I know, right?! Optical drives in this day and age – whodathunkit? I still run a lot of old titles, so I like to have an optical drive on hand.
But StarForce is the only DRM I’ve had the displeasure of experiencing it killing PC components, so anytime I see it come up on a title, I steer clear.
I miss my beloved Crimea, but as I mentioned, I’m very curious what they’re doing down Turkey-way. It looks like the coast around Trebizond has height map, and is that terrain near Merzifon I spy?
Sith had already indicated there will be no new airfields, but if ED’s ploppable airfield techtm allows concrete airfields, I foresee a breath of fresh air for Caucus mission development.
I would love to see Chechniya make it’s way in. Grozny is so close to that area.
I read an answer to a comment on the ED FB page where ED confirmed it’s due to politics.
Hadn’t seen that. So in addition to everything else, Putin is ruining DCS…
Found it.
Doesn’t specify if it’s due to internal office politics, or world politics. But one can imagine… 
Yeah, I was probably thinking of FC2 to FC3.
I stand by my Crimea theory.
I’m curious what gives you that impression? I understand if that’s the reason they’re not putting it back: that’s a touchy subject in that part of the world these days (That said they added Georgia in 2008, and expanded it again, and that hasn’t gone anywhere).
Black Shark came out in 2008, however. I’m scratching my head but I can’t remember any real drama or outrage with regards to the Crimea at the time. I recall a kerfluffle over the Kharkiv pact in 2010 which renewed Russia’s lease on Sevastapol for some decades longer, and obviously the Euromaidan a few years later, but 2008 seemed relatively quaint.
Outside of memory issues, the only other thing I vaguely recall was concerns over the LOMAC copyright with regards to Ubisoft: That the map would be too similar and thus there were legal machinations at play.
How long do you think they were planning the ‘annexation’? Won’t have been a spur of the moment thing, that’s for definite.
I highly doubt the Kremlin is sharing top secret plans for revanchist military action dependent upon the chance deposition of a neighboring puppet government with local video game developers, much less six years in advance.
If we’re sideling into the realm of conspiracy, how does removing the Crimea six years in advance aid the future annexation effort? Wouldn’t you want young citizens of military age to have a firm emotional connection to the area so when asked to take it, they’d be eager?
So… Has anybody found a workaround to keep Starforce from eating optical drives? Also, I had the electronic download version, and it still ate my DVD-ROM.
Hey, you have your opinions, I can have mine - and I don’t feel the need to explain everything I say, so you’ll just have to live with it.
@Navynuke99 - I had one get done over by SF in the early days of FC1.1, but it hasn’t happened again since. I don’t use optical drives on my main PC any more - just have an external USB one for those occasions where one is required (very rare) but it hasn’t given me a problem at all since Vista. The DVD that got sabotaged was in Win XP.
Nope - been trying a lot today - and reading up too - been a busy boy - but can’t get it working on Win10.
You know what? Stuff it - I’m ditching Win10 on my 2nd pooter and putting Vista back in - FC1.11 here we come! (and all the other stuff I can’t use on 10).
PC2 is now officially my new retro PC 
I installed LOMAC 1.0.2 today and dug out all my old missions and campaigns. I’d forgotten about all the messing about with config files and so-on. Complete PITA.
But then I had a go on the default Su-25 mission and it was a real blast! Kept forgetting which keys were for what - I’d only assigned the basics - but eventually managed to destroy everything except one SPG - and I’d hit it so many times with rockets, I’ve no idea how he survived. Got my first Su-25 A/A kill in about 10 years, too! 
Fun times.
I recently, after reinstalling Lock On 1.02 on win10, had a go at a Su-25 campaign for the first time (never played it in spite of owning the game since release). Great fun, although you have to play with the labels on since there is no indicator (like in A-10 a diamond on the HUD showing next primary target) for targets you must destroy.
Additionally some missions are bit broken (maybe the patch broke those?), in mission 4 where you are tasked with destroying the powerplant, in the briefing map if you choose your 3rd waypoint (attack waypoint) and select targeting - you will see the target way to the east at the edge of the map which is nonsense. But with some detective work you will be able to locate the powerplant building - it will be in the north-eastern corner of the city where the powerlines meet. If you take out this building the mission will be successful.
And yes, there is some config files tweaking - I personally had to change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 and default FOV,
in LockOn\Config\graphics.cfg file
Simulation
{
resolution = {1920, 1080};
bpp = 32;
fullscreen = 1;
aspect = 1.666666667;
}
in LockOn\Config\View\cockpit.lua file
CockpitViewAngleDefault = 85.0
but that’s all I did. And you have to remember that if you enter the graphics settings your graphics.cfg changes will be reset.
Labels? Pah! Switch 'em off, like me - then don’t see the enemy and get shot down!
Okay, didn’t get shot down - but lost an engine, though I made it to base. My first A-10A mission in FC2 for a very long time. Didn’t go well from a tactical point of view, but at least Voice Attack worked well with it (and it was a test for VA control, so mission success!) 
It was a MiG-23 that got me, so I think I can be excused for that.
Memories, too - like: “Wingman, attack air defences”
“2 Roger, attacking air defences”
“2, SAM launch!”
“2, returning to base”
Ring any bells?
I remember blowing up a tank with an AMRAAM in an F-15 in LOMAC – I don’t think that’d work in real life!
I remember my astonishment when the SA-19 shot down my Maverick for the first time in LOMAC.
They really made firing the gun fun in FC2 with all those ricochets traces bouncing off targets and ground.
