Any WWII Updates?

[razo+r]

The year is slowly coming to a close and the WWII part of DCS is leaving a bitter taste for me. I am wondering if ED has any plans to adress some of the issues that have been around for years, finish the modules or just generally communicate more?

My main concernes are:

- Searchlights: Are there any plans to finish them? The blinding effect is... terrible, the light beam effect depends on the FoV and the maximum amount of working lights in a single group is 3. They never really worked well since they have been introduced back in 2020. They have once experienced a change with version 2.7 (Sep. 2021, removed the requirement to set a trigger to active the units), that's about it. No updates, no changes, no communication, nothing.

- Trains: They never really worked since they were introduced into DCS, and that was in 2017. They're just a pain to work with so I mostly ignore them. They still drive in reverse after reaching the last waypoint. They still ignore the speed settings. On some maps they are still in the ground. Some maps only let them drive in one single direction.

- Assets pack, Air units: The selection of ground units is really good. We have a good variery of diverse ground units to chose from. But the selection for aircraft is lacking. We had the B-17 for an eternity, then after a while we got the A-20 and Ju-88. There are more aircraft planned by ED, but I have yet to see or hear anything of them.

- Assets pack, V1: Is there any plan to finally get the V1 we have in the game into the air? I personally don't care if our current aircraft can shoot it down or not, but it would be really, really cool to finally have it fly and buzz across the skies of DCS.

- Assets pack, ground units: There are still plenty of vehicles that have no crew modeled, or only half modeled. There also seems to be no intend to finally place some people into them. There are also plenty of bugs with assets pack units that are reported for years and still awaiting a fix. I know you keep saying your WWII team is small, but if you continue to handle paid products like that I definitly will start to think twice about buying an assets pack again.

- Forums: It seems the activity of ED officials has really decreased. Newly reported bugs don't get tags and ancient reported and fixed topics don't get their tags updated. It just leads to confusion and gives me kind of an abandoned feeling.

- Modules: They generally also give off an abandoned feeling for me. They are all in a playable state, but it seems no effort is given in polishing them. I mean cool, we finally have gotten chocks for them after some years of waiting. What about the 3D issues that some modules have since their release?
That the Mosquito is still the only aircraft which fuel tanks leak at spawn, has a sensitive tail wheel and the wiper still doesn't work.
Or the Fw-190A, what happened to the F8 that you talked about? What about the erhöhte Notleistung or whatever it is called? Anything about the AFN-2 simulation? That one has changed several times without any comments but probably still remains incorrect.
And the P-47, also several 3D issues since release. The issues with the engines/prop that just get ignored?
Note that like I've said above, it might give a wrong impression just seeing Reported, Reported, Reported, Reported while some of them might be fixed. They're just the ones that I can remember the easiest.

- Ground bases: There was also a video by SUNTSAG where he showed off a feature similar to a FARP but with vehicles only. Anything about that?

 

That's all for now. I hope we, or at least I, can get some clarification about the points above. WWII in DCS has such a big potential, but by keeping so many so ancient issues alive, it just keeps driving me away from it again and again. 

 

[Veteran66]

Don't forget a rework for the FW190A8 cockpit, this time the worst cockpit in the DCS series.

[Picchio]

+1

Sincerely hope we'll get some answers.

[NineLine]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:09 AM, Veteran66 said:

Don't forget a rework for the FW190A8 cockpit, this time the worst cockpit in the DCS series.

Not sure I understand this comment.

On 11/12/2023 at 6:52 AM, razo+r said:

- Forums: It seems the activity of ED officials has really decreased. Newly reported bugs don't get tags and ancient reported and fixed topics don't get their tags updated. It just leads to confusion and gives me kind of an abandoned feeling.

Last week I spent most of the week on WWII bugs, no I didn't get them all as of yet, but I am working on them. Ancient threads being updated, while a nice idea would be a lot of work to do so. Generally reported is the last state we leave a thread in, from time to time we feel the need to reply something is fixed or other info but we cant always. 

 

General WWII progress is tough right now. The WWII team is very small and this year has been about some rather large core updates. Of all the teams this has hurt the WWII team the most. I will raise concerns with management but this is the basic reasoning why this year hasn't been a great year for WWII. I think most of you know I am a huge WWII guy so I feel your pain for sure on all these things. I know its not a great answer but right this very moment it is all I have. 

[Hawkeye60]

May I ask about the WWII Marianas add-on?

