DCS: World

Good Morning Guys,
I can't believe it's the end of August already, where has this year gone??

Being the holiday season mainly over here in Europe a few of our team are off enjoying the summer sunshine which means development slows down a little; however this does give me some more time to actually enjoy flying the aircraft whilst doing more lengthy testing sessions rather than just jumping in, testing a specific system and back out of DCS, multiple times, over and over.

As most of you know I'm more of a jet head but I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying flying the P-40F with all of it's little quirks, especially in VR.
One thing that really struck me the other day was doing circuit bashing, trying to get my landings right (to save embarrassment later) and in the P-40F cockpit along both sides are two big canopy frame bars that run the entire length of the canopy.
You really feel how close these are in VR and when turning final you have to hunker down to see under the canopy bar to keep your bearings on the runway.
I remember speaking to the pilots at various Duxford air shows and they talked about this a lot.
Chatting to Stevo Hinton when we got a chance to sit in Princess Liz a couple of years back I remember this big bar running down the canopy and imagining how Stevo would have to hunker down to see out, which he was explaining; well you really get this feeling in the P-40F as well, especially in VR.

As I've said before the P-40F has really been designed with VR in mind from the model to the textures as these add massively to the whole VR experience, along with the sounds of course.
Which brings me nicely on to what I'm working on today in fact. Updated sounds from our sound engineer are being integrated into the module replacing our temporary place-holder sounds.
It really is amazing how sounds make a huge difference to the whole experience and I can't wait for you to hear the roar of the Merlin as you taxi out and do your power checks with the canopy open and then can still hear and feel that roar as you close the canopy and wind her up for take off.
As I've said I'm more of a jet head but man I'm loving this bird, more than any of the other WWII aircraft in DCS and I hope you will too.

Flight testing against the numbers has also started and many thanks to the tireless repetitiveness of testing from our core testing team to record the flights for analysis against the numbers.
This is essential for ensuring the EFM is as accurate as possible, along with the niggly quirks given to us by the pilots who fly her at TFC Duxford.
We obviously want our first WWII module to be special and the team have done an amazing job on this one.

Chuck is chomping at the bit to get his hands on P-40F for making a video for you guys and making one of his excellent guides so keep an eye out for both of those coming soon.

Next steps for us are to polish off the module and get it over to TFC and ED for verification and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the reaction from you guys during future live flight streams.

Now, let's talk about Hawk.
She is definitely a labour of my love and we've had a rocky history over the past several years.
Most of you know the problems we have had with coding, textures, DCS updates causing issues and all of those things.
I feel we have learnt a hell of a lot from our first module release and she still teaches us how to do things today given the advancement of the sim.
These are lessons learnt which has given us a better direction going forward with our upcoming modules.
But, I hear you say, what about Hawk and all of those lessons...
Well, Hawk will be getting a major overhaul from a complete re-write of the ASM code to an updated cockpit to a realistic weapons suite and many more features.
We are bringing on new talented staff and utilising the excellent skills of our current staff to give her an upgrade.
I'm not going to go into details just yet about what that upgrade will include as I want it to be more of a surprise to you when it gets patched in the future but I think you'll like what I have planned

For now, the team are still concentrating on fixing the bugs that still exist, patching up the holes if you will, which will help with the upgrade later.

Again, I can assure you that Hawk has not been forgotten about.

On to the other side of the business, the military aspect and events promotion; I've had some excellent tech demo's over the past few months and some exciting opportunities are coming up which we are working on. Some are early discussions and some are more advanced and in final negotiations. These will also benefit our consumer side of the business and details will be revealed later on as to what aircraft they entail.
We are also working hard with our events partners and you should be seeing more of Hawk out and about very soon with an exciting livery on her. I'll be posting some screens soon on what we're working on so keep an eye out for them.

As we've said before; the updates will focus on our current and upcoming release products and work is still going strong on all of our other modules in development.
When they're closer to release we'll be posting more details about them.
However; do keep an eye on our Facebook page and chats through these forums as sometimes sneak peak stuff is discussed or shown.

Many thanks for your continued support and we wish you a great summer.
Chris and the team.

A few P-40F multiplayer screenies whilst sound testing just now...

Dear Simmers...First day after my move to the new appartment and I headed full speed ahead with the BO-105 Pilot/Co-Pilot (WIP).

A little update on the snipers. They are nearly done. Only the trousers of the buttom operator need a different texture and both will receive thier backpacks. Enjoy the week

DCS 1.5.4.56500 Update 5 Today

A-10C Operation Piercing Fury by Ranger79 integration.

