not a bug Rearm and Refuel

[BIGNEWY]

folks please dial it back or this thread will get closed down. 

 

[RogueSpecterGaming]

Just now, BIGNEWY said:

folks please dial it back or this thread will get closed down. 

 

Of course BigNewy. 

[Pribs86]

First off, forgive my frustration. I spent 8 years in the military so I understand the "this is how it's always been" or "this is just how we do things" and to both of those statements, and even more not even mentioned, I've always asked WHY?! They never liked it, but neither did I, so I never stopped asking. I always hated the "just shut up and do your job" because I felt it ends the conversation and cuts off all opportunity for further learning and expanding for all parties involved. But I do understand why that is absolutely necessary sometimes as well. Can't have someone asking a million questions when SHTF and you need to act fast.

 

Not to get too deep, but I think this bleeds into a bigger societal issue as well. We are often told to shut up and just go with the status quo. I don't like that anymore so I have to ask why. I should have been more clear before. I like learning and knowing all aspects of everything, especially everything related to flight and this sim has helped me learn a lot of things. When I see something in it that confuses me in DCS I have to ask someone - is it a bug, is it a real world issue, is it operator error (me - which a lot of times it is), or is it an oversight? I know most people just want to hop in the sim and fly and don't care one way or another, which is fine, but I need to know for some reason. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

Thank you for taking your time and effort to explain this all. I greatly appreciate it. Much respect. Thank you for your service as well!

[RogueSpecterGaming]

31 minutes ago, Pribs86 said:

First off, forgive my frustration. I spent 8 years in the military so I understand the "this is how it's always been" or "this is just how we do things" and to both of those statements, and even more not even mentioned, I've always asked WHY?! They never liked it, but neither did I, so I never stopped asking. I always hated the "just shut up and do your job" because I felt it ends the conversation and cuts off all opportunity for further learning and expanding for all parties involved. But I do understand why that is absolutely necessary sometimes as well. Can't have someone asking a million questions when SHTF and you need to act fast.

 

Not to get too deep, but I think this bleeds into a bigger societal issue as well. We are often told to shut up and just go with the status quo. I don't like that anymore so I have to ask why. I should have been more clear before. I like learning and knowing all aspects of everything, especially everything related to flight and this sim has helped me learn a lot of things. When I see something in it that confuses me in DCS I have to ask someone - is it a bug, is it a real world issue, is it operator error (me - which a lot of times it is), or is it an oversight? I know most people just want to hop in the sim and fly and don't care one way or another, which is fine, but I need to know for some reason. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

Thank you for taking your time and effort to explain this all. I greatly appreciate it. Much respect. Thank you for your service as well!

It's all good man. Thank you for your service as well. I definitely get where you are coming from. I didn't take any offense to what you said. I figured you were frustrated and realized that you wanted to know the finer details. Don't get that often on the forums often. Some like the simple answers and some like the longer answers. But I'm always willing to do some reading and asking people I know for clarity on what I've. Actually found some interesting info regarding this info and will give it to the right people and we might see a change. Nothing big but a small one. 

 

Hopefully this info helps you out though and clarifies how and why it all works. If it does get change hopefully we will see it in the patch notes. They just need to bump the fuel from 4000 to 5000. I will send BigNewy or Nineline the info.

[Pribs86]

20 minutes ago, RogueSpecterGaming said:

It's all good man. Thank you for your service as well. I definitely get where you are coming from. I didn't take any offense to what you said. I figured you were frustrated and realized that you wanted to know the finer details. Don't get that often on the forums often. Some like the simple answers and some like the longer answers. But I'm always willing to do some reading and asking people I know for clarity on what I've. Actually found some interesting info regarding this info and will give it to the right people and we might see a change. Nothing big but a small one. 

 

Hopefully this info helps you out though and clarifies how and why it all works. If it does get change hopefully we will see it in the patch notes. They just need to bump the fuel from 4000 to 5000. I will send BigNewy or Nineline the info.

Thanks man, I appreciate you. Have a good day!

[Gilligan]

Just for my own understanding, because I am interested in the reasons "why," as well. 

Going over the chucks guide again, the engine is fed from the fore and aft reservoir tanks. The reservoir tanks are fed via the corresponding fore and aft internal tanks. The fore and aft internal tanks are fed via the internal wing tanks. The wing tanks are fed via any of the 3 external fuel tank options. 

From what I am reading (and cross referencing the chucks guide), in layman's terms, the external tanks are drained first. Then the INTERNAL wing tanks will be drained. Then the Internal fore and aft tanks will be drained, and lastly the fore and aft reservoir tanks will be drained. 

That makes sense. 

The filling diagram seems less clear - from either ground or air receptacle, fuel is fed into centerline external tank and the fore and aft reservoir tanks,  and then into the external wing tanks, via the externals? If that is the case it should not mater what the fuel state of the aircraft internal tanks are? Or does the fore and aft reservoir tanks feed the internal wing tanks, which in turn feed the external? Even then the centerline tank should fully fill anyway? I suspect this is a problem with the chucks diagram, as it seems to imply that the rest of the fore, aft, and resveior tanks are all filled in series AFTER the external and internal wing tanks are filled. This does not seem to align with the real world case as stated by RogueSpecter or the model's behavior in game. 

 

RogueSpecterGaming, from reading your technical comment, specifically that the valve to the line outlet of the internal wing tanks is open when the wing tanks are not full, and closed when they are, would mean that if the draining sequence was reversed for fueling, that once the wing tanks are full, that valve for the line out (or the inlet into the internal wing tank from the refuel manifold?) is closed, and therefore unable to fuel the external tanks? As to why the internal wing tanks fill before the external, is that a consequence of residual pressure in the externals? At that point it's a DiffEQ problem about how quickly the external tank can depressurize vs the rate at which the internal wing tanks are filled, with a supposed equilibrium around 5,000 pounds IRL, and 4000 lbs in-game. That makes sense. I think.

 

Regardless, thank you for the technical explanation. 

[MeanJim]

On 8/12/2025 at 9:46 AM, RogueSpecterGaming said:

Were you under 4000lbs? The goal fuel to be at to get topped off is around 1200-1500lbs.

Would this apply to AAR as well?  A few months ago I was on a PVE server doing a deep strike mission.  It was late and there weren't as many players on, so decided to go with just a center tank so I could bring more ordnance.  My plan was to top off at the tanker on the way in.  I was just under 6000 lbs. of fuel when I got to the tanker.  I connected, and didn't take on much fuel when it disconnected and told me to return to pre-cotnact.  I returned to pre-contact, was cleared contact, moved in and the tanker would not connect to me.  I was sitting there under the tanker staring at two green lights, but it the boom wouldn't connect to me.

I've had that happen before, but both times there was a TRP FUEL warning flashing in the HUD.  Not this time though.  DCS tankers seem to know you can't take fuel, but will still clear you and just won't connect.