DCS 2.5 Update Thread (2020)

3rd July 2020

Dear Fighter Pilot, Partners and Friends,

Our third-party partners Polychop Simulations have been working hard during the past few months
on DCS: Kiowa Warrior. “As you have seen, there are a number of detailed videos about the
DCS Kiowa Warrior on Youtube, and we are very thankful to have Barundus and all the other pilots
on the team.” - Your Polychop Simulations Team

Alongside the substantial bug-fixing schedule, we have been making improvements to our DCS World
Voice Chat system. These are necessary steps needed to achieve our goal of high quality, realistic
communications embedded within DCS World. We still have a way to go but we are confident that it
will be up to user expectations when the system goes final.

We would like to kindly remind you that the DCS World Summer Sale 2020 will continue on our Eshop
until the 19th of July. For those of you who fly in DCS World Steam Edition, the sale will end on the 9th
of July at 10:00 PST. We hope this will give you all a chance to land some great deals and add some
serious stuff to your hangar.

Thank you for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely,

The Eagle Dynamics Team

Kiowa Warrior
Polychop Simulations

“With the help of the pilots we are currently evaluating details, which also includes the refinement
and corrections of the avionics system of the aircraft. During the coming weeks, we hope to inte-
grate the moving map feature to the avionics and also finetune the weapons and the flight model
of the Hellfire missiles and will integrate another rocket type, that we have not shown or talked
about yet, that will make it possible to properly engage infantry and light armoured vehicle units in
DCS World.

During the past months we have also worked on certain aspects of the flight model that either
needed corrections or refinements. For example, the torque values of forward flight at all possible
altitudes, speeds and temperatures. Currently, we are working on the hover torque requirements
to accurately mimic real aircraft as closely as possible. We are also looking at the flight character-
istics below ETL, effective translational lift.

Performance pages have recently been added to the DCS Kiowa Warrior MFD, which will enable
you to ask the system to calculate your power for certain flight envelopes in level and hover flight.
Night vision has also been added, which we plan to update prior to release with a new feature never
before seen in DCS World Helicopters, but we do not want to reveal anything yet, because we can
not yet foresee obstacles we may come across that might delay such a special night vision feature.
We are confident that on release, we will have realised the most accurate Kiowa Warrior representation
in the game market.

At the moment we have 19 US Army liveries of various Kiowa Warrior troops, these include older
aircraft markings. 16 Croatian army liveries were added as well, which is the complete fleet of the
Kiowa Warriors they operate, including the tail number 327 that crashed on the 27th of January 2020
and resulted in the unfortunate loss of the aircraft and crew. Our condolences go out to the family and
friends of the crew.

Since everyone was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, our production has slowed down a bit during
the past weeks, because we as a team were also affected. Nevertheless we are back to normal again
and our team is back to normal status because we have the desire to keep our promise for a release in
2020, which also includes the time required for the quality verification process by Bell Helicopters.
That said, we are also currently working on 3 stand-alone campaigns for the DCS Kiowa Warrior.

Finally we hope everyone stays safe and is excited for the release of DCS: Kiowa Warrior.”

Your Polychop Simulation Team

Check out new work in progress screenshots

Voice Chat
Development Report

We continue to work on improving the functionality of Voice Chat in DCS World.

At the moment, testing is underway to add player rooms and the ability to invite friends for private
communication. In addition, the automatic creations of rooms between the crew of one aircraft (intercom)
and the ability to create special missions rooms for coalition forces. This is done through the scripting
trigger system function when creating missions. It is useful when specific communication channels are
needed with air traffic control, sub-channels within squadrons and with ground crew. These features are
planned for release in the upcoming updates.

Following the update, the Voice Chat Development Team will be focussing on the integration of radio device
voice communication in the game. We understand that this function is highly demanded and greatly appreciate
your patience whilst we work on it.

Summer Sale
F/A-18C Hornet

We have been working with our internal and external beta testing teams in order to locate and squash bugs.

Recent fixes include:

During a cold start, refuelling now confirms, so that the rearm process can continue.
Fixed right engine RPM failure when using AutoStart in cold weather conditions.
Auto Laser timer and TTI will display only when the bomb is dropped.
The Radar Altimeter warning, SAI and ADI no longer freeze after repair.
Launching from the catapult no longer turns external lights off.

These bug fixes are part of a larger update to the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet and we look forward to sharing
the progress with you soon. With the Summer Sale 2020 in full swing, make sure to take advantage of
the 50% discount on our EShop.

