Hey guys,
It's been a while since the last dev diary update so apologies for that and you'll read below why that is.

No news is good news right

The team have been extremely busy over the past few weeks getting a Beta release ready for the beta testers to have a play with and I think judging by the feedback we're getting they are loving the improvements to the jet.
We've had a couple of bugs running around the system; things like HUD not working and weapons unexpectedly not firing from one wing but they are under control and will be fixed in the next patch for the testers.

We also had a good multiplayer test last week and all jet slots in the mission were filled with testers lining up to get some flight time. Thanks to Snoopy for organising that and it went very well. It was also very humbling to see over 9 Hawk's flying around in the same airspace, and not all doing aerobatics.

Damage Model
And now to talk about something we haven't really mentioned before; the Damage Model.
We've kept this a very closely guarded secret and for good reasons.
Crow has done some amazing work on the damage model and break down of the collision model ready for the February release which will then be further worked on during the public Beta phase.

The aircraft has been broken down into "cells" which are specific to certain parts of the airframe, and systems within them.
When a cell gets hit by a bullet as an example, the part of the 3d model within the cell will show damage but we're not stopping there.
Within each cell we know what "system" is affected, be it hydraulics, electrical, etc. and that system will either degrade over time or outright be non functional upon the hit. This will have knock effects to other systems that the damaged system is tied into.

One simple example could be that a wire leading to the nav light, within a wing section is damaged. The nav light may work perfectly for an amount of time before ceasing to function.
This is the level of detail we will be going into throughout the Beta stage.

I'm not going to reveal any graphics, renders or screenshots just yet but let me throw some numbers at you.

So, to the numbers. Here is a breakdown of the amount of cells for each section of the aircraft:
Front section - 12 cells
Mid section - 12 cells
Aft section - 19 cells
Wing section - 17 cells
Total damage cells - 60

That's a whole lot of damage to be taken on specific sections of the aircraft and the systems within them that can be affected, I hope you agree.

The model has been updated to incorporate these cells and like I said some of the cells have had the damage 3d model applied to them. Blondie is re-texturing the main skins to take account of the new 3d model and Snoopy is looking at the US skins as well.
Once we put all of the pieces back together again and into the mod and released to the testers I'll post up some screens.

To the Future
We are still on track for a release at the end of February.
Ed have done some updates to core DCS World for us that affects multiplayer capability, I.e. if you don't have the mod installed, you can't get in the aircraft and we'll be testing those out over the next couple of weeks.
We're working on our backend and frontend payment and licensing process, with integration into ED's own website system, module manager and of course Steam.

So the next four weeks for the team are going to be our busiest I think to get this amazing product out to you.

Once again thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm, it is amazing!!!

Chris and the team.

T-90. Shooting from main gun with the laser rangefinder and ballistic computer. See a triple lamps indicator at bottom edge of screen.
• Red -- target out of range. Fire is not permitted.
• Green -- target in range. Gun is ready. Weapons free.
• Yellow -- gun is aiming by fire control computer.
Range counter in meters

Hello folks,
A few things for today’s update.

First of all, it’s a bit cold in Moscow right now. Catching a LAX-MOW flight is always fun in winter, especially in late January – early February. Board the plane in balmy LA with +82 F outside (+27 C), bam, 12 hours later walk out to -16 F (-27 C). It’s so cold inside my apartment, I literally have to sleep wearing outside clothes under two sets of blankets. Managed to land here during the coldest week of the entire Russian winter. Eagle Dynamics offices are a bit better, especially during the day when the outside warms up a bit. Early in the morning when you just get in though, well, today we’ve been joking about working at Igloo Dynamics.

The FW.190 manual is progressing very well. Been keeping me very busy. Sometimes jet lag is a good thing, gives me so much more time to work on those charts and graphics, but working from home at night with the world frozen stiff around me and the winds howling outside, well, it’s quite an experience.

The Bf 109 is getting along nicely. Two programmers are working on it at the moment, one dealing with various internal systems, and the second one doing cockpit gauges and animations. The internal systems are pretty much done, there’s just a bit of work left on the engine model. The cockpit is kind of half-baked at the moment, the visuals are a bit messy, especially the connection between the external and the internal model that’s all glitchy. That’s why we’re just going to look down today. I’d rather not show the gunsight and the canopy framework.




