..when I'm burning it.

Fixing some UVs and finishing a few other parts to maximize space. Minute parts with less detail. Parts look big on the left, but will be scaled once adjusted.

DCS MiG-21Bis NewsFlash - Issue No.9

External Model

Rudel is still working on unwrapping the exterior mesh and building the master textures. He has nearly finished the wings. Check out the images below to get a good idea of what to expect detail-wise. These are, of course, without speculars and normals, which will massively benefit exterior texture artwork, once finished.

The aircraft will likely come in a few variations of weathering. Of course we will release a paintkit with the normal compliment of layers once the aircraft has been released.

Internal Model

The Cockpit diffuse texture set is currently at around 95% completion. Only some small details on the main canopy remain.
More importantly, however, the first normal and specular maps are being built. These maps will allow for massively increased fidelity and detail.

We have also begun initial deployment of the new cockpit artwork into the DCS engine. This is a labour-intensive project, as various parts need to be updated to fall in line with new development.

Please enjoy a selection of screenshots from a VERY Work in Progress version of the MiG-21 cockpit below. I've tried to showcase it in a wide variety of conditions to give you a good idea of the current look.

Please keep in mind, that there will most certainly be considerable improvement before the cockpit is considered Final. I cannot stress enough how important specular and normal maps are in our workflow. There are also many various bugs still to be ironed out (rampant fresnel, seams, etc.), so as always-- Work in Progress!

AFM

At the coding side things are progressing rapidly. Dolphin and Roland are working heavily on completing the MiG-21 codebase.

The duo is primarily occupied with implementing the last missing features in various Avionics, including failures simulation.

The Weapons system has been extended with the implementation of the SPO and weapons managment has been further improved. The Radar and ASP optical sight are now operational, and are waiting for final tuning.

The AFM has been optimized, tuned, and is now waiting for finalization of weapons integration for its' final iteration.

Various other improvements, such as panel shaking and ground occlusion for Radar and other Avionics has further advanced the aircraft's fidelity and complexity.

AFM + Coding

The roadmap remains the same. We're all crunching VERY hard at this point for you all to enjoy the Fishbed this year.

Others

As Always-- thank you all for your support, patience and encouragement. We can't wait to share our work with such a great group of people.

Looks fantastic. I wonder what the FPS hit will be with all these polygons?

Looks fantastic. I wonder what the FPS hit will be with all these polygons?

Our cockpit is fairly standard polygon wise. Performance is always one of our primary concerns.

A little Late Night Work...

It is possible to cut-n-paste that image and adjust the brightness.

Just saying, if anyone was at all interested.

Keep in mind-- currently there are no exterior textures applied to the aircraft. We're still working on those. smile

Fellow Simmers and DCS Community,

We at Studio Beczl are, and always will be, committed to clear, transparent and honest communication with our fans and customers.
Be it development updates, release schedules, upcoming product announcements, post-release support, technical support and all other
forms of information relevant to you and your experience.

As such; we believe now is the time to present our current development status of the MiG-21, our plans for the near future and a summary
of the project so far.


1. Release Date

Even though we have honestly put in a herculean effort to get the aircraft ready for release before the Christmas season,
we are not confident that we can provide a release to the standard we have set forth for ourselves, and one that you all expect.

Consider for a moment the ramifications of reduced sales due to missing the Christmas season, and you can accurately surmise
that we are just as dismayed at the timing as you. We are all passionate simmers here and it pains us greatly that we have to delay our launch
by yet another 3 months. After much internal discussion, progress consolidation and assessment, we can finally present you with a concrete date.


The DCS: MiG-21 BiS will launch 30th of March 2014


Mark it in your calendars, take the week off work and put a biometric sensor on your Mancave door; because on the 30th
you'll be strapping yourself in and taking off on your first GCI intercept.

Once again, we are incredibly sorry about not being able to deliver before the end of this year. Pushing a rushed release of a
complex aircraft such as this is fair to neither you or us. Count on the above date holding true.

NOTE: It is possible that the aircraft will be finished and published EARLIER than the specified date.


2. Development Status & BETA

During the past year of development, our programming team has undertaken the massive job of rewriting all aircraft avionics and
subsystems for our new C++ framework. Our lead developer, has spearheaded the charge of writing our AFM, which makes the
MiG-21 both a joy and challenge to fly.

We are without a doubt convinced that the MiG-21 will live up to everyones' expectations with regards to systems depth, fidelity and accuracy.

We have also devoted significant development resources and time to implementing features such as GCI, Custom ground occlusion,
custom ground units and many other important features that will benefit your flying experience.

By Mid-December, we expect to reach feature-complete status. We will then be moving into polishing and bugfixing stages of development,
essentially an internal BETA.

As mentioned previously, we will not be running a public BETA program. The aircraft released to you on the 30th of March
will be feature-complete and thoroughly tested.


3. FAQ

Will you be publishing through STEAM?
We do not have a definitive answer to this yet. Rest assured that we'd love to publish the aircraft over a tried and true platform
such as Steam. We will not be publishing exclusively on steam.

Will there be a Pilot in the Cockpit?
We love this feature and implementation is planned.

The MiG looks Great! But performance must be terrible?!
False. As we have mentioned quite a few times now; our triangle counts are lower or equal to similar ED products, both internally
and externally. Texture weight is also low. Performance is of utmost importance to us; and our development team possess a
wide range of hardware configurations.

Will there be an Early Access Program for Backers?
Yes. As stated previously, IndieGoGo backers will be able to fly the MiG-21 at least a week before the official release.

Is the MiG-21 being released together with EDGE?
We have no influence or association with the release of EDGE & Nevada.

How much will the DCS: MiG-21BiS cost?
Similar or Cheaper than existing modules initial price.

Are backer shirts coming?
Closer to release. Designs will be coming shortly.

What is coming next?
At this point we have announced the MiG-23. Stay tuned for more exciting info regarding future projects.
Right now all hands on deck are focused on finishing the MiG-21.

Are there videos coming?
Yes. Many. Both instructional and promotional.

Will the manual be available before the aircraft is released?
Unlikely. Writing the manuals is a lot of work and is planned for the pre-release phase.


Most importantly:

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and for your patience. We hope you'll stick with us through the final stretch.

Stay tuned for the next Newsflash in the next few days and more development info & updates!


Sincerely,

The MiG-21 team