Not much of a surprise here. Even though DCS: A-10C Warthog arrived in 2010 as a Beta, it was not released in the final version until 2011. For the best in switchology, A-10C can’t be beat. It may be a long time before we see another one this painstakingly detailed in the real plane’s operational functions.

The full feature article on SimHQ.

SimHQ Best Simulation 2011 DCS: A-10C Warthog

Introduction

DCS: A-10C Warthog is the latest release in a series of high fidelity combat flightsimulations from Eagle Dynamics. DCS: Black Shark brought us the Kamov 50 dual-rotor single seat attack helicopter and redefined “simulation mode” with its in-depth avionics, flight model, and massively clickable cockpit. DCS: A-10C Warthog promised to bring that same level of real to the A-10 Warthog, the premier US close-support attack plane that has been memorialized in such famous sims as A-10 Cuba,Silent Thunder, Lock On: Modern Air Combat, and the stillborn Jane’s A-10. Back in October, Eagle Dynamics announced that they would be offering open beta access to the game with each pre-purchase, an amazing opportunity offered very rarely by combat flight sim developers. I took the work-in-process product at the time and gave it a once-over in the First Look article here. Just how much progress has been made in four months between that first beta and the final release? Let’s go see…

Note, dear Reader, that because the Digital Combat Simulator series prides itself on modeling individual aircraft in “exquisite detail” this review will be going further in depth into the mechanics of the game than the typical overview. Sit down and strap in for a detailed look at Eagle Dynamics’ latest release.

Read more.

SimHQ Best Simulation 2011 Benchmark Sims v4.32

Introduction

The history of the Falcon franchise is long and storied — and in the interest of brevity, I’ll skip it. Basically, here we sit 13 years after the initial Falcon 4.0 release and she is going stronger than ever. Having spent varying amounts of time with nearly all of the varieties ofFalcon (stock, FreeFalcon, Red Viper, Allied Force, etc.) I feel I can definitively state that the most recent iteration of Falcon released by Benchmark Sims is by far the best in the lineage. It is simple to install, stable, beautiful, and in many ways barely resembles the seminal product.

Installation and Configuration

All that is needed to run BMS 4.32 is your original Falcon.exe which you can install from your original CD. Yes, we know that simply having the Falcon.exe is enough, but most fans of the series own their own disk anyway, so it is what it is. The BMS installer weighs in at 688MB and it installs to a wholly independent directory with no fuss or mess. Once the installer is done decompressing and installing the total package weighs in at about 2.34GB. Upon launching you are shown a simple BMS menu that has options for starting the sim, configuration, a link to manuals, an editor, and some client and server settings. Upon clicking the Configuration setting I was instantly taken back to the old Falcon days when I saw that it is basically the old F4Patch configuration utility, but do not fear, the settings are much more intuitive and less needed than all the fumbling about in the old days. Within you’ll find a wide range of options to tailor displays and realism to match your tastes.

Read more.

SimHQ Best Simulation 2011 Battlefield 3

Introduction

For over ten years we have been enjoying the Battlefield series. The earlier versions were WW2 themed games that spawned a great modern desert mod. Then came moreBattlefield games, some in WW2, some in Vietnam, and more recent ones in modern times, and even the future. EA has had ten years to learn and improve the series. Have they done it with Battlefield 3? So what does Battlefield 3 bring to the table this year? And is it worth your money?

Interface

First off, for the PC version, whether you buy Battlefield 3 online as a download or at the store on DVD, you still must install and run EA’s new online service called Origin. I personally have had no problems with the service, and have a number of EA games via that service, but I can see where others may not like having to have another game service program running in the background. And if you do not have Origin already running in the background, when you go to load and play Battlefield 3, it will take time to load Origin up first, which can become even more time consuming to get in game.

Once Origin is running, clicking on a Battlefield 3 shortcut will bring you to an EA web site titled, BattleLog page. BattleLog is a pretty cool site. It lists all your friends, lets you create or join platoons, and displays your stats from the game in detail along with a news feed of what your friends are playing, what awards and promotions they receive. That part is cool but what I don’t like about BattleLog is that you have to use it to drag and drop friends into chat rooms, and you have to use it to connect and play the actual game. It’s very time consuming and a little confusing to use.

