My impression about v2

[jpm1]

i purchased last ED product and i'm very satisfied . i thought a brief description of the game could be helpful to those who didn't do the big jump yet

 

here are some of the v2 improvements that i like :

 

now all the black sea borders relief has been modelized that brings more realism , more depth and a very long life duration to the game

obsolete see edit

 

improved SU-25 model and new beautiful skins

 

new units : Leopard 1A3 , Challenger II , Leclerc , T-55 , T-72 , ZU-23 , ZU-23 on truck , BTR-80 , Stryker , Infantry AK , RPG , new stinger/Igla , new trucks (armored , command post ...) , OH-58 , Mi-28 , Yak 40 (great for mission editing) , Predator , armed speedboat , P. Veliky cruiser and many others

 

new statics : advanced command post , adv fuel ammos depots , heliport , train wagons etc

 

you can now move inside the cockpit with the mouse . the cockpits aren't clickable (such BS one) but what a great improvement what a gain in term of comfort

 

now almost all countries have heavy tanks (among others)

 

you can now change your payload in the middle of a mission or ask for a specific fuel quantity

 

Almost all existing units have been reworked and are much more detailed link

 

mission editor runs smoother (with less bugs/freezes)

 

triggers events (ME) : possibility to build missions including custom sounds , flares signals , messages and even to load missions

 

you can add pictures to the briefing

 

forest zones are visible in the ME

 

campaign builder improved including stages if you don't reach the mission goal you go back

 

tracks are automatically recorded and instantly accessible (edit : not instantly accessible but aut. rec.)

 

new ground textures more detailed

new high res water textures more beautiful less "metallic"

 

tracer bullets see that vid to get an idea

 

improved weather clearer menu and the possibility to save templates

 

you can save your custom input profiles easily

 

Multi mode is now included with the possibilty to add a description of the server . the multi mode is one of the main Lock on improvements and is well done simple and complete at the same time

 

sounds have been modified , didn't had the time to test them all yet but the SU-25 engines sounds are nice

 

 

the game is as smooth as FC 1 which is the sign that the game has been nicely made (i don't have a 2000E rig) . feel free to give your opinion

 

 

Edit : all black sea map isn't modelized . only the following zone

Edited May 10, 2010 by jpm1

[jpm1]

Country insurgents added great for mission editing

you can save units groups templates

AH-64 sounds are nice

[roob]

I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll borrow this one.

 

Is there anyway to browse/view the skins in FC2? (I don't mean select a skin).

As of right now I have to select a skin and start a mission to view it.

[Boberro]

Nope :)

 

 

 

the game is as smooth as FC 1 which is the sign that the game has been nicely made (i don't have a 2000E rig)

 

 

Agreee, even my rig (now its value is about 100E) can handle LO 2 playable (ofc all in ultra low but you can play). It was nice suprise for me.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Boberro

[Nate--IRL--]

I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll borrow this one.

 

Is there anyway to browse/view the skins in FC2? (I don't mean select a skin).

As of right now I have to select a skin and start a mission to view it.

 

No, unfortunately. A strange omission I admit, but it is due to the separation of the GUI and the simulation engine IIRC.

 

Nate

[roob]

No, unfortunately. A strange omission I admit, but it is due to the separation of the GUI and the simulation engine IIRC.

 

Nate

 

Ah crap... I can understand it though, but makes skinning a bit more time-consuming :(

[EtherealN]

My suggestion would be to use the multiplayer server in windowed mode for this: allows you to change mission stuff/skin selection in the options screen gui, and once that's done you just reload the mission on the server screen to see the effects.

 

This is also very handly for ground unit placement.

[Alfa]

Nice little review, but...

 

 

now almost all countries have heavy tanks (among others)

 

...the second example is unfortunately not good :D .

 

Denmark has never had any M818 trucks, our Leopard 1A5(not A3) fleet was decommissioned long ago and replaced by the Leopard 2A5(which is in the game but for some reason not assigned to DK), the M270s have also been phased out - we do have HMMWVs, but they are of the M1045A2 version(TOW launcher on the roof).

[jpm1]

... Is there anyway to browse/view the skins in FC2? (I don't mean select a skin).

As of right now I have to select a skin and start a mission to view it.

 

that feature could be missing for newbies to familiarize themselves with the weapons , but the new system has a huge advantage mission building is (much) faster two clicks maximum compared to 9 in the old version in some cases (SU-25 for ex) . if you add lot of planes there is no photo

 

... Agreee, even my rig (now its value is about 100E) can handle LO 2 playable (ofc all in ultra low but you can play). It was nice suprise for me.

 

with more detailed trees and relief , that's one of the things that impressed me the most (my rig is about 99E right now :smilewink:)

[jpm1]

Nice little review, but...

 

 

 

...the second example is unfortunately not good :D .

 

Denmark has never had any M818 trucks, our Leopard 1A5(not A3) fleet was decommissioned long ago and replaced by the Leopard 2A5(which is in the game but for some reason not assigned to DK), the M270s have also been phased out - we do have HMMWVs, but they are of the M1045A2 version(TOW launcher on the roof).

 

it was an example . the Leopard 1A3 was probably in service when DCS BS development started . if ED updates their military data as fast as it changes in real life man i don't know if with 200 developers it would enough

[crazyeddie]

It's easy enough to change that, simple go into Scripts/Database and find the db_countries file.

 

Scroll down until you find the vehicle you want, copy and scroll down to the country you want to add that item to and paste it in.

 

Next time you open the ME it will be there.

