DCS: World

I showed some people at Duxford the 3d model of the Typhoon cockpit. I'll post some pics in the next few days.

Work has started implementing the switch test code and I'll publish a video of that as I go along the process, as below.
Basically I'm currently going through the cockpit adding all the switch and dial helpers including all the animations for each switch and dial, that's pretty time consuming.
Then it's linking the sim to those helpers, again takes time.

At that point I hand it over to Tango to take over on all of the systems code; electrical, hydraulics, etc. as per schematics.
That's just to get all the basic aircraft systems coded. Then it's onto the MFCD (as you would know them as) logic.

You actually start the Typhoon Engines with 4 switches, the rest is all done by computer on the screens.

For now, all the rest of the team are working on getting the Hawk over the line.

I know you guys want Tiffy, as do I but this one's gonna be a while yet.

Cheers,
C.

Dev diary update time.

We had a very successful weekend at Duxford and thanks to all of you out there that popped by to say hi. Sorry if I didn't have time to talk to you all it was rather busy.

Thanks to ED for releasing the 1.2.6 patch on Thursday. Although we did have to unpack the 3 pc's from the 2 cars to patch them it meant we had a working Hawk in 1.2.6.

We had a lot of interest in the Hawk (I think the Red Arrows being there helped that) and I gave a little sneak peak to a select few of the Typhoon 3d model re-work which went down very well.

Thanks again to The Fighter Collection for having us and to ED for flying Yo-Yo over to support us not just with him being there but to bring the banner and brochures they had printed up all the way from Moscow with him. As always a pleasure talking to him.

So, on to development....
Well we had a few months of hair pulling, late night coding, chasing bugs and generally going crazy to get the cockpit working in 1.2.5 but to no avail.
Thanks for all of the help ED gave us to get it working in 1.2.6 ready for the weekend and of course to Tango for surprising me on Saturday morning 1 hour before doors opening to say he had published a new Hawk patch before he left at 6am to drive down to Duxford for the day. Yes I was jumping about the hangar with joy like a little girl!!!

And man does she fly beautifully in 1.2.6, even with wing tip vapour and grunting noises when pulling 6g loops

Coding Update
In terms of the cockpit functions we're about 95% completed and just waiting for the API's from ED to tie some of our systems like radios and full weapons into the sim.

All of the aircraft systems logic like electrical, hydraulic, etc. are completed and currently tied into the SFM model.

Model Update
As you can see from the screenshots in the eye candy forums Crow has done a big update on the cockpit model and skins. They are still WIP but you can see a massive amount has been done and truly amazing work.
You can even see a little sneak peak through a frame cutout of the rear cockpit and switches in there.
Yes we are working on dual cockpit's and although single player seat switching will likely be in release, multiplayer dual control is down to ED to code so we'll have to wait for that. But we'll be ready when they get it implemented.

Short Term Goals
Let's talk about short term goals and the interesting bit for you.
Here is what we are aiming to release at the end of September:

Multiplayer Module Beta
This will allow you to install certain Hawk files onto your PC so that if you join a public server that has a Hawk flying in it, you will see the Hawk external model.
This will be patched as and when we carry out and test updates to our base model and add new skins, AFM, Weapons, etc.

The purpose of the module is to ensure full compatibility with DCS when flying on public servers.
At the moment if you join a server with Hawk flying you will see a default SU-25.

The module will be free of charge.
There will be no cockpit files included, it is just the external model and skin files.
Now I'm sure some clever people out there will make it flyable with another cockpit (for research purposes of course) and that's fine if you want to do that. We will obviously not support those modules if they get released publicly.

We may, in the future, include certain cockpit files so you can enter the Hawk and look at the pretty cockpit but you won't be able to fly it unless you purchase an activation code and licence key. We are still discussing this concept.

Come and fly the Hawk for free
The guys at Virtual Aerobatics will be providing a long weekend session, or maybe a week if it goes well, of Hawk being included in their server mission.
We will be giving away 30 full copies of DCS:Hawk with a time limited licence for you to try out over that weekend.
This is your chance to give us valuable feedback on what you think of our product before you buy it. Also to give the community some feedback on what you think of it rather than us telling you it's awesome.
Details on how to get an activation code will be given out soon and we'll do a little trivia competition next week for that one. Easy answers to find on Google kind of thing.

If any squads out there would like to run a sqaud hosted session trying out the Hawk, please send me a PM for details and we can discuss it further. I know some of you are very interested in it.

Now the licence keys when registered are tied to your machine, so you can't give them out to friends and they will be a limited licence key, probably to 15 or 30 days to give you enough time to play around with the Hawk in SP and MP.
Once that time period is up, you will still be able to sit in the cockpit but the jet won't function.
For the lucky 30 of you, you won't need the Multiplayer module as you will have the full product.

This is kind of an open beta so your feedback at that time will be very valuable as we move into the finishing stages of development and we will create a new forum section for the feedback.

We will probably run another event in October and December along the same lines.

DCS:Hawk Flight Manual
Obviously you will want to know how to fly the Hawk and what better way than to read the flight manual. This will be released along with the multiplayer and test modules and generally posted for all of you.
Again it's a work in progress and any suggestions are gratefully welcomed with a new feedback forum created.

Longer Term Goals
So, with obviously flying the Hawk or seeing it buzzing around the virtual sky in the coming weeks you are going to want to buy it.
We originally set the release date for before Christmas (with a few caveats) however with the few months delays we are currently evaluating when we can release the product.
Until we have the team meeting this week and then consult with TFC/ED on their side of things we can't set a date but as soon as we have it, I'll let you know.

