DCS World roadmap update

[jasonbirder]

the state of Beta right now is even more of a reason why you can't just get Stable so soon

 

 

Does raise three key questions for me (important ones as the OVERWHELMING number of users are on Stable vs Open Beta

 

 

* I Understand there are many problems with 2.5.6 - BUT the final OB of 2.5.5 contained many, many fixes and updates - if 2.5.6 was going to be problematic why wasn't releasing this version (2.5.5.41962) into stable a priority if it was going to be months and months and months before 2.5.6 was added to stable

* Its been repeatedly said that Open Beta releases are "indivisible" that just the "simple" or "third party" fixes can't be seperated out and added to the stable branch...if that's the case...why is ED ploughing ahead adding more and more and more (potentially problematic) features to progressively more and more advanced Open Beta releases (there have been 6 including todays since 2.5.6) rather than getting the initial version WORKING and released to stable

* Given that it could be many months before the majority of users have access to them - should it be more prominantly displayed/better explained on the ED website that modules like the JF-17 aren't available for use by "ordinary" users...only for Beta Testers...so people don't part with their money erroneously?

[DUSTY]

Will the night lighting for the cockpit of the Mi-8 and UH-1 get any love soon? They're borderline unusable in their current state.

[Baldrick33]

What is priority? In a simulator, I believe, the priority is to make things that lead to being as close to reality as possible.

Seeing an even more beautiful explosion is amazing but it is not the core of the simulation.

 

The priorities are:

- ATC: because every plane first of all in flight communicates (I am also a real pilot and I know how important aeronautical radio is)

- A/G Radar: F-18 and other modern fighters are multi-role. A/G radar is very important, even not completed in the first time.

- AI / Dynamic Campaign: the behavior of enemy units is essential for simulation. The unpredictability of a real scenario is not a shooting range.

- VR / Monitor Preset Switch: 2 graphic presets decided by the user to switch between VR and Monitor settings. One click and DCS World is ready for your VR graphics set, another click and it's ready for the monitor.

Those are your priorities. For others the way an explosion is accurately simulated to what would happen in real life is very important and is an immersion killer if not right. For some AI is seen as a waste of time when they fight with and against real people exclusively. How many play DCS on both VR and a monitor to justify your suggestion being a top priority?

 

Ask for the priorities from the community and you will get a zillion different lists. Maybe give the entire customer base the task of providing an agreed list and sit back and enjoy the fireworks :)

 

DCS is many things to many people, that brings joy and dismay in various measures depending upon how you see things! For me DCS is about providing "realistic entertainment". I don't spend time on entertainment that doesn't entertain, I go do something else. Quite how people can spend their time creating videos about "what is wrong with..." this game or that game and hours on forums bashing things whilst carrying on playing them defeats me.

[MAXsenna]

I'd argue that it's far from simple. Also, miltary ops - especially in wartime - are quite different from civilian ones. Not to mention country/alliance differences Procedures also change in time - WWII, 80's etc. I guess every map should have its time period assigned too, and get contemporary ATC. Maybe having a "default" ATC (military or civilian) is the way to go, but leaving it open for campaign and mission makers to change as they see fit. Today, it's solved with scripts - not optimal, but helps with the atmosphere.

 

 

 

In my community, we're flying campaigns with live controllers (through LotATC) - but since controllers are scarce we usually use them for AWACS and GCI. For us, more believable civilian and military ATC would be great - and combined with live AWACS and GCI it would be pretty much all we'd ever need.

I agree. That's why I said "simple". Complex would be hard, but totally awesome!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[MAXsenna]

Hi Kate,

 

 

 

And please do not go down the road of splitting MP and SP. Just because of popular demand? Thats BS. If you do so, I bet you will get the same amount of bitching from the MP guys.

 

 

 

Just stick to what you think is best for YOUR product. If some Foodmanufacturers would listen to the loudest voice we would have the most disgusting chocolade and pizzas you can imagine. It's your product, and you guys have to be able to stand behind it.

 

 

 

Btw. - The water Looks amazing, also the lighting. So cudos on that one. That this will have an impact on performance, so be it.

 

 

 

Guess multithreading would be an awesome thing to have, but we all have to Keep in mind, it's Eagle Dynamics, not Electronic Arts or Ubisoft. So things may take a little longer.

 

 

 

And for everyone asking why there is an early access and why it is important - First of all, there are people that dont mind minor Bugs or incomplete modules and are having fun searching Bugs and reporting them. Secondly - just google "cashflow" and you will have an answer why EA is probalby an important thing to keep developments ongoing. Just my two Cents.

Well, according to numbers it's 2/3rds in SPs favour, so no wonder who has the loudest voice.

 

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[OPEC]

Well, according to numbers it's 2/3rds in SPs favour, so no wonder who has the loudest voice.

 

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Loud is not always best, as it turns out.

 

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[MAXsenna]

Will the night lighting for the cockpit of the Mi-8 and UH-1 get any love soon? They're borderline unusable in their current state.

+1

 

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[MAXsenna]

Loud is not always best, as it turns out.

 

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Absolutely! That we can agree on.

But I understand why the majority are concerned waiting for fixes for the minority.

