Leatherneck CEII and MiG-21bis updates

October 17, 2018

2–3 minutes

A few days ago, DCS World Third party developers Leatherneck Simulations/Magnitude 3 LLC updated the community on the status of their two modules currently in production and released. The Christen Eagle II and MiG-21bis are both making progress and we’ve got some new details!

MiG-21bis is coming to MAC, new features

MiG-21-nose-on

Fans of the MiG-21 have much to like with the DCS World MiG-21bis and a few things that have caused words to be spoken out-loud, often in frustration, as the module has had some troublesome bugs particularly with the transition over to DCS World 2.5.

Those days seem to be behind the MiG-21 and Leatherneck as the module has slowly been receiving updates and there are new efforts underway to help bring the module forward with some new features.

The MiG-21bis is going to be a release aircraft with Eagle Dynamics new Modern Air Combat and this more simplified version of the MiG-21 will potentially make it into a popular module with more casual players.

Here are some other key updates that we’ve learned about:

Leatherneck is working with Eagle Dynamics to move the key based DRM over to the new account based system which should solve a major headache that many MiG-21 users were experiencing
A major cockpit update will include new planned versions featuring various livery options including colours, language, and weathering
Two 8K textures will be remapped into four 4K textures to improve performance on some systems
Missile performance parameters are being worked on

According to the developers, no flight model changes are currently planned and the team has apparently worked with both Eagle Dynamics and a real time data readout from a Serbian MiG-21 to ensure accuracy.

Overall, this sounds like good news for MiG-21bis fans as the aircraft is getting a mix of new features and some solutions to some old problems with performance and DRM.

Christen Eagle II enters into testing

201810-Update_CE2_Large_001

It isn’t quite done yet but Leatherneck is hard at work on getting the CEII ready as DCS’ first civilian only module (technically the Yak-52 has been flown as a trainer). Leatherneck says that they have some quirks to address with the flight model but that progress is good and that some SMEs, including aerobatics instructors, have given the module some positive reactions.

The cockpit looks good (if plain compared to the button covered monstrosities of some of the modern jet fighters) and the overall appearance of the aircraft appears to have really come together.

201810-Update_CE2_Large_004

Leatherneck has also had a bit of fun with a popular meme floating around the community based on the scene in Top Gun where Maverick and Goose fly inverted over a “MiG-28.”

You can see for yourself how they have recreated this popular meme and tapped into some of the hype surrounding Heatblur’s F-14 Tomcat reveal.

CEII-inverted-TopGun

I thought it was clever.

Check out Leatherneck’s Facebook, ED Forum and website for more information and more screenshots!

3 responses to “Leatherneck CEII and MiG-21bis updates”

Mischiew Rithe

October 18, 2018 at 3:22 pm

Love the reference to Top Gun, very witty joke 😀

The MiG-21bis is one of those jets that demands a genuine commitment. For years I have considered it a mess, and one has to admit cockpit ergonomics were not at their peak back then. Then I got curious and finally bought the DCS module, and absolutely loved it right away!

And no, it has nothing to do with alcoohol being used to cool down the radar 😉

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1. ShamrockOneFive
  
  October 18, 2018 at 8:16 pm
  
  I thought it was a clever way for Leatherneck to connect with the hype the community has for the F-14 and Heatblur (and their former colleagues) in a way that pokes a bit of fun without trying to steal any thunder.
  
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  1. Mischiew Rithe
    
    October 20, 2018 at 4:39 am
    
    Yes, exactly 🙂
    
    Have they say what kind of mission and campaign we could expect, or if they were working on that at all?
    
    Personally I could enjoy a civilian airplane as much as a fighter or an attacker, but it probably doesn’t appeal to everyone (and the reactions back then in the forums, or on their FB page proved as much). This aircraft is an interesting milestone in the development of the Corsair, and if the sales are not that high it may not be a huge problem, but developing DLC for the CEII could be seen as a risky business.
    
    Then there is the question of what type of mission one could design. Just for fun and to learn the ME, I made a few training missions for the Fishbed (which I’ve never made public because 2.5 was released and would require a complete overhaul, and I don’t have the time anymore), it quickly became clear that you have to spend a lot of time with the current system to perform simple tasks, and that it is almost impossible to modify moderately complex missions once they are done. There is also very little control on many parameters, and virtually no control in Lua to make it effective, the whole ME is actually tuned for basic military action and not training or any kind of civilian mission.
    
    That could be the opportunity for DCS to add those missing features, but it’s not their bird and they are quite busy. They had the Yak-52 out however, which also begs for that type of mission design.
    
    I tried to ask similar questions in the forums long ago, but never really got any reply. That could be an interesting Q&A to their team. We heard that Matt was not against the idea of dynamic campaign, which was good news to me, but what of persistent aircraft data, or campaign data? Or if will we be able to get and set aircraft parameters through Lua scripting (which is much easier than through the ME triggers)? And triggers like mid-air gates that are invisible (we have the green, visible ones), or statistics on the module on how good/bad was the touch down at landing, whether the plugs are fouled, or the engine overheated/overcooled?
    
    The idea of a good trainer in DCS is tempting, there were nice attempts like the A-10C qualification campaigns, for example. The DCS models are quite accurate and extensive, they are more responsive and the overall experience is more fluid than in P3D, the scenery is much better than X-Plane, and finally there are many available modules.
    
    Again, it depends on the demand for that type of mission, perhaps it goes against the current FC4 trend to gather more casual simmers?
    
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