jcookeusa

It seems there will be, although probably not as developed as the Jester RIO AI: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3647454&postcount=1 "A limited functionality Iceman AI piloting the aircraft in single-player when switching to the rear cockpit."

I'm actually thrilled about this release and seriously hope it's not a joke! :) I've wanted to build and fly this aerobatic plane since I was a kid in the 80s. It's basically a very thorough kit-built, slightly lesser Pitts. Now I can fly it in DCS, even if I never quite get it together enough in the real world to build one. And I'm one of those DCS users that mostly just flies around, enjoying the excellent flight modelling, sound, and scenery. I can't wait! Thanks!

Per others' advice (and it worked for me): dcs_updater.exe update @openbeta

I agree. An example in my Steam collection is the racing sim Automobilista (AMS). They wanted users to be able to have separately installed and runnable versions of the game, so they created a "second" game, effectively, called Automobilista Beta. I have both installed and can therefore run both the base and the beta versions of AMS, but that seems to only work on Steam if the developer creates the separate Beta game.

I suspect you're right, since at least from my view of the E-Shop, nothing is discounted (regrettably). However, it would be very helpful if the wording announcing sales was just a bit more carefully chosen. :) This statement: "Starting today and lasting until 21 August at 0900 GMT, get 60% off modules participating in the bonus program." really is unambiguous -- to native English speakers. Of course, I understand this may very well have been composed by someone whose first language is not English, but just so you know: "get 60% off modules participating in the bonus program" means there's a 60% discount on all modules that take part in the bonus program. If that's not what you meant, you could have said something like: "Starting today and lasting until 21 August at 0900 GMT, you can use your bonus points/value to pay for up to 60% of all modules participating in the bonus program." I was excited that I could pick up my last un-owned module (the Gazelle) for 60% off, only to have that hope dashed! :) I'm just trying to help and please note that I'm very impressed with many other folks' ability to speak English. (I certainly didn't work to learn it. :) ) Thanks!

I'll just add that I, for one, really enjoy the wide variety of aircraft (and 2, soon to be 3, maps). I guess it's true that some aircraft don't really have appropriate adversaries, but honestly, I almost always just go for free-flights with no threats. :) I know it's "Digital Combat Simulator", but I really do rarely even attempt combat. DCS is the best flight simulator I've ever experienced (and that goes back to the old FlightSim 2.0 days in the 80's). I buy almost all the modules simply because I love flying them. Anyway, there certainly wouldn't be any harm in working to fill in appropriate theatres of war (maps, contemporaneous aircraft), but it's not needed from at least this one customer's perspective. Please just continue providing these amazingly well simulated aircraft and maps! Thanks! Justin

Good question -- I thought the same. I had checked and figured the sale would end at 10am Eastern US Time on Monday (6pm in Moscow, if my time conversion was correct). Oh well, I was planning to grab the BF109 for $15, but I'll just have to wait until the next sale (they seem to happen pretty regularly lately).

Hey All, I just happened to check the news and noticed they're having a larger-than-usual sale right now in the DCS E-Shop. I guess it's to finish off the sale that started on 9/4. Anyway, very nice discounts, if you're missing anything. I just got the Fw 190 for $15! :) Thanks, ED! Justin These are the prices, some are only a few cents better (Huey and Mi-8 :) ), but others are pretty drastically discounted (Sabre and Fw 190). Oh, and it sounds like it will only last for 12 hours (not sure when it started.): DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3: $39.99 to $11.99 DCS: A-10C Warthog: $39.99 to $11.99 DCS: Black Shark 2: $39.99 to $11.99 DCS: Combined Arms: $19.99 to $5.99 DCS: UH-1H Huey: $49.99 to $24.97 DCS: P-51D Mustang: $29.99 to $8.99 DCS: Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight: $49.99 to $24.97 F-15C for DCS World: $9.99 to $4.00 A-10A for DCS World: $9.99 to $4.00 Su-25 for DCS World: $9.99 to $4.00 DCS: F-86F Sabre: $49.99 to $14.99 DCS: Fw 190 D-9 Dora: $49.99 to $14.99

At least in my case, I added it to the cart, then viewed my cart. At that point, it still shows the full $50 price. If you then click the Checkout button, on that screen, it shows the amount you have available in your "internal account" and there's an option to apply it to this purchase. The cart then updates to show the discount. I haven't actually bought it yet, but it looks like that'll work. -Justin (Yeah, like El Hadji said above! :) )

