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Modern air combat flight sims?

Severian Silk

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Cool thread. As a kid I would have been excited by all these games. But my mind is too worn out these days to bother with sims.
 

Burning Bridges

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Among the negative things should be mentioned that this game is currently undergoing a horrible fork right now.

I currently have three versions installed, and all take up over 20 Gigabyte on my primary SSD:

Version A) DCS 1.5 Steam version
Version B) DCS 2.0 Beta (required for Nevada terrain)
Version C) DCS 1.5 Standalone (required if you want to buy modules from ED and not Steam)

If you add multiple caveats like that you can use Steam keys in EDs standalone but not the other way around (in fact Steam does not even have a Module Manager symbol in the menu), or that in the standalone version you apparently cannot change the language, you may understand how frustrating this is.

I may in fact abstain from buying the Me 109 module until I see a clear picture. Right now I use A) but would need B) if I bought Nevada, ot C) if I bought a module from EDs shop, unless if I also had Nevada, then I could be using B)
rating_rage.gif
 

J_C

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Speaking of money, DCS has discounts like almost every second week, I believe during christmas they even have 80-90% sales for some of their modules. Worth keeping eye on their newsletter.
 

Burning Bridges

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Thanks, I am actually holding off of buying stuff because I missed the fall sale. At 40% discount I would save 17€ per module which is (German) "still better than shit in a cupped hand".

I warn everyone to look twice before you pull the trigger on the Mig 21. As much as I like it that plane has a shitload of problems with activation which - for a 50$ product - is pathetic.
 

Burning Bridges

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There is Saab AJS 37 Viggen coming, which I am getting more and more excited about. With the canards at the front it is at first sight a stupid looking airplane but the more I look at it, the more I like it. A mach 2 cold war all round strike aircraft with US technology (very interesting back history that the Americans gave Sweden insight into their latest technology to influence Sweden's "neutrality"). Not last the Viggen was designed to take off and land on extremely short runways with a strengthened gear, possible the perfect plane for a heavy handed lander like me.

Screenshot is not from DCS, but the Swedes had this cool paintscheme, and I'm sure it looks at least as good in the game.

viggen.jpg
 

commie

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Viggen is cool. Would have liked the Draken as well being better suited to the 'lost era' that you are fond of BB. Speaking of which, the F-5 doesn't get the love it deserves in games, such a sleek and nippy aircraft.
 

Burning Bridges

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For some reason F-5 does not look like a fighter airplane to me, more like a civilian trainer. I don't like the cockpit for the same reason. But it's an interesting design, being Americas take on a low cost fighter. Did you know that George W. Bush flew F-5s in the National Guard?

Though I must accept that DCS generally cannot develop every one's modules. If the plane is too rare / secret, they don't get the required data. Which rules out such airplanes as the SR-71 or U-2. The terrain engine is not suitable for those bird anyway, with an SR-71 you could only fly a few minutes before you have to turn back at the end of the map :)

The airplanes which I most want to fly would be Tornado and F-104, as well as Mig-21 (sigh) and 23.
 

Burning Bridges

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I pulled the trigger on the Me 109K + Nevada bundle today. The map is still downloading and probably will for the rest of the evening, my first impression on the Messerschmitt is not so good. The model does not as impressive as the Mig 15 and the plane is really difficult to fly. Tbh I didn't know that they didnt have any trim flaps, all you can do is define some fixed values in the main menu so setting this up is a pain in the ass, and during flight you must adjust and set the optimal rpm. Such impressions can of course flip but for now this may be the last propeller plane I buy for this game. At the current moment I would not recommend it.
 

Burning Bridges

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screen_161016_181501.jpg


I should have stuck with my plan to get the Su 25 first. Somehow I like the external model more than the Me 109.

The Nevada terrain is boring as I expected. Of course you want something to fly around when you can't see Caucasus no more but it's basically just a few towns surrounded by landscape from the movie Dune. What's particularly shocking is that the desert does not even look impressive. In fact the textures are low quality. I can already envision the need to turn this into Iraq somehow, and forget when something pops up that reminds you that it's the USA.
 

Burning Bridges

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screen_161017_211706.jpg


Thankfully, the Messerschmitt 109 grows on me. It is actually a very interesting experience to fly it. First there were things that I expected it could do that it couldn't, and now I am finding more and more things that I thought it couldn't do but actually can.

Feels like a plane that could be very capable in the hands of an expert, which means I will forever suck at it. But it's still great fun.
 

Burning Bridges

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I couldnt resist the Steam Halloween Sale which offered me the Mig-21bis for 26.99€. And although purchase of another plane was not scheduled I think I will have more fun with this than with the Me-109K.

Ma favorite plane is still the Mig-15 but this one is looking good too.

screen_161105_200707.jpg


While I like the outer appearance, the plane imo needs some mods. For example I have immediately got rid of the blue cockpit and used this grey one.

screen_161106_180148.jpg


I also created my own sound mod, mostly using the external sounds from the F-5E and I like it so far. The default sound this plane comes with is terrible.

As to the horror stories about fps drops and activation problems, so far nothing. The plane has a default 15 activations instead of the usual 10 so that may be their way of admitting that there is a problem.
 

