DCS: Afghanistan FAQ

[BIGNEWY]

 

DCS: Afghanistan and DCS: Southwest Afghanistan are now available for pre-purchase and are planned to enter Early Access in June 2024.

The vast and varied landscape of DCS: Afghanistan will provide a stunning environment in which to experience some of the most important conflicts of the past half-century. The entire map of Afghanistan and small portions of neighbouring countries will be available, showcasing our latest map technologies at a superb level of detail and fidelity. 

You can pre-purchase the full map of DCS: Afghanistan with a special 30% discount at $48.99 during the pre-purchase phase. The early access release price will be set at 20% off ($55.99) until the final release.

In addition to offering the whole map as one purchase, and given the immense size of the territory, we have also divided the map into three regions each available for individual purchase: DCS: Southwest Afghanistan, DCS: East Afghanistan, and DCS: North Afghanistan. Each regional map gives you access to the entire Afghanistan map but grants the highest level of detail for that region only. Regions will be released in approximately three-month intervals.

The southwestern region is the most complete today and will be released first. Today, you can pre-purchase DCS: Southwest Afghanistan for $23.99. The release price in June 2024 will be set at $29.99.DCS: East Afghanistan and DCS: North Afghanistan will be offered for individual purchase as and when they are ready, later in the year. There will be no pre-purchase price for these, which will be set at $29.99 each. If you wish to gain full access to these at release and wish to lock the best price, we recommend that you purchase DCS: Afghanistan now during the pre-purchase phase.

A purchase of DCS: Southwest Afghanistan makes the entire map flyable in single-player and multiplayer, but only the southwestern region will be at the highest level of detail once the map is complete.

This FAQ should answer the most common questions you may have.
 

*I Want the Whole Map in High Detail*

Excellent! Nothing changes for you and this will be like every map you have bought in the past. You need to purchase DCS: Afghanistan.

At the release of Early Access, you will have access to the whole map, but only the Southwest region will be in high detail and the others will be in low detail. Once the East region is ready, you will also see this in high detail. Once the North region is ready, you will also see this in high detail.
 

*Why Is the Map Available As Individual Sections?*

Please understand that this is one map, and you can buy the whole map in exactly the same way as you can with any other map. If you buy DCS: Afghanistan, you will have the whole map in high detail once each region is complete.

However, if you do not want the whole map and are only interested in a specific region, you have the option to buy only that region. If you do this, you will still have access to the whole map, but only the region you wanted will be in high detail, and the other regions will be in low detail. This is ‘Southwest’, ‘East’, and ‘North’.

The reasons for offering the split regions are:

1.      Allows a lower entry price if users want to fly one region only.

2.      Everyone is able to fly the map sooner. The regions of the map are being completed in stages with Southwest ready first, then East, then North. If we waited until the whole map was ready in high detail the Early Access release date would be much later.
 

What Does DCS: Afghanistan Offer?

This Afghanistan map includes the rugged mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush, the vast deserts of the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut, and the many green fertile valleys and river basins of the region. Efforts have been dedicated to accurately portraying the unique cultural and urban features of Afghanistan. This involves recreating cities like Kandahar and Herat, with special attention to landmarks, infrastructure, and architectural styles like the blue mosque of Herat. 

High-resolution satellite imagery has aided authentic terrain textures and details, while aerial imagery has been used to enhance the accuracy of individual areas. Special focus is being given to the detailing of terrain features, including rivers, roads, vegetation, rocks, small stones, ground clutter and geological formations. The terrain presented is a representation of modern Afghanistan, most closely matching the years between 2008 and 2010. The map has been developed to offer gameplay that spans the many eras of combat in the region.

This is our most ambitious map yet and the sheer size, diversity of the terrain, and complex topography of Afghanistan have presented technical challenges, pushing the boundaries of our map-making technologies.  Performance optimization and development is ongoing, allowing the map to look good at both low and high altitudes.

The illustration below details the size of the whole map, and shows how it has been split into three distinct regions:

 

The regions have been divided in a way that offers maximum gameplay and re-enactment potential. The highest level of detail in each provides greater detail of terrain textures, a highly detailed road network, enhanced city scenes, airfield scenes, unique objects and cultural monuments, as well as improved texturing to a variety of buildings, vegetation, static cars etc. Please note that airfields are only planned within the borders of Afghanistan. There are currently no plans to add airfields from neighboring countries.

