DCS Discussion

[Toonces]

^ that is my understanding.

[RyanE]

OK, I knew there was a 1.5 and a 2.0.  Didn't know there was a beta that also worked its way in there.

[Toonces]

I was being serious, JD.  DCS is a bit of a soup sandwich, and there's no telling what kind of shape the Harrier is going to be in on release, what combination of maps or installs it's going to work with, etc.  I am sincere when I say that there is value in letting someone else take the plunge first and get some first hand reviews before investing yourself.

[Jarhead0331]

For clarity, the Harrier is ONLY available for the 1.5 open beta client of DCS.
This is a seperate 'public test live' kinda variant of DCS which has its own installation.

The module will be made available to 1.5 stable and 2.1 in one or two weeks according to ED. Just so you know. 👍

So are there three different installs of DCS?

The latest news release indicated that DCS World 2.5 is only weeks away. This will merge the installs and alleviate the need for multiple versions. Personally, I only have the 1.5 beta and 2.1 alpha installed so I can play both maps.

[Jarhead0331]

FYI - No training scenarios or missions with the EA release. This is disappointing, but I understand the logic. There are a lot of avionics that are not yet implemented in EA so rather than having to rewrite missions, they are waiting until the module is more fully cooked. There are some tutorial videos available though which will no doubt prove useful.

[RyanE]

Its probably in here somewhere, but can I get the abridged version of why there so many "world" versions and the appearance of the need for a matrix to figure out what works with what.  Every time I inch towards possibly getting into DCS, I start to get a headache on version, alpha, beta, EA, etc.

It would seem to be a colossally inefficient approach to product management.

[Jarhead0331]

DCS was released with only one map initially, the Caucus Region. By the time their second map, Nevada, was ready for early access, Eagle Dynamics had moved on to a new graphics engine so Nevada and caucus were incompatible. This resulted in the release of DCS alpha 2.0, which ran the new Nevada map, while the Caucus map remained in the stable build of DCS world 1.5. At the same time, they started incorporating some of the newer engine features into the old map which resulted in a beta build of 1.5, so three separate versions. Stable, beta and alpha.

All the while, ED has been working on merging the installs, which appears to be right around the corner.

[RyanE]

And there is a WW2 map now also it appears  Is it released or is that in alpha, beta, EA?  It looks like its not fully released yet.

Edit ...nevermind.  I found the FAQ on the ED site.  I am going to skip the whole thing.  Just trying to work my way through the FAQ gave me a headache.  I won't waste anyone's time with more questions.

[JudgeDredd]

I was being serious, JD.  DCS is a bit of a soup sandwich, and there's no telling what kind of shape the Harrier is going to be in on release, what combination of maps or installs it's going to work with, etc.  I am sincere when I say that there is value in letting someone else take the plunge first and get some first hand reviews before investing yourself.

Then please accept my apologies 

[Nefaro]

May I respectfully suggest that you two wait a bit until some reviews are posted before purchasing?  Save yourselves and all of us the headache.   #:-)

Yeah, the internet is already raging over the 1.5.8 update and a new DRM method that seems to be creating confusion.

I hope they haven't messed up their activation DRM again.


When the MiG-21 developer split into two separate companies sometime in the last year, it de-registered my Fishbed.  Had to check the forum and do some manual finagling to get the damn thing to re-enable, otherwise I couldn't use it. 

Which also burned another activation for it.  Fortunately those limited activations are supposed to be automatically renewed as time goes by, so I haven't had to contact anyone to ask for them to fix it. 

No worries if it's a smooth transition and they're not making their customers jump through anymore hoops.  But I've not yet seen the details.  I hope they aren't making things more of a pain in the ass. I see no reason for doing so.  It's already a mild annoyance.

[Toonces]

^ That's putting it...mildly.   8)

I was catching up on DCS on SimHQ yesterday.  I understand that the Hornet is going to roll out with only partial functionality, eg. no A/G radar, only partial implementation of A/A modes, no AAMRAM, and so on.

[Jarhead0331]

^it is early access, you know... :-\

[Toonces]

Absolutely.  I'm not suggesting folks buy or don't buy, just know what you're getting.  All the negative nellies congregate on SimHQ, so it's a biased viewpoint over there.  The consensus, though, is that buying EA with the hope that the aircraft will eventually be completely finished is both risky, and is hurting the simulator in general by limiting or removing the financial incentive for ED to actually follow through with their promises.

And, of course, there are the folks that aren't going to read the fine print that the jet lacks full functionality, even in A/A where it would be expected.

[RyanE]

I was poking around the SimHQ forums a bit recently and noted that there are complaints about some aircraft either not being finished or taking too long to finish.  Some of that is tempered by overall negativity of the SimHQ forum.  But is still something that exposes the risk of EA with ED. 

In general, it seems most of the complaints are focused on too many things going on with ED, too many stated commitments from ED, and lack of meeting commitments.  But again, with the general tone of the SimHQ forum, its hard to figure out if there is any real risk with DCS.

[Nefaro]

Like so many games being released as 'Early Access', I keep telling myself it's far better to just wait until the new hotness has not only left EA, but continued to have updates past official release. 

Because both EA and normal releases are patch-fests for quite awhile.  I end up just waiting on all those to finish.

Better to wait until all that's done.  By then, the title/pack/dlc will be going on sale.

Broke my recent rule a couple times lately, however.  Whaddya know... constant patches.  But I'm not going to break down and pay $60 or $70 for an aircraft module that will be incomplete & buggy for another year or two at best.  I'd hate myself for being exceptionally weak.