Any plans for DCS on the console?

[brewber19]

I can't even bear to begin to tell you how wrong your original post was...but that isn't helpful or constructive.

 

To be helpful & constructive, Fallout 3 for the Xbox and Fallout 3 for the PC are two very different code bases, added to which is that a console (any console) is a fixed set of hardware and drivers...for which a company can precisely code its game....ergo...games that can run like poo on a PC can run very well on a console. This has less to do with how 'powerful' the console is...and more to do with companies being able to code for a hardware of known capability.

 

By the way, for your specification of PC you should be getting at least 20-30fps if you're using XP and 40-70fps if Vista. Anything outside of this I would attribute to poor setup, drivers out of date, too many background applications running etc etc.

 

Sometimes people appreciate consoles for their "plug and play"-ability versus the effort sometimes required to get their PC, with all the complications the almost infinite combinations of hardware can provide, to run nicely for XYZ software.

 

Others have also answered why DCS isn't likely to go to console...and I notice you mention in response to another persons post that you can get a keyboard for an xbox...and in time I am sure a joystick would become available....so isn't a black box with kb and joystick ultimately a PC? Ah, back to square one except a console is a fixed set of hardware = infinitely predictable.

 

P.S. I have PC and Xbox...PC for sims, RTS and FPS games...Xbox for Forza and the occasional FPS.

 

Anways... flying games on a console there's always the up coming Tom Clancy's HAWX?!

 

If you want some help looking in to why your PC might run like crap, let us know and we can try to help you out ;) PC gaming musn't die to console crap :D

 

You can get keyboards for Xbox. If you have to titles on both platforms try playing them v's each other Xbox is far faster and graphics are superiour. I am currently playing DCS on a programmable dual stick gaming pad in realistic mode.

 

If the Xbox isn't a good candidate to run DCS can some one explain to me why I can run Fallout 3 MUCH better on the console than the PC?.

 

My specs in a nutshell are Intel E8500, GTX8800 SLI, ASUS P5NT, 500GB 7,200 SATA, 3GB DDR2 RAM.

[Vault]

OK I've played F3 on both PC and XB360 and I'm really not trying to be argumentative but the first thing I noticed when I fired up F3 on the XB360 is the graphics are MUCH MUCH better. Maybe this is because as RedTiger stated consoles are dedicated gaming machines with no overheads from operating systems, programs, incompatible hardware etc etc...

TBH I can live without a HOTAS just give me a gamepad with a shift function that can be implemented into the game for multiple buttons.

For most of the hardcore PC virtual pilots with HOTAS setups I know that a console version makes you shudder and it's really not for you, I'd just like to see ED release this on console. DCS would be so unique on console it couldn't fail! You think the PC market has been starved of sims? really the console market has been starved of any type of real sim ever. DCS has so much potential. Shame to see it go to waste...

[DTWD]

If I rememeber correctly you can get a Saitek x36 (but it's not called that) AceCombat 6 joystick for the 360.

[Vault]

By the way, for your specification of PC you should be getting at least 20-30fps if you're using XP and 40-70fps if Vista. Anything outside of this I would attribute to poor setup, drivers out of date, too many background applications running etc etc.

 

I never said my PC was running bad and yes with the affinity trick i can run DCS with more FPS than I need.

[Vault]

If I rememeber correctly you can get a Saitek x36 (but it's not called that) AceCombat 6 joystick for the 360.

 

 

Wow a HOTAS for XB360 even if it is Saitek. Thanks for telling me about this.

[brewber19]

Hi Vault,

 

Don't worry about being 'difficult', some of like an honest debate ;)

 

re: why F3 can look better on Xbox than PC is for two reasons...

 

(a) Xbox hardware is fixed and its drivers for that hardware are fully known. By that I mean, programmers can provide very accurately to squeeze the very best out of the various shaders available to the gfx card/driver. In many recent games on Xbox you will see much more use of HDR lighting (High Dynamic Range I think it means), which means you get 'bloom' and 'glare' lighting effects.

 

(b) PC games are designed to get quite alot out of the various shaders available and have to consider you might be running a DirectX 8 card, DX9a/b/c or DX 10 card. Moreover, quality/performance is also affected by what gfx options the user chooses to enable, what compromise between resolution versus gfx settings they may/may not make...and what driver version for what card is being used.

