F4E Shrikes not tracking certain sites in multiplayer

[WRZ_shad0w]

Over the last few months I have been completely unable to track certain SAM sites such as the SA6 with the AGM-45 on some multiplayer servers. While the shrike gives tone and fires completely normally, the control surfaces do not move and the shrike doesn't even try to track the target. I have tested all seeker heads, In direct and loft modes and with all SAM sites in DCS. Even after removing all scripts and mods from the server the same thing still occurred. I have attached 4 track files of each test and the MIZ file which was used. For the SA11 the mk49 mod 1 seeker head was used and no track was obtained. For the SA6 the mk36 seeker head was used and no track had been obtained (the mk49 has also been tested previously and no track was obtained). And finally for the SA2 the mk 50,22,25 and 37 were used and all missiles tracked fine. However these results seem to be inconsistent across servers as I also tested the SA6 with the mk36 on another server and it tracked fine. 

SA11server-20250215-122049.trk SamcheckNEWFILE.miz SA6server-20250215-121041.trk SA2server-20250215-121519.trk

[Northstar98]

Reproduced in single player - Mk 36, Mk 49 Mod 0 and Mk 49 Mod 1 produce tone + steering but the Shrike doesn't track.

This leaves the Mk 37, which can only be used against the acquisition radar (1S11 - the 1S31 is the fire-control radar), it doesn't provide a tone or steering, but it does track.

 

AGM-45A_1S11_Mk37_WRCS_loft.trk AGM-45A_1S31_Mk36_WRCS_loft.trk AGM-45A_1S31_Mk49-0_WRCS_loft.trk AGM-45A_1S31_Mk49-1_WRCS_loft.trk

[DelRoy]

It's a bug. I've raised it with HB and ED support. It's 'with the developers' whatever that means.

In the meantime, AFIK the Shrike correctly tracks the 2,3,and 6(maybe). The 15 needs the Mk50 head as does the 19 however a the accuracy is bad, even for the 45. The 11 is kaput no matter which head and the 8 fails to track completely.

Edited February 26 by DelRoy

[Falcon34200]

Yesterday I noticed something strange, I tried to perform a LOFT attack with the Shrikes-MK25, I tried this attack several times in SP with the result of 4 out of 4 missiles hitting each time. Trying the same thing in multiplayer the attack was not successful, or rather, we compared the tacviews, from my tacview the missiles tracked the SA2's TR but not hitting the target , from my friend's tacview the missiles only made a perfect parabola without being influenced by the seeker. There is probably some bug that doesn't synchronize the missile well with the server and for this reason it can't track properly. I don't know if any of you have had any similar experience

[felixx75]

look this Thread

 

[WRZ_shad0w]

On 2/27/2025 at 5:48 PM, felixx75 said:

look this Thread

 

Trust me, I've done hours of testing as a result of this bug. I have tried every delivery method, seekerhead combination, target and situation. This is definetily NOT a result of bad procedure or launch parameters. On top of this I've had numerous people concur with these findings. Unfortunately we just have to wait for ED to fix this missile and until then it's capability will be highly limited and unpredictable.

[MBot]

Here are some current test results. Tested Shrike with Mk49 Mod 0 seeker against SA-6 STR from various off-axis angles.

Methodology: Own aircraft spawned 5 NM from radar in active pause. Own aircraft set to invisible so it is ignored by enemy radar. Friendly aircraft spawned at various locations around the radar to test SA-6 locking it up and pointing its tracking radar at different directions.

 

Results:

40° off axis from the direction the SA-6 STR is tracking: "6" visible on RWR, seeker giving tone, seeker steering cues display on ADI, missile tracks target after launch.

50° off axis from the direction the SA-6 STR is tracking: "6" visible on RWR, seeker giving tone, seeker steering cues display on ADI, missile does not track after launch.

180° off axis from the direction the SA-6 STR is tracking: "6" visible on RWR, seeker giving tone, seeker steering cues display on ADI, missile does not track after launch.

 

Interpretation:

It seems that on the F-4E Phantom avionics side of things (RWR simulation as well as Shrike seeker before launch), receipt of radar side lobes is simulated. That is why the RWR shows the SA-6 even when it is tracking in the opposite direction. This also extends towards the the Shrike seeker before launch, which also gives tone on sidelobes. This seems to be because all DCS weapon do not exist prior to launch and are actually part of the aircraft code. But once launched, the DCS weapon code takes over and here ARM only seem to track radar mainlobes.

Shrike_SA-6_180°_noTracking°.trk Shrike_SA-6_40°_Tracking°.trk Shrike_SA-6_50°_noTracking°.trk

[Northstar98]

Yeah have now got the Mk 36, Mk 49 Mod 0 and Mk 49 Mod 1 tracking the 1S31 (with the Mk 37 tracking the 1S11 as before, albeit without a tone or ADI steering).

However, if the radar is by itself the Shrike does not track, this is unlike other fire-control radars like the SNR-75V or the SNR-125M.