DCS: Supercarrier by Eagle Dynamics

Supercarrier Development Report



An important and challenging feature of DCS: Supercarrier has been the development of night operations. Over the past year, we have been working on several aspects that will soon be released to Open Beta. These include new deck crew animations that utilize the new skeletal animation system, new animations that are specific to night operations and the inclusion of light wands. This will make deck operations at night much easier and more realistic.

For the aircraft, deck crew and objects on the “roof” at night, we have improved lighting and shadows based on the deck and tower lights. We continue working on this feature to enhance performance and frame rates. Please note that deck shadows will be an option that you will need to switch on in the graphic options.

On final approach, you’ll now need to contend with the “burble” effect. This disturbed air flow coming off the back of the carrier results in a brief partial loss of lift as you close in. This can make things much more of a challenge if you are unprepared. We continue to tweak this effect and you can expect the first iteration shortly.

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Phant

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Phant

Supercarrier Development Progress

DCS: Supercarrier is undergoing its next stage of updates, which will include improvements to the textures and lighting of the Air Boss (PRIFLY) station and Briefing Room functionality. In parallel, we are also working on directing aircraft from parking to catapults and from the landing box to parking.

We continue work on the PRIFLY deck and Briefing Room of DCS: Supercarrier. The Briefing Room functionality that will allow mission planning information to be shared across tablets. The briefing officer will also be able to display details, like the F10 map, on the projector prior to mission time. Later, we will expand the Briefing Room art to include multiple squadrons.

   

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Phant

Supercarrier Development Progress



The Supercarrier has been receiving a lot of work behind the scenes. This can be divided into the following features:

Ready Room and PRIFLY (airboss deck). Both views will provide new functionality never seen before in a DCS product. To complete this, we will first need to release the Vulkan API into DCS.

Both rooms will be a 3D environment that support VR and Voice Chat that allows you to:

• Ready Room
  • Review your mission brief and set up your aircraft.
  • View various cameras around the deck.
  • Chat with other players.
  • Review the mission map.
  • Live sounds from “the roof”.

• PRIFLY
  • View the deck below you.
  • Direct the carrier’s heading and speed with wind indications (permission controls available for network play).
  • Control deck lighting.
  • View PLAT CAM.
  • View plotting map.

New Plane Directors and Captains. The next big step is to add plane captains next to the aircraft that pass the pilot to a series of plane directors (yellow shirts) that will route the aircraft from its parking spot to the assigned catapult. Upon landing, yellow shirts will direct the aircraft from the landing box to its assigned parking location or back to a catapult.

    

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Phant

Supercarrier Development Progress

DCS: Supercarrier will soon offer more immersive and realistic flight deck operations with the addition of plane directors and plane captains that direct aircraft from parking locations to catapults and out of the landing area.

We continue to add the logic and animations that govern how aircraft are directed from a parking location to a catapult and how aircraft are directed out of the landing area after recovering.

This includes new yellow shirt plane directors and brown shirt plane captains. Aircraft will be handed off between multiple plane directors to reach their assigned catapults with realistic animations.

Closed Beta Testing of this is on-going. This is a complex and time consuming task to account for a myriad of conditions that could “break” the logic. Thank you for your patience as we strive to complete this new feature soon.

 

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Phant

Covoli davvero un lavorone! tanto di cappello...Non che mi interessi particolarmente questa funzionalità ma davvero un gran lavoro 

Supercarrier Development Report

One of the most anticipated features is the Airboss (PRIFLY deck) functionality, which will add a new layer of realism and functionality to carrier operations.

The Airboss will offer a superb view of the entire flight deck and provide important information such as weather, carrier speed and heading, and more. It will also give direct control of the carrier’s heading and speed for players to manoeuvre the ship, turn the carrier into the wind for launch and set up recovery operations. An ATC display provides an indication of air traffic around the carrier with integrated radios and Voice Chat interoperability. Arrayed around the PRIFLY deck are a number of video displays such as the landing PLAT camera with further functionality planned such as carrier light management and elevator controls.

We are also making good progress with the finalization of the Briefing Room. This will provide a centralized hub for mission planning and coordination. It will feature a fully 3D briefing room that can be customized per squadron. Each pilot will have a multi-function tablet capable of equipping their aircraft and planning their mission route. The goal of the Briefing Room is to allow both single player and multiplayer pilots to have an immersive and realistic mission preparation phase that places them into the action, even before entering the cockpit. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to refine these long awaited additions to the Supercarrier module.

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Phant