R.Z.

These look absolutely awesome. I wouldn't mind if the bird and assets turn out to be a payware module, it definitely feels to have the quality to be one. In fact I wanted OH-6A so much I bought an MD-500E in another sim to quench my thirst... But DCS is obviously better to fly helicopters especially one with combat abilities.

Is A-29 still in development? By Razbam? Haven't heard about it in ages...

So much anticipation for a full fidelity turboprop single. Although still looks in early stages of development, will definitely check this out when released. My virtual hangar can't wait

This is amazing! Real good work guys!

The best case scenario? Apparently he wants this to be banned by ED, hahaha :

So great for Deka to officially announce their next module! Looking forward to it! Although J-8II family is not my no.1 favourite PLAAF plane, it's probably a close 2nd or 3rd. Finally this would give me an opportunity to show support for Deka when it's released for purchase (JF-17 kinda not my cup of tea), and in the hopes that they or any other dev team might take the endeavor to make a full fidelity Q-5 module in the future

Too true. When I first got the P-51D I initially worried the .50 might be too weak compared to other planes with cannons, but as I worked on my gunnery thru all those missions and campaigns, I came to find that a well aimed 1sec short burst is often enough to destroy an enemy fighter, truck, or even AA site. So it's not too bad at all, just need to be patient and wait for the right moment...

I don't think so. Some units of the night fighter variant F6F-5N have two 20mm cannons and four 50 cals, according to wikipedia. I doubt we're getting that. Some variants of the F4U (-1C / -4B, and -4E / -4N night fighters) were fitted with four 20mm cannons. Don't think we're getting those either, but if we do, I'm going to buy both F4U and F6F modules

So excited to see F6F at the end of 2023 & Beyond video. Finally I'll have a chance to add this one of my favourite piston fighter to my humble WWII hangar with Spit and Mustang. I've been hesitant to decide if I wanted to get the F4U when it's released, but F6F is definitely an instant buy for me. Thank you ED for planning to make this aircraft happen~

I've just played thru Black Sea Revolve last month. It's not one of those "story-packed" campaigns (e.g. any of Baltic Dragon's campaigns), but rather "action-packed", and the approach to combat is quite open, which gives you lots of options for what tactics to choose. For me this was actually really good - lots of replay values. You can be creative with the campaign missions too, like swap to another plane for replaying it. I don't think there'll be any specially trigger that'll prevent us from doing so. Only downside is probably too little stuff outside of "combat" - formation flying for example.

Very nice, thanks~ So KW can do everything Apache does, just not all at the same time and with less ammo, and less button pressing as well (hopefully). This furthers my confirmation in getting this module when released. I've always liked KW over Apache. Would rather get a Cobra for attack helo instead. I guess I'm just a fan for Bell helicopters.

I didn't know Kiowa could equip stinger missiles. Certainly haven't seen that config in any photos. Interesting...

Any reason why supercarrier module is required for this campaign? I mean since the Harrier mainly operates from Tarawa, any chance to just use the free Stennis instead to save cost for potential buyers who don't own / doesn't want to purchase supercarrier module?

Just to report back that this bug seems to be fixed by the latest OB update (2.7.9). After updating I checked it again with UH-1 Argo campaign final mission (night) and both normal and NVG visuals seemed fine now. It was mentioned in the official changelog: NVG image very dark in moonless night - corrected. ED team, thanks for the effort correcting the bug.

I've played thru and enjoyed both existing DLC UH-1 campaigns as well as the stock one, yet this looks most promising. The photo showing prop plane spraying "agent orange" from what it looks like and with UH-1 gunship covering, good historical reference. Hopefully there are AI F-5Es doing CAS as well, just for immersion? Now the only major thing lacking would be OH-6 scouts, for some proper hunter-killer pink team missions. From the description it seems a portion of the campaign involves flying from the left seat. Has it been made possible for AI right seat pilot to actually fly the helo (not just straight and level or circling) and shoot rockets, and player (co-pilot) controlling the minigun and radio? That was how Vietnam era UH-1 gunship worked, and would be awesome if DCS engine allows mission creation this way.

