Where are the DTC and mission planning tools

[Harlikwin]

These have been "mentioned" for literally years at this point, and still nothing. Where are they, when are they coming? We seriously need these on all MP servers. 

[Northstar98]

Especially now that the .luas that allowed partial workarounds (like default countermeasure programs) now break IC.

[Harlikwin]

Yup. 

[joelsi]

+1 for DTC and proper mission planning tools

[Nealius]

+1

 

Deka has had a DTC since Day 0 of JF-17 release. 

[Torri]

1+.

DTC + Integrated multi-ship mission planner where you can setup a whole flight with various steerpoints, radio presets, countermeasures and other settings.
Would hugely improve the MP environment where you spawn in a more "sandbox" style environment and can't preplan yourself in the ME.

[Gruman]

Any news?

The hornet got a WIP shot for the Data Cartridge I think back January 2019? A lot should have progressed since then, right?
Whats the plan? What aircrafts will be covered? Will it be universal? How about the mission planning features?

[Harker]

This stuff can't come soon enough. We're trying to organize our group and it's impossible to do any proper flight planning live, because clients can't set up waypoints and CM profiles, without needing to input everything manually in the jet, which can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the mission.

[QuiGon]

3 hours ago, Gruman said:

Any news?

The hornet got a WIP shot for the Data Cartridge I think back January 2019? A lot should have progressed since then, right?
Whats the plan? What aircrafts will be covered? Will it be universal? How about the mission planning features?

It's a bit bizarre indeed. It's such an important feature and becomes ever more important with new aircraft (Apache) and the upcoming Dynamic Campaign, but yet no word from ED on it for several years...

[Gruman]

If the GUI and stuff still takes time, let us use other tools. A way to quickly import a universal text file to setup everything in the plane would be a great start. The Countermeasures works the same way, so I think its plausible that the DTC will work similiar?!

Plenty of tools arrived by the community when configurations like Countermeasures etc were accessable.

Please 

[Rudel_chw]

3 hours ago, Gruman said:

What aircrafts will be covered?

 

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC: F-16, F-18, Apache ... I'm not sure if the Tomcat, Mirage 2000 and Ka-50 had a Mission Data Catridge .. The JF-17 and the Viggen  already have one. All the remaining cold war and ww2 aircrafts don't have it in real life so I wouldn't expect ED to implement a DTC for them.

[Gruman]

15 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC: F-16, F-18, Apache ... I'm not sure if the Tomcat, Mirage 2000 and Ka-50 had a Mission Data Catridge .. The JF-17 and the Viggen  already have one. All the remaining cold war and ww2 aircrafts don't have it in real life so I wouldn't expect ED to implement a DTC for them.

Good speculation. But we dont know. Only the F-18 was showed. All the other are still "unknown". Sure, 3rd party would update their modules as soon as the DTC would available for them. But will it be available for 3rd party and will ED update older modules? We don't know. 

DTC Function for A-10C was stated as "not planned" in a DTC topic. Could simply mean we only get it on the A-10C II, but its not a great start.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the only Information we ever got: Hornet Mini-Update from February 2019

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Gruman

[Hobel]

Push...

The thing is also other modules have it already!  Even if it is rather a stopgap it is still better than nothing...

 

[Hobel]

On 9/18/2021 at 2:20 AM, Northstar98 said:

Especially now that the .luas that allowed partial workarounds (like default countermeasure programs) now break IC.

How?

[Northstar98]

15 minutes ago, Hobel said:

How?

They fixed it, it's no longer the case now.

But at the time of writing that comment, modifying the default values in the respective .lua files would end up failing the IC, this was fixed in a subsequent patch.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Northstar98

[Lace]

On 4/7/2022 at 3:04 PM, Rudel_chw said:

 

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC: F-16, F-18, Apache ... I'm not sure if the Tomcat, Mirage 2000 and Ka-50 had a Mission Data Catridge .. The JF-17 and the Viggen  already have one. All the remaining cold war and ww2 aircrafts don't have it in real life so I wouldn't expect ED to implement a DTC for them.

