A better reply playback method

[TheTrooper]

I think there needs to be a better playback method so videos can be created a lot quick.

 

I'm surprised this hasn't been done yet. At the moment it takes a long time to produce video footage which in itself promotes DCS on social media.

 

Simple functions such as fast forward, backward, pause and play should definitely be added.

[SharpeXB]

Yes, that would certainly be great. The replays are currently broken it seems as well. Many times the action you see there is not what happened.

[Tippis]

…and perhaps a track recording that actually replicates what happened, rather than one that crashes they player plane into a comms tower on takeoff, 5 minutes into the 2-hour long mission that player just completed. :D

[Shahdoh]

The major problem with their replays is they try to recreate the control inputs by the player/client to recreate the flight. But this is done inaccurately and of course there is no corrective action recorded so the aircraft does not go where it was originally directed.

 

If they removed that feature alone and left it as recording position and stats, then I believe that would fix up to 80-90 percent of their track recording problems.

 

This can be verified by getting on to a server and only observing other aircraft for any length of time, then getting out and watching the track. There is a VERY high success rate in track accuracy in these conditions.

 

Fast forward at varying rates and pause are already provided (but could be made simpler), though rewind would definitely be a welcome addition.

[Kang]

A much older simulation had a rather nice trick about that, which I would appreciate in DCS:

Enable the recording of a track 'on demand' by key or menu. By just recording the part of a mission that we actually want to review later we'd have several advantages:

-Much reduced space usage

-No more need to watch a long mission all the way until you get to the point

-Thus no need to use a lot of time compression on the replay

-Much less time for errors to accumulate

[SharpeXB]

I notice that the replays never get the action right in SP. At least for any of the AI. It will record solo flights and action ok but anything including the AI becomes wildly different.

[probad]

i suspect the ai in the replays is not flying off of any script as one might expect but rather playing as itself again -- so it gets to revise its decisions for a different outcome

[Northstar98]

i suspect the ai in the replays is not flying off of any script as one might expect but rather playing as itself again -- so it gets to revise its decisions for a different outcome

 

That would make sense given that replays allow you to hop back in.

[SharpeXB]

Also when you go to external and then back to F1 view, it loses your head tracking from the original recording. Unless I’m missing something.

[Northstar98]

Also when you go to external and then back to F1 view, it loses your head tracking from the original recording. Unless I’m missing something.

 

Yeah, sometimes you're able to override the recorded camera.

[Kang]

i suspect the ai in the replays is not flying off of any script as one might expect but rather playing as itself again -- so it gets to revise its decisions for a different outcome

That is entirely true. That is also why tracks get worse and worse the longer they are. A small inconsistency at one point leads to a sometimes significant change in relative position after half an hour.

For example you end up not on 5oc of an AI plane, but 7oc. The AI will react accordingly and turn in a different direction than they did in the original scenario. Since the player plane repeats its steering cues, it now chases a non-existent ghost bandit while an actual enemy watches in confusion. That can be reproduced, although it is a bit of work.

[Checkmate]

I can't seem to get any of my tracks to play back showing what I actually did. Most of the times it shows me shooting at the sky when I was actually shoot at another aircraft. Is there anything I can do to improve the accuracy of my tracks.

 

Thanks,

 

Feetwet

Edited July 21, 2020 by Checkmate