DCS World
Crash server and client in multiplayer when another client occupies manpad unit is fixed
IC will not be cheated by unregistered mods
China's assets callsign format shown in ME is corrected
AA missiles will not dive after miss
MP. Fixed issue with difficult to close of chat window
No debriefing points for wins issue fixed
External model draw arguments accessible from Export.lua
Fixed the issue with artillery that not open fire in some places
Added RU phrases for ground air supply
MP. Added info about difficulties setting on the server
M1A2. Corrected damage model
Kneeboard. Added support of localized folder inside mission
Mid-range missile hit will not always causes to full aircraft destruction
Ground units. Fixed issue with shells that flying through target without collision
China unit system will be in metric

DCS FC3
Su-25. Radar altimeter pointer corrected
Su-25. The boom of opened canopy corrected
FC3 aircraft. An enabling of cockpit lights at night by default fixed
Su-27/33 indication corrected
Fixed issue with China a/c radio without audio

DCS SA342 Gazelle by Polychop
New same sight for both gun and rockets
Corrected VRS
Corrected Mistral Missile performances
Corrected issue with rearming Mistral version
Corrected issue with Yugoslav livery
Fixed game crash when crashing mistral version or swapping from mistral version to another helicopter
Corrected main alarm lamp to switch off with fuel lever full forward position
Changed some cockpit instrument glasses for compatibility with external mods
Fixed instruments internal lights
Now Copilot is no more be able to engage Autopilot Slaved mode, in multicrew
Added FFB feature, still WIP

DCS MiG-21Bis by Leatherneck Simulations
Changed default FOV to 150 degrees
Fixed side-slip ball while flying inverted.
Adjusted flight dynamics with drag chute deployed.
Corrected check warning lights button on landing gear panel causing the intake nose cone to extend.
Redefined ventilation lever from axis to lever.
Adjusted fuel set knob animation assignment to controller rotaries.
Adjusted ASP rotary inputs for controller devices.
Fixed trigger zone of canopy ventilation system handle.
Fixed canopy visibility and animation after rearm/repair.
Fixed when AI only fires S-5M rockets in pairs.
Corrected R-60M’s all aspect seeker-head.
Increased nose cone damage value.
Optimized LODs.
Added VVS Metal livery.
Fixed fuel tank pylons’ texture.
Fixed Southeria livery’s unweathered left wing.
Created new specular textures for metal and painted liveries.
Created normal bump textures for visible damage.
Corrected UV mapping on windscreen.
Corrected normals’ orientation on static center airbrake.
Fixed alpha channel presets for landing gear chocks. Holes now show.
Remodeled tires’ animation and damaged looks.
Animated engine fan blades.
Removed canopy covers for further testing with end-of-shutdown animation.
Disabled intake relief and spill doors’ visibility arguments for further testing.
Partially fixed two primary engine sounds at mission start.

DCS L-39
L-39ZA. A gun smoke texture will not be visible without shooting
Pilot textures corrected
L-39C. Fixed bug with the weapon panel bomb lamps are not lit, when bombs are on the hardpoints
L-39ZA. Gun moment is zeroize
Pitot dyn slowdown speed calculation fix

DCS Mi-8MTV2
Cyrillic characters on the few cockpit warning lights was replaced in the English cockpit

DCS Bf 109 K-4
Update on training missions for Bf 109K-4
Reworked control surfaces deflection saturation to a clamping behaviour
Electrical gauges will depend of electric power
Fixed surface degradation upon detachment of control surfaces, redesigned axis-driven elevator trim behaviour
Added zero tick to trim scale

DCS F-5E
Fixed through hole on external model
CHAFF/FLARE dispenser is available by default during air start
Fuel tanks will be available for repair

DCS 2.0.3.56503 Update 2
Today.