Read more.

SimHQ Best Simulation 2011 Battlefield 3 - Back to Karkand

FOUR REIMAGINED BATTLEFIELD MAPS

Back to Karkand features four of the most beloved Battlefield 2 maps (Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island and Sharqi Peninsula), all fully re-imagined utilizing the power of the Frostbite 2 engine.

MORE WEAPONS, MORE VEHICLES

Enhance the signature Battlefield “Rock, Paper, Scissor” gameplay with an arsenal of ten new weapons that you can bring back to the base game and three new vehicles including the STOVL fighter jet, desert buggy, and an APC.

ENHANCED DESTRUCTION

Frostbite 2 creates a whole new level of life-like destruction. The enhanced destruction in this expansion pack lets you turn entire maps into rubble. Chip away at cover, blow holes in walls, and bring down building façades on enemies.

CONQUEST ASSAULT

Back to Karkand marks the return of the classic Conquest Assault mode from Battlefield 2. A slight twist on the beloved Conquest mode, Conquest Assault starts with one team commanding all flags on the map while the opposing team must assault and take the flags over in order to stop their tickets from bleeding down to zero.

ENHANCED PERSISTENCE

With the introduction of the all-new Assignments, Back to Karkand features an added layer of persistence on top of what is in the base game. With a vast range of unlockables and upgrades, the combined persistence in Battlefield 3 and Back to Karkand will keep players occupied even longer.

PERSONALIZED DOG TAGS

Players can express their individuality with five new dog tags including Dolphin Diving and One Man Army. Players can pick the design that showcases their play style best and show it off on the battlefield.

Read more.

Best simulation of 2011

The full feature article on SimHQ.

In the coming months we plan to release several new projects. While we wish to have open communications with our customers and let them know of our planned projects, please understand that plans often change due to unforeseen circumstances. The below list is a road map of our intentions and not a promise of things to come. As each product nears completion and feature lists are finalized, more details will be provided.

1- Combined Arms. This $19.99 add-on will allow A-10C, Black Shark 2, and Flaming Cliffs 3 owner to act as ground force commanders as the mission is running. Users can direct ground units, set fire missions for artillery/multiple rocket launchers, and take the role of a Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC). As the JTAC, players will have night vision goggles, IR pointer, laser designator, and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). Several other new items are still being considered. Combined Arms will work in both single player and multiplayer missions.

2- Flaming Cliffs 3. This will be a paid-for update to the Flaming Cliffs series and brings it to the same world, mission editor, AI, units, etc. as A-10C and Black Shark 2. We plan to include several upgrades to the aircraft, a resource management system, and several other new features. This will also make Flaming Cliffs online compatible with A-10C and Black Shark 2. Pricing will depend on what new features are included.

3- Nevada map. This will be a $19.99 add-on that will be compatible with A-10C, Black Shark 2, and FC3. Users that purchased the A-10C beta will get this map for free.

4- The first “DCS Flying Legends” aircraft will be released in the first half of 2012.

5- The next US fixed wing jet DCS aircraft is being worked on in parallel.

For Combined Arms and the Nevada map, a single purchase will allow these add-ons to work with A-10C 1.1.1.0, Black Shark 2, and FC3.
More information, visit: www.digitalcombatsimulator.com

This is what Stevie posted on his FalconLog website:

So let all Falcon 4 AF/BMS pilots help him out and see to it that his development is not halted by lack of intrest.

It was a successful aircraft originally meant to escort bombers, but it was soon found to be an excellent ground attack aircraft. In fact, this is the first real dedicated German close-air support aircraft used in the war. We expect good maneuverability that is comparable to single seat machines. In the Career it will appear as a substitute for DFW in the later stages of the war. In multiplayer battles we hope it will be a symmetric response to the British Bristol F2B. We are opening the pre-order for this aircraft now so you can save a few bucks and we will make every effort to finish this aircraft as soon as possible and have it flying on your PC.

