OnReTech appears to be sharing DCS: Sinai with a bunch of content creators to provide us all with some preview videos that help showcase the map. Multiple new videos have been released by content creators and here’s a round-up of all of the ones that I was able to spot as well as a few thoughts of my own.
Sinai map previews
Multiple content creators have been granted access to DCS: Sinai to give us previews of the project and here’s a round-up of the videos that I was able to spot.
The first is CasmoTV who gives a great look at the map showing it off from a variety of locations and angles. Casmo mentions a number of items as highlights including the immense size of Cairo, the variety of geographical features, and the variety of buildings in each of the locales.
The next couple of videos seem to send the same message. Pricklyhedgehog72 explores the map from fast jets and down low in the Ka-50 and gives us a great look at some of the different locations.
Growling Sidewinder repeats similar messages from the other two videos. He also shows off some of the different cities starting with Cairo but also going to Alexandria, Jerusalem and Amman.
Finally HIP covers the map in detail as well going to many different locations. There’s also an answer about the inclusion of Ramat David airbase which is already featured on the southern edge of the DCS: Syria map. Apparently it will be added later on in the early access development period.
A few of my own thoughts
OnReTech hasn’t approached me about a preview so my thoughts that follow are based on what I’ve seen through the videos.
First, I know the community reaction to the map was “not another desert map.” While I understand the sentiment, I think this map manages to do what DCS: Syria did and offer a variety of biomes and visual experiences that go beyond pure desert. The river delta area near Cairo, for example, is lush with vegetation and farming and we can see that shown and called out in the preview videos.
Another thing that really stands out is the variety and density of objects. There are so many different variants of building that, although there is clearly some copy and paste going on, there’s good variety too! All of that will look great but it might cause some pain on the performance side of things too.
Growling Sidewinder points out that the recent multi-threading patch for DCS World may have come at the right time for this map and I couldn’t help but agree. The improvements in performance will surely help people out while tackling a map with this kind of detail. Optimization, something that Ugra Media did very well over the course of DCS: Syria’s release cycle, will be be important here too.
I did really like to see that we have additional points of interest such as SAM sites and helipads called out. I hope to see some of that expand to other maps, particularly Syria, where we have the sites already built into the map in a similar way.
Finally, I do hope that OnReTech is working closely with Eagle Dynamics to ensure that some of the local nations are better represented. Egypt operates and has operated a wide variety of aircraft from both east and west and having these selectable under the nation tab as well as having some notional default skins would be a good way to help support and integrate the map.
I think this one is a map to watch. It didn’t initially attract a lot of attention but I think it may end up being a bit of a sleeper hit. We’ll have to see how it shakes out as we get closer to release. Speaking of which, I suspect that DCS: Sinai may be on final approach for an early access release given the sudden uptick in preview videos. Another one already came out a few weeks ago from Spudknocker and now we have more videos releasing today. Release surely isn’t too far away.
Stormbirds 
Great to see them getting the map out there in the hands of some community members to allow us to have a first-look. I’m still not sure where I fall in terms of interest with this map but I’m always a fan of new additions to the game.
That said, they really missed the mark by not including you in that first wave. I think there’s value in providing access to those who contribute to the community across all mediums whether they be visual (i.e. YouTube/Twitch), audio (podcasts) or written (Stormbirds). Hopefully we’ll see developers continue to expand their view on what they consider “content creators” in this community.
As always, great article and coverage!
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Thanks! Blogs tend to get missed in favour of YouTube channels although in recent times I have stepped up the video game just a bit in support of my articles so maybe that’s worth something in the future.
I’m not really put out by it and I form my editorial from having access to the same information as my readers so it works either way!
Thanks for the comment!
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Hopefully they will keep you in mind for future previews. This site is a regular source on Deephack’s weekly DCS podcast. You have definitely built a name.
As to the map, I had a bit of that “oh no, more desert’ thing going on but I’m pretty enthusiastic at this point. Looks like a lot of quality exploration to be had. And I’m glad they – apparently – will make some of the holy sites not have damage models. I think that’s a very good idea.
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Thanks CanadaOne! As always, I appreciate the comments and the kind words!
Definitely a lot of potential exploration potential here plus some really nice scenery to experience.
Yes, it seems like a good compromise on holy sites and key landmarks not receiving damage. I think that’s a very fair compromise for having them present in a combat flight sim.
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I agree, you should have been on the list. Bit of an oversight on their part.
I’ll definitely get this. It’s not just desert, it is a really interesting part of the world and from our perspective has ongoing air wars from 1947 to 1973 (or now, in some ways).
If they could merge this with Syria…wow!
Glad they are not skimping on the landmarks. Mind you, thing about somewhere like Jerusalem is that you could not really destroy one famous landmark without damaging many of the others. So even with PGMs specific iconoclasm is rather tricky.
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This is my go-to for DCS news so hopefully terrain makers will recognize you in the future. Keep it up!
I buy all the terrains but this was also a sleeper for me in terms of fidelity. Wasn’t all that interested but certainly am now. While South Atlantic was something I booted up twice and not again this seems like a map I will be spending a lot of time in from the get go. Great to see that they worked a lot on this before even sharing early versions instead of just using low res textures everywhere.
While we are on that topic I wish some of the old terrains would get new versions too. For instance Nevada needs a complete texture overhaul to step out of the Gameboy era. Persian Gulf could use some too etc
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We will see what we can do going forward.
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That’d be great!
Thanks for the support everyone as well. I’m happy to report the news as is but I’d jump at the chance to bring over some preview content too.
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I’ll buy the map the if you add Shamrock to your future preview list.
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@Blue 5 Make sure you are saving your money then 😉
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I also agree that they should have given you a preview copy of the map.
As for the map itself, it looks quite amazing for sure. However, I’m still on the fence as I’m not that much interested into the geographical region represented by that map.
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@Nineline.
EA as soon as available. If you add Shamrock today I’ll gift another copy so that you are not out of pocket 🙃
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Just waiting for him to answer my message on Twitter 😛
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That’s…’today’ Italian time!!! Midnight in 4 hours…
#manic laughter
No, but seriously, I will.
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Thanks for the intense advocacy. I did hear from NineLine about being added to some previews. ☺️
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Awesomes, and I am really impressed with DCS’ coming together in the last 6 months. To me it now appears to be a whole rather than disconnected parts.
Thank you, NineLine, to you and your team. Hoping the Pacific module is progressing well…
Who would like a Sinai map? I am a man of my word and I owe someone a sunny map.
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I’m in the “not another desert map” camp. But the sentiment isn’t as simple as that – it’s actually that there are so many other non-desert locations around the globe that would make historical sense & also be interesting, while working within whatever the limitations of DCSW’s map limitations might be.
For e.g., I absolutely love the visuals of The Channel and the pending Normandy 2 (I also like the present version), and The Marianas has been a particular favorite (i’ve always lived in the tropics).
And it’s almost a forgone conclusion that Kola Peninsula will become my absolute favorite for so many reasons, not least of which knowing it’s an Orbx product.
All that said, I’ll undoubtedly add Sinai to the collection, so save one for me 🙂
p.s.: NineLine, one more vote for StormBirds to be on the Press Preview list, please!
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