This is going to make the Apache much more realistic, much more like a study sim. I realize that everyone may not want this, so I’m goint to introduce a new realism level, and only used the new avionics at the most realistic level, so that those who prefer the current avionics can continue to use them.

Much of how the Longbow is controlled is via the MFDs, and the push buttons around them. EECH doesn’t have clickable cockpits, but I’ve I’ve made the MFDs themselves clickable, so that you can simulate button presses by pressing the corresponding label inside the MFD. All of the MFD pages are being updated to have clickable labels, and a lot of new functionallity and new pages are being added.

Now this is of course a work in progress, and a lot of work remains. But just to give you an idea of about some of the new and updated pages, I’ve included some screenshots.

Here’s how the cockpit looks now. On the right MFD is the updated TSD page, and on the left is the radar in Terrain Profile Mode (TPM). TPM is a navigation mode for low visibillity and basically shows where it’s safe to fly.

The updated engine page. It has mostly the same information as the old one, but a little different layout, and with colors:

The new fuel page shows general fuel status, and also allows you to cross feed the engines from either tank, or transfer fuel between the tanks:

This is the radar in RMAP mode. It’s much like ground target mode, but it also shows the terrain (and possibly most useful the terrain shadow, so you know what parts are unknown and where enemy units may still be hiding):

The TSD in waypoint mode allows you to edit the route or waypoints, including adding new ones (by e.g. flying over them, or by lasing a point with TADS).

The ADF page controls the Apache’s radio navigation equipment, and allows you to navigate by radio beacons.

The check list page has checklists for various items.

We would like to provide you with some development updates.

Our immediate priority at this time is the finalizing of the Flaming Cliffs 2.0 upgrade for Lock On. The project is currently undergoing final testing, however this does not mean it is immediately close to release. Besides testing and fixing bugs, other important tasks still underway include mission/campaign content generation, training course development, and recording new radio messages. Furthermore, translations from Russian to English and vice-versa are still ongoing and all of these items have to be localized into French, German and Spanish. As you can see, there is still significant development to be done and we are not ready to provide a specific release date beyond the previously mentioned early-2010. Please bear in mind that release dates are always tricky and our goal is not to release as soon as possible, but release as soon as possible with confidence in the quality of the product – maximally bug-free and feature-full.

We are also hard at work on our second DCS module, the A-10C Warthog. There are many new features in development for this project. Expect more details to begin coming out after the FC2 release.

Given the very high workload on both the entertainment and military side of development, we’ve had to re-prioritize our previously announced third-party support tools. As you know, we’ve already released terrain development plug-ins and a number of third-party maps are now under development. Among these, very good progress is being made on the Nevada terrain, which we hope to officially include in DCS: A-10C as a training map. We are now working on a new set of terrain tools, which will support some new terrain technologies planned for DCS: A-10C. Our goal is to make terrain creation and rendering easier and more effective. On the other hand, we’ve had to hold the development of other third-party tools as the team resources are simply being used elsewhere at this point. We realize there is a lot of interest about this and we’ll keep you posted if anything changes.

We would also like to share some feature updates for FC2. FC2 will feature the much requested Mission Planner interface. This is an item we’ve been planning for quite a long time and we are happy to be able to include it in FC2. The Mission Planner will be available from the Briefing menu in the single-player GUI. It will be a simplified version of the Mission Editor, showing only those units not hidden by the mission designer and allowing the player to edit the flight route (excluding take-off and landing points) and payloads/fuel/skins. The Mission Planner will not be available in the multi-player menu. Also, FC2 will feature video-based training. The training course will be based on the FC training module, but re-recorded in FC2 to account for changes and updates, including text subtitles and voice-overs for all aircraft now.