MigBuster

9 hours ago, dtmdragon said:

  If you take a step back to consider the advance in technology required to visit another solar system relative to what we have today, should another life form have the ability to do this I doubt by their standards we would even be considered intelligent life. So I think UFO visits, crop circles and abductions etc are nothing more than fantasy. Thier technological ability and intelligence would have to be on a scale unimaginable to mankind of today. Any visit would likely be undetectable and thier interest in us would be comparable to ours in a new species of insect when discovering a new continent.

You also have to make a massive assumption that any such race is immune to complacency, laziness or just thinking they can do what they like on monkey planet 12!
 

Some apparently declassified videos taken from objects caught by US Navy FA-18 ATFLIRs............not proof of Alien technology of course but important for flyers who have to perhaps deconflict with UFOs...........Alien, Chinese or otherwise.

For the record of course with Trillions of Stars (let alone planets) out there it would seem a tad ridiculous to assume this single planet we call Earth is the only one with carbon based or any form of life.

 

 

https://coi.tothestarsacademy.com/2004-nimitz-flir1-video

FLIR1 is the second of three US military videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that has been through the official declassification review process of the United States government and approved for public release. It is the only official footage captured by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet present at the 2004 Nimitz incident off the coast of San Diego. Like GIMBAL, this footage comes with crucial chain-of-custody (CoC) documentation because it is a product of US military sensors, which confirms it is original, unaltered, and not computer generated or artificially fabricated. While there have been leaked versions on the internet, the CoC establishes the authenticity and credibility that this version is the original footage taken from one of the most advanced sensor tracking devices in use.

The sensor, a Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod, has two imaging modes: mid-wave infrared and visual......

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/head-of-pentagons-secret-ufo-office-sought-to-make-evidence-public/2017/12/16/90bcb7cc-e2b2-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?utm_term=.b6f29d90d814

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were aware of it so I hope so and can't remember changing it in the last few upgrades, but if they still haven't fixed it it was

 

C:\Falcon BMS 4.33\Data\Terrdata\objects

Make backup copy of bmsrack.dat

Open bmsrack.dat in Notepad and change:

 

definerack f-16-370-wing-tank
    racksmsname 370PY
    weapjettmodes NONE
    rackjettmodes EMERGENCY,SELECTIVE
    rackct 3084
    rackstations 1
    addwclass tank

So do you mean how the tanks should fall into the slipstream at a certain speed/altitude/ AoA  ? (What is your reference for that?)

Do you mean the tanks dropping without the pylons?..........the 370 tanks do drop with the pylons in reality whereas the 600 tanks jettison without the pylons (because they use the A-G pylons). In 4.32 there is a text file you can edit to fix that.

 

 

 

Never looked due to in cockpit procedure............what specifically are you looking for?

 

 

 

49 minutes ago, Crusader said:

Does BMS have a "easy" option where one's starting with engine running etc ? Would make quick "action centered" flights more fun.... like SF but with much more detailed F-16 avionics :D

Yes, you get an option to start on Ramp, taxiway or runway at the start of a mission including campaign ones so you don't have to do the Ramp start. The one caveat of this of course is if you switch off your engine during flight by accident and have not learnt how to switch it back on.........so learning ramp start is required really even if you don't ever use it. 

With training missions and the mission editor you can start in flight, likewise with the campaign you can jump in mid flight. (you are unlikely to do this because you cannot change loadout config of a flight already in the air!)

One thing that is easy I find after a few flights is clickable cockpits...far easier to learn the position of a switch it seems than a random list of keyboard commands!

The Training manual and training missions are the place to start, but others might find it easier to watch you tube tutorials because it is often easier to learn by doing and the technical manual things will start to make sense after a while. Others find that joining an online squad for multiplayer training sessions gets them on their feet quicker................depends.

The sim itself can still be customised in skill level.......not that I have ever played it out of ace level.............however hardly a feat and I would recommend any newb to start there as well especially if they have played another sim in the past. 

 

But today it is an F-16 simulator and very far removed from 1998 in that sense so there is a lot to learn if you wish to.

Another Caveat - I don't know if all of these options are still supported in BMS outside of full up.

 

 

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away……….it would appear that games developers started projects based on what they could achieve rather than what time and money constrained them to achieving!

…..So brings our hero in this story a certain Mr Kevin Klemmick who on his first ever job found himself being given quite a challenge:

 Initially I was hired as an intern and asked to design and develop a dynamic campaign. For better or worse there wasn’t a lot of direction on what that would entail – the directive was mostly to make something that would be a persistent world and generate dynamic missions instead of the pre-scripted model which was the norm.

 

In case you are wondering the Dynamic Campaign of Falcon 4.0 is still a gem of the modern flight sim world, so some brief quotes on what it involved to create such a thing are in order:

 

I was given a pretty blank check in designing the Dynamic Campaign, so I approached it as I would a strategy game. The idea being that this game would be running in the background whether or not the player flew any missions. In fact, it could be played as a strategy game from the tool I wrote to monitor it. The AI was broken into three tiers, a strategic level, operational level and tactical level. Yet another level of AI would operate in the Simulation itself to drive the vehicles or aircraft.

The missions were generated as a by-product of this AI, and in fact used real world planning techniques. For example, once a priority list of targets was determined, a package would be put together to time suppression of air defence, air superiority, refuelling, AWACS, etc. All these missions would be timed out and planned much like a real-world commander would, but were generated as a response to decisions made by the campaign’s AI.

While my primary goal was to make something fun to play, we were very fortunate to get a lot of advice from military sources about how things work in the real world and I tried to match that as closely as possible while keeping the game play elements that I felt were important. However, all of this had to work within a very tiny slice of the CPU, which was a huge limitation given all the AI/planning work that was going on. That was probably the biggest challenge of this system.

 

So, got that right.

 

What was the difference between this dynamic thingy and a pre-scripted model?

