So what's everyone's take on the future of DCS?

[Pajeezy]

I'm sure graphical updates will continue to come in as visual technology gets better and the like, but I mainly speak of the aircraft selection within the world. Do you think it will continue to grow and grow to a plethora of different aircraft to learn and fly? So far what has come out seems pretty random. I understand the Russian influence, but for instance, the Mi-8? Why not the Hind instead? Also, will they do aircraft from other nations besides Russia and US?

 

I don't really see a definitive trend so far, aside from the fact that they don't do anything with more than one person in the cockpit, which makes sense. What's everyone's take? How do you think DCS will be in a few years and what do you hope/think to see?

[Rangi]

but for instance, the Mi-8? Why not the Hind instead?

 

Because they had a contract to build similar simulator for commercial customer so it was quicker to make it for us. If the first few 3rd party modules get good support from customers and ED I think that we will get more and more coming our way. As for non US/Russian aircraft I think its just a matter of popularity and potential sales base.

 

P s I think this is more chit-chat than directly related to DCS World.

[mmaruda]

Currently I find DCS World one big disappointment. The bugs that each new update introduces, serious performance issues, lack of stable multiplayer - these are the primary concerns as well as lack of proper communication about them from the devs. Everything just seems work in progress and quite a long time away. I have this painful impression that by the time we see EDGE/Nevada, the graphics will be outdated on arrival.

 

I say all this with a heavy heart, and someone who actually notices my recent posts might get the impression all I do is rant, but around the time the Mustang got released I was bursting with hope and enthusiasms. DCS used to be my favorite sim and I have been a fan of ED since Flanker 2.0. Unfortunately I cannot help to think the currant state of affairs might actually kill DCS in the process. Each new update makes me think "oh great, what have they broken this time" instead of actually being happy about the improvements. With A-10C and Black Shark we had a final product on release date, with World, it's a constantly evolving beta on an ancient-tech engine and each new module causes a bigger mess (Mi-8 external mode significantly kills FPS for example).

 

There are serious issues in communicating with customers, advertising ED products and supporting 3rd party developers that decided to go with DCS World.

 

The main problem here however are the fanboys. People who each and every day give ED the impression that no matter the state of the sim, they will always have a loyal bunch of followers who will gladly spend their money on anything ED pushes out. I'd probably be more optimistic about the future of DCS World if it was at the same playable state as the standalone modules that have been released. I seriously doubt that EDGE is around the corner and I seriously doubt it will improve anything except the graphics (it will probably look slightly better and run the same, which means slow). As for the other aircraft... Dream on. I remember when Combined Arms was released people started hyping that now DCS can start thinking about competing with Arma or even become an FPS, or have submarines in it. I doubt any of those people played Combined Arms, since it's actually a complete failure as far as any sort of entertainment goes and all it does is reveal how ugly the ground in DCS is close up. Worst $20 I spent on a sim-thing.

 

New aircraft? Right, here is the sad an brutal reality. Don't count on anything soon. The Mig-21 will probably arrive in 2014, but it's not really ED who is making it. ED hasn't really announced the next jet yet (still people believe it's the Hornet). Anyone thinking that Luthier will deliver their WWII thing withing the next 3 years is overly optimistic IMHO. As for the planes from 3rd parties... not soon either. Seems it's easier and cheaper for them to ship those for FSX, apparently they lack tools and knowledge how to make stuff specifically for DCS.

 

So why the Mi-8 and not the Hind? Because it was already done as a professional sim and ED felt they could make some money if they release it as a commercial product. My guess is that there is a non-commercial version of the Mi-24 somewhere out there too.

 

How will DCS look in a few years? Exactly the same, we will be waiting for patches, maps and planes, speculating and dealing with bugs and performance issue. Unless of course someone decides to jump into the market, raise proper funds and release a competitive product, in which case DCS will be dead.

 

Maybe I sound mean, but it's more of a sad picture for me. Flanker got me into modern jet sims. Lock On and Flaming Cliffs made me fall in love with something so ugly as the Su-25. Black Shark introduced me to study sims and actually shown me it is possible to learn to fly something with a thick manual and a ton of procedures not to mention it made me fall in love with helos. The A-10C was the most detailed sim I ave flown to date and I still have a lot to learn in it. ED's products have been there through my whole simming career and always at the top spots. Now I somehow cannot see DCS going forward, it's taking one step forward and two steps backwards. Not to mention the stuff that used to work in previous versions of the software I have already paid for, now has issues and with each new update the performance is lower. So I guess I cannot be very optimistic about something that I paid for, used to enjoy and now I cannot. And hearing advice like "get an SSD" gets me boiling with rage.

