Welcome to our new series "This month in Sim". Where every month we will release a summary of what is happening in the world of air combat simulation - summarising the best parts of the patch notes, rumours, tournaments and development updates in (primarily) DCS: World and IL-2: Great Battles, as well as announcements of X51's public events and news from the larger sim community.

DCS: World

Last week saw the anticipated 2.5.5 update finally come to Open Beta, including many bug fixes and additions to the core engine and modules. Wake turbulence and a more realistic (and frankly, awesome) sonic boom has been added.

A further update this week fixed some additional jester bugs in the F-14, updated the Harrier's CCIP and gave the F-18 the AGM-154 (A and C) JSOW. However, the hornet's MSI is missing and is expected to arrive within the next few days.

Patch Notes

Open Beta 2.5.5.31917

Open Beta 2.5.5.32299

M2000C Mid-life Overhaul

Last week, RAZBAM developers paid a trip to Orange Air Base in France to gather first hand information for the Mirage's mid life overhaul.

This final update to the French interceptor will see updates to:

  • Poste de Commande Armement (PCA): Weapons Control Panel
  • Poste de Preparation Armement (PPA): Weapons Configuration Panel
  • RDI Radar: functionality and control panel.
  • Poste de Commande Navigation (PCN): Navigation Panel
  • RWR.
  • VTH (HUD)
  • VTB (Radar Display)
  • HOTAS
  • NVG
  • Flight Manual

There is no word yet on when we can expect to see the first of these updates, but they did release some great photos from their trip:

source: RAZBAM_Prowler, RAZBAM discord server. See the rest of the photos from their trip here.

Carrier Deck Crew

Eagle Dynamics released images of their work in progress carrier deck crew. It's believed that this 'living deck' will be released as part of the Nimitz Carrier Module.

source: Eagle Dynamics

A first look of the new Nimitz communications in case III conditions was also released:

IL-2 Great Battles

The me-262 patch dropped earlier this week, after a few teasers from FlightSimExpo 2019. First impressions are that it's an incredibly well made simulation of the renowned WWII jet, but its temperamental engines and high workload may prove a challenge for competitive multiplayer use.

In general, aircraft start ups have become more "manual" in this update, and is no longer as simple as pressing E. The me-262 is no different, and engines must be ignited, and brought up to idle manually, all without having them burst into flames.

For the Flying Circus owners, we also saw the release of the Albatros D.Va, S.E.5a, while the Bf 109 F-4 and Fw 190 A-8 now have 4K textures.

Full patch notes can be viewed here.