Instant Replay possibility?

Hi,

since years I enjoy using DCS simulator, I simply love it and it's getting better and better every day, of course also thanks to third parties companies developing those fantastic jets and propeller aicraft we all know and use!

Of course can't wait to have the F-14, no doubts the best F-14 Tomcat simulation ever existed!

Now, by my modest experience on simulators, I personally still miss the possibility to have a method for an "Instant Replay" view feature.

And I miss it more than in other simulators, since DCS is so nice and graphically spectacular and realistic that often, even a simple landing landing, can turn to be so real and spectacular that it would just be nice and exciting having a practical way to pause the sim and quckly see it again from external pov.

Now, I know that saying all this is easy but developing and integrating it in the system is not at all instead, but I personally thing this feature would no doubts make DCS experience even better and even more spectacular at anyone eyes too.

What do you think?

The engine would have to save the position, orientation, speed and all other attributes of each unit in the mission every few seconds, as well as all their movements and actions in order to be able jump back in time to a specific moment where the actions that happened can then be shown again. That would put a lot of work on the hardware. I don't think that's feasible.

Yes, sure. Very hard indeed!

...just thinking...maybe saving only player aircraft data and showing only this, yes not a true replay at all, but could someway still be interesting...

Yes, sure. Very hard indeed!

 

...just thinking...maybe saving only player aircraft data and showing only this, yes not a true replay at all, but could someway still be interesting...

It sure would be interesting, I'm totally with you there, but technically it's just not feasible.

If you have an Nvidia card you can record the last 5 or 10 or more minutes of your flight and have that saved etc.

It sure would be interesting, I'm totally with you there, but technically it's just not feasible.

Roger!

If you have an Nvidia card you can record the last 5 or 10 or more minutes of your flight and have that saved etc.

Yes, I've Nvidia card...but I guess it would of course save the video file, nothing related to possibility to play-back it integrated in the program, changing pov etc.

Yes, I've Nvidia card...but I guess it would of course save the video file, nothing related to possibility to play-back it integrated in the program, changing pov etc.

Just an idea that popped in my head that I thought might help.

I use P3D for civilian simulations and I use that instant replay quite a lot. I agree it would be a useful tool. If ED ever fix the replay functionality that they have now I am sure something like that will be implemented or at least I hope so.

Sure, like you I do exactly the same with P3D and before with FSX of course.

After a mission, the track is there and someway available anyway, so for sure data are kept saved someway, somewhere.

Now, I do not have the necessary knowledge to really understand the difference between elaborating the track as a whole one after a mission and doing it on a party of that in "sim paused" + "instant replay" situation...

Again, I certainly believe that all this is complicate, but I also believe it would make the sim really top!

Sure, like you I do exactly the same with P3D and before with FSX of course.

 

After a mission, the track is there and someway available anyway, so for sure data are kept saved someway, somewhere.

 

Now, I do not have the necessary knowledge to really understand the difference between elaborating the track as a whole one after a mission and doing it on a party of that in "sim paused" + "instant replay" situation...

 

Again, I certainly believe that all this is complicate, but I also believe it would make the sim really top!

Yep, I agree. I also don't have the knowledge on how these things work. The two programs are written in different code so it is a little unfair to say "why can't DCS do this because P3D can do it"

When I say that I'm not being facetious it's just a fact.

We can only hope.

:thumbup:

Yes of course.

Sure, like you I do exactly the same with P3D and before with FSX of course.

 

After a mission, the track is there and someway available anyway, so for sure data are kept saved someway, somewhere.

 

Now, I do not have the necessary knowledge to really understand the difference between elaborating the track as a whole one after a mission and doing it on a party of that in "sim paused" + "instant replay" situation...

 

Again, I certainly believe that all this is complicate, but I also believe it would make the sim really top!

Completely agree! :thumbup:

There’s already a track recording feature in DCS. How is this suggestion different?

Sure, like you I do exactly the same with P3D and before with FSX of course.

