Announcing Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 3

[EtherealN]

ErichVon, note that there is no mention of a public beta in the press release.

[ErichVon]

ErichVon, note that there is no mention of a public beta in the press release.

 

That has not been my experience flying FC2 / DCS almost 2 years.

 

I will wait and see.

 

(BTW, thank you very much with your much appreciated help over the past two years of questions asked by me.)

[aaron886]

That has not been my experience flying FC2 / DCS almost 2 years.

 

I will wait and see.

 

(BTW, thank you very much with your much appreciated help over the past two years of questions asked by me.)

 

I'd betcha they're nearly ready (Expected date of release is September, after all) and will release a final version for download in the coming weeks. That of course doesn't solve the digital download issue for you... if you want a boxed version you'd have to wait. (And who knows... they may stick with digital download only, anyway. That is the future after all.)

[RIPTIDE]

I'm really looking forward to FC4: Whiners Edition (to be integrated in DCS: Get a Life!)

 

It will be soooo realistic that you can only play it strapped to your Aces II ejection seat.

 

:megalol::megalol: haha Funny that.

[Milene]

Maybe I’m a complete jerk when it comes to graphics but I can’t see what’s so extremely wrong with the models in the original FC2. OK, the 3GO Su-27 and Combatace's Su-33 adds visual better models but hey, that’s from the outside, or am I missing something here? Many servers, or at least the servers with stats, do not allow outside view so what is the fuzz about? Is it just for the movie makers? Can someone show me some specific examples?

 

(HJ)

 

Hijerk ehm i mean jack ;) I for one do use outside view when im playing singleplayer. I like watching my birds bending air when im pulling g's. Also there are amazing skins/packs for these babies would be a waiste not to watch them in full glory.

 

That said its still weird we have to rely on 3GO en people like Ricardo to spice things up. Dotn get me wrong but these people are doing an amazing job and they deliver something ED should have done LONG ago !

[Modulus]

Since we will now have player controlled aircraft with radars, will the Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) in DCS A-10C now function?

[Essah]

Since we will now have player controlled aircraft with radars, will the Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) in DCS A-10C now function?

 

no, it's unfeasible since it's all classified information. I suspect it will be like in FC2 where you get IFF identification automatically non dependent on any player settings.

[Dejjvid]

You don't have to overengineer IFF :)

 

You can implement that very easy. But i've got a feeling ED don't want to implement a "fake" system.

 

If you want to simulate IRL performance (interrogation) then it would get a bit 'tricky'.

[VAOZoky]

You don't have to overengineer IFF :)

 

You can implement that very easy. But i've got a feeling ED don't want to implement a "fake" system.

 

If you want to simulate IRL performance (interrogation) then it would get a bit 'tricky'.

 

What about ECM then?

[Cedaway]

Have they finally fixed HDR bug with multi-monitor setups?

(I doubt they even looked at it)

 

Guess we'd better wait for EDGE...

[Kuky]

Guess we'd better wait for EDGE...

 

Who's to say this will be working fine in EDGE? I just find it bit disturbing that for such long time now where multi-monitor and view export option is in sim and stuff like this is still not sorted out.

 

If you work on so many different projects at once and with small team (as they keep saying ED team is) you'll never get done fully with any of them... or takes "forever" to get it done.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Kuky

[Hellfire257]

Very good point, Kuky. How many products are not finished at the moment? P-51 and CA are still not final, and they're also working on FC3? They're probably spreading themselves thin in order to maximise money from pre-orders. Risky, but if it gets the job done...

[Griffin]

If I could choose, the most ideal way of doing FC3 in my opinion would be the RoF approach.

 

- Buy each plane for say 15 $ when they get finished one by one.

- Each plane would get F-15 treatment = cockpit, 3D model etc.

- Each plane would get the necessary realistic features people have requested for (I think Case listed many features that Russian jets lack, same would go for all of course).

- Similar types would be released after another, for example now that we have F-15, next would be Su-27. Then maybe Su-25 and A-10 to match on the other side or fighters again.

 

That would lead to people getting more bang for the buck and better targeting of the specific type pilots. People who fly everything would propably still buy every plane because it would not feel bad at all to spread cost for high quality aircraft over wider time period.

I also think ED would get much more revenue and over wider time scale because the cost for the whole package would be much more than the current FC3 and people (I would believe) would complain less because they all get treated the same. With the extra and more steady income they could incorporate the missile AFM and other improvements into the base engine (World) with patches. It's also more motivating to buy several high quality planes over a wider time period for the sake of quality than only one improved plane, like now, but still pay full price of a larger module...

 

I and many others are tired of the same package that improves only little over the years. I see nothing new or any real value here.

At the same time Beczl creates a whole new DCS module with AFM, comparable quality modeling, tons of 3D models, tons of new weapons & more only for 20 $!!!

 

40 $ for FC2 with fake boobs vs 20 $ for a top quality aircraft and a complete DCS module? Also with a unique DVD and still 10 $ under FC3! Guess which gets my money.

 

I guess there might be some legal issues with the repackaging of the FC2 (I don't know, why call it Flaming Cliffs anymore in above scenario?) but this is how it would go in my perfect world.

