John Hargreaves

I just bought the Combined Arms module, hopefully I might be able to get a bit more up close to some of that WW2 gear and those French villages. Has anyone had much experience of CA in VR? Apparently in VR tanks are a bit wonky, but I'd be happy to just drive around in a jeep or something.

If it's going to be the end of May, they might as well release it on the 6th of June, they can just say it was delayed by unseasonally bad weather in the channel.

I think I will fly to St-Mere-Eglise and see if paratrooper John Steele is still caught on the steeple.

Ah, thanks for the reply, that makes sense. Explosions - woohoo Looks to be plenty to look forward to this summer.

This new map seems to have noticeably improved the look of the DCS ground terrain and is looking really good from Wags' videos, so I was wondering, are we likely to see improvements in the sky/clouds/lighting in a DLC map such as this or is that a bigger feature of the overall game engine? I tried searching for 'clouds', but there doesn't seem to be that much discussion on it. Any thoughts?

I was in your position a while back, and through help from ED technical support it seemed clear that using the standalone version was the best solution. I think when you are used to Steam, and appreciate how easy they tend to make PC gaming, you get a bit stuck inside that world, but it's easy to set up your ED account (different from your forum account) and download the versions you want. It's worth doing, as there are bargains to be had both in the ED store and on Steam, and your standalone version can use both. Steam can only use Steam purchases. I keep my Steam version installed so I can pick up any bargains they might have on sale.

Oh I agree, you couldn't make a $60 module with it. I have a couple of versions for FSX and they were less than $20, one of them is an A2A plane, so flight model and systems are very accurate. Thing with a plane like this is that systems are about as simple as anything that can fly so development costs would be a fraction of a modern jet. I only paid less than $20 for FC3, so if a module came in at that sort of price it might do quite well. Many of the DCS modules are quite a big commitment, rightly so, but one of the good things about FSX is the stuff you can pick up for pocket money prices. It's a great plane to fly in a sim, especially in VR, I'd love to see one in DCS.

Yeah, it's a bit of a quirky one, the L4 played a massive part in WWII albeit mostly reconnaissance and general flying jeep duties. It could take off and land just about anywhere, so we could have some low and slow fun over northern France with it I'm sure dodging bullets over enemy lines.

Unlikely, as it's not known for its dogfighting skills, but I would love to fly one of these things over Normandy, the Piper L4 Grasshopper I have this one in FSX and it's a great little bird

Thanks Kato, I have posted your review over on the Project Cars 2 development forum, so it might create some interest. The VR support in version 2 is much improved over version 1. Sorry for bringing in another game to the DCS forum, but I have plugged DCS many, many times over there, so hopefully it's ok.

Thanks for the info there Kato, it's very helpful, as there isn't a great deal of detailed information out there. Simply answering 'does it exist and will I get something for sending money?' is a big question, as this thing seems to have landed from nowhere. Half the price, twice the res? too good to be true is the first thought. Would you mind if I posted this text on the pCARS2 forum please? There is discussion going on about VR support and I think it would contribute. Sounds like it's worth a go if you like tinkering, don't have a rift, and are happy to accept the limitations of a first gen product. I think the main attraction of the PiMAX is the resolution over rift/vive. Is the picture clarity impressive? Can you see the screen door effect and the gaps between the pixels or is it more like a regular monitor?

I did the same thing, discovered DCS world through steam, but then I bought the Huey from the ED shop and found that they weren't interchangeable. Thanks to advice from this forum and ED support (who were very helpful) I just installed the non steam versions and it's been fine since. All my Steam modules show up in the ED version, so anything you already have will work in NTTR if you buy that. Sometimes you can get good deals in the Steam sales, so I have kept my Steam installation for now in case any more bargains pop up.

That makes good sense, and it's always good to have improvements to look forward to down the line. I have a good friend who has never experienced VR or a modern flight sim for that matter, but he has a great interest in WWII and we have travelled to many places in Normandy. He's going to be staggered when I get him into the Spitfire over Omaha beach in VR. This looks like a great piece of work, I'm sure the team are proud of what they have created, and us lot can't wait to get up in the air over Cherbourg.

Nice one, War damage will really add to the atmosphere. Getting excited now

Looking through the screenshots thread again, most of the towns seem to be in pretty good condition considering the war is going on all around. I wonder if there is much in the map in terms of bombed and damaged structures, and general wartime destruction to the towns, or will this 'intact' look be the norm.

I was chatting with a guy from Brittany a week or two back on another forum about a similar matter, he was saying it hadn't snowed there in the last 30 years he could remember, so he was complaining about snow being depicted on a game map based in Brittany, so maybe Normandy is a similar sort of climate being next door. I'm sure it does snow in Normandy, but if it hardly ever happens, you can see how much more time it would take to do the art for that.

I guess it's a bit of the uncanny valley effect, so that the more realistic a computer simulation becomes, the more you start to notice the tiny nuances and differences. There would definitely be activity down below in those ports and harbours just after D-Day though, even if it was just a random selection of civilian craft so as not to spoil the 'WWII sandbox' idea. I hope we can place water craft in those harbours in the mission editor though, it can sometimes be a bit sniffy about what can go where, and if we can only put ships out in open sea then it might lose a bit of atmosphere.

Ah, that's good to hear thanks, it will enhance all the work that has gone into the map such a lot. Now all we need is a Piper L4 Grasshopper module for some low and slow.

Watching Wags livestream, one thing that stood out, given that the map generally looks beautiful and I can't wait to get my hands on it, was the lack of 'life' down below. Harbours were empty of ships and traffic, so I wonder if there will be more AI activity going on or will we have to provide it ourselves in the mission editor?

That guy's got a pretty good gaming rig there, nice cockpit and joystick setup

I think if you play a replay when you are wearing the rift, it records all the head movements you made first time round, so the 'camera' in the replay moves quickly in random directions in cockpit view = instant barf. If you put on takeoff/rudder assistance I'm sure you could talk a beginner through getting most of the planes off the ground and well up in the air. Helicopters would be a bit tricky for a beginner, but I got my wife up in the air in the rift fairly easily, and she's no simmer.

I built up in stages, but weirdly I've experienced less motion sickness in VR than I have in similar real life situations. I don't think it's uncommon for pilots/astronauts even drivers to get ill during training, but you definitely get used to it over time. I flew in FSX in the L4 grasshopper quite a lot at first and I think the slow flight did help me get my VR legs

Fascinating article there Don, thanks for posting it. Completely agree with what the guy says there.

I can't see how many people would want to not buy both if they want to join the Normandy party, and most regular players will pick them up at the current discount price, which seems a fair price to me for the work involved. I think it's nice that people are also given the choice to get them separately if they want so they could just make missions with them on the other maps. I don't think ED are being unreasonable with this release at all.

Interesting thanks. Something I'd love to do is just fly over the Normandy coast a couple of weeks after the landings, just to observe what was going on below. There is still quite a lot of the artificial harbour there at Arromanches, and it really makes you think about the enormous scale of the invasion. I've visited Normandy quite a few times and the echoes of D-Day are still all around, it's a very special part of the world. Looking forward to seeing all those places from the air in the MKIX.