I made a bit of a mistake. Last week we had a DCS World Weekend News update and I wrote this article that you’re about to read about it but I neglected to hit the publish button. So, it sat around as a draft for the last week, ready to read, but unpublished. With a bit of humble pie I’m publishing it now because the F-100 is just such a cool airplane and Grinnelli Design’s work on making it authentic is worth mentioning! Plus the updates to the AH-64 and the new UH-1H campaign are worth mentioning too. So let’s have a look!

A status update on the Super Sabre

Grinnelli Designs is making progress on their DCS: F-100 Super Sabre project and its the focus of this week’s update. One of the key points is that Grinnelli is now collaborating with enthusiasts and members of the Collings Foundation who have an F-100F and who have been able to grant access to then scan and photograph the aircraft.

Five of those scanned images are presented in the DCS World in-development screenshot bank. What you see are not 3D renders that will go into DCS themselves but instead a form of photogrammetry that can be used to create a highly accurate map of the aircraft’s interior. This should help them get the scale and details just right for the inevitable 3D model that is then imported into the sim.

Progress appears to be going well overall with exterior model, cockpit model, sound and systems all coming along. Here’s what they had to say about their current progress.

The current development progress of the F-100D module is steadily moving forward, with the module currently in a flyable state. We have made significant progress in various areas, including the flight model, engine, fuel and hydraulic systems, which are currently undergoing alpha testing. Additionally, we are actively testing and refining the core systems of the aircraft, such as electrical, radio, radio navigation, TACAN, oxygen, lighting, IFF, seek silence, and base weapon systems. These systems are being fine tuned to ensure their functionality and authenticity in the aircraft. Comprehensive testing allows us to identify and address any issues or improvements necessary to deliver an immersive F-100D experience to the community.

The work continues on this project and this week’s update appears meant to drive home just how much effort is being put to recreate a digital form of this jet.

Grinnelli Designs has a website with a progress tracker that you can use to see how things are going. Overall progress is listed as 38% and the tracker was last updated on June 14.

Not in the developer diary but worth linking to is the Collings Foundation and their information page on the F-100F that they have. There’s great pictures and this video that is well worth a watch for Super Sabre fans. Check out their website here and have a look at the embedded video.

UH-1H Last Show

A new campaign is out for the DCS: UH-1H Huey. This one is called ‘Last Show’ by campaign maker SorelRo. This is a 15 story-driven mission scripted campaign with 2000 voice lines. Mission types include SAR, RESCAP, Gunship, Transport, and SOC Ops which should keep you busy.

Here’s the campaign description:

It is the 14th of January 1979. The Black Jacks 4th Aviation Regiment is being deployed to Krasnodar to support the UN resolution for the Independence of the former Soviet Union provinces. In a relatively moderate response, US President Jimmy Carter and the other NATO countries are deploying a force consisting of elements from the 9th Infantry Division, 6th Cavalry Air Brigade, an MAU from the 1st Marine Division, and SOC from Green Berets, SAS, and SASR. USAF is preparing 3 squadrons of F5-E and 2 squadrons of F4-E to provide air support.

The campaign is going for $10.99 USD and its available on the e-Shop and on Steam.

Other updates for AH-64 and other modules

A DCS World Open Beta was released last week as well as a hotfix to solve a couple of new problems. The AIM-54 was once again broken and then fixed again with the hotfix so F-14 flyers can go back to splashing targets at long ranges.

There were fixes for the F/A-18, F-16C, Mi-24P, AJS-37, F-14, and other modules. The two that have standout lists are the AH-64D which has a number of key fixes for the George AI as well as enabling a mixed AGM-114 Hellfire loadout so you can now mix the types of missiles that you’re carrying. Nice.

The other module with a standout series of updates is the DCS: F-15E with dozens of fixes and updates to everything from the external model and levels of detail to system fixes and quality of life updates like added support for TACAN, ILS, TEWS, and WPN volume controls or, finally, the ability to adjust laser codes by the ground crew.

Lots of little things coming together to add up! Read the DCS World Weekend news update here.