DCS A-10C Screen Shots - 16 Aug 2010

[viper3two]

Just took a look at the screenies, just wet my shorts too. :megalol: SWEEET!!!! :thumbup:

[BBQ]

I read the posts on the multi-core discussion--I wonder, the FAQ states there will be a 64 bit version, which I happened to recently install (win 7). What will this do to help performance, as opposed to multi-cores?

[Sticky]

I think what that does is let you access more of your RAM memory.

[sobek]

I read the posts on the multi-core discussion--I wonder, the FAQ states there will be a 64 bit version, which I happened to recently install (win 7). What will this do to help performance, as opposed to multi-cores?

 

The 64bit architecture essentially lets the operating system adress more RAM, allowing applications to use more than 2Gb of space. For DCS this means larger missions with more units becoming possible.

[JaNk0]

Just a question about dx11. Does this mean that we'll get shadows in the cockpit in the future?

[Wags]

Regarding DX11 question: much has yet to get sorted out and could change. We will announce details once we are sure of implemented features.

[Tango]

Does DX11 mean I will require DX11 hardware and Win 7 to be able to run it? There won't be a DX9 version?

 

If it is DX11 only, you lost me as a customer.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[Eddie]

Does DX11 mean I will require DX11 hardware and Win 7 to be able to run it? There won't be a DX9 version?

 

If it is DX11 only, you lost me as a customer.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

 

Once again, NO! It means if you want the DX11 specific features you will need DX11 hardware. If you have DX9 hardware you'll will miss out on the DX11 features, just like if you played any other DX10/11 game on DX9 hardware.

[Tango]

That's great! Back to getting excited about the release! :D

 

Maybe you might want to add that note to the FAQ that adding DX11 support won't stop it working on DX9 hardware.

 

I'm still trying to get over what M$ did to FSX. "DX10 Preview" I think is half the reason it is shite as a sim; too much eye candy, not enough sim. It corrupts video memory like nothing else, too.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

Edited August 21, 2010 by Tango

[topdog]

Once again, NO! It means if you want the DX11 specific features you will need DX11 hardware. If you have DX9 hardware you'll will miss out on the DX11 features, just like if you played any other DX10/11 game on DX9 hardware.

 

Do you believe that this is just how DX works, or do you believe this was a decision made by the developers of those games who built in specific fallbacks to make sure everything in their game still worked properly in DX9 but could take advantage of DX10/11 stuff?

 

Reason I ask is because the posted DCS A10 FAQ still states that system specs are still TBD, and I don't recall seeing something stated by ED on the matter to say otherwise (and I'm making an unquantified assumption that you aren't on ED's payroll or official spokesperson).

 

So what assurances can you give that it will not require above DX9 to work properly (and by 9, let's assume for sake of argument we mean 9.0c since DCS:BS 1.0.2 itself doesn't work properly with vanilla 9.0)?

 

So for now and until corrected otherwise, I stand by earlier statements that we have to wait and see what ED come up with and/or announce on the matter, and right now it looks like they're still evaluating.

[Sticky]

They will have to supply a second dx9 only exe for all the xp users, since dx11 requires vista or win7.

[Sticky]

According to Steam windows xp 32 bit is the most common OS (july 2010) among Steam users.

 

Edit: Not correct. If you add both 32 and 64 win7 versions then win7 is the most common OS. Still 33% has XP.

Edited August 21, 2010 by Sticky

[sweinhart3]

Do you believe that this is just how DX works, or do you believe this was a decision made by the developers of those games who built in specific fallbacks to make sure everything in their game still worked properly in DX9 but could take advantage of DX10/11 stuff?

 

Reason I ask is because the posted DCS A10 FAQ still states that system specs are still TBD, and I don't recall seeing something stated by ED on the matter to say otherwise (and I'm making an unquantified assumption that you aren't on ED's payroll or official spokesperson).

 

So what assurances can you give that it will not require above DX9 to work properly (and by 9, let's assume for sake of argument we mean 9.0c since DCS:BS 1.0.2 itself doesn't work properly with vanilla 9.0)?

 

So for now and until corrected otherwise, I stand by earlier statements that we have to wait and see what ED come up with and/or announce on the matter, and right now it looks like they're still evaluating.

 

Why the hostility? DX has always been backwards compatible. You may not get the additional eye candy on older hardware but I havent seen a single game that would not run on hardware that met minimum performance requirements. Some of these remarks are totally uncalled for.

[topdog]

No hostility intended, my opening there isn't an attack on Eddie, just trying to understand where he's coming from with his comments as I think they're speculative - but I could be wrong, I just assume he's a for-free tester rather than someone who would be accountable for saying those things. I don't think I've said anything that's uncalled for, but I do apologise if they were seen that way.