DCS World
Crash server and client in multiplayer when another client occupies manpad unit is fixed
IC will not be cheated by unregistered mods
External model draw arguments accessible from Export.lua
Fixed the issue with artillery that not open fire in some places
Added RU phrases for ground air supply
MP. Added info about difficulties setting on the server
Kneeboard. Added support of localized folder inside mission
Mid-range missile hit will not always causes to full aircraft destruction
Ground units. Fixed issue with shells that flying through target without collision
China unit system will be in metric
China's assets callsign format shown in ME is corrected
MP. Fixed issue with difficult to close of chat window
AA missiles will not dive after miss

DCS FC3
Su-25. Radar altimeter pointer corrected
Su-25. The boom of opened canopy corrected
FC3 aircraft. An enabling of cockpit lights at night by default fixed
Su-27/33 indication corrected
Fixed issue with China a/c radio without audio

DCS SA342 Gazelle by Polychop
New same sight for both gun and rockets
Corrected VRS
Corrected Mistral Missile performances
Corrected issue with rearming Mistral version
Corrected issue with Yugoslav livery
Fixed game crash when crashing mistral version or swapping from mistral version to another helicopter
Corrected main alarm lamp to switch off with fuel lever full forward position
Changed some cockpit instrument glasses for compatibility with external mods
Fixed instruments internal lights
Now Copilot is no more be able to engage Autopilot Slaved mode, in multicrew
Added FFB feature, still WIP

DCS MiG-21Bis by Leatherneck Simulations
Changed default FOV to 150 degrees
Fixed side-slip ball while flying inverted.
Adjusted flight dynamics with drag chute deployed.
Corrected check warning lights button on landing gear panel causing the intake nose cone to extend.
Redefined ventilation lever from axis to lever.
Adjusted fuel set knob animation assignment to controller rotaries.
Adjusted ASP rotary inputs for controller devices.
Fixed trigger zone of canopy ventilation system handle.
Fixed canopy visibility and animation after rearm/repair.
Fixed when AI only fires S-5M rockets in pairs.
Corrected R-60M’s all aspect seeker-head.
Increased nose cone damage value.
Optimized LODs.
Added VVS Metal livery.
Fixed fuel tank pylons’ texture.
Fixed Southeria livery’s unweathered left wing.
Created new specular textures for metal and painted liveries.
Created normal bump textures for visible damage.
Corrected UV mapping on windscreen.
Corrected normals’ orientation on static center airbrake.
Fixed alpha channel presets for landing gear chocks. Holes now show.
Remodeled tires’ animation and damaged looks.
Animated engine fan blades.
Removed canopy covers for further testing with end-of-shutdown animation.
Disabled intake relief and spill doors’ visibility arguments for further testing.
Partially fixed two primary engine sounds at mission start.

DCS L-39
L-39ZA. A gun smoke texture will not be visible without shooting
Pilot textures corrected
L-39C. Fixed bug with the weapon panel bomb lamps are not lit, when bombs are on the hardpoints
L-39ZA. Gun moment is zeroize
Pitot dyn slowdown speed calculation fix

DCS Mi-8MTV2
Cyrillic characters on the few cockpit warning lights was replaced in the English cockpit

DCS Bf 109 K-4
Electrical gauges will depend of electric power
Reworked control surfaces deflection saturation to a clamping behaviour
Fixed surface degradation upon detachment of control surfaces, redesigned axis-driven elevator trim behaviour
Added zero tick to trim scale

DCS F-5E
Fixed through hole on external model
CHAFF/FLARE dispenser is available by default during air start
Fuel tanks will be available for repair

Alejandro at it...dumped what looked good but was not accurate and started all over again, Mirage III CJ Shahak for DCS

The fine tuning that goes into getting the bombs and tank to sit right in the racks is insane. Been at it for 3 hours now. Rotate a little bit here, move in a tad there, down a tad there....

Export the model, load DCS, Open mission and see how it is.

Back to Max, tweak some more...rinse and repeat.

All for you lot to then go and drop the darn things off the racks!!!

Note: I stopped the engine during flight so I could see more clearly the positions.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the details of what we go through making a module.

Chris

Wing correction, you can see the difference

And for my next work task; get the auto-start and auto-stop sequences coded - Check
It's so clever what you can do with DCS and these macro sequences and training tools.
Ah yeah...next task; training missions.

No rest for the wicked....

Chris

1.5.4.56500.155 hotfix.

"Operation Piercing Fury" campaign: Second mission, player parking position changed, traffic jam at the spawn fixed.

And just a quick update for everyone:

We're still working on solving bugs and merging new artwork into our existing codebase.
Many of the items in the July update are being checked off-- but we're still a ways out.

A few odds and ends (features that were "missed" or set as future Todos) are also being taken care of.

It's important to us that the Viggen is a very complete release, so that we can minimize the post-release support timeframe and focus our resources on the F-14 and other, future aircraft.
That said though, due to the size and complexity of the project, in comparison to the MiG-21, it's going to be an all hands on deck situation.

I wouldn't expect more than a few weeks between announcement and release. That's the hope and plan, in any case!

