Questions from a new follower on the DCS series...

[ESzczesniak]

I had caught wind of DCS Black Shark hear and there over the past year, but had never looked real close since it was a ways from release. Now I'm getting back into combat sims AND DCS:BS is out. I just have a couple questions regardings teh series that I haven't been able to find answers to (although I've seen these point discussed, so I suspect I'm not very good at finding them).

 

1. Boxed version: I tend to like tangible copies of things and was wondering what information is available about the upcomging boxed version. I know it is listed for an early 2009 release, but this has a broad window. Any more detailed information. In particular, will this release be availabe in the United States, will it be of similar cost and is there a more precise time window for release?

 

2. Future Modules: I've seen a lot of these discussed. Truthfully while BS looks great, what has me absolutely sold is the plans for the A-10 and AH-64. I understand the plan is to release one of these approximately every 9 months. Is there a list of the currently planned modules and their anticipated order anywhere?

 

3. Vista vs. XP: I understand that BS currently works on both Vista and XP. Will this be the case for future modules and are their things that only Vista users will see besides true DX10? I asked, as I'm kind of attached to XP, but depending on the answers to this, I could be persuaded to Vista.

 

Thanks. I am absolutely sure I will be buying this. I'm just curious about some of these things.

 

Eric

[Airway]

Hello Eric and welcome to the Forum !

 

As far as I know (and I might be wrong) the boxed version might be out around march - maybe earlier, as the release of the english download version was a surprise too, maybe later.

Depends on authorities too.

 

As future module it is planned to release the A-10 but I don't give a second thinking about it, because Black Shark is just out, and time is now to get familiar with it and enjoy it.

 

Vista vs XP: It's your choice.

Some missions are recommended in XP but in Vista you can manually activate a second or more cores to run DCD.exe if you can profit from more than one core in your processor.

 

Black Shark has no DirectX10, there are at all only a few DirectX10 titles in general, so Dx10 is no pro for Vista.

To speak for myself, I am running Vista64, everythings smooth and fine.

 

All these point may differ with a different point of view but however you might consider - DCS: BlackShark is a great title and very challenging.

[nemises]

*none of this info is official, it is just from what I've read about the site here*

 

1) Boxed English version is due out ASAP which realistically means Feb 09 at earliest There is a post on the FAQ sticky thread from Jim Mac indicating the rating approval system for western game realease takes up to 3 months (ESRB?)

..Rus Boxed version is allready out, and Rus and Eng download versions are out allready

 

2) Next comes the A10c , followed by the AH64a, then in no particular order, F15c, F16c, Mig29a, Su27, Mi24 .. no official dates or updates on ANY of those modules yet (other than some work in progress shots from A10 , AH64 and Mi24) , though the rumour mill has the A10c beeing in '09 sometime, due to the amount of work allready done by ED on the US army A10c upgrade commercial program...fingers crossed for A10c in '09!

 

3) The current engine is DirectX9c which is happy in Vista (x86 and x64) as well as XP (x86 and x64). The only desernable differnce between Vista and XP version so far is that Vista users with Mulitple CPU's get a performance boost when enabling Dual affinity to the game when running. This is an unofficial tweak though, as officially DCS does not explicitly support multiple threads. It would be a very supprising move if ED were to take the engine DirectX10 / Vista only!

[ESzczesniak]

Thanks for the answers. It looks like I'll probably wait for the boxed version, but jump on that as soon as it shows up. I certainly hear the setiments of now is the time to learn the simulator, but seeing as the ealier of the modules I'm looking for are 9 months or more away, I can wait for the boxed version. It absolutely looks like a great sim though.

 

One more question, how does this perform CPU wise. I have an E8400 which has been great for most sims (most of which I believe are running single core--F4AF, LOMAC, even FS9 I believe). However, it's single core clock is 3.0 GHz and I expect a modern combat sim to be very CPU intensive.

 

Again, Thanks.

Eric

[Chillspider]

correct me if im wrong but i thought the apache was first followed by the A-10

[-Nighthawk-]

I read somewhere that the English boxed version would be made available on January 30th, that's what I'm also holding out for

[CAT_101st]

I read somewhere that the English boxed version would be made available on January 30th, that's what I'm also holding out for

 

It was pushed back to march. due to patching work and late releas to grading athoraties.

[Chillspider]

I bought the download English version and plan on buying the box set as well

[ESzczesniak]

I bought the download English version and plan on buying the box set as well

 

I'd go with that plan myself if I wasn't a poor med student living on loan money:(.

[-Nighthawk-]

Ouch it was pushed back to March? :( looks like I'm going to have to download it then *sigh*

[nemises]

Thanks for the answers. It looks like I'll probably wait for the boxed version, but jump on that as soon as it shows up. I certainly hear the setiments of now is the time to learn the simulator, but seeing as the ealier of the modules I'm looking for are 9 months or more away, I can wait for the boxed version. It absolutely looks like a great sim though.

 

One more question, how does this perform CPU wise. I have an E8400 which has been great for most sims (most of which I believe are running single core--F4AF, LOMAC, even FS9 I believe). However, it's single core clock is 3.0 GHz and I expect a modern combat sim to be very CPU intensive.

 

Again, Thanks.

Eric

 

I understand the engine is very CPU and memory dependant..much more so the GPU dependant. I'd have thought a 3Ghz CPU is going to perform very well though..cant say personally (I only have a 2Ghz AMD, 64X2 2200+ and it runs ok..between 15 - 30 FPS , 1280x1024, hogh everything except water (low) and viewdistance (medium))

[Chillspider]

well the dl version i bought was christmas gift