Dangerzone

Doh! That's the second time today I've done that. (I normally view the 'unread' list - and missed which forum it was in). Egg and my face are one. Still would love to know where that video was shot.

Was very handy when we had 2 installs (Open Beta and Stable) - because often the Stable could rip from the Open Beta version when a stable was released and save a lot of downloading. I still have 2 installs - one for testing and mods, and one for my actual gameplay (I'm blessed enough to have the drive space available). I often will update my test first, so if there are issues (like antivirus breaking stuff) - I'm able to address that before I break my gaming build.

Sorry - more of an inhouse Aussie joke. When mainlanders visit Tasmania, and are asked "where do you live", often the answer is "Australia" as though Tasmania is a different country. (And at times, there's jokes about Tassie being a different country too). And the other joke is New Zealand just being another state of Australia... so if New Zealand is in... why not Tasmania. (Again, a bit of a 'down-under' inhouse joke. Us Aussies and Kiwi's love a good bit of friendly banter).

Huh? I thought that it wasn't "quite ready yet - but undergoing testing" and missed this release? is it really in?!!? Edit: Sorry - different flight director. I thought you were talking about the flight directors on the supercarrier. My mistake. (Just notices the section this topic is in).

Don't complain. At least you've got it. Tasmania still hasn't been added as a country.

What map are we talking about? I'd also love to know where this grass is, or what the settings are to get it. I don't believe I've seen (or noticed it before): Most of my flying has been in deserts with not a lot of grass. Is this Afghanistan?

There is a slightly more optimized way of doing this. If you copy your DCS install (before removing the maps) to another location (doesn't matter if it's on an External HDD, NAS, or anywhere you have the space available), you can add a new text file called "dcs_local_source.txt" to your main DCS install, and put in the first line of that the path to the copied install. Then, when the updater needs to update, it will first look at this source for any available files that it needs prior to downloading them. This means that when you update, any files that haven't changed that don't need to be updated will get sourced locally first - and then it will only download the necessary files. This should stop your update from being any larger than necessary.

ED - thank you for the last 2 patches. The amount of "Fixed" showing up in these 2 patches has definitely not been unnoticed, and is a real encouragement to many of us. Please keep the 'fixes' coming.

Hi BigNewy, Thanks for the detailed reply. I can take it then, that out of that list we're probably going to see Plane Directors, DTC and some Weather as the next most likely items (if comparing with other items in that list). That's more than a hint that I was expecting, so thanks. Still - would be nice to peak see some of the W.I.P. in a 'beyond' video nonetheless. So... which will come out first. Dynamic Campaign Engine, or Half Life 3. Both people have been waiting around for a similar time frame.

I'm assuming you mean 1-2GB per livery? If so - if an aircraft has 12 liveries to choose from, that could potentially add up rather quickly.

I'm only guessing - but it may be possible to delete some of them. When you get a module, by default that module has a number of different skins/liveries that the player can choose from. All these are likely part of the 14GB of data. I know with 3rd party liveries, if someone chooses one, and it's not available on another player's computer, then they default back to the default livery instead. As such - maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for ED to have as part of their installer/updater, the option to include all default liveries, or the mnimum. If minimum is selected, then any module not installed would only download a single skin, and that would be used for all skins, regardless of what the player is choosing. (So kinda like how 3rd party liveries work already - but have the same type of logic for the official liveries instead). Not sure, but I can only imagine that it would have the potential to save a lot of drive space as more modules become available?

A nice way to bring balance to the force post. It is a hard community to please, and like you, I don't mind things being released as they're being worked on too, but that's not what I got out of the video. For me, it's more about breaking things that were working (introducing new bugs where they didn't exist previously), and then sidelining those bugs for years because they're now focused elsewhere. I mean, if I had a mechanic work on my racing car in-between races to improve performance, but while doing so, he blew a fuse for the power steering, it wouldn't be good. But for him then to continue to focus on performance and ignore the blown fuse so the car doesn't operate as well as it did before - that's a real problem. Not quite a fair comparison, but honestly - sometimes that's what it feels like with DCS - at least from a mission builder and server administrators perspective. How the MOOSE guys keep the passion to keep up with what goes on - honestly, they deserve a medal! I also feel for ED, and those that are the meat shield between ED and the public. (Looking at you Nineline and BN). You've got a real tough job at the moment (especially looking at youtube comments), and I expect it's the toughest you've probably experienced while doing this job at ED. Keep holding in there - we're all hoping for better times ahead! Sometimes it's easy to forget you're limited with your influence - yet you take a lot of the brunt of the dissatisfaction.