Halberstadt CL II specifications

Halberstadt CL.II design was a responce to idflieg (Inspectorate of Aviation Troops) specification issued in august of 1916 for new “light C-type” with 160-180 engine.

The purpose was to create a two-seat escort fighter to protect heavier observation aircraft from attacks of allied fighters. In November of 1916 idflieg ordered tree prototypes of Halberstadt CL.II with Mercedes D.III engine, so the first ready airplane was rolled out in april of 1917, so after few wing design changes type was undergoing final tests in Adlesdorf in 2-7 May 1917.

Deliveries of machines into frontline service begin by August 1917, being supplied mostly to Schutzstaffeln (Protection flights), and Schlachtstaffeln (Ground attack flights). Its climb and maneuverability was excellent and regarded by its crews as very close to such single engined fighters as Albatross D.III/V. While airplane was able to carry photo and radio installations, and primarily used as escort fighter it was also used as ground attack aircraft. Because of its good maneuverability and ability to rapidly change flight altitude it was able to avoid enemy ground fire and successfully used to hit enemy ground troops and other frontline installations.

Cause of its good performance and ability to hold itself against enemy fighters, light and comfortable to fly, CL.II was preferred by pilots over all other types and remained in service through whole war, served together with new airplane types. Its not exactly known how many of the CL.II where build, but by production orders its 900 machines correspondingly to six idflieg production orders for Halberstadter Flugzeugwerke, plus around of 300 machines by Bayerische Flugzeug Werke AG in two orders, so it’s something close to 1200 machines in overall.

More? Visit the Rise of Flight website.

The VFAT Staff and over 100 virtual aerobatic pilots would like to invite you to the Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams 2011.

Taken from the VFAT forum.

The Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams or VFAT is a big international airshow like RIAT or MAKS and spectators will be able to watch the demonstrations flown LIVE through our VFAT TV.

The pilots mostly simulate the displays of real aerobatic teams like the Patrouille Suisse, Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, Red Arrows, Russian Knights and Blue Impulse, however, many teams also create their own spectacular displays instead of simulating real life counterparts.

Witness the result of another year of hard work by the pilots, simply for the enjoyment to the general public!

—————————————-

VFAT 2011 Dates:
December 02/03/04

Watch LIVE here: http://www.virtual-airshows.com/english/vfat-tv-europe

—————————————-

The VFAT 2011 Performers:

Team Performers:
Virtual Blue Angels
Virtual Blue Impulse
Virtual Red Arrows
Frecce Tricolori Virtuali
Patrouille Suisse Virtuelle
Advanced Precision Aerobatic Squadron
Virtual Thunderbirds
Virtual Patriots Jet Team
Patrulla Aguila Virtual
Rafale Tactical Display
Patrulla Acrobatica Helibelula
=RAF= “Virtual Sky Hussars”
=RAF= “Virtual Russian Knights”
Virtual Falcons Aerobatic Display Team
The Jet-E-Sons
Guard of Russia
Virtual Aerobatic Team “Ghosts”

Solo Performers:
HDF 59th “Szentgyörgyi Dezső” Virtual Air Base
Virtual European Air Operations
Virtual Viper East Demo Team
Virtual Solo Türk
VAT “Berkuts” Mig-29 Solo Display
EAV Alas Rotas
L-39 Solo / Biele Albatrosy VAT
Virtual F-16 Solo Display Team & Virtual Apache Solo Display Team
Slovak Air Force 1st Sqn. display team
Belgian F-16 Solo Display Team
VFA-122 Super Hornet Demo Team “Virtual “Rhino” West”
Flanker C Demo
VFA-192 F/A-18C Demo
Virtual F-15C West Coast Demonstration Team
Hungarian Gripen Demo Team
Polish Air Force MiG-29 Demo by APASQ
Ukrainian Air Force – Virtual Su-27 display team 1 Sq.
Virtual Viper West Demo Team

Check here for the latest display schedule.

We hope to welcome you in our VFAT TV Chat during the event!

