Mogster

“Perfection is the enemy of good” n’ all…

What you’re talking about is the detail needed for a WW2 naval sim, DCS is a flight sim. It’d be great to have ships with that level of AI, systems and damage modelling but I really don’t think it’s a realistic aspiration.

We haven’t had a WW2 release for a year, I wouldn’t say things are cracking along. Yes DCS WW2 needs more interest from 3rd party developers, I don’t think anyone would argue with that. As you say when there’s more flyable modules maybe it’ll be time for a “BOB pack”, “defence of the Reich” pack etc with a flyable and AI bundled together. With modern stuff ED are limited by secrecy, with WW2 you are still limited but by reference availability and quality.

It seems there are some people that just won’t buy the existing assets pack on principal, but as you say the stuff is needed and the developers have to eat. I remember the Maddox team refusing requests for AI models saying they would only produce models for flyable aircraft as they could be monetarised. IL2 never had a lot of AI only aircraft. It’s pretty obvious that the DCS WW2 scene remains smalltime compared to the market for more modern stuff. Many don’t like to accept it but if we’re going to see credible WW2 missions created then that’s going to require a shed load of models and we’re going to have to pay… somehow.

I can see Spit, Hurri, Bf 109 E, CR42 as flyable. Ju87, He111, Bf 110, Br20 as minimal AI. The existing AI Ju88 could be modified as an early version.

ED have pretty much said BOB aircraft are on the way. We already have a later model Spit and 109 to use as a basis for earlier types, the Hurricane would be new, as would the CR42. Current DCS WW2 progress is glacial though… more 3rd party dev teams are needed.

Easy… we haven’t got have any RAF and Luftwaffe BOB types yet , Italian planes are interesting though and I agree should be present in any BOB sim. Eric Brown really liked the CR42 describing it as surprisingly fast and very aerobatic. There’s a complete BOB era example at Hendon and TFC are are reportedly restoring one. The CR42 is actually a very decent punt for a DCS module at some point.

Definitely. If I could return to the old Flanker days and look forward 20 years to a time when I’d see ED not only still in the flightsim business but with the current list of high fidelity modules I’d certainly be very happy. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of full fidelity Su25 and Su27 but it is what it is…

What’s “static ray tracing” it’s not a term I’ve heard before. Is it a form of baked in ray trace lighting effect?

I can see if one of these places became operational for a time it seems they probably would have withstood conventional bombs. However the rockets would need fuel and the workers still need food and somewhere to live. Interesting pieces of history though, they remind me of the long range artillery that could attack the British coast from France.

Surely even if they’d become operational these facilities would have been subject to round the clock bombing. The completed bunkers may have been practically impervious to conventional bombs but the surrounding infrastructure would’ve been pulverised rendering them useless. Huge waste of resources.

There are several teams developing warbirds for FS. You’d think that DCSW would be a more interesting environment for their creations although I suppose the work involved in a DCSW creation is probably much higher. There was an announcement from A2A a couple of years ago saying they were joining DCS as a 3rd party developer. There was even a picture of the A2A team with Matt Wagner on the A2A Facebook page. Then silence… Maybe Covid and the FS2020 release have led to changes in plans. An A2A P40 or T6 would be great in DCSW, I’d even buy their GA stuff. Edit…. Some interesting comments from the A2A guys in the thread from 2019, DCSW is clearly very much on their radar. Positive noises from punters in the thread who would clearly follow A2A to DCS. Nearly 2 years ago though… tumbleweed… https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=68620

I can pay the inflated prices but won’t on principal, although I have been wavering… Mainly as I don’t see this situation being resolved this year. I just don’t see how this situation really hurts the GPU manufacturers enough to resolve it. They are selling all the GPUs they can manufacture. There’s a ready pool of grifter’s now who’ll go to some effort to buy stock as soon as it becomes available. Only massive overstock will saturate the market. That isn’t going to happen as medium term the market will stabilize, why would the manufacturers go to the expense of increasing capacity when medium term it won’t be required. Anyway, my 1080 is still OK…

I agree it’s too hard in sims but potting wasn’t easy in real life though. There are comments from Luftwaffe pilots saying the thing they disliked about fighting P51s the most was how much the P51 looked like a FW190 from a distance. The P47 and P38 were easy to tell apart from German types, particularly the P38, it’s big distinctive outline is often cited as a deficiency of the type. You wouldn’t think it was possible to confuse a P51 with a FW190 in real life, but there you go.

I don’t think we’ll ever see GPU prices returning to previous levels. Being able to buy a an RTX 3080 for <£650 GBP seems like fantasy now. My fear is that Nvidia/AMD are aware that people will pay these prices now so the next gen cards will have higher RRP, much higher.

The Falklands era Argentinian 25 de Mayo aircraft carrier was an ex WW2 RN Colossus class. Opinions seem to vary if modifying models for different eras is less work than starting again.

Yes, it would be fun, but only if the cost is reasonable.

By the look of those recent F4U un-textured cockpit screenies, that seems unlikely.

Yes, when you llook at a cutaway of a WW2 warbird the wings and fuselage behind the pilot are just empty space.

Imagine the reaction when the Spit XIV arrives…

Nice video. Loads of action on the pedals.

Launching that way looks very slow.

Thats it though, in real life the various knobs and wheels are probably quite intuitive to use. Mapped on to random hotas buttons or using the keyboard it’s incomprehensible. Get it wrong and you have jammed gear, fly too fast while you’re wrestling with the levers, jammed gear… it does my head in.

The I-16s landing gear is a complete pain in the arse. I’m sure it’s operation was far more straightforward in rl than it is in the sim. Other than that it’s an interesting module. It’s just a pity we don’t have any historical contemporaries.

Yes. Compared to the Spit and 109 it feels like a truck.