A whole bunch of new high-res screenshots have dropped onto the Eagle Dynamics website today showcasing DCS: Persian Gulf in all of its splendor. Also appearing today is a new video showcasing the rain on the canopy effect for the DCS: F/A-18C. It looks good!

In the Gulf

One of the things that DCS: Nevada and DCS: Persian Gulf have over the Caucasus map are some really standout landmarks around the map. Arguably, I think DCS: Persian Gulf takes this to a new level as there are an immense amount of landmarks particularly around Dubai with the Burj Khalifa dominating any skyline and other notable towers and landmarks also filling in.

Another thing that appears to standout here is the texture work for the terrain. Matt Wagner has talked during the live stream’s about how much work the team has put into creating artistically beautiful textures that are seamlessly (to me anyways) blended with real satellite images. The effect is impressive at altitude.

It also comes across as looking very detailed down low at lower altitudes. Smaller details pop here and all of the work the team has done with SpeedTree appears to be paying off.

When you get right down to ground level, DCS still holds up really well with lots of details and appropriate textures. Some sims I’ve seen, particularly on the civil level, tend to not do all of these things well at all altitudes and its really been IL-2 and DCS driving the need for good details at all altitudes.

Of course, both DCS and IL-2 support aircraft types that operate at extreme low levels as well as at high altitudes too. Some are slow moving (such as helicopters in DCS) so having these details really helps the map stand-out.

What remains to be seen here is just how beautiful the map will be with a few settings reduced and an aim towards smooth framerates on older systems or systems with less power. Wag’s PC as advertised in the YouTube live stream’s is a powerful beast with 32GB of RAM and a GTX 1080 which can chew through these scenes with no problem. Will my 8GB of RAM and GTX 960 with 2GB of VRAM be enough? Probably not at the maximum detail level.

I suspect an upgrade is coming in my future. For those who can’t, however, we’ll find out just how well this map plays. It may in-fact run better than Caucasus because the number of forest objects drops off here to almost nothing and flat desert is easier on the system.

One thing is certain to me, Persian Gulf is probably DCS’ best looking map yet. I hope they import some of the improvements back to the Nevada map.

Check out all of the new screenshots on the Eagle Dynamics website!

Rain on the canopy

When IL-2 did the rain on the canopy, I wondered just how long it would take for DCS to catch up and it appears that they are on their way now with the latest video showing off what the water effects look like.

Still images like the one above do little to show off just how good the droplet effects are. Check out the video on Facebook for a little demo.

Both IL-2 and DCS World are bringing their A-game with these effects. 1CGS was able to push things and get it done for all of their flyable aircraft so I’m curious to see how quickly Eagle Dynamics will be able to do the same. I hope quickly as all of the aircraft in DCS World would benefit from the added immersion.