An example of pre-scripted from the Strike Fighters series would be someone creating missions with the Mission Editor or before the Mission Editor existed, Yankee Air Pirate creating missions for players.  There are some advantages to this such as recreating historical missions or providing a story or backdrop for the player beforehand. The main disadvantage is that once you have played the mission a few times it’s basically the same thing each time.

Of course, Falcon 4.0 does also have a Mission Editor (Tactical Editor) and you can create missions or training scenarios. DCS also has a Mission Editor that includes some quite advanced features for mission designers.

Nostalgia and story based missions from yesteryear (Novalogic)

 

 

Campaign Mode

Although it can appear to be just a set of single missions Strike Fighters does have a basic dynamic campaign. DCS campaigns on the other hand are currently a set of scripted missions, but that doesn’t mean you cannot have some very good campaigns in this sense!

A Falcon campaign starts with a ticking clock on day one, and the whole thing runs on a massive scale putting the player either in a 2D map mode or joining the campaign by flying in the 3D world as part of it.

Even in the 2D map mode the player can see most of the things happening (there is still a fog of war) and also gets news updates on major events. Of course, the missions you do fly will be different and often unpredictable, and that is the extra challenge!

Here you can plan and influence things.........bet you didn't plan for that big purple blob.........looks like the space ship from Independence day is here!

 

Yes, the player can run the campaign as default and just join auto fragged missions every now and then – or they have a lot of power to create packages, flights, to frag their own missions, change package loadouts, join other squadrons etc, etc. Anyway, I won’t go any further because the scale is rather large.

Note, that if you do just run a campaign without changing the initial mission types and PAK's you will be given non-stop suicide missions and so will your AI buddies! (so, change them!)

 

And yes BMS 4.33 comes with a full set of manuals created by other heroes telling you all you need in the Docs folder in your install (e.g. C:\BMS-433-U1\Docs\Falcon BMS Manuals)

 

 

The default campaign is Korea in which you can club Kim Jong Un's Cold War museum collection with a multitude of modern weapons like AIM-9X and HMCS. For an extra challenge select Korea Strong and prepare to eat AMRAAMSKI from the Flanker Hoards.

 

By 2014 the North Korean air force went through a massive modernization program which included (or perhaps involved entirely of) employment of beautiful young women (Yonhap News / Aviationist)

 

Of course, as mentioned in part 1 there are many other campaigns and theatres to try from the modding community for BMS 4.33.

Totally new Allied Force campaigns - joy!

 

New additions & changes to BMS 4.33

 

Default loadouts

Thank the maker! Any past players may have noted that when 4 x Su-30s appeared on the horizon, your escorts armed to the teeth with 2 x AIM-9Ps and a CBU-52 would be nothing more than useful missile decoys! This may have prompted some like myself to spend ages before missions tweaking loadouts of other flights! But it seems someone has finally improved things here for the better!

 

Ground war

You can now control the ground units if you like, one benefit of this is to finish campaigns a lot quicker. And yes, this feature was in the 2005 Falcon 4.0 Allied Force.

 

MANPADs

Less welcoming from Allied Force is the addition of MANPADs that make going below the clouds a bit of a no no unless you like jumping out of airplanes! MANPADs were there before 4.33 but were somewhat lackluster in comparison. 

 

Reduced weapon supply

You may want to try to hold onto those drop tanks a bit longer because unlimited supply may no longer be the case……………you can of course just frag those super brave tanker boys to get you that juice.

 

The little things

Adding detail onto the campaign map to be saved to your data cartridge for use in flight is now made better just by the fact that it persists after each mission instead of having to redo it every time!

Be a king of Situational Awareness with Bullseye positions, FLOT, Radar coverage, flight path SAM rings and data link tracks!

 

Weather with you

From manual:

Weather management has been drastically improved, with a dynamic weather system which changes with time as it moves across the BMS terrain. Bad weather effects have also been improved, with better visibility management and new cumulus cloud layers.

If you like a challenge you can get pretty good random weather in the campaigns that will require some thought on how you do things when neither you or a targeting pod can actually see the targets! Anyone who learnt their A-G radar mode skills back in the day will still find they still come in handy.

A shout out to the rain effect in Falcon which is by far my favourite in any sim so far:

 

 

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

From manual:

The AI is now much better at energy management, timing and fuel efficiency thanks to updated climb profiles, top of climb and top of descent management. Holding points and push points have been improved. AI now perform baseline intercepts much more effectively (be warned). This is important for BVR combat but also for tanker rendezvous. The ATO features new target selection logic and package constitution.

AI ATC has been drastically improved, providing reliable management of the traffic queue. New options for autonomous approach have been created to allow human players to approach airbases without having to listen to ATC vectoring you through the pattern (useful when you are flying IFR for instance).

 

Note on the last paragraph, which provides a happy medium between the full talk down and the emergency landing…………the full talk down is still fantastic in pea soup weather where there is no ILS at the air base.

 

 

 

So, there you have it, still an addictive pleasure that will lead you into a false sense of security before kicking your A!

 

Well, it’s just really hard to do. Looking back on it, I think the only reason we took on what we did is because we were too inexperienced to know better. Knowing what I do now, even given my experience on Falcon, the cost to develop such an engine would be substantial. Since flight sims don’t bring in that kind of revenue companies look at it from a cost to benefit standpoint and Dynamic Campaigns score pretty low in that regard. There is also the argument that scripted missions are more interesting which has some merit. I think if I were to do it over I would do a mix of scripted/generated missions, so that the player still feels like they’re involved in the world, but there is also some variety thrown in to keep things interesting.

Kevin Klemmick 2012

 

Disclaimer - this article may contain Star Wars quotes.

