DCS News Update

[phant]

 

 

Bye

Phant

[phant]

 

A letter from Eagle Dynamics - 28 November 2017

 

Dear valued DCS World customers,

 

Over the past several months, we have read your concerns and frustrations regarding aspects of the growth of DCS World. In particular, the length of time that it has taken to create the unified DCS World version (DCS World 2.5) and our DCS World War II developments. We’d like to talk to you about both of these to help foster a clear picture of where we were, where we are now, and where we plan to be.

 

First of all, thank you all for your support and being with us for the past 27 years and sharing our vision of what we believe the flight simulation genre can ultimately achieve. From the very beginning, when Eagle Dynamics was established in 1991, our main priority was the creation of highly realistic flight simulations. At that time, there were just seven of us when we released our first project: Su-27 Flanker 1.0 in 1995. Over the past 27(!) years, we’ve come a long way from a simple computer game, to a professional-level combat environment simulator. Today, we have about 80 internal programmers, artists, managers, testers and producers. Additionally, we have 18 partners and 3rd party developers that are participating in our internal projects, as well as developing their own modules for DCS World. During our entire history, we have remained loyal to our initial dream of making the most realistic combat aviation simulations. Starting from one simple, Standard Flight Model (SFM) Su-27, we took our next step in 2003 with seven aircraft for Lock On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). Following LOMAC, we created our first Advance Flight Model (AFM) for the Su-25T in 2005. Next came our first Professional Flight Model (PFM) for the Ka-50 Black Shark and the A-10C Warthog in 2008 and 2009. For an aircraft like the A-10C, it usually takes about three years of hard work to develop a PFM.

 

In parallel to development of the software for these aircraft, getting the required permissions/license agreements (aircraft manufactures and government) can often be a big obstacle and time-consuming process. For both the Ka-50 Black Shark and A-10C Warthog, we spent two years of great effort to get such permissions! More recently, and with great difficulties, we finally signed the necessary agreements to allow the sale of our upcoming DCS: F/A-18C Hornet. The team has been working very hard on this project and we are at the point now where we are talking much more about it with regular updates. After a long period of developing needed technologies (flight model and radar), research, design (data on late-LOT F/A-18C), and legal matters, we are nearing the point in which we will be able to provide the Early Access version of the Hornet. Right behind the Hornet, we have other modern, combat fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft ready for development within the Eagle Dynamics internal studio. Our talented 3rd parties are also working hard on other great aircraft like the AV-8B Night Attack S/VTOL, F-14 Tomcat, FC-17, F-4E Phantom II, Mi-24P Hind, Bo-105, and others. Naturally, all 3rd party projects are only made possible with very active, hands-on, technical support and creation of APIs from Eagle Dynamics. So, please be assured that we have not given up our initial dream! Modern, combat aviation is alive and well in DCS World and will continue to be. This is our bread and butter.

 

One of the biggest factors in creating a great flight simulation is the graphics engine. This is also probably the most technically complicated. During our 27 years history, we have internally developed five generations of graphics engines. This is a massive effort for such a small company, whereas many other companies use “off the shelf” graphic engine solutions. We have evaluated other engines (MSFS, OSG, etc.), but we always returned to our own internal solutions because only they provided the capability and quality we demand for a modern, combat aviation simulation. The biggest needs has been the ability to render an environment that looks and performs great from 1 meter to 50,000 meters. This is where we believe our graphics engine is quite unique and powerful.

 

Graphics cards are developing so rapidly that many companies are not capable of keeping their technology current with new hardware. After eight years of intense work, we recently developed a very stable version of our graphics engine that is based on DX11, Deferred Shading technology, and Physical Based Rendering (PBR). We are also developing our engine to take advantage of the Vulcan API to further improve game performance. Having a great looking game is moot if it does not perform well. It’s important to understand that a graphics engine is not only a Scene Renderer, but the terrain creation tool technology is equally important. This is the main reason why we could not merge DCS 1.5 Caucasus and 2.1 Terrains for such a long and regretful time. To do this, we first need to convert all the terrains, missions, training, and campaigns that were developed over many years for Caucasus map to an absolutely new terrain data structure and adjust all applied programs. We’ve put a massive amount of work into this effort and it is almost complete. We plan to release DCS World 2.5 in the coming weeks!