Just curious: Does anyone know whether all new purchases of TrackIR 5 will come with this coupon? I'm pretty tempted to pick up the TrackIR for DCS and X-Plane, but a 60% off coupon for any DCS module would certainly sway me :) ($24-$30 off of a new module price, such as FW-190 or F-86?) I'm wondering since it isn't mentioned on the NaturalPoint site. (Maybe I'll just ask NaturalPoint directly.) Thanks! Justin

Eeek -- ~$500? -- fair enough :) I could probably up my total amount if I include the older products (LockOn and Flanker and such), but not that high. Anyway, you're absolutely right that nothing was stolen. It's just that nothing was really given, either, so it would have been better to never have implemented the system as they did. I guess it really is possible that ED had no intention of helping out their most loyal customers (the owners of everything), but that seems like a very strange marketing/PR decision. Why annoy your best customers (the ones willing to buy modules at full price and modules we'll never even use, just to support further development)? -Justin

Wow -- this expired bonus is really disappointing (as many others have already noted)! I don't remember exactly how much I had, but I was happy to receive some money for my prior purchases (I own everything). I think because I had bought some stuff on sale, I may have only had $8 or $10, but it was a nice gift from EagleDynamics. Anyway, I was just pondering whether to spend $40 for the new Fw 190 or wait until it goes on sale in a year or so and then I remembered I had some bonus money and was thinking I'd go ahead and grab it. I checked my account and had $0. So, this supposed bonus system for loyal customers was more of a tease than anything tangible? I love the work ED/DCS does and have spent ~$160 over the last year or so on ALL the modules (even on CombinedArms which I'll likely never use -- just to support the developers), so I of course had nothing to spend this bonus money on before 6/1/14. A few weeks after the bonus money expires, the Fw 190 is available. That really sucks. I think Eagle Dynamics should reconsider the bonus expiration. -Justin

Oh, very good then. That's exactly what I was interested in in the first post. I was wondering if that minimum extra activation per month depended on any outside servers or was all in the locally installed application. If that's strictly local, then the worst case, after exhausting the initial set of activations, is one per month. Thanks, Justin

Thanks to all for your replies. I did try DCS World and fell in love with it! :) I couldn't help myself and ended up buying the A-10 module. I enjoyed that so much, I just picked up the P-51 module last night. Yes, it does sound like this DRM is a bit risky -- I'm glad to hear that ED would release a DRM-free patch if they go out of business, but seriously, it may be hard for them to do that, depending on the circumstances. However, after trying out the free DCS World and the A-10 and P-51 modules, I'll just stick my DRM worries in the back of my mind and enjoy the sim! :) (Eagle Dynamics: I'm still anti-DRM, but for this kind of niche product, I'll deal with it. I would not put up with it from a larger developer/publisher.) Thanks again, Justin

Hi All, (I know this is quite long, but I've got a lot on my mind and would appreciate any thoughtful responses.) I've been a flight sim junkie my whole life (was playing Flight Simulator when it was made by SubLOGIC :) ). Anyway, I only recently discovered these DCS simulations and I'd really like to get started with them. I'd also very much like to financially support the company keeping high fidelity simulation alive. However... :), I have a strong distaste for DRM, so I'm hoping some of you can make the DCS DRM/Activation process clearer for me. As a matter of course, I won't buy any games with DRM (other than Steam and I'm pretty reluctant to do even that these days). My main game buying site is now GOG. I do understand, though, that a company such as Eagle Dynamics, developing a niche product may feel some form of DRM is their only way of preventing lost sales and staying in business. I don't really know if this is the case with ED. However, I REALLY don't want to purchase a game and then, sometime down the road, be unable to play it because of DRM/activation problems. Perhaps in ten years, some external activation server goes offline, ED is out of business, and I've used up my activations. From looking around on this site, I have gathered that we start with some 8 or 9 initial activations and if we use all of these, we then can use one per month ad infinitum (an automatically replenishing activation system). I'm assuming that these activations are handled by contacting an external server. If that's the case, then aren't we risking our purchase price and possibly only "renting" the game? Can anyone shed some light on this for me, please? I really do want to buy at least BlackShark 2 and the A10 modules, but I will probably continue to wait and mull it over if it's true that our use of this game depends on external servers "allowing" us to do so. Again, I'm not saying I'll run through 8 or 9 activations quickly and then be annoyed with the one per month replenishment -- I'm worried that the entire activation system depends on external servers that I have no trust in. (I can still play my copy of Falcon 4.0 when I feel like it, for example. :) ). Thanks so much to anyone that can help clarify the drm/activation situation for me! -Justin