An update on DCS: Kola Map would be appreciated!

[Furiz]

1 hour ago, Diesel_Thunder said:

For those curious on the Morse code heard in that video, it says “coming soon”

Characters as I heard them (backslash as character separator)
 - . - . / - - - / - - / . . / - . / - - . / <pause> / . . . / - - - / - - - / - .

Which translates into "coming soon"... what a shocker

[Gunfreak]

24 minutes ago, Furiz said:

Which translates into "coming soon"... what a shocker

Coming soon or DCS Coming Soon™

Because those are to very different meanings of coming soon 

[YoYo]

Unfortunately, I'm disappointed, there is no video of the DCS map. The logo and animation took more time. What is this for? We know there will be a map.

[Beirut]

I'm hyped. 

 

Bring it!

[okopanja]

41 minutes ago, Furiz said:

Which translates into "coming soon"... what a shocker

I understood it as: "govorit radio Moskva".

Great effort btw.

[YoYo]

8 minutes ago, Beirut said:

I'm hyped. 

 

Bring it!

Right, I hope only that they dont bring the same issues which are present in South Atlantic map by Razbam (named: performance & optimalization).  

Also +1 for trail period from beginning. This is ORBX's debut here, Id like to know the performance (especially in VR) before buying.

[Rodeo]

Everyone has the translation wrong. If you take into account the leap year and the angle of the solar eclipse divided by the difference between traditional Morse code tones and that of the modern tempo in the message the correct translation is … “TWOWEEKS”

[Steve Gee]

What state/condition will the map be in when released? Will the majority of the areas be built on release, in need of refining/completing or will it be like the announced Afghanistan map, and in different phases?

[YoYo]

2 hours ago, Steve Gee said:

What state/condition will the map be in when released? Will the majority of the areas be built on release, in need of refining/completing or will it be like the announced Afghanistan map, and in different phases?

According of ORBX, more to come next few days so perhaps we will have more info.

[Beirut]

4 hours ago, YoYo said:

Right, I hope only that they dont bring the same issues which are present in South Atlantic map by Razbam (named: performance & optimalization).  

Also +1 for trail period from beginning. This is ORBX's debut here, Id like to know the performance (especially in VR) before buying.

 

On one hand they have no experience with DCS, but on the other hand they've been making terrain for a long time and in great quantity.

 

I'm feeling positive about it.

[Steve Gee]

32 minutes ago, YoYo said:

According of ORBX, more to come next few days so perhaps we will have more info.

Thanks, have some of their MSFS offerings over the years, was wondering about this DCS debut.

[YoYo]

2 hours ago, Beirut said:

 

On one hand they have no experience with DCS, but on the other hand they've been making terrain for a long time and in great quantity.

 

I'm feeling positive about it.

Yes Im his customers and fan from years and good member (his old Forum). I know his quality, but also I have had bad experiences with SA maps of Razbam (and still Im waiting for patches). Although there seemed to be only 2-3 people there, and ORBX has quite a large team.

Edited April 17 by YoYo

[Beirut]

4 hours ago, YoYo said:

Yes Im his customers and fan from years and good member (his old Forum). I know his quality, but also I have had bad experiences with SA maps of Razbam (and still Im waiting for patches). Although there seemed to be only 2-3 people there, and ORBX has quite a large team.

 

 

Just hope ORBX doesn't get into the "coming soon" thing where it means sometime between two-weeks and when your grandchildren retire.

[addman]

19 hours ago, YoYo said:

According of ORBX, more to come next few days so perhaps we will have more info.

That's almost funny, a reveal of an upcoming reveal. Why not just wait until you have something to actually to show? DCS has really become a "Product Preview Simulator". Things that are coming but not yet, things that were supposed to be released but are now delayed, things that MAYBE have been cancelled or maybe not. Sorry to sound so cynical but the last month haven't been kind to DCS or my patience with it.

[Beirut]

I hope it's coming soon. Been nothing new since June of 2023. Longest dry spell I've seen with DCS. 

 

I hope Kola or the Phantom coming out doesn't push the other back by months just for the sake of separating product releases. 

[MAXsenna]

I hope it's coming soon. Been nothing new since June of 2023. Longest dry spell I've seen with DCS. 
 
I hope Kola or the Phantom coming out doesn't push the other back by months just for the sake of separating product releases. 

Agreed! The release of a map, a fighter and a helicopter at the same time shouldn't be a problem.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[YoYo]

20 hours ago, Steve Gee said:

Thanks, have some of their MSFS offerings over the years, was wondering about this DCS debut.

The only problem may be that what works in MSFS will not work in DCS, combat simulator. That's why I write so much about performance. In MSFS they can do a lot of eye candies but there, even if someone has 40 FPS it is quite ok and no more is needed in static, civil flight. In DCS, where there is air combat and dynamic flying, the look of the ground is important but it cannot affect performance because it will ruin the immersion totally. So yes, Im very curious about his debut and I hope that it will not be as detailed as the ORBX add-ons for FSX/P3D or MSFS (like a cats, dogs even), but at the same time scenery will look nice and will have great performance in 2D and VR. DCS its not MSFS and here you have to take other approaches even its known and great ORBX :).