 

Now, let’s talk a little about DCS World War II and why it does not delay our modern day combat aircraft and why it’s a valuable aspect of DCS World for us and you.

 

• The Fighter Collection (TFC), Eagle Dynamic’s principle partner, has one of the largest,

private collections of World War II aircraft. TFC has been requesting World War II aircraft for a long time, so we cannot ignore our partner. We and TFC agree that WWII combat aviation is a very interesting flight simulation genre, especially for customers that enjoy history and massive dogfights. TFC has supported this direction from the very beginning.

 

• World War II aircraft attract new customers that may have not otherwise been familiar with DCS World. Many DCS World War II pilots move to our jet aircraft that are within the integral DCS World. So, our World War II aircraft provide a good advertising environment for the DCS World concept as a whole.

 

• Many of our new programmers and artists are responsible DCS World War II. They are separate from our main project (like the F/A-18C) developers, and they are not involved with the modern aircraft development efforts. Otherwise, it would not be practical/efficient to develop aircraft like the F/A-18C with staff split between projects. Also, DCS World War II is a great “school” for new programmers before they take on extremely complicated Modern Air Combat projects.

 

• We could deliver modern, complicated aircraft faster than we and our 3rd parties are already doing, but growing a business needs more and more revenue to grow the team and make better products. We were very surprised to find that the investment vs. generated revenue has been excellent for the World War II aircraft. In fact, the P-51D Mustang has twice the cost effectiveness of the A-10C Warthog.

 

As you can see, DCS’s World War II series doesn’t compete with modern aircraft projects for development resources. In fact, it supports it! The same is true with the L-39 and Yak-52 projects. These two projects were also sought by government institutions, but we were also able to negotiate their release to you.

 

We very much hope this all makes sense for you and sheds some light on these matters.

We are reaching an important milestone of DCS World with the release of DCS World 2.5. This combined with an exciting list of new aircraft, new maps, and great new mission content, is furthering our dream from 1991. Thank you for being part of the journey with us!

 

Sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics Development Team

 

 

Bye

Phant

[Lornix]

"We plan to release DCS World 2.5 in the coming weeks!"

 

ma che bella notizia! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

[clafly]

Ottimo

[Viper79]

Tutte belle parole, che dovrebbero rassicurare i clienti più difficili. Speriamo che le settimane siano davvero poche, ormai non spero più entro l'anno ma almeno entro febbraio prossimo di avere il nuovo Caucaso

[VBS_Nero]

Vogliamo esser fiduciosi?eheheheheeh

Secondo me c'e' la fanno.....

[.Tigre.]

Tutte belle parole, che dovrebbero rassicurare i clienti più difficili. Speriamo che le settimane siano davvero poche, ormai non spero più entro l'anno ma almeno entro febbraio prossimo di avere il nuovo Caucaso

 

 

Visto che di diritto (:D) mi annovero in quella categoria di clienti in effetti Wags ha detto cose molto interessanti anche per quanto riguarda la WW2.

 

 

Mi auguro che alle parole seguano anche i fatti, a tal proposito riconosco che postare questa lettera è stato un fare senza dubbio pregevole, peraltro dire le cose come stanno senza tanti giri di parole non deve essere stato nemmeno facile, e per questo voglio pensare positivo dicendo che anche secondo me il caucaso 2.5 e relativa versione unica esce prima della fine dell' anno.

 

 

:thumbup:

[Viper79]

Infatti pensavo proprio a te e conroy, e come dici spero che alle belle parole seguano anche i fatti. Almeno adesso sappiamo che alla ED lavorano un centinaio di persone e le varie sezioni sono a se stanti senza interferenze fra i vari lavori che stanno effettuando...

Resta cmq chiaro che la ED è simulazione moderna, e che il WW2, oltre che essere un reparto a se, fa da trampolino per la sezione moderna.

[TBear]

Visto che di diritto (:D) mi annovero in quella categoria di clienti in effetti Wags ha detto cose molto interessanti anche per quanto riguarda la WW2.