 

 

DCS World 2.2 Now Available Version 2.2 of DCS World released! The primary features of this update are the addition of the AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL and the P-51D Mustang: Charnwood Campaign to DCS World 2. You can find the complete change log here. P-51D Mustang: Charnwood Campaign Available Created by the same team behind the Spitfire LF Mk.IX: Epsom Campaign, the Charnwood Campaign is a historically-based campaign for the P-51D Mustang over Normandy in July 1944. The Charnwood campaign reproduces P-51D missions flown in support of the allied breakout of Normandy and the eventual capture of Caen. Given the Mustang's combination of air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities (bombs and rockets), this campaign offers a wealth of mission types and challenges. Each mission is based on real missions, down to the weather, mission times, squadrons, mission tasks, and allied and axis locations. Key Features: 12 historic missions taken from detailed accounts of Operation Charnwood Detailed briefing and briefing images, including separate PDF mission files Unique kneeboard graphics for each mission Hundreds of specially recorded voice-over messages to recreate the actual callsigns and accents A wide array of missions included armed reconnaissance, rail interdiction, and ground attack Takes advantage of new AI features like Flak avoidance, authentic formations, and improve artificial intelligence for air and ground units See in the Campaign section of the DCS e-shop. DCS: AV-8B Night Attack Update Last week, we and RAZBAM released DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL with a great reception! We are all ecstatic about the overwhelming positive response! We and RAZBAM released a "hot fix" shortly after release that addressed a few pressing bugs. In the coming weeks and months, we and RAZBAM will be working hard to bring the AV-8B out of Early Access and on to Steam. DCS: AV-8B Night Attack S/VTOL Web Page Purchase from DCS E-Shop Video: DCS: AV-8B N/A VTOL - Pre-purchase Trailer Here are some of our favorite AV-8B fan videos over the past few days: DCS - Razbam AV-8B NA Harrier II DCS World - AV8B By Razbam DCS - Harrier Night Attack // NAVFLIR, AGM-122 & IR Maverick DCS World - Harrier LHD Landing DCS World - AV-8B N/A II Harrier - Early Access - Startup/Taxi/STOL/VTOL/Eject Thanks to all the Youtubers for supporting us! Mi-8MTV2: Oilfield Campaign Available on Steam The Mi-8MTV2: Oilfield Campaign is now available on Steam! This great campaign requires the DCS: Mi-8MTV2. Life in civil aviation is far removed from dangers of military conflict. Instead, it's based on strict time tables and lunch breaks. Meet a group of old friends: captain Jury Maksimovich Protasov and his Mi-8MTV2 crew. After the events of the "Spring Tension" conflict, they are again in business together. However, this time they are gainfully employed as cargo transportation contractors, serving the interests of the oil industry. Rather than combat, this campaign will test your knowledge of the Mi-8MTV2 navigation suite in order to locate oil derricks scattered over the forests. Challenge yourself as a cargo pilot and never have to worry about being shot at again! Features: Based on a real-life helicopter pilot missions 16 full-scale missions Various cargos and mission task situations Landing in a different locations and weather conditions Over 350 scripted radio messages Voice overs for helicopter startup procedures Briefing with flight chart maps Flight charts are included pilot's kneeboard English and Russian localization - voice overs and subtitles DCS World Steam Store Sincerely, The Eagle Dynamics Team

 

 

DCS World 1.5.8 Hot Fix 2 This week we released a new update for 1.5.8 that addresses some pressing issues such as: Multiple AV-8Bs can operate form the Tarawa Multiple Tarawa-class ships can be included in a ship grouping Weapon-related crash for Combined Arms has been fixed Rearm and Refuel menu error corrected for Multiplayer You can read the complete list of changes on the DCS forum Su-33 for DCS World Released on Steam Available on the DCS World Steam Store page The Su-33 has been the backbone of Russian aircraft carrier aviation since the late 1990s and is an all-weather fighter capable of engaging both air and surface targets. Based on the powerful Su-27 "Flanker", the Su-33 is a navalized version suited for operations aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. Changes to the Su-33 include strengthened landing gear, folding wings, more powerful engines, and the very visible canards. The Su-33 is equipped with a powerful pulse doppler radar and an Infrared Search and Track (IRST) for engaging aerial targets with a wide range of radar- and infrared-guided missiles and its internal cannon. For air-to-surface attack, the Su-33 can be armed with many types of unguided bombs, rockets, and cluster munitions. Despite its large size, the Su-33 is very capable in a dogfight when combined with its integral helmet-mounted sight and off-boresight missiles. Key Features: Professional Flight Model (PFM). Virtual Reality supported. Highly accurate and detailed external model and cockpit. Wide range of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, including internal cannon. Modeling of electronic countermeasures and radar warning receiver. Realistic modeling of carrier landing approach system. Detailed and accurate simulation of the wing control surfaces that include the leading and trailing edge flaps and the differential ailerons. In addition to the conventional differential stabilizers, canard behavior has also been improved for more realistic behavior. The Flight Control System (FCS) will automatically reconfigure itself depending on the flight mode. Includes the wing-fold mechanism, reinforced landing gear struts, and the inclusion of high-gain nose wheel steering for use on crowded carrier decks. Correct physics for the arrestor wire and its' interaction with the aircraft. The engines have a "special mode" that adds up to 12,800 kg of thrust (instead of the normal 12,500 kg of thrust). This mode also includes realistic operating time restrictions. Includes a special FCS mode used when aerial refueling. When in this mode and the control stick is released, the aircraft will automatically maintain level flight. This FCS mode allows fine-control and thus making it easier to make contact with the tanker within a pitch range of plus or minus 5 degrees and of a roll angle of plus or minus 10 degrees. The Auto-Thrust Control (ATC) is used for automatic speed holding and can be fine-tuned with a set speed switch. This can be useful with landing on the carrier. Inclusion of the automatic collision avoidance system ("Uvod" mode) that allows safe nap-of-the-earth flying. Note: This is the exact same Su-33 that comes with DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3. As part of the DCS: Flaming Cliffs 3 series, the cockpit is non-mouse interactive. Happy holidays, The Eagle Dynamics Team

 

 

Strike Fighters Mobile in Space?

 

 

 

 

Now for a quick look at an F-16 flight combat simulator you may have heard of, in particular the only version of Falcon 4.0 currently in development.

