The news in the world of DCS is a bit slower this week but that’s ok because we still have a few interesting items to cover this week starting with GFM (General Flight Model) which, you may have forgotten about, but we can go back over. Then there’s a new B-17 livery contest for the artistically talented! Let’s have a look.

GFM update

It hasn’t come up all that often but one of the core technology updates that Eagle Dynamics are working on is called GFM or General Flight Model.

DCS World has gone through a number of iterations of their flight modeling system. A basic system, employed during the Lock On days and now known as SFM (Standard Flight Model) is still used for AI airplanes and some mods. Various other versions including AFM (Advanced Flight Model) and PFM (Professional Flight Model) have also been used over the years with PFM becoming the standard Eagle Dynamics system.

AI continues to use SFM and that has resulted in problems over the years as AI airplanes exhibit some unnatural moves that human pilots would not be able to perform. The UFO MiG-15 comments on the forums are just one example of that kind of issue.

GFM seeks to replace SFM for AI airplanes offering a system that attempts to bring together the best of both worlds with PFM-like aircraft performance but SFM-like levels of system performance enabling large numbers of AI aircraft to not bog down the system.

Back in December of 2021, Eagle Dynamics laid out the reasons for developing a new model, and we’ve heard just a little bit about it since then.

Today we’ve got a little bit of new information. First, we’ve learned that Eagle Dynamics have completed work on tight formation flying in the GFM letting AI pilots stay closely formed on their leaders. Now they are turning towards loose formation flying with wingmates needing to follow their own trajectories to stay positioned correctly on the leader.

In another update, provided with a graph, we can see work being done with the DCS: MiG-29 Fulcrum (which they are using as a testbed), showing comparisons between the AI GFM and human PFM on stabilizer trim positioning.

B-17G Flying Fortress livery contest

The AI B-17G Flying Fortress has been in DCS World for quite some time now but it looks like Eagle Dynamics are seeking to provide some extra spice to the visuals on this AI airplane by shipping it with a bunch of new liveries. The artists among you may want to check out the rules which include the following:

The livery must be created using this template. The livery must be based on historical liveries in use for the B-17G in the timeline of 1943-45. The livery should be associated with a country who genuinely operates the B-17G, USAAF, RAF, etc. If you do a specific livery with nose art and aircraft name, please also include a generic version with no nose art, aircraft name or bort numbers. This will give users more options. 

The contest runs until August 30 and the top five winners will receive a free copy of the DCS: WWII Aseet Pack or a module of their choice. The top 10 get their liveries added to DCS. The top winner receives two additional modules of their choice.

Not bad incentives.

Read about all of that and more on the DCS World Weekend News update.