• DCS: Afghanistan (total) Area: 1449216 sq km
  28 Unique highly detailed airfields
• DCS: Southwest High Detail Area: 471381 sq km
  12 Unique highly detailed airfields
• DCS: East High Detail Area: 320529 sq km
  12 Unique highly detailed airfields
• DCS: North High Detail Area: 443199 sq km
  8 Unique highly detailed airfields

The highest level of detail for each region is only available with a purchase of each of the individual region products (Southwest, East, North), or with a purchase of DCS: Afghanistan. Regions that have not been purchased will be flyable but will display a lower level of detail.

Please note: The low vs high res areas will be analogous (similar) to what we have with Normandy 1944 and Normandy 2.0 Upgrade option.

What Is Included in DCS: Southwest Afghanistan?

 

The image above shows the area that is included in high detail with a purchase of DCS: Southwest Afghanistan. The entire DCS: Afghanistan map will be flyable at launch but is still under development.

DCS: Southwest Afghanistan will receive some updates post-release but will for all intents and purposes be feature-complete. This region includes 12 highly detailed airfields: Kandahar, Herat, Bost, Camp Bastion, Chaghcharan, Dwyer, Farah, Maymana Zahiraddin Faryabi, Qala i Naw, Shindand, Tirinkot, and Zaranj.

The southwest region is currently the most complete and will be released first. The second region to be released will be the Eastern region and finally the Northern region.

Please keep in mind that even if you purchase only one region, you will still be able to play online across the whole map with your friends and in your favourite servers, but the non-purchased regions will display lower detail.
 

How Much Will It Cost?

Early adopters in the pre-purchase stage will enjoy special discounts. The pre-purchase phase is planned to end in June 2024 with the Early Access release of DCS: Afghanistan and DCS: Southwest Afghanistan.

	Pre-purchase	Early Access	Release
DCS: Afghanistan	$48.99	$55.99	$69.99
DCS: Southwest Afghanistan	$23.99	$29.99	$29.99
DCS: East Afghanistan	N/A	N/A	$29.99
DCS: North Afghanistan	N/A	N/A	$29.99

DCS: East Afghanistan and DCS: North Afghanistan will not receive pre-purchase nor early access pricing. Please kindly note, that the pricing above may be subject to change.
 

How Do I Purchase DCS: Afghanistan?

Pre-purchase DCS: Afghanistan in the e-Shop, here.
Pre-purchase DCS: Southwest Afghanistan in the e-Shop, here.

Pre-purchase is not currently available on DCS Steam Edition. We are doing our best to offer Steam users identical pre-purchase options for both DCS: Afghanistan and DCS: Southwest Afghanistan as soon as possible.

After early access , we will include DCS: Afghanistan in the two-week Free Trial Program on the e-Shop. The product will then be available for download via the in-game module manager for you to try before you buy. The Free Trial programme extends to most DCS modules; look for the ‘Trial’ button in the e-Shop for participating modules.
 

What Happens if I Buy the Map Regions Parts Individually?

While purchasing the whole DCS: Afghanistan map in one go will grant you a significant discount, you may wish to purchase only an individual region if you have a particular interest in that region only. 

By purchasing individual regions, you are curating the areas of the map that you wish to see in high detail. This option makes the map more accessible for those only interested in specific areas or are on a budget. Purchasing any of the individual regions will still give you access to the whole map in low detail. 

Those who purchase one region will not receive discounted pricing if they subsequently wish to purchase other regions. To enhance the detail of the map, additional regions may be purchased separately, as and when you wish.

Those of you who purchase DCS: Afghanistan as a whole will have the exact same access as another user who would purchase all of DCS: Southwest Afghanistan, DCS: East Afghanistan, and DCS: North Afghanistan individually.

Can I Fly with Friends or on Servers if We Have Mismatching Regions of DCS: Afghanistan?
Yes, you are all flying the same map and will be able to fly together without issue but the detail that each of you sees will differ. Remember that by purchasing individual regions you are curating the areas of the map that you wish to see in high detail. Those who purchase the whole map will see the whole map in high detail as and when each region becomes available and receive updates during the Early Access phase.

Will I Have Multiple Maps if I Purchase Individual Regions?
No. All purchases give access to one map and individually owned regions dictate what you see in high detail within that map. If, for example, you own both DCS: Southwest Afghanistan and DCS: East Afghanistan, you will see both of those regions in high detail and only DCS: North Afghanistan will be in low detail.

