Torso

Yeah somewhere along the process they took a step back. I wished we would also get the airfield coloring that was in the wip shots. The coloring was much nicer.

My guess, announce release in tomorrows newsletter, Hornet released on the 16th, PGM on the 30th. Wed releases gives them the 2 weekdays remaining in the week to address shtf issues if any arise before weekend hits.

Exactly.

No, he is just holding his hmd with a camera pressed to the lens to record. I can place my HMD on the nose of my plane if I want. That is not the same as using the zoom function. Though for us VR users it is effectively the same as we get such a weak zoom level...sadly.

This right here alone makes it clear it is something you use obviously a lot, and is basically removed for VR users. VR usage should not be penalized other than what the current level of tech limits you too. I have heard nothing from ED ever addressing this. Not even to say why it is different for VR users. I can already zoom a little, what harm is it gonna be to let me get the level a monitor users has. Let it be up to me if I cannot make use of it or if I can. Just give us the same ability at least.

Just a post to request the ED team expands the colors used for the city lights at least for Dubai, but request is for any applicable area. To see just how colorful Dubai is at night, take a look at the below link. Really cool 360 pic of Dubai. Check out pic 10 from the menu on the right. It would be great if ED team added some of the greens, purples and blues, amber/orange lights as they exist in the real city. I could not imagine the color of the lights used makes a difference performance wise. So why not add some for accuracy :) https://www.airpano.ru/files/Dubai-UAE-Best/2-2 After watching DeviDogs fly through of the city, using an expanded color pallet for lighting to match the actual city's night lighting diversity would make low fly through's quite a beautiful experience.

Yep, they need to use the currently employed terrain 'glow' tweak we got in last update on just the major/minor roads and they would achieve the desired effect nicely in combo with this new work. The effect does have a use within this overhaul if used appropriately certainly.

A lot of constructive comments posted. I agree with most. I definitely feel some color tweaking needs to be done and boosting the variety of colors used in the cities. Adding some greens, blues, yellows, purples, reds, oranges..etc. A viewing of pics or vids in Thors post and others shows that there are a lot of other colors vs just white and off-white at play in night lighting. A more orange hue seems to be the most prominent color in urban/developed areas and major roadways. But quite a few others colors as well on buildings and grounds surrounding them and other various areas of the ground. I hope the ED team does some experimenting with the color pallet and gets it a bit closer to real life via ref materials and is not a perf issue(is it more taxing to use 9 different light colors vs only 3 or 4 colors?). Would be cool if they can do it for sure and add to the richness and depth of the environment. I also am curious if the buildings will have any strobes/beacons on them. Not just static but flashing where applicable. I also hope the draw distances are decent. A 20k+ overhead shot showing what is visible would be nice. Anyways, I think ED has made a huge leap forward with this effort and I have renewed hope that they could in time have an absolute stellar night time environment. I had lost hope until I saw these new pics. I hope they look at some of the feedback and suggestions for improvements and consider them while at the same time seeing the universal positive reaction to what has been achieved so far. I now am starting to get excited for carrier night ops with the Hornet again. Hopefully by the time it is available things have evolved even further to make that experience a truly butt clenching moment as it should be. Really good work so far, keep going!

Seeing these shots brought a tear to my eye. So happy to see this effort is underway. It has been my white whale to see DCS get their night time environment together. THIS is finally looking like the counterpart to DCS daylight that I have been waiting for. So happy to see this and look forward to it improving even more so as more work is done. Nice work ED team, keep it up, can improve it even further I bet.

This needs to be made optional. It really seems to have screwed over more people than it benefited. Not sure on the scale of work that needs to be done in DCS how this made it onto the 'do' list. All/Many of us with tactile transducer and alt/audio headphone setups, which it seems are quite a few, are now left in a broken audio state until this gets fixed. I hope it is in the next update.

I took the MiG-21 for a spin and it now looks kinda like the glass texture is missing completely. At least in VR. Odd if no changes were made by the team included in the last update.

It must be a major task as if it was easy you would think they would fix it already. I mean the issues have existed since 2.x came on to the scene which has been how long now? Quite a while for this to be an issue still if it was within their ability to actually fix with the current engine.

To fix this, it is gonna take a major core engine fix/overhaul most likely. Which means we won't probably see a useful night time flying environment for a very long time if ever. The upcoming fix after reviewing the preview shots does not address the issues. They just made the existing terrible ground lights brighter by a bit and then added glowing terrain to try and compensate but it looks wrong. This is not even bringing the moon/star/ambient light issues up that are adding to the issues currently. It just seems no one at ED ever really thought to try flying at night and as a result it never was on their radar to make work.

