Does track replay work at all?

[Bucic]

For the past month or two I mostly shot short nVidia recordings. Whenever I tried a track replay, nothing matched compared to what I did during the mission. And it's not "divergence with time". The recordings are completely different to my actions.

[razo+r]

Yes they do work. However, there are some limitations. 

The shorter the track the better

Less AI is also better. AI recalculates its decision each time so they will never do the same thing twice 

Make sure you fully cycled the controls for maximum accuracy at least once while DCS is running

[Bucic]

22 hours ago, razo+r said:

Yes they do work. However, there are some limitations. 

The shorter the track the better

Less AI is also better. AI recalculates its decision each time so they will never do the same thing twice 

Make sure you fully cycled the controls for maximum accuracy at least once while DCS is running

I'm talking "not at all here". Besides, that's not how track files work as far as controller input goes. The inpus is recorded and set. DCS doesn't waggle your joystick nor communicate with the controller.

I managed to replay it correctly. Apparently the following interferes with track playback:

1. Ass soon as I hit "Fly" I pause.

2. LAlt+C, LShift+F1 to set camera pos

3. Unpause and play to the end

Now, with such a recorded mission the problems are:

1. Minute mouse movement triggers camera takeover - no more recorded camera movement

2. Often the whole scanrio is wrong - my plane is doing circles in the replay.

 

Track attached. Unformtunatelly it's not non-modded.

190 IA dogfight Thunder FULL mission success 2 kills.trk

 

Here's the 100% correct replay I managed to finally trigger

 

Edited June 8, 2024 by Bucic

[razo+r]

6 hours ago, Bucic said:

I'm talking "not at all here". Besides, that's not how track files work as far as controller input goes. The inpus is recorded and set. DCS doesn't waggle your joystick nor communicate with the controller.

The problem with certain controllers, at least with my rudder pedals it is like this, is that the first time using it, the slightest input results in maximum output. So if I press my rudder pedals 5% to the right, it results in a 100% right rudder in DCS. After I pressed both sides to maximum, only then a 5% right equals a 5% right. 

6 hours ago, Bucic said:

I managed to replay it correctly. Apparently the following interferes with track playback:

1. Ass soon as I hit "Fly" I pause.

2. LAlt+C, LShift+F1 to set camera pos

3. Unpause and play to the end

Then why don't you save your camera position as the new default so you don't have to do that? 

6 hours ago, Bucic said:

Now, with such a recorded mission the problems are:

1. Minute mouse movement triggers camera takeover - no more recorded camera movement

2. Often the whole scanrio is wrong - my plane is doing circles in the replay.

 

Track attached. Unformtunatelly it's not non-modded.

Mods can also have an influence on accuracy. 

6 hours ago, Bucic said:

190 IA dogfight Thunder FULL mission success 2 kills.trk 3.2 MB · 0 downloads

 

Here's the 100% correct replay I managed to finally trigger

 

 

 

[Bucic]

3 hours ago, razo+r said:

The problem with certain controllers, at least with my rudder pedals it is like this, is that the first time using it, the slightest input results in maximum output. So if I press my rudder pedals 5% to the right, it results in a 100% right rudder in DCS. After I pressed both sides to maximum, only then a 5% right equals a 5% right. 

Then why don't you save your camera position as the new default so you don't have to do that? 

Mods can also have an influence on accuracy. 

 

Controller:

You are correct as far as gameplay goes. With replay the inputs are already embedded in the track file. If the opposite was true no one would be able to replay your track without your controller.

Just save as new defaults:

The newly saved tracks is subject to the very same - Minute mouse movement triggers camera takeover - no more recorded camera movement.

 

Mods:

While I submit track files for bug reports with mods disabled, this is far fetched. With one audio and one shader mod... But what indicates it's not related to my mods is that eventually I did manage to get the correct replay.

I only decided to post about this because this is the only track file I have with the behaviour. I'll try to acquire one without mods in the future for the sake of going by the bug reporting book.

What was the estimated timeline for the release of the new track recording system, wasn't it 2024?

PS. I just had to salvage that particular track. Those are some solid Xbox shots

Edited June 9, 2024 by Bucic

[HC_Official]

short answer No , long answer nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[NineLine]

On 6/9/2024 at 1:15 AM, HC_Official said:

short answer No , long answer nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Funny I just watched a track from an older version with heavy WWII action and the track played back fine. So please, unless you have something helpful to add, do not muddy up bug reports.

Tracks have always been hit-and-miss, we need a better solution. The current Track system was always a debug tool more than a replay system. That said you can have a lot of success with them as well. Many tips are listed here. Some things I didn't see here are things like not jumping around to different views too soon or too often, try and view in the same version, although as I said above its possible, best practice is to view your track in the same version. New modules or additions, mods anything extra will impact a track and could throw it off.