Charlie-1

I purchased the CA module just yesterday having been plane sim only for a while, but after driving a tank the weekend I thought I would have a go within DCS. I have to say its a whole new experience snooping around on the ground and definitely something I'd like to spend more time with. The main thing letting it down in it's current state is the disapointing low resolution graphics of the vehicles and lack of head tracking in VR... Somethings broken there. The mission editor in DCS is already excellent, so this for me would be definitely something I'd invest more in. PS.. I'm new to tanks, but I was driving an Abrams in DCS already yesterday.

Performance and quality has declined considerably since 2.5 switched to deferred shading and especially notable in VR. The thing is no one important reads this feedback or cares to do anything about it. It's also fair to say everything I've purchased, downloaded for DCS is either broken or unfinished, so best solution I found is to enjoy flying again with 1.58 or play and spend elsewhere.

I agree with you too @Art-J to the point I'm going to put the beta back on the shelf, so to speak and check back in 6 months. Oh well :)

Great the beta's working out for you, but for some, myself included performance and quality has gone way backwards in comparison, hence my original post, is this as good as it's going to get?

If it's possible to achieve better FPS performance and image quality with the same amount of AA, shadows, effects etc, etc. as pre DS without spending a fortune upgrading kit then myself and many others are missing something? The above being especially true in VR. When I see advice on 'optimising' including turning off MSAA, shadows, effects, etc, etc I would question what progress has been made?

Considering 2.52 runs about half the speed that 2.5 did for me (with DS off), I would say there's a long way to go to exceed, if not just match how it performed before. 1.58 was even better than that.

Despite the hundreds, if not thousands of hours of community feedback on here regarding graphics performance issues since the introduction of DS, there's been several patches now and from what I can tell nothing to address any of the main performance issues raised and not least any comment from the team or hope of it returning to its former glory. Is this as good as it gets for the beta?

No change in anything, but at least there's now windmills in Normandy thank god:megalol:

Is the update for the Beta only?

And that works does it?

To be fair it didn't say 2.5.2 beta much before release, if at all.. I can confirm I checked on the 19th of May because another user was worried the Hornet wasn't going to work well after he'd pre ordered then experienced the poor performance of the beta platform with Deferred Shading. The header defiantly said requires version 2.5. I copied and pasted exactly what it said in another thread.

I agree, I don't know why anyone wants to be gazing at buildings and cities in combat, and especially why so much effort is going into their production?? Whilst you can't fault the level of detail and functionality of the aircraft in DCS, the performance of the new platform created to fly them in is now far from enjoyable. The best thing I found to do is fly in Nevada or out at sea, where there's no buildings or clutter to drag performance down.

Was looking good and the same in 2D and VR until yesterday's update. Now just light drops on canopy in VR lol

Did I read somewhere about shadow play? Turned on runs much quicker for some reason. Sounds crazy!

Maybe so, but if you're right.. wouldn't it have been a good idea if the fantastic new renderer had all been proven and ironed out before making mandatory to the new module's which had already been preordered?

Yes our specs are similar, and I don't know about you but I'm running 2.5 and other aerial combat games both on monitor and VR absolutely suberbly. I can already enjoy smooth jaggy free action in the F15 and AV-8B etc before DS screwed things up and can enjoy the F-18 if needed elsewhere. It's a shame, but I definitely won't be investing further in any new modules here until DCS is back performing, and exceeding expectation as it should be.

Nothing constructive to say here except looking in with sorrow. Luckily I haven't purchased the F-18 (yet) and won't do until there's real improvement to get the games quality and performance back to at least previous release standards, if not exceeding them for enjoyment on a reasonable gaming PC. As yet, despite all the constructive feedback about the beta on here, I've yet to see a single issue addressed. I await with anticipation.

Cockpit displays are now illegible in VR without zooming in. They are crystal clear before deferred shading. Neither MSAA or Super Sampling would improve them for me. I really hope that is temporary situation.

I agree the lighting and colours can look good with 'DS on' and especially trees in Caucasus, but I think that is more down to how the maps have been created that way? Considering the negative impact on AA, performance and night lighting etc, I'm sure there are a lot easier ways to enrich colours and enhance lighting, such as when flying with HDR on. When the sun is in view, there's suddenly an improvement in perception of depth and vibrance of colours. This effect may be altering gamma, but whatever it is it worth be a great if it could be switched permanently on and the level made adjustable.

I noticed this too. I think it's also true of 1.58

As the title says really.. I know some building materials will reflect sunlight at certain angles, but I don't think the current buildings look believable, especially when you can see them shimmering from thousands of meters in the air. Hopefully this is something to be tweaked?

Perhaps true. I can't see any jagged edges on the trailer, so god knows what AA is being used, certainly not WYSIWYG on the recommended level machine. Thing is consumer trust is a fragile thing!

Whilst the development and Introduction of deferred shading is ongoing, can we have a gamma slider for general use, which I believe will make an enormous positive difference to a graphics engine that is good and playable already?

I'm sorry, I don't have any magic settings. It's not the best game for night lighting, but IMO 1.58 is not bad at all, especially dusk with HDR on, For me the best VR performance and experience for DCS.

Interesting you are experiencing the same problem, especially with your hardware. I was hoping 2.5.2 would address this issue so wondered if it was just me noticing it. I hope there's a logical explanation and a fix on the way, so in the meantime I've reverted back to 1.58, which on balance is a much better experience, especially in VR also considering night lighting, trees, mountain reflections on the sea etc.