 

After a mission, the track is there and someway available anyway, so for sure data are kept saved someway, somewhere.

 

Now, I do not have the necessary knowledge to really understand the difference between elaborating the track as a whole one after a mission and doing it on a party of that in "sim paused" + "instant replay" situation...

 

Again, I certainly believe that all this is complicate, but I also believe it would make the sim really top!

Yep, I agree. I also don't have the knowledge on how these things work. The two programs are written in different code so it is a little unfair to say "why can't DCS do this because P3D can do it"

 

When I say that I'm not being facetious it's just a fact.

 

We can only hope.

 

:thumbup:

There’s already a track recording feature in DCS. How is this suggestion different?

The technical difference between the overall replay/track and an instant replay is actually VERY big. The overall replay just saves a single state of the mission (which is the very first second of the mission) and all the movements/actions that happened during the mission. It then just goes ahead and executes all the movements (which have been saved as well) of all units from that original state on.

Now, if there would be an instant replay feature, the game would have to save the state of all units every second (or maybe just every 5 seconds, or every 30 seconds, or whatever the amount of time is that you want to jump back for the replay). In addition to all those states it would also have to save the movements as well so they can be executed when watching the instant replay. Saving so many states would require a lot of data being moved and saved by the hardware, as mission states (the position and status of all the units within the mission at a certain moment in time) are rather big.

The technical difference between the overall replay/track and an instant replay is actually VERY big. The overall replay just saves a single state of the mission (which is the very first second of the mission) and all the movements/actions that happened during the mission. It then just goes ahead and executes all the movements (which have been saved as well) of all units from that original state on.

Now, if there would be an instant replay feature, the game would have to save the state of all units every second (or maybe just every 5 seconds, or every 30 seconds, or whatever the amount of time is that you want to jump back for the replay). In addition to all those states it would also have to save the movements as well so they can be executed when watching the instant replay. Saving so many states would require a lot of data being moved and saved by the hardware, as mission states (the position and status of all the units within the mission at a certain moment in time) are rather big.

That still doesn’t make sense. It’s the same thing. That’s what DCS already has.

Now what the replay in DCS could add would be the ability to forwind, rewind etc. perhaps that’s what you want? You could load the replay and then skip forward or back to any part of it.

That still doesn’t make sense. It’s the same thing. That’s what DCS already has.

Now what the replay in DCS could add would be the ability to forwind, rewind etc. perhaps that’s what you want? You could load the replay and then skip forward or back to any part of it.

No, that's not how DCS replays work. They start at a certain state (the beginning of the mission) and then executes the movements/actions that it has recorded. The saved movements/actions are much less demanding on disk space and file transfers on the HDD/SSD than saving actual mission states. So the replay only knows where everything is at the very first frame, after that it has not saved any unit positions, so it can't jump anywhere else besides the very beginning and can't play backwards either. That's also the reason why the replays sometimes become inaccurate, especially when playing them at increased speeds, because the movements/actions in the replay then sometimes get executed at a different moment than they have been executed originally which causes units/planes to end in slightly different places than they actually were.

Since the current reply function is a total failure, I would rather see that fixed/changed so that it works before trying to add any other functionality.

No, that's not how DCS replays work. They start at a certain state (the beginning of the mission) and then executes the movements/actions that it has recorded. The saved movements/actions are much less demanding on disk space and file transfers on the HDD/SSD than saving actual mission states. So the replay only knows where everything is at the very first frame, after that it has not saved any unit positions, so it can't jump anywhere else besides the very beginning and can't play backwards either. That's also the reason why the replays sometimes become inaccurate, especially when playing them at increased speeds, because the movements/actions in the replay then sometimes get executed at a different moment than they have been executed originally which causes units/planes to end in slightly different places than they actually were.

Yes, that’s just a replay feature like DCS has, if it worked. Sometimes it doesn’t. And yeah it won’t rewind. Most other games replay will let you scroll forward and back.