Replay Track Broken

[T.Power]

It's completely kaputski, the Spit is wobbling and the enemy is behind me instead of in front, not seeing anything this bad on other modules.

[SirWoofer]

Replays have been broken since I can remember.  When you play the replay, the AI is live in the replay which means it may or may not make the same flight path decisions as when you flew the original mission. It's gotten better over the years, but it is still broken.

[LeCuvier]

I remember a time when tracks were working. Can't tell how many years ago, must be a long time.

[Doughguy]

atm they seem to work fine since a few updates.

there might be an oddshot here and there now.

retry with a new track  @T.Power

[BarTzi]

1 hour ago, Doughguy said:

atm they seem to work fine since a few updates.

there might be an oddshot here and there now.

retry with a new track  @T.Power

They won't work correctly, ever. They are not made to replay the exact sequence of events in a mission.

Edited Saturday at 10:47 PM by BarTzi

[LeCuvier]

11 hours ago, Doughguy said:

atm they seem to work fine since a few updates.

there might be an oddshot here and there now.

retry with a new track  @T.Power

Cannot confirm. Tried again yesterday with a dogfight I won. After a few turn "I" started firing into the blue sky, and very soon the bandit was behind me and killed me.

[Doughguy]

So far my tracks are working fine. All i can say.

[BarTzi]

17 hours ago, Doughguy said:

So far my tracks are working fine. All i can say.

Tracks are, by definition, not an accurate recreation of the mission. Why? It's because when you play a track you run the mission again with your controller inputs. It means everything that is statistical or random (AI behaviours, flare effectiveness, the effectiveness of evasive manoeuvres, the point in time in which AI shoots at you) is calculated again. Your controller input was recorded in the original mission, which means it does no longer apply to the replay, as it's a completely new mission running again. For example: let's say that at some point in time in the mission you get shot at, and try to avoid getting hit. In the track, nothing guarantees that you will be shot at, since the AI treats it as a completely new mission (yes- your inputs will still be the same as the original mission) . The AI might shoot at you a second earlier, a second later or never shoot you at all, which makes whatever attempt you make to avoid futile. 

There was never a point in which an air to air engagement track (vs AI) for example, worked fine. Some people claim that the server's track is more accurate, but I beg to differ. 

It might be called a replay in the main menu, but it was made to reproduce bugs in a controlled environment (short tracks, recorded in SP, to be sent to the devs). 

 

Edited Monday at 12:43 PM by BarTzi

[Doughguy]

On 9/1/2025 at 12:16 PM, BarTzi said:

Tracks are, by definition, not an accurate recreation of the mission. Why? It's because when you play a track you run the mission again with your controller inputs. It means everything that is statistical or random (AI behaviours, flare effectiveness, the effectiveness of evasive manoeuvres, the point in time in which AI shoots at you) is calculated again. Your controller input was recorded in the original mission, which means it does no longer apply to the replay, as it's a completely new mission running again. For example: let's say that at some point in time in the mission you get shot at, and try to avoid getting hit. In the track, nothing guarantees that you will be shot at, since the AI treats it as a completely new mission (yes- your inputs will still be the same as the original mission) . The AI might shoot at you a second earlier, a second later or never shoot you at all, which makes whatever attempt you make to avoid futile. 

There was never a point in which an air to air engagement track (vs AI) for example, worked fine. Some people claim that the server's track is more accurate, but I beg to differ. 

It might be called a replay in the main menu, but it was made to reproduce bugs in a controlled environment (short tracks, recorded in SP, to be sent to the devs). 

 

Well thanks for telling me everything i know already.

What part of "the tracks work for me" do people not get?

https://www.youtube.com/@oinkpoink

All of my videos here were recorded off from track replays.... And the only thing in those videos that was off is the Corsair not leaking fuel / vapour.
Hits still took place where they happend, explosions where they took place, planes crashed where they crashed, rolls yaws etc... all fine.

 

[Gunfreak]

Download dedicated server and run missions from tjere. The tracks still breaks, but they work 80%, 80% of the time. You'll need to set off another 200+ gigs to run the dedicated server.

[Czar]

The replay system is being overhauled by ED (see newsletters).

The system seems to have been made with SFM in mind. Today DCS is much more complex than it was when tracks were reliable.

12 hours ago, Doughguy said:

Well thanks for telling me everything i know already.

What part of "the tracks work for me" do people not get?

Tracks can still easily break. I'm currently working on a Warthog video that although having a simple mission, the track breaks continuity midway the mission on a 'area track' to 'point track' while being played 2 times now.

Modules as the Viper and Hornet are much easier on tracks. The Tomcat frequently breaks tracks very easily (not talking about the jester menu bug on tracks).

I've done full mission replays being successful from beginning to the end for more than 1h long, others break in 30 minutes time.

As ED pointed out, the replay function is not 100% reliable as they are overhauling it. It should serve mainly as a debug feature.

It is not a new thing. Tracks used to break back in 2014 too.

Edited 4 hours ago by Czar
Corrected statement to assumption tone on the 2nd line. Because idk.

[Art-J]

It seems track reliability is also dependent on one's hardware (mostly peripherals). Thus, the same track can work OK for some guys and be useless for others even when recorded and played in the same DCS version.