Star constellations in DCS

[Eber]

Here are three Screenshots of DCS star constellations. They are modeled correctly, just a bit faint. On the other hand, it is not a correctly simulated night sky. The stars don't move, it's always the summer sky of the northern hemisphere showing, even in winter time... please correct my if I am wrong.

 

Big dipper, Polaris on the lower right

 

 

 

Scorpius, Antares the brightest star

 

 

Lyra with the brightest Star Vega

 

Will be difficult for navigation but very nice anyway!

 

Eber

[KittyVCAW-1]

I was flying the Caucuses the other night at 40,000ft on auto pilot, it was late and I was falling asleep. I was sitting there with my head back just looking at the stars. I noticed a rather large red shaded star, I think it's mars but I'm not positive. It was to the west maybe 15-20 deg above the horizon. I was looking for some constellations but i only know 2 and didn't see either one. That's pretty cool, I assumed it was just random little points of light. I see your night sky is blotchy too, I was thinking I had a graphics card issue. Nice observation, thanks for sharing.

[Raisuli]

I was flying the Caucuses the other night at 40,000ft on auto pilot, it was late and I was falling asleep. I was sitting there with my head back just looking at the stars. I noticed a rather large red shaded star, I think it's mars but I'm not positive. It was to the west maybe 15-20 deg above the horizon. I was looking for some constellations but i only know 2 and didn't see either one. That's pretty cool, I assumed it was just random little points of light. I see your night sky is blotchy too, I was thinking I had a graphics card issue. Nice observation, thanks for sharing.

 

Did it flicker? Stars flicker, planets do not. :thumbup:

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

Only in DCS can people Bitch about not correctly simulating the universe. Wtf people, I just want to fly a mission, hows about we save some computer space for say I dunno, a wing man or two??

[Raisuli]

Only in DCS can people Bitch about not correctly simulating the universe. Wtf people, I just want to fly a mission, hows about we save some computer space for say I dunno, a wing man or two??

 

Darn it! I've been flying at night quite a bit lately enjoying the view, and was all primed to have a self-righteous fit about cosmic phenomena being every so slightly different than reality, and you stole my thunder! So rude. :megalol:

 

DCS is freaking awesome. No, it's way better than awesome, I have no clue what all the toxicity on these boards is about. Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope*.

 

*and yes, I know the protocol for preparing a rope for a hanging. Get over it.

 

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

And I am honestly trying to stop being A negative nancy myself so my apologies but there is reality and then there is just senseless. The stars are close, unless your mission is to land on the planet nectar really get over it. If just 1/3 of the senseless picking stopped (myself no exception) this maybe wouldn’t be so toxic.

 

[Northstar98]

:dunno:

 

What's toxic about this? I think you 2 are making more of a deal of this than it actually is...

 

 

While pretty minor, I can see the appeal when it comes to stellar navigation, DCS already accurately puts the moon and sun in the right places so it's weird that the stars don't behave the same given that they should be part of the same skybox...

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

Agreed only until we get to a point where there is only so much that can be coded and only so much processing power. Lets focus on what dcs is supposed to be.

have a great weekend

[KittyVCAW-1]

 

Did it flicker? Stars flicker, planets do not. :thumbup:

 

yeah it was like pulsing, i thought it was an airplane at first but it didn't move at all.

 

The guy made an observation, no one is bitching. The thread didn't have a shitty vibe until you showed up and injected it so thanks for that. DCS is different things to different people, I'll focus on whatever I want. For the time being flying at night looking for constellations is pretty fucking cool

[Harzach]

Yeah, didn't see any negativity in the OP at all.

 

Also, too much is being made of the processing required for such a thing. It's been a feature of Arma* and MSFS for a long while, and ultimately is just a large 2d image whose position is being updated regularly - a one-minute interval (or even greater) would be sufficient for DCS.

 

*BIS even went so far as to make sure that apparent size of the stars doesn't change when you zoom in

[Lange_666]

And I am honestly trying to stop being A negative nancy myself so my apologies but there is reality and then there is just senseless. The stars are close, unless your mission is to land on the planet nectar really get over it. If just 1/3 of the senseless picking stopped (myself no exception) this maybe wouldn’t be so toxic.

And you did it again, just now.

 

Agreed only until we get to a point where there is only so much that can be coded and only so much processing power. Lets focus on what dcs is supposed to be.

If the DCS team put constellations in it, it's part of DCS and therefore supposed to be enjoyed for everyone who maybe doesn't want to attack, kill or bring dead in whatever form is possible in DCS.

 

[QuiGon]

This definitely needs to be fixed before the SR-71 module gets released with its Astro-Inertial Navigation System (ANS)!

[Mars Exulte]

Yeah, didn't see any negativity in the OP at all.

 

Also, too much is being made of the processing required for such a thing. It's been a feature of Arma* and MSFS for a long while, and ultimately is just a large 2d image whose position is being updated regularly - a one-minute interval (or even greater) would be sufficient for DCS.

 

*BIS even went so far as to make sure that apparent size of the stars doesn't change when you zoom in

 

Pretty much. It is not a demanding feature, nor difficult to do persay. I always assumed it did this already, the idea has been present in games for decades afaik.

[Northstar98]

Yeah, didn't see any negativity in the OP at all.

 

Also, too much is being made of the processing required for such a thing. It's been a feature of Arma* and MSFS for a long while, and ultimately is just a large 2d image whose position is being updated regularly - a one-minute interval (or even greater) would be sufficient for DCS.

 

*BIS even went so far as to make sure that apparent size of the stars doesn't change when you zoom in

 

Yeah, and it's important to say that DCS already does this exact thing for the sun and moon - it even gets the moon cycle right. So I'm surprised that DCS doesn't already have star motion already, if its the case that it doesn't.

 

As far as I can remember everything with an accurate star map did it.

[Mr. Big.Biggs]

I guess where I was going with it. And obviously not so eloquently is that everything on DCS has a cost of processing power. Perfectly simulated real world is a very admirable goal, no doubt. But as you go back, there were literally page After page of posts how the super Carrier, for example wasn’t going to effect performance but we all know that it did. Why? Not Because of some gaff, poor programming or unexpected leak but because it is another function that needs to be processed.

so returning to my original intent. Lets get the DCS world functionality to its peak THEN start DCS universe. Not a slam. Just an opinion.

unless of course the stars being exactly correct are more than just a visual nicety,, thats all.

Enjoy!

 

[Ironhand]

Here are three Screenshots of DCS star constellations. They are modeled correctly, just a bit faint. On the other hand, it is not a correctly simulated night sky. The stars don't move, it's always the summer sky of the northern hemisphere showing, even in winter time... please correct my if I am wrong.

 

....

 

Will be difficult for navigation but very nice anyway!

 

Eber

 

Are you sure? I did a quick check last night on the Caucasus map for midnight November 14, 2020 and Ursa Major and the bright star Capella were where they should be with both reorienting as they should throughout the night.

[Northstar98]

So DCS does in fact already do it (which makes sense given the moon and Sun already definitely do it).

[Ironhand]

So DCS does in fact already do it (which makes sense given the moon and Sun already definitely do it).

At least on the Caucasus map, it certainly seems to. I set my star map to reflect the Tbilisi sky and they seemed to match for date and time of day for what I checked.

 

[BuzzU]

If my being lost depends on me seeing the stars in those screen shots............i'm lost.

[Eber]

 

Are you sure? I did a quick check last night on the Caucasus map for midnight November 14, 2020 and Ursa Major and the bright star Capella were where they should be with both reorienting as they should throughout the night.

 

Hi there, thanks for the Information. I am not sure. I did the test on the channel map. I repeat it now with more depth at caucasus...

 

 

[Eber]

My test results: The stars move, but the season don't change. I found the beautiful constellation of Orion in the west moving down below the horizon together with Sirius, the brightest star of the night skies on December the first 18:30 in Caucasus. In reality this is not possible.

 

The move test I did with time acceleration with a positive result.

 

 

In other words: The DCS world Earth is rotating around its own axis, but not around the sun. So theoretically DCS world would fall into the sun. Not sure how long this would take :)

 

I am quite sure this time. Additional information: This is not criticisism on ED or DCS. 100% Correct astrophysics not necessary :)

 

What I also wanted to say at this point: the lighting of the world by the sun and the moon is absolutely amazing

 

 

 

[DarkFire]

I was flying the Caucuses the other night at 40,000ft on auto pilot, it was late and I was falling asleep. I was sitting there with my head back just looking at the stars. I noticed a rather large red shaded star, I think it's mars but I'm not positive. It was to the west maybe 15-20 deg above the horizon. I was looking for some constellations but i only know 2 and didn't see either one. That's pretty cool, I assumed it was just random little points of light. I see your night sky is blotchy too, I was thinking I had a graphics card issue. Nice observation, thanks for sharing.

 

That reddish star is probably either Mars or Betelgeuse, the 10th most visible star and is in the constellation of Orion.

[Ironhand]

My test results: The stars move, but the season don't change. I found the beautiful constellation of Orion in the west moving down below the horizon together with Sirius, the brightest star of the night skies on December the first 18:30 in Caucasus. In reality this is not possible.

 

The move test I did with time acceleration with a positive result.

 

...

 

You're right. I took a bit more time late last night and realized I was mistaken. There is no seasonal change. I wasn't able to find any constellations where they should have been for the winter date I had set. My apologies for the misinformation.

 

[Eber]

You're right. I took a bit more time late last night and realized I was mistaken. There is no seasonal change. I wasn't able to find any constellations where they should have been for the winter date I had set. My apologies for the misinformation.

 

Thank you, but there is no need to apologize :) I was mistaken too, because I assumed the Stars not moving due to the seasons not changing, which was wrong. Your answer and questions finally led to the reveal of the DCS Sky mechanics. So thank you and have a good (night) flight!

[Fri13]

In my opinion it is nice feature that we have stars, and if they are just partially proper/correct by some features, it is just nice if they can be used for navigation even for the discussion. Sure I wish they would be proper kind, but that I think can't be demanded as how many really would know how to navigate just by using stars when so many can't even navigate with map, pen, ruler and watch? Or even how many can't make a flight plan and follow it?

 

It is detail that should be respected, as someone will want to see such things.

 

While there are many things that could be improved a lot with small changes, some are just more important than others. Like I would like to see a graphical/information about sunset/sunrise values. But as much then to see the moon phase as well visible stars.