Thanks for all of your support.

Still in a very early WIP of texturing stage for our new F1 model, but we wanted to share with you the beginning of this process.
-----------------
Todavía en una fase muy temprana de la parte de texturización de nuestro nuevo modelo de F1, pero queríamos compartir con vosotros el comienzo de este proceso.

Or this one....
https://youtu.be/NOJKinBIZgY

A slightly earlier build. Sounds have been updated since this build and the cockpit has had a second pass.

The Virtual Horsemen had some fun in the Kitty's that's for sure

Not a big priority right now (as we have already the 3D model completed and released), but we will update the 3D model of C-101EB/CC, starting from the scratch. The reason? is simple, with all the time we have invested on this project, we want to care about each single detail. So we feel that we can provide a more detailed 3D model and updated to the new standards. In the same way we are revising and rewriting most of the systems in order to provide the module we once dreamed.
-------------------------------------
No es una gran prioridad en este momento (ya que se ha completado el modelo 3D y lanzado), pero vamos a actualizar el modelo 3D del C-101EB /CC, comenzando desde cero. La razón? es simple, con todo el tiempo que hemos invertido en este proyecto, queremos cuidar cada uno de los detalles. Por lo que creemos que podemos proporcionar un modelo 3D más detallado y actualizado a los nuevos estandares. De la misma manera estamos revisando y reescribiendo la mayoría de los sistemas con el fin de proporcionar el módulo que una vez soñamos.

Added support of A-10C Advanced Aircraft Training Qualification campaign by Maple Flag

DCS World.
Improved net extrapolator
Removed the scale that was displayed in the Campaign window

Separate FC-3 module Su-27
Position indicator (ИП-52) corrected

L-39
Fixed the incorrect liveries on LODs

DCS C-101 by AvioDev
Remodel Magnetic Compass
Coded many gauges and systems of rear cocpit, 80% completed
Added Adjustement pedals Front rear cockpit (model and system)

DCS World 2.0.3.57442 Update 3


DCS World
Fixed GUI error when choosing a place in the supply list.
Fixed explosion sounds after mission restart
Fixed FPS drop when using RADAR
Corrected score points for Armed House 2 (10 instead of 100)
No more Thrustmaster HOTAS, XBox 360, Cobra axis stuck when player moves it quickly
AI weird behavior at the mission start fixed
Fixed DCS World crash when unactivated module started
F10 Map view and clickable area fixed in multimonitor configuration
Scale icon removed from Campaign window

Network
Net phantom extrapolator improved
Server always get all network events to get game statistics.
Export API: a way to get own unit type implemented even when allow_ownship_export is turned off in server settings

A-10C
Fixed random crash on exit from mission

Bf 109 K-4
Slats movement fixed
DE Fw-190 Quick Start manual filename corrected
2 dogfight skin added

L-39
Speed calculation with rain fixed
Livery changing on different LODs fixed
Fixed random crash on exit from mission
Fixed crash on restart Instant Action missions

UH-1
Trimmer mode option added (now the same as Mi-8 )

Su-27
Position indicator (ИП-52) color corrected

FW-190
Fixed flap assignment for HOTAS Warthog

M-2000C
added separate mode for M-2000c ground ranging
TAS (radar ranging) upgrade.
AG gunsight upgrade.
HSI VAD enabled.
WP display on VTB bug fix.
OBL not displaying bug fix.
TAS for OBL/IP bug fix.
RWR Threat library updated
RWR Sounds updated
RWR Launch detection mode enabled
Radar NCTR library included
Radar NCTR enabled
Decoy release program enabled.
Built-in Jammer upgraded.
New keyboard bindings.
INS N.DEG light bug fixed
Bullseye coordinates fixed
INS "Always Aligned" not working bug fixed
Radar CCM bug fixed
DRM button added to Module Manager

HAWK
Smoke pylon added (pylon 6) within the body of the aircraft
Smokewinders removed from pylon 3 (fuselage) and added to pylon 6 on weapon loadout in mission editor (Note:
AI smoke functional, player smoke still bugged and working on)
DRM button added to Module Manager.

DCS MiG-21Bis by Leatherneck Simulations
Fixed radar causing FPS loss and/or occasional crash.
Fixed SRZO IFF causing a crash.
Increased roll rate.
Improved AFM flaps & airbrakes’ logic.
Improved AFM on supercritical AoA
Corrected vertical tail & rudder efficiency on critical and supercritical AoA
DRM button added to Module Manager