 

So...its perfectly possible for a game to look better on Xbox versus PC...but there are many many factors and in every case it should be possible for a PC game to look better as we have more control over the factors affecting look/feel/performance (e.g. AA, AF, resolution, texture quality etc).

 

Ok, lengthy answer...but its not that something is a dedicated device but any edge on performance/difference can be atrributed to a console being a fixed asset that can be coded for/around whereas PCs cannot due to the plethora of options of hardware/driver.

 

Again, don't be shy about a healthy debate...you should have seen some of the previous posts concerning ECM jamming and missile performance in the old LOFC days (ducks for cover :D) - now those were high temperature ;)

 

OK I've played F3 on both PC and XB360 and I'm really not trying to be argumentative but the first thing I noticed when I fired up F3 on the XB360 is the graphics are MUCH MUCH better. Maybe this is because as RedTiger stated consoles are dedicated gaming machines with no overheads from operating systems, programs, incompatible hardware etc etc...

TBH I can live without a HOTAS just give me a gamepad with a shift function that can be implemented into the game for multiple buttons.

For most of the hardcore PC virtual pilots with HOTAS setups I know that a console version makes you shudder and it's really not for you, I'd just like to see ED release this on console. DCS would be so unique on console it couldn't fail! You think the PC market has been starved of sims? really the console market has been starved of any type of real sim ever. DCS has so much potential. Shame to see it go to waste...

[DTWD]

HDR lighting (High Dynamic Range I think it means)

 

It does.

[haigotron]

 

If the Xbox isn't a good candidate to run DCS can some one explain to me why I can run Fallout 3 MUCH better on the console than the PC?.

 

My specs in a nutshell are Intel E8500, GTX8800 SLI, ASUS P5NT, 500GB 7,200 SATA, 3GB DDR2 RAM.

 

maybe because the xbox version's graphics are of lower quality? here's a comparison with an xbox version vs. PC version, even though the PC used is top of the line, check out the xbox graphics as compared to the PCs...you can see that the quality is inferior, my guess is that the xbox rusn it better because its of lower quality in general, which is optimized for the x360

 

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6202552/index.html?tag=result;title;0

 

I have a similar rig, intel e8500, 9800GT, 3GB ram,. and i run the game on high, with absolutely no slowdown or frame drops

[brewber19]

Then I have misread/misunderstood your posts #1 and #19...:shocking:...which focus on performance on Xbox for games being better than how they run on your £2k system.

 

Good to hear you're getting good performance on DCS...guess just F3 is proving uncool on Vista huh?

 

 

I never said my PC was running bad and yes with the affinity trick i can run DCS with more FPS than I need.

[Vault]

Then I have misread/misunderstood your posts #1 and #19...:shocking:...which focus on performance on Xbox for games being better than how they run on your £2k system.

 

Good to hear you're getting good performance on DCS...guess just F3 is proving uncool on Vista huh?

 

Hi Brewber please don't take me the wrong way but my PC is running fine. I have what I think is a pretty high end rig I may be wrong ??? I don't know what rig that person is using but F3 is better on the console for me I have included a pic of my rig so you know I'm not talking shite. I even wrote vaults rig on the paper for proof you just cant see it well.

[the_pantman]

No your looking at the same games, but your standing/sitting directly in front of it. Sit the same distance away as you watch TV and they look good. That is there big draw for me, when I get home from work and have something to eat I can't be bothered to sit and play Black Shark, it takes too much effort and I am not comfortable sitting at a desk. If I play on my xbox I can slob on the sofa and not have to worry about cables getting wrapped around my controllers, whether I can tweak anything to make it run better, if I am running the latest patches etc.

 

BS is a weekend game for me, and that's where my problem lies as I don't get much time on the weekend as the missus want's to do stuff.

 

 

No, I was sitting in mates lounges on sofas. I saw Call of duty 4 and some tom clancy thing on a PS3 the other day running into a brand new 1080P tv and it nearly always looked like it was struggling with the frame rate and the draw distance was really poor, with everything in the distance looking all blurry. On the PC, I sit about 3 feet away from a 40" 1080P screen and the same games are absolutely pin sharp and run totally flawlessly, and my PC is slightly lower spec than yours. I'm honestly amazed that you think your 360 looks better. Farcry2 on the 360 is another one thats not a patch on my PC.

