2021 (and earlier) DCS Newsletter Discussion Thread

Could you please tell me what " secret terrain " means?

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4093986#post4093986

 

" Our new ‘secret’ terrain is coming along very well. We hope to be releasing screens shots soon "

Its the new free map that we dont know the location of yet.

Thank you

Hi ED,

Just wanted to say thanks for a substantial update!

The information about the KA-50 and the Mi-24 are the best in a long time! The screenshots of the new cockpit of the KA-50 are a feast for the eyes! But we have to wait until the middle of 2020 ... really now ?? ;-)

Nice new letter, especially the news on the super carrier being 95% finished, this would make a great Christmas present. On the other hand I would like to see the team complete the Hornet targeting pod, specifically the HUD symbol. Things are on course for a good year ending.

The information about the KA-50 and the Mi-24 are the best in a long time! The screenshots of the new cockpit of the KA-50 are a feast for the eyes! But we have to wait until the middle of 2020 ... really now ?? ;-)

Middle of 2020 for black shark 3,, they said nothing about release for new pit for black shark 2 which we currently have. Mid 2020 has been known for awhile if you follow ka50 thread in Russian forum.

glad to see all the graphical aspects. Black Shark 3 will be a blast and the Super Carrier should be really fun to learn. Thanks ED.

Great newsletter today! Surprisingly good progress on many planned things! Also love, that there´s always some attention to improved details like the missile effects.

The new Ka-50 cockpit looks fantastic!

Guess this DCS year will be closed with some great stuff.

The New Supercarrier tickles my excitement being 95% early access complete.

I am reckoning this would come as an upcoming Christmas present.

The New Supercarrier tickles my excitement being 95% early access complete.

I am reckoning this would come as an upcoming Christmas present.

Supercarrier: the model is 95% complete with deck crew animations progressing well.

It's the model that's 95% complete. There may still be a significant amount of actual functionality, optimising, and bug-fixing to do before it's ready for EA release.

That said, I'm also quietly hopeful of a pre-Christmas release. :thumbup:

Wow, this is really a hard-hitting update detailing a higher-than-expected progress on a number of modules/features. Thanks.

The New Supercarrier tickles my excitement being 95% early access complete.

Be aware that "Early Access Complete" could mean anything. So when the supercarrier comes to early access, we will have an incomplete F18 and an incomplete supercarrier. Not to mention the F16, which currently doesn´t even have a damage model for simple dogfights.

I for myself have decided to wait for the final products and tread early access as "product not released yet" for me. I like DCS, but I lack the fun part in flying half finished products. So for me there wasn´t anything new (finished) in 2019.

Taking back my earlier post of a 95% early access complete as I hastenly took model for module.

I can understand the frustration with the way and pace of development especially for the Hornet. I think Ed wants to flesh up the Viper systems as close to Hornet, hence retaining dev resources for the Hornet at the Viper end for now.

I do not really know the intricacies involved in software development but If it were possible, how about a situation whereby an early access module is well developed to a deeper level before introducing another. Too many unfinished early access create lot of pressure on the developer and bad vibes between users and developers.

The supercarrier ATC communication and the animated deck crews are quite a big deal for me. This could be my last early access purchase as I have got most modern aircraft I like already in my hangar.

Honestly - just wait for them to declare it complete. I’m not buying anything EA from Ed again until they can show that they have at least a quality threshold they can hit, without impacting other products, and most importantly complete products within a reasonable (to me) timeframe. A year seems about right.

Honestly - just wait for them to declare it complete. I’m not buying anything EA from Ed again until they can show that they have at least a quality threshold they can hit, without impacting other products, and most importantly complete products within a reasonable (to me) timeframe. A year seems about right.

How about infusing that in development model of these modules and sticking with it.

Don´t want to open another early access discussion here, which is dominated by a louder minority.

I think, Eagle Dynamics and the 3rd Party developer already agreed to the overall community consensus, that bringing all early access modules into a final release version with ongoing bugfixing as a top priority, as for the community and in general the aircraft modules are the core of DCS World.

I personally don´t need more new aircraft modules, after the EA release of the F-16. Don´t need a F-15.

