Lots of DCS World news to catch up on with the latest DCS World Weekend News update and some separate updates from Orbx and Aerges. We’ve got new information about the F1, the F-104, fog and sandstorm effect updates, Kola updates, and Supercarrier updates too. Let’s go!

New weather effects

Here’s an interesting one. When DCS World updated its cloud rendering technology, the fog and dust storm systems came along with but didn’t play all that well with the newer system. ED has been busy working on updating the fog and sandstorm technology to match and it is apparently nearly done.

The new system is highly variable for density and altitude, it is intended to work with the future spherical-Earth technology in development, it supports self shadowing and blends in with the cloud technology and is fully animated. Even better, the system reportedly has been programmed to work with AI and sensor technology in mind.

New plane directors for Supercarrier

The Yellow Shirts are coming to DCS: Supercarrier. These aircraft directors will help guide you around on the deck of the carrier. The system will guide you before takeoff and after landing and reportedly will work in both single player and multiplayer. On that point, there’s this interesting note in the update.

While the process of creating this for single player was a challenging task given the myriads of ways the process can be interrupted, the multiplayer aspect was far more complex than ever contemplated given the numerous ways multiple human players on the carrier deck could “break” the system. This led to more than four times the development initially budgeted for this feature and we apologise for the delay and hope you will enjoy the experience.

Aerges development update

Released today both separately and as a part of the DCS World Weekend News update, Aerges have given us a fairly substantial update on what their company is busy doing for DCS World right now.

The F-104 Starfighter project appears to be coming along really well and they report that engine, hydraulics, electrics, fuel, controls and armament are all complete. Avionics systems are in progress, cockpit animations are in progress and flight model validation has begun. We’ve also got some new screenshots showing off the cockpit which is now textured.

And a few exterior shots. I particularly enjoy the long line-up of F1s and then you see the distinctive F-104 tail in the mix.

Mirage F1 is also still being developed with Aerges working on a few different items. One of them is cleaning up and improving the code that governs the radar with a more realistic noise pattern and tweaks to systems behaviour. Of course the modernized Mirage F1M is also in progress and Aerges say the MFD and HUD as well as other Mirage F1M differences are in progress.

Even the C-101 gets a mention as they say that efforts continue to support the module over the long term.

Aerges have produced a video to showcase the work that’s ongoing. Have a watch!

Kola update video

Orbx released a video a couple of weeks ago that flew under my radar. It shows off some of the recent updates made to DCS: Kola highlighting features that we now have in the most recent update.

The video highlights some of the improvements to the map including an overall improvement to the edges of forests, tweaked snow, new rivers and villages, and the addition of ENAN Andoya and RU59 Alakurtti airfield.

That’s quite a lot! Read the full report from Eagle Dynamics right over here.