How Might Missions and Campaigns Be Affected by the Individual Map Regions?
If you are flying in a region where you do not have access to the highest level of detail, it may be that the creator of that mission or campaign references a world object you are not able to see. Otherwise, there will be no effect.

Will DCS: Afghanistan have Winter Textures? (ADDED)
Not at release, but is planned for later on after the Early Access Launch. 

If I only own 1 part, will I still see and be able to use airfields on parts I do not own? (ADDED)
Yes! Once the entire map is complete and if you only own 1 section, you will see the entire map, and the airfields in those unpurchased sections will be there and usable in the sim, including the ME. You will still see trees and buildings in these areas as well but in low-detail LODs.

What does Early Access, Features and such mean for Terrain and how does it compare to Aircraft modules? (ADDED)
We have noticed some confusion on what Early Access means for a terrain, especially one being sold with the possibility of owning only 1 or 2 parts. Features on a Terrain can be described as things like Airfields, Cities, POI's and such. Saying the SW portion is mostly feature complete it's for these types of objects and areas. What it doesn't mean is that those areas are necessarily done in layout or textures, all these things can change during Early Access. 
This also goes for textures, for example, some have pointed out areas where highly detailed abruptly bump up against low detailed areas. Even in the SW regions, this is still very much WIP. The challenge of doing a huge map like this is maintaining a reasonable size and performance. The idea here is to get the most out of the high-detail areas for all 3 areas, then go back and see how much we can push those medium-detail areas you would see between High and Low areas. If we were to complete the SW area before the others and push it to max levels before the other 2 areas were in, we run the risk of having an unmanageable sized map, or one with poor performance, and would require us to go back and pull some detail out. 
This is a very new way of doing a map, along with one of the biggest and most detailed maps to date, there will be some growing pains and it will look rough in places at times. We appreciate all those who are willing to continue on this EA with us, and we look forward to all your feedback and reports on the map!

More sources of information:
DCS: Afghanistan CasmoTV and Wags interview


We are truly thrilled to bring this monumental map to DCS that will allow you to explore and experience a region that has been so important to the late 20th and early 21st century.

Thank you all for your trust, passion and support. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

Please ask any further questions you may have below as comments.

Yours sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics

Updated Maps: New Map

Previous Map

 

[Tom P]

Oh boy

[Jack1nthecrack]

Will there be any Pakistani airfields modeled? Im seeing a theatre here for the JF-17!

[Citizen]

Well, we've successfully answered the question: how complex and confusing can a DCS terrain release be?

If someone buys the whole map and only wants to download one third of the HQ map, will they have the ability to deactivate those parts in DCS to save HD space?

[Tom P]

How much of a difference will there be between the high and low detail areas if someone only buys a region and travels to a different area outside that region?

Hopefully not to the point where players with different details see different things. "Hey the enemy is left of that big building next to the traffic circle." "I don't see a traffic circle.." 

Will it be another Normandy thing where we eventually we will get a Afghanistan 2.0?

In a MP setting that might cause some issues as well for the mission makers having to deal with planning/making areas that might not appear the same for someone else. 

Edited March 29, 2024 by Tom P

[Why485]

Put me in the screenshot.

[Winterz]

HUH

[maxidaxy]

vor 14 Minuten schrieb Tom P:

How much will the difference in "higher" detail be in a region compared to just owning the whole map? Will it be a "low fidelity terrain" if I don't buy the region specifically that someone else who did buy it?
Why not just make the whole map "high" detailed instead of splitting it. You can buy the whole map cheaper then all the regions combined. $70 vs $87 And I know people out there will probably spend $157 for basically one map to have higher detail everywhere but still....

I just don't want to go fly in RC east and have someone walk me on to a target that they can see that I can't because I didn't buy that region. "Hey they're left of that big building next to the traffic circle." "I don't see a traffic circle.."

 

My guess is that it’s simply a bundle discount. Buying FC3 is also cheaper than buying the planes individually. So the quality will be the same. It just makes sense in terms of sales to put the price of the individual sections higher

Edited March 28, 2024 by maxidaxy

[RedBloodCat]

how dose the quality of the "high detail map part" compair to syria, is it much better?

[ricktoberfest]

I’m afraid I’m gonna avoid buying this map simply for the fail in splitting it up. Nobody wants this unless they are worried about hard drive space. It makes everything needlessly complicated for creators and users. 

