DCS: Cold War Germany - preview

[grim_reaper68]

"Luftganza"? Lufthansa, or is it about copyright?

[cfrag]

Just now, Boosterdog said:

Im enamoured enough with what Ive seen to drop £220 on a bigger M2

No kidding. I've just dropped an ungodly amount on an PCIE 5 M2 just so DCS can wholly fit (along with some other choice titles) on my main disk. DCS already exceeds 1T, so hit me, Ugra, I now have 3T for you. AND my credit card still is lukewarm.

[cfrag]

Just now, grim_reaper68 said:

Lufthansa, or is it about copyright?

Check the other signs on the map (e.g. what VW becomes) and I think you have your answer. I still think that Ugra should go the Arthur C Clark underhanded ribbing way like he did in 2001: calling the computer "HAL", as in "One step ahead of IBM": H->I. A->B. L->M. "Luftganza" does sound tongue in cheek, though   

[grim_reaper68]

Ok, Just saw the building with WS which I suppose should be DB 

[MAESTR0]

Hi fighters
Today is the cherry on top of our reviews!
BERLIN is a divided city on the border of two worlds! The epicenter of the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, where every district, airport and monument becomes part of your missions.

Berlin: two capitals in one city

Alexanderplatz is the heart of East Berlin with the TV tower

The Berlin TV Tower is the tallest in Germany (368 m) and the most recognizable symbol of the capital of the GDR and FRG

The Reichstag is a legendary building, in the 1980s - a museum on the border with the West.

The Brandenburg Gate is a no man's land between the GDR and FRG.

Europa-Center is an iconic skyscraper of West Berlin.

"-Get in a taxi and say: Europa-Center. Get back and say: Airport. Not difficult."

 The Berlin Wall is a symbol of the Cold War.

The memorial to Soviet soldiers is a reminder of the past war in the center of a new confrontation.

Berlin airports – three key points:
Tempelhof Airport – the legendary airfield of the "Berlin Air Bridge", then civilian. "British Airways" and "Pan American World Airways" operated flights to Tempelhof Airport until August 31, 1975. "British Airways" and "Pan American World Airways" operated flights to Tempelhof Airport until August 31, 1975. After that, the flights were transferred to Tegel
Perhaps you can implement the "Berlin Blockade 2.0" scenario – try to repeat the "Air Bridge of 1948", but this time on a C-130.

Tegel (West Berlin) ICAO: EDDT – From 1975 to 1985, Tegel was West Berlin's only passenger airport: Tempelhof was closed to civil aviation. The airport, located in the French sector of Berlin, handled scheduled flights by Air France as well as charter flights by American and British airlines.

Schönefeld Airport was the major civil airport of East Germany (GDR) and the only airport of the former East Berlin. The airport was home to Interflug, the state airline of the German Democratic Republic, which in the vast majority of cases used Soviet-made aircraft. Interflug's routes provided mainly Eastern European countries, but also operated flights to Cuba, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and some African countries. The airport received aircraft from Eastern Bloc airlines: Aeroflot, Tarom, Malev. The terminal's distinctive feature was the airport's visitor terrace - These are forgotten inventions of more advanced civilizations. In its place, the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport was built - today the only commercial airport serving Berlin.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12 by MAESTR0

[Boosterdog]

I likley have missed it but are all those static airliners going to be included as map objects? 

[sirrah]

33 minutes ago, Boosterdog said:

I likley have missed it but are all those static airliners going to be included as map objects? 

I haven't seen any news passing here about that.

 

Please note @MAESTR0:

• Releasing this map will make you famous
• Releasing this map with those civil aircraft and vehicles as placeable static objects, will make you immortal 

 

Ok, now I'm off to arrange a fire insurance, because my pc will catch fire running this map in VR.

[NRG-Vampire]

I know this would be job of ED to provide/improve support for map designers/developers but It's been 10+ years already we seen (dynamic?) wetmaps (puddles), dirtmaps, and snowmaps for terrains: Avia-TS, SmartGraf, AltWolf, Aeromash etc. showed/used these features for a very long time.

So, Very nice to see interiors of map-objects-control towers and vehicles -and drivers too- but I am asking again: will we get slightly reflective glass materials/shaders for those parts of buildings/cars/buses/hangars ?

TY

[skywalker22]

2 hours ago, MAESTR0 said:

Hi fighters
Today is the cherry on top of our reviews!
BERLIN is a divided city on the border of two worlds! The epicenter of the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, where every district, airport and monument becomes part of your missions.

Berlin: two capitals in one city

Alexanderplatz is the heart of East Berlin with the TV tower

The Berlin TV Tower is the tallest in Germany (368 m) and the most recognizable symbol of the capital of the GDR and FRG

The Reichstag is a legendary building, in the 1980s - a museum on the border with the West.

