DCS Newsletter discussion 29th September 2023 - DCS 2.9 Sneak Peak | Multiplayer Development Progress | B-17G Livery Contest Winners

[ctguy1955]

2 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

2 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

support for Nvidia DLSS

        I was not aware that DLSS isn't working now and in the recent past 2.8        Most maps give me 109 FPS with 5760 x 1080 Nvidia Surround.

 

[twistking]

1 hour ago, BIGNEWY said:

DLAA

good!

52 minutes ago, Hiob said:

I‘m very excited to see how DLSS works out for the „special needs“ of a flight sim. (spotting e.g.). I‘m sure it wasn’t easy to do properly.

i'm a bit nervous about the jumpy, flickering clouds. especially the wobblyness, since it's not a common cg problem and therefore DLSS will not be trained for it. maybe DLSS wll free up hardware rescources that then allow the clouds to be rendered spatialy and temporarily more stable... so basically a higher clouds quality preset...

Edited September 29, 2023 by twistking

[Gribbstar]

2 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

Dear Fighter Pilots, Partners and Friends,

DCS 2.9 is coming soon!

2 weeks? 

[SteelPig]

5 minutes ago, Gribbstar said:

2 weeks? 

Always 2 weeks!
Just...not always from now.

[Weasel]

2 weeks? 

I assume October, then DCS celebrates its 15 years Birthday

[St4rgun]

1 hour ago, twistking said:

good!

i'm a bit nervous about the jumpy, flickering clouds. especially the wobblyness, since it's not a common cg problem and therefore DLSS will not be trained for it. maybe DLSS wll free up hardware rescources that then allow the clouds to be rendered spatialy and temporarily more stable... so basically a higher clouds quality preset...

 

I'm using DCS in VR only, and don't experience the clouds wobbling which was a bug at the beginning with version 2.7. Heavy aliasing is experienced because the semi transparent cloud layers don't handle MSAA well, so I have to use strictly Ultra clouds to minimize this issue.

Right now at least MSAA 2x is also required for VR, because the black covering VR mask in the view is only displayed correctly if MSAA is on. But even with MSAA 4x some semi transparent surfaces, shiny edges and transparent textured objects (like power line pylons and fences at airports, and the leaves on the trees) are sometimes not anti-aliased at all with shimmering as hell. In 2D this is not experienced.

So DLAA will be a HUGE blast, because you can get rid of the performance hungry MSAA implementation while having a proper temporal AA which is finally able to smooth all edges and get rid of shimmering once for all. Great news!

Edited September 29, 2023 by St4rgun
typo

[ThorBrasil]

2 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

 

Any compression or antialiasing will have compromises, DLSS works well, but you will have other options including DLAA 

thank you 

Diablo 4 also uses DLAA and I replaced the DLSS dll with version 3.5 and got higher quality in DLAA at 1080p. I'm rooting for the latest version to be 3.5.

[kotor633]

Can we also (finally) expect improvements in the ATC?

[BIGNEWY]

28 minutes ago, kotor633 said:

Can we also (finally) expect improvements in the ATC?

ATC work is massive and for the future, dont expect it any time soon. 

thanks

[St4rgun]

Dear @BIGNEWY another question: is the auto (over) exposure corrected somehow?

[Dragon1-1]

I guess I'm finally going to start moving towards that 3090.  Well, that's OK, given the timeframe, I'll probably get to it around my birthday in November. I'll need a new case and probably a PSU, anyway. 

Before that, I guess I'll check out the new models, and hopefully other goodies like SC deck crew. I've got high hopes for the AI improvements.

[Stackup]

Excited to finally be getting the new AI models!!  Was hoping they might have consolidated the S-3 into one plane with the buddy pod as a store option instead of having to have a separate tanker unit, but it seems that isn't the case.  I wonder if they'll release the skin templates too, we didn't get one with the C-47 so, maybe not...?

[Weasel]

Can we also (finally) expect improvements in the ATC?