No doubt, you guys are working on their newest video - 2025 and beyond. Just a request - if at all possible (I know it's a little out of the ordinary for normal 'beyond' video's), but I think it would be really nice to have included at the end of the video (or in a separate video/newsletter) - a short update as to where things are currently at with: Plane Directors on the Super Carrier Air Traffic Control Server Multi-Threading Vulkan Implementation Dynamic Campaign Engine Data Transfer Cartridge Weather System (including Thunderstorms please) Save / Load Game State Spherical Earth Module Modules are fantastic to look forward to - but these are a lot of very much sought after functions that in many cases some users are probably just as eager (if not more) to have some hints, previews of, etc. I'm not asking for release dates or anything - I know that's impractical. It would however be nice to have some newsletter/video/etc talking about these systems, and a rough idea of how far along the development cycle each one currently is, or which ones we could expect to see sooner, and which ones are still years away. Thanks for consideration DZ

Can you post your script of what you're doing - as well as your DCS log file here - and I can take a look.

Yes, but to be fair they could be making 100, if not 1000 sales for every one that ED does. That’s the price we pay (excuse the pun) for a niche product. It’s not just a price tag at the store. There’s a cost involved to produce, and if there’s less people to share that cost, we pay more for less. Obviously as a consumer, if you can spend the same and get more that you’re satisfied with, then get that, but if you want a niche product then consideration needs to be made for the smaller market size.

And there's another way to do it. Thanks heaps Cfrag!

Sorry mate, I don't know, but I doubt it. Event_Dead is still broken AFAIK, and scoreboards seem to be bugged as well. I think there's some serious issues with events behind the scenes being broken, and this would seem related. Try it for yourself, but I would honestly suggest for your own sanity that you find another way to do what you want to achieve. Waiting for ED to fix something that was working and they've now broken is a fools game. '73 (< kudo's to you if you get the reference)

The point being - that if the Afghanistan map also didn't have pop-in's on his video - but does for the rest of us - the build might be a build we still don't have access to - not necessarily a build associated with that map. If I'm watching a trailer - I'd like to know that I can achieve the same graphics when the map is released - and not get different results because they're recorded on a special build designed for better graphics, as opposed to what we can achieve with a top end system.

Just ED covering their bases I'm guessing. Gives more for the user to try to see what differences are made is my best guess. I use Process Lasso as well - restrict ED to P cores only. Restrict other apps that are running at the same time to E-Cores to ensure DCS gets the premium cuts of the processor.

So your experience is different to the Afghanistan trailer video that was posted. That doesn't bode well for me having confidence that we won't have the same issues with Iraq then if people are having issues with Afghanistan but the Afghanistan trailer didn't have pop-ins either. Either GA is using a build for his video's we don't have access to - or it would be good to find out what settings he has so that we can replicate with our own gaming.

You can notice it in 2D - but you have to be moving to get the effect. (Still shots) And yes... we're approaching the 2 year mark now. The thing that ticks me off with this stuff is I'm fairly sure that it was fine when the map was first released - the bug only got introduced 2 years ago. It's one thing to say we're working/focused on other projects at the moment to refer to slowing down development maybe of some EA modules... but it's another thing to say we're no interested in fixing something that we've broken that used to be OK because we're focused elsewhere... for 2 years. While this isn't a game breaking issue like some other things - it's unfortunately sent a message that it's no priority for them to fix something if they break it after it's been developed. Actions (or lack thereof) speak louder than words.

Are you saying they pop in 'in your game', or in the Afghanistan video I posted? I can't see them popping in on the video (unless I'm missing something) - which has me wondering what settings GA was using when he recorded the trailer video's, or if he's using a closed internal build?