[Sel94]

I think right now we're in a bit of a lull, waiting for all the third parties to do their thing, Nevada, and of course ED's next aircraft. There haven't been any big releases recently and I think many of us are getting a bit bored just sitting around with the same stuff we've had for a while. But I'm sure things will come out that will impress us all and we'll all be happy, my guess is it will be the mig, and I'm sure Nevada will be almost done around that time. It's just the cycle of this I think, get new awesome toy then wait a while for the next to come out. With just a little patience I'm sure we'll all soon be flying a new awesome aircraft.

[The_Pharoah]

Good post mmruda...my thoughts exactly. Its 2013 and whilst the a/c are high fidelity, etc...the sim itself is ugly and boring. Sorry guys, just being honest (this is my $100 or so opinion...i have everything but the Mi-8 so I'm entitled to one). We have the same map and most servers you find are training maps. Whats the point of having a huey with limited firepower that can't be used if there's any hint of AA threat.

 

I can live with the lack of a/c for a while (understand it takes a while) but lack of a map??? I've just about given up on this sim. I love it to bits but there's nothing new.

 

Sadly the future will be just like now...but with possibly 1 additional map (Nevada) and 1 or 2 a/c.....and 100 empty promises.

[rcjonessnp175]

Love the game but dear lord so many problems. They should of scrapped this engine and the edge engine also and go for something much more modern and efficient ie UNIENGINE.

 

 

Biggest thing they need to fix is use of all cores of processor and utilize the full potential of modern day graphic cards, ie sli and 3d.

[will-]

if i have told you to get a SSD to fix any errors, i'm sorry. But all of what you have said is a rant to me.

 

Fact is DCS is the top sim, getting a SSD only seems to put a band-aid on some things. EDGE will be outdated (when released no matter the date). I'll presume its when the WWII (stuff i do not want, but will help fund ED) is when EDGE will be released.

 

If i have said to get a SSD, when to help band-aid a user that is experenicing issue's i had before switching to a SSD drive myself; i will recommend they get one. Until EDGE is released and all these bugs we are facing now; well EDGE will be my deciding factor on if it was worth it. But to be honest, whats better at the moment? Now all of that is kind of implied when telling someone to get a SSD. So either deal w/ it or help. You've even said it yourself, 'when edge is released-' so im guessing your going to decided for yourself at that time as well?

 

I refuse to play FSX, i do have it. I don't know of any better sims?

[msalama]

DCS World is simply amazingly good in my opinion.

 

Hands down the best sim there is, but that doesn't lessen its problems in any way. The whole of v1.2.6 f.ex. has been pretty stuttery to me, whereas previous versions by and large all ran pretty well. Not good :(

[badger66]

While im not over excited about all these bugs , I do think DCSW offers the most In depth flight sim out there .

 

I would be happier to see all these bugs getting sorted out before the introduction of any more new aircraft . Whats the point of building new aircraft to put into a world that doesn't work right ? This is a real pisser I feel .

 

But , Im sticking with DCSW ..... I have faith ..... and its still fun .

[badger66]

Love the game but dear lord so many problems. They should of scrapped this engine and the edge engine also and go for something much more modern and efficient ie UNIENGINE.

 

 

Hey , I was brought up living beside the sea ..... and I ain't ever seen the sea look like that ..... I could use some of that effect in a couple week's time for wrapping up my Christmas present's !!

[=Thrust=]

Currently I find DCS World one big disappointment. .....

 

 

Very good post mmruda

[eFirehawk]

Honestly I completely agree that DCSW has many stability issues, looks old and has many inadequacies for today's standards, but you guys gotta remember that they are a very small company, and making detailed flight dynamics and all of the extensive ( not very pretty, but extensive ) content in DCS working together flawlessly is a very difficult and long work, especially when you have a small team. And another thing is, flight simulations is a niche market, even FSX was given up, so I don't think it's very easy to make tons of money to have a bigger team and afford assets that other companies can, selling arcade 'fun' stuff for larger markets. The last products that they released were the helicopers from BST, which I'm not sure if they generated as much profit as the A-10C for example, which was released a long while ago. Ya know, the helicopters went on sale shortly after they were released. And I really do believe that they are working as hard as they can because they NEED money to keep the company running. having that in mind, I really like what ED pulled out.