The Brandenburg Gate is a no man's land between the GDR and FRG.

Europa-Center is an iconic skyscraper of West Berlin.

"-Get in a taxi and say: Europa-Center. Get back and say: Airport. Not difficult."

 The Berlin Wall is a symbol of the Cold War.

The memorial to Soviet soldiers is a reminder of the past war in the center of a new confrontation.

Berlin airports – three key points:
Tempelhof Airport – the legendary airfield of the "Berlin Air Bridge", then civilian. "British Airways" and "Pan American World Airways" operated flights to Tempelhof Airport until August 31, 1975. "British Airways" and "Pan American World Airways" operated flights to Tempelhof Airport until August 31, 1975. After that, the flights were transferred to Tegel
Perhaps you can implement the "Berlin Blockade 2.0" scenario – try to repeat the "Air Bridge of 1948", but this time on a C-130.

Tegel (West Berlin) ICAO: EDDT – From 1975 to 1985, Tegel was West Berlin's only passenger airport: Tempelhof was closed to civil aviation. The airport, located in the French sector of Berlin, handled scheduled flights by Air France as well as charter flights by American and British airlines.

Schönefeld Airport was the major civil airport of East Germany (GDR) and the only airport of the former East Berlin. The airport was home to Interflug, the state airline of the German Democratic Republic, which in the vast majority of cases used Soviet-made aircraft. Interflug's routes provided mainly Eastern European countries, but also operated flights to Cuba, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and some African countries. The airport received aircraft from Eastern Bloc airlines: Aeroflot, Tarom, Malev. The terminal's distinctive feature was the airport's visitor terrace - These are forgotten inventions of more advanced civilizations. In its place, the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport was built - today the only commercial airport serving Berlin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Burning Bridges]

On 3/15/2025 at 11:27 PM, Bremspropeller said:

And this is Wittstock today. Plenty of bronwnish dry grass and dry soil.

It's all down to the season and whether we've had a dry summer or plenty of rain. I've seen grass in Berlin during a dry summer that looked like it came straight from Serengeti Park.

The land around Berlin is known to turn into a desert during draught. Actually there is a draught right now and today I took several photos that mostly show sand.

It might not be well known but there are actual deserts in Brandenburg, like the Lieberoser Wüste which you will see if you fly from Berlin to Cottbus. They are just not big enough for people to die there, but can span some kilometers.

null

 

[TheBiggerBass]

Is there any size indication for the cold war map?

[Burning Bridges]

yes, about 3/4 of East German and 1/3 of West Germany

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2025-03-14/

[TheBiggerBass]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb Burning Bridges:

yes, about 3/4 of East German and 1/3 of West Germany

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/2025-03-14/

Sorry, I meant memory size required.

[SpectrumZX]

19 часов назад, Boosterdog сказал:

I likley have missed it but are all those static airliners going to be included as map objects? 

The answer was above on the topic. Most likely they will, but not before the phase 3 map is released.

[Ian Boys UK]

On 4/12/2025 at 9:39 AM, MBot said:

While all the previews for this map look fantastic, what stands out for me the most are the SAM sites. Never have there been better looking and more accurate SAM sites in DCS. Considering that after the air bases themselves, this will be map objects I will interact the most with in a military flight sim, this is a great step forward.

 

Not sure about tall trees within the actual SAM sites

[TheFreshPrince]

 

 

The map looks so good! 

[tempusmurphy]

Are the hot air balloons removable…I can’t imagine they would be having a nice day ballooning if the balloon had gone up ..so to speak 

[MBot]

A shame we don't have a RAF Harrier GR.3. Imagine the nice Harrier field sites that Ugra would have done for this map

Edited April 14 by MBot

[Northstar98]

2 hours ago, tempusmurphy said:

Are the hot air balloons removable…I can’t imagine they would be having a nice day ballooning if the balloon had gone up ..so to speak 

I'm hoping most of the baked in stuff such as this is attached to the civil traffic setting.

Personally, if it were up to me, I'd have the map accurately depict the real place, but leave scenery object cars, aircraft etc empty so I can control if they're present or not and where they're present. A similar thing goes for tanks in storage areas/military bases - ideally I'd place these myself (allowing for functional units).

Things like parked airliners should really be functional units we can use (and would provide an excuse for developing more in-depth ROE logic, IFF systems, no-fire zones for things like air defences etc.

In DCS, it's far easier to add a static object, than it is to remove stuff (which usually causes unintended collateral damage with other nearby objects).

Things like military sites and helipads should be the real ones (and again, empty of vehicles - so I can place my own).

1 hour ago, MBot said:

A shame we don't have a RAF Harrier GR.3. Imagine the nice Harrier field sites that Ugra would have done for this map

Absolutely. I mean I'd take even an AI version at this point and we are getting RAF Gütersloh on release.

