The summer is here and Magintude 3 are providing a status update on three of their DCS World projects plus some fun extra additions that I wasn’t expecting. Let’s have a look!

F4U Corsair, Essex and Japanese assets

The team at Magnitude 3 have been busy and it sounds like their key focus area right now is on the F4U-1D Corsair. The dev update reports that they are working towards some finishing touches on the airframe including some of the animations for various systems. The update includes a series of short videos showing off the animation work. The addition to detail is extreme!

They are also talking about how they have revamped the lighting and cockpit illumination for both conventional and UV lamps.

Meanwhile Magnitude 3 are also tackling some adjacent items. They have built a series of Japanese World War II assets. Those assets include a Ha-Go tank, Type 88 flak gun, and Type 94 truck. Everything has been created at a very high level of detail and apparently they next step involves including them in DCS World.

No comment on if this is a separate asset pack or something that will be integrated into the core sim. Interestingly, if they are, these may well be the definitive asset pack for the Pacific theatre for DCS.

The Essex class is making some headway as well. It sounds like its mostly in the hands of the programmers right now who are adding things like AI taxi routes, getting the weapons working, and programming the movable elevators.

When F4U Corsair comes, it does sound like it will be surrounded with a decent amount of supporting content. It should be interesting!

F-8J Crusader progress

This time around we don’t get to see very much on the F-8J. This Cold War era jet fighter appears to be taking a bit of a backseat while Magnitude 3 focuses on the Corsair, however, they do have progress to report.

The pilot model appears to be coming along. It’s not yet full textured but is packing in plenty of details right down to the survival vest, life preserver, and flight boots.

Meanwhile the team have also apparently ventured over to the Planes of Fame museum to take some photos of the Crusader that is stored there. It’s not, by the photos, exactly airworthy, but it should provide some good references especially for damage textures.

MiG-21 2.0?

Magnitude 3 have mentioned a desire to keep the DCS: MiG-21bis in top shape and have mentioned a 2.0 iteration before. It looks like that is moving ahead. The team have doubled the size of their library on the MiG-21 which will enable better systems modeling.

Meanwhile, the research team have also taken highly detailed 3D scans to aid in the rebuilding process. The images are at a level that we could have only dreamed of a few years ago. Photogrammetry scanning has really picked up. The result are images like this one below.

This isn’t a model that can just go into DCS World but it will provide the kind of template that will be used to create a very highly detailed model from.

The DCS: MiG-21bis has taken on an almost legendary quality about it with the type being the favourite of fans despite its many real world and simulation world quirks. A version 2.0 upgrade would no doubt make it even more popular and ensure that it stays compatible and at the peak of its game for many years to come in the DCS ecosystem.

All of these images and details and more are available over at the official update so be sure to check it out!