I actually did downgrade all textures tiles to this level. My GPU only has 8GB of VRAM…
Good idea to try the Korean Theater.
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So cannot stop thinking about yesterday’s BMS flight over Italy.
On one hand, it was nostalgic to a level I didn’t foresee… on the other it’s obviously a WIP as many large cities are literally a couple of buildings standing over a blurry texture. Not trying to drag anyone down, don’t get me wrong just stating the current state of affair.
Also, even if it was to stay like this- not big issue.
No the thing that struck me is, I just have to launch a campaign and the world is populated.
That’s such a massive departure from the completely empty DCS World…
I’m glad we can have two such vastly different sims on our PCs and frankly I can’t wait to see what Falcon 5.0 will be.
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maybe BMS could be the best platform for ’ jungle by the sea ’ theater .
it has F-4E already after all 
what are the most ’ historical ’ campaigns that can be played via BMS ? I mean how far into the past the campaigns go ? or is it only about the latest and greatest ? is the next step for BMS also F-35 ?
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Thankfully, nothing in the KTO. Probably the Balkans war or something in the ITO.
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I get giddy, nervous, even embarrassed in BMS. Playing DCS and IL2, these are emotions that are only possible to feel in multiplayer. And even then, those moments are rare for me. In BMS it is every mission. For 20 years I have been part of a chorus of sim enthusiasts who have begged developers to “gameify” their technical masterpieces. They keep resisting and it shows.
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I would like to know more about this post.
I feel too the difference between BMS and DCS/IL2. BMS is very very close to what a constant MultiPlayer campaign feels. The Dynamic Campaign engine is a marvel (even with its quirks and lackings) and truly allows a living/breathing theater of operation.
I am not sure how to read the part about gamification.
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I read it as devs have been so focused on the simulation of the aircraft that they lost their focus on the game, or ”something to do with your cool aircraft”.
About what you meant, @smokinhole?
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I think he rightfully means that BMS devs are not relenting on the simulation side of BMS. Resisting the gamification of what is the heritage of a study sim. But can’t figure out the concept of gamification of BMS.
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That’s exactly what I meant!
See, I’ve begun to take discourse lessons from Trump. Remember “fake news”? That was a lefty phrase used by them to describe conservative outlets. He successfully flipped it. Ever since Flanker I’ve listened to Russian devs decry the dynamic campaign as “game-y”. They meant to belittle the game and its fans as slaves of the bubble. Those of us who are older didn’t grow up on sims, we grew up on GAMES! But as the sim elements of the successors to the early titles got more technically refined the successor devs began to scoff at the play elements that made the early games so great. I am proud of the word “game”. Chess is a game. The World Cup Final is a game. Red Flag is a game. I’ve never played a sim in my life. I ONLY play games.
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I hear ya…
While I get good game out of just mastering and flying around a well simulated aircraft, I do want something else to do, eventually.
In the old days we bought a game that was all about flying this aircraft in this conflict. That was fun for a while and then the next game came along that let us do the same, but with another aircraft in another conflict.
This ”new” sandbox way of development isn’t a bad idea, as such. We have a bunch of aircraft and terrains. There are also several really good campaigns, but i still miss that feeling of being part of something bigger, that I got from F4 and EF2000 in particular, but also in DI Tornado and F-16 Fighting Falcon (iMagic iF-16). There are campaigns for DCS that comes close, but the wingman and flight interactions doesn’t quite work like I want them to. I don’t feel they are acting like my equals…
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Exactly that, and to add that feeling of being part of something and feel like being a pilot and not an aircraft simulation. I remember how cool was games/simulators like microprose F-15 III or F-1117v2 or gunship 2000 where you could feel that you are inside an military base, goes to briefing room, weapons hangar, debriefing room, etc, you was there as a pilot life.
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About game/gaming, i know that many purist pissed off when someone ask of gamifying of a pure simulator, but if you analyse the term game is nothing wrong have a game side on dcs or bms. Game for many start to thing about dragons, fantasy, magic etc, but game is only to have a challenge and objectives and (sometimes 
) fun. IMHO gaming a simulator is having a campaign, missions, career etc and that is also taking part of having also a simulation if the gaming side is correctly done.
I remember many many years ago an USA Army officer responsible to analyse the market of simulators and games for use in milsim they explain in great detail and completelly correct that gaming or simming sometimes is more about how you use it than his core definition. I can use bms in a way completelly wrong only doing stupid things and nothing that will not be used in reality or even plausible, and at the same time, get an arcade flight game and use to train specific things that will be used in reality like tactical coordenation etc.
I remember the discusions about gatekeepers goes wild trying to crush all ideas of a civil flight sim have a career mode… When in reality a real pilot have a somekind of career, when the career side is done correctly, it is ALSO a simulation.
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Oh I like a lot how the discussion turned in these last posts and I agree a LOT!
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No need to burn bridges. You can have great role playing experiences in both sims. Campaigns are certainly not created equally, but a few of the Reflected campaigns were all that I could ask for in a game. In particular, Fear the Bones (F-14A) and Paradise Lost (UH-1H) are immersive and a hell of a lot fun. And that first mission in Debden Eagles (P-51D), when the whole fighter group takes off in the dark, thick, wet overcast, somehow joins up on top, crosses the Channel, splits into smaller elements, patrolling and attacking trucks and trains in the dark, then RTBs to an overcast field, is life changing. I found and lost my religion 5 or 6 times on that mission. There’s nowhere to hide in VR 
. While crossing the channel, Eisenhower’s iconic speech is played over the radio. We’ve heard it before, but the timing is absolutely perfect. You feel like you are doing something heroic - risking your ass to help liberate Europe. Gives one goosebumps.
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Oh that’s a given. I have just enough SSDs to have almost everything.
Ah! Thanks for the reccomendations!
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Agreed. Sometimes I feel lost in all the goodness our sims have to offer and some direction is much appreciated
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I grew up on WWII MP sandbox . so for me DCS WWII MP sandbox is all I need and I am quite happy with it .
definitely I dont need to sacrifice performance for better graphics in any sim . and I guess there is particular edge where I can go with my current hw .
if DCS and BMS start to compete in the graphics department then I will have to probably downgrade my siming experience . IL2 COD maybe ? or even further to the past BoB2 Wings of Victory ?
from that point of view , I agree that the devs should start to focus on the gaming experience side of things rather than on the simulation of fancy graphics .
I’m hip. I have sort of done myself a favor (in DCS) by duct-taping over the graphics sliders, so I can’t start cranking them to the right [easily]
They hit a sweet spot for me when the clouds came in. So now with each HW & engine upgrade it will still look good, to me, but run smoother. If/when they decide to do ray tracing in flights sims I’m going to just “look away, look away”.
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Exactly. In Falcon 4 the F-16 is a simulation and the campaign is the game, so to speak. I guess you could call the dynamic campaign a simulator too, as it simulates a war. But the “normal” way we think of simulators in the real world is that you use one to learn the aircraft and then you use it for a mission. I guess that’s why we distinguish between sim and game…?
Agree! But still the wingman and flight behaviour can be distracting. When flying formation, they can jump all over the place and they either kill everything around you or is a sitting duck. It kills immersion.
Sadly, I struggle with MP because I rarely know hours before I’m available for some play.
But MP replaces the dodgy wingmen with real people and that removes pretty much all my issues, so I really should make a better effort to join in on some of the good stuff.
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top easy , we can just agree on some dedicated day of a week and some general time frame and one can hit MS discord whenever one is available .
it doesnt have to be pre-planned big fly-ins . just two , three people online from time to time .
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