 

What my view of the future of DCS is: a very good future which will bring us things what NO ONE ELSE will, but with very slow progress and everything technically-wise will always feel outdated.

 

As for third parties, we do already have very good teams making good progress and showing their commitment to their work, such as Beczl and VEAO, and this is great! I have a very good feeling about their work, with delays or not, communication is good. We do have others that I, quite frankly don't have hopes at all unfortunately, such as CTD, very poor communication and I can count the number of decent updates on one hand, and Razbam, showing four or five planes in development for DCS, eye candy included but not showing progress in any except one, and the one that gets updated once in a very long while still remains very unclear due to, again, very poor communication, no news given, even with a bunch of people asking after a while since old updates from long ago. Mil-Sim and IRIS already figured out the situation and went away, and my feeling is that the same will happen to them. Hopefully I am wrong though. I'm just saying what I feel. Apart from that I believe that once a few high-quality modules from the third parties who are committed are released and DCS becomes a little more popular, drawing more people into it we might see more and more from third parties, especially the ones that released modules and made some profit. ( slow development of course, hey, this is part of it, that stuff just can't be done fast )

 

What I'm doing is enjoying what I can, such as the A-10C. I really see the quality of their work on the A-10C, it really is a very fine sim! Will I be playing it for a while and having counted the number of rivets on the fuselage after flying years and years in an old, ugly and bugged map? Yes, and DCS does feel incomplete, but can anyone else offer me anything better? No.

 

EDIT: As for ED's poor communication, I get the feeling THEY don't even know the road themselves, and we see that in the delay of EDGE's integration into DCS for example. I don't think even they know what's gonna happen in the short them. And in the long term? To know that, all of us including ED need a crystal ball O_o

Edited December 3, 2013 by eFirehawk

[VanjaB]

I for one have stopped playing due to the numerous bugs and the general incompleteness of nearly every module there is.

 

Huey - The campaign bugs are killing me here, no date on when or if they will be fixed.

Mi-8 - Very little activity on this front from Belsimtek

Mustang - Very bland campaign, not really much to do atm with this plane except duel in multiplayer and some aerobatics flying.

A10C - The most complete product, its the only product that I can recommend 100%. If you got the will and stamina to learn all the ins and outs of the plane its very rewarding.

 

I cant comment on the other modules as I dont own them, Im currently waiting for the F15C FC3 module and AFM.

 

In general if you like flight sims DCS is definitely as good as it gets, its also very sad that its the best there is because it could really be so much better.

 

With EDGE incoming who knows whats next, but Im kind of losing hope at the moment because I cant play my favorite modules due to the numerous bugs that completely ruin the game experience for me.

[BIGNEWY]

DCS is my favourite sim.

 

It is going through a lot of changes and bugs are to be expected. It takes time to achieve great things and it will be worth the wait.

 

EDGE is the biggest thing for me, and we know it is on its way, dx11 support will do wonders for DCS.

 

If you do not have the Patience to wait for the sim to develop into a new era, go off and play something else and then return when its ready. Its that simple.

Edited December 3, 2013 by BIGNEWY

[Echo38]

My take on the future of DCS? I feel that the flight sim community is impossibly lucky to have this simulator--regardless of present and future bugs--and that we need only have patience as it gets even better. It's going to be slow going, because--as eFirehawk pointed out--hardcore flight sims are a tiny market and also amongst the most difficult and costly types of software to develop. But I've seen ED make a miracle; five years ago, I believed that a flight sim of this caliber was impossible in this world, that I would never see something of a higher fidelity than the sad old sim-games where you hit the "I" key to turn on your engine, where there was no such thing as moments of inertia and adverse yaw. I never thought I'd see a PC flightsim with fluid physics and accurate systems management. Fluid physics! Magic, can't be done on a PC. And yet here we are.

