on every airport, every beacon, and every unit included in the mission to make sure they all still match up.

[Rudel_chw]

I agree with your view .. and I can't help but wonder why ED did this? .. it's a lot of work for them to, having to update their own missions and DLC Campaigns, why would they do such a thing?

[Weegie]

Totally agree, I don't understand why and no warning given let alone explanation

 

While Off Topic it's related IMHO to resets to the Input Files as well.

 

Many people take a lot of time setting up missions, charts, Input configurations etc: 

 

If there's a good reason for these chages so be it, but please don't do it on a whim. If it's considred neceassary then could you please make it a BIG RED FLAG on the change log, at least that way us customers can try to take some steps to mitigate the damage.

 

All I'm requesting is that when changes are made that ED must realize could have a major impact on some (or all) customers could it please be highlighted rather than a cryptic comment, at best, in the Changelog

 

Now I'm unsure what to do until ED give us some information, I don't want to put in a load of work changing all these frequencies to then find ED might change them back.

 

I'm in the same boat as I have all the TACAN, UHF & VHF frequencies in profiles in voice attack for a load of modules as well as having to update all the kneeboard listings I have. The thought hardly fills me with joy