DCS World Steam Edition News

[h2]Germany Cold War[/h2]
[h3]Announcement[/h3]



The DCS: Cold War Germany map, long requested by our customers, recreates central Europe at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s. This map of West Germany, East Germany, parts of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Low Countries centres on the strategically important Fulda Gap and also includes areas of the Baltic Sea for naval operations. The map measures 980x800 km and accurately reproduces the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Hannover, Lübeck and others.



The map features over 100 highly detailed military airfields and heliports such as Ramstein, Spangdahlem, Hahn, Bitburg, Sembach and large civil airfields like Tegel, Schönefeld, Tempelhof, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Hannover. Numerous army bases, listening posts, naval bases, training grounds, weapon storage facilities, and the militarized frontier between East and West Germany.



Ugra-Media has invested in detail, providing users a rich environment for endless complex missions and campaigns with accurate reproduction of the road and rail network, along with the power plants and electricity grid, industrial sites, mines, tunnels, stadiums, rail yards and stations, as well as cultural landmarks.



The initial release of the map will focus on the central portion of East and West Germany with summer textures that will allow the creation of unlimited "what if" scenarios in Europe. Later updates will add additional detail, airfields, and other features to the north and south, as well as west to include parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark with Spring, Autumn, and Winter textures. Check out the development screenshots and stay tuned for more information!

[h2]Steam Spring Sale[/h2]
[h3]Don’t miss some amazing deals[/h3]



We are pleased to inform you that the DCS Spring Saving are now available on Steam too! From today until the 20th of March, 2025 at 17:00 GMT you can enjoy all the same discounts across our aircraft, terrains, campaigns and important add-ons. Enjoy!

Thank you again for your passion and support,

Yours sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics

[h2]Spring Sale[/h2]
[h3]Up to -50%[/h3]



Don’t miss this chance to expand your DCS collection at special springtime prices. Head to our E-Shop to explore all available offers and secure your must-have modules before the sale ends! See you in the skies.

The DCS Spring Sale 2025 has already begun on our E-Shop and will run until the 23rd of March, 2025 at 23:59 GMT. We are also pleased to announce our participation in the DCS Steam Edition Spring Sale 2025, which will commence on the 13th of March and end on the 20th of March 2025 at 17:00 GMT.

[h2]Mission State Save[/h2]
[h3]Development Progress[/h3]



We are pleased to share good progress on the Mission State Save Option. This feature is aimed at giving players an easier way to set up their own mission context and environment (story) with basic mission editor skills and be able to keep progress made by transferring achievements to subsequent sessions of the same mission automatically. It’s designed to enhance long-term gameplay, providing a seamless experience for those engaging in lengthy or complex missions. Additionally, we are making it compatible with multiplayer nuances. We hope you’ll enjoy it! The new Save feature will allow you to save mission states between missions. It will also allow you to make mission changes at the save point in the Mission Editor.

The feature is now integrated with the existing DCS architecture. The current efforts are focused on adding specific dedicated server controls for running persistent missions and saving them on demand. As always, community feedback will be vital to our development process. Once this feature will be available, we encourage all participants to provide as much detailed feedback as possible so we can plan future improvements.

The Mission State Save feature is aimed at giving players an easier way to create new missions based on the saved events state of the played mission. New Save does not save the state of everything in a mission but rather applies the theatre of operations events to a newly generated mission. This allows you to create linked missions with persistence between them.

You can save the mission state at any time during the mission or generate a new mission from the state you get at debriefing after you exit the mission. The new mission file will have its time and date set to match the day and time the previous mission was saved at, and groups that were destroyed will be deleted from the mission and groups that were activated will be added as active. If you save a mission state while controlling an aircraft in flight, the aircraft will spawn at the location it was flying when the mission ended. The same transfer of spawn position will also happen at airfields or FARPs when the aircraft is on the ground. Ground unit current positions, speeds and waypoints will also be saved between missions. We are also working on adding new types of triggers that will activate by absolute time passed in the mission, not just time passed since the start of the simulation process.