This alone would give us something to use and enjoy while we wait for the team to catch up.

No word about it in some time.

The last screens ED posted look fantastic!

[Veteran66]

vor 31 Minuten schrieb NineLine:

Not sure I understand this comment.

The FW190A8 Cockpit have no contrasting colors and appear pale (see cockpit comparison)

it's hard to describe it in English 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Veteran66

[kablamoman]

2 minutes ago, Veteran66 said:

The FW190A8 Cockpit have no contrasting colors and appear pale (see cockpit comparison)

Don't forget the glareshield geometry is incorrect in the Anton. Makes the thing look wrong. Glad they've reported it already -- hopefully they're able to fix it sometime soon.

[Silver_Dragon]

58 minutes ago, Hawkeye60 said:

¿Puedo preguntar sobre el complemento Marianas de la Segunda Guerra Mundial?

Esto por sí solo nos daría algo que usar y disfrutar mientras esperamos que el equipo se ponga al día.

No se sabe nada al respecto desde hace algún tiempo.

¡Las últimas pantallas publicadas por ED se ven fantásticas!

I think the last images about Marinas WW2 appears on ingame "2023 and beyond" video.

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Silver_Dragon

[Hawkeye60]

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/screenshots/1404/

[NineLine]

50 minutes ago, Veteran66 said:

The FW190A8 Cockpit have no contrasting colors and appear pale (see cockpit comparison)

it's hard to describe it in English 

 

 

 

Thanks for the explanation, I will run this by the team. 

[NineLine]

51 minutes ago, kablamoman said:

Don't forget the glareshield geometry is incorrect in the Anton. Makes the thing look wrong. Glad they've reported it already -- hopefully they're able to fix it sometime soon.

Lets also remember the Spitfire cockpit just got some love, so its not like those guys are sleeping on the job either

[kablamoman]

6 minutes ago, NineLine said:

Lets also remember the Spitfire cockpit just got some love, so its not like those guys are sleeping on the job either

That love also broke 3 separate instruments, though.

Don't get me wrong, I think everybody appreciates any kind of WW2 update (we're all starved for them, as you mentioned, and would love to see more), but things like this hurt precisely because updates are already so few and far between.

Edited November 13, 2023 by kablamoman

[Tzigy]

37 minutes ago, NineLine said:

Thanks for the explanation, I will run this by the team. 

Actually the colors for both the Dora and and Anton absolutely horrendous, 109 not great either (I collect instruments and panels); but there are some great mods in the community...  I realize that things are not easy; we all appreciate all you have done for WWII sims, just wish it could be so much more!!!

Edited November 13, 2023 by Tzigy

[razo+r]

1 hour ago, NineLine said:

[...] Ancient threads being updated, while a nice idea would be a lot of work to do so. Generally reported is the last state we leave a thread in, from time to time we feel the need to reply something is fixed or other info but we cant always. 

I know it would be a lot of work. But for me it just adds to the confusion seeing several topics marked as "reported" while at the same time seeing different topics with the "fixed" tag or knowing that those bugs are actually fixed. 

I sometimes like to glimpse through the bugs and problems section of modules to look at their general state. So taking the time to update the tags would improve the situational awareness, especially since we don't have any other means of following the state of a module.

But if there is no intention to change this, then so be it. At least you have provided an explanation, which I can agree with.

1 hour ago, NineLine said:

General WWII progress is tough right now. The WWII team is very small and this year has been about some rather large core updates. Of all the teams this has hurt the WWII team the most. I will raise concerns with management but this is the basic reasoning why this year hasn't been a great year for WWII. I think most of you know I am a huge WWII guy so I feel your pain for sure on all these things. I know its not a great answer but right this very moment it is all I have. 

I know your WWII team is small, but some of these features, sometimes even core features, have been broken for over 6 years!

Or sometimes I'm questioning the priorisation of bug fixes. Some examples:

- The trains were still sounding their horn after death until "recently". That bug has been fixed almost instantly, while these huge issues with waypoints remain unsolved since forever.
- Or for the Mosquito the cockpit lights that got broken in a version have been fixed pretty quickly, yet you can still stick your head through the canopy since release.
- P-47 where the wrong animation for the brake pedal has been fixed but none of the other 3D issues have been touched.

Don't get me wrong, I am gratefull for any new features being implemented, cooling system, prop tech, damage model etc. But sometimes I really wish ED would take a step back and instead of shoving new things into the game to break that they would rather start fixing some of the long standing issues, some of which are extremely annoying.

