noted Add the Ability to Save and Load Mission Progress

[sirrah]

Would sure be nice to get a comforting "we're working on it and we'll share news as soon as we have something to share" reply from ED :D

 

 

This wish has been there for a long time and in multiple threads, so perhaps ED already responded on this matter. Anyone knows?

[SharpeXB]

Well said. I think that things will start to move to the right direction when RTS and dynamic campaign elements will be implemented in the sim.

I can’t imagine how a dynamic campaign with long realistic missions will be playable without a save feature. Unless this is added there’s no real point in having a campaign like that because very few people will be able to use it.

[OttoPus]

I agree.

 

Also there is MAC on the front, and unless is gonna be multiplayer only, a triple A single player game without "save" feature is... weird at least.

 

I think this is a feature much needed in any play style (arcade, hardcore sim), for single player experiences.

 

And I see some advantages for cooperative multiplayer games also: picture you and your squadron playing, in multiple sessions across several weeks, playing a dynamic campaing. Without a save feature this type of gameplay would be simply impossible.

 

So ED, please, bring it on! :)

[JEFX]

Can we get a word from Matt about this please?

 

I am glad to see that I am not alone here... I have been begging for this for 10 years! Me too I would really appreciate if Matt or someone from ED could just tell us what is ED's position about this long time missing feature!!!

[PatrickJames]

Yes completely agree! This is simply not debatable. Do any of you have kids? Seriously real

Life and human nature do not integrate well with digital. It is utterly important this is sorted out because I will no longer dedicate time to a standard I can fail simply by one subject but then must repeat the whole year just for that one mistake? This is simply not how the human being works and the human will simply walk away.

[spacefox]

Hey guys,

 

 

 

I am newbie to DCS (got on aboard early on) and did not play for a while. Right now I do have some time (don't we all). Is there a way to save position in a campaign.

 

 

 

I have to keep repeating campaign 1 of Kursant and I am stuck - yes level 1. I want to be lined up on the runway. I hate to restart everything and then line up to runway.

 

 

Just want to finish first campaign and then move to the next

[Kingsly]

Literally came to this sub to start a thread on this. Really disheartening to see it’s been on the wishlist this long. Everyone here has already gone into all the detail I wanted re: real life responsibilities, kids, work vs. desire to engage in longer more realistic missions, so just let me just add a humble “+1”

 

Please ED. Save progress is kind of more important than, dare I say it, clouds. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Kingsly

[TheCabal]

Got a few modules, lot's of campaigns and then here we go with the Flanker campaign:

In a specific mission, it's just a total trial & error due to lack of SA. Instead of being confronted with combat situations lots of times in order to learn dealing with it... I'm just busy doing this: repeating all the non sense again (start up, taxi, take off, gain altitude, fly for dozens of minutes, get hit). Can't imagine repeating all this crap in more complex modules. It consumes way too much time.

Because of that (and a missing dynamic campaign), DCS collects dust. 

Once you are in the air and 20-40 miles away from a specific waypoint, there should be save to prevent repeating all the time-consuming stuff at the beginning and rather put you to the point before the engagement to test new ways of solving upcoming problems.

IT'S TOTALLY DEMOTIVATING: finally having the time to fire up DCS, flying a mission, failing and getting back right to the parking area to repeat the first empty 30 minutes again. It's wasting too much time which is absolutely NOT worth it. A kick into the nuts. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by TheCabal

[TheCabal]

OPENED UP A THREAD WHICH GOT REDIRECTED, DELETED AND ADDED HERE UNDER MY PREVIOUS POST

Hello folks,

so, still after all these years, there is basically still 0 content which keeps me hooked to DCS. Why?

- no dynamic campaign in other sims than BMS since 1998 (not interested in mod-campaigns)
- Missions (Single Missions&Campaigns) lack a feature to save during a mission.. to prevent going through the first empty 30 minutes again and again (startup, taxi, takeoff, gain altitude, fly for ages...) or just saving because my kids need something. 

DCS is simply preventing folks to have fun. Forget the sandbox/multiplayer aspect which in my opinion is awful and uninteresting. The singleplayer content simply doesn't justify learning a module just to be confronted with the mentioned issues. They are a complete lackluster and a kick into the nuts of an adult.

So, if I find time to finally fire up DCS (kids in bed, wife doing something else, not tired etc.), I'm doing a Flanker mission in a campaign and get shoot down after getting to that specific point. So instead of starting over again at that specific point to test out new tactics to solve the problem..... I start again in the Parking Ramp. Must be frustrating repeating a mission just because something odd happened during landing..... almost finishing the mission. At that point, I quit to desktop and even not think about doing missions with more complex modules.

Why isn't this adressed? Because the 1%er Hardcore folks are ok (or just bother with multiplayer and making nice videos) with repeating the same empty crap (startup, taxi, takeoff.... gain altitude, fly for ages) and because real pilots don't have any save options as well? 

Of all simulators I owned (almost everything beginning from EA's F/A-18 Interceptor for the Amiga), DCS is the one where I didn't even got started yet after all these years. 

That's frustrating. Minutes ago, I spotted a thread in the Wishlist subforum from the year 2016 reg. a missing save function. This can't be serious since this issue forces people to waste time which lots of folks simply don't have.

Greetings,
Cabal

Edited February 27, 2021 by TheCabal

[BIGNEWY]

Hi,

 

This is a feature we had years ago, but we had to remove it due to missions saves quickly being broken after updates.

