1. DDz Quorum DD_Fenrir Posted January 6, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 Hey all, For those who dabble in DCS, or for those who have heard about it but aren't sure what the big deal is I thought I'd summarise the main goings on and the roadmap for future delights... DCS World 1.5.2 - we are now public release for 1.5 - huzzah! What this means for those who aren't familiar is that DCS has recently had a complete overhaul of the graphics engine; new shaders, optimisations and effects which not only serve to make the game look even better, but also - somewhat counter-intuitively - have boosted frame rates. It's never been so smooth! All of this has been stepping towards the integration of the new map technology, of which more later. For now this is what is available for this game version: Cost: Free! Included aircraft are an Su-25T Frogfoot (fully operational Russian CAS aircraft) and TF-51 Mustang (no armament) and the Black Sea/Causcasus Terrain Map Further Modules are available: Firstly the 'DCS' range which include full systems modelling, avionics, Advanced/Professional Flight Models (AFM/PFM), and fully clickable cockpits: P-51D Mustang Bf109K-4 Kurfurst (Beta) Fw-190D-9 Dora F-86F Sabre (Beta) MiG-15 (Beta) UH-1H Huey Mi-8 Hip (Beta) MiG-21Bis (Beta) L-39 Albatross (Beta) C-101 Aviojet (Beta) Ka-50 BAe Hawk T.Mk.1a (Beta) A-10C Mirage 2000C (Beta) Note: whilst some of these are still in Beta all are usable, enjoyable and well along in the Beta cycle so are generally pretty bug free but still might be missing some features so be warned, the Mirage being the most recent of releases. And secondly the aircraft available in Flaming Cliffs 3 - in essence these are the upgraded and ported across content from Lock On: Modern Air Combat, so whilst some have AFM/PFm some do not and whilst still pretty meaty to get your head around systems wise, are not as full on as the DCS modules as listed above and do not have fully interactive/clickable pits. Note that the A-10A, F-15, Su-25 and Su-27 are available to purchase individually outside of the full FC3 package. A-10A* F-15C* Su-27* Mig-29 Su-33 Su-25* Finally, DCS: Combined Arms allows you to not only commandeer tanks, SAMs, AAA and Hummvees but also act as a Forward Air Controller (in modern lingo a JTAC) and also direct artillery fire! DCS World Open Alpha 2.0 - this is available to run as a parallel install to the public version, in essence a separate game but with all the modules you already own, without the Black Sea/Caucasus Map. Instead will run the NTTR (Nevada Test & Training Range) map. A version of this map was supposed to be included with A-10C when it released many moons ago but various difficulties with technology, logistics and man power put it into hiatus. Now you can fly the environs of Las Vegas the Grand Canyon and the like whilst taking part in Red Flag exercises. Ostensibly this Alpha is a chance for you to help in the bug finding and fixing process whilst enjoying the unique DCS environment of desert and city; after all this map represents the ultimate goal of the new EDGE technology and portents the inclusion of further maps. Of which: Upcoming releases: Spitfire Mk.IX - from what we have seen this lil' beaut is getting pretty close to Beta release and I for one plan to have my grubby little mits on it as soon as it drops. F5 key is already getting a work out! Straits of Hormuz - this area of the Persian Gulf is set to be released this year adding some interesting theatre and mission varieties, with a leaning towards carrier ops (and with a bias towards the F/A-18C, due for future release in particular!). Once NTTR and DCS World 2.0 go public i would expect to see some acceleration on this project. Normandy WW2 - news has been thin regarding this map of late, with little in the way of details or eye candy but we are assured it is still on going and things will pick up once integration of NTTR and DCS World 2.0 is complete. What is for sure that with a host of period ground units to accompany it, this is one of the most eagerly anticipated of releases for the propellor heads.... F-14A/B Tomcat + Map - A personal favourite of mine I can say I was fist pumping when i saw this beauty on the WiP pages at Leatherneck Studios; the fact that it will also apparently come with an appropriate theatre map was a very pleasant bonus! F/A-18C Hornet - ED are making a full DCS button-switching, head-scratching, systems-beeping behemoth for the fast jet boys who also like to drop some heavy iron. No noise on release date yet though... Gazelle BO-105 P-47D P-40F F4U Corsair + Iwo Jima Map AJS-37 Viggen + ? Map Ju-87D/G Stuka Me-262 Spitfire Mk.XIV Harrier Gr.7/9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweper Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Thanks for the update Fen. I will have a deep look in to my concience and see if I have enough scruple to get into another sim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluBear Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Thanks for the update Fen. I will have a deep look in to my concience and see if I have enough scruple to get into another sim. You won't regret it Swep, it takes time but is very rewarding. With the release of 1.5.2 and having some time on my hands over the festive period i'm now even more of a convert. Thanks for the summary