I would love for you to be flying the Hawk ready for Christmas but I simply can't promise it.

And to recap we will be releasing the combat variant first with the aerobatic variant a few months later. They will be released as separate modules, each costed for separately but with an upgrade price if you buy one module later than the other.
We are still working on a suitable pricing structure and details will be announced when this is finalised.

I did previously state that if you bought the combat DCS:Hawk prior to the aerobatic module being released then you would get the aerobatic module free of charge up until release date. This still stands.
So that means if you buy the combat variant when we release it and before we release the aerobatic module you get both for the same total price. After releasing the aerobatic module you will need to buy both separately.

The aerobatic module has a slightly different cockpit and engine performance, smoke system and few other differences hence why the delay in releasing them together in one module.

So, I hope that has put a smile on your face and got you as excited as the team are when we fly the Hawk and I very much look forward to getting your feedback on our product.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the above.

Thanks,
Chris.

Hello everyone,

Many of you have been really waiting for it, so here it is!

We’re showing the new EDGE landscape engine today, and meeting the people working on it.

Please keep in mind that the Normandy terrain is in the very earliest stages of development. The terrain engine itself is very mature, but is missing some features needed for a proper WWII simulation. So that’s where we started our terrain design.

We are using the famous Pointe du Hoc location to test everything we need: bunkers, trenches, and bomb craters. We are doing that with a few simple placeholders and a few low-res textures.

Our Normandy still needs most of the French 1940s buildings, airfield structures, and proper French countryside textures. All of those, while time consuming, are no-brainers at this point. Making and placing objects, or texturing terrain, are the kind of tasks the team has done before while making landscapes for helicopter and pilot training simulators. Once we have our bunkers and craters done and tested, the rest of the project is rather routine.

Unfortunately, as the other landscapes done in EDGE were done as commercial projects, we are unable to show any part of that terrain. Normandy is the only thing we can show, and it is clearly nowhere near finished.

We are also not at the stage where planes can fly over Normandy. We really tried to have a Mustang in a Normandy field today, but ran into some issues, and decided not to delay the video for it. Once we have those tests done, we’ll definitely release those shots.

With that in mind, here’s the video:
https://youtu.be/tylMZPZeozQ

Mi nombre es Alexey, Yo soy el director de arte aqui, y tambien soy un modelador 3D. Yo por lo general trato con todo lo que hay que hacer en el desarrollo de terreno.

- Asi que porfavor puedes hablarnos sobre el motor de terreno que vosotros estáis desarrollando.

Ok, Nosotros tenemos nuestro propio motor gráfico casero callado EDGE.

- ¿Y qué diferencias tiene este comparado con el antiguo?

Hay un montón de cambios en el nuevo motor. Nuevos sombreados, nuevos materiales, nueva tecnología. Nuestro nuevo motor esta basicamente escrito completamente desde cero.

Nosotros hemos considerado los errores del pasado, experiencias pasadas, horarios últimos. El nuevo motor es muy fácil de usar tanto por programadores y diseñadores, por testers, por todo el mundo.

Esto es una de las mejores cosas sobre el nuevo motor, su facilidad de uso. Adicionalmente, la calidad gráfica yo diría que es diez veces mejor que antes. Nosotros tenemos nuevas texturas, hierba, los objetos son dibujados a mayores distancias.

- De acuerdo. Y yo se que tu no solo estas usando EDGE para juegos de PC, pero tu tambien estas trabajando en simuladores de vuelo comerciales para pilotos reales.

Correcto. Nuestro motor es usado activamente en simuladores de entrenamiento, aviación civil, y entrenadores de helicópteros. Nosotros estamos creando tres terrenos para esto, por lo que desarrollamos nuestro motor tanto para los pilotos reales y para los requisitos de juegos.

Nosotros tenemos un montón de requerimientos de nuestros usuarios, especialmente la calidad de los aeropuertos y el nivel de detalle. No sola ha ser muy alta calidad, alto nivel de detalle de la imagen, del paisaje, de todos los objetos. los requisitos de distancia de la visión de nuestro terreno, requerimientos para los pequeños detalles, la altura de la hierba, el tamaño correcto de los bloques de hormigón en pista, que es realmente importante para los pilotos en los despegues y aterrizajes, o en tiempo malo. Ellos ponen atención en estas cosas.

- ¿Y cual es estado actual del motor?

Estado de Testeo. Nosotros estamos en este momento desarrollando tres terrenos con éxito, y estamos continuamente moviéndose hacia delantes. Cuando nosotros tomamos un nuevo proyecto y nosotros necesitamos alguna nueva tecnología para esto. nosotros la desarrollamos, la testeamos y la ponemos en el.

- Estupendo, ¿Y que puede decir de las dificultades?, ¿Cuales son las cosas nuevas que se están haciendo pare el terreno de normandía de 1944?

Normandía es muy excitante para nosotros. Nosotros estamos intentando dar el 100%. Nosotros estamos intentando capturar la atmósfera de tiempos de guerra de ese periodo. Ruinas, edificios, ciudades y villas destruidas, fuego y humo. Nosotros queremos sumergir al usuario en ese tiempo, para asegurarle que él se sumerja en el terreno y pase mucho tiempo con el. Vamos a tomar mucho tiempo en recrear áreas importantes, los bordes de los acantilados, chateaus, y campos de batalla importantes. Nosotros vamos a poner todo esto en áreas altamente detalladas. Nosotros estamos recreando la red de carreteras, también, nosotros estamos intentando recrear toda la vegetación de ese momento.