Thank you again for your passion and support,

Kind regards,

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You guys, check this out:

We’re goin to Syria baby!

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I’m looking forward to all 3 of those new theaters a lot because there’s nothing to learn for them!

So much easier than learning a new plane (or helo in the Kiowa’s case). However, I’ve ached for a Western counterpart to the 50 for literally a decade and while it’s not the Apache I’ve desired, it’s fairly close in many respects besides that whole “no chain gun” thing!!

Interesting…

Samurai 1-1: The future of DCS - From the mouth of the ED CEO

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To save the hunt - here is Nick’s reply on the original video that is mentioned in the video you posted the link to - formatting added by me to make reading a bit smoother.

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I don’t know how to feel about him saying that. I know its obvious when you think about it, but its still worrying that ED are that concerned about losing so much of a small market to MS. In my opinion 2020 would have to do a hell of a lot (on my current system specs) to pull me away from DCS. I am certain not everyone feels like that of course but it is a point of concern for me

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I think that for many a hardcore simmer those two sims are so radically different that we don’t even consider them to be in any kind of competition. Many of us have DCS + X-Plane + P3D + IL-2 + VTOL-VR installed.

But for more casual people it is different.

  • “Why get DCS, I have a decent F-14 for FS2020 to fly around in”.
  • “can I fly over my house in DCS?”
  • “in FS2020 I have all kinds of planes, including combat aircraft. In DCS I have only combat aircraft”

Replace FS2020 with FSX and those are all arguments that I have heard in the past.
And FS2020 removes the graphics argument (DCS looked better than FSX) and the flight model argument (FS2020 has an “AFM” style aerodynamics model).

I see how that could become a major problem for ED because the hardcore people who use DCS as intended are only a small part of the user base.

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FS2020 is a short term problem for combat sim developers and perhaps an existential one for Laminar. Everyone (other than Laminar) will benefit in the long-run. FS2020 will grow a base of flying enthusiasts who will then want to do more than travel from A to B. Near term, he is right to be worried.

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If MSFS2020 will look and perform the way the rumors say, any other flightsim will suffer in a graphics comparison. That’s how it’s always been. And with the businessmodel of ED and DCS, where development never stops, they will have to compete. Especially if there is a Combat FS2020 beyond the horizon…

Imagine a Combat flight simulator 1 and 2 redux. That would suit me down to the ground. Same game but in direct x 12 etc :smirk:

Hat’s off to Nick Grey for being so open and honest and the team for focusing on the core of the sim rather than just the easy stuff.

When I bought Flanker way back when, the strengths and weaknesses in the engine that we see today were there. It’s quite an undertaking to change direction and update something with that kind of legacy while maintaining the current code base with some of the most demanding and knowledgeable customers there are.

They are the last man standing in modern combat flight sims and that says a lot about their dedication and passion. Just my .02.

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10th July 2020

Dear Fighter Pilot, Partners and Friends,

Since our commitment to bug-fixing in DCS World 2.5, we continue to work with bug reports
as we prepare for the next Open Beta (OB) release. The slowing down of OB versions allows
us to improve stability and diminish some of the frustrations that many of you have felt,
especially in multiplayer.

This week we are excited to share further progress on DCS: Syria. Our third-party partners
Ugra Media have been working hard on realising Damascus airport in its entirety. More info-
rmation on the development process can be found on our forum.

We hope that the DCS World Summer Sale 2020 has helped expand your knowledge of our
modules. The sale will come to an end on this Monday 13th at midnight GMT.

On Saturday the 11th of July, the 104th Phoenix VFBS will be live streaming the 11th round
of the Helicopter Wars tournament. Read more.

Thank you for your passion and support.

Yours sincerely,

The Eagle Dynamics Team

Open Beta
Preparation

Our bug-fixing process enables us to better prepare for the next DCS World 2.5.6 Open Beta
release. This week we have been working on small graphic glitches whilst continuing to improve
the overall load time and frame rate when running high graphic settings. We are also working on
multiplayer server glitches seen in large missions, these issues were reported by our closed Beta-
Testing Teams.

We have started the final test and debug iteration to ensure we deliver a reliable OB. We would like
to thank all our internal and beta tester friends for the efforts needed to find, engage and destroy the bugs.

DCS: Syria
A DCS World Terrain

DCS: Syria is a unique theater of war that includes missions and campaigns of military confrontation
in the Middle East from the 60s to the present day. This project allows users to apply nearly the entire
arsenal of DCS World aircraft, helicopters and ground equipment. It also includes the possibility to re-
enact some of the largest military conflicts of our time.