Benchmark Simulations official add on to Falcon 4.0 is called BMS 4.33 (currently upgrade 4) and to use you need to buy the original 1998 Microprose Falcon 4.0 from places such as GOG.com and then install that first. Then you install BMS 4.33 after downloading via the torrent from the BMS web site.

Now if you are lucky you perhaps played the original or one of the other versions, or even the other official release Falcon 4.0 Allied Force from 2005 (that I will confirm BMS most certainly DOES NOT work with). However if you have not, you will be starting a learning and somewhat challenging journey, which is about what these types of things are all about after all.

Things like the Avionics go very in depth and 4.33 brought with it a Maverick Handoff procedure with the targeting Pod that will make grown men cry – although I am not entirely sure a certain defence contractor couldn’t have made it easier if they had tried!

You might also have noticed the Avionics Configurator option on the splash screen that already caters for about 40 different versions of the F-16. That’s right if you are not familiar with F-16s then erm well even a Block 50 for example has different versions with different avionics and capabilities depending on the year (upgrades) and the country it was sold to and this is impressively catered for.

I will have a Block 30 with GE-132 and go faster stripes please 

 

 

Although Falcon BMS does still trounce all in its path in certain aspects I am going to briefly start on one of the less impressive parts of Falcon, that being the visual environment.  Despite its 1998 origins, limitations have been progressively overcome to improve this area also. BMS 4.33 Came with many new ground and air objects as well as a new terrain set with trees by Polak.

 

 

Like Strike Fighters there are some very talented  individuals who have spent years providing professional level mods for free. I will give mention to Falcon Legend JanHas (http://www.janhas.net/) who has been around for…ever it seems. Real credit to the guy and rest be assured every rivet is polished to perfection to provide models as good as or better than anything else. His mods also come with comprehensive install documentation – and yes you do need it.

 

New afterburner flame most welcome 

 

Installing mods is not as easy as Strike Fighters, there are bits you copy and paste but the models still need LodEditor to install them. Having just installed pretty much all of the JanHas mods I can tell you that despite it looking complex initially you are just pressing buttons and changing a few numbers at the end of the day so after the first few it becomes pretty easy – just time consuming having to do it manually.

Why are these mods not in the baseline install making my life easier? - Well the reason is I have read that BMS have certain standards they keep to so it still runs on lower spec hardware.

After a Herculean effort to get the mods installed!

 

Also as with Strike Fighters, Modders have created different theatre’s for Falcon 4 over the years including the middle east, Balkans and Germany (Ostsee by TomKatz) that even makes an attempt to populate the terrain with well placed 3D buildings.

 

 

 

So there you have it, graphical improvements have been slow because it requires good samaritans with free talent with free time, but it’s always nice to see there has been progress in that area. I have not mentioned the internal view because that is already more than good enough, especially considering most of a campaign is where I’m at anyway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL Released! We are delighted to announce that DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL by RAZBAM was released into Early Access on 29 November. This is the second offering from RAZBAM for DCS World after their critically acclaimed DCS: M-2000C. The AV-8B continues their dedication to detailed craftsmanship with this iconic aircraft. DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL Web Page: www.av-8b.dcs-world.com Video: DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL Note: DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL uses our new, keyless protection system. This system requires periodic internet connections. About DCS: AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL: The AV-8B project was born in the early 1970's as an effort to improve the operational capabilities of the AV-8A first generation Harrier. The AV-8B made its maiden flight in November 1981 and entered service with the United States Marine Corps in January 1985. It later evolved into the AV-8B N/A (Night Attack) and AV-8B Harrier II Plus. The first flight of a modified AV-8B in the night attack configuration was on June 26th, 1987. Deliveries to the USMC began in September of 1989 to VMA-214 at Yuma, Arizona. Follow-up units based out of Yuma received their Night Attack AV-8Bs by the end of 1992. In 1984 the AV-8B N/A variant (originally known as the AV-8D) included the NAVFLIR (Navigation Forward-Looking Infrared camera, consisting of a GEC-Marconi FLIR system mounted in the nose) for night operations. Additionally, GEC Cat's Eyes night vision goggles were provided to the pilot as well as a revised cockpit with color MFDs, a wider field-of-view HUD display, a color CRT digital moving map and "heads-down" capability. The AV-8B N/A also sports four Tracor ALE-39 countermeasures dispensers along the top of the rear fuselage, in addition to two ALE-39 dispensers along the lower rear of the fuselage. The AV-8B N/A also fields an updated version of the Rolls-Royce Pegasus 11-61 (F402-RR-408) vectored-thrust turbofan engine. The subject of this study level simulation is the AV-8B N/A Bu No's 163853 and up which are the latest variant of this very capable AV-8B variant. Key Features of DCS: AV-8B N/A VTOL by RAZBAM include: Advanced Flight Model that also provides realistic performance and Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) characteristics Highly detailed external 3D model and textures with animations Highly detailed and accurate 6 DOF cockpit with high resolution textures, specular and bump mapping, and mouse-interactive controls Highly realistic modelling of the aircraft systems including electrical, fuel, hydraulics, lighting, engine and navigation that includes: Digital Engine Control System (DECS) Automatic Fuel System Air Refueling System Electrical Power System External Lighting Internal Lighting Hydraulic Power Supply System Flight Control System (FCS) Head-Up Display (HUD) Up-front Control (UFC) Option Display Unit (ODU) Multipurpose Color Displays (MPCD) VREST Computer (for jet-borne flight) Air Data Computer (ADC) Environmental Control System (ECS) On-Board Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) Realistic weapons, sensor, and defensive systems include: Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground GAU-12 Equalizer 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-barreled Rotary cannon pod 6 under-wing pylon stations holding up to 9,200 lb (4,200 kg) of payload which include: AIM-9 Sidewinder or similar-sized infrared-guided missiles AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Surface missiles Mark 80 series of unguided bombs (including 3 kg [6.6 lb] and 14 kg [31 lb] practice bombs) Paveway series of Laser-Guided Bombs (LGBs) Joint Direct Attack Munitions (GBU-38, GBU-32, and GBU-54) Mark 20 Cluster Bomb Units (CBUs) AN/AAQ-28V LITENING targeting pod ALQ-164 ECM Pod Several skins Detailed Operational Manual and Pocket guide Instant Action, Single, and Training Missions Detailed representation of the USS Tarawa (LHA-1), lead ship of her class. We hope you will enjoy this fabulous new product from Razbam. Here at ED we are all very impressed. A few words from our CEO, Dr. Igor Tishin Dear valued DCS World customers, Over the past several months, we have read your concerns and frustrations regarding aspects of the growth of DCS World. In particular, the length of time that it has taken to create the unified DCS World version (DCS World 2.5) and our DCS World War II developments. I'd like to talk to you about both of these to help foster a clear picture of where we were, where we are now, and where we plan to be. First of all, thank you all for your support and being with us for the past 27 years and sharing our vision of what we believe the flight simulation genre can ultimately achieve. From the very beginning, when Eagle Dynamics was established in 1991, our main priority was the creation of Highly Realistic Flight Simulators. At that time, there were just seven of us when we released our first project: Su-27 Flanker 1.0 in 1995. Over the past 27(!) years, we've come a long way from a simple computer game, to a professional-level combat environment simulator. Today, we have about 80 internal programmers, artists, managers, testers and producers. Additionally, we have 18 partners and 3rd party developers that are participating in our internal projects, as well as developing their own modules for DCS World. During all of our history, we remain loyal to our initial dream of making the most realistic combat aviation simulations. Starting from one simple, Standard Flight Model (SFM) Su-27, we took our next step in 2003 with five aircraft for Lock On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). Following LOMAC, we created our first Advanced Flight Model (AFM) for the Su-25T in 2005. Next came our first Professional Flight Model (PFM) with the Ka-50 Black Shark and the A-10C Warthog in 2008 and 2009. For an aircraft like the A-10C, it usually takes about three years of hard work to develop the PFM. In parallel to development of the software for these aircraft, getting the required permissions (aircraft manufactures and government) can often be a big obstacle and time-consuming process. For both the Ka-50 Black Shark and A-10C Warthog, we spent two years of great effort to get such permissions! More recently, and with great difficulties, we finally signed the necessary agreements to allow the sale of our upcoming DCS: F/A-18C Hornet. The team has been working very hard on this project and we are at the point now where we are talking much more about it with regular updates. After a long period of developing needed technologies, research, design, and legal matters, we are nearing the point in which we will be able to provide the Early Access version of the Hornet. Right behind the Hornet, we have other modern, combat fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft ready for development within the Eagle Dynamics internal studio. Our talented 3rd parties are also working hard on other great aircraft like the AV-8B Night Attack V/STOL, F-14 Tomcat, FC-17, F-4E Phantom II, Mi-24P Hind, Bo-105, and others. Naturally, all 3rd party projects are only made possible with very active technical support from Eagle Dynamics. So, be assured that we have not given up our initial dream! Modern, combat aviation is alive and well in DCS World and will continue to be. One of the biggest factors in creating a great flight simulation is the graphics engine. This is also probably the most technically complicated. During our 27 year history, we have internally developed five(!) generations of graphics engines. This is a massive effort for such a small company, whereas many other companies use “off the shelf” solutions. We have evaluated other engines (MSFS, OSG, etc.), but we always returned to the own internal solutions because only they provided the capability and quality we demand for a modern, combat aviation simulation. The biggest needs has been the ability to render an environment that looks and performs great from 1 meter to 50,000 meters. Graphics cards are developing so rapidly that many companies are not capable of keeping their technology current with new hardware. After eight years of intense work, we recently developed a very stable version of our graphics engine that is based on DX11 and Deferred Shading technology. We are also developing our engine to take advantage of the Vulcan API to further improve game performance. It's important to understand that a graphics engine is not only a Scene Renderer, but the terrain creation tool technology is equally important. This is the main reason why we could not merge DCS 1.5 Caucasus and 2.1 Terrains for such a long and regretful time. To do this, we first need to convert all the terrains, missions, training, and campaigns that were developed over many years for Caucasus map to an absolutely new terrain data structure and adjust all applied programs. We've put a massive amount of effort into this effort and it is almost complete. We plan to release DCS World 2.5 in the coming weeks! Now, let's talk a little about DCS World War II and why it does not delay our modern day combat aircraft and why it's a valuable aspect of DCS World for us and you. We cannot deliver modern, complicated aircraft faster than we and our 3rd parties are already doing, but growing a business needs more and more revenue to grow the team and make better products. We were very surprised to find that the investment vs. generated revenue has been excellent for the World War II aircraft. In fact, the P-51D Mustang has twice the cost effectiveness of the A-10C Warthog. We also realized that our World War II aircraft attract new customers that may have not otherwise been familiar with DCS World. Many DCS World War II pilots move to our jet aircraft that are within the integral DCS World. So, our World War II aircraft provide a good advertising environment for the DCS World concept as a whole. As we bring in new programmers, artists, and engineers to Eagle Dynamics, it is first necessary to place them on relatively more simple projects to get them up to speed. World War II aircraft are a great tool for this. Our new staff can use the World War II aircraft to learn our tools and sharpen their talents with DCS World development environment. They are separate from the main projects (like the F/A-18C) developers, and they are not involved with the modern aircraft development efforts. Otherwise, it would not be practical to develop the aircraft like the F/A-18C with staff split between projects. The Fighter Collection (TFC), Eagle Dynamic's principle partner, has one of the largest, private collections of World War II aircraft. TFC has been requesting World War II aircraft for DCS World for a long time and we cannot ignore our partners. TFC has been instrumental in its support for these projects. As you can see, DCS's World War II series doesn't compete with modern aircraft projects for development resources. In fact, it supports it. The same is true with the L-39 and Yak-52 projects. These two projects were also sought by government institutions, but we were also able to negotiate their release to you. I very much hope this all makes sense for you. We are reaching an important milestone of DCS World with the release of DCS World 2.5. This combined with an exciting list of new aircraft, new maps, and great new mission content, is furthering our dream from 1991. Thank you for being part of the journey with us! Sincerely, The Eagle Dynamics Team

Only TK can answer that one...........

