HeatBlur: Can We Get an Update About the Replay Situation?

I know you folks have a million things on your plates (and chances are, that also includes things outside of DCS!). However, would it be possible to get some news about the current state of the replay? With the F-14 right now, it is completely borked. Replays just go and do their own thing. My understanding is that ED has fixed it for the F-18 and the F-16. Not sure about other modules, but it is definitely broken for the F-14. Which is so tragic that such a beautiful bird, so well modeled on the inside and out, just cannot be savored in action after the action!

Perhaps we (your fans/players) could help pin down the circumstances in which it happens, if you give us hints where you think the problem might lie?

Agreed. Something's up with the Tomcat in particular, which doesn't affect the Viggen. My Viggen replay tracks work flawlessly.

Have you found a situation in which it doesn't happen? I thought it was 100 % certain to fail.

And yet, we are getting all those glorious videos produced.. No idea how those guy are recording the footage... :huh:

it is not tomcat problem. it is dcs problem. trust me. I ask about this problem to dev. I make movie with tomcat, I do record track file from server-side(do not fly with any module, just server for open server)

after mission, I bring track file from server computer. that track is no error.

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it is not tomcat problem. it is dcs problem. trust me. I ask about this problem to dev. I make movie with tomcat, I do record track file from server-side(do not fly with any module, just server for open server)

 

after mission, I bring track file from server computer. that track is no error.

 

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I have tried server recorded tracks and they did not work, either. Sorry.

My understanding is that ED has fixed it for the F-18 [...]

Did I miss something? They always worked for me unless I had a CVN involved and in that case they're still broken to this very date.

Did I miss something? They always worked for me unless I had a CVN involved and in that case they're still broken to this very date.

MP or SP?

Recorded on server or your own computer?

I think these factors may make a difference and perhaps explain some of the conflicting reports? Perhaps folks reporting their experiences --- especially ones in which replay works --- can be very explicit about all the conditions so that others may try:

-- MP or SP

-- recorded on server or local computer

-- what player aircraft/units were in the mission

-- what AI units were in the mission

-- what map

-- what version of DCS

-- date mission was flown

In SP, they are broken for me EVERY time, in every mission. At least they were the last time I checked. I'm talking about IA missions or my own missions I set up, with or without carriers, on any map (incl. Nevada, which has no possibility of carriers!) . Very quickly after replay begins, the aircraft start doing their own thing, diverging from actual history. Weirdly, sometimes it seems like the player aircraft still manuevers and fires according to what happened, but the AI aircraft might be doing something else. So I find that the player aircraft twists and turns by itself and fires into empty air etc.

Also, doubly annoying is if Jester is called up during a mission, it pops up in the replay ... and then stays open. NO way at all to close it.

EDIT: I should note (in reference to my own suggestions above!) that I've only tried recording from my local machine . Tracks from SP are broken. Tracks from MP (online) recorded and auto-saved on my local machine (not server) play perfectly (last I checked).

Server replays taken from a host that is separate from any clients who join will be flawless for me. I have the exact same experience with the Fw190 A8, oddly enough. This is how I get video footage for the Tomcat and Anton. On the downside, the landing physics are extremely odd when the rubber hits the tarmac.

All my other 16-or-so modules replay fine from SP or MP client tracks, with some exceptions. For example, starting the Hornet from a carrier will break the replay track, while starting from land will not. However, starting the Harrier from a carrier will not break a replay track. This shows that there is absolutely zero consistency in what actually causes the replays to break.

Interestingly, last night, on latest Beta, I did a 1v1 F-14 vs AI F-16b52 on the Caucasus map (SP). Track replayed flawlessly, as did the replay of the replay, with me jumping views etc .... EXCEPT for the Jester menu. I did indeed call up Jester a couple of times at the start of the engagement. However, in the replays, Jester came up a couple more times than I remember, and then just stayed up throughout the engagement. Even more interestingly, the spurious Jester summonings occurred and persisted in the replays of the replays exactly the same.This was an IR missile only engagement if it makes a difference (guns loaded but not fired).

I tried another engagement in the Caucasus map, guns only 1v1, F-15 player vs AI F-18C, This time I avoided calling up Jester. Very quickly the replay started doing something else. It seemed like my aircraft was moving like I remembered but the AI was doing something else, so that when, e.g., my replay aircraft fired its guns, it was firing ito empty space or the ground while the AI aircraft was elsewhere. Of course, it is impossible to be sure and my aircraft may actually have been doing something else as well.

