Torso

I too have raised the aircraft lighting issues in the past. It is not a map issue or even restricted to the B-17. It has been an existing issue for a long time with pretty much all aircraft. It is just how DCS currently appears to be set to handle these types of lights. All aircraft lights(and I would say airport lights as well) need to be reworked to remove the 'cotton ball' effect they posses(navigation lights, etc) and the hard physical cone that exists even in bright sun clear cloudless mid-afternoon time of day. On the B-17 it extends almost out to the nose from the wings and looks particularly bad when it is landing or taking off. I am sure ED will address eventually. Fingers crossed. I would also request some review of the stars/night sky is done. I am a VR user exclusively and night flying is currently pretty much unusable due to banding and even at 1am, a horizon glow remains when it should be long gone and the stars at night are as large as street lights. It seems they could be made smaller so as to appear more distant. I know bringing up other 'titles' is against the rules but there are a couple good examples out there that perhaps some tweak direction could be gleamed that DCS could benefit from. I never thought it was bad to have the "if there is a better way to do something, why not try to adopt it" attitude. Currently in VR we have severe banding issues that could be addressed but haven't as of yet. I think All maps and future maps would benefit from this. Again maybe I am only addressing things from a VR user standpoint but perhaps valid for non VR users as well. I am seeing some beautiful stuff in front of me as I have been tweaking my end and really once more work is put into the environmental lighting/shadows performance and perhaps some color tweaking of the map allowing for less cartoonish colors it will be amazing. I have been touring it in Upuauts Bell47 mod and it is really nice. I know we will get there eventually but this is a nice start for sure.

You can use the Nvidia control panel to adjust the picture in VR but you have to do it a special way. What you do is, since the HDMI port the VR set is plugged into is hidden you unplug your VR headset, and plug a monitor into the SAME hdmi port. Do not turn off or restart your pc for this. Just do a hot swap. If you have a Vive you can just unplug the hdmi cable from the headset to the hub and plug the monitor into the hdmi port on the hub as it is just a pass thru. If you got a Rift, then just unplug from gpu hdmi port and plug monitor into SAME hdmi port. Now, you can go into the NV cp and go to Display-Adjust desktop color settings Select the monitor you plugged into the VR hdmi port and select the Use NVIDIA settings option. Now, you just have to make some tweaks that you hope will achieve your goals. Add some contrast, brightness, gamma or remove whatever..I like to bump Digital Vibrance up by 5-10 from default 50 as well. So you make your adjustments. The only bad thing, is you cannot check how they are until you are back in VR but you will see your changes reflected on the temp monitor you plugged in so you have that to go by of course. So now that you made the adjustments you save them and close the control panel. Now unplug the monitor from the hdmi port. Plug back in your VR headset. Boom done, now the changes made are retained from Nvidia for that HDMI port, even through restarts even though it is hidden once VR is plugged into it. It still applies the setting you made to the port. Anyways, that is how you do it. Hope it helps some of you.

Well I left a rather long VR 1st use exp report that was a little long winded from my right out the box usage. Yeah, I was critical an own up to that. However I have since done some tweaking, using Reshade and SweetFX. I also utilized a trick to modify the VR picture by hooking a monitor up to the VR's hdmi port, then made brightness adjustments, color adjustments, then rehooking the VR up to it, the setting are retained and then allows you to have some additional control over VR picture qualities. This is a great start. Few notes on the water/ocean It appears the sun reflecting on it is too restricted. There is a band(which looks great when sun is at dawn or dusk) or spot light of sun(afternoon and not my fave effect) on the water surface and outside that band or spot there is no reflection of the water surface of any kind. I have it set to high. In fact in general there is a huge issue with water. Water is a reflective surface, even when or where the sun is not on it. You can easily see this by facing the sun in game over water, nice band of refection on the surface you see, then just turn away and the water becomes a matte finish surface. Water is not a matte finish. This really could use some tweaking please. Water, especially ocean water is like fractal or faceted. So even if you have the sun to your back, and the water below or ahead of you it will show surface variety as light, whether it be sun, moon or ambient or artificial is hitting all the little peaks and dips and rolls and swells, turbulence..etc. All those will reflect light, not necessarily sparkling sunlight, but whatever light simply is around. Another crazy thing to try is to turn on some fog, add some wind to get some movement in the ocean and when facing away from the sun it appears to take on a cloud like property. Kinda cool sure but not correct at all. Anyways. I know a ton of work has gone into this and tons more ahead and I look forward to seeing this evolve. Good start and I also have to say performance wise. I am impressed. I think NTTR runs better now for me even with some lighting engine issues now present and Normandy is like butta as well. So nice magic there.

