New DCS User Manual 2020 is a beauty!

[unlikely_spider]

I wonder why it isnt yet on the Documentation section of ED's website .. I can share my copy in the meantime:

 

https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ai6cuX3YQI26hqRUwtiYM59myekE3w?e=GRwhiH

 

Yes - thanks very much. I'll have to download when I get home. Looks very big though, size-wise?

[Rudel_chw]

... Looks very big though, size-wise?

 

About 145 MB .. its much larger than the old version, 10 times larger :)

[Extranajero]

Didn't even realise it had ever been updated...

I didn't even know it existed, honestly :D

[ngreenaway]

I didn't even know it existed, honestly :D

 

Same here. Reading it on lunch break now

[Mech]

A shortcut in the ED folder from the start menu would be suffice.

[Art-J]

Isn't it normal for all kind of sims to have manuals in their folders? That's always the first thing I do when playing a new simulator: Go to its folder to locate the manual. I mean you can't seriously think that someone who is new to a sim like DCS will be able to understand it without a manual, so there has to be one.

 

It's kind of the other way around from my point of view. Old Il-2 didnt have manual in the main game folder (only some pdfs with pilot's notes and patch notes, so information was scattered), Il-2 CloD doesn't have one either, same for modern Il-2 series. No idea what the situation was in Falcon or FSX/P3D, 'cause I never played them.

 

Thus, when I came to DCS in 2014, the first and obvious (for me) place to look for any manual was the publisher's website. I'm still puzzled then why ED doesn't put the latest versions of DCSW and aircraft manuals on their website - that would make things easier for new customers I think.

[BlacleyCole]

I prefer having the manuals on my iPad vs the computer so I just need to remember to copy it to my Dropbox folder next time I update dcs

[Fri13]

Isn't it normal for all kind of sims to have manuals in their folders? That's always the first thing I do when playing a new simulator: Go to its folder to locate the manual. I mean you can't seriously think that someone who is new to a sim like DCS will be able to understand it without a manual, so there has to be one.

 

From beging of the time, games has come with separate mail in the box. Those were small typically, even one page often, written on 6x6 cm size card.

 

Then at 90's when CD-ROMs became more typical, manuals became part of digital installation. And they came included in the main menu.

It was no more expected that player needs to go at all to search files.

And today, all manuals should be in one location in main directory, not separated to each module own director.

 

And every module manual should be accessible in the game main menu.

Like click a icon and you get "buy" and "set wallpaper" but not "open manual"???

 

How about at the right side "Manuals" that the lists all installed manuals?

You click wanted and your PDF reader gets opened....

 

It is just good usability to make manuals easily accessible in main menu, not requiring via file manager...

[X-31_VECTOR]

It is just good usability to make manuals easily accessible in main menu, not requiring via file manager...

 

I guess that was my original point... there seems to be no good reason not to make the manuals easily accessible. Can new users find them where they are now? Sure. Should new users assume they exist and go to look for them? Eh, maybe. But why not have the manuals be an actual, honest-to-goodness part of the game? ED and the module developers (well, most) have put so much time and effort into creating thorough manuals... why not put them front and center?

 

I know ED cares about encouraging new users -- witness Wags' excellent familiarity videos -- but that initiation process needs to begin within the game itself to set the hook. Otherwise we risk losing the noobs who download the free version and might give up in frustration rather than taking the time to find the answers to their questions. We might be tempted to deride those folks as not being worth pandering to, but we need ED's (and developers') customer bases to be growing if we want to get all the cool stuff on our never-ending DCS wish lists.

[QuiGon]

I guess that was my original point... there seems to be no good reason not to make the manuals easily accessible. Can new users find them where they are now? Sure. Should new users assume they exist and go to look for them? Eh, maybe. But why not have the manuals be an actual, honest-to-goodness part of the game? ED and the module developers (well, most) have put so much time and effort into creating thorough manuals... why not put them front and center?

Because that would be too easy! #spoonfed :P

[Leeham]

I don't have this in my install, re-ran the updater and got nothing. Mine say created in 2017?

[QuiGon]

I don't have this in my install, re-ran the updater and got nothing. Mine say created in 2017?

Then you're probably not using the Open Beta, but the Stable, which has not yet been updated to the current version which included the new manual

[Leeham]

Then you're probably not using the Open Beta, but the Stable, which has not yet been updated to the current version which included the new manual

 

 

Yeah just realised I'm back on stable, helps if I read the full thread before posting :doh:

[rrohde]

A shortcut in the ED folder from the start menu would be suffice.

 

Agreed. Simple and elegant solution.

[Hunter_5E]

Nice to know about the new manual. Always good to have official reference information.

 

I noticed there is no date stamp on the manual download page though. It would be very nice if a date stamp could be added so we can tell at a glance how current the information is.

 

Same goes for all the other manual download pages as none have date stamps. ED, please?

