dmatsch

this is a capability with some of the aircraft. Please add to all AC

This. Totally this. We all love DCS. We want it to succeed. Hell, I've based a good chunk of my future retirement plans on it! When veteran and amazing module developers like cfrag -- whom I have the ultimate respect for here in the community -- is getting frustrated and jumping ship, it brings great concern to the future of this software. Without cfrag and other VOLUNTEERS like him, DCS would have been a dead, empty void a decade ago. The fact that ED treated them like unpaid interns and never valued their feedback NOR integrated any of their mods (paying them, of course) is disappointing. I also, have invested a good chunk of money in modules and maps. Don't care if the core is free, that should be the MOST WORKING part of the whole sim, otherwise the modules are useless. PS: Notice most of the ones in this thread and others with torches and pitchforks for DCS/ED critical topics are ones with 1-2K++ posts?

I can't remember if there's a name for that. Ponoo .. pizzagate .. fonzi ... It began with a "P"...

Incoming fire expected, but I'm starting to think that we have it all wrong. I think that DCS was neither meant to be a flight simulator nor a combat simulator. DCS is a Flight/Combat Simulator Simulator The fun isn't actually flying/combatting, the "fun" is actually getting the simulator to function properly; the software IS the game. User mods are just extra "quests" to complete to get/keep the game running. Every now and then ED will throw in maps or EA modules that just barely work -- just to keep everyone playing the actual game of getting the software running properly -- again. Think that indie hacker game where you actually had to code in a console to play the game... Thank you. I'm off the soapbox now. TLDR: There is more activity in these forums about how to fix, enhance, modify and overcome faults than there is actually FLYING and using the sim for it's purpose of digital combat flight simulation. If ED doesn't see the previous sentence as the WHOLE issue here, then we're all doomed. DOOMED, I tell you. ...For the forum topic: I wish that ED would release a "DCS 3.x", that has 2025 graphics capabilities, functional AI, functional FM, functional weapons, populated maps, updated legacy maps, improved ATC and Carrier ops, more static templates, fully-functional modules and maps BEFORE release, EA < 1yr, DCE, updated ME and scripting engine, involve (not alienate) UNPAID module builders, implement all the promised changes for the past 10 years, AND finally, reign in the evangelists long term members on the forums. All in one package. I would even pay for such a new and improved DCS -> but only when it hit v3.5.

what?! please tell us you're being sarcastic here.

PG, Caucus, Normandy (all of them), NTTR: all abandonware. ED specifically said that NTTR will never get an update.

DCS. Digital Combat Simulator. It's been the title of the game for more than a decade. Unfortunately, book titles are deceiving...

those of us who choose programming for a career call this the CTRL-S twitch. Similar to a pilots' 6-second twitch only with less life-threatening results.

I see your two dollars and raise you A NICKEL!

seconded. you have to adjust the view every single time for every weapon. It should default to weapon --> target view.

the thing is, that all this functionality existed already in the 3rd party DCS Briefing Room. And it sort of worked! Well, at least some times. OK, almost never. The issue was DCS AI being all borky, so none of the non-player controlled aircraft did what they were supposed to. ED should have contracted that developer.

That would be our dear old silky-voiced WAGS himself!

I would like to see at least some statics at each airport to make it feel less empty and more like an active airport/airbase. Ideally we would have built-in RAT for a populated airspace. Rudel_Chw created a bunch of static templates a few years ago, but most aren't working anymore and corrupt missions. It would be nice if ED had something like that for each map and timeframe.

ED should have talked to you before releasing this thing.

the main problem is the lack of working pre-made static templates. One for each time period. It would be nice if the users didn't have to create all that content manually. It would be really nice if it just had a ton of vanilla game (no mods) pre-made templates for armor groups, infantry, CAG groups, sams, airports (with RAT!!), etc. That way DCS would be more modular out of the box. Or even several pre-made maps from each era. But they have to come from vanilla DCS so that they continue to work. Downloaded static templates work for a while (thank you Rudel_Chw!), but eventually crap out with DCS updates. And when they crap out, they corrupt the entire mission so that it's not loadable, editable, or playable. Start from scratch again. In this day and age, I should be able to create a full mission with just a dozen or so clicks. Click - map. Click - era. Click - add template(s) for entire map. Click - mission choice (any type of mission). Click - player aircraft and loadout. Click - start mission. Maybe a few more for weather and such. You get the idea. The technology already exists for DCS, but third party stuff is barely maintained. I've never completed a campaign in Liberation since inception without it crashing on me. I shouldn't literally have to take half a day trying to make even a simple multi-plane mission perform the way it should. Even then, I've created the mission. I know where everything is and when it's going to happen.

we didn't need a QAG. Quick and dirty missions can be done faster and better in the ME. We needed a FULL mission generator like the 3rd party ones that have existed for more than 5 years now. And a dynamic campaign generator like the ones that have existed for more than 5 years now. But all of this is a moot point if they can't fix the AI.

But we got cows several years ago!

I have a plan to make 3.2 million dollars in the next three months. I'll start actively working on it when I receive that last 3.2 million that I planned to make.

Fix the AI. This is the biggest complaint. And the one persisting year after year*. *Please buy our new latest early-access module that will be early-access for years until enough people complain, even then it won't be "complete".

it's extremely simplistic. Like test missions only. And only against THIER pre-defined assets, not statics, or custom templates. Between the horrendous load times vs. it's capability, you can create a miz in 1/10th the time. I would have expected something like DCC or the other mission generator (name escapes me -- both stopped working).

title says it all. we have a ground pounder mission, but no infrastructure. I tried to create an anti-ship mission with only two cargo boats, and it created the two cargo boats and a frigate! This thing is so simplistic that with the load times, it's easier to just create a quick and dirty ME mission. Doubly-so using templates. This way at least you can load the scripts that make DCS halfway playable in a COMBAT role.

^^this. I'm not really sure what's going on at ED, but a good deal of core-level bugs make any kind of mission design either impossible or such a chore that it's unfeasible. 60%-80% of mods, scripts and static templates are broken, which makes this software mostly unplayable as a Combat flight simulator.

how about being able to populate any airport with statics and RATs without spending hours on each airport on each map? DCS, to this day, remains a big, empty sim unless you spend hours in the ME.

please fix this, ED. This is a stupid game-breaker bug that affects ALL carrier-based missions with any incoming traffic. End users shouldn't have to find all these hacks for ancient bugs just to design/play a mission.

this bug is waaaay older than 2024. ED is "working on it".