Reflected Simulations FAQ - Read before posting

[Reflected]

 

Hi All, I really appreciate all the feedback and support I'm getting, but I find that there are some recurring questions, so I'm posting this thread so that I can point to it easily

 

1) When will the *********** campaign be released?

I appreciate the question, but I don't know  Campaign releases are up to ED, and even I can't be 100% sure until the day they're out. It's their business decision. Same for Steam releases. I'm as transparent as I can be in my communication, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to keep yourself updated.

 

2) Will you make a campaign for the ******* (insert module name here)

See above. If you follow me on social media, you'll know about everything that I have planned. Keep in mind that a campaign requires 6-12 months of hard work, and an insane amount of research and thorough knowledge of the aircraft as well as real life procedures. Therefore I can only make a good campaign for a module that I passionately love. I could never make a campaign for , e.g., the Mi-24. It's a great module, it's just that the aircraft doesn't interest me, I don't know how it works, how it was used in real life, etc...and without that I couldn't release a campaign in good conscience. This is why you mostly see WW2 campaigns from me, that's my main area of interest. Oh and Tomcats. Tomcats forever!

3) The ***** (insert aircraft system here) doesn't work in your ******* (insert campaign name here) campaign. When I fly it outside of the campaign, it works just fine.

Ha! Busted! These are never campaign related  problems. It often happens that a player only tries a real cold start and a proper climbout and high altitude flight for the first time in my campaign. Until then he started in the air, or hot on the runway, where everything was already set up for him, and never realized that he had no idea how to turn on a given system or how the different systems are interconnected. So naturally, he thinks it's the mission - but I couldn't make them NOT work even if I wanted to. So before you post anything like this please check some tutorials on YouTube (I'm releasing more and more of these) or Chuck's wonderful guides. If you still don't understand what's wrong, please do post, I'd be happy to help. That's also the beauty of campaigns, they teach us a lot about the given module and we become much more proficient in flying them.

E.g. Can't fire the cannons in the 109? You need to charge them first using the button at the root of the stick. When you start hot or in the air it's already done for you, but when you do a cold start, like in real life, you have to do it yourself.

 

4) Can you make a ******version of this campaign?

Airstart versions, skippable versions, easier versions, harder versions, different aircraft versions, you name it, I've heard it.

DCS is an ever changing environment. The most unnoticeable, simple core DCS change can completely break all of my missions after any update, and I'm taking pride in keeping my missions 100% up to date and working at all times. Sometimes it involves changing something for every group of every mission of every campaign. That's a LOT of work. Imagine a campaign has 12 missions, 12 to keep updated. Suppose I make an airstart version. Bamm! 24 missions to update. Some want an easy version, that's 12 easy and 12 airstart easy. 48 missions to update. A coop version? Of each? 96. Oh, and I have 10 campaigns released, so that's 960. I could go on but I think you get the idea.  It's a rabbit hole and I need to draw the line. You can either have me updating thousands of missions day and night, or work on cool new campaigns. I choose the latter.

In any case, my campaign missions usually follow the most realistic and immersive way, that's the way I like them. The ultimate test for the player to try yourself and your skills.  If you don't  like this, that's ok. But then they may not be for you. If you want a quick airstart fight, there's no point in flying a campaign, when there are so many nice instant action missions. Horses for courses.

 

5) In the ****** campaign the AI ***** (insert stupid things to do here)

Please keep in mind that I have the same access to DCS as you: through the mission editor. I can tell the AI to take off, land, go from one waypoint to another, climb, descend, fight, etc...but I have no control over HOW that task is performed. If, for example, the AI crashes into you or each other, crashes into the ground, lags, warps, etc... that's not something that can be turned on and off in the editor, that belongs to the table of ED's AI programmer. Whenever there's a bug in DCS, chances are you'll see them in my campaigns too, because they are still DCS, not a separate game. This being said, it's good to catch these bugs early, so please post a track when you can and /or screenshots. I can forward these to the relevant people who can hopefully fix it soon. These reports are best posted here (but pls also give me a heads up)

https://forum.dcs.world/forum/423-ai-bugs-non-combined-arms/

 

6) Performance in the ********* campaign is ******* (insert profanity here)