All warehouse states are also transferred. We are working on adding and refining the parameters that are transferred to new mission files. The Mission State generated file will be compatible with the Mission Editor, just like a regular mission file, so you can adjust it as needed to best support a storyline you want. Additionally, we worked on multiplayer functionality to give dedicated servers the option to generate these files automatically at the end of a mission or on demand by the admin panel button. Also, we have developed a new dedicated server mission format .sav to support seamless mission persistence, when a mission is converted to .sav, the server will automatically save the last state of that mission after mission end or restart, while saving on demand will give you a new .sav file at the location of your choice. The dedicated server interface also will allow conversion between .miz and .sav formats.

That way you can run missions lists which will iterate through different types of missions and keep persistent missions automatically updated after the server switches to another mission.

This feature won’t break protection of DCS paid single player campaigns and is aimed at user generated content only initially.

[h2]Campaigns[/h2]
[h3]Update[/h3]



In the DCS: AH-64D Outpost Campaign by Stone Sky, mission 2 now has a corrected landing procedure on the Arleigh Burke. For DCS: F/A-18C Operation Green Line by Badger633, the boat movement issue in mission 1 is fixed, and F/A-18C Rise of the Persian Lion 2 sees its mission 13 carrier parking conflict resolved. Ground Pounder Sims updated mission 10 in the F-16C Last Out Weasels Over Syria 2 Campaign to prevent the rotor from engaging MiGs prematurely, while F/A-18C Operation Cerberus North mission 5 received various minor tweaks. Finally, Baltic Dragon’s F/A-18C Raven One: Dominant Fury underwent an overhaul in missions 4, 8, and 9, addressing progression blockers, datalink fixes, and comms improvements. To experience these important campaign fixes, please update to the latest DCS version now!

[h2]Black Angels[/h2]
[h3]Air Race[/h3]



This weekend, make sure you tune in to an exciting new DCS Mustang Air Race Championship, hosted by our dedicated community members Black Angels. Inspired by Nick Grey’s recent feedback, they have improved their race result export system to update in near real-time, ensuring that pilots can see their lap times both on their Discord and on the event homepage. Join in for free practice sessions on the 7th and 8th of March, with the main competition taking place on the 9th of March featuring the iconic P-51 and free TF-51 Mustangs.

In their commitment to expanding air racing throughout the DCS community, the team will release their racing script for anyone interested in creating their own thrilling events. They also invite participants to #FlyTogether by offering a gift voucher for any Eagle Dynamics module as a prize. If you’d like to get involved please visit the event page, or simply cheer on the racers on the Champions page.

We truly hope you take advantage of the fantastic savings available in the DCS Spring Sale 2025 and that the development progress on the persistent save feature is to your satisfaction.

Thank you again for your passion and support,

Yours sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics

[h2]DCS Campaigns[/h2]

[h3]DCS: AH-64D Outpost Campaign by Stone Sky[/h3]
- Mission 2. Fixed problem with landing on Arleigh Burke.

[h3]DCS: F/A-18C Operation Green Line by Badger633[/h3]
- Mission 1: Boat movement fixed.

[h3]DCS: F/A-18C Rise of the Persian Lion 2 by Badger633 [/h3]
- Missions 13: Carrier parking conflict on return resolved.

[h3]DCS: F-16C Last Out Weasels Over Syria 2 Campaign by Ground Pounder Sims[/h3]
- Mission 10 - Rotor engaging Migs when already clear of the fight - fixed.

[h3]DCS: F/A-18C Operation Cerberus North Campaign by Ground Pounder Sims[/h3]
- Mission 5 - Various minor updates and fixes.