  • The Six-Day War of 1967
  • The Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973
  • The Lebanese War of 1982
  • The War on International Terrorism in the 21st Century

The reasons for these conflicts were ideological and economic contradictions not only of the countries
of the Middle East, but also of the USA and USSR superpowers. DCS: Syria is a symbol of real modern
war. The Syria theatre will contain military confrontation sites such as Homs Province and Aleppo Citadel,
Golan Heights and the Bekaa Valley. Ground-based anti-aircraft missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicles
and air-to-air missiles were used here for the first time on a large scale. About 900 airplanes and helicopters
were destroyed during these conflicts. Read more on our forum.

In the next publication, we will talk about Beirut International Airport, the Israeli military airfield Ramat
David and the largest US Air Force base in the Middle East – Incirlik.

Flaming Cliffs 3
Summer Sale 2020

Welcoming new users into DCS World who have little or no experience flying modern aircraft is very important
to us. We hope that the current sale can help bring you closer to your friends and loved ones by sharing the
experience of Flaming Cliffs 3. It provides an easy learning curve for new players and focuses on a broad range
of fighters rather than a single detailed aircraft. Get the F-15C, A-10A, Su-27, Su-33, MiG-29A, MiG-29S and
Su-25 all in one single download.

Take advantage of the Summer Sale and download Flaming Cliffs 3 for only $24.99.

We thank you again for your passion and support,

Kind regards,

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I’ve made this comment before, when MSFS2020 started showing up here on the RADAR…

To be short, if MSFT “weaponizes” FS2020 then it’s game over for every other existing mil sim outfit (all what, 2 of them?).

They will be reduced to making addons for MSFS2020. Now, FSX/P3D/XP have shown this can be quite lucrative for the addon maker, so how bad would that be?

But, that assumes a few things:

  1. MSFT actually wants to do this. The genre may be too small for them to bother with. Their, lets say, attitude has gotten in the way in the past.

  2. By “weaponize” I mean it needs to allow for a full-blown war, or the API needs to exist for a third party to “start a war”; just being allowed to fly around and go, “pew, pew”, isn’t enough (though it is a start).

  3. The performance needs to be there to support the above, one way or another.

  4. This ones for me - no VR, no buy.

I had a thought a while ago that, the only way we’ll get what we [think?] we want is via an open-source movement (or a hybrid like BMS). With all the warts that entails. Or we’ll have to pay, big, for it.

These things are VERY complicated pieces of software.

I hope DCS makes it. And I really hope they started planning a long time ago. Mr. Grey’s comment about hiring 150 coders (did I read that right?) was good news to me, though I prescribe to the Mythical Man-Month idea.

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Wake me up when the P-47 and Channel map get put on the main client, not the OB. It’s not like there aren’t other betas already on there.

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WooHoo! A great base. Nice swimming pool. Was there in 1998 as Deputy C2 for ONW - we worked out in one of the bunkers on the flight line. Oh the stories…. Survived a 6.3 earthquake…it gets you attention.

Really looking forward to this map! :grin:

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I don’t think FS2020 will ever have a comparible combat experience outside of maybe some tacked on weapons like VRS and its tacpack for FSX. It takes literally years to develop combat sim modules to the level in DCS. Heatblur is what I would consider the very best team in combat flight sim at the moment, and it took them 4-5 years to create the tomcat. Hornet was similar timeline. Given that we haven’t seen anything in that regards, I’d say its extremely unlikely in the near future.

Dynamic campaigns have also bankrupted companies. Everything you want already exists in BMS minus VR and the flashy graphics (The F16s are beautiful, but the terrain not so much). It would take a massive divergence from the scope of FS2020 to create a full-blown combat simulation, just to take over a niche in a niche market. The real money in combat sims is in commercial/govt products which all of the major developers also work on. Our hobby is essentially just passion projects/side hustles for these developers.

The outlier would be IL2 as I don’t think many agencies are buying warbird simulation products, but maybe?

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I agree.
But even so, the reddit knowitalls will compare anything with FS2020 and cry about DCS having such small maps and potato graphics…

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Agree

BMS’s war game is great! It really is. A motivator even. And I think its graphics are just fine; I don’t need any more. I need my VR.

May be a bad example but, say DCS supported HOTAS systems, but BMS only supported a mouse? Just a personal preference.

I’m with you on the VR, I’ve played some BMS but I rarely flight sim in 2D anymore. Total game changer.

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Be Careful using DCS Repair or Possibly Updater,

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