DCS World roadmap update

[Kate Perederko]

Kate. First let me say thank you for all you guys do, and for what you are planning to do. I said months ago that I was looking forward to DCS in 2020 and I still am. However, why was this release so much different from the others we have had recently? For the 16 we had weeks of informative vids from Wags on how the plane works and how to operate it. We a lot of information given to us that pushed towards that release. Given circumstances around the world right now delay is rather normal, but this whole "Release on the 15th" didn't feel right. Even NineLine said so on Hoggit. If you knew there was a chance at delay on Monday, why not put out a simple "It's getting pushed back, I am working on gathering all the information I can getting back to you guys ASAP."? Getting word of the push back on "release" day is very abnormal to say the least.

 

Will do next time. Thank you.

[Kate Perederko]

([ Mid Term ] Modern Air Combat. )

 

Why not just call it FC4 ???

 

Can't believe it you guy's going to release a package with the same airplanes and charge us again for the airplanes we already own in FC3...

Talking about being greedy!

 

Probably because if it was FC4 we would have released it 1.5 years ago.

[Legs]

Can you please explore your Plan B for a SP release of the SC?

[Fang333333]

VR is playable? No? Works well for me.

 

Somebody hasn't been reading the performance section under reported bugs. A HUGE number of people have reported this.

 

But at least Hoirtel is doing good.

[Kate Perederko]

will the graphical engine rework allow better spotting with 1080p and above resolutions?

what is the purpose of terrain engine rework? what is the team trying to accomplish with it?

 

i humbly suggest releasing a little bit more detail about the main/sub projects the team is working on. like goals and wishes. most of the frustation here is because people want to know more.

 

Spotting will be reworked.

 

Terrain engine needs to be updated to the next level of realism and speed up the terrain development.

[Oceandar]

I'll be straight to the points:

 

 

 

1. Yes

 

2. Yes

 

3. We'll do

 

4. In progress right now. Evaluating for release.

 

5. We'll try to focus as well but later on. We want to do it.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply.

 

Cheers

[Fang333333]

Yeah, look at how much performance VR needs and why the majority of VR-Games usually opt for comic book graphics, confined spaces. See why the upcoming mother of all "Flight Simulators" built from scratch, does not incorporate VR in release... maybe some people need to check their expectations when venturing into unknown territories

 

Except VR DID work fine.

 

You must of missed the city sized mob holding the "Why did 2.6 break the game!?" signs on your way in.

[Gary]

Kate,

 

 

I'm not sure where in the world you are or what time it is there but I just wanted to say "Thank You" for being so active, responsive and open to discussion today. The mods do a good job here but are often unable to divulge detailed answers. Today has been a breath of fresh air - despite the circumstances.

 

 

I've no doubt you won't be able to maintain this level of interaction but today was worth it I would say. Well done for taking a grip and please do rest and stay safe.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Gary

[Kate Perederko]

Just for clarification, are the issues with the SC module, or multiplayer itself?

My understanding as has been mentioned in the thread already, was that the carrier was ready for an EA release pending the end of the sale, which I wasn’t excited about, but understood.

If the issues are related to the current SC build, was it not possible to release the last known stable build such as the one that would’ve released had the sale not delayed it? :huh:

 

The SC was ready to be released with some known issues and we decided to release it after the sale, and Matt announced it. While we were waiting for the sale to end we were improving the SC every day. The final version was delivered on April 8. We started to test it. And as I promised earlier, we planned to deliver it to the press review on April 10. We started tests, asked beta testers to play around and there were several issues with multiplayer discovered. Some of them are related to DCS World in general and it's a different topic, and some of them are local for SC. We'll fix local SC bugs and will deliver the module.

 

The general issues of DCS World will stay until the whole multiplayer approach will be refactored. We are working on it.

[Sonoda Umi]

We consider the single-player release as a plan B.

 

Thank you for answer.

 

I will wait for more details.

[shagrat]

Not following your logic on this.

 

If it was delayed for a sale, that clearly indicates completion and waiting for the to sale end to deploy. The current delay shows it wasn’t and isn’t ready to deploy yet.

 

Deductive reasoning leads to a conclusion that the first statement was untrue.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It was "ready for release into Early Access" with features missing.

Delay due to Sale allowed to go on with development of said features, ironing out bugs and progress development (I remember starting F-14B Integration mentioned).

Now after already two additional Updates with lots of fixes to DCS the current internal version exposed a blocking issue on Saturday.

Would you really want to revert to DCS 2.5.6 from 4 weeks ago, with all the bugs and issues they fixed in the last updates and hotfixes introduced back again, just to have a glance at the SC?

[MeanDroid]

Probably because if it was FC4 we would have released it 1.5 years ago.

 

That means you had 1.5 years to really make it good... but you didn't

[Kate Perederko]

Can you please explore your Plan B for a SP release of the SC?

 

If we will fail to progress with MP for next two weeks, we'll consider release of SP.

[tifafan]

Kate,

When we can get flight model modified for Hornet?

The flight model with full flap is definitely having some problem.

It will pitch up like a rocket when full afterburner.

Edited April 15, 2020 by tifafan

[Echo179]

A couple questions Kate. But first, thank you for the open communication. This has almost become an AMA. It's refreshing to get a transparent look at the future of our favorite sim.