Hey thanks for the suggestions. I did try reinstalling with and no joy after but deleted folder and redid it and, boom, it is working finally. I am loving it as a touring vehicle to check out the map.

NOTE:I have updated my thoughts at bottom but decided to leave my initial impression post intact because I stand by my initial impression. But it has evolved since I posted it as noted at end. I agree sadly. I was very much looking forward to this map and the update but both have fallen well well short of even my modest expectations. Especially regarding VR use. I am sorry to say but it seems a logical conclusion that little to no testing is done using VR prior to release. I am sure I will be told different but sorry, if it was, a note on release saying, sorry VR users, not this one yet would have been put out prior to release when TESTING showed it was terrible. NTTR finally get the much long awaited clipmap fix and it just reveals how bad some of the texturing is done in NTTR. Shadows are painted on the mountains/terrain still. Shadows are PERMANENT. Think about that. I guess it was a false hope to dream this would change. But now at least you can see how bad the texturing is on them a bit clearer. This also means there is no change in them regardless of time of day. There is no real time shadowing by the terrain OF the terrain in the game. In VR, the mountain textures actually shimmer and have shine on them. Sparkling. If you are flying a Huey low over them, and in VR just nod your head up and down, and these weird blackish 'patches' appear and disappear. ( I am using a 1080GTX with the latest drivers). Clouds. I wondered why we never saw a screenshot or pre-release vid that had clouds in them. So with clouds in the sky and setting the time of day to the one everyone loves to do with the pretty dusk and dawn sun, yeah with that lighting you literally can get strobe like flashes taking place that are flashing the mountain ranges around you an in the distance and it is pretty annoying. Textures, yes a TON need to be redone now because there is now a cartoonish quality to many of them now. I know photo realism is not possible(other than externals views, because I have seen some amazing shots by users) nor I guess the intent of DCS, but this new lighting just does number on the textures and create this odd cartoon quality to them. I know these will be addressed but it would seem all the 3rd parties need to do their own and I am curious how much of a priority is that to them and ED? Will we be seeing texture updates immediately? Or will we be in this state for months? Was ED coordinating with them prior to release and letting them get a head start on updates to correct this? Not a word said if so. I know, as a person in software and who has worked with 3rd parties. I damn well would have been pre-staging these needed updates. There is more of course but much has already been reported by others, the white wash issues, huds, black tracers, muzzle flashes, opaque cockpit glass, lockups, crashes, editors not working..yadda yadda yadda. Most are being reported by others so not needed by me to redo/ I guess my real question was, why were we not given a heads up that this was not really gonna be like what was pushed out for weeks in the Backers version? I mean I didn't hear most of this stuff, of course NTTR's specific issues only ED knew of, if they noticed them I mean. But, why were we all kind of mislead(I am sure that will get me in trouble of course)? I am sorry, but I am not alone in feeling we were misled as to the quality of this update. It looks like almost no testing was done on this. How can this be? How can the ED testers not experience what most all of us have? How could the results of that testing not incline ED to post some info on release saying, hey we got some real serious new issues since the Backers got their special copy using this new tech? I could list more issues in NTTR, shadows that are just flashing in an out, blue issue of course but others are so won't. But, what happened is all I want to know. How could it be dumped on us in this state with no warning? I actually would not have installed if I had known. Same with Normandy. It seems like issues were hid from us. Or were feature added that the backers did not get. Oh one last question. Why does the B17 not have any crew in it? It is an AI model, why did the dev team stop at adding a crew to it? Sorry, just an off question as I close this out. Too long I know, I was waiting for something. Edit: I know it is Alpha, wip, etc. I know ED will update and try to fix as much as they can. I know I will get over 1st impressions and learn to deal with it as it evolves. I know others think everything is just great and are happy campers. I hope to be one as well soon. Just a bit let down is all but it is just a game after all. If you made it this far..wow. Sorry..lol 2nd Edit: Well I spent a fair amount of time with more testing and tweaking and can say I did have some success improving my experience in VR with this release. I actually was blown away by what I was seeing several times, I am talking NTTR here as I think Normandy is a separate deal. I know I had a lot to say above and while I do think it is valid and will let it remain but I did consider editing it, but eh. I know ED needs this feedback to improve and they will knock out a lot of these issues given some time. I do have faith even though shaky at times. I still dig their product want to support them, especially growth cycles like this when support is probably needed most. I really look forward to the next cycle of updates as they tackle the reported issues as they can and I am sure us VR users will be even more amazed than we have been previously.