I can attest to this. Just compared last mission from UH-1 Argo and Worlds Apart campaigns (both night missions) in 2.5.6 and latest 2.7.8, the visual with and without NVG were both OK in 2.5.6, while the landscape (especially trees and terrain) was totally pitch black in 2.7.8, even with NVG on. I think similar (Global illumination issue?) happened around DCS 1.5~2.0 era when I combed thru the forums earlier. I wonder how it was resolved then. Lighting in DCS 2.5.6 final release version was just about perfect (or what I used to as "normal"). But, having just read another thread, maybe ED is onto something big regarding night lighting? Something about "dynamic light" was mentioned and the picture shown:

Interestingly you mentioned external drive. I sometimes would play with having another version of DCS (and Windows) in an external M2 SSD, and hook-up with USB 3.1/3.2's 10 or 20Gbps ports. Load time is almost as fast as internal SSD, but the connection is not very stable, and the drive would disconnect itself for no apparent reason sometimes (could be due to the cheapo M2 SSD USB adaptor). If 5Gbps USB 3.0 ports are what you have, the improvement wouldn't be as much, but theoretically it should be similar to internal 6Gbps SATAIII, and still much faster than HDD.

Only if you overclock, and even that, only better in theory, as you wouldn't notice the few FPS difference in DCS or other games. Or if you go for an even higher wattage CPU. I got a R5 3600 with Asrock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX last year (a high end B550), and largely regretted that I didn't go for the much cheaper base B550 boards or even B450 / A520, and allocate the cost delta for GPU, which makes much more difference in games.

Thanks, that was what I've imagined. Unfortunately my patience worn out in the last two weeks. I found RX580 plain un-playable for scenarios like A-10C with TGP and MAV screens turned on even in 1080p. Both 3060Ti and 6700XT are currently priced rather steeply in my region, and an opportunity in the form of Powercolor RX6600XT at a relatively reasonable $500 presented itself to me. So I took bait (after checking media reviews for RX6600XT to be quite positive)... I've since found out RX6600XT can average slightly above 40fps in 4K High on my TV, and easily over 100fps in 1080p Ultra on my old PC monitor. Should be able to maintain 60fps+ in 1440p High I think. And boy this RNDA2 card is so cool and quite (and tiny). 125w and ~70degC max in DCS with fans barely audible (often not even turned on during gaming). I guess that's generation gap in GPU efficiency. Not a bad purchase, especially that I managed to sold my old RX580 for $300 (same price I paid for it 3+ years ago). Anyways, I guess I'll happily stay with 1080p or perhaps 2K for now, while start a long but casual wait for RX6800 reference card or next-gen equivalent

Thanks for your response Bossco82 and helpful insight. I've tried hooking up my PC with 55" 4K living room TV thru HDMI for playing DCS a bit this past summer and I think I could relate to the color/shadow issue you described. But the visual improvement over 27" monitor is huge and the details in 4K is stunning (although in a pretty much static ~10fps screen with RX580) , which is what drives me for the display upgrade. The specifc screen I'm after is Philips 436M6VBPAB, which is a 60hz "light" gaming and productivity PC monitor (not a TV), with FreeSync even and somewhat budget oriented. So I think the visual effect should be OK and normal as I'll be linking up with DP cable? Your DCS graphics settings are pretty much what I'm set about to be after GPU upgrade, except for maybe I normally dial down anistrophic filtering a bit more at 4x. I suspect 3060Ti / 6700xt would be a stretch at 4K High, too. But 6800XT/3080 at the moment is too highly priced than what I'm willing to shell out for a GPU, not to mention I'll have to change to a larger PC case and PSU to accommodate, sigh...

Been using 27" single screen on AMD RX580 with TrackIR for DCS for a few years. Although it's been OKish for 1080P (~60FPS in Caucuses), now really want to upgrade to a largish 43" 4K monitor and get more clarity when glancing at the instruments or squinting at other planes in distance. My dilemma is to find a powerful enough 2-slot GPU that can fit in my tiny A4 sized sandwich ITX case driven by a 500~600W FlexATX power supply. Was originally hoping for RX6800 reference card which would be a perfect fit, but then the COVID happened and the availability has been exactly nil... Now my next best choice seems to be either 3060Ti or 6700XT. Would they suffice for 4K single screen, for Caucuses and Mariana maps respectively (I mean, the two maps are basically different tiers of hardware requirement)? I probably wouldn't expect all max setting, but was hoping for high texture / draw distance / foliage, and wouldn't mind compromised or lower special effects / anti-alias and such. Rest of my build is: Ryzen 3600 / 32G RAM / 1T M2 Gen3 SSD. Any first hand experience with 3060Ti / 6700XT for 4K or any advice would be much appreciated~ My Current build:

Just read the preview sections for kindle version on Amazon, seems like an excellent book (having read lots of helicopter pilot memoir books in the past). Shame it's not available in Google Play Books yet. Amazon screwed up my account once, so it won't be my choice of purchase source. But I'll definitely be sure to find a version before DCS Kiowa release...