[h3]DCS: F/A-18C Raven One: Dominant Fury by Baltic Dragon[/h3]
- Mission 4: fixed issue with mission not progressing after overflying Power Chord.
- Mission 8: general overhaul of the mission, with new prompts, fixed datalink, updated comms and several smaller bug fixes. Note: known issue with overlapping comms during departure, will be fixed for next patch.
- Mission 9: fixed issue with Scuds shooting too early; fixed garbled comms from Cutlass towards end of the mission; added missing prompt for freq change to Strike; added unlimited fuel for flight lead.

[h3]The following campaigns have had issues with broken file names fixed, and now the campaigns are fully playable:[/h3]

DCS: F-14B Operation Sandworm Campaign by Sandman Simulations
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1961240/DCS_F14B_Operation_Sandworm_Campaign/

DCS: F-16C First in Weasels Over Syria Campaign by Ground Pounder Sims
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2635860/DCS_F16C_First_in_Weasels_Over_Syria_Campaign_by_Ground_Pounder_Sims/

DCS: MAD AH-64D Campaign by Stone Sky
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2286850/DCS_MAD_AH64D_Campaign/

Mi-8MTV2 Oilfield Campaign by Dmitry Koshelev
https://store.steampowered.com/app/728301/Mi8MTV2_Oilfield_Campaign/

DCS: F/A-18C Rising Squall Campaign by INVERTED
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1536952/DCS_FA18C_Rising_Squall_Campaign/

DCS: UH-1H Worlds Apart Stormfront Campaign by Low-Level-Heaven Mission Development
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2982420/DCS_UH1H_Worlds_Apart_Stormfront_Campaign_by_Low_Level_Heaven/

[h2]Weapons [/h2]
[h3]Development Progress[/h3]

Appearance of Missile Contrails at Low Temperatures
Modern missiles use reduced-smoke solid-fuel rocket motors, as well as liquid-fuel motors. However, these cease to be “low-smoke” at altitude due to the drop in air temperature. The exhaust of solid-fuel missiles, such as the AMRAAM’s HTPB/AP fuel, contains Hydrogen Chloride HCl, which at low temperatures forms crystal hydrates that generate a dense contrail. The exhaust of liquid-fuel missiles contains water vapor, which also generates a dense contrail in cold air.

In winter, a contrail can appear even at low altitudes. At Arctic temperatures, the contrail may appear even at ground level.



In the screenshot, an F-15C aircraft launches a missile at a target high above it. As illustrated in the image, the first part of the missile's flight has a “low-smoke” trail where the air temperature is above -25°C. As the missile climbs, a dense contrail appears as the air temperature falls below -25°C.

On the Kola map, you can set the air temperature down to -30°C, and this results in “low-smoke” missiles having trails at surface level. This is an important tactical point, as the smoke trail reveals not only the missile launch but also its trajectory.

Trajectory Fluctuations of Older Generation Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Systems
We recently added authentic guidance algorithms for the older Soviet SA-2 and SA-3 SAM systems. Due to the low angular accuracy of first generation radars, and the design features of the radio command control system, noticeable fluctuations are observed in the flight path of SAM missiles. These limitations lead to increased errors in the targeting, which was compensated for by large warheads.



We have implemented two guidance modes for these missiles. By default, the improved proportional navigation mode is used, but if the target uses a jammer, or has a velocity of less than 100 meters per second, pure pursuit is used.

Realistic Pattern of Proximity Fuze
We recently added new and more realistic SAM missile proximity blast patterns for fuzes. The proximity blast pattern is now a more realistic, “wagon wheel” shape rather than spherical.



This allows the SAM missile warhead to more effectively fuze when the target is in the lethal area of the expanding rod zone. This increases the SAM lethality. This new mechanism allows us to set unique shapes and sizes of patterns based on fuze and warhead types. It is an important step in the development of munitions for DCS. You can expect the first implementation of this feature for the AIM-120 air-to-air missile in the next update.



[h2]Marianas 1944[/h2]
[h3]Development Progress[/h3]



The free Marianas 1944 map currently in development will focus on the brutal battles between the United States and Japan for the islands of Saipan, Guam, and Tinian in the summer of 1944. This coincided with the Battle of the Philippine Sea that saw large-scale naval warfare between aircraft carrier task forces.

