DCS World modders have been busy hitting high profile modifications out of the park recently. While there are many problems with integrating these mods into DCS’ multiplayer, these aircraft have nonetheless proven to be popular options for people to try out in other environments. And some of them, like this one, sport impressive feature lists. Let’s have a look!
New Flanker mod captures attention
Developed by three community members (with support from many others), the Su-30 mod for DCS World has a custom external and interior model with what appears to be high resolution textures and mapping details to help let it fit in with the other DCS World aircraft. The second seat is detailed and the cockpit is clickable.
Here are a list of features from the mod team:
- Custom MFD
- HUD
- CMDS
- Clickable Cockpit
- Switchable AA or AG role
- Wide range of custom Air to Air weapons
(eg. Astra Mk1, R-27EA, R-77M, R-73, etc) - Wide range of custom Air to Ground weapons
(eg. Brahmos, Kh-31, Kh-29, Kh-35, Kh-38, Kh-59, RudraM1, SAAW etc)
The mod is expected to release over the next few days. I’ve not seen a mention of a flight model but its possible that the mod will be making use of the Su-33’s PFM to connect with the closest highly detailed flight model in the sim.
As mentioned earlier, this mod will not be automatically compatible with multiplayer servers (unless you enter a highly customized server environment specifically setup for it) and there are no doubt a number of limitations versus what you’d expect in a paid module release. Still, given the attention to detail and the impressive build-up, I thought community members might be interested.
Check out the trailer below and then visit the mod team on their Facebook and Discord communities.
Stormbirds 
From their Facebook:
“At start it will be SFM, EFM in future”
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Good to know! Thanks for the update. I was struggling to find that.
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Do you think you’ll be able to either do, or get someone to do a review for it when it goes live?
While I fly US stuff myself, I can very much see the value of having more red force fighters available for everything.
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I’m not very mod focused but I may check out a couple of these higher profile mods as time allows. My review backlog is long 🙂
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Just imagine if the modders they could put his hands on the map/terrain SDK…
…yeah, ED map team would be out of a job, but we would already have half the world represented within DCS World. The panorama in terms of maps is advancing slowly. I don’t want to die without seeing Vietnam, the South China Sea and some European map, like the one of the Baltic Sea area in DCS.
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This looks like a first class mod. My worry is that if some of the mods get even better – meaning payware quality clickable cockpits – there might be cutoffs in what we are allowed to install. If someone starts making seriously(!) good mods of sought after planes, it might hurt someone’s bottom line, and an axe might fall.
Hasn’t it already happened that some mods were made unusable? I might be wrong on this.
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There has been a push and pull on what’s available and not available to mod makers. I am not sure how this will play out, however, we know that at least one mod (the MB-339) has made the jump to a full product so ED may see it as a way to encourage more developers to sign on.
Other sims, X-Plane and MSFS/FSX, have a long tradition of freeware mods being a net benefit to the sim on the whole so it may be a good thing for ED to keep those lines open.
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I guess by signing on you get access to the SDK, meaning you can make a better payware quality product and ED can take a cut when it sells. Business is business, after all.
I suppose I’m just curious, as stated, to what level of quality they will permit. If Joe Lunchbox makes a Heatblur quality freeware jet, for example, I wonder if someone at ED might see a few dollars escaping the nest and pump the brakes. I don’t mean to sound negative, it’s really just a curiosity about how quality is seen in a mod by a company that sells payware.
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Given what we’ve seen so far, if Joe Lunchbox puts out Heatblur level stuff ED is probably going to grab hold of them with both hands.
As I recall, wasn’t that how Heatblur themselves got started?
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Talk about first class mods for DCS:
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