A/G Radar Worries and ED work overload.

Hey all and hopefully an ED representative!

I am quite concerned at this point. I have been with DCS only for this year and its been a great learning experience to fly these wonderful jets but sadly I also started to learn about the production pace...

I believe there was a post in 2015 that spoke about the AG radar and I don't understand how DEKA Ironworks and HeatBlur managed to implement it in seemingly no time in comparison to ED.

Unless I am entirely incorrect and this is normal for all teams?

This is not intended as a bashing session against ED, far from it, but as a customer who has spent the money, I do feel concerned that I will be waiting another couple years considering that ED is now increasing its workload by adding the F16. (Which I also own and want an AG radar for without waiting 5 years. The time in which entire games get produced!)

In short, I do not understand ED's strategy and would like some clarification as to why they are seemingly overloading themselves with work and leaving an incredibly large and important function out of both jets.

Again, all is said in a fair tone, not to bash ED.

Good flying!

Cintra.

The JF-17 uses ED A/G radar API...

DEKA uses ED's ground radar API for their implementation, which is something to be considered...

*edit* sniped

Personally I do think that they might be releasing modules a little too early in the development phase, however they do also have the core game to work on, whereas third parties only have to work on their individual modules. That said, imo they've accomplished something pretty awesome over the last 10 years - back then, even having all these great modules online together was just a dream. Have to be patient, lots of things are being worked on:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=116893

We might not always agree with ED's way of doing things, but I never got the impression that they are just slacking off lol.

There are now two half finished modules in EDs inventory that are less complete than the JF17...

Must be a reason why they don't use their own ground Radar API?

from what I gather cruising these forums, it seems the profit strategy is frequently releasing new modules to generate profit with slow progress to finish the project or make core updates. I’m not sure if that’s totally true but that’s the impression I have from ready many commentaries on the subject.

Personally I think the strategy is flawed to a degree is it seems to create quite a bit of frustration, even from big fans. Releasing modules often that add to the experience even if not complete (Early Access) I have no issue with. Things like asset packs, maps, the carrier module (which if ED doesn’t release or pre order before Christmas they really are messing up), these all add something new but are the rarest and seemingly least frequent releases. But as I’ve commented elsewhere, it might be getting a little ridiculous that they keep releasing aircraft with Fighter and Attack roles, they’re all similar, different look and switches......drops basically the same bomb or fires a similar missile.

Don’t get me wrong ED and DCS World are amazing but the strategy has me scratching my head a bit and as a fan, I don’t want to get burnt out over incomplete products or core elements that are falling behind the pace of technology/graphics. Honestly I don’t know the answer for a fix, a lot of guys don’t seem to like the idea of subscription pay but the money does have to come from somewhere.....I honestly don’t know how they are making it work even at $80/module unless the community is way bigger than I realize.

Just my thoughts....

Whatever it is they are doing has been working for as long as i've been a fan of DCS, it is quite puzzling how its managed to be sustainable but i guess there is no competition for them at the moment so there is no pressure to develop any faster than the speed they have always gone.

Whatever works i guess...

Hard to be completely content, but imo they've done a great job. We have so much stuff to play with from WW2 and cold war stuff to modern fighters, attack aircraft, aerobatics planes and helos. We have VR, the performance is pretty good now and the graphics are some of the best. Everything has been steadily improving... considering that research and implementation is a lot more difficult than rehashing an FPS shooter for the 15th time, I'm pretty happy with where my money has gone.

As for the cost - thank God we're not on subscription like iRacing. PMDG aircraft on civilian sims are ~$100, and does anyone remember the cost of VRS SuperBug for FSX back in the day (even without weapons in the beginning, plus no integrated environment where we can fly with other modules)? We're in a niche, so slow and steady is the best we can hope for really.

My understanding is that ED also undertakes commercial/military contracts which we do not see or hear about. So additional revenue, if true.

Perhaps, if they are between contracts we may see increased work on the flight sim side. If not though I'm sure the priority is on the contracted work as they are probably worth a few dollars more.

My understanding is that ED also undertakes commercial/military contracts which we do not see or hear about. So additional revenue, if true.

 

Perhaps, if they are between contracts we may see increased work on the flight sim side. If not though I'm sure the priority is on the contracted work as they are probably worth a few dollars more.

That makes a lot of sense.....

And guys don't get me wrong I'm very thankful that we have a sim as awesome as DCS, just want to see it get better....

There are now two half finished modules in EDs inventory that are less complete than the JF17...

 

Must be a reason why they don't use their own ground Radar API?

It's on the to-do list and they probably just haven't got to that bit yet. And i'm sure if you ask everyone on here to put the list of outstanding items in priority order then you'll get a fair spread of answers i.e. they've decided to do other things first.

As for putting new jets out before others have finished, i'd hazard a guess that it is a lot about cash flow. I'd rather suffer concurrent releases getting there eventually than the company going bump because they had to absolutely finish something 100% before it came to market or before they could start anything else.

 

We might not always agree with ED's way of doing things, but I never got the impression that they are just slacking off lol.

Yup... Exactly this...

I also don't believe for a second that ED is just taking their sweet time for no good reason. And as far as the AG radar goes, there's also the matter with it currently being very demanding on hardware (just take the JF-17, switch to GMTI or MAP, do some hard left/right maneuvering while the radar is scanning the ground and you'll see), so maybe they want to optimize the API before they implement it in the Hornet and the Viper.

I believe this is the case, and why its currently in the hands of the terrain team right now. If we are supposed to be slacking off, Wags forgot to forward that memo to me :D

Thank you for joining the conversation NineLine. I dont imply that ED is slacking off, I can see Ed's commitment, I was saying more that I feel ED might be overloading itself with too many aircraft that will take too long to finish unless the studio size is increased.. which means more money is needed and do on which can be counter productive in a business sense.

But considering that the JF 17 is actually using ED tech, then I'm glad to see some progress and that you've told us that the tech is with the terrain team.

The ED staff includes all kind professions, and not at all everyone needs to know how to code or how to do 3D modeling and animations etc.

Everyone has their place in a team, and sometimes in development when a new feature needs to be implemented somewhere else so that project can advance, it means waiting and if possible and required, resources are allocated elsewhere for that moment from that project.

It doesn't mean everyone is on one project all together, or that you can just move people around in their projects.

ED is just doing all kind things simultaneously and some are major and some are minor. And when more tasks are waiting something else to be completed first, it cause line that can't be speeded up.

Software development is like a building a cardhouse, at here and there you need to get few cards swapped that are middle of the house, and sometimes you need to swap the very first cards you laid on the table.

It is slow, difficult process more you want to do a complex core technologies.

Especially if you could brake everyone's compatibility in that process...

Sorry, but what does API stand for in this context?

Sorry, but what does API stand for in this context?

This

Or in short: A programming interface through which someone (the 3rd party devs in this case) can access functions of someone elses (ED in this case) code.

Sorry, but what does API stand for in this context?

I believe this is the case, and why its currently in the hands of the terrain team right now. If we are supposed to be slacking off, Wags forgot to forward that memo to me :D

Or radar, or whatever... ;)

LOL, I think sleep depravation is already showing for some of them.

Why is it low priority? A very large amount of players is waiting for it for a long time.