Dear valued DCS World customers,

Over the past several months, we have read your concerns and frustrations regarding aspects of the growth of DCS World. In particular, the length of time that it has taken to create the unified DCS World version (DCS World 2.5) and our DCS World War II developments. We’d like to talk to you about both of these to help foster a clear picture of where we were, where we are now, and where we plan to be. 

First of all, thank you all for your support and being with us for the past 27 years and sharing our vision of what we believe the flight simulation genre can ultimately achieve. From the very beginning, when Eagle Dynamics was established in 1991, our main priority was the creation of highly realistic flight simulations. At that time, there were just seven of us when we released our first project: Su-27 Flanker 1.0 in 1995. Over the past 27(!) years, we’ve come a long way from a simple computer game, to a professional-level combat environment simulator. Today, we have about 80 internal programmers, artists, managers, testers and producers. Additionally, we have 18 partners and 3rd party developers that are participating in our internal projects, as well as developing their own modules for DCS World. During our entire history, we have remained loyal to our initial dream of making the most realistic combat aviation simulations. Starting from one simple, Standard Flight Model (SFM) Su-27, we took our next step in 2003 with seven aircraft for Lock On: Modern Air Combat (LOMAC). Following LOMAC, we created our first Advance Flight Model (AFM) for the Su-25T in 2005. Next came our first Professional Flight Model (PFM) for the Ka-50 Black Shark and the A-10C Warthog in 2008 and 2009. For an aircraft like the A-10C, it usually takes about three years of hard work to develop a PFM.

In parallel to development of the software for these aircraft, getting the required permissions/license agreements (aircraft manufactures and government) can often be a big obstacle and time-consuming process. For both the Ka-50 Black Shark and A-10C Warthog, we spent two years of great effort to get such permissions! More recently, and with great difficulties, we finally signed the necessary agreements to allow the sale of our upcoming DCS: F/A-18C Hornet. The team has been working very hard on this project and we are at the point now where we are talking much more about it with regular updates. After a long period of developing needed technologies (flight model and radar), research, design (data on late-LOT F/A-18C), and legal matters, we are nearing the point in which we will be able to provide the Early Access version of the Hornet. Right behind the Hornet, we have other modern, combat fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft ready for development within the Eagle Dynamics internal studio. Our talented 3rd parties are also working hard on other great aircraft like the AV-8B Night Attack S/VTOL, F-14 Tomcat, FC-17, F-4E Phantom II, Mi-24P Hind, Bo-105, and others. Naturally, all 3rd party projects are only made possible with very active, hands-on, technical support and creation of APIs from Eagle Dynamics. So, please be assured that we have not given up our initial dream! Modern, combat aviation is alive and well in DCS World and will continue to be. This is our bread and butter.

One of the biggest factors in creating a great flight simulation is the graphics engine. This is also probably the most technically complicated. During our 27 years history, we have internally developed five generations of graphics engines. This is a massive effort for such a small company, whereas many other companies use “off the shelf” graphic engine solutions. We have evaluated other engines (MSFS, OSG, etc.), but we always returned to our own internal solutions because only they provided the capability and quality we demand for a modern, combat aviation simulation. The biggest needs has been the ability to render an environment that looks and performs great from 1 meter to 50,000 meters. This is where we believe our graphics engine is quite unique and powerful.

Graphics cards are developing so rapidly that many companies are not capable of keeping their technology current with new hardware. After eight years of intense work, we recently developed a very stable version of our graphics engine that is based on DX11, Deferred Shading technology, and Physical Based Rendering (PBR). We are also developing our engine to take advantage of the Vulcan API to further improve game performance. Having a great looking game is moot if it does not perform well. It’s important to understand that a graphics engine is not only a Scene Renderer, but the terrain creation tool technology is equally important. This is the main reason why we could not merge DCS 1.5 Caucasus and 2.1 Terrains for such a long and regretful time. To do this, we first need to convert all the terrains, missions, training, and campaigns that were developed over many years for Caucasus map to an absolutely new terrain data structure and adjust all applied programs. We’ve put a massive amount of work into this effort and it is almost complete. We plan to release DCS World 2.5 in the coming weeks!

Now, let’s talk a little about DCS World War II and why it does not delay our modern day combat aircraft and why it’s a valuable aspect of DCS World for us and you.

•    The Fighter Collection (TFC), Eagle Dynamic’s principle partner, has one of the largest,
private collections of World War II aircraft. TFC has been requesting World War II aircraft for a long time, so we cannot ignore our partner. We and TFC agree that WWII combat aviation is a very interesting flight simulation genre, especially for customers that enjoy history and massive dogfights. TFC has supported this direction from the very beginning. 

•    World War II aircraft attract new customers that may have not otherwise been familiar with DCS World. Many DCS World War II pilots move to our jet aircraft that are within the integral DCS World. So, our World War II aircraft provide a good advertising environment for the DCS World concept as a whole.

•    Many of our new programmers and artists are responsible DCS World War II. They are separate from our main project (like the F/A-18C) developers, and they are not involved with the modern aircraft development efforts. Otherwise, it would not be practical/efficient to develop aircraft like the F/A-18C with staff split between projects. Also, DCS World War II is a great “school” for new programmers before they take on extremely complicated Modern Air Combat projects.

•    We could deliver modern, complicated aircraft faster than we and our 3rd parties are already doing, but growing a business needs more and more revenue to grow the team and make better products. We were very surprised to find that the investment vs. generated revenue has been excellent for the World War II aircraft. In fact, the P-51D Mustang has twice the cost effectiveness of the A-10C Warthog.