 

1. You mention the Hornet having a potential end of EA timeframe of the end of 2020. There seems to still be a lot to do, and some things, especially quality of life improvements, have been missing for years even when posted to the wishlist thread. Stuff like Grid entry for coordinates, that currently needs to have a JTAC mod to convert grid coordinates to lat/long so you can enter waypoints. There's also the idea that you are just now finishing the Litening TGP, and then have to create the ATFLIR within the next 8 months to meet the schedule. Is this seen as being realistic? Has ATFLIR development been ongoing alongside the Litening? Will both be available in the release, or will ATFLIR just replace the Litening?

 

2. As a VR user, we have a number of issues we run into. Stutter and frame drops are very perceptible for us obviously, but I'd say one of my biggest issues is spotting. Currently, we have the option for labels, but even the 'dot' option is very large, are visible through the cockpit or other objects, and out of position for where the target is, which can make identifying the location of the target, vs the label, quite difficult. Are there any ideas on improving the ability to spot in VR (if not for our pancake players as well)? Perhaps have label options where they don't project through your cockpit or other solid surfaces, and possibly a neutral color at a distance where you couldn't visually ID the target anyways? Then within reasonable visual range, the labels could shift to red and blue, as you'd be able to identify the aircraft as friend or foe in real life, but the detail in VR just doesn't let us do it currently. I don't know what the answer is, but even knowing you recognize the issue would be nice.

 

3. Can you possibly go into detail on what benefits multi-threading may bring to performance? Is the limiting factor currently a lack of computing power for the number of tasks needing to be processed? What load will other threads be able to take up? There's graphical implementations that have seemed to heavily impact performance, especially VR users, such as the deferred shading that was introduced awhile back and made standard. Will any of these graphical features see a performance benefit from CPU related tasks being able to be moved to other threads? Obviously, as you said about the OB performance and Vulkan performance benefits, nothing is certain. I just wanted to get your take. I know you guys got burned with the "VR improvement" claim awhile back that didn't seem to have as much effect as you were hoping it would.

 

Thanks. Keep at it, stay safe and healthy, and please oh please, keep up this kind of community engagement!

[Fusedspine33]

It was "ready for release into Early Access" with features missing.

Delay due to Sale allowed to go on with development of said features, ironing out bugs and progress development (I remember starting F-14B Integration mentioned).

Now after already two additional Updates with lots of fixes to DCS the current internal version exposed a blocking issue on Saturday.

Would you really want to revert to DCS 2.5.6 from 4 weeks ago, with all the bugs and issues they fixed in the last updates and hotfixes introduced back again, just to have a glance at the SC?

 

 

Uhhh,....yeah,.... it’s not ready today, so it wasn’t ready when the sale was happening.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Kate Perederko]

That means you had 1.5 years to really make it good... but you didn't

 

That means that we created a new game and took FC3 as a starting point because it is popular and easy to start with in DCS.

[dmatt76]

Single player release is a perfect option - it would be a good training before flying with people regardless what you focus on - SP or MP

[HCBPshenanigans]

Hi Kate, I appreciate you here engaging with us and answering our questions.

 

Since you mentioned an improved terrain engine with the ability to more quickly build maps a bit up, I'd like to ask about a personal desire of mine.

 

It has been stated publicly some time ago that the plan is to eventually model the entire world map and have a true "DCS World". This is obviously a massive undertaking and not something I expect anytime soon, not even in the next few years.

 

I'd just like to ask if you have any comments on this. Will the new terrain engine work you mentioned allow for larger terrains than we currently have now, as an intermediate step toward that long term goal?

 

Will we eventually see things like expanding the Caucasus and/or Persian Gulf map to include more areas than it currently does, etc?

 

Are you able to speak at all on the long term strategy to get us to that eventual goal of a true world map, even if things are still very far away?

[Kate Perederko]

Kate,

When we can get flight model modified for Hornet?

The flight model with full flap is definitely having some problem.

It will climb like a rocket when full afterburner.

 

We'll discuss it in a different thread when the F18 roadmap for 2020 will be posted. Please standby.

[Kazansky222]

well since 2.5.6 i cant play anymore frames in vr are just tht bad

 

Yea man, thats about the point where I just couldn't do it anymore, MP VR performance is just too horrible to play anymore.

[Legs]

If we will fail to progress with MP for next two weeks, we'll consider release of SP.

 

I appreciate your reply

[Gryzor]

Tomorrow we will deliver the update with significant changes to performance. However, we cannot predict if it will work for everyone. We will monitor again and see how good it is.

 

We are already blamed that we deliver OB without testing. Well, we just cannot cover the number of tests the community can have. Internal testing showed that it is a significant update. Tomorrow's Open Beta will show the truth.

 

Many thanks Kate for your quick answer.

 

Please, don´t forget to take down the VR image seen in one eye and not in another (in the latest 2.5.6 iteration, flood lights from gear at runway were fixed, but there are left many other objects that not render properly at some distances, clouds for example).

 

Other thing that I consider as a priority is spotting. I have to make a custom label mod just to play in VR. I know maybe its not necesary, but please, look at the other 2WW sim: spotting and sharpness filter, also plane sun reflections, was a great improvement the past year.

 

Also, make 2WW planes useable in VR, due ASW / motion smoothing the helix view and glitches make them difficult to use. At least, give us the option to make "fixed" helix disc for VR user.

 

Many thanks, this is the sort of answer I want from ED

[Falkaroth]

Do not understand what's going on here...Some people wait 3 years for a complete module. In contrast, the shift of the SC is a joke. Have no problem with that...

 

Cheers

[aleader]

Kate,

When we can get flight model modified for Hornet?

The flight model with full flap is definitely having some problem.

It will pitch up like a rocket when full afterburner.

 

I thought this was just me doing something wrong. Good to see it's a bug that needs to be fixed.