I assume improvements in the ATC will be part of DCS 3.0

I am wondering , as we get a new 3D model of the S-3B, if there will also be improvements of new AAR physics with DCS 2.9 or if this will be part of 3.0

[ThorBrasil]

8 minutes ago, Weasel said:

I assume improvements in the ATC will be part of DCS 3.0

I am wondering , as we get a new 3D model of the S-3B, if there will also be improvements of new AAR physics with DCS 2.9 or if this will be part of 3.0

The improvements to AAR physics are what I'm most looking forward to. That game in the F-16 simulator category (which cannot be mentioned) did an excellent job and I hope DCS does the same.

[JesseJames38]

I see no one is talking about the datalink for the Ah64.    It was mentioned in the news letter, but so far see no videos on that datalink will be included with the helicopter 

[Hotdognz]

An interesting update this morning

DLSS will be nice,it will be nice to see the new 3d models finally in the game we have been shown for the last 1.5 years

My question would be what are the ground troops going to do when we drop them off as in all the mission stuff is scripted.

And with the state of CA in VR it's use will be limited for a lot. Will anybody bother driving a truck around the maps to do this with the ground AI in its current form, I'm curious to know what ED have planned for this feature.

Sent from my TB350FU using Tapatalk

[Zebra1-1]

Diablo 4 also uses DLAA and I replaced the DLSS dll with version 3.5 and got higher quality in DLAA at 1080p. I'm rooting for the latest version to be 3.5.

Unlikely. I would assume DLSS 2.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Zebra1-1]

I also want to give a huge shoutout to @BIGNEWY and the rest of the ED team for the sneak peak. We often ask for some kind of update/status, and you guys really delivered with this one. I and I know many others, really appreciate the transparency.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[rob10]

3 hours ago, Weasel said:

I assume improvements in the ATC will be part of DCS 3.0

I'd actually be surprised if this was the case.  I'm sure ED is working away on ATC, but they have mentioned many times that it's a huge task and I don't see 3.0 being *that* far away.  My guess is at least a couple of years before they release any big updates on ATC.  I doubt 3.0 would be that far out.

[Hiob]

APPRECIATION 

After I slept a night over this announcement, It dawned on me that this is much bigger than it is given credit for (at least that’s how I feel about it).

Maybe that is because it is just an announcement and not yet materialized. But that is just a matter of time.

Think about the BIG items it contains, we asked forever about - like AI- and Warbird-Improvements and some more…. and than it casually reveals that they actually incorporated DLSS. Not in the far future, but around the corner. Given how far DLSS has evolved by now, this is huge for performance. It probably will have  more impact on a lot of people than Vulcan could ever have. And I‘ll give them the benefit of doubt here, that they done it right!

And even if all of this won’t be perfect from the get-go. It is (will be) real, tangible, impactful steps in the right direction and next to DCS-MT a huge chunk of improvement of core features that are not just eye candy. I can’t remember something like this since I started to fly DCS (which is only a couple of years admittedly).

So, consider me hyped and happy, even if some things will be not perfectly polished from the beginning. 

[Gunfreak]

20 minutes ago, Hiob said:

APPRECIATION 

After I slept a night over this announcement, It dawned on me that this is much bigger than it is given credit for (at least that’s how I feel about it).

Maybe that is because it is just an announcement and not yet materialized. But that is just a matter of time.

Think about the BIG items it contains, we asked forever about - like AI- and Warbird-Improvements and some more…. and than it casually reveals that they actually incorporated DLSS. Not in the far future, but around the corner. Given how far DLSS has evolved by now, this is huge for performance. It probably will have  more impact on a lot of people than Vulcan could ever have. And I‘ll give them the benefit of doubt here, that they done it right!

And even if all of this won’t be perfect from the get-go. It is (will be) real, tangible, impactful steps in the right direction and next to DCS-MT a huge chunk of improvement of core features that are not just eye candy. I can’t remember something like this since I started to fly DCS (which is only a couple of years admittedly).

So, consider me hyped and happy, even if some things will be not perfectly polished from the beginning. 

I assume the AI improvements is the general flight model AI they've worked on. And they've promised the warbirds will get the same treatment as the jets for the combat maneuvers.

