A-10C via Steam?

[IJammer]

Hi guy's, new here, so please forgive me if I am asking any noob questions.

 

I have a pretty useful PC that I play a few other sims on... mainly car racing and submarine sims; as I have not dabbled with flight sims for a while I thought I might give this DCS A-10C Warthog a go as it looks awesome in the YouTube replays I have seen.

 

It is available via Steam and was wondering before I purchase it that way if there are any issues with Steam and the DCS A-10C ? Generally I don't have any problem with Steam and like the auto update features they offer.

 

Anyhow, if there are any horror stories... best to find out now before I part with the readies :) Thanks for any advice...

DaveH-UK (IJammer)

[NAPA15]

The only thing I might give a heads-up concerning Steam and DCS A-10C at the moment is that it appears they have run out of keys for the game. I was reading in the forums a few minutes ago a good number of posts where people where complaining about purchasing the game but then getting notifications that Steam was out of keys. I do not know 100% certain if that is the case though, but would do some checking before making the purchase through Steam.

 

I bought the game through Steam before Christmas and had no issues. I had install or key issues at all. I then learned about DCS World after the fact and uninstalled my "Steam" version and manually downloaded DCS World and the DCS A-10C 1.2.2 files from the http://www.digitalcambatsimulator.com website, and did a re-install myself. This way everything was there under the DCS World umbrella. The good thing about that was the re-install automatically recognized my key from my Steam install the first time, so I didn't even need to go and find it to input it again. Hope this info helps some... from another Rookie.

[Hansolo]

Hi,

 

I originally bought my DCS a-10C via Steam about 1.5 years ago (therefore not World). I did run into some issues that the updates were available very late via Steam. There was suppose to be a workaround but couldn't get that to work.

 

Eventually I uninstalled the Steam version and installed the straight DCS version. The license keys were the same and I have been running non-Steam ever since. Not sure whether updates via Steam are faster now with A-10C on the world platform.

 

Hope you will enjoy the game as much as I do.

 

Cheers

 

Hans

[cichlidfan]

Not sure whether updates via Steam are faster now with A-10C on the world platform.

 

 

FYI, there are no Steam updates for DCS A-10 with DCS World. You will need to get current versions from the ED website noted above.

[hamodi99]

u can buy it from steam, but DON'T play it on steam. Beside CD keys issues stuff, steam only support 32-bit not. Also, the game needs a lot f resources and u need a pretty much monster system to run t smoothly.

[IJammer]

Thanks for the reply guy's. I have stumbled across a couple of orher threads on here and they seem to concur with what you are saying. I think I will take your advice and deal direct with DCS World... I am not sure if 'DCS World' is a seperate piece of software from DCS as one of you mentions installing DCS World seperate from the A-10C software? Perhaps it is a larger 'virtual world' to operate the A-10C in?

 

Anyhow, thanks again for the advice... I will visit the DCS web site later a commence a download. Looks like I may have just missed out on some special offers Steam & DCS were offering; ok, to bad, but this software looks worth every dollar that the vendor is asking.

 

Yup hamodi, I was wondering if my PC would be up to the task... it is a quad core 3.2Mhz running Vista 64bit OS with 8Gb ram and pretty high stepping ATI GFX (although that ony has 1Gb ram onboard), a couple of years old now. Anyhow, I think I exceed the recommended specs. If not... time to upgrade (again):) Damb, I just built a new PC for my grandson and that's better than mine now!

 

Ok, perhaps see you all on line... "Watch your six!" :)

DaveH-UK (IJammer)

[Yurgon]

I am not sure if 'DCS World' is a seperate piece of software from DCS as one of you mentions installing DCS World seperate from the A-10C software? Perhaps it is a larger 'virtual world' to operate the A-10C in?

 

A-10C 1.1.1.1 was the last standalone release. All newer versions require DCS World as "The operating system for the DCS environment". DCS World is a free download (okay, so is A-10C. More importantly, DCS World doesn't require any keys to be activated, it's completely free of charge) and it includes a flyable Su-25T with Advanced Flight Model.

 

A-10C 1.2.2 is just a so called "Module" for DCS World. That's also why the module weighs in at ca. 330MB instead of over 2GB for the standalone installer.

 

Cool thing about DCS World (including all the modules): It contains an auto-updater so that it'll patch itself to the latest version if you allow it. With previous versions, updates had to be fully downloaded and installed separately.

 

Anyhow, I think I exceed the recommended specs. If not... time to upgrade (again):) Damb, I just built a new PC for my grandson and that's better than mine now!

 

It'll probably run, but frame rates won't be great I guess. AFAIK the recommended specs weren't updated in a while, so they still refer to older versions that ran a bit smoother.

 

But hey, you can't allow your grandson to dominate the family's computing index anyways, can you? :D

[Sven2157]

Buy it on Steam JUST to get a key; DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT FROM STEAM!

 

Then download DCS World and install it. Then download the A-10 Module and install it. When you launch DCS World, it will ask you to activate your A-10 module. Open Steam and go to your Library. Left Click DCS A-10 in your Steam Library and on the right side you will "Links". Click on "CD Key" and a window will pop-up. Click the button to "copy to clipboard", paste it into the DCS World Activation window, and Enjoy a truly great Simulator!

 

As mentioned, Steam may still be out of keys, so be aware of that...

 

Hope that helps! ;-)

=170= Sven2157

[IJammer]

Ok, I undestand how this works now... DCS is the virtual world envioroment that the modules run in, including the A-10C and other aircraft (modules). One aircraft (module) is included with the free DCS World to get you going. Neat concept... I like it. :) Anyhow, I have started downloading the 'World' files now as I speak... I have a slow internet connection as I am in a fringe area (i.e. a major city in the UK), so this will take some time.

 

I will deal direct with the horses mouth so to speak and forgo Steam this time... I have heard that updates for software obtained via Steam can be delayed until they can fit them into there schedule.

 

Thanks again for all the help on this... I will now trawl through the forum 'stickys' as there seems to be a monumental amount of information on this sim.

Regards, DaveH-UK (IJammer)

[Sven2157]

Ok, I undestand how this works now... DCS is the virtual world envioroment that the modules run in, including the A-10C and other aircraft (modules). One aircraft (module) is included with the free DCS World to get you going. Neat concept... I like it. :) Anyhow, I have started downloading the 'World' files now as I speak... I have a slow internet connection as I am in a fringe area (i.e. a major city in the UK), so this will take some time.

 

I will deal direct with the horses mouth so to speak and forgo Steam this time... I have heard that updates for software obtained via Steam can be delayed until they can fit them into there schedule.

 

Thanks again for all the help on this... I will now trawl through the forum 'stickys' as there seems to be a monumental amount of information on this sim.

Regards, DaveH-UK (IJammer)

 

Steam only sells DCS A-10C, which is now defunct, as it was last patched to v1.1.1.1. To update to the latest version - v1.2.2 - you MUST have DCS World( ~5.13GB ) and the A-10 Module( ~331MB ). This then unlocks the FULL flyable A-10.

 

DCS World contains all the other programs. This way they can all play in the same Multi-player environment. It you decide to purchase Black Shark 2, then you would just need the BS2 module( much smaller file size ) and a product key. This would then unlock the "flyable" full cockpit for you. This is then true for the other modules; Combined Arms, Flaming Cliffs 3, etc, etc.

 

Hope that helps! ;-)

Edited January 9, 2013 by Sven2157