World War II History and Key Battles
The Mariana Islands became a flashpoint in 1944, and it shaped the outcome of the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO). Three major operations stand out:

• Battle of Saipan (15 June – 9 July 1944)
  
• Battle of Guam (21 July – 10 August 1944)
  
• Battle of Tinian (24 July – 1 August 1944)
  

Each of these iconic battles, fought across rugged terrain in sweltering summer heat, showcased the evolving tactics of amphibious warfare combined with naval close air support. These battles changed the course of the war in the Pacific by establishing air bases within striking distance of Japan.

Modern vs. 1944 – Island by Island
While the modern Mariana Islands map features contemporary infrastructure, airfields, and urban centers, the DCS: Marianas 1944 map will present a significantly different depiction of these islands.

Guam

• Today: It is one of the largest U.S. military bases in the Pacific, and it includes expansive naval and air force installations that cover much of the island.
  
• WWII Era: Small towns, villages, and relatively little infrastructure.
  

Tinian

• Today: Sparsely populated and far removed from its former prominence in global history.
  
• WWII Era: An agricultural hub in the summer of 1944, it was later transformed into a crucial military staging area during the final stages of the war, including B-29 bombing missions over Japan.
  

Saipan

• Today: A popular destination with golf courses, resort areas, and recreational facilities, it reflects a strong tourism industry.
  
• WWII Era: Dominated by plantations and small-scale settlements.
  

Rota

• WWII Era & Today: Rota remains one of the lesser-developed islands in the chain, with minimal changes over the decades. Rota offers a quieter pace of life in the Marianas.
  

Pagan

• Today: Largely uninhabited since a volcanic eruption in the 1980s, it is mostly untouched by modern development.
  
• WWII Era: Home to a local population and Japanese military presence.
  

The goal of DCS: Marianas 1944 is to faithfully recreate the conditions that defined the battles of 1944. You can look forward to authentic period-based airfields, buildings, vegetation and agriculture, roads and rail lines. The 1944 version poses the unique challenges of older navigation technology, limited logistical support, and high-stakes amphibious operations. This WWII-era environment will offer an immersive glimpse into the intensity of the Pacific War.

We look forward to sharing more details on DCS: Marianas 1944 as development continues. In the meantime, make sure you explore the free DCS: Marianas map, and stay tuned for future updates on this thrilling journey back in time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677150/DCS_Marianas/


[h2]Q&A[/h2]
[h3]by Matt Wagner[/h3]



Your overwhelmingly positive response to Matt Wagner's January Q&A has not gone unnoticed! Many new and interesting questions came from the previous video, so this one will seek to provide some answers, such as the status of the dynamic campaign and future aircraft development. Watch the February 2025 Q&A video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc70MbLrenw

Thank you again for your passion and support,

Yours sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics

[h2]East Afghanistan[/h2]
[h3]Out Now![/h3]



The next region of DCS: Afghanistan is now available: East Afghanistan! This new area leverages our latest map technology and lessons learned from previous terrains, including the Southwest region. The eastern region is characterised by its rugged, mountainous terrain, interspersed with agricultural areas around Bagram and along waterways. Kabul, the capital and largest city in Afghanistan, includes several points of interest such as hospitals, historical sites, monuments, and unique neighborhoods. The Eastern region also includes the urban areas of Bagram, Gardez, Jalalabad, and Khost and 10 highly-detailed airfields:

• Bagram

• Kabul

• Jalalabad

• Gardez

• Khost

• Sharana

• Bamyan

• Urgoon Heliport

• Ghazni Heliport

• Khost Heliport

Along with the release of the Eastern region, the entire map offers improved surface textures, ground clutter, noise, and normal maps. We have also upgraded the transition between ground texture types and increased the visual quality of surfaces throughout. In the months ahead, we will continue to enhance the map’s performance and visual fidelity, as well as improving AI pathfinding.