- Así, tiene el encanto de 1940 campo francés, junto con todos los horrores de la guerra.

si, correcto. La versión actual del motor permite hacer todo eso. hay que añadir una serie de características, pero en general creo que todo esto nos instalemos en el camino y nuestro equipo se encargará de ello a su debido tiempo.

- Magnifico, bien, muchas gracias a ti, un verdadero placer.

------------------

- Por favor, háblanos de lo que haces y que es lo que tu estas haciendo específicamente para el proyecto.

Yo diseño y desarrollo el terreno para el motor EDGE. Tengo que ver con todo lo que tiene qer ver con el terreno y con todos los otros componentes. Todo lo que se necesite para el terreno.

- Y tu tienes que cambiar este para Normandia 1944, tu debes ser el diseñador líder del este terreno y de cualquier otro terreno que nosotros podamos añadir después.

Correcto

- Por favor, háblanos algo sobre los detalles de desarrollar un terreno de la segunda guerra mundial.

Una cosa interesante para mi ahora es el desarrolle de una representación realista del terreno. Para mostrar la atmósfera, para ver el terreno tal como lo veríamos basado en algunas fotografías o películas.

Esto sería realmente fácil de ver tal como lo vemos ahora. Nosotros tenemos satélites, vistas de carreteras, pero si nosotros volvemos en el tiempo y creamos algo del pasado, para mi, es realmente excitante.

- Nosotros hemos hablado sobre hacer algo que hasta ahora no se ha hecho realmente en simulación antes. Nosotros vamos a intentar hacer un terreno no sólo realista, sino también excitante de volar sobre el.

Si, esto es correcto, Nosotros vamos a tener varias capacidades como calles lo suficiente anchas para que el avión pueda volar a través de ellas, interiores de túneles en los que podría intentar maniobrar, puentes de ferrocarril en que puedes volar a través de ellos, grandes arcos, básicamente , varios elementos del terrenos que te pueden ayudar a vosotros en la batalla.

- Correcto, Básicamente nosotros podremos intentar dar a los jugadores algo excitante que hacer mientras están a nivel de los árboles, algún tipo adicional de actividad. Muy bien, ahora por favor, hablamos sobre tu aproximación general, sobre el motor EDGE. Que involucra el desarrollo de un buen terreno realista?

Bien, si nosotros estamos hablando sobre EDGE, este esta siendo desarrollado desde hace tiempo. La idea general apareción hace mucho tiempo. Nosotros teníamos unas cuantas opciones, y el motor que tenemos está ya maduro después de muchos cambios. Nosotros estamos en la versión 4. así que la idea general es que el paisaje debe verse bien también ha cambiado desde el punto de vista de un piloto, desde el punto de vista de la aviación. sai, la versión que tenemos en este momento es mas realista, mas buena en este aspecto, ya que permite crear terrenos, edificios y ambientes detallados y bien diseñados.

- Por eso, el motor esta siendo usado para entrenamiento de pilotos. Este es usado in simuladores reales para pilotos reales, esto ya viene con el sentido perfectamente afinado de la altitud, la escala, la noción de los elementos del terreno como la hierba. La sensación de volar está diseñada para ser lo mas cercano a la realidad como sea posible.

Si exactamente, cuando nosotros hemos construido simuladores de entrenamiento, esto lo hacemos exactamente como se debe hacer, la sensación visual de escala, altitud, velocidad. La inmersión que tienen los pilotos reales. la sensación de volar. que fue el primariamente, el requerimiento principal.

- bien

Y nosotros estamos seguros que es este mismo requerimiento sea la piedra angular del juego tambien. esperamos que los gamers tambien sientan esto en realidad. Tan real como sea posible.

- Maravilloso. Entonces, ¿unas últimas palabras?

Si. Yo era muy escéptico cuando ohi sobre esta maravillosas idea. Tan pronto como y ohi sobre normandía, Yo salte dentro, ofreciendo ayudar a tus chicos, yo pienso que nosotros vamos a conseguir trabajar juntos y nosotros vamos a hacer un gran producto. Yo pienso que los fans estarán agradecidos.

Muy bien. Yo espero vernos trabajanado juntos durante mucho tiempo y nosotros podremos venros unos a otros en los cielos.

DCS MiG-21Bis NewsFlash - Issue No.7

External model:

Rudel working on the exterior model UVW and texturing in paralell with new damage effect creation. So very soon you will see how the brand new exterior model looks like with a tons of rivets. :-)

Cockpit:

Razbam-Cobra is nearly finish the new cockpit textures, now he's working on a more realistic cockpit shader, metal shine and other effects. So after that we will have a beautiful cockpit I promise.

AFM:

According Novak report the AFM is in polishing state. Aircraft performances are being tuned according to manuals. Working on extreme flight condition simulation (critical overall and local AoA, stall, spin). Ground operations: big issue is the unique gear breaking/steering system which is implemented from the scratch since original ED system is not applicable for the MiG-21. Successfully implemented drag chute management, animation and AFM connection. Fixed multiple bugs related to several systems (ARK, PRMG, SAU etc.).

Roland successfully ported the weapons systems to C++ side. He implemented stations management, weapons launch & jettison; couple of small things to do, expect to finish it by the end of the week.

RoadMap:

Not significant changes on the roadmap even I was out in the last month. Fortunately during this time the team able to follow the plan and did a great job.

Others:

After one month absence finally today I have a working PC. I say a big THANKS for the following forum members (and other flightsim addict also) who offered a help for me. With their help and effort the development resume with full steam as well.

