FAQ and Updates

[ThorBrasil]

@OnReTech I'm very happy with the update that's coming. Have there been improvements in the gaza strip? Have there been improvements in the mountains? Thanks!

[richskinns]

Incredible work 

Many  thanks team this is super impressive 

[nzteddy]

I don't really get the obsession with civilian buildings. I'll just jump in MSFS if I want to go sight-seeing.

[markom]

18 minutes ago, nzteddy said:

I don't really get the obsession with civilian buildings. I'll just jump in MSFS if I want to go sight-seeing.

Unless they are destructible. Then it makes sense including them... as either targets, or things to protect, or just... collateral damage.

[ngreenaway]

Nice to see buildings from Petra modelled. Will Masada be coming to this map?

[cfrag]

6 hours ago, nzteddy said:

I don't really get the obsession with civilian buildings.

If it were an abstract map of an inexistent place, perhaps. Still, we'd want some recognizable landmarks there to orient ourselves, and unique buildings serve that purpose. I remember way back when I was playing an FPS game called "Unreal Tournament" that had custom maps. One was called "Deck 16". Great map, synthetic. There was another map, called "Louvre". It was based on the real place, and it was fun to battle between re-enactments of the exhibits and through the corridors of a maze built upon the real place. For better or worse, these 'reality based landmarks' make me enjoy a map more. 

Since Sinai is a real place, having landmarks based on, and located at, their real-world objects adds some je ne sais quoi to the map, makes it more enjoyable to me. Now, when you are in a whirlybird (and I often am), it also makes VFR navigation around those landmarks much, much easier. 

6 hours ago, nzteddy said:

I'll just jump in MSFS if I want to go sight-seeing.

Yeah, but in that game I can't get jumped by some Insurgents in need of forceful persuasion. And have you looked at the quality of what may be coming soon? Breathtaking. Now, let's all hope that the fine people at @OnReTech heed the Jobsian proverb: "real artists ship".

I'm really looking forward to the next update and am happy that ORT found the time to post a sign of life here.

Edited April 14, 2024 by cfrag

[cfrag]

On 4/14/2024 at 7:17 AM, ngreenaway said:

Will Masada be coming to this map?

While I believe that I've read somewhere that Masada will eventually be coming to this map, there is a geological peculiarity of that region that runs up against DCS's terrain engine.

Masada, as you probably know is is an ancient fortification in southern Israel, situated on top of an isolated rock plateau and rife with some heroic history (and no happy endings). The problem here: although Masada is atop of a mountain plateau, that plateau is only 60 meters (180 feet) above sea level. The entire surrounding area (dead sea and land) is 400m below sea level. DCS currently can't correctly model terrain below seal level - it shows those areas as water. So Sinai currently puts the surrounding terrain at close to (but still above) sea level, and the Masada mesa currently is more of a Masada molehill. Hopefully, ED's terrain engine will eventually be updated to account for terrain below sea level, and then we can have a Masada in-game that correctly reflects its forbidding, brooding real-world presence. And allows us to properly explore the dead sea's Jordan Rift Valley.

Edited April 15, 2024 by cfrag

[Hawkeye_UK]

One thing i would add to this discussion, whilst the map has many great features, and the additional high detail buildings will be good for chopper missions, they are lost at 500 knots and altitude. 

The thing that strikes me most about the map is the repeated tiles for factory units and hotels complex's, and even to the fields for that matter.  Would like to see an increase in the variation of these and additional efforts made. often the same tile is next to each other repeatedly.  

Appreciate early EA, hence why asking if this is something you could factor in.  

Also as highlighted by another user - the red sea has loads of coral and is visible from the air, esp the Sinai coast and be great if the water textures around the coast could be heavily updated.  

Tabuk Airfield In Saudi would be really useful for MP missions also.

[LimePartician]

Any news on Ramon Airbase?

[Kerbo 416]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:45 PM, OnReTech said:

Dear friends and pilots.

We apologize for the long update, but rest assured that we are working on improving our module (it was our mistake to make the update so big).
We are currently finalizing some scenes after our internal testing, fixing some internal bugs, and preparing the module for an update.

As planned, new airfields were added as announced in the road map. More than 90 new unique and historical buildings + some additional objects that we didn’t plan: an oil platform, new yachts, air balloon and etc... Added unique hangars for the F35 at the Nevatim airfield, as well as parking for them. Improved scenes of Cairo, Alexandria, Eilat and Jerusalem.

Thank you for your patience and attention.

I am attaching screenshots of the new update.

 

This update is great! Thank you Onretech for listening to my feedback

[mwd2]

Is May, 3rd., the day for the first update - or must we wait longer?

[shagrat]

Am 14.4.2024 um 05:11 schrieb nzteddy:

I don't really get the obsession with civilian buildings. I'll just jump in MSFS if I want to go sight-seeing.

Landmarks for navigation and especially in cities to get proper orientation and talk on for ground targets etc.

In attack helicopters even more than in strike or attack aircraft... for the BVR and dogfight faction there's actually no need for a buildings on the map at all, but a lot of people fly more complex combat stuff, involving strike packages, CAS and ground targets.

[bal2o]

@OnReTechAny hope for an update with next DCS patch (mai 21) ?