The issue with ground lights, draw distance, visibility, types, lack of color variation..etc in addition to no moon/star/ambient lighting is VERY well known and has been a problem for a very long time. And only got worse with the intro of 2.x versions. ED knows about it. They have tried to adjust them and we should see that in the next update. However it is clear from the preview shots of 2.5.1 that Nine posted the fixes are not that effective and do not address the real issues night lights in DCS have currently. Hopefully one day ED will be able to get their engine to play with nights well but that seems a long ways off if it ever is addressed. Currently DCS is a day-light hours only flight sim. That pretty much is the consensus from those of us that actually attempt to fly at night. It needs a TOTAL, yes I mean total, overhaul and most likely the engine core itself needs to be updated to get anything decent out of it for night time usage. And in VR, the issues are even worse than what a 2D monitor user experiences. It really is too bad.

See this thread. Enjoy! https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=205813

I am baffled at the walls some of you put up for just making other options available. It is clear you that do this are so single minded it is ridiculous. If it is an option you do not want to utilize then fine, your choice. But to actually try and block the option from even being explored is ridiculous. Remember, this title caters to multiple peoples interests. Not just your own. Try and quit thinking YOUR narrow mindedness is the box WE ALL want to confined within. I am sure you can look at your MP stats and still feel like the aces you are even if such functionality is provided.

The implication is that it is an unfair/unrealistic advantage that monitor users can zoom crazy amounts and VR users have some crippled version of zoom for some reason(Why was that decision made? Who made it? It was a terrible decision ). It is not about self-control. Because who in their right mind would believe some dude isn't gonna be using it if it is available to them and it is gonna help them to win a fight. As it currently is used by all who have it. A simple viewing of some player vids, both single and mp, on YT shows it used all the time by monitor/trackIR users. The solution is simple. Make the zoom the same for both user types. Either super or somewhat realistic. Either way, it should be the same for both.

DS on=stuff broken DS off=stuff broken The broken stuff needs to be fixed. Simple.

Bingo. Along with other modules as well. Re-working the entire cockpit..sure that I can see will take a while. But to push out the canopy fix for these modules is not the same thing as reworking the entire cockpit. Canopy fixes for ALL of these modules should have been put out when the issues surfaced in 2.X. There are no other reasons they have not been made available other than A)lack of knowledge of the issue, which is ridiculous. Or B)They just don't care and are too focused on the next early release product to deal with their existing early release products. I am going with B from how the business model of DCS is. Either way, the only ones who are suffering are the ones paying the bills, the customers. How is that good business?

This is where ED needs to step in and demand the Dev fix this crap right away. This is where ED needs to show a little leadership for their title and reach out to the dev, who are obviously purposely ignoring the issue. This would take probably a very small amount of time to address( an hour, a couple?) but for some reason these devs act like they cannot hear the customers. ED needs to step up as they have the ability to force them to address this. But does not seem that is ED's take on it. Hmm how can that be? DCS is THEIR title. They should be able to demand a 3rd party dev address such module breaking issues right away.

After watching the live stream today it really makes me hope the ED team is gonna make some headway into their night lighting issues. This map and the cities in it could look just amazing lit up at night IF they can ever get their engine to render lights correctly. Dubai should be dazzling at night. Such huge potential if only they could fix their issues. It will be a real shame if these cities are eternally dark from lack of engine ability. I hope if in the current engine(T4 or T5 whichever it is) they just cannot achieve the proper look/function of water and lights they look at improving their core engine to make such things possible. Those should have been part of it's design mandate from the start. I really worry as it appears these things were not really considered much when it was being designed from the outset from all appearances.

Awesome, please do! This could be a real nice addition to DCS control options.

+1 I really wish ED would give VR users the same zoom level they give monitor users. I was pretty disappointed when I 1st found out it is not.

Currently this is still an issue, but I will say it is better than it was prior to 2.5, but then again, the banding might be just benefiting from the other issues that seem to have grown. So, once they put out the 'moonlight' fix, we might see the banding and orange horizon(which still occurs but is less prevalent) return to it's unfortunate former glory. Hope not of course. I have inquired about dither testing as well, because DAY sky would even benefit and have never once had the question addressed. No clue if just outside the engine abilities. But all you gotta do is watch any of the YT vids, even the latest out and banding often shows up in the sky so not just night flying would benefit. The whole other crazy variable in the mix is the gamma setting I find. I have done countless tests and you can mitigate one issue a bit with the gamma slider, but exasperate another at the same time. I mean at gamma 2.4 I get something that fixes one problem kinda, but then need to use Gamma 1.0 to address another, again, kinda. It is like if we had just a few more picture controls(contrast/saturation/brightness..etc) you might be able to tweak away a few of the issues, but you can't. The DCS ground/object lighting view distance and scaling issue is a whole different ballgame and needs a complete overhaul and new approach taken(IE:copy XP11, it is the best out there currently). I fly only in VR and have both a Rift and a Vive and am a backer for the Pimax 8k. I get same perf in and see same issues in both the Rift and the Vive. I know VR has a different pic quality vs a monitor and I am hoping that the Pimax closes that gap just a tad at least. Hopefully ED can figure out their night lighting issues by the time the Pimax arrives. Fingers crossed as always. :smilewink: Sorry so long, but night lighting in DCS is my white whale....okay, maybe one of them ;)

I think the other maps have the same issue. I know there are screenshots around showing the water with color variation but after some update it all went away.