Many thanks for:
159th_Falcon
Rudel
bumfire
carlos
TeChMastR
spoore
HatM

"One good turn deserves another"

Hey folks,

Just wanted to note that these shots are not at all indicative of the final look
They're a little old, have several un-overhauled objects, and primarily are are without speculars, normals and specularity.

There will be a proper cockpit artwork update soon.

High range terrain visualization
Cairns-Fort Rucker, Alabama, USA
presented by "AVIA" for I/ITSEC 2012

High range terrain visualization
Island Corsica
presented by "AVIA" for I/ITSEC 2012

On September 25th we will be letting everyone know what we have been up to lately. We will release photo's and video's of our F/A-18E module in action. We will be also letting everyone know our future goals and our internal updates that involve changes within the Coretex group.

Hello everyone,
The update pace has slowed down, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. We’re scrambling to shift gears; we've had a whole campaign written out and put together. As the kickstarter got started we realized it was all wrong, since we were doing something for people new to flight sims, expecting an influx of people who have never flown a plane in their life. Now that we've realized that this project can only succeed if we work with the dedicated flight sim fans, we're redoing and scrapping everything to give you guys what you need. We know the clock is ticking, so it's not a pleasant feeling.

We’re working on a large comprehensive video about aircraft. The part that is taking too long is the aircraft footage. We’re working to have some videos of the FW.190D-9 flying and fighting showing the cockpit, but some of the gauges are not yet working so that’s causing some delays. We really hate releasing stuff that does not look great. We also cannot afford to become a screenshot-taking and video-making project, so this makes juggling priorities rather difficult.

I’ve literally worked around the clock to have it ready today, but now that I’ve slept on it, it just does not look impressive enough. I think I’d rather spend a few more days adding more footage and changing a couple of other things rather than release the most important video of the project that I myself am not happy with it, and go out with a whimper.

In the meantime, here’s what we’ve done with the terrain over the last week.

We did a few more tests, and made a PSP runway and a pseudo-airfield with some parked P-51s. Have an annoying problem where static P-51s have issues with a transparent canopy.

We’re pretty much done with various terrain tests, and we’re ready to move on and start building it properly. General to-do is as follows:

1. High-res textures and terrain "noise"

2. Color correction

3. Go through the list of high-detail areas and recreate terrain from period sources.

4. Create and place proper 3D objects (buildings, hangars, fortifications, etc)

Tasks 3 and 4 will last well into 2014, especially 3D objects, which will keep being created and added all the way up to beta.

The first two tasks are quicker, but they will also not finish by the time the KS campaign does. Color correction is especially important. I find it difficult to release screenshots with it not done, but whatever time we spend doing it now will be wasted. There are a lot of components that need to be corrected and tested together. Terrain textures, tree textures, and vegetation, are all stored in different areas, and the colors are also affected by distance. Just making sure that trees look good at all distances and aren’t all the same shade of green while at the same time not looking like a circus is a long painstaking process.

We won’t do it now because we’re still working in the terrain editor. The terrain editor is simplified not to contain the atmospheric model. That really affects the in-game colors. Atmosphere, obviously, adds hues to everything. With a 24-hour day-night cycle, this makes color correction a huge chore. Think of it as trying to balance 20 spinning plates while riding a unicycle. You get the distant trees all nice and murky at dawn, and some trees become purple when viewed up close at noon. That kind of thing.

So, a few more points about the current terrain:

Textures are low-res placeholders
PSP runway is a quick test to see how a huge number of tiny holes interact with the underlying terrain and grass. Not final!
P-51s are the same P-51s that currently fly in DCS World, but they’re not flying here. They are just parked. You will be strafing these helpless static objects, nothing else.
As you can see, their canopies are opaque. That’s temporary, and only a feature of the terrain editor. Obviously, they will have beautiful transparent canopies in the final game, just as they do in the P-51 currently flying in DCS World.
Thanks everyone! Stay tuned for the killer aircraft video.

Hello everyone,
We're almost there! We've almost reached the goal. That is amazing.

I think the backing pace slowed down a bit because everyone feels that the base goal is pretty much there, but the very next stretch goal is so far it's virtually unreachable.

We need smaller stretch goals, and we need to make them good. I've asked about this in the comments yesterday and received overwhelming support.

The thing is, after the base 100K we are hitting the no-internal-funding zone. Features begin to cost what they really cost. We need to raise a lot more money for individual line items. 150K seems like a very reasonable stretch goal to add, but we can hardly do anything for the extra 50K. Definitely not a map and definitely not a whole new plane. The only thing we can try to squeeze in for the 50K is a cockpit for the 262, and that's only because we are already doing the AI version.

So, the new stretch goals will be as follows:

100K: Base

150K: Flyable Me.262A-1 jet fighter

275K: Normandy map extended North to include Southern England (up to but without London)

425K: Flyable B-17

Moving the 262 up allows us to create an attractive stretch goal at the lowest cost possible of all. This pushes back the flyable B-17 by the same 50K, but I think it's worth it.

Please help us get there! If you've already backed the project, please consider increasing your pledge. If we all put together, everyone who pledged $40 or higher gets the Me.262 for free in the initial release!

And if you have not yet backed, please consider doing so. Even backing at the $1 level helps. That still gets us a little closer to our goals, and most importantly shows the overall level of support. This project is not just about the dollar amount, but about community support. The number of backers shown next to the project is extremely important! We're currently at 1,378 backers and $97,293. If we can get to 2,000 backers by the project's end, even if that means only adding a single dollar from these new backers, that is still going to be an amazing showing.