I was surprised too to see the water had no depth/movement at all when I got all working finally. So unless you set high wind the ocean is basically at a 'glass' setting by default it appears. Would be nice if ED made a change to make it have some minimum movement by default, so that it was not like a solid plane surface by default as it is now currently or rely on the user to set it up. I flew a couple quick missions and the mission creators appeared to leave it at wind 0 instead changing it so mission creators need to consider this as well it appears.

Well this is just a continuation of a let down day. I know Upuaut dropped forward progress on this but perhaps you can reach out to him for a fix. I know you guys have had communication in the past. Was so looking forward to this bird in NTTR and Normandy. And as of now, she is sadly grounded.

I have water turned up to high and in VR, over the water, it looked like a solid color sheet with no reflection. I could not even correctly gauge my height over it when i went low. Not sure why that is. I got a 1080GTX and ran all fine before. There are several already mentioned by previous posters so won't be relisting the issues. You should be able to see them yourselves. I was very much looking forward to this map update, and it is nice in several areas. It just feels what we got today is not comparable to what the backers got weeks ago. Which I kinda expected that with more weeks of tuning this release version would be better and more tuned than the backers version. So far sadly this does not seem to be the case. I know updates will coming soon to address some of the issues. Just a bit confused how these quite obvious and glaring issues reported seemed to be

Anyone get this to work in 2.1 yet? Mine crashes when installed with a uh1_protect.dll error. Was hoping to fly this around Normandy and Vegas.

Why is there a peer limit? Shouldn't all of us dling actually be creating more peers? I mean isn't that one of the benefits of torrents? I get same 48

Man it sucks being one of the 1st to buy/own sometimes. Seeing these new option choices makes me wish I held off ordering. Still enjoy the stick, just wish I could have had the chance to pick from options now made available. Basically penalized for being an early supporter. Oh well. But a great sick. Real happy with it. Congrats on a nice launch Virpil Team. Base order incoming. Oh and +1 on below. Only shortcoming on this stick currently is no 4way+push button for thumb switch. If doable, please consider upgrading to it. A lot of us Warthog owners are very used to them and I for sure miss it.

Thanks for this link. Missed it. It would be cool to have some fields or farms with a few animals or flocks of like sheep and cow and stuff out in countryside. I mean if your willing to go down to bike against barn level of detail, which is fantastic, love those kind of touches, why not a few animals with maybe a simple behavior pattern ai.. Bail out of plane over Normandy, as you come down in a farmers field, the fading sound of your enemies engine and your planes explosion is replaced by the sound of moo's and sheep bleats..

+1

You kinda cherry picked my sentence there. The environmental lighting looks fantastic, all the play off the aircraft, terrain, shadows..etc all looks amazing. I was strictly referencing the behavior of actual lights, physical lights, on the aircrafts themselves. Heck, maybe since 3rd party and modules involved it is not even a sweeping fix/change ED could make on their own without the 3rd parties applying appropriate code change as well. I am not exactly sure of that but guessing so. And I also said that there was a very real possibility that things have been tweaked even further since backer release that could affect those referenced, the planes actual physical light behaviors, moonlight. We know already further work on the overall release has been non-stop and still going on AND will continue to go on. No way was it implied this is final. The only thing implied was that the lights mentioned showed no behavior change as of now. Unless ED wants to verify they will behave differently we have been taught to assume nothing until ED states it as fact. So, please, try not to take things out of context or look at such critiques/observations as an assault. We all look at things differently and notice different things. This is often how things eventually improve usually. The map looks great, the environmental lighting looks great, I am very much looking forward to it. I hope that it is a huge success and many more follow. I am ready to buy them when they are certainly and will to support ED as best I can.

I don't think they spent any time on lighting in regards to the planes lighting IE: Nav, Gear, Cockpit. Hopefully they will make a pass at improving a few of those areas that could use improvement to bring them up to more realistic behaviors soon. As for moon, only seen one screenshot and it was still pretty dark with a full moon. Not looking like it is as bright as one might expect. Maybe tweaked since Backer-Alpha access release of course.

I agree. I also play a lot of race sims as well and they seem to do a great job often of rain on windshield effects. Really great at times. Hopefully this kind of effect is not outside the possibilities/capabilities of ED to create. Maybe their engine just can't do it or maybe no focus has been put towards it. Be nice to see it added for sure.

That's pretty awesome. Once the black smoke puffs are added it will be looking even sweeter. I bet it looks cool in VR for sure.

Yes, we have heard this posted before by you. The question is, when will it be fixed EXTERNALLY? When will the actual user base see this fix so our map does not look like it does presently with low lod? Is there an actual deployment plan to put all the Normandy map lighting improvements AND this clipmap fix that is enjoyed internally but not by the actual users/buyers of NTTR presently? You said "the map is done, expect no more from it", yet it still says early access in the store. Shouldn't that be changed then to something else?

I was under the impression glints off canopies and off polished, reflective surfaces was gonna be a thing for 2.1 and up. Is that not the case?

Yes indeed I do recall that name.

Very good points and great suggestion to maybe incorporate a slider function to adjust sea state. I live in near the water and you are right, the sea can have life even without local area wind present.

No it has been pretty clearly stated this is a WW2 env map. Changes made in the editor are up to the users not ED. I hope they offer the ability to make everyone happy by providing the resources to change as user desires. I am looking forward to helo flights and such in Normandy. Obviously not too historical doing that. I would hate to imagine trying to load a plane or object and be greeted with a " This resource does not meet period requirements" when trying to employ. Side note. GPL was one of my joys. I worked at Sierra Online when it was released and spent countless hours on VROC racing and at the racesim central forums. Just loved that sim. In fact I have the original art work for the box along with a couple custom GPL pics I acquired from our art dept. Check it out. http://imgur.com/5NEyhAi http://imgur.com/MBZuszg

Take a look at this thread. I posted info about my screens and what I use which work very well. They fit way better than Lilliputs. These are under a $100 each as well. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=185073

You see how open Razbam and Heatblur are being currently. Are they suffering for it? We appreciate their sharing. They are not hyping anything, they are just saying 'Hey, here is something we worked on today made some progress on and giving you a peek". It means something to us. We tell them how much we appreciate it. They aren't being raked over the coals or being assaulted. And if some immature manchild decides to post some nonsense..oh well, ignore and move on. I wish ED had a PR dept. and not left it to what appears to be unpaid super-fans. No disrespect meant by that. But PR and Marketing and good Customer Service are skillsets and one can't just be tasked with it and expect it to go well. ED and the 3rd party devs all suffer from a 'get to 70%-80% project completion, then move majority focus to the next project, and make that last 20-30% drag on forever. With some maybe never reaching completion most likely.' How good would the meals at a restaurant be if they only prepared their food to 80% or "Hey, wanna buy an early access suit? it is 85% done, We will get those sleeves done, we just need to get working on this new tuxedo though, but we will get those sleeves done, really. We just need a new sewing machine for the new tuxedo first. Wait, what issue with the vest?" I know, buy elsewhere. But...you know...uhuh. I support ED, that is why I care. I spent a lot of money, by choice I know, on this product line. I will spend more. I just wish ED made that seem important to them.

I understand. Not everyone is a Steam fan. But, no, you buy the module there, they give you the key. You just use that key to dl and activate the module from stand alone. Your money certainly to spend as you see fit. But, ED still gets money from the deal. You just save your pocketbook which is never not smart to do. More to apply towards the Normandy map/pack purchase as well then.