Edited April 18 by YoYo

[sirrah]

On 4/18/2024 at 4:13 PM, YoYo said:

The only problem may be that what works in MSFS will not work in DCS, combat simulator. That's why I write so much about performance. In MSFS they can do a lot of eye candies but there, even if someone has 40 FPS it is quite ok and no more is needed in static, civil flight. In DCS, where there is air combat and dynamic flying, the look of the ground is important but it cannot affect performance because it will ruin the immersion totally. So yes, Im very curious about his debut and I hope that it will not be as detailed as the ORBX add-ons for FSX/P3D or MSFS (like a cats, dogs even), but at the same time scenery will look nice and will have great performance in 2D and VR. DCS its not MSFS and here you have to take other approaches even its known and great ORBX :).

 

Not to mention that in DCS all scenery also need a damage model (preferably even a few damage model variants).

I can imagine all these extra variables can add to performance strain.

(That other civvy sim has it easy, compared to what's needed for DCS )

Edited April 21 by sirrah
Typo

[Ghostrida9]

I hope that we don`t get knee high grass on airports/airbases again, and i hope that Orbx use accurate satellite images on airports and airbases with at least accurate placed vegetation and access ways to buildings. I know that they can not create every single building accurate and it will be some copy/paste stuff again but moders like me can at least create those missing buildings and replace inaccurate stuff with the scenery removal tool. All other DCS Maps failed miserably regarding all this issues, and i bought all of`em. Hope is up for Kola Map..

[Northstar98]

Just in case anyone hasn't seen the post on the unofficial roadmap thread, some new images of the Kola map. First posted on Facebook, but later a user reposted them on their Discord:

One thing I'd note here is that the mountain looks quite low detailed. It's a low resolution image to start with (Facebook won't help with that either due to how it compresses files) and it looks like there's sme depth of field going on, but even so it does look quite rough.

Note that this appears to show an area around Bodø Main Air Station, looking north-west from just past the eastern extremity of the airbase.

Note that the museum appears to be missing, but this could possibly be intentional to better represent the map at an earlier point in time. One thing I'd draw attention to is the radome, which looks like the exact thing (AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE, better known as GLOBUS II) stationed at Vardø Defence Station, on the eastern extremity of Vardøya. This is primarily for intelligence gathering on Russian ballistic missiles and for tracking launches out of Plesetsk).

There is a radar where the radome is in the screenshot, but it's likely an ASR and is next to what looks like a control tower (though for what seems to be a vehicle garage) and is quite a bit smaller than the GLOBUS II. There is another radome present on the base itself, at what some sources refer to as an EWR station, though note that immediately to the west looks strikingly like a HAWK site, albeit configured as a platoon (3 launchers + 1 HPIR) instead of a battery (which would have 6 launchers and 2 HPIRs).

Probably not something people will care too much about, but I thought I'd mention this in case anyone is interested.

Edited April 25 by Northstar98

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Way better than the South Atlantic. 

[Germane]

By far the most anticipated map for me. But to be honest, the screenshots so far don't convince me 

 

[Gunfreak]

2 hours ago, Northstar98 said:

Just in case anyone hasn't seen the post on the unofficial roadmap thread, some new images of the Kola map. First posted on Facebook, but later a user reposted them on their Discord:

One thing I'd note here is that the mountain looks quite low detailed. It's a low resolution image to start with (Facebook won't help with that either due to how it compresses files) and it looks like there's sme depth of field going on, but even so it does look quite rough.

Note that this appears to show an area around Bodø Main Air Station, looking north-west from just past the eastern extremity of the airbase.

Note that the museum appears to be missing, but this could possibly be intentional to better represent the map at an earlier point in time. One thing I'd draw attention to is the radome, which looks like the exact thing (AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE, better known as GLOBUS II) stationed at Vardø Defence Station, on the eastern extremity of Vardøya. This is primarily for intelligence gathering on Russian ballistic missiles and for tracking launches out of Plesetsk).

There is a radar where the radome is in the screenshot, but it's likely an ASR and is next to what looks like a control tower (though for what seems to be a vehicle garage) and is quite a bit smaller than the GLOBUS II. There is another radome present on the base itself, at what some sources refer to as an EWR station, though note that immediately to the west looks strikingly like a HAWK site, albeit configured as a platoon (3 launchers + 1 HPIR) instead of a battery (which would have 6 launchers and 2 HPIRs).

Probably not something people will care too much about, but I thought I'd mention this in case anyone is interested.

 

According to Orbx CEO the ground textures just can't be improved until stuff in DCS core is improved as there is a max texture size. They also want to expand the map. But again, this is apparently max you can get with that level of detail until DCS core gets some sort of upgrade.

[Northstar98]

53 minutes ago, Gunfreak said:

According to Orbx CEO the ground textures just can't be improved until stuff in DCS core is improved as there is a max texture size. They also want to expand the map. But again, this is apparently max you can get with that level of detail until DCS core gets some sort of upgrade.

That's fair enough (though definitely interested in this expansion).

While maybe not a popular opinion, personally I'm far more interested in colour accuracy (and accuracy overall) than I am high-resolution textures (even as someone who very much enjoys helicopter and NOE flight, where lower resolution textures are going to be most noticeable), so this sort of thing is far from a deal-breaker for me.

Edited April 25 by Northstar98

[Germane]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb Gunfreak:

According to Orbx CEO the ground textures just can't be improved until stuff in DCS core is improved as there is a max texture size. They also want to expand the map. But again, this is apparently max you can get with that level of detail until DCS core gets some sort of upgrade.

Thank you for the Info. That sounds not so good. Are there any infos that ED is working on it and we can have better textures to release?