For carrier ops, the current update now expands to include the Arabian Gulf, albeit at a lower resolution. In parallel to continued improvement on the Southwest and Eastern regions, we now move our focus to North Afghanistan. New missions for DCS: Black Shark 3 and DCS: Flaming Cliffs 2024 have also been added for DCS: Afghanistan, enjoy!

Flexible purchase options provide customers the choice of purchasing one or more of three regions of Afghanistan: Southwest, East and North. You can purchase DCS: Southwest Afghanistan and DCS: East Afghanistan for $29.99 each. Alternatively, you may purchase the entire DCS: Afghanistan map for the early access discounted price of $55.99. This will include all current and future regions and updates.



[h2]DCS Update [/h2]
[h3]Development Progress[/h3]



DCS Core
This week’s update saw numerous changes and improvements including AI aircraft being unable to react to radar-launched missiles outside of visual range if not equipped with an onboard radar warning receiver. The initial implementation of tactical turns when flying in a two-ship with an AI wingman has also been added, and AI aircraft now use enhanced lead pursuit for more timely rejoins. Various additional improvements have been made to the S-3B. The Mi-28 can now land on small helipads, and the MiG-31 damage model has been upgraded. Ground and naval AI also saw improvements with Chinese Assets pack ships. The HQ-7B short range SAM has received accuracy refinements, and artillery now fire at secondary targets again.

Graphical and performance improvements to the DCS Core include the addition of both High and Low SSAO effect options and a number of shader compilation errors have been fixed. This update also saw important bug resolutions to the Mission Editor. The dedicated server saw certain options improved in addition to bug fixes. Numerous weapon improvements for both SAMs and Tomahawk were implemented, and magnetic north has been updated to better reflect current real world deviation.


Eagle Dynamics Modules
The DCS: F-16C Viper saw the following improvements: addition of a mouse click function on the throttle to move between OFF and IDLE; the Ground Moving Target game crash is now fixed; Dogfight Mode stuck with NO RAD indication is fixed; new parking brake and anti-skid control bindings added; pilot survivability improved.

The DCS: F/A-18C continues to see enhancements such as adjustments to the AIM-9X tracking near gimbal limits; similar pilot damage modelling as the Viper, and several fixes including a PDLT crash in EXP mode; interface between the data link pod and the AGM-84 fixed; and AUTO bombing mode based on an OAP now fixed.

Both of these aircraft and the DCS: F-5E also include air-to-air infrared-guided missile seekers being actively distracted by flares prior to missile launch. This makes pre-emptive flares effective when flying against these aircraft. AI aircraft saw a large number of behaviour and functional improvements.



DCS: F-5E Remastered improvements include more correct radar display when powered off and refined gun dispersion. The DCS: L-39 Albatros saw fixes for certain clickable cockpit elements, while the Yak-52 control binding animation and auto start issues were fixed. WWII Warbirds such as the DCS: P-47D Thunderbolt and DCS: P-51D Mustang benefit from corrections to their engine performance and lighting systems, respectively.



Third-Party Modules
Magnitude 3, developers of the DCS: MiG-21bis, have fixed SPO-10 lights, while IndiaFoxtEcho has upgraded collision models, cockpit functionality, and gunsight operation for the DCS: MB-339A/PAN. Deka Ironwork Simulations brought loadout panel improvements to the DCS: JF-17F Thunder, solving mission editor freezes and refining data link text overlay. For a more detailed list of all the changes in this week’s DCS Update, please read the complete changelog.

DCS: F-4E Phantom II by Heatblur, saw numerous bug fixes and mission improvements.

DCS: Mirage F1 by Aerges also saw a large number of improvements to systems and input bindings.

We hope you enjoy exploring the new East Afghanistan region and take advantage of the many improvements included in this update. As always, stay tuned for more news.

Thank you again for your passion and support,

Yours sincerely,

Eagle Dynamics