With the J-11A there is also coming up a 4th Gen. jet for the red, which should be considered as a very capable opponent for blue. There are always people, who demand today this airplane and tomorrow another one, without being aware of the effort in developing and the downsides for more important issues within DCS World at the moment.

With regard to the announced Carrier early access in the newsletter, there is coming up a totally new element to DCS World, which might be a game changer for many organized DCS player and a most outstanding feature in the competition of flight sims. I feel there is a great changing time in DCS at the moment. Changing times always needs patience and confidence to be effective.

Also I think that the current situation with early access modules of the 3rd Party developers, as well for the early access modules of Eagle Dynamics, depends on ED top priority for the implementation of Vulkan, which also touches the core of DCS World.

It is understandable, the development of EA modules to not be pushed at the moment unless Vulkan is implemented, for not working hard to finish and bugfix the EA modules and then after getting the modules to the release version start again hard work for revising the work they have done before for making them properly work with Vulkan - I guess the developers would like to have this done in one working process: bringing the modules to release version and bugfixing while porting them for Vulkan.

Can´t express the appreciation for looking into minor improvements, like weather/ cloud system, ingame SRS, dynamic campaign or graphical overhaul of existing older modules beside the massive changes with top priority.

If ED agree to that consensus, why are they still working on the mosquito, the hind, the jug, when the F18 is far behind completion, the F16 is missing a huge amount of basic systems, the a10 is being graphically updated, the kamov is getting a complete new (paid) version/upgrade, and they’re building the paid supercarrier update on top of all the core sim issues.

Stop working on the ones not released, sort out the hornet and the viper, bring the kamov and the a10 up to scratch and THEN start working on the jug and the mosquito. Only problem with that is no money will be coming in as they can’t build up the hype for a EA cash injection.

I’m starting to think their business model is flawed and they need to change it or they’ll hit the wall (if they haven’t done so already) on what they can accomplish with their team in a reasonable time frame.

Oh, of course - then there’s the MAC elephant in the room that will be sure to be sucking resources as it appears they think it will be able to compete with warthunder etc...

Speaking of... wasn’t their meant to be some news on MAC in this update?!

Edit: ps - cloud updates is not minor. They are not just pretty graphics. They need to sync across multiplayer clients and block IR sensors. If ED don’t do that then it points to a pretty massive understanding gap...

Question: If the Super Carrier is 95% complete ATM and when it's released it's 95%+ would it still be considered an Early Release or feature complete module with the normal bug fixes and adjustments which are expected with all modules?

So what I'm asking do the 95% refer to the completion of the module as a whole or to the early release state?

So what I'm asking do the 95% refer to the completion of the module as a whole or to the early release state?

Neither. It's the visual model that's 95% complete, not the module itself.

Neither. It's the visual model that's 95% complete, not the module itself.

:thumbup:

I just love these development updates. It's like a slap in the face to all of those who think nothing ever happens to x or y while we've been waiting literally for years to get certain things. This just emphasizes how complex and huge things are and in the end we'll have such a great flight sim anyway.

Is there anything that could be said about whether new Black Shark and A-10C will sport the modern BC7 texture compression format for the Cockpit and some of the new liveries, these are the primary things that get viewed up close so I think it's a no brainer, even if the RAM/VRAM cost is higher, it's wortwhile in this area, while the rest doesn't necessairly need to be in this format.

BC7 DDS is just the final compression, shouldn't affect any work that has already been done, source textures are always much much higher in quality.

The Memory industry is finally moving on to higher densities after the korean manufacturers were finally slapped for cartel behavior we will see thankfully prices go down or more density for the same price, meaning in 2-3 years 32GB of RAM and 16GB of VRAM may be the new normal.

I don't think we should be looking at "gamer" segments, they haven't moved in years, where they mostly play these ever cheeper looking online games that don't need as much RAM, and use that as "the market standard", and it's all just 1080p. This is the thing I mentioned earlier, while it's all adjustable to lower end, but the higher end should be higher and if DCS sets itself apart, the hardware reviewers might finally take it into account when reviewing, something moves in that area hopefully.

Could you please tell me what " secret terrain " means?

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4093986#post4093986

 

" Our new ‘secret’ terrain is coming along very well. We hope to be releasing screens shots soon "

It means they know what it is and you don't. :)

:gun_rifle: LOL