FAQ

why do DCS crash or units won't spawn when using your assets?

  • You most certainly have a conflict between old and new assets of the same type.
  • Make sure to delete all earlier versions of my assets.
  • I re-packaged all my assets into country packs the 22th of December 2023 - make sure all earlier single assets are removed before installing the country packs and running DCS.
  • Most of my earlier assets have folders with a CH-prefix - but there are some exceptions so be thorough when removing old assets.
  • I always test all my assets simultaneous to make sure they work fine together.

why did you change to country packs?

  • I have created and released more than 100+ assets and I need to maintain and support them, both in terms of new features, but also because of DCS updates that will break them.
  • Maintaining that many single assets is an administrative nightmare, which is why I had to pack them together into country packs. 
  • Some of you prefer the old distribution method with single assets, but if I wouldn't have switched over to the country packs I would have been able to keep doing this at all. 
  • The biggest drawback with this new distribution method is the size of downloads needed when I update, because you would have to download the complete pack again no matter how small the actual changes are.
  • I'm looking into new methods of implementing incremental updates though - so stay tuned. 

How do I install your assets with with OvGME?

  • All my assets are OvGME compatible packages. 
  • If you have have OvGME setup and ready to use, just put the downloaded zip file in the configured folder and you'll be able to enable/disable it with the press of a button. No need for unzipping at all. 
  • I recommend using OvGME!

How do I install your assets manually?

  • Open downloaded zip file and go into the first folder (for example CH Shahed 136 LM 1.0.0). 
  • You will find a folder named Mods, extract it to your DCS Saved Games folder (in my case C:\Users\yourname\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\)
  • This will place the asset in the correct path (in this case C:\Users\yourname\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\tech\CH Shahed 136 LM 1.0.0\*.*)

Do you have a roadmap or release plan for your assets?

  • Nope, I don't do roadmaps or release plans. 
  • I create the assets I want, when I want - and how I want. This is a hobby for me and I'm a one man band. 
  • I always have several ongoing projects and switch between them. When I think something is good enough for release, I just release it. I won't glue myself to a release plan.

Can I leave suggestions for new assets?

Can I contribute to the creation of new assets?

  • The easiest way is by making a donation. All donations goes into sourcing new 3D models for new assets. 
  • If you have skills in 3D modelling and want to help out, please contact me on Discord (username Currenthill). 

Where do I go for support och bug reports?

How do I suggest changes for assets?

  • I put a lot of time and effort into making the assets as realistic as possible, with DCS limitations. A lot of the times there aren't DCS core support for the features I'm implementing, in those cases I have to implement workarounds that emulates the desired feature. These workarounds won't be perfect, but it's better than nothing. 
  • When ED updates DCS I also go back to older assets and implement the new features. 
  • I use OSINT sources for all my parameters. It's the best I can do. If you have a good case for changing a parameter, please submit a description of it in the ED forum.

Do you have livery templates?

  • No. I texture all my assets in Substance Painter, so I don't make PS livery templates available. But you can ask for additional liveries as a suggestion in the ED forum thread.

How do you create all these assets - do you model them?

  • It's a combination. I first try to source a suitable model (checking format, vertices, quality of the mesh etc). But even in the best case scenario where I find a really nice model, there's a lot of work that I need to do with the mesh. I restructure the model, group objects, split objects, rig it for animation, create uvs, add missing details, add additional objects, replace stuff that doesn't look good. I then either increase of decrease the amount of vertices. Lastly I animate it and export the uvs to SP and continue with creating the textures (I make them from scratch). 
  • In some cases where I really want an asset and there's no suitable 3d model available, I make it myself. But since I have bought a fair share of models and created a lot of stuff I can mostly put stuff together with what I have. That's what's good with the military stuff, there is a lot of standardization going on. And that really makes my life easier. 
  • So while the work on the model (mesh) is a lot of work, that's just one part of the process. 
  • Here's a quick overview of all the steps involved:
  • 1) Research, 2) Mesh, 3) Uvs, 4) Animations, 5) Textures, 6) Code, 7) Sound, 8) Destroyed model, 9) Collision model, 10) Testing, 11) Documentation, 12) Publish, 13) Support
  • I have created a very efficient workflow, which relies on me being the only developer. But as I mentioned in the forum thread, I cut some corners since I do this as a hobby and not officially for ED. For example, at the moment I don't create several LODs, and I don't spend too much time on optimizing the model (mesh and textures). This makes my assets pretty heavy to run. 
  • But these are cons I'm prepared to accept to keep getting now assets released. But that is all I'm prepare to accept, I really try to keep the quality high in regards to realism of the weapons, I make every ammunition and weapon type myself so that I can tune and optimize their performance. I add all the details like small detailed animations on the assets, custom sounds etc. I'm not interested in creating the same assets with different 3d models. 

Why are your assets so resource intensive to run?

  • I only make 4K textures and the polycount for my 3D models are pretty high. 
  • At the moment I don't use LODs. 
  • In order to create time for new assets and maintaining the already released ones, I minimize on optimization like the ones mentioned before. 

What kind of assets do you focus on?

  • I primarily focus on ground and sea assets. 
  • Once in a while I make aircraft and helicopters, but only as AI. 

why do my guided missiles/rockets miss their target?

  • Make sure you only configure one missile/rocket per 'Fire at point' action.
  • Use 'Rounds expend = 1' and add more lines if you want to fire at more than one target. 
  • If you configure more than one (1) round per target, the missiles/rocket will go haywire due to DCS.