Not possible due to the license with Ubisoft I guess. FC1, FC2 and FC3 is markeded as a single product and requires LOMAC license to start the upgrade chain.

 

Yeah I meant to separate from the FC completely. If it's practically one plane at a time done from scratch (3D models, cockpits, upgraded avionics) and the radar code and AFM is already integrated into DCS and not Lock On. The package would no longer be Lock On Flaming Cliffs but DCS: F-15 Basic addon module or something like that and full DCS version could be DCS: F-15C Advanced.

 

They could do it with Su-25T, why not the rest? How does it differ to cut it from the FC package?

 

It would be win win for everybody! ED would get more revenue over wider time scale and happier customers, more customers would be happy and would get more bang for their money for longer period of time. I can totally understand the beef of Russian aircraft pilots. I'm not one of them but not being exclusively Eagle pilot, I don't see value here.

[HiJack]

They could do it with Su-25T, why not the rest? How does it differ to cut it from the FC package?

I may be wrong on this but as far as I know the Su-25T was not in the original LOMAC that Ubisoft licensed so ED was able to take their model back and release it as a free aircraft in DCS World.

 

(HJ)

[Sov13t]

Updated and improved HUDs and other cockpit systems.

 

As per developers, old cockpits do not support and will not see any "updates or improvements."

 

So no shadows, or HUD reworks etc. for anything other than the new cockpit model :(

[winz]

UBI most likely holds the rights to the original airplanes as well, so they would have to redone each and every one of them, the same way they redone Su25/Su25T for FC2.0. And that is not worth the effort (afaik it takes around a year to rework one airplane).

[Griffin]

One of them was already reworked and it took one year, the F-15 (that's what it takes for the 3D cockpit anyway). AFM is not a must so the SFM would suffice for the new Basic addons. They would get more money for longer time period so what's not worth it? They were already at it with FC3 and will propably get enough revenue to make it worthwile. Why not continue?

[GGTharos]

Ubi holds the rights to the LOMAC stable of aircraft. I don't see (but I could be wrong) why ED couldn't make individual DCS modules for some of them.

[Griffin]

Ok, to me it just doesn't make sense to leave it like it is. It feels short sighted, unfair and waste of potential to leave it here just for the F-15. I'm sure if they would make paid upgrades (10-15 $) for each aircraft, they would definately make more money for sure.

 

It would bring a major problem for newcomers though. First buy LOMAC, then FC3, then all the planes and get broke. It should have been done from the beginning unless a workaround and a completely renewed marketing solution would be introduced.

 

In Finland people would call this approach "climbing up a tree ass first".

[USAFMTL]

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

[simis]

f-15

 

this is just an observation, im looking at these screens for the f-15 and it looks great. im just curious, are they ever going to fix the intakes for the f-15?

[water4fuel]

There are several versions of Lock On - Modern Air Combat; mine is from LO-MAC.com (never could get it to work). Then there is LOCK-ON Gold, and then finally Ubisoft's version.

 

Question - what specific version (s) is required by FC3 to play it in the DCS World environment ?

 

side note: when I install the LO-MAC version, it creates the directories :

 

Ubisoft\Eagle Dynamics\Lock On

any assistance would much be appeciated. I have installed all appropriate patches. Thanks !!

[joey45]

any version..

 

At a guess FC3 will install into DCS: World.

 

then get rid of Lock On.

[HiJack]

PPL please understand this. For already hooked simmers FC3 is a quick fix for fast movers in DCS World. It will make new players of the free and multiplayer capable Su-25T in DCS World want to move on to new aircrafts and FC3 is a great second choice. This again will make some of them wanting a DCS cockpit version of one or several aircrafts. It’s a great business deal. What ED should focus on is maintaining compatibility with DSC World for FC3 as a module and develop new 3D cockpit of other aircrafts but that takes years! So again if you are a sure buyer of the upcoming «DCS: Su-27» :music_whistling:, look at FC3 as a quick fix that gives hours upon hours of fun while waiting for the «DCS: Su-27» release :music_whistling:.

 

(HJ)

[Witchking]

There are several versions of Lock On - Modern Air Combat; mine is from LO-MAC.com (never could get it to work). Then there is LOCK-ON Gold, and then finally Ubisoft's version.

 

Question - what specific version (s) is required by FC3 to play it in the DCS World environment ?

 

side note: when I install the LO-MAC version, it creates the directories :

 

Ubisoft\Eagle Dynamics\Lock On

any assistance would much be appeciated. I have installed all appropriate patches. Thanks !!

 

Lock on is the original game released in 2003 by ubisoft. LO-mac.com was ubi website which is now gone. That should be enough. You dont even need to do anything with it. Its just a legal obligation to have that installed. Once it is...

 

Just install DCS world.

 

And when FC3 is released, buy it and install it. It will only check if lock on is found on the system and will install in DCS world directory.

 

You can now even go and delete the original lock on directory. (Do not uninstall...let the system registry think it is still installed). But I would back up the directory on a DVD or something...just in case if an update comes out and you need to reinstall DCS world...u need to reinstall FC3 and then it will again check for Lock on.