FAQ

Things people actually ask.

The questions that come up over and over. Question missing? Tell usand we'll add it.

I need help with my subscription or a mission. How do I reach support?: Open a support ticket on our Discord. Join discord.gg/fox3, then #tickets → Open Fox3 Ticket. That routes you straight to the Fox3 support queue.
I asked for X SAMs but only got Y. Why?: Each cell has a fixed anchor pool. If you ask for more than the pool has, the engine clips quietly. The preview panel on /build shows the per-role anchor pool ceiling.
The mission spawned aircraft I didn't pick. Why?: Default behavior: the engine fills player slots from the era pool (e.g. F-16C / F/A-18C in Modern). To force a specific aircraft per slot, expand Per-slot aircraft (advanced) on /build.
Why is my Modern mission missing AWACS?: Check the Doctrine controls card. AWACS has a three-option selector: Auto (era-aware: on for Modern/ColdWar, skipped for WWII), Always (force-inject regardless of era), Never (suppress entirely, even in Modern). Tanker has its own checkbox alongside. Both default to era-aware behavior.
I dropped a player and the AI didn't engage me. Why?: AI engage tasks were weak in older lifts. As of v6 (commit 6e10289) we add explicit CAP+EngageTargets tasks on activated red intercept groups. If you still see passive reds, file a feedback report and reference the cell.
My .miz won't open in DCS: “missing script” error.: We re-embed all script dependencies into the .miz at build time. If you still get the error, the cell was probably built before commit 03199f8. Rebuild. The new .miz will be self-contained.
Will my history follow me to a new browser?: Not yet. Currently, history is keyed on a browser cookie. When the joint launch with fox3servers.com ships, history will move to your real account.
Can I run this against my self-hosted DCS server?: For downloads, yes. The .miz works in any DCS install. For auto-deploy, only Fox3-fleet servers are supported (Tailscale + WinRM). Self-hosted users download the .miz and place it manually.
Does Mission of the Day count against my quota?: No. /today is free for everyone, every day.
Why are some scenarios “lifts” and others “full-adapt”?: A lift is a real production mission turned into a Fox3 cell with minimal modification. It is quick to add, but you can't use the full slider/recipe injection on it. A full-adapt has been rewritten to the Fox3 SEED_SPEC with explicit anchor points, which lets the engine inject composition cleanly. We start with lifts and promote popular ones to full-adapts based on feedback.
I have a feature idea. Where do I send it?: /feedback or in the Fox3 Discord. Feature requests are auto-promoted to GitHub issues if the classifier flags them as such.
Do threats actually shift between lives?: Yes. Every Fox3 mission ships with Fox3MenuKit v1.3 which holds 2/3 of composition picks in respawn pools. On each death, one is destroyed and a fresh one activates. Look for Fox3MenuKit: respawn re-roll in dcs.log to confirm. 30-second debounce per coalition prevents thrash.
How do I build a PvP mission?: Pick the Skirmish scenario on a PvP-capable map (Caucasus/Modern, Caucasus/ColdWar, Syria/Modern, Sinai/Modern, Falklands/ColdWar). Toggle PvP mode in the Player roster card. The red roster editor appears next to blue. Add slots for both sides, build, ship.
I want a 60-player mission. Will it work?: Yes. The engine distributes player groups across all friendly airfields (round-robin). When slot count crosses 40, dynamic spawn auto-enables on both coalitions to avoid parking-id collisions. Tested on Caucasus/Modern with 60 blue slots across Batumi + Kutaisi + Senaki.
How do I fly a helicopter mission?: Pick one of HeliCAS (Caucasus/Modern, blue rotary CAS), AirCav (Syria/Modern, hot-LZ insert), CSAR (Persian Gulf/Modern, downed-pilot recovery), or HindFight (Caucasus/ColdWar, red Mi-24P + Mi-8MT, the first red rotary roster in the corpus).
Does the engine catch broken missions before they ship?: Yes. Every Mission of the Day passes a tier-1 auto-QA gate (live load test against a real DCS server + dcs.log scan) before it goes out. Tier-2 (Tacview-based behavioral scoring with cap_engaged / sam_radiated / support_alive metrics) is shipped and runs when DCS_server is active on the test host.
My squadron wants kills + captured bases to carry across sessions. How?: Toggle Persistent campaign on /build (Creator tier). The builder bakes Fox3Persistence.lua into the .miz; on first load it creates a save file at Saved Games/DCS.openbeta_server/Fox3_Persistence/<mission_id>.json, then writes on every dead-unit / mission-end / 60s heartbeat. Reloading the same mission restores dead groups + author flags 600-899 + the captured-base flag. Same scenario re-built with a different composition seed gets the SAME mission_id and inherits the save. Full details on /help/persistent-mode, including the pause-on-load gotcha (the framework only fires once a real pilot slots in, so empty servers stay paused).
How does the F10 task system work?: Toggle Dynamic Tasking on /build (Fleet tier). Pilots pop F10 → Other → Fox3 Tasking → Available Tasks, accept one of seven kinds (STRIKE / SEAD / CAP / CAS / ESCORT / SUPPLY / CSAR), fly it, RTB. The framework scores PERFECT / PARTIAL / FAIL based on the kind's success criteria. For example, SUPPLY needs the supply crate delivered into the zone (slung or carried internally), CSAR is a 2-stage pickup-then-RTB, ESCORT requires both target dead AND ≥50% of the AI package alive. STRIKE and SEAD use target-dead conditions. My Active Tasks in the F10 menu shows progress per accepted task. Full pilot flow + scoring tables on /help/tasking.