wilbur81

My greatest takeaway from Growling Sidewinder's video here is how yellowish DCS' lighting has become since the big 2.5.6 lighting upgrade. It stands out most in this comparison:

Hear, hear! :thumbup:

Gave Syria another go today at 4K with MSAA set to both None and 4x. The shimmering effect on buildings, shadows, and those massive chain-link fences is just really bad. Not sure if it's to be called a bug, WIP issue, or just bad execution? Probably best for me to actually film my screen with an ipad so you can see the effect rather than a track. Obviously a screenshot won't capture the pulsating movement. I'm getting worse shimmering in Syria at 4x MSAA than I do with PG at 0x MSAA. Anyone else experiencing this? **EDIT - I may be imagining things now, but i tried PG at 4x MSAA just for comparison and it seems as if, globally, since yesterday's update that AA in general has diminished. Anyone else noticing more 'jaggies' and shimmering generally in the sim since yesterday's update?

Some first impressions after one session, for what they're worth: LOTS of amazing detail. :thumbup: LOTS of shimmering. I play DCS at full 4K with MSAA set to "0" and I'd have to say that, out of Caucasus, Persian Gulf, Nevada, and Syria maps... Syria is my worst looking map in terms of shimmering... it's pretty bad. This third impression isn't backed up by hours of flying, so don't take it too seriously... but the textures from medium and high altitudes seem a bit bland to me with all settings on high. Performance is the lowest of the four maps I own, but probably to be expected given the MASSIVE amount of objects/details.

Agreed. Very well-thought and sensible post from Statrekmike :thumbup:

^^^ Yes. :thumbup:

Surely the new campaign engine will allow us to fly as just a small-wheel-in-the-gearbox single pilot. If not, a lot of people are probably going to be disappointed.

I also have very little interest in a World map. War zones with a dynamic RTS campaign with improved performance is my biggest interest in this already superior Air Combat Sim. :thumbup: Aside from the weather system we've seen on YTube, I have very little interest in MS's new offering.

Agreed.

This damage modeling is amazing. Incredible looking map! :thumbup:

I'd pay $75 for a working dynamic campaign engine. I'm WAY more interested in this aspect of the sim than another aircraft or map module.

Even though my home pit is NO WHERE NEAR the expert craftsmanship and budget of this setup ( ), his reasons for using 2D are mine as well... especially what he has to say about sharing at 3:01... couldn't have said it better myself.:thumbup:

Nah, 2d with a home-built cockpit and 55 inch or larger screen with TrackIR is absolutely fantastic in DCS! I have no problem with sticking with them both for the foreseeable future.

Hey, Diveplane. What are your in-game gamma settings? If I have gamma up high enough to make city lights realistic, nose wheel lights are too bright. If I have gamma low enough to make the nose wheel look good, city lights are too dim.

Yep, you're right. And I thought I was the only one turning the IFEI off at night. :thumbup:

With the HMD brightness knob turned down to minimum at night, it appears too bright in current O.B. Keep up the amazing work, guys! :thumbup:

Wow. Nice find. Now we need some tester/document-ers. :thumbup:

Thanks, Quid! Just tested and pylon drag is indeed simulated in DCS currently. I did one flight with no pylons and saw Mach 1.22 at 10K MSL whereas, with 5 pylons, I was only seeing Mach 1.19 at 10K. Thanks for the info on the GAO. :thumbup:

I've kind of been assuming pylon drag as I know this is something they've been talking about for quite a while, but was pylon drag mentioned in any changelogs? Also, what is "the GAO report?"

So, my Stable version in the tests above is the last 2.5.5 branch of Stable (kept by me because of its better overall FPS performance :)) . So, Hornet FM/Engine stuff must have been changed within some version of 2.5.6. In the latest Open BETA (v 2.5.6.52437), starting with a clean Hornet (with pylons) at 40,000ft and 400kts, with max AB, full internal fuel and A/P set to BARO hold, the jet took 5 m. and 17 s. to hit Mach 1.63 and it never exceeded Mach 1.66 in level flight. In Stable version 2.5.5.41371 (the last Stable version of 2.5.5), the jet achieved Mach 1.75 in the same amount of time and topped out at 1.76 in level flight. See screens below. So, again, there were apparently some fairly significant changes made somewhere during iterations of 2.5.6. **another little test and question: A clean jet with pylons and only 4000lbs of internal fuel cannot achieve Mach 1.2 at 5,000 ft MSL. It only achieved Mach 1.12. (and at 10,000ft MSL, Mach 1.19.) Is the real Block 20 that draggy and under-powered? I'm not saying any of this is unrealistic, just surprising to little, uneducated me. And when any jet in DCS takes a bit of a performance hit in an update without any word from the devs, it's bound to get the attention of those who love that particular jet and how it's been performing up to the (stealthily made) change(s). But I'll take realistic over what I like any day of the week...and realistic is what I like. :thumbup:

Welcome to LockOn/DCS's famous Shadow-Performance-Monster from circa 2003 and counting. :thumbup:

Wow! Super cool! I'll give it a try. Thanks, Mustang.

Are you using the standard (garbage) Warthog 'nub' for TDC slew? If so, I'm afraid it's a hardware-specific problem as the current TDC sensitivity works great on everything except the stock WH throttle nub.

Man, the haze is really bad still (latest OB with 20 Celsius and fog option off):

Unfortunately, though, I'm still getting 17 FPS at night whenever I look at the Island in the CASE III mission, though daylight is a tiny bit improved (maybe?). Not sure why night is worse than day?