Tom, it certainly clears up some of my questions with regards to what is/was in development, not being a regular visitor to their forums etc. I simply cannot wait for Oculus, this game is going to be incredible with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum DD_Fenrir Posted January 6, 2016 Author 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 My pleasure Swep - I got the feeling there's a bit of indifference by some to DCS for various reasons, probably some well founded but thought it was time just to shine a light on the goodies available now and upcoming, and maybe dispel some of the myths, inaccuracies or legends that may surround the sim. Chris is spot on in his review - rewarding is exactly the word I'd use. Bear in mind that it will - for the first few hours at least - beat you up, chew your a** and tear a massive gaping hole in any virtual pilot ego you may have developed over the years. It can be frustrating at first. However, as you adjust and tune in to the physics engine (it's a VERY different beast from Il-2) you start to develop a feeling for the rhythm of things in DCS and whatever aircraft you're in starts to become a friend. It rewards good virtual airmanship - getting something right is truly satisfying and this stems from the fact that the margins for error are not large - it doesn't take a lot of "not quite right" to be "very badly wrong", if that makes any sense! Because of this simply flying the aircraft becomes a rewarding endeavour in itself - let alone fighting, avionics, navigating etc. Try the free DCS World 1.5 download and give the TF-51 a spin and I suspect you'll see what I mean - I'll happily spend some time setting stuff up with you to make the first crash as painless as possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Nice update/review Fen! And not too verbose I must say. I must! ;-) I will say that the game takes a long time to load. It's been that way for me for a long time. But, with my new rig, I have extra memory. And my mb came with some RamCache software. I set it up to create a large cache in memory when I boot up. So, once windows loads, any programs/files that I use are cached in memory in case I need them again. For me, what this means is that the first time DCS loads, it takes almost 2 minutes. The game performance is improved by this as well since any game files are stored in memory. But I have not done any tests to compare the increased fps with ram cache. But I would guess it was maybe a 10-15(+\-) increase in fps. That will depend on how much memory you have for the cache. I have a 45gb ram cache. ;-) But the best part is that anytime after the game loads, if I close it and restart DCS, it loads in 11 seconds. Yes, 11 seconds! So, if you have extra ram that you are not using, or have some empty slots on your mb, I would suggest giving this a try.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum FoolTrottel Posted January 6, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 Nice update/review Fen! And not too verbose I must say. I must! ;-) I will say that the game takes a long time to load. It's been that way for me for a long time. But, with my new rig, I have extra memory. And my mb came with some RamCache software. I set it up to create a large cache in memory when I boot up. So, once windows loads, any programs/files that I use are cached in memory in case I need them again. For me, what this means is that the first time DCS loads, it takes almost 2 minutes. The game performance is improved by this as well since any game files are stored in memory. But I have not done any tests to compare the increased fps with ram cache. But I would guess it was maybe a 10-15(+\-) increase in fps. That will depend on how much memory you have for the cache. I have a 45gb ram cache. ;-) But the best part is that anytime after the game loads, if I close it and restart DCS, it loads in 11 seconds. Yes, 11 seconds! So, if you have extra ram that you are not using, or have some empty slots on your mb, I would suggest giving this a try.. Two minutes, on a new rig? Software/Games stored in a cache? Extra RAM Memory? To me, this sounds like you need to get yourself an SSD type disk ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 I do. 2x ssd Raid0 for the c drive. This is much faster. Sent via Galaxy Note 4 with Tapatalk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum FoolTrottel Posted January 6, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 Wot? So, you have SSD, yet it takes two minutes to load DCS from it? You then must have each and every extension of the game installed? Is that raid set on a 6GB Sata controller? Something is off here ... my SSD disks shows 540Mb/s it can read. Sequential reads. In two minutes, that's 64GB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 I have most of the planes. No raid controller. Sent via Galaxy Note 4 with Tapatalk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Also, I have not timed the normal load time. I can if you would like. But 11 seconds is faster than any ssd setup I believe. How fast is your load time? Sent via Galaxy Note 4 with Tapatalk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum FoolTrottel Posted January 6, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 My load times for DCS are under 10 seconds, but I only got the P51D ... How can