Please remember that backing at even the $1 level allows you access to backer-only updates, polls, and discussions. We will be interacting with the community a lot in the months between the end of the KS campaign and the initial release. We are currently discussing our 3rd party content development options internally. A decision will be reached next week as to the exact extents, but some level of involvement is virtually guaranteed. We will almost certainly do a backer-only something, perhaps an SDK, perhaps some other tools. So backing at even the $1 level will allow you to either get directly involved in modding and expanding the game, or just to access the internal updates on the progress.

Thank you everyone for your support and for your enthusiasm. Let's keep pushing forward!

PS Some of you noticed that the P-51s in the previous update had no weight with the gear struts fully extended. Everyone responsible has been dealt with. Struts have been compressed. Apologies extended.

Copied from the Dev Diary section in case it gets lost in there.
I will also post details of how you could be in with a chance to get a licence in this thread.

Come and fly the Hawk for free
The guys at Virtual Aerobatics will be providing a long weekend session, or maybe a week if it goes well, of Hawk being included in their server mission.
We will be giving away 30 full copies of DCS:Hawk with a time limited licence for you to try out over that weekend.
This is your chance to give us valuable feedback on what you think of our product before you buy it. Also to give the community some feedback on what you think of it rather than us telling you it's awesome.
Details on how to get an activation code will be given out soon and we'll do a little trivia competition next week for that one. Easy answers to find on Google kind of thing.

If any squads out there would like to run a sqaud hosted session trying out the Hawk, please send me a PM for details and we can discuss it further. I know some of you are very interested in it.

Now the licence keys when registered are tied to your machine, so you can't give them out to friends and they will be a limited licence key, probably to 15 or 30 days to give you enough time to play around with the Hawk in SP and MP.
Once that time period is up, you will still be able to sit in the cockpit but the jet won't function.
For the lucky 30 of you, you won't need the Multiplayer module as you will have the full product.

This is kind of an open beta so your feedback at that time will be very valuable as we move into the finishing stages of development and we will create a new forum section for the feedback.

We will probably run another event in October and December along the same lines.

DCS:Hawk Flight Manual
Obviously you will want to know how to fly the Hawk and what better way than to read the flight manual. This will be released along with the multiplayer and test modules and generally posted for all of you.
Again it's a work in progress and any suggestions are gratefully welcomed with a new feedback forum created.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the above.

Thanks,
Chris.

Ok guys here is the competition to win a limited time licence activation code.

As a reminder, the licence keys when registered are tied to your machine, so you can't give them out to friends and they will be a limited licence key, until the 31st October 2013 to give you enough time to play around with the Hawk in SP and MP.
Once that time period is up, you will still be able to sit in the cockpit but the jet cockpit won't function.
For the lucky 30 of you, you won't need the Multiplayer patch module as you will have the full product installed.

There are 5 simple questions as below:
1) What year was the Hawk first flown?
2) What is the name of the powerplant in the Hawk?
3) Aside from the Red Arrows which other display teams use the Hawk? (note there are two)
4) How Many Hawk T1's were converted into T1a's
5) In what Year did the Red Arrows start flying the Hawk T1a?

All 5 Answers along with your ED forum name or Facebook name should be emailed to competition@veaosimulations.co.uk

The subject line of the email should be: DCS:Hawk public release competition.
And the Email should contain your ED forum name or Facebook name and the 5 answers.

As my ED forum inbox is limited, please do not PM me the answers and send an Email instead.
If you do not have the ability to send an email then please contact me via PM.

Rules:
The competition will close on Friday 27th September 2013 at 08:00 UTC
All entrants will be logged on a spreadsheet and numbers assigned to their names in order of entry being received. A random number generator will then be used to pick 30 winners.
Winners will be notified by private message on the ED forums or Facebook along with your activation key.
Only one entry per person is allowed.

Good luck,
Chris.

This demo shows early implementation of SPRD-99 rocket booster for DCSW MiG-21. At the moment (sept 2013) the booster has not yet been 3D modeled.

Coretex Designs - 09/25/13


First off I'd like to thank everyone for waiting this long for a new update and sticking with us. It has truly been a journey to get to this point where we can release an update.
Throughout the past few months we have been hard at working developing Coretex Designs and the F/A-18E project. Through our journey we have had to remove members, and gain new members. This transition of old and new members has provided us with a dedicated team. We are now the most productive we have ever been. New items, features, and abilities are being developed/added weekly.
This could only be possible with our new members. We now have some outstanding programmers, designers, and testers (real world experience). Combining the couple of members that have stayed throughout our journey with our new members we now have an excellent team of individuals that will go far.
Updates