 

My comments with respect to BlackShark are simply that 1.0.2 replaced some 9.0 compatible code with 9.0c compatible code and doesn't offer a backwards compatibility fallback, ergo, it's standing proof/evidence that its more than eye candy. For NVGs to work you NEED a DX9.0c compatible card and lower won't do without a hack, because there's no supporting code to allow it to work in this fallback state.

 

So as a game it appears to 'run' (startup, fly around, etc.) but I don't consider a feature necessary to the gameplay (even if only at certain times, such as at night,) that does not work at all to be an example of backwards compatibility.

 

You've been lucky with your game selections I think, or just had modern enough hardware not to really notice. It's different on the fringe.

[Eddie]

Put it this way, if it were to be exclusively DX11 hardware with no backwards compatibility most of the testers, myself included, would be screwed. Now if you mean will it work with Win XP or earlier which do not have DX10/11 software, I honestly don't know at this time and I suspect neither do the devs. But if you're still running XP, you frankly shouldn't be expecting to be able to run everything forever.

Edited August 21, 2010 by Eddie

[Bucic]

During the development of DCS Black Shark I kept saying that pre-AFM (advanced flight models) era simulators (a note: Eagle Dynamics are not the only ones to develop military grade flight models) were a waste of time. Now I feel I will be back with this rhetoric even more often.

 

Interesting times where the weakest link in hardcore simulator are... peoples' piss poor joysticks and rudder pedals (or lack of them) and the inability to realize this :)

[Sticky]

I am not using win xp. I am on vista and have a dx11 GPU. I brought up xp to make a point, ED will not want to lose that large portion of potential buyers and that is why there most likely will be a seperate dx9 exe. So even if you wont buy the fact that your dx9 graphics card will run dx11 (since dx11 is compatible with dx9 cards, minus the dx11 specific features) there will still be a backup solution for you since they would have to make it run on xp on a seperate dx9 exe. But yeah I agree with you, if you are on XP you need to upgrade your OS, but my point was they want to sell more copies, and xp user are a big market even today.

[sweinhart3]

Any company that makes software that would only run on the latest and greatest hardware would not have much of a customer base. It would be silly not make any business sense. Directx 9.0 is almost 10years old however, and it would equally not make much business sense to program for a 10year old API.

[Sticky]

Directx 9.0 is almost 10years old however, and it would equally not make much business sense to program for a 10year old API.

 

You dont know what you are talking about :lol:

[Insanatrix]

It's 8 years old in december and it makes more sense to prepare for the future than to live in the past. It hardly means that they have to write it strictly for 11. They can implement feature's of 11 to be used if you have the hardware as most have already said. It all depends on how they implement it so discussing the shortfalls of the system itself are rather shortsighted and moot until you know more about their implementation.

[Sticky]

It's 8 years old in december and it makes more sense to prepare for the future than to live in the past.

 

Well he did write that it doesnt make much business sence to program for dx9 since its 10 years old. Is that why blizzard programmed for Starcraft II to run on dx9 only? Is that why Starcraft II sold 1.5 million copies the first 48 hours?

 

So it seems it does make business sence to program for dx9 :lol: Im only commenting on the business sence part, nothing else, there are many other factors, like this being a modern combat flight sim and I think it makes more sence to use the best available tools, like using dx11 instead of dx9. But he did write business sence :P

[Insanatrix]

You're talking about a game built on a reputation on an engine for a specific purpose and timeframe. ED is working on a constantly evolving engine for both current and future products. For this purpose it makes more sense to begin to open the doors for future tech than it does to close them and get left behind.

[Bwaze]

I'm glad graphics engine will be ported to DX11. Up until now it looked like very little work has been done on graphics since Lock On that came out in 2003. I know this probably wasn't the case, but still some problems and glitches were carried on to subsequent releases - cloud shadow bug and problems with visibility of smoke when there are clouds or ground fog are present in DCS: Black Shark, and several more remained in Flaming Cliffs 2.

 

I suppose this major work on graphics engine also means that bugs could be fixed for DX9 users too. But I'm excited about possibilities of improvements. :)

[leafer]

Regarding DX11 question: much has yet to get sorted out and could change. We will announce details once we are sure of implemented features.

 

Welcome back. :)

[Bucic]

It all got really quiet for DCS BS after the release of LO FC2. I won't even try to estimate how much it will get quiet after the DCS: A-10C Warthog release. The phenomena will be amplified by the fact that it will probably take at least a month before a compatibility patch is released, introducing new features from A-10 into BS.