The P-47 external currently looks like this. Very long process to get the model to this point because so much of the work cannot be shown with screenshots. The model is fully articulated, and has all the internal parts that are all mapped and animated. There’s also a few sub-variants all in there, with and without the dorsal fin, a couple of different propellers. Only one variant is going to make it into the final game, but it’ll be decided later once the programming begins. Otherwise it’s at least a month of extra work for each of the changes in airframe or the propeller.







With that, I’m off to the exciting world of Triebswerkanschlüsse and Kaltstartvorbereitung.

New screenshot of new model Mig29 (WIP) by Skylark
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1 ... tcount=649

DCS 1.2.7.23803 Release Update 1 Change Log EN
Multiplayer. Improved server stability.
Combined Arms. Multimonitor Setup. Compass scale will shows in right position.
A-10C. CADC will works after repair.
F-15C. TWS. Added command 'Return To Search/NDTWS'. 'Unlock TWS Target' renamed to 'Target Unlock' command.
UH-1H manual updated.
Group fails to spawn if group ID is not specified for coalition. Fixed.
Su-25T. The CCIP mark will movable in the all height of HUD.
Fixed wrong location and name of the video file after video rendering.
A-10A. Corrected cockpit shape and textures.
ATGM launchers doesn't launch second missile. Fixed.
Some minor graphics tunes.

Friday Development Update - February 07, 2014
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Hello everyone,
A very busy week here in the office. I’ve finished the alpha version of the Fw 190D-9 manual. Really enjoyed it. Starting on the 109K-4 manual next week, should be easier and quicker. Had a lot of fun scouring gigabytes of scanned original documents looking for info on cockpit controls, system diagrams, procedures, numbers, etc. Totally new experience for me, even after what, 14 years of doing flight simulations.



Thanks to the manual and a certain button in the Dora cockpit, we have a new office meme. We’ve always been a memetastic group. Most people don’t realize just how juvenile a bunch of flight sim developers can be. One minute we’ll have an aircraft designer with 20 years of experience designing real planes fill out the whiteboard with formulas in order to double-check some flight test curves, and the next minute he’s bellowing animal sounds and making Gumbys faces.

We were woefully short on a DCS meme, and now, thankfully, we have one. We could not be happier.

There is a little thing stuck in the far back corner of the Dora’s left console that the manuals call the Flugzeugvernichter, that is, Aircraft Self-Destruct. Somehow the word Vernichter just really stuck, and now the entire office presses invisible buttons and yells “Vernichter”. We also have to add it to the end of every German aviation term we can. Spreizklappenanzeigen? Spreizklappenanzeigen Vernichter! Kraftstoffverneblerleitung? Kraftstoffverneblerleitung Vernichter!

What do you call a device that destroys your ability to disable the self-destruct button for your aircraft? A Flugzeugvernichtervernichtervernichter.

As any inside joke, it’s probably weird to anyone outside out small group of old friends, but, well, we enjoy the heck out of it right now.

Now, another really exciting thing we’re doing this week is playing with Oculus Rift. It’s pretty good, although the implementation is pretty basic at the moment. No 6DOF yet, and the world outside is a bit warpy and it looks like you’re inside an egg, but the immersion of being inside the cockpit is just superb. It is such an incredible breakthrough, the feeling is so life-like, that words simply cannot describe it. Once I put it on, I don't want to take it off. Could spend hours just flying over the landscape and watching things move around.


Great Scott!
Also, it’s really fun to bug people wearing a full face mask while playing a game. As you can see everything they’re doing on the screen, we love to add extra immersion by kicking and poking the player at the right moment. Also, it’s extremely annoying and maddening when those louts at the office break my immersion by kicking and poking me while I’m trying to enjoy an awesome gadget.

And finally, here’s a sneak peak at something else that's really beginning to shape up nicely.


Hope you guys have a good weekend!

Just a little vid to show you AM radio tests, communication with wingman

Roland WIP

Remember that little "surprise" we had for the DCS crowd? well here it is:
Announcing the Mirage 2000C for DCS, with a superb model from Metal2Mesh (creators of some of the finest models around) we´ll bring to DCS this magnificent product. We have learned so much during the T-2 development process that we decided to move forward with this high performance and high profile fighter. Does this means we cancelled the T-2? not at all, gentlemen, it´s just being moved aside for the time being. But enough of the chatter, let´s put some pics here!..
Also, we´ll have another big DCS surprise shortly, regarding other models being readied for DCS, all these will have an AFM , aiming for the highest fidelity possible, in a combat simulator.
Gentlemen, we officially announce, the RAZBAM Mirage 2000C for DCS