Air-to-ground Radar: when?

Dear all,

It has certainly already been discussed on these forums but I couldn't find trace of it, so if it's the case I apologize for this message.

I own the F-18 module and I see plenty of videos on the Air-to-ground radar. Also, I find plenty of discussions on this and other forums.

However, this radar mode is not present in my F-18.

Are the videos from Beta testers or am I unable to correctly update to a non-beta version that implements this awesome new feature?

Should this radar mode be still unavailable to the public, any idea on when it will be released?

Thanks for your reply

Regards,

Andrea

Its already released in Open Beta.

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, but I'm not that much into programming technique.

I guess my F18 module updates automatically when I start DCS (if updates are available).

How can I have access to the open Beta version?

Thanks.

Regards,

Andrea

Are you flying Stand alone or steam? For stand alone you would need to download the Open Beta installer. For steam you would go to DCS, Properties, Betas Tab, then select the openbeta - Public beta versions option.

Hi,

stand alone.

Basic A/G Radar is available since the last Open Beta update. However it is still very much wip. More functions will be added at a later point (maybe with next OB update in July)

Hi Andrea! Are you using Steam version of DCS, or did you download Standalone from the website?

If Steam, there is a way to "upgrade"/convert to Open Beta. But I'm not familiar with that process. I'm sure someone else will chip in and explain.

If you're on standalone, you can either download Open Beta installation from the website, same place, just look for Open Beta installation download. And run it side by side with the Standalone release version. Or you can convert your version tp Open Beta by command line. But if I understood you correctly, this might be a little tricky. But there is another option as well. Download Skatezilla's excellent DCS launcher app. With this one you can update/downgrade/convert everything in an easy way in a GUI. A must have tool if you ask me.

Hope this was helpful!

Cheers!

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

If you're comfortable with copying/editing Windows shortcuts, you can create shortcuts to update your DCS to release version or open beta version fairly easily.

Sounds like you are running the release version of DCS. If so, you're probably using a shortcut that if you did a right click->Properties would see the following in the "Target" and "Start in" text boxes, respectively (drive letter and path may vary compared to yours) - note the second text box wouldn't change, just including it to be complete:

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin\DCS_updater.exe"

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World"

If so, you can simply locate and then copy this shortcut (e.g. right click->Copy, then right click->Paste), and make edits to the newly created shortcut

From the properties dialog of this new shortcut, edit the "Target" and "Start in" text boxes above, respectively, to update DCS to open beta (drive letter and path may vary compared to yours) - call it "Force Update DCS to Open Beta":

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin\DCS_updater.exe" update @openbeta

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World"

Next, create another copy of the shortcut, and call it "Force Update to DCS Release", and edit the "Target" and "Start in" text boxes above, respectively, to update DCS to release:

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\bin\DCS_updater.exe" update @release

"D:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World"

Note that running either of these two new shortcuts above will simply force the DCS version to one of the two mentioned, but will not then start DCS afterward. The DCS updater will then download only what is not already in the version you have. You can then use your normal DCS shortcut to start DCS.

Hope that helps.

That’s all good advice. However, as MAXsenna said above, Skatezilla’s utility does all that a lot easier. Essential tool for DCS.

that implements this awesome new feature?

Awesome? I'd gladly get rid of it, in its current state :lol:

A/G radar's resolution is so low that most targets can't be seen.

Even in ideal conditions, where the targets can be seen, A/G radar's accuracy is simply not good enough for weapon employment.

Tpod designation is still faster and way more accurate as far as I can tell.

We'll see how the finished A/G radar compares to Tpod... for now, I'll keep it disabled. ;)

Now we have a Map mode radar only, not suitable for target acquisition-tracking.

When we will have EXP and other modes, i think the radar become more useful; probably not like the tpod, maybe...

Awesome? I'd gladly get rid of it, in its current state :lol:

 

A/G radar's resolution is so low that most targets can't be seen.

Even in ideal conditions, where the targets can be seen, A/G radar's accuracy is simply not good enough for weapon employment.

 

Tpod designation is still faster and way more accurate as far as I can tell.

 

We'll see how the finished A/G radar compares to Tpod... for now, I'll keep it disabled. ;)

That's exactly what people who know about the A/G radar have been saying for month's: it isn't generally used all that often IRL due it's limitations, it's not a silver bullet etc. etc.

In order for the radar to provide any kind of usable resolution, it will have such a reduced range and scan size that its effectively seeing the same area as a tpod.

Anything more coarse than that and all you are seeing will be islands airfields and cities, something that can be found using the moving map just as well.

Itll come in handy for finding moving targets like convoys etc. It was certainly handy in F4 and IM looking forward to it being in game here :)