GEIST

Hey! That annoying RL got in the way so I didn't have time for anything DCS for ages. Slowly getting back into it and hopefully not too much longer!

Hey! It's been a while. Progress has been really slow on this unfortunately. I've been playing around with the modularity aspect of the town. I am thinking of generating a few blocks that then can be placed, rotated etc to create a more complex layout without having to custom make everything. Not all of the buildings shown here are properly modeled so there is still some way to go but there are only a limited amount of 'modules' here that do create quite some complexity. I would probably say not going to happen this year - but I am slowly chipping away on it. But also need time to fly I've am also experimenting with a system to integrate the buildings more with the environment. Currently all buildings have dynamically placed geometries on the rooftops (vents, solarpanels, satelite dishes e.g.) but that same system could be used to place 'clutter' around the buildings as well. I always find it a bit distracting to have the hi-res buildings sitting next to the procedurally generated and completely flat/empty roads. What we need is trash, boxes, clutter etc around these areas as well - I think this could blend them better with the environment. The tech is in place, just needs to be used a bit differently.

Fair enough, but I think it’s the case with any progress where you need to take a leap at some point. MT, DLSS and GPUs really getting quite fast I think it’s reasonable to take the next step. 20 years - I think nobody rushed anything. Change can be scary but I have a feeling it’s the iPhone effect. Yeah a T9 phone works but nobody would ever go back these days. Have a Caucasus 2.0 map that looks and feels like the real thing and you may never want to go back. And heck keep the original in the game but have the 2.0 version available.

I am with you there. I know a terrain in dcs has to deliver on a lot more than msfs e.g. and performance is always a consideration. But still I can see there is more possible these days and with the right amount of optimization I think it can look good and work well. The falklands map e.g is based on real drm data and textures - far from a perfect map but from high altitudes it looks pretty good. Well, that's exactly what we're doing here right - in the caucasus map forum. It's an almost 2 decade old map which in my view should be retired and replaced by something up to date. If you go online 60% of all players are still playing on caucasus - it comes with the game and you can't expect everyone to have the same terrains. So this means you're kind of stuck flying that really old map with all it's drawbacks as the marianas map hasn't really had much traction (it is mainly a ww2 / f18 map to be fair) and I think it's a bit of a shame. But let's leave it there. It was already said there is nothing in the works atm so I guess it will be that way for some time. So maybe yeah adding those lights will be good after all.

Cheers for the reply. I get that it’s quite old and I just think it’s gotten to the point where the contrast between the modules and this map is quite big. i hope there can be a replacement in the near future. @draconus I didn’t mean to offend anyone. It’s been upgraded to the extend where it’s tolerable but yes I can see the old tech and low-res environment in that video. And the main issue with it is that the map doesn’t look like the real world. From a satellite view and airfield placement you can probably recognise where you are but otherwise it’s pretty random and not representative of a real world map. That’s what’s possible these days. DCS has the best flight model, the best clouds so I know the team can do it… maps are the last thing that needs to be brought to 2023.

I do wonder about that. You get all these awesome promo videos and showcases for planes etc and then you download dcs and load up a Caucasus mission and as new user probably wonder if you downloaded the wrong game… because you landed in 1992 graphics. The main issue I have with this though is that you can’t fly vfr and any ground attack is difficult because everything looks EXAXTLY the same… those 2 buildings and 1 tree scattered around the whole map so you can’t tell what’s what…. I don’t know. If I were in charge I’d get that map updated as prio #1… That being said, the new lighting model alone is probably a waste of time because this needs more than that.

I haven't had much time recently, and we now have the island as part of the map. I need to adjust it so it can sit "on top" of the existing island. Made some progress but still some tweaks to make before I can release it. Will update here once that's complete:

That stuff can be bought for only a few gold coins: https://quixel.com/megascans/home?category=3D plant

Hi! Bought the map! Love it! Flying high over the map is an absolute blast and by far the best looking map out there. None of that tiled texture nonsense mushed together like the other maps and for the first time it sometimes looks like a real flight sim. Well done - can't wait to see more updates for it. Flying low - well that's another story but undestandably that's a mammoth of a task and I am sure there is a long list of todo's. Now here is one suggestion to improve the map fundamentally with hopefully very little effort. Change the grass, clutter and ground detail! The default grass in DCS is terrible ... terrible! It's a kids drawing of grass and way too big on top of that. There is a project for ARMA3 which was abandoned as far as I can tell, but I think there are some amazing results in there. The grass textures are based on photo ref and not that hand drawn 2d plane thing - which just makes a world of a difference. Adding a few different plants, combined with the rock formations it adds a lot to the scenery. And given how old the Arma3 engine is and how big the maps are performance doesn't seem to be an issue. https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2066138453 Keep up the great work!

Hey chaps! Progress is slow but there is progress ... I've been playing around with a base for the nighttime look of the buildings. The current look of a flat white color on the windows at night is a bit dated in my view. The houses here sit at 700+ polygons each so still low-res enough to have lots of them on screen. Still loads of buildings to do but I wanted to get a working preset up and running first. @limoncino There is no download link yet. Still some way to go before I can aim for a release.

A few more updates. Focussing on making it work from a distance first. Close-up and detail work will come a bit later.

Combining my 2 favourite games into 1 - Sim City and DCS. Thinking of adding my Majors residence to it which will be indestructable and made out of gold - we'll see. Blocking out some houses. One thing I realised is that the cities are usually a lot more packed together which is completely missing from dcs. It's like a procedural house placement with default gaps between them which makes it look so odd. This is way more exciting that looking at screengrabs of planes right?

That would be the dream! Are there plans to do that? I feel like things got more restricted than before so I wasn't expecting that to happen... Out of the box the data is way too heavy though (not made for realtime) and would need a bit of processing I believe.

Ah for sure! Had the same idea - I even thought to make a few slightly different so you might be able to spot them if you look really closely. Could be a cool co-op thing to have an F-16/18 high up spotting with a TP and some choppers down below.

Having some fun with some 'flyover' screengrabs. Unit placement will be tricky when adding any sort of fields as the ground is not flat. They will always be a bit sunken into - but that's for later to worry about.