DCS 2.5 Released!

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

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Update: Out a day early folks! https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3371822#post3371822

https://updates.digitalcombatsimulator.com/

Original:
Digital Combat Simulator (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/world/)


DCS has been in a bit of a state of flux for the last wee while. They've had split development between version 1.5 of the game and version 2.

As of the 31st of January they're combining code paths from the alpha development with the standard map and planes and releasing version 2.5.

For VR folks we're expecting better performance and prettier visuals than either 1.5 or 2.

Since it's available for the grand old price of free (for a limited number of planes) I thought it might be worth bringing to people's attention.

The developers of DCS aren't known for keeping to their release dates but the 31st January deadline is looking pretty solid at the moment given the latest video released above mentions this date with only 6 days to go.

One thing to note before you buy any additionally planes/modules is that you can buy them from their website or Steam but if you buy on either platform they only work with that version of the game. So you can't buy a plane from their website and get it to work with the Steam version of the game, and vice versa.

Also, don't ever buy the planes at full price. They have sales at LEAST once a year where you can get 20%/50% off.

Anyway, once 2.5 is released get it download and give it a try. Hell, download version 1.5 and give that a shot, it works fine as is anyway! :)
 
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I'll believe it when I see it.

Been wanting to get back into this for ages. Barely used it since getting the Vive but on the odd occasion I did performance was pretty rubbish. Have been waiting for 2.5 with cautious optimism.
 
I can hardly wait. Being practising in a variety of aircraft recently, including the Su25t, A10c and Harrier.
Just love the "game", IMO the best way to show off VR.
 
My current DCS install was so out of date I figured it made sense to start afresh. Rather than install 1.5 and update it I'm waiting for 2.5 standalone.
 
Being playing most of the day now. VERY happy man.
- ED appear to have implemented multi-core support, as task manager is now showing them all running well
- With Deferred shading on, does look awesome. I think they've tweaked the lighting beyond where they'd got to on 2.2
- Deferred shading still doesn't really like MSAA (in game). Ended up disabling it due to frame rate issues in VR. Once disabled, it's been VERY smooth on my Rift
- Have tried a variety of aircraft. Haven't come across any issues
- Copied my missions and controls (i.e. for my Hotas) from my 2.2 to 2.5. Again, no issues
- The only performance related issue I've seen beyond MSAA has been that it seems to like a LOT of GPU Memory. It was using close on 8GB when I checked it out. Dropping SMAA helped
- I can see all of the bought campaigns in my listings. Haven't test those as yet
- I think some of the sounds have been overhauled, sure they're improved
- Tried the Spit, which had a frame rate issue with it's prop. Couldn't see any issues currently, though that was on Cauc
- Did fire up old missions that required NTTR and Normandy, again, no issues

In short, LOT of change, and so far I've found no genuine new issues.
 
nightrider1470 said:
Is this any good?
Click to expand...

I’ve not really played anything else in months and consider it to be the best flight sim a available. There are however a whole bunch of caveats:
- you really do need a reasonable HOTAS
- it’s a sandbox game. So you can build your own missions, buy campaigns or join online servers. It doesn’t have out of the box.dynamic campaigns like IL2
- the aircraft are built for accuracy, not balance. So you’ll find that in the ww2 arena that some aircraft really are better
- you get 2 free aircraft and the core map is free. Post that, you pay. That will most probably get better expensive, though that can be mitigated by waiting for their fairly regular sales
- there is a “game” mode to ease people in, but frankly if you want easy, play warthunder or elite. Where you can achieve most satisfaction is by doing end to end missions, including to planning, aircraft start, takeoff, navigation, doing your job, then successfully making it back to base and landing. It requires a LOT of time and effort to do it well
- if you want it to look nice and in particular in vr, then it needs a lot of horsepower, think 1070 min, 16gb of ram etc
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
I’ve not really played anything else in months and consider it to be the best flight sim a available. There are however a whole bunch of caveats:
- you really do need a reasonable HOTAS
- it’s a sandbox game. So you can build your own missions, buy campaigns or join online servers. It doesn’t have out of the box.dynamic campaigns like IL2
- the aircraft are built for accuracy, not balance. So you’ll find that in the ww2 arena that some aircraft really are better
- you get 2 free aircraft and the core map is free. Post that, you pay. That will most probably get better expensive, though that can be mitigated by waiting for their fairly regular sales
- there is a “game” mode to ease people in, but frankly if you want easy, play warthunder or elite. Where you can achieve most satisfaction is by doing end to end missions, including to planning, aircraft start, takeoff, navigation, doing your job, then successfully making it back to base and landing. It requires a LOT of time and effort to do it well
- if you want it to look nice and in particular in vr, then it needs a lot of horsepower, think 1070 min, 16gb of ram etc
Click to expand...

Have you tried VTOL VR yet?
 
It took six and a half hours to download the torrent (when 25GB should take less than half an hour), and a further 30 mins to unpack it.

Got an immediate error trying to run it.
 
Brun said:
It took six and a half hours to download the torrent (when 25GB should take less than half an hour), and a further 30 mins to unpack it.

Got an immediate error trying to run it.
Click to expand...

Welcome to DCS!

What error do you get?

You can also run a repair on the install (https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=114030) by doing:

"c:\installpath\DCS_Updater.exe repair"

Alternatively, they've just released the Beta on Steam. Download through there as it will likely be much faster. Just make sure you opt in to the beta branch in the properties.

Watch out about licences for any additional modules though. Anything you buy through their website will only work on the stand alone version, and anything bought through Steam will only work with the Steam version.
 
RoyMi6 said:
Alternatively, they've just released the Beta on Steam. Download through there as it will likely be much faster. Just make sure you opt in to the beta branch in the properties.
Click to expand...

Was just about to ask if they had updated the steam version yet, and there you go answering my question before I got to ask it.

I remember trying out DCS when the rift first came out, will be interesting to give it another go. I remember it being quite in depth (even as a pilot I found some of it a bit frustrating to begin with!) so moved on to sims that were a bit more just drop-in and play friendly. I kind of got the impression that given the level of detail you really need a higher resolution headset to get the most out of it as you need to be able to read what the levers/knobs are.

Anyway, if I like the new version I might pick up the mustang since that won't take too long to learn.
 
RoyMi6 said:
Welcome to DCS!

What error do you get?

You can also run a repair on the install (https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=114030) by doing:

"c:\installpath\DCS_Updater.exe repair"

Alternatively, they've just released the Beta on Steam. Download through there as it will likely be much faster. Just make sure you opt in to the beta branch in the properties.

Watch out about licences for any additional modules though. Anything you buy through their website will only work on the stand alone version, and anything bought through Steam will only work with the Steam version.
Click to expand...
Can't remember what the exact error was. Tried running the updater and it said "DCS.exe not found", which made sense because there was no DCS.exe anywhere amongst the downloaded files.

Will try with the 'repair' option this evening.

I saw the Steam 2.5 had been released, but I'm old skool and have many non-Steam modules so that's not an option.
 
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