This was not an item we could address then, and even less so now with the massive amount of data that would need to be stored in each save,

it would far exceed any civil simulation due to sensors, weapons, combat systems AI, and the huge array or aircraft types featured in DCS (far more complicated than a single aircraft simulation).

 

While this may be an item we can return to at a later point, it is not currently on our radar.

 

thank you

[TheCabal]

  

On 2/27/2021 at 11:59 PM, BIGNEWY said:

Hi,

 

This is a feature we had years ago, but we had to remove it due to missions saves quickly being broken after updates.

This was not an item we could address then, and even less so now with the massive amount of data that would need to be stored in each save,

it would far exceed any civil simulation due to sensors, weapons, combat systems AI, and the huge array or aircraft types featured in DCS (far more complicated than a single aircraft simulation).

 

While this may be an item we can return to at a later point, it is not currently on our radar.

 

thank you

 

How about this -> Activate the AI to take control over players aircraft, tell him to fly towards waypoint "whatever you want him to go" with max. time compression (AI should not forget about TOT) and automatically pause the sim on arrival. Then a player comes back and just takes over.

Some of us guys here have kids... demanding from these guys (incl. those without kids and lots of rl work) to repeat everything from the startup makes no sense. The combat aspect is what people in single missions/campaigns need to be confronted with and not empty flights for 20-30 minutes for the 5th time. Who here has so much patience? The time window upon target waypoint arrival is extremly tiny, so one wrong button/flight input/incl. a new threat and it's over.

Basically => The action-window (destroy a target with rockets, low altitude and fast in a Viggen) takes 5-10seconds. If something goes wrong within that small time frame, we need to repeat 20-30 minutes of empty flight to get to that point again. 

Imagine other campaigns with DCS Super Carrier or a wrong landing.... my god... going through all again, not to forget that next time the enemy might shoot you down (where you got lucky the first time before crashing on the carrier). 

This is a big flaw in DCS, impossible to enjoy it. There are solutions as you can see (cheat autopilot with max. time compression to WP 1,2,3,4,..,.. and auto-pause sim on arrival). This thread is active since 5 years guys and there are lots of campaigns coming out, every single of them flawed exactly because of a missing feature to skip that useless part ONCE you have done it already (flight towards Target waypoint or an "area of event").

Edited March 1, 2021 by TheCabal

[Japo32]

What I hate most is to make again the full fligh to the point where I was shoot down. If there were any option for the users to preserve certain positions in mission campaigns it wouldn't be a pita. In any case it is true that is the best way to reproduce the danger of dying, but sometimes I feel like Groundhog Day

[skypickle]

Any news on this 'save game feature'? I would settle for an updated track replay option where the game engine runs a track file inthe background (without display) at super high speed so I dont have to rewatch the entire track to get to my last point of progress. Currently, I cant really run track files very fast without errors.

[HayMak3r]

What about saving the state of a mission on a dedicated server. For example. I have the Through the Inferno map running. It would be nice to keep the mission "alive" so that if I haven't quite taken out the sam site, the next time I play, I could go finish the job. The dedicated server software allows for "pausing" the mission when no players are connected. Why can't we save that paused state so that if the server needs a reboot for say windows patches, etc. We don't have to worry about starting from scratch? 

[NineLine]

We are experimenting and working on some options like save a loading of saved missions. There are issues that might make it tough, such as updates breaking saves, etc. But we are working on this already and hope that we can get it to a point that we might be able to do something like this.

Thanks.

[Odessa]

DCS cannot sometimes to replay track which was created minute ago

About - how to make campaigns "easier". It is the main idea for ability to save mission.
Maybe if not ability to save but ability to choose difficulty.
For example you create a mission and can setup a level of AI units.
Normal - as it is now.
Easy - all AI units are  "beginners"  with 50% of ammo

Edited February 10, 2023 by Odessa

[Sandman1330]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:07 PM, NineLine said:

We are experimenting and working on some options like save a loading of saved missions. There are issues that might make it tough, such as updates breaking saves, etc. But we are working on this already and hope that we can get it to a point that we might be able to do something like this.

Thanks.

Great news! I think for many (myself included) it would be perfectly acceptable for saves to not be compatible with newer updates. For the purposes of long campaign missions it wouldn’t be too much of a factor. Bravo for keeping this alive.

[Ironhand]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:07 PM, NineLine said:

We are experimenting and working on some options like save a loading of saved missions. There are issues that might make it tough, such as updates breaking saves, etc.

Still…Anything is better than nothing. Great news!

[Hive]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:35 AM, Sandman1330 said:

Great news! I think for many (myself included) it would be perfectly acceptable for saves to not be compatible with newer updates. For the purposes of long campaign missions it wouldn’t be too much of a factor. Bravo for keeping this alive.

Yes, that would perfectly be acceptable. You could finish the mission before updating.

Even if it was only possible to quicksave and quickload during a running mission I would call it a huge quality of life improvemet. Nothing is more frustrating than making a deadly mistake after an hour of flight time and having to start the mission all over again.

Great that ED is working on it. Thanks!

[Kaktus]

i don't understand what is the problem, updates? easy, turn them off automatic ones, and update only when you decide to do so..DONE.

 

next problem? too many sensors and radars, and units etc etc.. ok, just screen shot me the F10 map moment of me blowing up without fog of war and i will recreate the "Point where i got blown up" and we go from there on.. seriously.. 

 

so, ..to me it looks like a lack of priorities than anything else.