My mediocre screens…
Low flying
Ah, I just need a few things from the store, BRB!
A bit better.
Also somehow the particle system for the water is still dirt?
Tried this all around the island and it’s the same.
Luckily it’s a little thing…
All lies! Also, Eagle Cola sounds tasty!
You know there’s an air base nearby when you find the golf course…
Landed at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, formerly NAS Agana:
Flying past Guam Memorial Hospital:
Following the coast, passing over the Hagatna boat basin, and in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica.
Coming up on Apra Harbor, and the place where the submarine tender USS Frank Cable would normally be docked.
Directly ahead is where the sub tender docks. All we need is a model of the Cable.
This looks like a good place to land and shut down for now, since there’s nobody else around to complain.
I’ve only had time for a quick flight down the length of Guam, and there are still some rough spots with frame rates dropping over the forests, but overall the map is GORGEOUS. I’m looking forward to lots of naval ops in the area!
You meant “submarine tender USS Frank Cable…” Saw her and her crew often when I lived there.
I see the topography of places I recognize and they are remarkably close. But places with structures are unrecognizable. Agana and the boat basin for instance are barely representative. No doubt the people of Georgia, Iran and Syria have the same experience. When you know a place reasonably well, you can’t expect the virtual version to do anything but disappoint
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a vast amount of details being added in the next months…
LOL, I know right?
True…
This is also one of those maps that just flying about in the earliest hours of dawn makes for a truly relaxing and enjoyable experience.
I am going to fly a lot on this map.
I hope.
I confess to knowing little about the Pacific conflict apart from Singapore, the Burma campaign and the Viet Minh fighting with the OSS against the Japanese and the handing back to the French from the British Vietnam a desicion which in hindsight cost millions of lives.
So I did a wee bit of research this morning and found these facts
June 19, 1944 - The “Marianas Turkey Shoot” occurs as U.S. Carrier-based fighters shoot down 220 Japanese planes, while only 20 American planes are lost.
July 8, 1944 - Japanese withdraw from Imphal.
July 19, 1944 - U.S. Marines invade Guam in the Marianas.
July 24, 1944 - U.S. Marines invade Tinian.
July 27, 1944 - American troops complete the liberation of Guam.
August 3, 1944 - U.S. And Chinese troops take Myitkyina after a two month siege.
August 8, 1944 - American troops complete the capture of the Mariana Islands.
Oops! Good catch- that is indeed what I meant.
This was my first flight over Marianas before cleaning up the shaders.
at around 8:40 mark the fps dropped to low 20s and after 9:00 even below 20. But still, really good looking map with lots of details.
I got 34 fps with the F-15 instant action (I think cold start) in VR. So I will have to stay away until:
- my HW catches up
- the map gets optimized
- WMR for SteamVR is able to reproject from 30 fps
I’m hip. I was skimming through the forum over at the “crazy place” concerning this map and performance. Hit ‘enter’ on a reply only to see that @NineLine has closed the thread, thus my 5 minutes was wasted. But, alas! I’ll spew forth over at the ‘Spike’. FWIW…
ABOUT COMPLAINTS
As a tester in this open beta branch I’m not complaining about the poor performance, I’m simply providing feedback.
All of this sounds familiar; flight sims have been my only indoor hobby for decades.
GROWTH
Showed my son my rig and DCS a few months ago, in VR, with my HOTAS kit. He’s a ‘gamer’ (whatever that really means); has a good, steady job and could afford it (based on some of his other questionable entertainment purchases); works in a military tech field - a likely candidate for purchase.
He thought it was pretty cool, cuz it IS!. Then he asked what it would cost, from scratch, to get up and running, as I’ve configured it.
So I ball-parked a figure. His reply: “Nah, I’m not going to spend $5000 for that”.
I understood completely and don’t blame him. Over the years it has cost me about 1/2 that every few years when I wanted to upgrade to support the latest/greatest (or nearly so) - to ‘keep up’. Half that only gets me a GPU at this moment, maybe, and while I could do it, my good- sense revolts. This is just me, and I intend NO judgment on those that feel differently…as a “blue collar” guy, that likes to ‘escape’ into my virtual jet a few times a week, I have to budget these non-essentials.
*Note that I ‘rationalize’ all my previous expenditures in this hobby over time; FunRatio = (Cost, Time).
CURRENT AFFAIRS
We (hardcore flight sim types and dev’s) are all in an unusually bad time right now: the dev’s are pushing the envelope (good long term biz decision I guess). However lately more customers can’t afford to keep up.
Seems strange to ignore that [SIC]. I really don’t believe you are - it just appears that way to some in this forum [ED forum].
Again, we’re in an odd time economically concerning this genre.
PARTING THOUGHTS
I can “fly”, in my pointy-nose virtual fighter jet, satisfactorily - just like in my other [ non-combat] flight sim - I really, really, enjoy that part of it. I do, honestly, prefer the feeling of flight in DCS to anything before or since - at least, and ESPECIALLY ,in VR!.
As far a my experience with Vulcan goes: it didn’t make my FPS go significantly higher (15-20%-ish?) but it did however smooth things out - stuttering is the most annoying fun-killer.
Even when the piggy-bank is full and I have the latest/greatest/fastest rig I’m still likely to turn things down to keep it smooth. Graphics sell games, always have, but this map has a lot of details I personally don’t get all that excited about - cuz it doesn’t relate that much to the “C” in DCS (but I see why ED would from a marketing angle).
Good day and “Check Six”
JR
You see- THESE are pictures!
Nice. I esp. like that last one!