 

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[shagrat]

Absolutely! That we can agree on.

But I understand why the majority are concerned waiting for fixes for the minority.

 

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One thing that irritated me is, if the build breaks multiplayer independent from the Supercarrier in the mission or not?

If only the use of the SC in a MP mission would cause issues a simple release note for mission designers may be enough and people could happily start training starts and landings.

So my guess is, the MP issues are generic and would break MP in general? And honestly, that is a good argument to delay the release, in my point of view.

[51thPolux]

Hello Kate,

 

is it possible to stop developing the "voice chat" ? I won't use it, I use the "SRS" utility which gives complete satisfaction and without bug. It will be better than coding a utility that already exists, and that nobody will use because everybody uses the "SRS" to do that.

Instead, if I may say so, put your resources on the supercarrier, so that it goes upwind during takeoffs and landings in an automatic way, like the other excellent "Moose" module does. Which brings to your simu what you should have done a long time ago.

Or time, to finish what is long overdue and that I paid for (long time too).

And I take this opportunity to thank Heatblur, who with their F-14B gives me complete satisfaction, thank you guys. A module that I don't regret having paid...

 

Good luck, kate

 

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[Phantom88]

We plan to deliver 2.5.6 OB today with increase of frame rate but it will not be the same as for 2.5.5 because there are changes in 2.5.6:

 

Improved Water

 

The transparency of the water has been improved; the depth of the water now feels more accurate and water becomes more blurred the deeper you go. The upcoming torpedos for WWII Asset Pack will be easier to track underwater. The shorelines also benefit greatly from this improvement, in particular the cliffs of Dover in the new theatre DCS: The Channel.

 

Improved Environment Lighting

 

We have worked hard to increase the range and visibility of lights to enhance the night flying experience. We know that it is far from perfect and will continue to improve the look and feel at night.

 

and it impacts on frame rates and there are some other changes to 2.5.5 that also impact, for example, an update of special effects.

 

 

Delivery of SC as a single-plater is a plan B due to technical reason and due to the community requests. WE do not want to play the game of Single player and Multi player releases. We want to have one release and full stop. Multi player was a special feature that can be in a game or can be delivered later at the beginning of the century. Nowadays, it's a must have without any doubts. We are modern game and modern company and would like to have multi-play and VR as inseparable part of the game.

Looking forward to this,Thank You for being upfront and honest with the Community,We are all very Passionate about DCS and the fantastic work going into The Sim we all Love :thumbup:

[InteR]

Thanks you Kate for the info.

 

 

Greetings.

[ViFF]

Hello Kate,

is it possible to stop developing the "voice chat" ? I won't use it, I use the "SRS" utility which gives complete satisfaction and without bug. It will be better than coding a utility that already exists, and that nobody will use because everybody uses the "SRS" to do that.

 

Totally agree with 51thPolux on the voice chat feature.

 

When I first saw this on the feature list it seemed totally redundant with all the 3rd party voice chat apps that is already in wide spread use by the multiplayer crowd.

 

SRS, Discord, Teamspeak, Mumble and other apps are already well established in the gaming community.

 

Its even gotten to a point that all the popular DCS multiplayer servers have disabled this option and advising all the clients who want to connect to the server to disable on their front end as well.

 

The SRS in particular already provides a fantastic depth of simulation for aircraft radio operations. As of the last couple of months the jointly developed features with LotATC provide an unparalleled level of simulation of radio waves propagation limitations, transponder and IFF functionality.

 

Cheers!

[Drag80]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Please correct me if I am wrong but there is no alternate combat simulator which is at par with DCS World. A lot of us quench our thirst of combat flying through DCS World.

 

Suppose if DCS was currently in infant stage, even then many if us would have played it.

 

However, luckily, as of today, DCS has developed into quite an advance simulator. So we should ignore what we dont have and enjoy what we do have.

 

As regards complaints, they never end. Even if you bring stars from sky for someone, he/she will still complaint that you brought less.

 

Happy flying.

[MAXsenna]

One thing that irritated me is, if the build breaks multiplayer independent from the Supercarrier in the mission or not?

If only the use of the SC in a MP mission would cause issues a simple release note for mission designers may be enough and people could happily start training starts and landings.

So my guess is, the MP issues are generic and would break MP in general? And honestly, that is a good argument to delay the release, in my point of view.

Yes, it's a valid argument!

 

Sent from my ANE-LX1 using Tapatalk

[Charly314159]

We plan to deliver 2.5.6 OB today with increase of frame rate but it will not be the same as for 2.5.5 because there are changes in 2.5.6:

 

Improved Water

 

The transparency of the water has been improved; the depth of the water now feels more accurate and water becomes more blurred the deeper you go. The upcoming torpedos for WWII Asset Pack will be easier to track underwater. The shorelines also benefit greatly from this improvement, in particular the cliffs of Dover in the new theatre DCS: The Channel.

 

Improved Environment Lighting

 

We have worked hard to increase the range and visibility of lights to enhance the night flying experience. We know that it is far from perfect and will continue to improve the look and feel at night.

