Jester Not Moving Radar Cursor

[MBot]

I wonder if anyone has yet experienced this. Since a couple of days, Jester is no longer moving the radar cursor. He is talking and otherwise seems active as usual. But with the radar in search he no longer moves the cursor onto contacts and tracks them (thus making it impossible to lock them), no longer moves the cursor in cage mode onto returns in the radar beam or moves the cursor in Dive Toss onto the ground return. When in DT and ordering Jester to lock, after a long delay he will eventually just initiate the lock where the radar cursor was by default (thus resulting in a bad lock). He really just seems to no longer move the cursor around.

I am a regular Phantom player since its release, flying it two times a week on average. Everything was working normally in a MP session on Sunday 2.3. Then in my next MP session on Thursday 6.3. the problem came up. I retested it yesterday and today in SP, with the same problem. I am not aware of there being a DCS update in between or me making any changes. I run a repair to no avail.

Has anyone yet seen anything like that?

[Zabuzard]

I wonder if anyone has yet experienced this. Since a couple of days, Jester is no longer moving the radar cursor. He is talking and otherwise seems active as usual. But with the radar in search he no longer moves the cursor onto contacts and tracks them (thus making it impossible to lock them), no longer moves the cursor in cage mode onto returns in the radar beam or moves the cursor in Dive Toss onto the ground return. When in DT and ordering Jester to lock, after a long delay he will eventually just initiate the lock where the radar cursor was by default (thus resulting in a bad lock). He really just seems to no longer move the cursor around.
I am a regular Phantom player since its release, flying it two times a week on average. Everything was working normally in a MP session on Sunday 2.3. Then in my next MP session on Thursday 6.3. the problem came up. I retested it yesterday and today in SP, with the same problem. I am not aware of there being a DCS update in between or me making any changes. I run a repair to no avail.
Has anyone yet seen anything like that?

This is a typical symptom of a bind clash. Where your bind fights with Jester trying to move the stick elsewhere while yours sends towards DCS "move it to 0 (center)".
Try to remove your binds to the Antenna Control Stick - especially any axis binds. See if it works again then.
If it works, then make sure you add a modifier to the bind so it is not actively sending inputs to DCS while inactive :)

[MBot]

26 minutes ago, Zabuzard said:

This is a typical symptom of a bind clash. Where your bind fights with Jester trying to move the stick elsewhere while yours sends towards DCS "move it to 0 (center)".
Try to remove your binds to the Antenna Control Stick - especially any axis binds. See if it works again then.
If it works, then make sure you add a modifier to the bind so it is not actively sending inputs to DCS while inactive

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately this doesn't work. I have removed both the Antenna Control Stick assignment in the WSO pit as well as the WSO hotkey buttons from the front pit (WSO axis' from the front pit I had not assigned), but this doesn't address the issue. It would have surprised me anyhow, considering I have collected hundreds of hours playing with my control assignments.

[Zabuzard]

Can you send a track file?

Your the first to report this for whom it didnt got fixed by checking the binds  

[MBot]

1 hour ago, Zabuzard said:

Can you send a track file?

Your the first to report this for whom it didnt got fixed by checking the binds  

Sure. Due to the nature of the issue there isn't really a whole lot to see. I press Cage and put the nose on the bandit. On my end the cursor stays centered and is not tracking the return.

JesterNoTrack.trk

[Zabuzard]

Sure. Due to the nature of the issue there isn't really a whole lot to see. I press Cage and put the nose on the bandit. On my end the cursor stays centered and is not tracking the return.
JesterNoTrack.trk

Also when you now replay the track on your end?
Thanks, ill check the track and see what commands ur sending and what Jester is attempting.

[MBot]

2 hours ago, Zabuzard said:

Also when you now replay the track on your end?

It stays the same. A friend also suggested to check whether antivirus has quarantined any HB files, but it is not that either as far as I can tell.

Thanks for checking. I had a to do a lot of Direct bombing today

[Zabuzard]

10 hours ago, MBot said:

Thanks for checking. I had a to do a lot of Direct bombing today

The track has Jester working on my end:

So whatever it is, it must be a local issue. Most likely your binds interfering with Jester and fighting his controls in some way.

Can you check whether Jester worked at all for you? Like, did he respond when you select something in the Jester Wheel, does he do anything or is he completely gone?
If latter, maybe he crashed (then there is a crashlog file in the SavedGames/DCS_F4E/Jester folder). Or you deactivated him accidentally somehow? (But that should also reflect in the track).

I am a bit surprised that the track has Jester not moving the cursor when you replay the track in DCS yourself, as that should disable all your inputs and only listen for what the track says (which works on my end). Like, the experience replaying the track should be the same for both of us and only when you actually fly yourself I would expect Jester maybe to fight with your inputs.

[MBot]

Thanks for checking. It is indeed a weird issue.

Jester seems to be working otherwise. He calls out visual, RWR and radar contacts as usual. Jester Wheel is also working. I also I tried to turn Jester off and back on again through the wheel.

[MBot]

Ok I found the issue, and you will love it It is the DCS Launcher.

When I disable the DCS Launcher, Jester can't move the cursor. When I enable the DCS Launcher, Jester can move the cursor again.

Wild, isn't it?

Edited March 26 by MBot

[KitchenDuty1]

Ok I can finally post this bug too. It just took a few days to get my account permission to post.
i have the exact same problem -
I have jester TPOD controls bound in the front seat and Jester will refuse to move the radar cursor. He will announce that the contact is there, RWR contacts, the usual but no radar will work.
The only work around i have found is to reinstall the F4 and it will work until i close the game and relaunch. Then the bug will return.
I even removed the controls before/after the reinstall and it still refuses after the first relaunch.

Now, MBot noticed that the launcher might be the culprit and i did have the launcher disabled but after turning it back on - it works now,i can have things bound and jester works.

Here's some track files to help with this issue. I have them labeled per step.

f4_2nd_reinstall_not_bound_first_launch_working.trk f4_2nd_reinstall_not_bound_second_launch_not_working.trk f4_after_reinstall-then-restart-notworking.trk f4_after_reinstall-working.trk f4_after_repair.trk f4_no_controls_bound_not_working.trk

[Art-J]

Ouch, IF the glitch turns out to be  launcher-related indeed I hope it gets investigated and fixed sooner rather than later. I disabled the (useless for me) launcher soon after it was released and would rather not have to turn it back on only for a single module.

[Dragon1-1]

For what it's worth, it'd be a Standalone issue. I use Steam and never had this bug.