[Alfa]

it was an example . the Leopard 1A3 was probably in service when DCS BS development started .

 

No it was not - it was phased out years ago.

 

if ED updates their military data as fast as it changes in real life man i don't know if with 200 developers it would enough

 

Nonsense jpm. It doesn't take more than one person a couple of days to gather the information needed for the countries represented......I should know ;) .

 

Anyway, I am not critisising that all the countries in BS/FC2 don't have all the equipment they have in RL(that would indeed require a major effort), but rather that what is there isn't properly assigned.

[roob]

Remember that LO is supposed to take place when these aircraft were in their best years. About between 1980 and 1990 IIRC.

[Alfa]

It's easy enough to change that..

 

Yes but how easy it is for the end-user to change this was not my point.....or maybe it was :D .

[Alfa]

Remember that LO is supposed to take place when these aircraft were in their best years. About between 1980 and 1990 IIRC.

 

No its not.

 

Firstly, there never was a particular timeframe for LO - it was always described merely as "present time to near future".

 

But a quick look at the inventory setup will reveal that a time frame from 1980-1990 simply cannot be......a whole lot of the stuff in the game just wasn't around back then.

[crazyeddie]

It's only a game guys, don't get too up tight about it, open it up, play with it, enjoy it and if you fancy doing something radical with it - DO IT, the balance of world power is not going to change overnight whatever you do ...

 

I love ripping these games apart to make them better, soon I will dominate THE WORLD ...

[Alfa]

It's only a game guys, don't get too up tight about it, open it up, play with it, enjoy it and if you fancy doing something radical with it - DO IT, the balance of world power is not going to change overnight whatever you do ...

 

I love ripping these games apart to make them better, soon I will dominate THE WORLD ...

 

Crazyeddie,

 

jpm posted this thread prasing the good new things in FC2 - one of the things he brought up was assignments of ground units to varies countries.

 

All I am saying is that exactly that bit(and encyclopedia for that matter)is not up to standard.

[jpm1]

ok i made my little investigation . Alfa , i understood what you tried to say and i noticed the smiley but , as my impression looks like a review i think since you begin one should say it all . so here is what i found out . the withdrawnal of the Leopard 1 from danish army seems to have been decided during a danish ministry of defence agreement made in 2004 which goes from 2005 to 2009 , today seems there are no Leopard 1 battle tanks remaining in the danish army (only ARV , bridge layers) but the withdrawnal seems quite recent . i followed with others countries Canada seems to be in the same case as Denmark but the withdrawnal is very recent equally and finally i found out that Norway has today only ARV and bridge layers in service , but i believe the withdrawnal is recent too as Norway Leopard 2 first purchase dates from 2001 . on another hand the Netherlands and Turkey have still Leopard 1 in service , Georgia and Ukraine have still T-55 and T-72 and UK and France have their tanks (Challenger II , Leclerc) . i'm fine with the game as it is myself as no human creation is perfect :thumbup:

[Alfa]

This is becoming a little more specific than it ought to :) - if it was just about a single tank type incorrectly assigned to a particular country, I would not have raised the issue ;) .

 

But in regards to Leopards in Danish service - the induction of the new Leopard 2A5 was completed by 2004(last vehicle delivered) and the old 1A5s withdrawn from service......long before the development of Black Shark(from which the unit setup in FC2 originates).

 

The Leopard 1A3 didn't appear in the game before Black Shark - IIRC it was introduced specifically for Turkey(which still operates that particular version of the Leopard 1), because the game's Leopard 2 was changed from the -2A4 version(operated by Turkey) to the -2A5 version that Turkey doesn't have.

 

So there were two new Leopard tank types introduced with Black Shark - the Leopard 1A3 and the Leopard 2A5. The first was assigned to Denmark although its no longer operated, while the second version wasn't although it has been in service for ~ 8 years.

[Alfa]

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier there are lots of such ommissions concerning vehicle/country assignments.

 

Given the current map/scenario, I personally think the 4-country setup from Flanker was sufficient. So I am not even mentioning this issue out of personal interest, but rather because I think that if something is in the game it should be done properly.....especially with a concept like DCS and especially when, as crazyeddie mentioned, a great deal can be fixed simply by editing a few lines in the countries.lua :) .

Edited May 5, 2010 by Alfa

[Avimimus]

Nice review.

 

Missing two minor details: Improved warhead modelling. Improved cluster bomb modelling.

[Dudikoff]

This is becoming a little more specific than it ought to :) - if it was just about a single tank type incorrectly assigned to a particular country, I would not have raised the issue ;) .

 

So there were two new Leopard tank types introduced with Black Shark - the Leopard 1A3 and the Leopard 2A5. The first was assigned to Denmark although its no longer operated, while the second version wasn't although it has been in service for ~ 8 years.

 

IMHO, only the omissions are the problem (i.e. Leopard 2). Having stuff which is out of operation is useful for making scenarios from some older timeframe (e.g. early 90s).

[Alfa]

IMHO, only the omissions are the problem (i.e. Leopard 2). Having stuff which is out of operation is useful for making scenarios from some older timeframe (e.g. early 90s).

 

Yeah thats true :)

[jpm1]

i wanted to post in Screenshots but i post here

 

for now i've done Sukhumi and Mineral 'nie Vody only but Mineral 'nie Vody is beautiful

 

FC 2 improved relief

 

in FC 2 you can add destroyed units (tanks , planes shells)

[Boberro]

How can you smoothly play with that settings on your 99 Euro computer :P