I’ve been eyeing the Viggen off too. Partially in suspicion that it’s delayed the Tomcat. ;)
I think my next aircraft will be another chopper, I only have the Black Shark (which I love). I’m thinking Mi-8. Or maybe Huey.
What is the deal with all the trainers in DCS?
As in why are there so many? They’re easy to model and usually relatively unclassified.
Yeah, it just seemed like there are a lot of them.
Absolutely, The premium aircraft produced by the likes of PMDG, Majestic, A2A etc are on a completely different level of fidelity.
OMG I just stabbed my eyes out after 3 minutes. :)
Yes. We should start a thread :)
And yeah, DCS default planes have good flight models it seems but most of the systems are not accurately modeled. The DCS A-10C however, is about as real as you’re gonna get without getting into a real plane. I’ve read forum posts from real A-10 pilots that speak to it being very close to the real thing.
Here’s a 40 min sortie on a multiplayer server I used to play on regularly. Voice comms and everything. You can’t hear me because I hadn’t sorted that part of the recording setup out yet at this point :)
The DCS F-15 isn’t as deeply modeled as the A-10C, but most of the stuff that matters works. It’s also like $15 the last time I checked. But damn. DCS just looks SO good, and the sense of speed/maneuverability you get from it is unlike anything else I’ve ever played. Sooooooo fun! :D
The PMDG civilian planes are among the highest quality FSX/Prepar3d addons you can get. They’ve been putting them out for a long time (because FSX and now P3D have been around forever) so their older stuff isn’t as pretty and polished as the newer planes but they’re all pretty good. The 747 v3 that just came out recently is basically a modern remake of their 747 from years ago. But yes, I’m planning routes, programming the FMC, you can enable failures based on real life data on how often parts really fail, systems are modeled down to the level of stuff like the hydraulic fluid reservoir will show a lower quantity when you say lower the flaps and fluid is pushed out into the system to actuate them, air flow through the various ducts and pneumatic systems, etc. It is an airplane nerd’s wet dream :)
I will warn you though that PMDG isn’t the only company that puts out nice payware. Just the one I’m most familiar with. I’ve tinkered with some others that seem good, but PMDG just “clicks” with me for some reason. But they aren’t always the most customer friendly company either. For example, if you drop $135 on their 747 for FSX and then later upgrade to Prepar3d, you’re going to have to drop another full $135 to get the 747 that works with P3D instead. Even though there’s little to no different between the two simulators. They gouge people sometimes with stuff like this. In fact, the flight sim mod community in general is like that I guess. Charging insane prices for stuff people take completely for granted and free in any other genre of computer gaming. But, if you’ve got the flying bug it’s still cheaper than getting out there in a real plane. I’m getting ready to start working towards a real pilot’s license in the next year so that also explains my fascination with the civilian stuff where you guys are more into the military side of things :)
If you’re curious:
I never published this video because it was just a test of all my various recording settings mostly, but here’s a 15 min takeoff/climb in the PMDG 737. This plane was basically their “gold standard” for years until the 747 recently came out. But you can see lots of button switching and hear the engines roar and it’s a fun time :)
Here’s a quick landing in the 747 at Oakland Municipal (after hearing Drew on the Bombcast talk about his flying lessons there :)). You can maybe see the better textures / etc of the newer plane.
And then sometimes it’s really dumb and allows you to do things like this
Those are all really cool @Eric_Majkut, that last picture is a little too close to the National Airlines crash at Bagram Air Base a few years ago!
EDIT: Also if you guys like switchology, you should see my old office!
C-5 Galaxy with a glass cockpit upgrade?
Yeah I flew the B and C models with the AMP (glass cockpit). Left the airframe before the M model (Super Galaxy) upgrade was fully finished so haven’t flown that yet.
I expect that some of the work for the Viggen will end up in the Tomcat, too—lots of fancy old-time computer systems in both.
Speaking of, the Viggen is great. I’ve linked some videos up above. If you like the 70s strike fighter mission profile, you’ll like it.
SadleyBradley still hasn’t started a thread so you’re still stuck with me :P
Cool thing I just noticed today. You can actually see the brakes glowing on the 747 when they get hot. Did a rejected takeoff just for funsies and then noticed in the spot view :D
Wow, somewhere in the past I’ve purchased both the Sabre and the MiG-15 in DCS. I guess I should actually fly them one of these days. It would be nice if I could actually fly them over appropriate terrain, rather than the fucking Crimea, though.
I suspect that there’s some dumb, manpower-intensive process required to do DCS mapmaking for two reasons:
- Nobody has released a third-party map yet, and the first-party map which has been released took something like five years.
- This is the flight sim environment which requires a new build of the core game any time a third-party module needs an update.
@Eric_Majkut, please keep posting civilian sim stuff here. I find it fascinating to read about, even if it isn’t my cup of tea generally.
Another thumbs up here for civvie sim stuff. A couple weeks ago I actually fired up FSX to fly from “curious” airfields. The last example was taking from an abandoned DEW site on the North shore, and flying to some other little airstrip nearby. In the ultralight. In the middle of the Canadian winter :)
Try looking up the DEW airfield IDs and flying from them, it’s a really neat “middle of nowhere” vibe.
Didn’t the Nevada terrain start off as a 3rd party thing before it was moved into DCS? Anyway, it’s certainly possible, I imagine it just takes a loooot of work given the size of maps needed, laying out the roads, rivers, airfields etc. I think the Nevada terrain was at least 20Gb download. :P
Or, Eagle Dynamics straight-up DGAF about the textured polygons we fly over in DCS and had consistently put the Nevada terrain at the bottom of its priorities.
Or there’s one guy, let’s call him Pyotr, who really actually knows how the whole terrain thing works in DCS. And Pyotr is one flaky son of a bitch.
Apologies in advance for another poll … but I know you love em!
My next buy will probably be a helicopter. I’m excluding the Ka-50 Black Shark since I already own that from way back in the pre-DCS World days. :)
So which is your favourite non-Ka-50 DCS chopper?
- SA342 Gazelle
- UH-1H Huey
- Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight
0 voters
Option 4: Sh1t b0n3rz, because I realized that I hated flying whirlybirds back in the LB2 days.