Edited April 14 by Northstar98

[Northstar98]

Couple things I noticed on the stream by Wags

• At 24:36, you can see a helipad and training range in the forest on the approach path to runway 25 of Damgarten. He flies over it at 30:00. As far as I can tell this is completely fictional - the only thing that should be there is a forest and the outer marker beacon. In 1985 satellite imagery nothing can be seen apart from the forest and a small clearing for the marker beacon, ditto for a 1969 satellite image.
• There is an EWR site (FuTK-332) near Saal about 7 km to the north-north-east of Damgarten, which should have a grass helipad, but it's unmarked on the map and doesn't appear to be present. There's also an SA-3 site practically adjacent to this site that also doesn't appear to be present (the area appears forested when it should be fields). Both are clearly visible in this satellite image.
• Damgarten has an SA-3 site (541st OZRD) which doesn't appear to be present (see 29:35, the area appears to only have a single road is more densely forested - accurate for modern day, not so accurate for the timeframe). It's clearly visible in this image and this image.

Hopefully these can get corrected. I'm of course not expecting a 1:1 recreation, but I'm more open to things missing (as I can always remove trees and put an SA-3 site there, satisfying points 2 and 3), but I have more of a problem with things being present when they shouldn't, especially things like the training range in #1, especially when real military sites in the area don't appear to be present.

Edited April 14 by Northstar98
grammar

[Silver_Dragon]

On 4/12/2025 at 7:22 PM, NRG-Vampire said:

I know this would be job of ED to provide/improve support for map designers/developers but It's been 10+ years already we seen (dynamic?) wetmaps (puddles), dirtmaps, and snowmaps for terrains: Avia-TS, SmartGraf, AltWolf, Aeromash etc. showed/used these features for a very long time.

So, Very nice to see interiors of map-objects-control towers and vehicles -and drivers too- but I am asking again: will we get slightly reflective glass materials/shaders for those parts of buildings/cars/buses/hangars ?

TY

Remember that has profesional products, nothing to do with DCS World.

[C525]

On 4/7/2025 at 7:18 PM, MAESTR0 said:

Thank you for your support. We are glad to see that you like the map and this gives us even more desire to improve it. It is very nice when you remember the places where you served or walked as a child. The map is very large and we want to recreate everything, but we have to think about resources and your SSD/HDD. And like any of our maps, it does not stand still and is constantly evolving: it will be improved and refined, including according to user requests.

Today we will answer some questions and tell you a little about what we added:
@Swiso Yes, most of the buildings are destructible. Many with detailed damage models. The rule with original objects is the same - we don't bomb them

@KarlRadek thanks for the information about the quarries. I want to say that this place is already under reconstruction: water is pumped out of the lakes and instead of them there will be quarries, like at that time.

There were many requests from you about air defense locations. We had them, but at your requests we increased the number of these places and now they will not only be near large bases. Thanks to everyone who sent in SAM info

@Rick Mave   Ersatzpisten - they are located mostly south of phase 1, in phase 3 territory, but we can already say - don't worry, you'll be able to land on the road.

@C525 today the shelters in Büchel look like this:

@MAESTR0 thank you so much for the update on the shelters. Watching the Livestream, the inside of the Shelters in Spang look awesome. Will the German Shelters also have open doors?

Photo shows Shelters from ETSN, but should be the same for almost all FRG Airbases

 

[OneEyeRoss]

I am impressed with the flight around Fulda!  Really nice.

And knowing it is coming out in APRIL!!!!!  Take my money!!

 

[Bremspropeller]

@MAESTR0 not sure if the Luftganza aircraft at Tegel and Tempelhof are static or part of the scenery: There should be no Luftganza airplanes in CW-Berlin, since all IGS (Internal German Service) service was limited to western Allied Flag carriers - mostly Pan Am and BEA/British Airways. Air France exited the IGS market early on.

Luftganza - as were all other german airlines - was prohibited from servicing CW-Berlin.

The Pan Am lounge (the original one) close to Bahnhof Zoo supposedly was an awesome place to hang out...

 

==== Edit ====

The building which can be seen in the Huey video right at the beginning on the left side (Luftganza 727 facing it) was never there at this time - looks more like Terminal C, which was only built in the late 2000s:

Spoiler

 

See here before Terminal C was built - the Huey takes off right next to that regional jet next to the parking lot:

 

Edited April 14 by Bremspropeller

[WolfCat]

10 hours ago, MBot said:

A shame we don't have a RAF Harrier GR.3. Imagine the nice Harrier field sites that Ugra would have done for this map

Maybe ED will do it after they finish with the F-15C...

Edited April 14 by WolfCat