 

I totally get the sitting back and chilling out thing though. I would buy a console to play footie games on but thats about it I reckon. I honestly think that if they released DCS blackshark on the 360, you would be the only customer!:lol: People that like simulators buy PC's to play them on.

[brewber19]

Vault - that is a really nice rig...it should run anything without a struggle. I would wonder why your PC performance on any game doesn't murder what your xbox can produce! It ought to ;)

[Vault]

Vault - that is a really nice rig...it should run anything without a struggle. I would wonder why your PC performance on any game doesn't murder what your xbox can produce! It ought to ;)

 

OK before I have much more say on the XB360 I need to find another game to compare. Maybe it's my rig but I swear down F3 does look better on my XB360. :helpsmilie:

[wolfast]

...i for one Hope someone is kidding about this 360 thing....

[GreenGriffon]

Vault - that is a really nice rig...it should run anything without a struggle. I would wonder why your PC performance on any game doesn't murder what your xbox can produce! It ought to ;)

 

That's the thing, it could be anything. Maybe he's running on a lousy driver set, or his HDD is 35% fragmented, or the firmware for his motherboard has problems. Maybe his system tray has 20 items loaded in resident memory. You can have bottlenecks in any number of places.

 

Hardware alone won't dictate your game performance on a PC.

[DTWD]

PS3

 

Ah that's the problem :D

 

Seriosly though, it's perception most likely. Yes consoles don't look as good, but I don't think to the extent that you have seen.

 

They are usually running at 1280x720 and as has been said with lower texture quality. BUT the differences in the scale of things are quite slight.

[Purg]

You can get keyboards for Xbox. If you have to titles on both platforms try playing them v's each other Xbox is far faster and graphics are superiour. I am currently playing DCS on a programmable dual stick gaming pad in realistic mode.

 

If the Xbox isn't a good candidate to run DCS can some one explain to me why I can run Fallout 3 MUCH better on the console than the PC?.

 

My specs in a nutshell are Intel E8500, GTX8800 SLI, ASUS P5NT, 500GB 7,200 SATA, 3GB DDR2 RAM.

 

Fallout3 isn't a simulation. Sure the Xbox can churn out polygons at an alarming rate but DCS is processor bound, not graphics bound. Fallout3 didn't come anywhere near to maxxing out my CPU but DCS does.

 

If I compare titles I have on both PC and Xbox, the resolution of my PC is pumping out more than double the pixels, the draw distance is greater and the textures are much larger and crisper than that of the 360. COD4 on my PC runs in excess of 400fps most of the time and looks a whole lot better than my 360 version which only runs at 60fps.

[element1108]

I don't think the 360 controllers could handle the amount of commands (key and input) required for DCS Black Shark.

 

No games on the console deal with hundreds or thousands of square km's...they're all relatively small isolated maps. They have nice textures but TV resolution isn't anywhere near a computer monitor resolution so 1280x720 or whatever looks really nice on a flat screen TV.

 

I don't think you'll ever see a high end flight simulator on a console...the best you'll get is Ace Combat or the upcoming Tom Clancy Hawks. (aren't sim's by any means).

[RedTiger]

I can live without a HOTAS just give me a gamepad with a shift function that can be implemented into the game for multiple buttons.

 

You won't be able to when you fly DCS: Viper/Hog/Eagle, that is guaranteed.

 

Buttons aside (which you won't have enough and your layout will be total ass compared to the excellent layout of the real thing), you're going to have difficulty flying a plane to its fullest ability with a console controller pad/stick. There's a lot of give and take involved in keeping a plane at sustained corner, and having about a quarter inch of stick play is going to suck. If the stick worked like the Viper's, maybe, but since its based on amount of movement and not force, it will be difficult.

 

Come to think of it...I'm not sure why you think flying the Black Shark would be comfortable on a console thumbstick... :huh:

[spyda]

I bought a Xbox 360 today and I'm very impressed with the performance of it. Smoother frame rates and much better graphics has converted me to give up gaming on the PC. My £150.00 Xbox has better performance than my 2K PC system (wtf?).