Burning Bridges

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Still spending most of my time modding the hell out of the Mig-21 but it's slowly getting to a point where I can use it. The horrible cockpit texture has been replaced by a blend of black and grey, and I tried so many sound bites from the game it's ridiculous. Sound is not awesome but at least it's ok now.

What really surprises me though is how agile this bird is. I expected something like the F-104, you know, takeoff, one big circle and land. But boy, this think can turn around like a paperplane. Even the Mig-15 was extremely hard to control in comparison.

The weak point is the engine. I quickly managed to stall the engine which is no fun in a Mach 2 jet. I now have to read what causes this, overthrottle is certainly one but it also happens in aerobatic maneuvres.

And another thing, the Mig-21 can't do loopings at all. I still have to study what hapens but if you pull the stick back it will just remain vertical in the air. Certainly not a big deal if you have this amount of turning capability min the horizontal, I dont need it in the vertical.
 

Burning Bridges

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screen_161118_183227.jpg


Some impressions from my first landing without breaking off the landing gear.

screen_161118_183314.jpg


It was hard but legit.

Whats really nice with this bird is that your tyres can blow up and you will actually see and hear it.

screen_161118_183346.jpg


In my excitement I completely forgot about the braking chute, so I ended up behind the runway. Didn't even check the mapping for this stuff.
 

Burning Bridges

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The Mig-21 sound was so bad, I could kick it's ass. I could simply not accept that one of my favorite planes has such lame audio.

I therefore spent considerable effort to create the ultimate sound mod, though I think there will never be an ultimate one (vanilla reuses some sound files in a way like they did not understand themselves what is going on) but imo this is now worth it folks. I find it much more enjoyable now to fly the airplane from F2 view.

If you want to participate or download head to this thread, I'll publish new versions there https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=173621&page=6
 

Burning Bridges

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Several videos of the upcoming AJS-37 Viggen have been published, thought you might want to check them.
 

Endemic

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What really surprises me though is how agile this bird is. I expected something like the F-104, you know, takeoff, one big circle and land. But boy, this think can turn around like a paperplane. Even the Mig-15 was extremely hard to control in comparison.

It's very agile at low speeds (below Mach 0.8). That's why in a combat situation, you'd want to hide behind terrain and lure enemy jets into a turning fight.

The weak point is the engine. I quickly managed to stall the engine which is no fun in a Mach 2 jet. I now have to read what causes this, overthrottle is certainly one but it also happens in aerobatic maneuvres.

And another thing, the Mig-21 can't do loopings at all. I still have to study what hapens but if you pull the stick back it will just remain vertical in the air. Certainly not a big deal if you have this amount of turning capability min the horizontal, I dont need it in the vertical.

That's a known weakness and concordant with the craft's delta-wing design. It should be able to loop just fine though.
 

Burning Bridges

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The in flight restarts are actually fun, once I learned how to do them. Also the stalling is becoming very rare since I avoid extended periods of negative Gs now.
 

Burning Bridges

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The F-4 Phantom has been announced recently https://belsimtek.com/news/1787/

Considering it is done by Belsimtek who imo made some of the best modules besides ED themselves (they seem to be sort of an inhouse third party group), I am actually looking forward to it. It's a two seater meaning two individual cockpits have to be modeled, so I think it will be at least another year before this gets into our hands. But it could potentially become one of the most popular planes, at least in this era. The Mig 21 has all that too but has too many small problems to really call it successful.
 

Burning Bridges

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I finally made up my mind about DCS 2.1 and reinstalled everything. After a nearly 24 hour, 40GB download the activation was actually a breeze. The game remembered all my keys and all that so the process was fully automatic, after all the hassle with this ancient registration method I was somewhat impressed.

The main reason I could no longer wait is the huge step up in graphics the latest version brings. Some recent footage from DCS 2.1 and Normandy is looking like a brand new flight sim. Showing 1.5's now 10 year old technology. Plane models have amazing specular maps and looking absolutely gorgeous (and with the exception of the Mig 21 the new effects are working most of the time). Lighting at different times of day is simply amazing, FPS us rock stable even over Las Vegas (I enable vsync and it seems stuck at 60)



One thing that must be said among all the criticism is that DCS is years ahead of all other flight sims. This project is now over 25 years in development, and represents the sole example how simulation games can be successful = several times more expensive than a normal game but with more manhours in it than project Apollo, you get a glimpse what a real simulator is supposed to be.

mpNONgS.jpg


I also finally got to flying the Bf109. It's a bitch at first to even fly straight, you are basically at the mercy of a nearly 2000 hp propeller .. but with some practice I am able to fly it almost like a normal plane. So far the trick was to stick with the recommended rpm for cruise flight and then let the throttle sit there. Still it will become the first plane that requires me to get into manual propellor pitch. Flying the Mig 15 in comparison is like going from a race car to a family car with automatic and servo - it just flies straight with hardly any input.

As to the transition to the modern Caucasus and 2.5 - it looks like it could be "any year" now. Seriusly, I think they will release it at the end of 2017, considering they release new screenshots almost weekly and then follow them up with more, not 6 month pauses.

Compare-1.jpg
 

Runciter

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Have they upgraded the Black Sea for 2.1 yet?
 

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