I'm hoping we'll see some more progress next year...

[peachmonkey]

ED has an excellent opportunity to poach the IL2 user base, yet crickets. It just shows there's no business priority behind ww2 in DCS.

[NineLine]

50 minutes ago, razo+r said:

Or sometimes I'm questioning the priorisation of bug fixes. Some examples:

- The trains were still sounding their horn after death until "recently". That bug has been fixed almost instantly, while these huge issues with waypoints remain unsolved since forever.
- Or for the Mosquito the cockpit lights that got broken in a version have been fixed pretty quickly, yet you can still stick your head through the canopy since release.
- P-47 where the wrong animation for the brake pedal has been fixed but none of the other 3D issues have been touched.

Don't get me wrong, I am gratefull for any new features being implemented, cooling system, prop tech, damage model etc. But sometimes I really wish ED would take a step back and instead of shoving new things into the game to break that they would rather start fixing some of the long standing issues, some of which are extremely annoying.

I'm hoping we'll see some more progress next year...

Trains would be done by someone working on the core, not the WWII team. 

Why some bugs get fixed faster than others? Many times its the complexity of the bug or the team member that is working on those things work load, it might look from the outside that one would be easier than the other or the same, but its not always that easy or simple. 

53 minutes ago, razo+r said:

I know it would be a lot of work. But for me it just adds to the confusion seeing several topics marked as "reported" while at the same time seeing different topics with the "fixed" tag or knowing that those bugs are actually fixed. 

I sometimes like to glimpse through the bugs and problems section of modules to look at their general state. So taking the time to update the tags would improve the situational awareness, especially since we don't have any other means of following the state of a module.

But if there is no intention to change this, then so be it. At least you have provided an explanation, which I can agree with.

 

We will try and mark bugs fixed when we can, but I will say that going through years of posts and reports, some done on an older reporting system would be pretty tough.

49 minutes ago, peachmonkey said:

ED has an excellent opportunity to poach the IL2 user base, yet crickets. It just shows there's no business priority behind ww2 in DCS.

I understand these thoughts, but you have to understand we cannot just wish things into existence. We want to offer the very best WWII simulation we can, but to do that additions and creations take much longer than some of those less complex games. (not an insult to any other games)

[rkk01]

The biggest “walkaway” feature of DCS WW2 is the accuracy of AI gunnery. We might love the warbirds, but using them soon becomes dispiriting 

my personal record… 16km

…my Mossie kept losing a wing at a similar point every time I flew a home made mission.  I couldn’t work out why as there was nothing else around.

I finally figured out that I was flying into the 8” / 200mm gunnery range of the Prinz Eugen mod I had placed off Cap Gris Nez

talk about madness - 1 shot, 1 wing, 16km, every time

[NineLine]

14 minutes ago, rkk01 said:

The biggest “walkaway” feature of DCS WW2 is the accuracy of AI gunnery. We might love the warbirds, but using them soon becomes dispiriting 

my personal record… 16km

…my Mossie kept losing a wing at a similar point every time I flew a home made mission.  I couldn’t work out why as there was nothing else around.

I finally figured out that I was flying into the 8” / 200mm gunnery range of the Prinz Eugen mod I had placed off Cap Gris Nez

talk about madness - 1 shot, 1 wing, 16km, every time

Do you have a track of any of this? Could it be this mod you were using?

[Tzigy]

34 minutes ago, NineLine said:

Do you have a track of any of this? Could it be this mod you were using?

In the last couple years I might have experienced 1 very long distance lucky shot, probably from 88 mm but overall I think it has been pretty good.  I agree the AAA can be really rough, especially when you attacking heavily defended target alone ... - in this way I think that is highly realistic;  still can survive sometimes by doing a lot of  crazy jinking.  When flying on MP in  Mossi w a buddy, we usually do pretty well being 2 us.... sometimes we even make it back...

[[HOUNDS] CptTrips]

With Masters of the Air coming soon, it would be a great opportunity to get new eyes on DCS WWII.

Any chance we can get bombers to defend themselves from anything other than a slow dead 6 o'clock approach?

That will be a real wet blanket to someone who had just bought a Normandy Map, WWII Asset Pack, and a FW190.  Saddling up along side enemy bombers and them ignoring you will make people sad.  Not a good first impression.

Yep, the IL2 market is there for the taking.  Eventually, as Wags said, you will run out of compelling jets that can be done that don't have security issues with the info.