cannot reproduce F16 AI Wingman cannot go trail formation

[BuzzLine]

Context: 

1. Take off (2x F-16s) and form up
2. Order "Flight go trail"

Problem :
Wingman is unable to establish a trail formation and just snakes behind at mach 1 in full afterburner until fuel runs out.
Option "Restrict Afterburner" does not seem to have an effect or I am using it wrong ?

Expectations :
Wingman is able to go from cruise to trail formation 

 

Sigh ... 2, ejecting

(update: adding the Tacview, the issue is quite self-explanatory from there)
(update 2: it's on today's openbeta 2.8.1.34667)

debug_ab_trail.miz Bug_AB_trail_formation.trk

Tacview-20221222-233727-DCS.zip.acmi

Edited December 22, 2022 by BuzzLine

[NineLine]

Sorry I am unable to reproduce when flying myself. I did see there was an issue in the track, but near the end of the track it seemed like the AI was close. When I fly myself the AI goes trail just fine. I even switched to another formation and then back to trail with no issue. 

[BuzzLine]

Well, I'll be ... Same here, I can't reproduce. Weird. It's the same openbeta version as before and I don't think that I changed a thing since then. 

I've just launched DCS to try and reproduce, nobug on a freshly started instance. It even does honor the "no afterburner" flag. I'll give it another go after I've done other things and flown around a bit, just in case there is some leftover stuff after a flight that gets the AI confused in the following missions. 

Thanks for looking ! BRB in a few hours. 

And ... there it is. It did take me several tries to get it "right". I think the bug appears in two conditions : 1. to miss the "restrict afterburner" at wp1 (or to ignore it, no idea) and 2. to fly in a certain trajectory compared to lead's speed (here I flew at 300kts) that causes oscillations when it rejoins at mach 1+ on max AB. The airbrakes don't brake fast enough, the wingman overshoots and goes for another round again at max AB. In some tests, it worked and the wingman was able to match the right position, in this one it didn't. That choice of trajectory may be highly dependent on initial conditions (speed, initial positions and trajectories of the two planes, time at which the 'go trail' order is sent, etc), hence the difficulty in reproducing it consistently in the track replay.

Track and tacview attached. Good luck, Jim.

(even featuring our old friend "2, bingo ... 2, ejecting"  )

HTH,
Buzz

 

Bug_AB_trail_formation_take2.trk Tacview-20230112-210245-DCS-debug_ab_trail.zip.acmi

Edited January 12, 2023 by BuzzLine