It is something we have not wrapped our heads around yet completely. We do exactly what we're supposed to do in DCS, but for some reason it does not work. We still miss that final hint, to figure out why that is. We did not forget how important it is to you guys though, we'll keep at it.

As for recording: the videos you see are often planned out and mostly then recorded live with either OBS or shadowplay, etc...

It is something we have not wrapped our heads around yet completely. We do exactly what we're supposed to do in DCS, but for some reason it does not work. We still miss that final hint, to figure out why that is. We did not forget how important it is to you guys though, we'll keep at it.

 

As for recording: the videos you see are often planned out and mostly then recorded live with either OBS or shadowplay, etc...

Appreciate the challenges. I wish DCS had a "just replay exactly what happened" recording (like TacView) rather than this "reply but allow you to dynamically take control", which is almost certainly a big part of the problem. Or at least, by providing a way for the replay to diverge from history, allow the problem to occur.

For sometime now I've suspected that the issue might have something to do with Jester (mainly due to the way Jester pops up and then it is impossible to remove). I note in the replays that some systems follow history (what actually occurred) exactly --- e.g., the guns fire when I actually fired them the first time, even if there is nothing in front of the aircraft in the replay --- but others do not (e.g., AI position). Jester's call outs seem to be accurate with respect to the replay rather than following what is actually recorded.

Since there are so many varied circumstances where things are wrong, maybe we could pin down on where things are right? Is there ANYONE out there who has a SP replay track recorded locally (i.e., not server side) that works? If so, please share info!

The only non-server-side replay track I've had work in the Tomcat was an MP client track from an air-start mission, after I had already jumped through four air-start Hornets in the same mission.

The only non-server-side replay track I've had work in the Tomcat was an MP client track from an air-start mission, after I had already jumped through four air-start Hornets in the same mission.

I sometimes play on the Just Dogfights server. The tracks that are automatically recorded from there (on my local machine) play perfectly, or at least they did the last time I checked. Have not tried this recently though (last was couple of months or so ago).

Are those air-start or ground-start? I recently tried a client track automatically recorded from a ramp-hot multiplayer flight and the track broke during taxi.

Are those air-start or ground-start? I recently tried a client track automatically recorded from a ramp-hot multiplayer flight and the track broke during taxi.

Air start, all of them.

Is it possible to stop the jester input from being recorded into the track file? <shrug>

I don't have this Jester problem you're talking about. How do you navigate the menu? I just use the default keys, I disabled the looking variety.

(1) So as not to get side-tracked, the "Jester problem" is, at this point, just one symptom of a larger syndrome. The syndrome more generally is replay tracks diverging from the actual events in many ways, including aircraft positions, movements, and outcomes.

(2) I fly in VR, and use head movements to select options in Jester after calling it up using a keybind.

Air start, all of them.

I feel like there's something funky with ground mechanics FUBAR'ing the replay tracks, since in many cases air-start missions tend to replay fairly normally. This can be observed across many modules over the past few years, not just with the Tomcat.

in many cases air-start missions tend to replay fairly normall.

Not in any single player mission that I know of in the F-14.

So set up 1v1 vs AI F-16 Block 52, guns only, air start, on the Caucasus map.

In the actual engagement, right after the merge, I pull up sharply. I hear the airframe/wings creak, so I am just on the verge of breaking her, but carefully (and successfully) stay right on that edge all the way through the loop.

In the replay, instead, the wings break immediately at this point.

Not sure if any information is gained here, but I do think it is interesting that these two outcomes have to do entirely on how much I stress the airframe, and whether or not that is sufficient to break the bird. If the latter threshold is at least partially based on some sort of internal (to the F-14) random number "dice roll", perhaps here is where the issue is?

(1) So as not to get side-tracked, the "Jester problem" is, at this point, just one symptom of a larger syndrome. The syndrome more generally is replay tracks diverging from the actual events in many ways, including aircraft positions, movements, and outcomes.

 

(2) I fly in VR, and use head movements to select options in Jester after calling it up using a keybind.

Someone ought to fly a sortie using only keyboard (as in unplug the joystick) and see if it replays correctly.

I have broken replays with the Bf109 too.. so it's not related to a particular aircraft but to the engine itself. Have ED acknowledged this issue yet? Bignewey, Nineline, anyone?