Current Issue with FC3 Mods

[Spino]

I think most of us are aware of the issue with aircraft mods that use FC3 avionics (F-22, F-15EX, F-106 just to name a few) that was introduced in the latest DCS patch with the release of FC2024.  There is a workaround, but I think the entire modding community would agree with me that a fix from ED to return the functionality of FC3-based mods to what it was prior to the release of FC2024 would be greatly appreciated.  

[Sérvalpilot]

I feared something like this would happen one day, and here it is. It's sad.

Only Su-25T avionics still work. There might still be a way to access the FC3 avionics but other than that, the alternative would be recreating all the FC3 stuff those mods used. Custom devices are quite limited however. avSimpleRadar for example has a tendency to lose contacts for no reason and can't sense anything less than 300m away!

I predict that more people will go down routes like the A-4E or EMB-314/A-29B mods to achieve something similar standalone. It's tough, but I'd be willing to support such projects.

[Avimimus]

It would be nice if people could get together to produce a generic FC3 like avionics package that other mods could use as a foundation.

[TKhaos]

As a temp fix to the problem this patch has been created, well at least for VSN aircarft.
 

This is the link to the actual file, you can click on Hunter from VSN to view the full post and download from there also.

https://forum.dcs.world/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=396807&key=691658de4ad23258e6a8e8fedaa55255

Edited July 23, 2024 by TKhaos

[Spino]

Well we didn't get a fix with the patch that came out yesterday, I'm afraid we might not get one at all...

[plott1964]

There is plenty of discussion in the community about this and how to resolve it...

I think it would be great if Spino, PeeJott, Grinnelli, Nightstorm, and the others could team up to resolve it. You guys probably already are.

[TKhaos]

1 hour ago, Spino said:

Well we didn't get a fix with the patch that came out yesterday, I'm afraid we might not get one at all...

Since the patch my F-22 doesn't work at all, not even on the map, although mine is the one by Grinnelli Designs from your site and not the VSN one.

[Spino]

It shouldn't matter, they both are bricked along with all other FC3 mods.

[RichCotte]

So, I understand that most of the mods are no longer flyable…do they still function as AI, or are they completely grounded without a workaround?

Haven’t had time to do much lately, because thanks to the patch, I ended up having to do a complete uninstall and reinstall of both my systems. Just now getting everything loaded back up.

[TKhaos]

5 hours ago, RichCotte said:

So, I understand that most of the mods are no longer flyable…do they still function as AI, or are they completely grounded without a workaround?

Haven’t had time to do much lately, because thanks to the patch, I ended up having to do a complete uninstall and reinstall of both my systems. Just now getting everything loaded back up.

Still works as Ai, least for me it does. When I've loaded an aircraft they show up on the map and you can external view them with F2 so they are up and working.

[Sérvalpilot]

These mods still work, it just takes an extra step.

What you have to do is fly a mission that uses that aircraft's avionics then you can use the mod.

For example, if there's an aircraft that uses Su-27 avionics, start a mission with you in the Su-27 cockpit, then exit and fly the mod aircraft.

You have to do this every time you start DCS. It's annoying, I know.

[TKhaos]

57 minutes ago, Sérvalpilot said:

These mods still work, it just takes an extra step.

What you have to do is fly a mission that uses that aircraft's avionics then you can use the mod.

For example, if there's an aircraft that uses Su-27 avionics, start a mission with you in the Su-27 cockpit, then exit and fly the mod aircraft.

You have to do this every time you start DCS. It's annoying, I know.

It's been addressed in numerous posts by myself and others that the workaround is flawed and while it gives you access to fly the aircraft there are some major problems.

The landing gear and flaps do not work off HOTAS or keyboard, so you are stuck with the flaps and landing gear jammed down. A majority of the time the trigger doesn't work, sometimes the launch weapon doesn't work and people are now reporting that some of the instruments fail to work. That is using both the the workaround method you describe and the hot fix by cdpkobra that changes the F-15C cockpit to the SU-25 cockpit. The authors of the mods have confirmed they are not working and will be waiting for the next patch before deciding how to proceed.

One new thing I have had testing both workarounds is I will be flying along in a straight line and it suddently banks left, goes into a steep circular dive and just crashes into the ground, all control of the aircraft is lost. 

Edited July 24, 2024 by TKhaos

[Thunder Chicken22]

54 minutes ago, Sérvalpilot said:

These mods still work, it just takes an extra step.

What you have to do is fly a mission that uses that aircraft's avionics then you can use the mod.

For example, if there's an aircraft that uses Su-27 avionics, start a mission with you in the Su-27 cockpit, then exit and fly the mod aircraft.

You have to do this every time you start DCS. It's annoying, I know.