In the following weeks you will see a complete change in the way we function. We will be releasing regular updates and be more active with our trusting and strong community. We will now be updating not only through the forums but also through facebook, google +, twitter, youtube , vimeo , tumblr and our under development website. (links will be below)
F/A-18E Module
Now onto our most anticipated news, the F/A-18E module. During the past couple months we have accomplished way too much to list on this page but I'll highlight a few of the key points. The video posted below shows a short demonstration of what we have completed.
EFM
The EFM (External Flight Model) is now at a point in it's stages where we'll be handing over the module to our testers to receive their input. One of the highlights of the EFM is our very own FCS (Flight Control Systems). By the time the final build of our module is published the FCS will have a mind of its own.
External Model
In the past month we have re-vamped several items on our external model. This includes the engines intake/outtake, and nose gear. Also, in the next few weeks our external textures will be getting revamped as-well. Our external textures are being completed by Jack from the forums. Also, we are excited to show work in progress photos of our very own pilot that will be featured in the module. Below you can find several screenshots showing the new models/textures that are a work in progress.
Cockpit
The current status of our cockpit is that modeling, and animations are complete. We are still working on texturing, and scripting most of the cockpit functions. In the video below you can see that we have a functional HUD, EFD, and UFCD. Our L/R DDI's, and MPCD are still being scripted.
Now, if you are wondering about our cockpit textures I can assure you they will look nothing like what they look like now in the final module. We are bringing on a very popular cockpit texture artist from the forums in the upcoming weeks that will start turning this cockpit into a beauty. We will post regular updates on this subject as-well.
Here is a list of completed functions within the cockpit.
APU Switch/Light
ENG CRANK Switch
Probe Extend Switch
Formation Light Switches/Knobs
Launch Bar Switch
Taxi Light Switch
Flap Switch
Parking/Emergency Brake
Gear Lever
Hook Lever
WingFold Switch
L Gen Switch
Battery Switch
R Gen Switch
Internal Lighting Knobs
Canopy Switch
Battery Gauge
Hydraulic Gauge
Vertical Velocity Gauge
Altimeter Gauge
Airspeed Gauge
Attitude Gauge
Brake Pressure Gauge
Warning Lights
HUD
UFCD
EFD


Side Project

We currently have a side project that we'd like to share with everyone today. We are still in the very early stages of development but I'm glad to say that we are now developing the CVN-77 Carrier for DCS. We are currently in the modeling/texturing stages. With the help of "John Dafermos" or better known on the forums as "Astoxos." Below you can find some work in progress screenshots of the carrier model/texturing. More news and updates to come as this project further develops.
We hope you have truly enjoyed this new update that we have released today. We will be releasing new, and regular updates from now on. Please feel free to contact us through any of the following networks. Thank you!

Video update #1
https://youtu.be/we8zvRWD8fo

Guys,
I am pleased to present to you the first iteration of the DCS:Hawk Quickstart guide.

I hope this gives you enough information on certain functions of the Hawk.

I will be developing it further over the coming weeks based on your feedback and from the public testing and additional features you would like to see within the guide.

It is not meant to replace the full manual but more an overview to get you started and flying, hence quickstart.

Please let me know of any errors, omissions, improvements, etc.

http://www.veaosimulations.co.uk/dcshawk/manuals/DCSHawk_QuickStart_Guide.pdf

Thanks and enjoy,
Chris.

DCS WWII: Europe 1944: Kickstarter Video #4: Plane Talk

Update #6 · Sep 25, 2013 · 15 comments
Good evening gentlemen!

We're down to the wire! Just a few days left before this kickstarter ends.

I really hope we can energize the community enough not to just hit the 150K Me.262 stretch goal, but to get as close as we can to the 275K Southern England stretch goal!

We can do this in one of several ways.

We can find a large new community that has never heard of this project and get them excited. That's certainly very possible. We're getting virtually no exposure outside flight sim forums. If you know of a gaming resource that could be interested in our project, please help us out!

Secondly, we can get some extra help from existing backers. If you've backed at a $40 level, it may seem like you're already getting everything you want. If enough others come in and pledge, you'll get the Me.262 at no extra cost. However what if they don't? No one gets anything. We're getting into a very interesting field of psychology here, but basically we're in a situation where inaction gets everybody nothing, while a seemingly altruistic action benefits everyone, including the actor. In other words, if you can, please bump up your $40 pledge. If enough people do that, all $40 backers get the Me.262. In yet other other words, while on paper the price of the game with the included Me.262 is $40, in reality it is probably a bit more. The way things stand today, a $40 pledge may not actually buy the 262.

Lastly, we hope that some people who were on the fence about the project will be finally converted by today's video. If you have not yet backed the project but were watching it, please get involved! Even a $1 pledge is absolutely great. It still gets us a bit closer to our stretch goal, and, even more importantly, it increases our total number of backers. That, at this point in time, is at least as important a number as the dollar amount below it.

So, without further ado, here's a long extended conversation with Dmitry "Yo-Yo" Moskalenko, the lead aircraft programmer in DCS. He'll talk about the long evolution of the Eagle Dynamics flight model, and puts forward a great case for it being the best flight model on the market today. Yo-Yo created the P-51, our flagship prop-driven fighter simulation, and we're very fortunate to announce that not only will Dmitry be involved with and supervise and quality control all aircraft built by RRG, he will also personally work on our Spitfire Mk.IX, a project of a great personal interest to him.

Here's the video:

https://youtu.be/8o6zOuvhY-k

Hi Guys,

As many of you know we sadly lost Jim this year, he was a dear friend to the DCS community and it would have been his 66th birthday on the 26th of September.

As such with Chris from VEAO we will be doing a memorial formation and passes in respect to Jim and what he meant to all of us.

Virtual Aerobatics is honored to host this flypast, I will be raising the player limit specifically for this event and removing the collision damage so everyone can take part regardless of ability.

I ask each of you who enjoys this hobby of ours to spare half an hour tomorrow and come show everyone how much Jim is respected and missed for his dedication to the community.

I have a dedicated mission for this and we would love to see every slot taken and people waiting for slots for this.

Jim was a great man and I am fortunate enough to say that I knew him and spent many times discussing anything and everything with him. Memories that will stay with me forever.

We will be having a flight briefing at 19:00GMT (20:00 BST) and aim to start up and take off at 19:15/20:15

I sincerely hope that we see as many people as our server can hold tomorrow.

Spread the word, lets show the world what Jim meant to us.