[Wacko_ZA]

3 minutes ago, ricktoberfest said:

I’m afraid I’m gonna avoid buying this map simply for the fail in splitting it up. Nobody wants this unless they are worried about hard drive space. It makes everything needlessly complicated for creators and users. 

Agreed, this seems like the greed is peaking. 

[twistking]

[FimbleThimble]

Folks you might have had the date wrong, it’s not April 1st yet.

Seriously, this is so egregiously bad, with due respect to the teams involved it is insulting.

[Tom P]

6 minutes ago, ricktoberfest said:

I’m afraid I’m gonna avoid buying this map simply for the fail in splitting it up. Nobody wants this unless they are worried about hard drive space. It makes everything needlessly complicated for creators and users. 

Yeah this could make mission building a nightmare.

[Yurgon]

Will the map extend to the Gulf of Oman to allow carrier operations?

Personally I wouldn't mind if Pakistan was modelled at low detail as long as there's an option to include the Supercarrier and naval aviation.

Edit from a couple days later: Wags said very clearly that this is not an option with the current terrain engine.

Edited April 2, 2024 by Yurgon

[Ogma]

How is suppose to work for multiplayer ?

It sounds like there will be only one map but depending on which region the players have, they won't see the same things. There is no way of balancing a PvP server then no ?

How are physical buildings present on the high detailed version handled for the low detailed players ? Does it mean a transport helico could land units inside a landmarks because he didn't buy the high detailed version or with CA just drive though it ? Won't they have an easier time spotting as well ? How is it handled server wise ? Can missile fired by low detailed player go through a landmarks ?

I have so many questions...

[SlipHavoc]

Amazing how people can be so confused by something so simple...  If you want the whole map, buy the whole map.  If you only care about one part of Afghanistan, just buy that part.  If you just buy one part, you can still fly missions elsewhere, but the map will be in lower detail.  If you don't want them to be in lower detail, buy the whole map.  It used to be that you could only buy the whole map, and now you can still buy the whole map, but now since Afghanistan is huge and some people only care about some smaller part of it, they have the option to buy that smaller part, and yet are not completely locked out of playing on other parts.  This isn't exactly rocket science here.

[Tom P]

Sad super carrier noises. 

[NineLine]

23 minutes ago, RedBloodCat said:

how dose the quality of the "high detail map part" compair to syria, is it much better?

It is easily as good IMHO, I would like to think even better. Thanks.

[Roostyla]

I was just about to ask similar questions to Ogma above, surely you gain a massive player advantage in multiplayer if you have not purchased high quality versions of the maps?

Lots of potential here for customer confusion and double purchasing when not realising the savings when buying as an entire bundle. I think when you need an FAQ that extensive with undoubtedly follow up questions your not on the right track guys.

[Thump]

Can we break it down a little further and pay per killbox keypad?

[NineLine]

8 minutes ago, Ogma said:

How is suppose to work for multiplayer ?

It sounds like there will be only one map but depending on which region the players have, they won't see the same things. There is no way of balancing a PvP server then no ?

How are physical buildings present on the high detailed version handled for the low detailed players ? Does it mean a transport helico could land units inside a landmarks because he didn't buy the high detailed version or with CA just drive though it ? Won't they have an easier time spotting as well ? How is it handled server wise ? Can missile fired by low detailed player go through a landmarks ?

I have so many questions...

Read the FAQ, MP compatibility is there no matter what you buy. 

[Bingo911]

Quote

The highest level of detail for each region is only available with a purchase of each of the individual region products (Southwest, East, North), or with a purchase of DCS: Afghanistan. Regions that have not been purchased will be flyable but will display a lower level of detail.

Buy them individually or the whole thing...same detail.

 

[NineLine]

1 minute ago, Roostyla said:

urely you gain a massive player advantage in multiplayer if you have not purchased high quality versions of the maps?

How is that?

[Yurgon]

1 minute ago, SlipHavoc said:

If you want the whole map, buy the whole map.

The questions many people ask are not about any one person's choice, but how this is going to work in Multiplayer and for missions and campaigns where authors can no longer assume that a player who has the product will see it in the same way as the mission creator. Sounds like any campaign and any mission set in Afghanistan might have to be custom-built for either of the 3 regions, or exclude players who have not purchased all regions, or work around issues that arise from players seeing low detail content.