As you can see, DCS’s World War II series doesn’t compete with modern aircraft projects for development resources. In fact, it supports it! The same is true with the L-39 and Yak-52 projects. These two projects were also sought by government institutions, but we were also able to negotiate their release to you.

We very much hope this all makes sense for you and sheds some light on these matters.

We are reaching an important milestone of DCS World with the release of DCS World 2.5. This combined with an exciting list of new aircraft, new maps, and great new mission content, is furthering our dream from 1991. Thank you for being part of the journey with us!

Sincerely,
Eagle Dynamics Development Team

from: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=196539

 

There was one sure fire way to kill the Kiev battle group with zero mods and zero cheating essentially........but I am not going to put it here...you will have to PM me if you don't want to work it out .

 

 

 

 

On behalf of the entire BMS development team, I am happy to announce that the latest iteration of the Billion Soft Falcon 4.0 total conversion modification - Benchmark Sims 4.33 U4 - is available for you to enjoy as of RIGHT NOW!

Like U3, the changes and bugfixes in Update 4 are a direct consequence of feedback we got from some bigger MP sessions. There are no data or feature changes included in this patch.

First things first: the "Falcon" trademark has a new copyright holder, Billion Soft (Hong Kong) Limited. We're very grateful to them that they support and enable us to keep releasing future BMS updates!

BMS 4.33 U4 requires a legit installation of a Falcon 4.0 (all older and newer versions are accepted alike, i.e. Microprose, Hasbro, GOG, Steam, Retroism). The check is performed both at setup time and every time you start BMS. If no valid installation is found, BMS will exit with a corresponding error message.

For those of you who are still in need of a legit Falcon 4.0 base installation, please be aware that Retroism is offering a special price for Falcon 4.0 for the upcoming black Friday weekend ($/€2.79)!

U4 is an incremental update on top of U1 + U2 + U3, so you need to have the BMS 4.33 U1 Full Installer package and the corresponding 4.33 U2 Incremental Installer and 4.33 U3 Incremental Installer available on your PC. You can both update your existing U1 + U2 + U3 installation as well as perform a fresh U1 + U2 + U3 + U4 installation from scratch, as you like. See the installation instructions below for details.

 

from: https://www.bmsforum.org/forum/showthread.php?32320-Falcon-BMS-4-33-U4-Incremental-Installer

 

Changelog:

Generic Information:

- The build number string in the Falcon UI reads "4.33.4 Build 16083" after the update

- No data or docu or config files have been changed, this update is a pure "code-only" patch

- The shortcuts in the start menu and on your desktop will NOT be renamed to U4, feel free to rename them manually

CODE:

- Updated splash screen and monolog output for the new Falcon copyright holder: Billion Soft (Hong Kong) Limited

- Significant performance improvements for importing ACMI .flt to .vhs:
* Reduced time needed for import by at least a factor of 10 to 20
* Added monolog output, flt file size at START, duration summary and vhs size at DONE

- In the UI chat windows, the participant tree title will now include the number of players in the chat, e.g. "(4)Lobby" instead of "Lobby"

- Increased the disconnect timeouts for the transport layer to 60 seconds for increased stability in "short temporary network loss/disconnect" situations

- Fixed mouse wheel not always working in UI

- Multiple (potential) CTD/hang fixes:
* memory depletion (OOM) CTD originating in a data range overrun
* client CTD when exiting BMS
* CTD related to input device sorting
* CTD in DrawableTrail::DrawChunkBillBoards
* CTD when exiting a campaign on a client due to invalid object access in UpdateIntel
* CTD when checking in with AWACS
* CTD in AirTaskingManagerClass::FindNearestActiveTanker
* infinite loop in AirframeClass::CalcMach
* CTD in VU message handling

Autumn 2017 Bonus Event Starting today at 1500 GMT and lasting until 27 November at 0900 GMT, you can use your bonus points to save up to 60% on most DCS World store items! Please note that this is a bonus event and not a flat sale on all modules. You can read about the bonus program here. If you have available bonus points, you can apply them during the store checkout process. Modules Terrains Campaigns DCS: World War II Assets Pack Update In our continuing effort to add more content to the World War II Assets Pack, several new AI-only aircraft are in development. These include the Ju-88, A-20, and C-47. The Junkers Ju-88 was a German, twin-engined medium bomber. Over 16,000 were produced and ranged in roles including bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, and others. The Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston was a United States light bomber that was flown by several allied nations during WWII. The A-20 was a very versatile aircraft with good speed and maneuverability for a light bomber. The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was a work horse for the allies in World War II and served as a troop and cargo transport. Also known by the nickname "Gooney Bird", the C-47 was also instrumental in paratrooper operations. DCS: F/A-18C Hornet Cinematic Video – Over the Strait of Hormuz This week we bring you our second cinematic video for DCS: F/A-18C Hornet. Today we see our Hornet over our next, new map for DCS World: the Strait of Hormuz Map. This map is being specifically created to support our Hornet. However, like all DCS World maps, this map will support all DCS World aircraft modules and Combined Arms.   Sincerely, The Eagle Dynamics Team

That's the baby! cheers

On 11/12/2017 at 7:23 PM, gerwin said:

PS. Stary's tileset you linked to requires and older version of my IcelandNA terrain mod. I don't think that version is available for download anywhere. The latest IcelandNA Classic terrain introduced brown rock transition tiles. A full tileset is included with the Terrain mod anyways, but it has a lower resolution compared to Stary's.

 

 

Was that removed as well? - not seeing anything

 

12 hours ago, FalconC45 said:

MiGBuster, can I put this on my facebook page?

 

Falcon

Yes you can.

no sorry....hopefully someone has.....anyone?

 

 

 

Back in 2012, Thirdwire fans awaited with baited breath the latest release of the Strike Fighters 2 series and what new goodies it would bring to everyone.

As it turned out the game was quite a departure from the previous four titles and wasn’t just the old engine with a new terrain and new objects. For most, many of the new features and changes added to the series and bought some hope for the future, whereas some features were less promising.