 

 

Mi auguro che alle parole seguano anche i fatti, a tal proposito riconosco che postare questa lettera è stato un fare senza dubbio pregevole, peraltro dire le cose come stanno senza tanti giri di parole non deve essere stato nemmeno facile, e per questo voglio pensare positivo dicendo che anche secondo me il caucaso 2.5 e relativa versione unica esce prima della fine dell' anno.

 

 

:thumbup:

 

Confessa Falco! A te questa lettera l' hanno inviata per raccomandata con ricevuta di ritorno ! :megalol:

[VBS_Nero]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! :megalol:

[.Tigre.]

Confessa Falco! A te questa lettera l' hanno inviata per raccomandata con ricevuta di ritorno ! :megalol:

 

 

Ah ah.... devo riconoscertelo, questa è davvero bella, complimenti :D:lol:

 

 

:thumbup:

[Riverseeker]

gogo 2.5!

 

Prevedo natale in pieno assetto nerd (si spera!)

[phant]

 

DCS 1.5.8.12162 Open Beta

 

 

Bye

Phant

[.Tigre.]

A momenti è più la roba che hanno messo/fixato per stò cavolo di NS-430 , che peraltro per il momento compare solo sul Mi-8, che per il resto...mah..

 

 

:thumbup:

[Viper79]

Non mi ricordo, in genere quanto passa dalla open beta alla stable della 1.5? Vorrei provare le modifiche allo Huey..

[PorcoRosso86]

Non mi ricordo, in genere quanto passa dalla open beta alla stable della 1.5? Vorrei provare le modifiche allo Huey..

 

Non ricordo, col viggen forse era passato dai 3 ai 4 mesi circa

[Viper79]

Addirittura mesi, mi sembrava 1-2 settimane di solito, se nn ricordo male...

[.Tigre.]

Cambia il sistema di protezione, probabilmente verrà esteso anche agli altri moduli:

 

 

 

IMPORTANT: AV-8B COPY PROTECTION CHANGE!

 

Dear all,

 

With the release of the AV-8B today, it is import to know that this will be the first DCS World product that uses our new protection system. Rather than use StarForce keys, we are moving to a “keyless” system which binds your purchase to your www.dcs-world.com username, and NOT a key.

 

We strongly believe that this will make protection of your DCS World products much more simple.

 

Thanks,

The Eagle Dynamics Team

 

 

:thumbup:

[Viper79]

Ecco perchè l'av-8 tra i requisiti vuole la 1.5.8

 

Spero non si creino casini con le attivazioni dei moduli...

[TBear]

Cambia il sistema di protezione, probabilmente verrà esteso anche agli altri moduli:

 

 

 

 

 

 

:thumbup:

 

Infatti mi ha appena chiesto la scansione dell' iride :lol:

 

Scherzo..sto scaricando da 40 min e sono solo al 25% ....:cry::cry:

Edited November 29, 2017 by TBear

[.Tigre.]

Ecco perchè l'av-8 tra i requisiti vuole la 1.5.8

 

Spero non si creino casini con le attivazioni dei moduli...

 

 

Si infatti, gli altri sono attivati con il vecchio sistema e questo con il nuovo, c'è da augurarsi che la convivenza dei due sistemi non provochi appunto casini come dici giustamente , vediamo....

 

 

:thumbup:

[Viper79]

Bhè suppongo che visto che abbandonano starforce switcheranno tutto al nuovo metodo, magari voi che avete l'av-8 diteci come è cambiata l'interfaccia e come vi registra i vecchi moduli...

[PorcoRosso86]

Addirittura mesi, mi sembrava 1-2 settimane di solito, se nn ricordo male...

 

Dici? Mi sembrava fosse di piú, sará stata un impressione per l'attesa! Meglio cosí allora

[phant]

 

Dici? Mi sembrava fosse di piú, sará stata un impressione per l'attesa! Meglio cosí allora

 

Credo che Viper79 si riferisse alla versione stabile di DCS WORLD (di solito 1/2 settimane), non alla versione stabile del modulo.

 

 

Bye

Phant

[Viper79]

Credo che Viper79 si riferisse alla versione stabile di DCS WORLD (di solito 1/2 settimane), non alla versione stabile del modulo.

 

 

Bye

Phant

 

Esattamente :thumbup: