Re the confusion about the INS alignment portion in this video, totally my fault for not being more clear - It was to see if aligning the INS "properly" (ie on the ground) before moving, rearming etc, makes any difference vs not doing so. Several people here rightly point out, that the INS in IFA mode will align (and update) this system for you in flight. This mode was always to be used, and hopefully it's a given, if the plane has no idea where it is, it can't possible guess when its over the target. Apologies for this confusion, i'll do my best to be more clear in future videos, thanks for your feedback.
IFA is a flight mode who make INS in flight with GPS ( take longer than ground/CV INS but make it), if you want test without INS you should be on NAV and not IFA You can make an align INS in less 3 minute if you select on the HSI the button STR HDG
Also his positionkeeping source automatically reverts to GPS, then TCN, then ADC so in reality his hit chance didnt depend on INS accuracy at all. Do people even read related documentation before doing videos like this?
I'd like to see JDAMs released from 30k for IFA INS testing, but even if the tests are imperfect, I think the main point is that when you're teaching new players, these topics can wait until later. IFA is good enough and HMD alignment isn't that important even for A2G work, because you'll probably refine your aim with the TGP anyway. I did the HMD alignment step once and then stopped bothering with it.
@@wmouse i'm ok with that for TOO release, but il you make a strike with cruiser missile or JDAM on PP release, you have not TGT pod. and if your TGT pod was not align, you can be sur that bomb just go out. IFA take 15 minute (approximatly) in flight so, normaly you will be align before bombing. I already see that, wrong align, bombs going 100nm away, releas point too far, ... Sincerly, align in STR HDG take 2 minute, HMD 30s, best way to don't have problem
Hey great video! (and thanks for calling me out, lol) Wanted to add that also not aligning your HMD will throw off any data link contacts that would normally appear on your HMD, such as wingmen, friendly aircraft and hostiles if you're trying to lock them up with a HOB AIM-9X. The seeker head of the missile will not be aligned with where the pilot is looking, which could prevent a lock.
As a few others have said, using IFA slowly aligns the plane (10 minutes if flying) so it's unclear how aligned you were by the time you dropped. Also INS alignment can be reduced to 1.5 minutes by using the standard heading. Baring a scramble situation there is NO reason not to align both your helmet and INS. To test the INS more completely, put it to NAV where it doesn't use GPS and you will barely be able to navigate let alone put bombs on target without an alignment first.
In all fairness, the question being asked isn't so much "do you need an aligned INS", as it is "do I really need to sit on the tarmac for 8 minutes waiting for the INS". And the answer to that appears to be: "no, just do in-flight alignment and it'll be fine by the time you get to a target"
@@bronco5334 the obvious answer to the question you presented, for informed DCS F/A-18 players, is a clear no. We've known about what Greg Duncan said for a while - used stored heading and it only takes 90 seconds (pretty much all of us do this), and you can even use IFA on top of that. I use NAV after taking off and won't use IFA until I specifically see a use case for it. The testing approach and focus in this video doesn't seem to be challenging the core concept "how much does INS alignment and HMD alignment really throw off your 'aim'?" Essentially asking "is it really necessary at all?" -- the answer to that should be unequivocally yes. I'm actually surprised those shots were that close to target, but IFA explains it a lot. There might have been an HMD change because Spudknocker has a video out showing how inaccurate the HMD is without alignment and it's quite substantial. But the biggest flaw is that if you want to test INS accuracy, why drop dumb bombs and observe where they land? I don't know if DCS models a bit of wind changing like a breeze affecting ballistics, but exact plane attitude during the drop and g-loading matters just as much as "400kts,, 4000ft." 1 degree difference in pitch, or a few degrees difference in wings left-right level wwould the difference in most of these drop differences. So remove imperfect ballistic delivery from the equation, and point to a ground target with known GPS coordinates from F10 map or mission editor; fly the plane with a targetting pod and pull the data from it, then compare. Regardless of an imperfect CCRP or CCIP delivery due to conditions or pilot slight error, you'll know what the targetting system is trying to guide you towards. To full produce a video, find the actual surface distance between GPS coordinate differences. Is it a few feet off? Few meters? Several meters? 10s of meters or more? Reporting this should make it clear if maybe error is due to targetting being inconsistent where the plane 'sees through' verticality of the target and is actually going through it until it hits the ground. This is why you want to target the wheels/base of structures to ensure accurate hits. I actually dislike Spudknocker's videos because they are a bit long winded (as am I), but this video was an actual waste of time.
The biggest flaw is that if you want to test INS accuracy, why drop dumb bombs and observe where they land? I don't know if DCS models a bit of wind changing like a breeze affecting ballistics, but exact plane attitude during the drop and g-loading matters just as much as "400kts, 4000ft." 1 degree difference in pitch, or a few degrees difference in wings left-right level would account for the accuracy difference in most of these drops. So remove imperfect ballistic delivery from the equation and point to a ground target with a known GPS position from the F10 map or mission editor; fly the plane with a targetting pod and pull the coordinate data from it, then compare. Regardless of an imperfect CCRP or CCIP delivery due to conditions or pilot slight error, you'll know what the plane's targetting system is trying to guide towards. To fully produce a video, find the actual surface distance between the coordinates. Is it a few feet off? Few meters? Several meters? 10s of meters or more? That is a useful answer because assuming there is a difference, a few feet off is nothing more than aiming at different parts of a vehicle. A few meters isn't going to make a difference either outside of precision rocket delivery (A-10C exclusive right now I think, APKS) -- even an AGM-65 is probably going to be fine if for some reason you don't visually correlate/correct before firing. Several meters off is going to make a difference in 500lbs bomb delivery on a not-so-light target or bigger, and more than 10m off is pretty much not aiming unless you're using a cluster bomb. I actually dislike Spudknocker's videos because they are a bit long winded (as am I), but this video was an actual waste of time.
IFA is just GPS mode. The real planes have the INS still just in case the GPS gets interfered with by the enemy. In game there is no interference. So it makes sense to me that you can just switch it to IFA and forget about it. That's exactly what a former F18 pilot playing DCS said on his channel while comparing the tutorial start up to what he used to do. That targeting point drift on the helmet was nasty though. I'll have to remember to deal with it when I finally get some kind of eye tracking set up and I can use that feature.
In short they both matter, do both every time. (with STD HDG) I can go from spawn to ready to taxi in 2.5 minutes with everything done. INS and HMD alignments, loading, radar profiles, bomb profiles, etc.
could you make a video on the f18c doing a precise bombing run using its Synthetic Aperture Radar feature in severe low visibility weather conditions? I think that would be an entertaining video. Thanks!
If I told you, you might be disappointed, but seen as you asked nicely... In post I put slightly different colour corrections onto the video that corresponded to the various runs, so there's a subtle difference between each run. I use premiere pro, the colour correction tab, trying out the various "creative effects" in there. Most were too strong, so I dropped the percentage slider down until I found the result you see.
The drift is probably a bug because I experienced it ages ago when they introduced HMS targeting. It was in hot start Hornet from the carrier. I did a subtitled stream/video a year ago (DCS w VR na RTX 3080) where it can be seen if anyone's interested.
I’m having a massive problem in MP, but not SP. Everything is completely fine in SP In MP whether auto-start or doing it myself everything is fkd. I can’t set trim on ground or in air, as soon as the wheels leave the ground the aircraft pitches straight up almost uncontrollably, trying to set Autopilot works but sets off the master caution, no ability to use A/G systems like CCIP or Auto. It’s like the INS Alignment is failing, but it doesn’t say it’s failed. According to the computer in the aircraft everything is A’ok. Even if it were my HOTAS causing the pitch problem, which it isn’t, that doesn’t explain the others.
What makes me think it’s an issue with the game is that another thing that’s gone tits up since the last update is Jester in MP. Again in SP he’s fine no problems. In MP tho he will say “roger” but not do what I asked him to do, mostly with the LANTIRN pod. So I think something got fkd up in the last update that seems to only be affecting me and only in MP. Before the update I had never run into any issues, ever. But now I keep running into problem after problem after problem in MP. One last thing is AGM-88s in MP. Don’t know wtf it is but in MP my HARMs never hit the target. They will hit the ground NEAR the target, in front of it behind it or to the side. Never actually HiT the target. I’ve tried about 30 times know firing 4 at a time at all different distances and altitudes, but every single time they just hit the dirt if they don’t get shot down. I’ve even made sure the radar was tracking me and even shooting at me all the way until they should have hit the target, but they still just hit the dirt all around the target by like 5-10 feet… Again in SP no problems, they hit their mark 80% of the time.
Wow thanks for lengthy thought out comment. I gotta be honest, I've not flown a HARM mission online since the whole multi thread thing, but last time I did, and I'm going back at least 6 months, my experience matched yours. Regarding the F18 pitch up motion, this was always affecting people who didn't do the FCS start-up & set takeoff trim properly with flaps 1 (half)... What I don't understand is why this would only affect you in multiplayer. I flew with the F18 the last couple days online, and it behaved fine in that regard. Perhaps try a full autostart when online, ensure your flaps lever is half way, just to ensure 100% nothing is somehow getting missed (chat window used to glitch things for example).
@@DCSDigitalCombatSimulator thanks for being open to suggestion my good sir. PS, ED are asking you join their discord, they would like to have you share your content under the creators section!