VFAT Staff

=====================================

Dear Friends,

As the end of 2011 approaches we want to send a sincere message to all of our friends and supporters and give you a candid and honest update on where we stand and what we want to accomplish in the future for Rise of Flight and 777 Studios. First, we want to say THANK YOU to all who have supported us with your kind words of encouragement, your hard work, your amazing content contributions and important monetary support in 2011. It’s a simple fact; we could not have made it this far without you. The current state of our product is a direct reflection of your dedication to the flight-sim hobby and your love for Rise of Flight. Again, to all of our supporters out there in the flight-sim community, thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts!

As you know, ROF is a labor of love from a devoted team of developers. We wake up every day with one simple goal in mind – to make ROF better! The past two and a half years since its release has been a challenging journey for all of us and we are proud of what we have accomplished so far. We never ever stopped working to improve ROF even in the toughest of times. ROF has evolved into an epic flight-sim despite her critics and persistent cynics. We’ve endured changes in ownership, gone months without pay, been let down by big name investors, mistreated by distributors and dismissed by major retailers. We have been and still are the underdog in this crazy, niche industry. If it weren’t for our steadfast supporters and some special help in the gaing media, we would be long gone and ROF would be another incomplete flight-sim failure. However, even though we have accomplished a lot, the war, the battle for survival is far from over and we STILL need your help.

We’ve tried to think outside the box, to do things differently in the flight-sim industry, to give us a real chance to make ROF something special. Overall, this approach has worked pretty well to keep us moving forward, had we not tried a new approach we would have been done two years ago. Fortunately, the ROF community has responded positively to our way of doing things and we are thankful to God for it. However, for us to make sure we can be here next autumn talking about more new features for ROF we need your continued help and support. We send you this message, not out of desperation or frustration, but out of DETERMINATION to make ROF the best sim possible and beat the odds. We’re simply not done yet and more unique features are in development. Pilot scarves, streamers and pilot pistols are currently in development along with other announced features such as searchlights, improved AI and even more fascinating aircraft for you to fly plus a new stats system and many other fixes and improvements.

However, as with any product, sales fluctuate, some customers lose interest and other gaming products compete for your time. This is to be expected and is part of business, but for a special, niche product like ROF this can spell disaster. We have never had a big budget and we operate a very modest studio. What we lack is the capital to make certain long term development commitments and investments so we can tell you with high confidence that we can accomplish difficult development goals for you. What we need is more time. Every dollar you send our way, buys us more time to develop new features or fix lingering issues. For instance, we’d love to disconnect the Career from the online requirement, develop a Multiplayer chat lobby and research more cool technologies, but these efforts take valuable time and in many cases special hardware and resources. Efforts like correcting old flight models and tweaking the Career mode also takes a lot of time, resources and manpower from our small team. It’s a never ending battle for perfection, but we love doing it and we love it when we see how pleased our customers become after a successful result. We read the forums, your PMs and your emails, we know what you want and we want to be able to give it to you.

That brings us to our special request for this Christmas season. Our current customer base has the power to propel us well into 2012 and beyond. For example, if 70% of all ROF users made a purchase of just $7 this Q4’ we would have enough money to fund development for an entire year! Our wish for this Christmas season is for all ROF fans to help buy us more time to make ROF even better. We know times are tough right now, the world economy stinks, but if you have the means and love ROF, please consider a purchase from our store this Christmas season. We know many of you make regular purchases and support us every single month. Your purchases do not go unnoticed and are always appreciated. Some of you go above and beyond the call and buy Gifts for your friends. It’s amazing to watch this generosity unfold, but the hard reality is that we need your continued support this Christmas season. As always, in return for your continued support we will work to improve ROF for you every single day rain, snow or shine. That is our promise to you.

Special Giveaway

In appreciation of our awesome community and in the spirit of the Christmas season, we are running a special contest for the next 30 days. Each day from Nov. 25th to Dec. 25th we will randomly select two winners from our user database. One daily winner will be a Free2Play/Demo user who has not upgraded his or her copy yet and we will award them a free ROF:ICE Demo Upgrade! The other daily winner will be drawn from our database of users who have already purchased a retail copy, bought an upgrade or an airplane from our store. These winners will be given a credit of $30 to be used in the ROF Store! We hope this contest brings some holiday flight-sim cheer to you the ROF community.