Some of the FC3 commands do not work now.  Landing gear, flaps and speed brakes are affected.  I think some mod teams have been able to get the landing gear to work again.  It seems to me that they have made some fundamental changes to some of the commands unless this is related to having to preload the F-15/Su-27 first. 

[abitar]

The JAS-39's rearviewmirror is weird, but I don't know if it was the last update, as I downgraded the DCS to the previous version and although everything seems to work normally with the MODs (airbrake, flaps, etc.) the rearviewmirror remained strange.

[PeeJott17]

Hello guys. The last HotFix was not so hot for FC3-based mods. It looks as if this "problem" might not have been a bug, but may-be a feature? I don't know it of course, but if it was just a coincidence it would be awesome to get a little push in the right direction. Trying, retrying and trying again to make something that always worked, work again is a bit...well...time spent for nothing really.

Every Modder would rather spent the time on her or his mod(s) to enhance it and make the DCS-Experience cooler and even more worthwhile for everybody.

Right now I try new ideas as well, but it seems more and more like time wasted...the good thing us, there are a lot of guys more talented and I hope they will find a way where I might find...nothing...

[TKhaos]

1 hour ago, PeeJott17 said:

Hello guys. The last HotFix was not so hot for FC3-based mods. It looks as if this "problem" might not have been a bug, but may-be a feature? I don't know it of course, but if it was just a coincidence it would be awesome to get a little push in the right direction. Trying, retrying and trying again to make something that always worked, work again is a bit...well...time spent for nothing really.

Every Modder would rather spent the time on her or his mod(s) to enhance it and make the DCS-Experience cooler and even more worthwhile for everybody.

Right now I try new ideas as well, but it seems more and more like time wasted...the good thing us, there are a lot of guys more talented and I hope they will find a way where I might find...nothing...

Its's not a bug or a feature, FC3 doesn't exist anymore and all FC3 folders have been removed and replaced with individual aircraft folders so any third party mod that points to FC3 files and directories no longer works.

As stated in my post above cdpkobra (VSN) has said they are waiting for the next DCS patch before proceeding any further, it's pointless to fix something if it only gets broken again a few weeks later with a DCS patch. Once the next patch is released they can decide which direction they want to go in to restore the mods to how they used to be.

CubanAce has said in another post that the SU-57 is being worked on and they are creating a standalone cockpit, so that should prevent this happening again.

[PeeJott17]

2 hours ago, TKhaos said:

Its's not a bug or a feature, FC3 doesn't exist anymore and all FC3 folders have been removed and replaced with individual aircraft folders so any third party mod that points to FC3 files and directories no longer works.

As stated in my post above cdpkobra (VSN) has said they are waiting for the next DCS patch before proceeding any further, it's pointless to fix something if it only gets broken again a few weeks later with a DCS patch. Once the next patch is released they can decide which direction they want to go in to restore the mods to how they used to be.

Well, I know since I'm part of VSN as well.

The problem is not that FC3 has gone away, the problem is that it seems (I can't be 100% sure since I can only read the errors presented and make something useful from it) as if it is now forbidden for not FC-Planes to call FC-Avionics-Pack. It wasn't like this before. The HotFix did not "fix" this situation so it might be a "feature" of DCS 2.9.6 or it was a coincidence and is far down the list of things ED might want to address "in the future" or may-be never, who knows.

Anyways, I hope somebody bright comes up with a good idea, since otherwise we will have to Code our own avionics-suit which will take a lot of time and will fall short, functionality-wise. So a "lose-lose"-situation, sort of (not so much for my beloved early cold-war planes, but anything from the mid 80s onwards will be severly hampered).

[TKhaos]

18 minutes ago, PeeJott17 said:

Well, I know since I'm part of VSN as well.

The problem is not that FC3 has gone away, the problem is that it seems (I can't be 100% sure since I can only read the errors presented and make something useful from it) as if it is now forbidden for not FC-Planes to call FC-Avionics-Pack. It wasn't like this before. The HotFix did not "fix" this situation so it might be a "feature" of DCS 2.9.6 or it was a coincidence and is far down the list of things ED might want to address "in the future" or may-be never, who knows.

Anyways, I hope somebody bright comes up with a good idea, since otherwise we will have to Code our own avionics-suit which will take a lot of time and will fall short, functionality-wise. So a "lose-lose"-situation, sort of (not so much for my beloved early cold-war planes, but anything from the mid 80s onwards will be severly hampered).

Hopefully it does get sorted as I got around 11 VSN aircraft I really like flying. It's a little bit annoying this has happened, while I do have third party mods I still support ED by buying offcial products which aren't cheap, if you buy every addon it comes to about £2k for the sim. In the last few months alone I've purchased the Spitfire, Persian Gulf map, A-10C II upgrade, Supercarrier, F/A-18C, Flaming Cliffs 3, FC 2024, UH-1H Huey and few other bits so it's not like people are using a free sim and just using third party.