But given how little info was given, I assume those will not come out with the initial 2.9 release.

[Northstar98]

11 hours ago, Stackup said:

Excited to finally be getting the new AI models!!  Was hoping they might have consolidated the S-3 into one plane with the buddy pod as a store option instead of having to have a separate tanker unit, but it seems that isn't the case.

Yeah, though I hope this still be something that can be done in the future. The 2 really shouldn't exist as separate units as IRL they're the same, just when configured as a tanker it equips a buddy store (which aren't supported in DCS). This would also be important for the A-6E and A-7E - it would be a pain to have dedicated entries for something that should just be a loadout option.

If/when it does happen, then the S-3 Tanker can be removed from the unit listing (though should probably be kept in the files so as to not break existing missions).

[Hiob]

1 hour ago, Gunfreak said:

I assume the AI improvements is the general flight model AI they've worked on. And they've promised the warbirds will get the same treatment as the jets for the combat maneuvers.

But given how little info was given, I assume those will not come out with the initial 2.9 release.

Even if so. I prefer to cherish what I get than to worry what I don’t (yet).

There is a lot of „under-the-hood“ stuff in here, both game-mechanics- and engine-tech- wise. You have to start somewhere, and for me that sounds like rather big steps, compared to the ones we usually get with an update. Also, other than a new module (which is of course always welcome ), this stuff affects basically everything and everybody.

Edit: I seem to have a than/then weakness today….

Edited September 30, 2023 by Hiob

[corbu1]

I’m very exited about the 2.9 announcenment. This will be huge one we get.

I‘m very curious about DLSS, AH-64D datalink, troops transport and all the things which will come with this as well!!!

I‘d also hope the new rotorwash dust and moving grass will be included.

[Nedum]

3 hours ago, Hiob said:

APPRECIATION 

After I slept a night over this announcement, It dawned on me that this is much bigger than it is given credit for (at least that’s how I feel about it).

Maybe that is because it is just an announcement and not yet materialized. But that is just a matter of time.

Think about the BIG items it contains, we asked forever about - like AI- and Warbird-Improvements and some more…. and than it casually reveals that they actually incorporated DLSS. Not in the far future, but around the corner. Given how far DLSS has evolved by now, this is huge for performance. It probably will have  more impact on a lot of people than Vulcan could ever have. And I‘ll give them the benefit of doubt here, that they done it right!

And even if all of this won’t be perfect from the get-go. It is (will be) real, tangible, impactful steps in the right direction and next to DCS-MT a huge chunk of improvement of core features that are not just eye candy. I can’t remember something like this since I started to fly DCS (which is only a couple of years admittedly).

So, consider me hyped and happy, even if some things will be not perfectly polished from the beginning. 

Hm?

DLSS is Nvidia only. That's a fact. Another fact is, many users are with AMD GPUs. And for those users the benefit will be exact zero.

FSR 2 would have been the better decision. That would have been a good upscaler for all people, not only the Elite ones.

ED have to look, not giving people a reason to left DCS. It might be a small, not so big step, but it will let "many" people left behind.

I can understand, that the nVidia GPU owners are happy with that, but it can and it will cut the community.

And (that's my fear), it will give much more headache if we talk about false or different tickets about the same issue. Without DLSS it's ok, or (and that would be the worst) with DLSS the problem didn't show up. I really can't understand why ED did that step. It's crazy, it's nuts.

Why cutting the community and the issue sector in "half"? Why not using an upscaler that would work with both manufactures?

I can tell you here and now, that DLSS will give ED a lot of headache. Spotting, new artifacts, new ghosting, and so on. What in the "other sim" might be working, because the people there don't care, will give DCS another "quality" of issue reports.

"I can't read my displays anymore", "My friend can spot me 10 Miles earlier, because DLSS makes spotting so much easier, it adds pixels to the pixel by itself." And many, many more. Yes, and I will stay there and say: "Don't cry little girl, I have said so. You didn't wanna hear."

If ED isn't very careful, DLSS can be the beginning of the end of the DCS-Multiplayer. I don't like this decision.

Edited September 30, 2023 by Nedum