you have a RAID setup, without a RAID controller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 You just go into the bios and set it up. You must install some windows drivers too. Then at bootup I think you then press ctrl-i to do raid setup. Sent via Galaxy Note 4 with Tapatalk. My Bitdefender had caused loading issues in the past. But dcs no longer hangs at 12%. Maybe it's hanging before I see it now? Got me thinking.. Maybe I should do a test without BD running.. Sent via Galaxy Note 4 with Tapatalk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum FoolTrottel Posted January 6, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 6, 2016 Okaym, well, then your motherboard must have a RAID controller on it... and, as it is new, it should be running at 6GB ... Still, two minutes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kira Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Suggestion Swep: Pick one or two favorites, not 10, and go with those. These are definitely study sims, and you won't get the full experience if you don't go full switch and full system. That takes time. I now slightly regret having learned the A-10 in an abbreviated startup, as there are sections I've completely missed. On the other hand, doing system checks on a simulation is pointless if you don't set the systems up with a probability that they will fail. I ended up buying the P-51, at something under list price, yet I bought it for the wrong reasons (everyone else loves it), and I rarely fly (crash) it. Different story on the UH-1 Huey. Love the aircraft, seriously looked forward to it, yet once I'd learned enough to take off and land effectively, there really wasn't a whole heck of a lot to DO in the thing... unlike the A-10. Many, many, many different ways of making things go BOOM!, and when you get tired of that, there's even air to air... and gun. BIG gun. Additionally, I find the air defense environment to be lacking. The Soviets had a LOT of different systems, and only a few are in the sim. One of the mainstays, the SA-2, isn't even represented. Lots of room for improvement in the whole thing, but it's still leaps and bounds better than anything else out there as far as I'm concerned, at least for the kerosene burners. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Just got home and did a test after booting up. It was 1:20. 11 seconds the second time. I had Raid0 on my last system with my 6 year old motherboard. But it was a ASUS Rampage II Extreme. But, Windows has been integrating Software RAID into Windows since XP. But I think I am not using that. I know that I go into my bios and change how the hard drives are accessed. EDIT: Just rebooted and turned off everything in my BitDefender. And the game started in 16 seconds! They had said that they fixed their problem with BitDefender, but.. Hmm.. Turns out to be their 'Intrusion Detection' module. It's off now. But I wonder why it didn't slow down loading every time? Only the first time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum B16Enk Posted January 7, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 7, 2016 But I wonder why it didn't slow down loading every time? Only the first time? Disk access being monitored by it? Cache = RAM therefore not scanned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Pooka Posted January 7, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 7, 2016 I've Dled the sim, some how got into the cockpit of the P-51 and flew, only control was the joystick (MFFB2) nearly landed, blew up within feet on the runway. I'm at a loss on how to set in the controls, I've found where they're located, show the Pro Throttle and joystick, lights up when highlighted but won't take when you push the control button etc. Is there a good sight that shows how to set up controls and what ever else is needed. I'll look about but those that fly DCS must know what I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I'll get on TS and help you out if you want. PM me if you want some help.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Pooka Posted January 7, 2016 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted January 7, 2016 Sounds good Snacko, I'm CST but will be unable today. When would a good time for you be, some evening or the weekend, not when the football games are airing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snacko Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 I'm Available anytime tomorrow.In the meantime, there is a guy named Charly_Owl who made Guides for several of the aircraft. His guides are all awesome. Here is the one for the P-51D. DCS P-51D Guide by Charly Owl.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted January 8, 2016 2. Administrators Share Posted January 8, 2016 Hey all, For those who dabble in DCS... Mmmmmm, dabble... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators fruitbat Posted January 8, 2016 2. Administrators Share Posted January 8, 2016 Hey all, For those who dabble in DCS... Mmmmmm, dabble... For all those that are about to take their third year university exams on 'DCS modules'.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted January 8, 2016 2. Administrators Share Posted January 8, 2016 P-51 ramp start, Nellis AFB Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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