Third party scenery developer Orbx has just released DCS: Kola, their first DCS World project to come from the company. The map is now available in early access from the DCS World e-Shop, Steam and from OrbxDirect. Here’s everything you need to know about the new release.
Pricing, size, and more
Released today, DCS: Kola is a large new map for DCS World incorporating about 575,000 sq km of land plus even more area when factoring in the large bodies of water present in the area. Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway are all represented on the map and the scenery features some incredibly rugged terrain including fjords, islands, mountain ranges, wetlands, lakes and vast forests. Most of the map falls into the arctic circle. It’s DCS World’s northernmost map by a long shot and its also the most “green” we’ve seen from a DCS World map release since the re-release of Crimea with DCS World 2.5.
This is an early access release (that’s worth emphasizing) and that means that there are parts of this project that are yet to be delivered. Right now, only the summer version of the map is available, however, a winter version is planned in a future update. Some areas of the map are also more detailed than others.
Orbx and Eagle Dynamics report that the early access version of the map does contain the complete map area with detailed topography throughout. The high detail areas include seven airports as well as nearby urban and rural infrastructure, as well as a significant number of points of interest (ports, cities, mines, monuments, bridges, etc.). Also contained within the high detail zone are two road runways.
Airports include:
- EFRO (Rovaniemi Airport)
- EFKE (Kemi-Tornio Airport)
- XLMV (Severomorsk-3 Naval Air Base)
- ULAK (Severomorsk-1 Naval Air Base)
- RU-1110 (Monchegorsk Air Base)
- RU-4464 (Olenya Air Base)
- ULMM (Emperor Nicholas II Murmansk Airport)
The map is set in the present day but Orbx have reportedly also chosen to represent the road bases and Russian air bases as fully functional as they were during the Cold War to enhance mission making options.
This graphic shows off where airports are and the green area marks where the highest detailed areas are.
One final piece that everyone will want to know about is the storage requirements of the map. Prepare yourself and your SSD because DCS: Kola is large at 150GB of storage needed.
Features to come
As early access progresses, Orbx will be delivering on some additional details. They confirm additional airbases will be on offer including the military airbases at Andøya, Bardufoss, Kirkenes, Evenes, Vidsel, Kilpyavr, and Alakkurti. They also confirm Tromsø, Hammerfest, Ivalo, Luleå for additional civilian airbases still to be added.
More cities and towns, more points of interest and industrial sites will all be added too.
The big feature still to come too is winter versions of the maps textures that will load based on mission date similar to what we’ve seen on some other maps.
A previous update indicated that we wouldn’t have long to wait for the winter version of the map with it expected to arrive sometime in June. Other features do not have a release date as far as I’m aware.
Now on sale
DCS Kola is available now with a 20% discount price of $55.99. Later on, after the initial discount is over, the price will rise to $69.99.
You can buy DCS: Kola from the DCS World e-Shop, from Steam or from OrbxDirect. The DCS World e-Shop and OrbxDirect versions of the map are not compatible with the Steam version so Steam players will need to buy from that storefront.
Stormbirds 
Though I remain annoyed at the silence about the RB affair, I did buy the map. ORBX has a good rep and that kind of helps with the thought process.
Just poured a drink and about to jump in for a first flight. The only question is which plane to take on my first flight. Might be the F-16 just for all that lovely cockpit visibility. Off we go…
LikeLiked by 2 people
F-16 is definitely a good choice! I’ve got a long and slow download ahead of me so it may be a while but I hope to have a close look at it soon and some first impressions up shortly after.
LikeLike
I’ve got decent net speed but it took a while.
First impressions – I like it. Defintely not a finished product, but some good parts and some very good parts. Nice textures in lots of places, nice mountains, good object placement and variety, it’s a solid map. Performance is good but I’ve basically just been flying around like a tourist. I like the airfields. Some might be a bit too clean and new but I don’t care. They have a nice look to them and that’s a big deal for me. DCS quality planes with ORBX quality airfields is the cat’s ass. More flying tomorrow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Has to be the Viggen!
LikeLike
Amazing map! I bought it immediately upon release. Runs surprisingly smoothly even in my less then mediocre hardware (external 2060 videocard, 16GB RAM).
Explored Khibiny mountain range (it is within “high details” green area), since I know the area a little bit IRL. Looks great in overall, but still, some “big” details are missing: For example, the city of Kirovsk (it is relativelly large by the standards of the area) does not exist, although comparable in size city of Apatity nearby is there. Huge apatite quarry near the city of Kirovsk seems to be not there yet too.
I assume we will get it at some point later.
Really liked the visuals and the terrain can provide some tactical options.
Great work, ORBX!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Parts of Archangelsk oblast in bottom right corner of the map (outside of the yellow region) are missing (at least the mission editor shows water there)
LikeLike
Bought and installed this map today.
The first impression by Canada One pretty much sums up my very own thoughts. The only thing to add to that from my side would be that I heard that the trees been placed on the map are wrong. Looking at some actual photos certainly confirms this. Would be nice if ORBX could change that without sacrificing fps performance.
LikeLiked by 1 person
From the forums, currently there is a mix of conifers and deciduous trees because of performance but they hope to improve over time (as hardware and the engine become more capable):
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/348069-no-coniferous-trees/?do=findComment&comment=5426542
LikeLike
My favorite part of the trailer was the new pilot model!
LikeLiked by 1 person
On the fence with this one, will expand expotentioally as there are ww2 and current situations to play with. Already paid for Afghanistan, but could see this as great for ‘sink the Tirpitz’ and Mosquito ranger missions. Will South American map be abandoned by the WW2 Fraternity. But as it will be ‘pay for more’ do you get in at the start, or pay mega pennies later. Hard to quantify. Do NOT expect perfection from the get go, but is it a good future investment….hmmm
LikeLiked by 1 person
Going to buy it after work today.
I’ve seen more than a few comments about the ~150GB map size…
Fun fact:
Orbx True Earth California North & South add up to 373GB installed size, covering 424,000 sq km. The True Earth series all have significantly higher visual quality & detail than every DCSW map.
Kola Peninsula map land area is stated to be 575,000 sq km, so if Orbx went all in on detail & resolution we could easily be looking at 500-ish GBs for DCS Kola!!
(keep in mind the below are +4 year old images & vids):
https://orbxdirect.com/product/us-norcal-hd-xp11
https://orbxdirect.com/product/us-socal-hd-xp11
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a great comparison. I’m working on my first impressions review and I think it shows that they had to bring the textures down in places. Overall quite good I think but some elements are less well detailed than I’d like to see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like to see them do at least one airfield at the highest possible quality, FPS be damned, just to see what can be achieved in DCS. Maybe an option for low or hi-def in the settings. I’d be happy to pay for it.
It won’t happen, of course, but it would be interesting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was reasonably confident Orbx would do a good job and after a few flights out od Bobo I am happy to report I am very pleased indeed. In VR it looks great. Yes, there is more work to be done but it is probably the best looking early access map in DCS I have experienced to date.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great to hear! I’ve just put together my first impressions. There’s stuff that I can nitpick but there’s tons of potential here too.
LikeLike