 

and it impacts on frame rates and there are some other changes to 2.5.5 that also impact, for example, an update of special effects.

 

 

Delivery of SC as a single-plater is a plan B due to technical reason and due to the community requests. WE do not want to play the game of Single player and Multi player releases. We want to have one release and full stop. Multi player was a special feature that can be in a game or can be delivered later at the beginning of the century. Nowadays, it's a must have without any doubts. We are modern game and modern company and would like to have multi-play and VR as inseparable part of the game.

 

 

I had hope but with this post I am starting to fear that today's update will not be much more playable in VR...

I honestly don't care about improve lightning if I have to turn down resolution and anti-aliasing and texture to have DCS kind of running acceptably. In the end it's just looking worse.

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Totally agree with 51thPolux on the voice chat feature.

 

When I first saw this on the feature list it seemed totally redundant with all the 3rd party voice chat apps that is already in wide spread use by the multiplayer crowd.

 

SRS, Discord, Teamspeak, Mumble and other apps are already well established in the gaming community.

 

Its even gotten to a point that all the popular DCS multiplayer servers have disabled this option and advising all the clients who want to connect to the server to disable on their front end as well.

 

The SRS in particular already provides a fantastic depth of simulation for aircraft radio operations. As of the last couple of months the jointly developed features with LotATC provide an unparalleled level of simulation of radio waves propagation limitations, transponder and IFF functionality.

 

Cheers!

 

When comms integration becomes more complex with things like encoded secure radio channels, there may be things that are beyond the ability for third parties to access. Conjecture on my part I admit.

 

Regardless, having the comms built in makes it more accessible to a wider selection of the community who are less hardcore, and I think that's a good thing.

[Conroy]

About clouds, i don't know where is the problem (FPS?) but really is not more acceptable the cotton balls we have now (we did have almost the same in the old ILxy in 2001). We are patients and supporters but about the clouds is definitely time to fix the problem. Is really not possible a sim like DCS "without the sky".

 

Hope for May 2020 but we can't wait forever to have credible clouds in a Flight Sim like this. Change some priorities could help i think.

 

[Oceandar]

When comms integration becomes more complex with things like encoded secure radio channels, there may be things that are beyond the ability for third parties to access. Conjecture on my part I admit.

 

 

 

Regardless, having the comms built in makes it more accessible to a wider selection of the community who are less hardcore, and I think that's a good thing.

Agree with this. SRS is great but I prefer something that built in and integrated internally like in real life.

[Worrazen]

So I guess you guys don't want ED to give us any release dates anymore??

 

Software development isn't very predictable unfortunately.

 

Yeah I never cared about release dates, community will despise me for this but I actually enjoy delays so the whole experience can be stretched longer ... if you get everything in a short time, what are you going to do 5-10 years later :P

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

About clouds, i don't know where is the problem (FPS?) but really is not more acceptable the cotton balls we have now (we did have almost the same in the old ILxy in 2001). We are patients and supporters but about the clouds is definitely time to fix the problem. Is really not possible a sim like DCS "without the sky".

 

Hope for May 2020 but we can't wait forever to have credible clouds in a Flight Sim like this. Change some priorities could help i think.

 

 

they are "starting again" the clouds by May, and it is under "passive development" so they are not coming anytime soon afaik.:noexpression:

[danvac]

Hello Kate,

 

is it possible to stop developing the "voice chat" ? I won't use it, I use the "SRS" utility which gives complete satisfaction and without bug. It will be better than coding a utility that already exists, and that nobody will use because everybody uses the "SRS" to do that.

 

 

Totally agree with 51thPolux on the voice chat feature.

 

When I first saw this on the feature list it seemed totally redundant with all the 3rd party voice chat apps that is already in wide spread use by the multiplayer crowd.

 

The SRS in particular already provides a fantastic depth of simulation for aircraft radio operations. As of the last couple of months the jointly developed features with LotATC provide an unparalleled level of simulation of radio waves propagation limitations, transponder and IFF functionality.

 

Cheers!

 

That's opinion just based on that you did not had issues with SRS yet... SRS is not "that good" or bug-free, it's just for free... I am glad that ED is making it's own solution.

[Bloodhound57]

Kate,

 

Will this extra time give the developers time to implement realistic comms for the Super Carrier module? A good number of customers are calling for realistic ATC. Putting Marshall, Approach, and Tower on the same channel is not realistic. The user should have to tune into these channels.

 

 

Thank you.

[Yurgon]

* Given that it could be many months before the majority of users have access to them - should it be more prominantly displayed/better explained on the ED website that modules like the JF-17 aren't available for use by "ordinary" users...only for Beta Testers...so people don't part with their money erroneously?

 

Not sure what you are seeing, but...

 

CAN BE INSTALLED IN OPEN BETA ONLY!

 

... on the module's shop page seems fairly prominent to me.

 

Plus, the OpenBeta is... open, so everyone can choose to install it, or not.

[Gary]

Kate,

 

Will this extra time give the developers time to implement realistic comms for the Super Carrier module? A good number of customers are calling for realistic ATC. Putting Marshall, Approach, and Tower on the same channel is not realistic. The user should have to tune into these channels.

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

:thumbup: