Czar

Silver Dragon summed up perfectly, imo. First, as a product, it must be commercially viable. A sim with an independent developer cannot have the luxury of bleeding money through projects like Disney does, for example. Iraq Map, although a massive map in project, already faces critiques of not including X and Y areas nearby. Understandably so for the most part. I cannot see the community happy with a map like this without covering the whole Britain Island -> and then: "why not Ireland too?" -> and then: "it should have at least northern France for the Channel to be tactically useful, tho...". etc... I have no doubt this region is very rich for flight sims and it would produce a hell of a map to fly on. Mandatory: Man, I wish we had the world map.

Hi, welcome to the forums. DCS doesn't work that way. Everything is mandatory as it is in a unified build. All modules are part of DCS core instead of being just an Addon. Separating updates for modules and maps from the core code would induce a lot of problems in compatibility besides would need a new system for multiplayer to check content outside player build. It wouldn't be fair, for example, if a plane had an overpowered wrong parameter prior to a patch and a player would just skip the update to have an upper hand against others. It is an environment where modules are more connected to the multiplayer and core functions than, let's say, an aircraft addon for MSFS. Something more in line with IL-2 BoX where aircraft updates are delivered on main builds, which makes sense as it is a combat sim as well. If you want to save bandwidth or time in a patch that updates several maps at once, this one was very unusual, you can: Cancel the update after checking the download size.(Steam: just hit pause on the download) Uninstall (Not just deactivate. Uninstall) the maps or some of the maps that are being updated through either Steam or the Launcher. (Steam: after pausing, just uncheck the box next to the map in the DLC manager window in DCS library section.) Resume update. Install each map on a later date when time allows. Fair skies.

A new replay/tracking system is being worked on alongside the Dynamic Campaign system. "Testing of Dynamic Campaigns has resulted in a new tracking system that allows a detailed accounting of actions and behaviours. This is critical to the debugging process of such a complex task. The current DCS track file system has also been expanded with the ability to store RTS layer information. The resulting systems will allow you to review campaign events and provide a DCSDC active save system. This active save system will allow you to resume saved games and rewind time to replay an unsuccessful episode of a campaign." https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2024-07-26/ See above.

There were posts like this: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2024-07-26/ on newsletters and videos. It is a very labor intensive thing I imagine, but the dynamic campaign has been presented alongside AI improvements in a consistent manner, albeit reports have been very rare about it in community updates. I'm very disappointed to have just discovered it will be Caucasus only, for a while! lol but oh well.... the map doesn't look bad. ...and looking on the bright side; perhaps the AI improvements will make it up for majority of the update because it can potentially positively affect external dynamic campaigns and mission generators.

??? DC is taking long especially because of overhauls in that front. It makes 100% sense. Dynamic campaigns are already running in multiplayer for years, it is the single player portion that is missing. The sim itself, autonomously. ....that's....the.....whole point.

Hi. I fully understand possible engine limitations at changing graphical settings on the go after rendering started but any improvement to include more items to be changed with the mission running could benefit some aspects of readability and performance calibration. It is been a while the sharpness filter slider have been introduced and still it is greyed out if you want to tweak its value if you're in a mission. I find it strange as many other titles have such option available to change anywhere ingame. This can be a plus for those who needs to tweak the setting and see its results immediately without having to exit to the main menu and wait another loading cycle to see the change take place. Of course there are options such as Visibility Range, which governs many map objects rendering range that requires a whole sim restart to take effect and thus probably unreasonable to be able to be changed while in mission... ...Although other options such as, Shadows quality, Object Shadows Type (flat, default or off), digital display resolution and/or its framerate (half or every frame), Mirrors quality (the new option recently introduced), SSAO, SSLR....or even turn DLSS on or off would be sublime to have changeable during gameplay. A look into that would be appreciated. Cheers Fair Skies

It is not textures the issue. It is the lack of autogen (3d stuff) around. A map shouldn't need to weight 500gb of satellite imagery while neglecting 3d objects. Syria has lower definition textures but the 3d assets are the ones who bring life into the scene. That's the type of work that makes a difference. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Syria from above: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Iraq from above: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Iraq has good parts near bases, but lacks objects in rural areas: (This last one is pre patch. I don't know how it is this area today. It is to illustrate the point. All others from Iraq are after the patch) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Syria map autogen clutter, which is superior overall: Forget pushing higher and higher textures. DCS is constantly heavy in VRam. Ask for a proper autogen and manually placed objects that brings richness to the experience. Maps are already massively big with the satellite textures.

Seems odd because DCS clouds has not been an obstacle for many AI routines. Possible issues: Wrong setup for SAMs at mission startup can delay radar deployment, making both sides not attack each other for obvious reasons. Wrong setup for aircraft making them not activating their radars such as 'Nothing' tasking or else. 'CAP' by default makes the AI seek for targets but you need to check their active tasking at their starting point and next waypoints.

Can you post the mission file? I can't open the track in the editor to find out what's wrong. Nevermind. I don't own the map in question.

Do whatever floats your boat. I fly this sim since Lomac 2007. I've been all around flying with narrow FOV until I changed to wide. I can't stand narrow FOV anymore. And yes, I can still read the gauges without zooming. Zooming in, out and reset to normal are right on my fingertips through HOTAS buttons if needed. Peripheral vision and not the effect on looking through a straw or with a horse blinder. Easy to see missile smoke, references for AAR while still looking forward, bandits sneaking up, better awareness at a messy merge, better handling in a scissor. This effect is completely bypassed by your brain in combat. You don't see it at all. And even if noticeable, completely fair of a sacrifice. Again, need to be close to the screen. If that's the case, you're far from the screen, hence everything feels more 'in scale' with narrow FOV. Cheers. All it matters is the fun. Disregard whatever doesn't vibe with you. Happy Flying.

Uninstall the maps that are being updated. Update your sim. Reinstall the maps. Will will reduce the space needed for large number of maps updated at once like one this patch. You need to uninstall. Not just flip the switch on module manager. Updating a map will download a lot of data first, which will occupy space beyond the currently installed map(s) files, and only then it will patch the data into the current installation. This will require a lot of space to do. Doing the steps above will relieve your system to need such space for the patch. It will use a lot of bandwidth regardless.

Narrow field of view will handicap you in combat. DCS have dot/pixel based spotting so it counters zooming out. Without triple screens, a narrow FOV of 55º will disable your capacity of peripheral vision. Everything like scaling objects for realistic field of view magnification goes out of the window when your main vision interface is a 2D screen. Anyone with a 100º+ FOV will most likely have an absurd advantage to you in a dogfight. Object size shouldn't matter. What should matter is readability + peripheral vision (a fair compromise of both based on your setup). It is not cheating. Real life vision/being there for real is infinitely more effective than flying on screen. Compromises should be taking to match proper combat efficiency. Cool exercise: Point a finger upwards at 30~cm from a point between your eyes at your eyes height. Slowly drift your finger laterally while looking forward and maintaining distance to the point between your eyes until you reach a point that you cannot see your finger anymore. Realize that point is way beyond 27.5º from the center of your vision which would be the angle you'd loose sight of the object ingame at 55º FOV. Tweak for efficiency + readability, not object size. I use a 106º FOV on most of my modules, mainly jets but also on the Mustang. 27" screen at 27"/70cm~ distance from my eyes. I've found high FOV to be much more immersive and easy to do a lot of stuff including AAR. Also helped a friend having better AAR with the inclusion of a higher FOV on his setup.

Apache was messy on the yaw before, really weird, but now is highly controllable and smooth. It is awesome. The many flights with the pre patch handling were golden in the sense that will make many players here absolutely gods at handling the bird now. I'd like to have whatever is most realistic, but I don't mind the tweak so far.

I've flown 2 flights: 1x Apache, 1x Phantom. No 900 ft bug experienced, and those two modules did induce the problem 'easier' than others. Still too early/too few flights for me, but looking good.

Did you perform a repair after the mods removal? Also, what kind of mods messes with the F-14 and the F-4 shapes file? It seems very suspicious.

You can reduce the space required for the update if you uninstall the maps that got updated -> update the sim -> install the maps again after.

Agreed. Superb new textures for the airfields! (Mount Pleasant) It was all blurry before. Lack of time to fly but positive first impressions for the textures.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out.

Yeah. With a high value FOV, any hour near noon is quite harsh on the eyes inside the Apache to the point that any mission that features a midday or close mission start time becomes unattractive. Gamma on my end is at 2.0 (-0.2 from default). Black levels are low on my monitor for taste and there is no washed out colors look on my image (calibrated monitor for work). Still is pretty harsh on the eyes.

This got me all excited but I haven't found anything about DCS Mirage III. I guess Silver Dragon meant it would "have to be produced" by another dev instead. Not sure. There is a Kifr in works though. https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/newsletters/e5304ac36d8e13559984a6759d5c9908/

I think majority of this footprint is satellite imagery. Using ortho for XP in x-plane can illustrate how massive those images are. A world map using a good autogen mapping with decent vectors for roads, rivers and buildings while some nice tech for vegetation cluttering wouldn't weight much more than Xplane 12 with a similar mesh resolution. It is technically feasible on low footprint at least, but the inhouse tech needs to exist in the first place. Paid regions expansion with satellite imagery can then be made after.

You're free to DM a community manager here to confirm. Razbam did have access to many difficult to get things, regardless of 'looks'. Still their module turned out to be phenomenal on later years.

The willingness to put effort in a 15C full fidelity from ED precedes the Razbam stopping updating their modules including the 15E. I presume the F-15C FF has zero to do with Razbam as these things take a lot of time for preparation and there were not enough time between RB situation and the 15C announcement. Keep in mind, Razbam had a very rare clearance/connection to the French Air Force to produce the M-2000C of theirs.

@Dača : )

That's true, hence is best to be grateful of the current DCS version or take a breather outside than otherwise. Whatever happens is for the best. At least, they are not a "never delay and always rush" type of developers.