reported F/A-18C DTC loads ALR-67 programs to wrong slots

jbiebes · May 22

Trying the DTC function for the first time in the Hornet (so I have nothing to compare to prior to today's update). I created a new DTS/CMDS profile and exported it. I only modified Prog 5 from the Hornet's defaults.

When loaded in the jet, the program numbers are wrong / shifted by 1:

Prog 1 is blank (all zeros).

Prog's 2-6 all contain the DTC programming from the program 1 increment less (i.e. Prog 2 contains what I programmed for Prog 1; Prog 6 contains my modified Program 5.

Since there is no Program 7, the DTC data for Prog 6 doesn't exist anywhere.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

FA-18C DTC Bug.trk

miguelaco · May 22

I can confirm this issue, all programs are shifted when loaded from the dtc. Moreover, there is also an issue with the selected program for dispense being shifted at mission start, as described here:

I'm also attaching my own track in case it helps.

fa18c_cmds_dtc_bug.trk

Edited May 22 by miguelaco

XtraChrisP · May 23

It's not an issue specific to the DTC. I spawn in with the default chaff/flare programs and can confirm by modifying the programs in the EW MFD page that, (with CMDS Prog 1 selected) Dispense Switch Aft shoots out Prog 2 and Dispense Switch Fwd uses Prog 6 (instead of the expected Prog 5).

So looks like there's an off-by-one issue somewhere in there.

rob10 · May 23

3 minutes ago, XtraChrisP said:

It's not an issue specific to the DTC. I spawn in with the default chaff/flare programs and can confirm by modifying the programs in the EW MFD page that, (with CMDS Prog 1 selected) Dispense Switch Aft shoots out Prog 2 and Dispense Switch Fwd uses Prog 6 (instead of the expected Prog 5).

So looks like there's an off-by-one issue somewhere in there.

Interesting. And good to know. I don't pay that much attention to my programs (I just assume they're doing what I want) so I probably wouldn't have noticed.

miguelaco · May 23

1 hour ago, XtraChrisP said:

It's not an issue specific to the DTC. I spawn in with the default chaff/flare programs and can confirm by modifying the programs in the EW MFD page that, (with CMDS Prog 1 selected) Dispense Switch Aft shoots out Prog 2 and Dispense Switch Fwd uses Prog 6 (instead of the expected Prog 5).

So looks like there's an off-by-one issue somewhere in there.

I think there are three issues that might be related:

DTC programs are loaded in the wrong/shifted by +1 slots (i.e. DTC program 1 is loaded in ALR-67 program 2 and so on). This is what the OP reported in this thread.
Dispense Switch Aft releases the wrong/shifted by +1 program.
Dispense Switch Fwd releases program no 6 (it was 5 before this patch).

Bear in mind that cycling through all the programs back to the one you want selected seems to reset the counter and then Dispense Switch Aft executes the selected program as it should. This is the workaround I'm using at the moment for issue 2.

Fulgrim · May 25

On 5/24/2025 at 1:20 AM, miguelaco said:

I think there are three issues that might be related:

DTC programs are loaded in the wrong/shifted by +1 slots (i.e. DTC program 1 is loaded in ALR-67 program 2 and so on). This is what the OP reported in this thread.

Dispense Switch Aft releases the wrong/shifted by +1 program.

Dispense Switch Fwd releases program no 6 (it was 5 before this patch).

Bear in mind that cycling through all the programs back to the one you want selected seems to reset the counter and then Dispense Switch Aft executes the selected program as it should. This is the workaround I'm using at the moment for issue 2.

No solution or workaround for Fwd switch? This is a bummer, since editing the CMS LUA got forbidden and I load my programs from DCS-DTC, now I have to do #6 manually. Big QA miss + making the game more and more anti-player.

miguelaco · May 25

50 minutes ago, Fulgrim said:

No solution or workaround for Fwd switch? This is a bummer, since editing the CMS LUA got forbidden and I load my programs from DCS-DTC, now I have to do #6 manually. Big QA miss + making the game more and more anti-player.

The obvious workaround is to edit program 6 to your liking.

And I somewhat feel the same about these issues. First patch introducing the DTC and it was broken both for radio presets and ALR-67 programs, but at least you could ignore them since everything worked as it did when ignoring DTC. Second iteration and DTC ALR-67 programs are still not fixed and the dispense function is broken in the process. I can't help but think that these problems should have been seen in the most basic tests, they don't look like corner cases at all.

Solo_Turk · May 26

I believe that they did test nothing before the patch. Ed should rollback dtc updates. We were happy with our 3rd party dcs dtc. And now module unusable against threats. We don't have to figure these nonsense basic bugs out. I really lost interest in dcs. Haven't played since first broken patch. Uninstalled after second broken patch. Lol.