[Notso]

I guess that was my original point... there seems to be no good reason not to make the manuals easily accessible. Can new users find them where they are now? Sure. Should new users assume they exist and go to look for them? Eh, maybe. But why not have the manuals be an actual, honest-to-goodness part of the game? ED and the module developers (well, most) have put so much time and effort into creating thorough manuals... why not put them front and center?

 

I know ED cares about encouraging new users -- witness Wags' excellent familiarity videos -- but that initiation process needs to begin within the game itself to set the hook. Otherwise we risk losing the noobs who download the free version and might give up in frustration rather than taking the time to find the answers to their questions. We might be tempted to deride those folks as not being worth pandering to, but we need ED's (and developers') customer bases to be growing if we want to get all the cool stuff on our never-ending DCS wish lists.

 

Yep, totally agree. It took me a while before I even discovered the ED forums after I bought my first DCS module and mainly because I was getting frustrated with the disjointed information about how to get the most out of the game. Maybe I'm just a dinosaur and I enjoy reading manuals and the millenials are just used to getting all their info by searching Youtube. :dunno:

[RaveyDaveyGravy]

Trouble is theres lots of nonesense in youtube videos. For an example: Go watch almost any L-39 start up video and they almost always fail to reset the low altitude warning light on the radar altimeter and depart with the warning light still lit.

 

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[silverdevil]

i see on page 20 someone is using 1280x800 rez.

[Eldur]

I was overwhelmed by only scrolling though the absolutely huge ME section... with the old manual I found myself in many instances where it was of no help to me since it just scratched the basics and obvious things whereas the new manual really seems to delve deep down. Awesome!

 

100% agree with this. It would be great to have the most updated manuals available right on the DCS home screen.

 

That would be great. Every friggin' browser has a built in pdf viewer these days (add to that - for ages, but those have been crap for ages as well). DCS could do the same and make them accessible via the buttons at the main screen, or a docs menu - and, most importantly, from within the mission via the Esc menu. That would even make them accessible vor VR users without taking off the HMD or switching out to virtual desktop (I can do this with my Rift, don't know how other systems work here)... the less alt-tabbing we have to do, the better :)

[tarball]

Thanks for the post, going to check it out now. I sometimes wonder why ED bothers with a Beta/Stable version when things like this don't make it to the stable version. Then again, perhaps the 2020 version isn't finalized either. About to find out...

[xvii-Dietrich]

I have been systematically reading the new DCS manual over the last week or so. Again this morning I've been back in it (this is no one-day-task!). Yet again, I have been so impressed — and so grateful — that I wanted to post something to say "Thank you, ED". (And this thread seems appropriate.)

 

I do not know who the people were who wrote that manual. There is no name, no credit, nothing like what I'd find at the back of the usual aircraft module manuals. I suspect it is a team of people, covering different sections, writing, proof-reading, translation, graphics, formatting, editing, technical input, captions, composition, cross-references, overview, management, etc., etc., etc..

 

So, to all those who were in any way involved... THANK YOU!!

I admire the professional quality of the work, the thoroughness and the sheer effort it must have taken to produce it. For those of us who make heavy use of the Mission Editor, this tome is vital, showing technique, corners, rationale and detail that would otherwise be missed or misunderstood.

 

I know that there is a torrent of writing from all of us users on the forums and perhaps this post might get overlooked. But I truly hope that at least one of those manual-writers stumbles upon these words and then knows that, for at least one user, all of his or her effort has made such a difference.

[Callsign112]

I was in another thread where someone was referencing information from the manual on a page my manual didn't have, page 313 to be exact. I promptly went to the download section of ED's website, and proceeded to download. How surprised was I to find out I was downloading the 2013 version again.

 

Is Eagle Dynamics aware that the download section has not been updated with the new DCS world user manual yet? 

 

Thanks to @Rudel_chw for the link to the 2020 version.

 

Just so I know I have the latest version, does anyone know if there has been another update since 2.7?

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, Callsign112 said:

Thanks to @Rudel_chw for the link to the 2020 version.

you are welcome  but I shared it for the benefit of new users. If you already have DCs installed, the current 2020 manual is within the /dcs/doc/  folder.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Rudel_chw

[enigma6584]

Just took a look at it myself recently.  It really is a superbly done manual.  Bravo to the author.

[Callsign112]

On 9/27/2021 at 12:29 PM, Rudel_chw said:

you are welcome  but I shared it for the benefit of new users. If you already have DCs installed, the current 2020 manual is within the /dcs/doc/  folder.

 

Not trying to be funny, but wouldn't even new users need to install DCS? But anyway, I thought it was strange that the website wasn't updated yet with the newest version.

On 3/6/2020 at 10:56 AM, Hunter_5E said:

Nice to know about the new manual. Always good to have official reference information.

 

I noticed there is no date stamp on the manual download page though. It would be very nice if a date stamp could be added so we can tell at a glance how current the information is.

 

Same goes for all the other manual download pages as none have date stamps. ED, please?

Just a heads up... this is the old 2013 version