Pman

As the wind blows, way up high,
I soar like a bird into the sky.
As I spread my wings, in flight,
Do not cry, do not fight.
I am amongst the clouds, and rain and sun,
Where I belong, where I came from.
Remember me close, remember me near,
For true flying legends, are always here.

Honestly I don't have that much to say at the moment. The next patch scheduled for release is the update to 1.2.6 already announced here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=114584. Being that it is primarily designed to fix stability issues, it has little to do with the Huey and Hip specifically and will include only the minimum new changes needed to address those problems so as to minimize the chances of fouling something else up at the same time. If all goes well, we will then move on to the next big update, which may or may not be 1.2.7 and will likely feature more updates dedicated to the Huey and Hip.

In terms of what we've been working on internally, it's mostly been the external cargo model for the Huey, numerous cockpit updates and fixes for the Hip, and some command updates and fixes. Sorry, but no dramatic new features yet.

Much of our efforts are currently on DCS 1.2.6 Update 1 . One of the biggest focuses of this update is on game stability. When the change log is final, it will be posted.

Matt

Ilya Shevchenko about 12 hours ago
Hey folks,
Brace yourselves. The next video I release is going to be a much less hardcore look at the game, targeted towards more casual or new players. Still going to have a bunch of gameplay footage, maybe some EDGE, but generally nothing amazingly new.
Then I'll do a part two of the aircraft video talking about the modeling. There's a lot of intricacies there too. External models, cockpits, animations, damage, etc. Should be interesting, and I don't think a lot of developers usually talk about that.
Now, back to EDGE. Doing some color corrections. Maybe it'll look a lot prettier by tomorrow.

Good morning !

Brace yourselves. The video we're releasing now is a much less hardcore look at the game. Yet, it tries to answer some of the most important questions we have as flight simmers.

Why are there so few of us?

Why are millions of people playing other hardcore games, games with perhaps more of a learning curve than DCS P-51? Why are they willing to brave through hours of frustration, deaths, restarts, toxic multiplayer, and all of that for a payoff that, to me, is much less satisfying than watching your enemy go down after a dogfight?

The video has my thoughts.

Next, we'll do a part two of the aircraft video focusing on the modeling. There's a lot of intricacies there too. External models, cockpits, animations, damage, etc. Should be interesting, and I don't think a lot of developers usually talk about that.

And a quick update on EDGE. We've been doing some color corrections this week. Beginning to look a lot more like what we want. We'll have a few screenshots soon; just don't want to muddle up this update.

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYy5MgFd7ME

Eight Days And Counting



Have you backed DCS WWII yet? While most of the stretch goals are looking distinctly pipedreamy at present, the $100,000 base hurdle has been cleared and the scent of hot Jumo turbojets is getting stronger with every passing day. Curious about the new Me 262 objective and a Kickstarter campaign that has jinked like a faulty Fritz X, I sent some searching questions Ilya Shevchenko’s way.



RPS: As the first major flight sim developer to use Kickstarter, do you have any advice for studios that decide to follow in your contrails?

Ilya: Launch a pre-kickstarter discussion with your fans about everything. We’ve done a couple of sharp turns during our kickstarter and changed our rewards and stretch goals, and we wish we could change even more.

You may think you know what your fans want, but they know it even better. We went the “vague hints and allusions followed by a major reveal” route, and that locked us in to some bad decisions. If you open up everything you have to the fans without being locked into anything by kickstarter, and dedicate a couple of weeks to a thorough discussion, you will be able to discover and correct a lot of completely unexpected shortcomings.

We had not done that and learned it the hard way. Our kickstarter campaign has definitely lost some money because we miscalculated on a lot of rewards. Our high-price rewards turned out to be too bland, while lower-tier rewards offered too many choices and ended up confusing people. Our stretch goals had to be revised twice. Even our overall marketing approach completely shifted about a week into the campaign. Had we identified and corrected this before launching, I’m sure we could have done even better.



RPS: Why was the Me 262 chosen as the focus for the new $150,000 stretch goal? Surely they saw relatively little action over Normandy?

Ilya: The project is not Normandy 1944, but rather Europe 1944. Normandy terrain is the first one we’re doing, but it’s not our primary or only focus. We want to have a generic plane set to recreate a variety of aerial battles that took place over Western Europe in that year, and the 262 is certainly a very good airplane for that.

With DCS, creating aircraft is a very expensive and time-consuming business. Even creating sub-variants of existing aircraft is extremely complicated. That is why we cannot make a plane set specifically tailored for any one historical battle. If we did that, moving on to Market Garden or Ardennes would require a huge effort. With a more generic set of planes, we can cover more ground.

However, the main reason for the Me.262 being the next immediate stretch goal is that we’re already doing half the work for it in the base tier. All aircraft in DCS contain three parts: the external model, the cockpit model, and the programming. A plane without a cockpit can still be flown by AI. That’s what the 262 will be in the initial release if we don’t hit any stretch goals: a troublesome enemy that makes defending bombers really challenging. Adding a cockpit to it and making it player controllable is not as big of a task as making an entire new plane from scratch. So, the Me.262 is the cheapest and the quickest new plane we can add to the base project, and therefore the most reachable stretch goal we can do.



RPS: The EDGE engine looks splendid. Do you think it’s going to make piloting easier… more naturalistic?

Ilya: Yes we do. There is something intangible about the feeling of flight you get from terrain. Objects of proper scale, various small details, grass, trees, all that background noise, proper colors, all create that subconscious feeling of being there. It also makes it possible to gauge your airspeed and altitude without glancing at your instrument cluster, another huge advantage.



