I have to retract my comment about the monochorme textures in NTTR. Seems they failed to load properly or so slowly that I had given up. I tried it again this evening and things were rendering and blending normally.
A couple of things I did notice now. It's BRIGHT!! Like Nevada in August bright. They're aware, but I hadnt experienced that in my previous looks. Some other in-cockpit color bleed and layer issues which I'll post to ED as bugs. We'll see from there.

Soo...posted earlier today on the official forum, but, so far, no response. For me Normandy is basically unusable - multiple freezes and lockups - things won't load, and when flights do load they often freeze up shortly after, especially when using TrakIR. I'm not looking for a fix - I just want to be clear on something. If I nuke the whole thing I can re-install DCS World 1.5 and since it's the same PC I can recover all modules without using up activations (not including Normandy/Assets)? As far as DCS WWII I'll just come back later - or when I get my P-47 and Me262....

Yes.

Thanks for the reply - are 1.5 and 2.x going to exist side by side? they advertise free to play but there is nothing free 2.x?

v2.x is a test bed. It will go away once v2.5 is released (according to the current plan).

Adding to what Cichlidfan posted, the main reason that 1.5 exists still is because it uses the free Black Sea or Caucuses map. This map has been around in various forms since Flanker 1 or 2, greatly updated but the same area. ED has made the commitment to keep this map their free one. So when they came out with the paid for Nevada map they needed to make a whole new DCS World to accommodate it. Also, DCS World 2 is capable of handling multiple maps and 1.5 is not. ED has already posted in their official updates section that when the new updated free Caucuses map is finished it will be available as a free map module included with 2.5 and all of the other maps will be payware. At that point 1.5 and 2.1 will probably be gone and you'll just have one version of DCS World.

Cant wait for that the happen , but by then we will probably be using hover cars or teleporters

Still can't understand why people post all of this as if it's a good thing... well, it is, but it doesn't make up for all the headaches that came with it.

They HAVE to keep 1.5.XX because it's the ONLY ONE with the free map. You make it sound like we should be thankful to ED for "making the commitment".... Whose fault is it that 1.5 can't handle more than one map? I also find that excuse hard to believe.... they make a game that handles different aircraft but nobody thought of it needing to handle different maps?

It's taking them forever to make Nevada, how long will it take for them to port over the Black Sea map? Is it going to be a straight port? Are they going to be updating it? There are so many "answers" now but.... let's not count our chickens until the eggs hatch.... and at this point, a lot of eggs are overdue.

oligospermia.

No, they won't keep 1.5 just like they didn't keep 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0. They'll keep "release branch" because of course they will. It would be silly to have an alpha and/or beta branch and no release branch.

But the majority of the code in the unified version 2.5 will undoubtedly be 2.1. The old terrain will get stuffed into the 2.1 architecture and that code bundle will be released as 2.5 titled "main branch" (almost certainly alpha and/or beta branch first).

^ yep, ED has been in short supply for some time

Ok - got it back to 1.5.6 - everything's working, all modules are there. Soo - do you guys think that somewhere, down the road, DCS will be a stable platform filled with AC/map goodness, or not? In no way a snarky question - I'm interested in your opinions on this...

Depends on what you mean by AC/map goodness. DCS already has 3 maps and a choice of multiple aircraft. For some people that's already pretty good.
If you, like many others, wish to have a STABLE release, with a COMBAT ENVIRONMENT that gives some adrenaline and dynamism, then unfortunately I don't see that coming anytime soon.

I've been simming long enough to see how long it takes for anything substantial to change in DCS. It's taking some 20+ years to have a multi-role fighter with A/G radar.
Honestly, if you're in DCS for the combat part, you better look to the only available modern combat sim, which is BMS. You'll have to compromise on eye-candy a bit, but the depth of everything else easily makes up for it.
If you're looking for high fidelity airframe simulation, along with a simulation of training scenarios with a mix of well-simulated and arcade weapons and systems, then look no further than DCS. I think it's gonna stay that way, not because they want it to, but because they're unable/unwilling to focus on changing some pretty central stuff in their simulator engine, which is pretty old.

Two things here... How far is "down the road"? What is YOUR timeframe? ED has shown us they have no concept of timeframes or deadlines at all, so "down the road" may be a year or two in your mind but it very well may be your grandchildren's grandchildren in ED's timeframe. Second, will ED still be around in 2-3 years' time? There has been some speculation regarding ED's financial status, so it's no good if ED can fulfill all their goals in 5 years only to close down their doors after 4.


If eye candy is your priority, then DCS has that in spades. For everything else.... look somewhere else.


I probably would've said the same thing regarding training scenarios but with the release of BMS 4.33 and their new TEs, well, they've got some good training scenarios there too. However, if you are looking for an AIRFRAME simulator, then DCS can scratch that itch.... but so can FSX/P3D/XP11.