 

Starting off with the good points then..........

The Setting

The game takes place primarily over Iceland with its cold war airbases such as Keflavik NAS and perhaps gives us a bit more options for Cold War scenarios than doing the South Atlantic (Falklands) which some may have thought the obvious choice.

 

 

The real Keflavik in real Iceland! (Wikipedia)

 

New Terrain

New with SF2NA came a bold new attempt at a more modern LOD based terrain engine utilising DX10 instead of the older DX9. The water looked amazing:

Iceland's man made shoreline!

 

And the runways are even shaped like the actual ones on Iceland instead of the generic bases from the previous four titles. More on this later……..

Fed up with the hot weather the RAAF decide to holiday in Iceland

 

New music

For a fresh new start, new menu music, that wasn’t too bad actually – I never replaced it!

Yes I realise that is a post cold war shot!

 

 

Fleet Defender

With this release we got the first F-14A from Thirdwire, although this in itself was not ground breaking because there was a very good Mirage Factory F-14 set available as well. It was the Avionics this brought that was the big plus, including support for Active Radar missiles, and a TWS mode that could support multiple simultaneous shots. On the other hand Soviet bombers now came with a ton of anti-ship cruise missiles, jammers and countermeasures.

Catch us if you can!

 

Join the Navy

Okay so a load of new ships and weapons in this release………and not just a set of new objects, but new ways they could be used in game:

·         Carrier groups and support groups in campaigns and single missions

·         Static aircraft on decks

·         Ships firing missiles and guns to shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft

·         More roles for aircraft including AWACs and Naval recon

 

If you liked flying the TW A-4 then the TW F-14 is rather less agile and more difficult to fly in comparison

 

Here is a list of the new objects the games came with:

Ships:

·         CGN-36 California class Cruiser

·         CVN-68 Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier

·         Gearing FRAM IB class Destroyer

·         Kashin class Destroyer

·         Kiev class Aircraft Carrier

·         Knox class Frigate

·         Krivak I class Frigate

·         Krivak II class Frigate

·         LCC-19 Blue Ridge class Amphibious Command Ship

·         LHA-1 Tarawa class Amphibious Assault Ship

·         LPD-4 Austin class Amphibious Transport Dock

·         Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate

·         Oliver Hazard Perry (82) class Frigate

·         Spruance class Destroyer

·         Spruance (82) class Destroyer

Weapons

·         AIM-54A Phoenix

·         SA-N-3 Goblet (M-11 Shtorm) SAM

·         SA-N-1B Goa SAM

·         SA-N-4 Gecko SAM

·         RIM-2F Terrier SAM

·         RIM-7E/H Sea Sparrow SAM

·         RIM-66B Standard SAM

·         K10S (AS-2 Kipper) Cruise Missile

·         KH22 (AS-4 Kitchen) Cruise Missile

·         KSR5 (AS-6 Kingfish) Cruise Missile

Bears with Flares!

 

The Campaign and missions

A big change from the previous titles and perhaps more game like in some respects in the way it was essentially fleet verses fleet. The single missions were more limited due to engine changes and lack of relevant land based targets. If you like Naval intercept missions or ones where you attack the Soviet fleet then it should be right up your street.

F-4K - More challenging in the intercept role than the F-14

A-4G - Even more challenging!

 

 

New Aircraft with SF2 NA (Drool)

• Grumman F-14A Tomcat
• Grumman F-14A_77 Tomcat
• Vought A-7E_74 Corsair II
• Grumman A-6E Intruder (No Pit)
• Grumman A-6E_79 Intruder (No Pit)
• Grumman E-2C Hawkeye (No Pit)
• Grumman EA-6B Prowler (No Pit)
• Tu-16K-10-26 Badger C (No Pit)
• Tu-16K-26 Badger G (No Pit)
• Tu-16K-26_73 Badger G (No Pit)
• Tu-16P Badger J (No Pit)
• Tu-16P_72 Badger J (No Pit)
• Tu-16RM-1 Badger D (No Pit)
• Tu-22KD Blinder B (No Pit)
• Tu-22M2 Backfire B (No Pit)
• Tu-22M3 Backfire C (No Pit)
• Tu-22PD Blinder E (No Pit)
• Tu-22RD Blinder C (No Pit)
• Tu-95RT Bear D (No Pit)
• Yak-38 Forger A (No Pit

 

 

Merging

Yes the game can still be merged with the other 4 titles, expansion packs and DLCs! You may also find that a lot of my DLCs live in Iceland exclusively.

 

That is a Yak-38 Forger landing on the Kiev don't you know

 

 

 

Now lets look at some of the more controversial additions.

Mr AWACs controller

Rejoice for Red Crown woman has been replaced by Mr AWACs controller guy!

I don’t know how many were pleased to see the E-2 AWACs get blown out of the sky on a regular basis (or even shot it down yourselves) – if they were it was probably down to the guys somewhat laid back voice. How exactly Thirdwire managed to find or even consider using this guys voice for this role is known only to them but it was not on any kind of professional level.

Luckily there is a set of modded voice files to replace this blight on the series. 

We really don't care about your situation.....

 

 

The Terrain Engine

Despite DX10 and gorgeous sea there were a few issues with the terrain which you could surmise were due to having to release the game earlier than expected.

·         The frame rate was considerably worse.

·         You needed DX10 capability to run it.

·         The land was a barren wasteland with unrealistic looking terrain and coastlines – not befitting a sim or a game.

·         The files for modding it were locked away so potentially no more 3^rd party terrains. Whether Thirdwire intended to sell us future Terrain DLCs is still an unknown.

 

But the sea was nice.

 

Luckily the game still supported the older terrain format so Gerwin did put out an old format Iceland terrain and Stary put out some enhanced tiles that I use to this day without the new sea. This mod worked in DX9 and had far better frame rates all round.

 

 

Some related Mods:

 

 

 

You should just need to change the loadout.ini file for the aircraft.