Massive Aircraft and Field Mods Sale Nov. 24-28

To kick off the Holiday Shopping Season and to help you fill up your hangar for the long winter months ahead, we have launched a massive 50% off sale on ALL Airplanes and this time Field Modifications are included. We are also offering the ROF:ICE Upgrade for just $19.99! Now is the best time to purchase some planes as early Christmas gifts for your fellow squadron mates or even for you. Santa told us you deserve a new airplane in your hangar!

Again, we want to say THANK YOU to ALL of you who have supported us and helped us make ROF better and better in this long, busy year. We look forward to continuing the journey with you.

Warmest Regards this Holiday Season,

Jason
Albert
Daniel
Sergey
Viktor
Vitaliy
Anton
Ilya
Michael L.
Michael S.
Alexey
Valeriy
Evgeniy
Konstantin
Vladimir
Max

To read this message in Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian or Polish visit this thread in our forum.

With 5 months to go I need to get the message send …… LLTM2012 is cancelled.

A few reasons are cause of this decision. The two main reasons are that we do not have a suitable location, the other, personal matters.

I have struggled with this decision for a few months. I had the idea just before LLTM2011 to stop for a year if no suitable location would emerge from my initial efforts in finding a suitable location while preparing for LLTM2011. And this happened again.
I could not find a suitable location for LLTM2012 even after more searching before I headed out for the summer holidays. But canceling LLTM2012 still did not became an obvious scenario. I still could not come at ease with the idea.

I again did some efforts in getting a new location after the summer, but to no avail. There was always some basic need missing from the equation. Enough power to run 100 PC’s but no lunch possibility combined with early closing times. Or sleeping possibilities but to expensive on rent for other needed basics. And then a few.

I also have to cope with work related matters which will keep me busy until February 2012. And with November – March being the LLTM timeframe to get things going I now really had to make the obvious choice. Cancel LLTM2012.
If you have comments, suggestions, questions on this, please put them forward in the LLTM forum which is up and running again in the topic LLTM2012 cancelled.

I hope your understanding softens the disappointment.
I still have a hard time with it even after writing this down. I am not at ease at all.

Falcon 4.0 goes Falcon BMS

of time and effort into this release and hope you enjoy it. To help get you familiar with some of the new features and enhancements, we’ve written a number of articles and will be adding more as time permits. Enjoy the site!”

Taken from the BMS website it says the following:

What is Falcon 4.0?

If you’re new to Falcon 4.0, (“F4″ for short), F4 is a combat flight simulator originally developed and released December 12, 1998 by MicroProse. It models the Lockheed-Martin F-16C Block 50/52 in a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. F4 has been popular among combat sim pilots due to its dynamic war campaign engine, detailed aircraft avionics, and multi-player capabilities. Continual development of the simulation by community members has allowed F4 to live on years after the MicroProse studios were shut down and official development of the sim ceased.

Who are we?

Benchmark Sims is one of the few remaining F4 development groups comprised of “community members”. Our first beta release for an F4 mod was in September of 2003. We’ve done our best to add still more improvements to F4 in the meanwhile. “Falcon BMS” is now the official name of our community mod for the original Falcon 4.0.

What have we accomplished?

BMS has worked on an array of features and our goal with the articles is to try and bring back that same excitement the old MicroProse developer’s notes gave us all years ago. We could just say something like “we’ve coded a new flight model” but without any documentation, there would be no appreciation as to just how difficult it was, how long it took to get right, or how detailed it is. We think some of our features will make your jaw drop–it does ours! Some of those features include:

Graphics
3d cockpit
Terrain engine
Multi-player code improvements
Flight modeling and physics
Artificial Intelligence
Avionics
Sound engine
User Interface
Airbase modeling
Weather modeling

And more!

You probably have a lot of questions about Falcon BMS. Feel free to visit our FAQ page for answers.

-The Benchmark Sims Team