See No.5. Performance of a mission depends on many things: DCS optimization, your settings, your PC, and the mission design. I can only influence the last item. I assure you I'm doing everything in my power to keep the missions as light as can be. I deactivate groups out of sight, only populate the map where the player goes, etc...I have lots of tricks up my sleeve. BUT. Campaigns are supposed to be the most complex and immersive scenarios that the player can dream of. Let's be realistic: by definition they will be way more taxing on your PC than, say, a 4 v 4 airstart quick mission over an empty map. And I don't think I'd get the same good feedback from the community if I released missions where 4 Mustangs escort 4 B-17s only to be attacked by 4 FW-190s. Sure it would run like a breeze, but I'd be ashamed to give my name to it.

Fortunately though ED's been doing a great job optimizing performance and I hear these complaints less and less often.

 

7 ) I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do or where I should go in a given mission.

There are several sources of information in my campaigns, use them. Because of their complexity you can't expect to just jump in take off and succeed without paying any attention to the briefings. If you could, they would be too simplistic, and therefore, not immersive. Read the briefings. Check your kneeboard cards. You'll find everything you need. Also, please check the campaign documentation under mods/campaigns/xyz campaign/ doc . It's best if you read the main documentation pdf before starting the campaign, and go through each brief pdf before flying the given mission.

I usually also add on screen messages to make sure you don't miss what's required of you.

 

8 ) Is the ***** campaign multicrew/ coop compatible?

No. Sorry, but I stopped supporting MP versions, even though some campaigns come with a few coop missions too. On one hand, to change a mission from SP to COOP is not just a matter of changing the player to client. Especially not if it's a complex mission, like my campaigns. Also, I'm using very complex triggers that just don't work reliably as soon as it's played in MP. Add to this the fact that some triggers and functions in the mission editor are bugged in MP. Releasing MP versions was like opening a can of worms, and I had to keep responding to user requests/ bug reports that were completely out of my control. So I decided to make single player content exclusively. 

 

9) I can't keep up with the AI in a climb.

In many of my campaigns you fly as a wingman, and therefore, you have to follow your AI lead. I often get the feedback that the AI is impossible to follow in a climb. First of all, let's get one thing straight: In the mission editor I can tell the AI to climb from one altitude to another, but I have no control over how fast/ steep they climb. This being said, they actually climb at a reasonable rate and it's quite easy to keep up with them once you get the hang of it. If you can't, it's usually because of one of the below:

- You don't apply sufficient power. I've seen people try to climb with the AI at max continuous settings. Not gonna work.  You'll need almost max RPM and don't be afraid to open that throttle.

- You are skidding. You don't have your aircraft perfectly trimmed, the ball is not centered, and your plane is generating extra drag.

- You pull the nose too high, and bleed your speed below optimum climb speed, and you're just pushing the air. Keep your speed up! 

Note that once you mess up a little, it's very hard to catch up in a climb, so you have to anticipate the moves of the AI.

 

10) DCS crashes when I play the ****campaign

As stated above, all campaigns are still DCS. The campaigns are just a series of triggers that play sounds or make the AI do stuff, there is nothing in there that should make your game crash. If it still does it's because either your install is corrupted - in this case running a repair should help, and try removing all unofficial mods - or there is a bug in DCS that makes the game crash - in this case, send your crash log to the ED support team so they can figure out what's going on. There's nothing in the mission editor that I can change that would magically make crashes go away.

 

10) Unofficial mods

If you experience anything strange while playing my campaigns, always make sure you don't have any unofficial mods installed before you report the problem. Mods can mess with the rest of DCS in the craziest ways, and I'll just scratch my head for days trying to figure out what's wrong with the mission. Feel free to use them, but please don't come and report anything before removing all your mods and running a repair and trying again.

11) When is the fix coming?

I can't release DCS updates, ED can. Each month I collect my fixes and send it to them. Then it's all up to ED when they release the update.

12) My radio menu only works on the ground

See here:

In any case, thanks so much for all the interest, feedback and support, it all means a lot to me. You guys help me keep my missions up to date because I can't re-test each of them after each update. You guys also push me to make better and better missions and give me the motivation and strength to do so. For this I'm really grateful.

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook/ Instagram / YouTube to stay updated.

Cheers,

Reflected

Edited May 8, 2023 by Reflected