Even if there is no 'DTC' as such, you could still create a custom kneeboard* briefing pack, with marked up charts, PLOG, frequencies, weapon attack profiles, weather, etc. etc.  The actual planning features are as important as the means of implementing them in the aircraft.  All the DTC does is save a bit of time entering in the information into the various systems.  The planner is the main thing.  

*oh, and put it on the pilot's knee, rather than glued to the Perspex.

[Frederf]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:04 AM, Rudel_chw said:

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC

I hope not. A lot of aircraft had what amounts of a DTC in practice even if it wasn't an actual cartridge. The concept of configuration of aircraft for the mission or operator preference distinct from factory condition is much wider than data cartridges. The rudder trim tab bend angle on a WWI biplane would be a "data cartridge" type detail.

[Northstar98]

On 4/7/2022 at 2:04 PM, Rudel_chw said:

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC: F-16, F-18, Apache ... I'm not sure if the Tomcat, Mirage 2000 and Ka-50 had a Mission Data Catridge .. The JF-17 and the Viggen  already have one. All the remaining cold war and ww2 aircrafts don't have it in real life so I wouldn't expect ED to implement a DTC for them.

The same overall functionality could be used for multiple different aircraft that don't have a data cartridge. Much of what's located in "additional properties for aircraft" would be applicable to underlying data-cartridge + mission planning functionality; things like default countermeasure programs (F-5E-3, Mirage 2000C), laser codes etc.

Then there's things like radio presets, trim tab settings etc.

 

Now a lot of these are more applicable to a ground crew menu item rather than DTC + mission planning functionality, but you can definitely say that the same underlying technology is applicable to aircraft without data cartridges.

[Harlikwin]

On 4/7/2022 at 7:04 AM, Rudel_chw said:

 

I guess only those aircrafts that actually had a DTC: F-16, F-18, Apache ... I'm not sure if the Tomcat, Mirage 2000 and Ka-50 had a Mission Data Catridge .. The JF-17 and the Viggen  already have one. All the remaining cold war and ww2 aircrafts don't have it in real life so I wouldn't expect ED to implement a DTC for them.

 

Yeah but pilots would or could likely make marks or markpoints on their maps in those old modules for example, i.e. kneeboard map. Or like for the hind. And while some stuff for the hind works in SP, it does not work in MP, which is one of the key complaints about these missing sorts of functionalities. And while the 3rd parties and community have developed hacks around some of it, DCS really needs this as a core tool for MP. 

[Gruman]

Well, Razbam M2000c did receive a basic implementation of a DTC a while back. Waypoint import via Text File. You can even choose from different Data Cartridges to load.
Bailey already made a ingame tool for it: Link

This would at least make multiplayer mission planning way easier. Please ED and other 3rd party Devs? 

[FlankerKiller]

JF-17 anyone. You set all that up in special options menu. And when you.load.the cartridge it's all there. 

[Gruman]

I got the JF-17 since release. Only flew it once.

Is the JF-17 able to load a number of waypoints from an external source (example Text File send over by the flight lead) and import it?
All other options are of course nice. But are those options available from outside the sim as well? Or do you always have to go back to main menu to change things and hop back into the cockpit and load the cartridge?

[killkenny1]

4 hours ago, Gruman said:

I got the JF-17 since release. Only flew it once.

Is the JF-17 able to load a number of waypoints from an external source (example Text File send over by the flight lead) and import it?
All other options are of course nice. But are those options available from outside the sim as well? Or do you always have to go back to main menu to change things and hop back into the cockpit and load the cartridge?

There's also DTC tool for Jeff:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318506/

 

Furthermore, you can add waypoints/RP/PP to DTC with F10 map.

[Mike_Romeo]

8 hours ago, Gruman said:

Is the JF-17 able to load a number of waypoints from an external source (example Text File send over by the flight lead) and import it?

You can do it via the F-10 map ingame. Also in multiplayer

 

[Gruman]

So I guess the answer to my question is No. Alright.
Sure, setup waypoints on the F10 is nice as well, but doesnt really help much with planning before the flight and share it with the whole flight. (from Combat Flite as an example).