I know alot of the hardcore simmers here are probably shuddering at this post but DCS would run much better on a 360 than most high end PC's. Since my X52 gave up the ghost I've been using a programmable Saitek P2600 gaming pad and TBH now that I've adapted to it I'm more than comfortable playing DCS with a game pad in realistic mode. I can see no reasons why ED wouldn't release a console version of DCS so I thought I'd ask will ED ever release DCS on the console?. Sorry if this has been asked before.

this will never happen thank god, and what PC do u have for the x box to have more grunt??? sounds like u are in need of an over due upgrade

[192nd_Erdem]

Actually a PS3 could have a good chance of running Black Shark without problems. It's 8 core Cell processor is actually *designed* to handle complex mathematical calculations and clusters of PS3's are already being used as supercomputers. Xbox 360's Power PC processors on the other hand, are suited better for classical gaming without intense calculations.

 

Also, the best advantage of consoles is that they're only in one hardware configuration. This means developers can optimise their software to the limits of programming because they can take advantage of a common design.

 

I personally hope that some day in the future it will be possible to play serious simulations like DCS series on 8th generation or later consoles(means PS4, Xbox 720 or better). Currently it does cost a lot to upgrade computer hardware to keep up with increasing system specifications. One can only dream about plugging his keyboard, joystick and TrackIR in and enjoying the simulation without draconian software protection or hardware/software problems. Plus, developing for a console is a lot less costly than for PC.

 

I do believe currently BS can run 1080p on both consoles at maximum settings without problems and keyboard/joystick/TrackIR/Touchbuddy support(considering they the time to take advantage of console designs). Though it's highly unlikely that this will happen. ED is even struggling to be known in the simulation world, yet there's a whole PC market to be "conquered". But I believe with proper marketing and their "proof of work" Eagle Dynamics will come to mind when someone mentions the word "simulation" in 3-4 years(that makes 5 more modules :) ). There's no Sim market for consoles(excluding racing) either. It just simply does not wort the struggle right now.

 

But for the future, who knows? I'd personally prefer to play DCS2 on my PS4 without worrying about my PC hardware on my couch :)

[TheMoose]

I agree, an Xbox 360 against my ''punny'' quad core with my Nvidia GTX280 ;) :megalol:

 

I’ve always been a full PC gamer. But I have nothing against consoles, heck, having both would be an asset. But I would prefer to invest inside PC upgrades instead of limiting myself... :D If I have 400$ to spare and I feel my PC isn’t fast enough, I would lean on the PC upgrade

Edited January 21, 2009 by TheMoose

[Tigrom]

Am I the only person in the world that can't play shooters on a console?

 

I almost always fail instantly and die...

 

Anyway, xbox 360 is great for mucking about, GTA 4 being a prime example... would hate trying to play that on a pc without a pad, and the whole lounging around on a couch while playing is great... Couldn't cope without the pc for the more serious stuff, and the shooters though.

[CyBerkut]

Along with all the previously mentioned items, I would just add the following:

 

1. I *WANT* ED focusing their gaming development resources on furthering DCS on the PC platform. BS is a great start, and many folks are frothing at the mouth over the prospect of DCS: Warthog and DCS: Apache. Sticking with their core strength of developing solid study sims, and further establishing their presence in that niche with additional offerings is thoroughly logical.

 

2. Sticking with PC-based study sims is almost certainly a better fit for leveraging their miltary training simulator work/expertise. It appears to be a solid business model, and I say leave well enough alone.

 

As it has been pointed out, there is a dearth of quality flight sim games for the consoles. I would say that there is a reason for that... and that it is that consoles are not particularly well suited to playing quality flight sims and/or the console market is not inclined toward buying/playing quality flight sims.

 

Of course, that is just my opinion and I could be wrong. But I'm not. :smartass:

[TheMoose]

Am I the only person in the world that can't play shooters on a console?

 

I almost always fail instantly and die...

 

Anyway, xbox 360 is great for mucking about, GTA 4 being a prime example... would hate trying to play that on a pc without a pad, and the whole lounging around on a couch while playing is great... Couldn't cope without the pc for the more serious stuff, and the shooters though.

 

The opposite can be easily be said. I cannot imagine playing GTA4 without a mouse and keyboard. Plus it looks stunning at ultra high at 1920x1200 resolution, plus PC owners have the movie maker built in :D ;)