It takes a tremendous effort to design and perfect, and it’s one of those things you never even notice when it works. It works on a subconscious level by adding various subtle clues that all add up to better immersion.

EDGE, to my knowledge, is the only flight sim terrain engine specifically designed for and tested by real pilots. Proper feeling of flight at all altitudes, realistic-looking airfields, all of that is designed precisely to feel as close to the real thing as possible.



RPS: If none of the stretch goals are reached will all Allied sorties start and finish in the air?

Ilya: No, of course not. Post D-Day the Allies built a huge number of temporary airfields all over the Normandy coast. That’s where the Allied players will be based.



RPS: Will hedge-hopping DCS WWII pilots need to worry about vegetation collisions?

Ilya: My long and painful experience with past projects forces me to add a warning here that all features are subject to change and so on and so forth. And, the answer is yes.



RPS: Do you foresee DCS WWII growing in a similar way to DCS: World? Might we, one day, see third-party aircraft from the likes of Belsimtek, and simple Combined Arms-style tank simming?

Ilya: We hope so. RRG is certainly not taking over the DCS WWII market. We fully understand the value of cooperation, and, as hard as that may be to believe, we care about fan experience more than about anything else. Happy fans equal series longevity. If we sit on DCS WWII by ourselves, we can only make a certain amount of content per year. We do not have the resources to expand the project into all theaters of WWII and cover even all the major aircraft, not to mention all the less important or obscure ones we really enjoyed having in our past projects.

A large 3rd party or even community-run effort to create aircraft, maps, ground objects, etc can and should turn DCS WWII into a comprehensive all-around flight sim that almost has more than any single fan would ever need. That’s our dream.



RPS: Creating single-player campaigns that are both involving and replayable seems to be something the flight sim industry isn’t especially good at these days. How are RRG and ED approaching the task?

Ilya: I’ve been doing flight sims for a very long time, and we’ve tried a whole bunch of things over the years. We’ve played with static campaigns; these allow for more immediate wow-factor, but virtually no replay value. We’ve played with dynamic campaigns. These offer nearly unlimited replay value in theory, but in reality begin to feel generic and empty rather quickly. Dynamic campaigns are also a lot more difficult and expensive to create. Bland cookie-cutter missions are perhaps a feature of a poor dynamic campaign engine, but we’ve never had the luxury to create a great big full-featured one. So we won’t try it in Europe 1944.

For now, our solution may not be perfect, but at least it’s novel.We plan to release regular content updates that include new missions and campaigns, some for free, and some for a small cost.

We also plan to work with our community. DCS ships with a powerful campaign and mission editor which allow anyone to create their own single- or multiplayer content. We’ve noticed with our past titles that the quality of some user-made content easily eclipses that of our own. We hope to engage the best of the community and actively promote their content through our official channels, making it available to a larger slice of our player base.

In short, we will have static campaigns. We’ll deal with replayability by consistently releasing new content.



RPS: Disappointed by the last major WW2 flight sim release, some potential backers seem to be hanging back. Do you have any words of reassurance for this group?

Ilya: If there’s one thing we learned from that is that we should not agree to make games cheaper and quicker than we feel we should.

The only reassurance I can add though is that we are making a free-to-play game. If the quality of the initial release is not stellar, we are all out of a job. No one wants that. The reason we’re doing this again, the reason I have my old colleagues back on board, is that we really do feel like we finally, perhaps for the first time in our flight sim development careers, have enough time and money to properly build and test a game.

Finally, we are working with Eagle Dynamics. We are putting their hallowed DCS name on our title. ED has industry-best reputation for quality. There is no reason for them at all to release an inferior product.



RPS: Viewed from the outside, creating high-fidelity light sims looks to be a pretty stressful and high-risk business. What aspects of the process do you find most enjoyable and satisfying?

Ilya: I like planes.

My enjoyment went through several distinct phases. If we’re going to get a bit sentimental here, well, why not.

The very first time I did something concrete was when we were alpha testing Oleg’s first flight sim way back in the year 2000. I remember sending a bunch of suggestions, then launching the next build and suddenly seeing my corrections right there in the game. Having tangible input on a project of that scale and quality just blew my mind.

I just surfed that rush for the next couple of years. My involvement with the project grew, and I ran a site that managed all 3rd party mods for the title, an effort that took more time than my full-time paying job. It completely devoured me, and I enjoyed every second of it. I just really enjoyed seeing the progression of an aircraft from a blueprint to a vague 3D shape to a beautiful textured model and finally to a roaring in-game war machine.

My role continued to expand and by around 2003 I was basically allowed to steer the ship. That gave me a new thrill. I realized that I was creating entire worlds. I could just point at some idea and say “let’s do this”. Then all these people were suddenly working to implement my vision. A few months later, my vague fantasy suddenly became something tangible, something that existed on its own. It’s such a complex emotion I’m having a hard time putting it into words. I felt like I controlled this huge complex machine whose final end-product was my own videogame! The four-year-old in me enjoyed it on one level, while the more grown-up me, I guess, enjoyed the intricacies and ups and downs of being able to put such a complex plan into motion.



Another huge factor, and perhaps the most important one for me, is simply working with friends. We’re a bunch of people who love the same thing, are obsessed with the same idea. We’ve known each other for over a decade. We work well together. We like each other. We have fun. A group of life-long friends who have been through thick and thin, all working together and doing something they truly love, that’s just extremely powerful. And like I said, I just really happen to love WWII aviation. If I had been doing the exact same thing I’m doing except my games were about elves or post-apocalyptic battle mechs, it wouldn’t have been the same.

RPS: Thank you for your time.