Trying DCS after long absence

[JT Animal]

I was playing DCS a few years ago, but my computer wasn’t up to the task. After 2 + years I finally got a new computer and I would like to get back into this great sim. First problem, I owned a few mods, F18, F14 and A10 along with a few maps. But I bought them I Steam. I know what you’re saying, mistake. Can I convert those to regular PC or am I stuck buying it again? Would converting be a pain and not worth the hassle. Thanks for your help!

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, JT Animal said:

Can I convert those to regular PC

yes, more info here:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/steam/#3303126

 

[Eugel]

8 hours ago, JT Animal said:

But I bought them I Steam. I know what you’re saying, mistake. 

I´d just like to add: I use DCS on Steam for years and have bought everything there. It´s not a "mistake", it´s just a choice. You miss out on the trial program and the miles if you stick to steam, but there are some advantages as well. 

But as Rudel_chw already wrote, it´s very easy to transfer your steam licences to the standalone version. 

[JT Animal]

1 hour ago, Eugel said:

I´d just like to add: I use DCS on Steam for years and have bought everything there. It´s not a "mistake", it´s just a choice. You miss out on the trial program and the miles if you stick to steam, but there are some advantages as well. 

But as Rudel_chw already wrote, it´s very easy to transfer your steam licences to the standalone version. 

What’s the advantage of keeping it with steam?  I want the game to run smoothly, the reason I stopped playing was problems with running the game. Most due to my computer. I just want to do it right, everything to run at the best I can get. From what I have read here, it seems like that is without steam. No insult to steam. 

[Rudel_chw]

13 minutes ago, JT Animal said:

What’s the advantage of keeping it with steam?

 

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of Steam is that it offers much higher download speeds, which with a game as large as DCS can be very important.

 

A second advantage is that Steam has regional pricing, so on many countries the price of a module may be much lower.

 

[Eugel]

It´s of course a bit subjective, but as already stated, Steam has faster download servers. 
Personally, I´m kind of paranoid when it comes to spreading around my credit card info, so I keep that to a minimum. I like the friends list and screenshot gallery that Steam offers.

And because I use VR, I like the ability to switch from VR to non-VR from the Steam launcher.

But when it comes to DCS itself, both versions are identical, there is no perfomance difference in any of the two versions. You can join all of the online servers from both versions.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Eugel

[JT Animal]

Engel, thanks I will think about it. I had some games I played on steam when I found DCS. That’s how I got into this flight sim. I’m old school, played a lot of the old flight sims Advanced tactical Fighters, like that, stuff that was more a game. This DCS is killer, more like the real thing. I come from a Navy background, made 2 cruises on Carriers so the Carrier app, I had to have it. The problem was my hardware just wouldn’t keep up. Just bought a new system, arriving tomorrow. This is first on the list, then I’ll look at VR. Thanks for the advice, I’ll consider before jumping into it. 

[BitMaster]

I may add that where I live, Germany, I can't complain about DL speeds, it's not always 112MB/sec but mostly above 80MB/sec...even Steam doesn't always give me a full Gbit DL, just happened the other day.

You can keep using Steam for those that are on Steam while you can also use them on Standalone same time. The problem arises when you switch where you buy them, because if you buy Standalone you cannot use them in Steam since they changed that few years ago. So if you have 3 modules in Steam and then buy 3 modules in Standalone you can use all 6 in Standalone but only the first 3 in Steam. Which may not play a role for most to be fair. One example would be DCS in Linux, it works best via Steam, I know of no other way but it works in Steam on Linux. That's where I can fly my first few modules before I went Standalone for any purchase after that.