It’s been a little while but we have some updates from two third party DCS developers and I thought I should share the latest on what they are doing.

MiG-21 issues fixed, new features, and Christen Eagle II update

If you own the DCS: MiG-21 and Persian Gulf, you may have tried to enjoy the two together and found that it was impossible due to a crash bug. That issue has finally been fixed and the MiG-21 can now be fully enjoyed on DCS: Persian Gulf. Good news!

Leatherneck is also busy putting the finishing touches on canopy raindrops for the MiG-21 and on their new aerobatic Christen Eagle II module. Ignore the hideous low res thumbnail and check out some very cool looking effects from their most recent update.

It’s also clear that the Christen Eagle II is making progress and moving towards a release at some point. The 3D model itself looks good and we saw a glimpse of it in a recent Eagle Dynamics trailer doing some aerobatics through the skies of Dubai. Leatherneck has supplied us with even more screenshots.

From a development standpoint, the Christen Eagle II is useful for Leatherneck to regain some of their lost momentum and produce an outstanding and fun DCS module. I’m not sure how well it will sell or if the DCS community will take to it but DCS World is an outstanding aviation platform in terms of realistic flight physics so maybe this really is the place.

There are aerobatic teams out there that may pick this up too. I’m very curious to know what will happen.

In the meantime, I hope to see continued support for the MiG-21 which has had a rough time making the leap from DCS World 1.5 to 2.5 but is slowly catching up to the rest of the modules. It’s too cool of an aircraft to have and one of the few DCS World modules featuring anything remotely “modern” for eastern aircraft lovers.

Deka Ironworks forges ahead on JF-17

The most surprising thing for me is how quickly Deka Ironworks has gone from a relatively unknown studio to one that has had an already significant impact on DCS World thanks to the China Assets pack and the J-11A fighter for Flaming Cliffs 3.

They aren’t resting either as their programming and art teams continue to work away at the DCS: JF-17 module currently under development. Recently we received an update from the team on Facebook:

Hello everyone, hope you are enjoying the hornet as well as the exciting news about the upcoming falcon, hind, cobra and phantom modules. Here, we would like to hype you a bit more with this simple demo video of an early WIP AG radar and MITL. We just finished the prototype of AG radar and will polish it (more realistic appearance, no look-through effect etc).

Regarding the MITL, we are currently completing the functions and will later polish the graph effect (the current image looks too clean etc). Although we’ve implemented DL antenna limitation, it’s not shown in this demo video. Some hint of the WIP MITL of CM-802AKG: 1. you will not receive the camera image from missile until it’s 20-30km from target where the IR/TV sensor starts to work. 2. after hitting the target, there would be no snow screen but static on last frame.

They also have this early WIP video to show us what the MITL guided missile can do.

I’ve been surprised at the positive response towards the JF-17 which has garnered some positive support in the DCS community. I think many see it as a 4th Gen “Red Team”/REDFOR multi-role fighter that might be able to meet the F/A-18C in terms of mission flexibility in multiplayer matches.

Deka Ironworks still has to prove that they can make the JF-17 into a high quality DCS World module but they have consistently exceeded expectations so far. I also wouldn’t read too carefully into the early WIP efforts here as the visuals and systems are all likely to continue to be refined and change over time.