Very good pickup. I've just gone back and looked at the Afghanistan map trailer. Doesn't appear to be any tree's popping in there either: 0:51-1:00 I don't have the Afghanistan map, but just wondering if anyone can confirm if tree's don't pop in like the above trailer too or not? (Reason I ask is I'm wanting to clarify whether the Afghanistan map and Iraq map trailers are real expectations of what we can expect to achieve - and if so what settings we need to stop the tree's / shrubs from popping in).

Can you please provide a track file of your 4° landing so we can observe all the other parameters to see if there's something else that might be the cause of this, or if it is indeed a bug? I don't have issues with carrier landings, but I know there's so many things I could be doing different to you that my experience isn't really valid until we can compare everything.

If people have paid good money for products/promises not delivered - I think we're getting to a point where maybe the blame needs to be shared. If it's "Once - shame on them, Twice, shame on me" - then where should we be 10 times over? Things have gone on the way they are long enough that we know we're not going to change ED with their priorities - and we know how things are. As unfortunate as it may be - we don't get to decide how DCS is developed - we just get to play the hand we're dealt. Either we're happy to buy what they're delivering, or we're not. Seeing this, and then expecting something different from ED is... well - what's the saying. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? The fact is, many are happy with pre-purchasing, and EA. For those that aren't - and have been burned by EA before - they need to take some onus on themselves to learn from their mistakes. This isn't saying that I agree with the way that ED is doing things (I don't), nor am I defending them... just to question how long before we take some responsibility for our own actions and happiness - especially when we have a good idea how things will turn out, but get on the hype train anyway - and then complain when we have a repeat cycle. We can pre-order, or for the sake of ~$6 - we can wait until it's released, and see what others who have purchased it say. That's $6 well invested in my books, so I'm happy to wait. Pre-order makes no sense to me. Pay for a product with no ETA, and no way of knowing how good it is. But I understand others see it differently, so great they have the option. Whether it's VR Headsets, DCS Modules, DCS terrains, etc - it's pretty obvious to me that trailers and content creators do not give accurate representations of what users will experience. For me, waiting until something is released, and seeing real consumer recordings on youtube, and feedback is far more valuable than $6. To keep my own sanity, I have changed the way I perceive Early Access. It now means - have it 'as is', and don't expect frequent ongoing development. Then when development comes (could be a few weeks, could be a year, could be 2 years) - it's a bonus. If I don't like the module or map how it is in Early Access - I have no expectations for anything to change, and thus won't buy. (At least until something does change). But I have come to expect now that teams will be 'distracted' by the next thing as soon as they get the EA out the door, and simply plan accordingly. The FA18 getting out of EA without the DTC is proof of that. You only get what's available now - everything else is a bonus. That's not saying that teams aren't doing ongoing development - but I think the DCS 'world' that we live in is at a place where one in the hand is worth two in the bush for many. Our choice is to either keep being upset and wanting ED to change their priorities... that never comes - or lower our expectations, and decide with lower expectations if something is worth it or not. We don't get to make the (DCS) world we live in, we just get to choose how we interact with it. Lowering expectations can make life more enjoyable. It means I don't commit $'s to something I'm not satisfied with, and when things exceed my expectations, and it's really the only way for me to maintain my interest in DCS, Nothing else has changed - but I'm happier because my expectations are realistic within the DCS borders. It also saves me spending some $'s on things I'm not satisfied with in advance because I get to review before I commit - while allowing me to focus on the things that are at or exceed a level I'm happy with and enjoy those. For people who are upset with Pre-Order, or Early Access - I'd strongly recommend that you give changing your priorities a try. I know - "if we accept it, it will never change". Well - people haven't accepted it, and it still didn't change. So now the question is - how valuable is your happiness and sanity? DCS is here to serve me. To bring me joy. If it gets to the stage it's work, or it's causing me mystery - it's better to walk away. As for the name-calling to the mods here - that's totally unacceptable, just as much as someone abusing someone behind the counter in retail for a decision that a CEO at a chain-store has done. I've modded forums before. It sucks. Can't speak your mind because even if you agree with some people - you're paid to represent a company and that's your job. If you're frustrated - focus on the issues at hand. Leave personal attacks out of it - because in the end - what you're saying says far more about you than it does about the people you're slandering.