Alright, here’s the big picture. DIS and HLA are the common languages, not a shared game engine. Each simulator keeps its own visuals and physics, but they all stay in sync by exchanging positions, sensor data, weapons effects, and so on. That’s what creates the “single shared world” illusion. Bridges are the glue: for MSFS 2024, there are prototypes and research projects that pull data out through SimConnect and translate it into DIS messages. Now, small correction: I can confirm older projects like FS2HLA, and the current SimConnect interface. But I can’t confirm a ready-to-use “MSFS24 DIS Bridge” product. In practice, you’d need a custom bridge app that translates to and from SimConnect. Same idea if you wanted DCS in the mix. For VBS4, there’s already VBS Gateway, meant to connect with DIS or HLA-compliant systems. So in theory, you could fly your plane while VBS4 runs ground forces, as long as everything’s bridged. Historically, Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration built FS2HLA to hook Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 into an HLA federation with the Swedish Air Force. That showed the concept works, but it was inside a controlled military setup. Military networks today are closed and accredited. You can build or join private or research DIS or HLA networks, but you can’t just dial into a live military exercise from home. Bottom line: bridges make mixed simulator worlds possible. DIS and HLA provide the shared language; and the simulators - MSFS, DCS, VBS4 - each keep their own engine.
DIS is a simpler, message-based standard where each simulator broadcasts entity updates like positions and shots in a shared format. Think of it as everyone talking on the same radio channel. HLA is more structured, federation-based with a runtime infrastructure that manages data sharing, ownership, and timing, more like a managed conference with rules. They don’t both have to be on. You use one if everyone supports that standard. Both come into play when you need to connect a DIS network with an HLA federation, using a gateway that translates between them.
What do you think about this? Is this system standard and universal?