 

Nothing's perfect. I'd love for that to be possible, but it's entirely unreasonable to expect perfection from anything in the universe. ED does occasionally make some judgments which disappoint me (e.g. spending resources developing medium-fidelity modules instead of polishing the P-51D module), but I understand that their resources are very limited and that pretty much everyone in the community has a different idea of what should be top priority. Regardless, I have a great deal of faith in ED and their ability & willingness (as demonstrated by past and present work) to further improve this sim, making the greatest flightsim ever made--better. DCS is a work of love, not merely a business product. Never stop flying, guys.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Echo38

[VapoR]

I don't understand how ED is making money. The last new product they put out was way back when with the P-51. I realize there has been smaller rereleases like FC3 and the individual Su-25 and A-10A modules.

 

Everything seems to be hinging on the success of EDGE. Stuff like a dedicated server, dynamic campaign, and new maps are all in the waiting for this. Also seems the 3rd parties are watching and waiting before they go all in.

[Echo38]

I don't understand how ED is making money. The last new product they put out was way back when with the P-51. I realize there has been smaller rereleases like FC3

 

As I understand it, FC3 was a bigger release than P-51D, commercially speaking. More people are interested in medium-fidelity stuff like FC3 than in the high-fidelity modules, unfortunately. As was stated before, hardcore flight sims are a tiny niche market. Niche-within-niche-within-niche, actually. Realistic flight sims < flight sims < flying games < general gaming

[Cobra847]

I giggle a little at the ignorance projected when people make remarks such as "EDGE will be outdated when it is released". It is especially compounded by a lack of knowledge of graphical engines and software development in general.

 

Yeah! Just switch to Unigine! (as soon as you raise the massive amounts of money it costs, btw) It should take something like a week to rewrite everything from model formats to the core physics engine driving the aircraft to fall in line with the new engine, right!?

 

Have faith and patience. Both in third parties and ED. I see nothing but a bright future ahead.

[Echo38]

I giggle a little at the ignorance projected when people make remarks such as "EDGE will be outdated when it is released".

 

Well, he does have a point; the sim itself is amazing, but the game engine is ... well, the engine is in rather desperate need of a complete rewrite. Unfortunately, for aforementioned reasons, that doesn't seem to be possible in the forseeable future. I hope EDGE runs better (performance & stability) than the current build, but--I suspect it might not be nearly as large of a leap as we would like, in those terms. It looks gorgeous, sure, but I'm content with even the graphics of the current engine, and am more concerned with performance. Still, recall, I have much faith in ED's dedication & ingenuity.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Echo38

[winchesterdelta1]

Isn't the DCS F-18C that will be comming out a Hardcore fast mover? Or am i messing up classifications here?

 

My take on DCs is that it is a awesome SIMM. And i enjoy it daily.. (when the 51st server is up). But the MP stability and MP GUI should be improved way more in my opinion. Would be nice to be able to filter on servers/ping/player count and make a favorites list. Or even see who is playing in the server right now. Also a automatic restart function/option if the server drops.

If that is fixed and a multirole plane like the F-16 or any russian counterpart comes out i will be forever sold to this game.

 

Oww and don't forget a Dynamic Campaign that can be played with and against eachother. But i can wait another 3/4 years for that :)

[Rhinox]

Currently I find DCS World one big disappointment...

I see it the same. All those bugs and instability issues are killing this sim (and its community). What is accurate flight model or clickable 3d-cockpit good for, if sim crashes every now and again? I remember those "FC2-days", when we had events with 50+ players, taking 3+ hours. You can only dream of it today. Well, that's progress, you can't fight it...

[Kid18120]

I have faith about DCS future.

It will only get better and with more content. Slowly but everything will come :)

[theHUNTERS]

Spectrum HoloByte, Microprose, DID, and Janes all had dreams of getting to the point of where DCS World is today. All of these companies made a great product and had its share of problems too. You can't do a sim at this level and not expect problems no matter how much money you throw at it. I too would like quicker resolution on existing bug and not every time there is a update it breaks currently working parts(refueling) and they stay broken for awhile. This is a work in progress and it shows promise. You have a choice. If DCS is not your thing then walk away. This isn't the first time you spent money on something that didn't meet your expectations.

[HiJack]

I don't understand how ED is making money.

DCS World and this simulation community is a sidenote in their budget I belive.

[Rhinox]

DCS World and this simulation community is a sidenote in their budget I belive.

Unfortunately, that explains everything...

:-(