[corbu1]

Yes, that would be great! I‘m really excited about the Sinai update!

[IvanK]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:12 PM, cfrag said:

While I believe that I've read somewhere that Masada will eventually be coming to this map, there is a geological peculiarity of that region that runs up against DCS's terrain engine.

Masada, as you probably know is is an ancient fortification in southern Israel, situated on top of an isolated rock plateau and rife with some heroic history (and no happy endings). The problem here: although Masada is atop of a mountain plateau, that plateau is only 60 meters (180 feet) above sea level. The entire surrounding area (dead sea and land) is 400m below sea level. DCS currently can't correctly model terrain below seal level - it shows those areas as water. So Sinai currently puts the surrounding terrain at close to (but still above) sea level, and the Masada mesa currently is more of a Masada molehill. Hopefully, ED's terrain engine will eventually be updated to account for terrain below sea level, and

 

Death valley on the Nevada map is below sea level so DCS engine can deal with terrain below sea level.

[cfrag]

2 hours ago, IvanK said:

Death valley on the Nevada map is below sea level so DCS engine can deal with terrain below sea level.

That's interesting, and seeing that you seem to be closely aligned with ED, I will of course take your word under advisement. Seeing that in DCS death valley is indeed modelled at negative altitude, and that the entire Nevada map has no sea (merely lakes) modelled, while Sinai does have sea modelled, and the entire dead sea region (-1200ft) is modelled as a lake 6 ft MSL, can we perhaps postulate that the "DCS engine can't deal with modelling sea and negative altitude on the same map"?

Otherwise I'm at a loss to explain why the kind people at ORT would make the effort and change the geo data in the mesh for that region and elevate it by 1200 feet to make it an unrealistic flat lake. What would be the reason for that? I note the same anomaly on the Syria Map, where the dead sea valley (which should be at -1200ft) south of Amman is modelled at 6 ft MSL - and Syria map also has Sea... Why do these two map makers make the same strange change to geo data? 

Edited May 18, 2024 by cfrag

[Minsky]

7 hours ago, IvanK said:

Death valley on the Nevada map is below sea level so DCS engine can deal with terrain below sea level.

Well, it's obvious that the engine can deal with below the sea level stuff: we have seabed modelled after all.

What it seemingly cannot do is to "cut" into the world ocean that surrounds every DCS map, and drain an arbitrary area.

So they had to completely disable that ocean for the Nevada map to make the Death Valley possible.

While parts of the engine still think the player goes underwater there, creating various artifacts. 0 ft / -2 ft :

  

Edited May 18, 2024 by Minsky

[Glide]

If you have Birds enabled, you may notice that the birds fly under the water at times.  The code that controls how the birds fly must have limitations in it with respect to altitude.

[IvanK]

15 hours ago, cfrag said:

and seeing that you seem to be closely aligned with ED

No just a basic Beta tester.

[draconus]

21 hours ago, Minsky said:

While parts of the engine still think the player goes underwater there, creating various artifacts. 0 ft / -2 ft

Thanks, I reported it.

20 hours ago, Glide said:

If you have Birds enabled, you may notice that the birds fly under the water at times.

What do you mean "notice"? The bird setting is just for invisible birds that can strike the engine of FC3 aircraft. The birds visible on maps have no collision models and can not be disabled.

[Glide]

2 hours ago, draconus said:

The bird setting is just for invisible birds that can strike the engine of FC3 aircraft. The birds visible on maps have no collision models and can not be disabled.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Pikey]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:09 AM, cfrag said:

That's interesting, and seeing that you seem to be closely aligned with ED, I will of course take your word under advisement. Seeing that in DCS death valley is indeed modelled at negative altitude, and that the entire Nevada map has no sea (merely lakes) modelled, while Sinai does have sea modelled, and the entire dead sea region (-1200ft) is modelled as a lake 6 ft MSL, can we perhaps postulate that the "DCS engine can't deal with modelling sea and negative altitude on the same map"?

Otherwise I'm at a loss to explain why the kind people at ORT would make the effort and change the geo data in the mesh for that region and elevate it by 1200 feet to make it an unrealistic flat lake. What would be the reason for that? I note the same anomaly on the Syria Map, where the dead sea valley (which should be at -1200ft) south of Amman is modelled at 6 ft MSL - and Syria map also has Sea... Why do these two map makers make the same strange change to geo data? 

 

I also think its an engine limitation. Nevada has no sea. I went out to the west coast looking for it when 1.5 and 2.0 were a thing. We all know sea level is on a plane that exists under the terrain since before DCS World existed 15 years ago in BS1, A-10C. The negative altitude conversation is a frequent debate, ED and anyone who has been here a while know about it, yet its not been addressed, so we can infer what we want from that.

[Nodak]

If you take the largest super tanker and set it at speed in the seas you can fly into it's wake trough just a few feet below sea level in a Huey.

[Ekkiman]

And again no update for the Sinaimap - It's abandonware.

[Viper33]

Yeah it is clear the developer has missed the projected development targets by a landslide. The map was supposed to be finished and out of EA by Q1 at the very latest. So far we have not received any updates in almost a year. Would really like to see refunds beind handed out.