rob10

Depends what you're running. For controllers like stick, MFD buttons, throttle you don't need it to run for inputs. HOWEVER, for the lighting of A-A, A-G buttons to sync with DCS or for the UFC to actually display info from the game you do need SimAppPro running. Although I agree it's not the greatest software, generally it doesn't cause a lot of issues.

You're never going to even get rough estimate until it's basically ready to go. The reason is, if today they said "we're aiming for June 2026" and then in Feb 2026 came back and said "nope, gonna be July 2026" the uproar on the forums would be epic (and sadly this isn't an exaggeration) with all kinds of accusations of "you promised June 2026". It's not worth the grief it causes to try and estimate considering how difficult it is to estimate anyway.

I flew solo in SP for many years. I had a negative view of MP due to all the noise about cheaters and griefers etc AND it's pretty intimidating (even for someone who is pretty computer literate) to just know how to actually start into MP on a software/hardware/connection level. And that's before you have to actually know details about procedures etc. I finally dipped my toes into MP because I was running out of missions/campaigns and started browsing some sites and discords for virtual squadrons. I got extremely lucky and stumbled on a great group that I love flying with and have learned so much from that I never would have learned on my own. It was quite a learning curve up front (even as a reasonably experienced flier) but well worth it in the end. Looking at other groups I can definitely see how I might have sworn off MP again if I had landed in them because it wouldn't have been a good fit for style of play or just the personality things others have mentioned.

What other mods do you have installed? That is typical of a mod issue. Doesn't matter if you're using the mod or not, if it's installed it can cause issues.

Have you tried deleting the FXO and Metashader 2 folders in your DCS Saved Games folder yet?

You can pause the download. Just hit cancel and when you start updating again it will continue from where it left off. It can be confusing because because it will start at 0% again, but if you look at the total to download you'll see it's smaller than the original download amount.

I suggest you do some searching on the forums regarding this. The new pod is deliberately (and correctly) worse than the "existing" pod in the F-16 because the previously modelled one was much clearer than it should have been vs IRL. There are also tips on how to get a clearer picture (don't fly the F-16 much currently so I can't tell exactly what will help).

They are using totally different tools than what DCS users have with trackfiles. For them debugging having the correct inputs likely lets them see how they are interacting with the program. While I'm sure this is true to some degree, I think too many people who make or watch these videos assume that everyone watches them (they don't) and greatly overestimate their value to promoting DCS.

MSI in this case is referring to MULTI-SENSOR INTEGRATION in the Hornet and is completely unrelated to your graphics card. The same acronym is just to confuse you and throw off any spies looking into it MSI in the Hornet is what they've recently added and are still working on and since it touches a lot of stuff with the radar it's why things got broken.

ED doesn't typically talk a lot about stuff that's in progress (mainly because the forums start whining "you promised"). That said, there are lots of examples of things that people had wrote off and said were never coming even when ED said "we're working on it" multiple times (Multi-threading is a great example) that eventually showed up. Yes the wait is painful and they aren't giving any details. But history shows that they often are actually "working on it" and it will eventually show up.

Ya, I don't remember if 256 used to even be an option (I think it was just 512 and 1024) and when they added it it overwrote the whatever had previously been selected. In fairness, they changed that section a bit ("every frame" is now a checkbox rather than part of the dropdown list) so likely they changed exactly how it was stored which reset it to default. But that's one that really should have been highlighted in the changelog IMO.

Check what your Cockpit Displays Resolution is set to. It had set mine to 256 (rather than 1024) after the last update. It messed with a number of things in my cockpit including the on knee kneeboard in the F-18 (although it didn't actually mess with the pop out one). May not help, but worth a look.

Start by removing your mods and trying it again. Mods can have unpredictable and seeming unrelated impacts. And actually it's worth running a slow repair (with remove extra files) after you do that. And if that fails, try renaming your saved games folder as you may have missed a mod in there and a repair won't touch it.

I think the key here is they said "Several negative drag errors in logs - fixed". They didn't claim to fix them all. What you're seeing is "normal" (at least in the sense that it's in virtually every log).

Attaching a track file from a session where this is occurring (short as possible, preferably on the Caucus map) or a copy of the mission will help the devs figuring out the problem. There are way too many variables that may influence things and mess with trying to reproduce this from scratch. You can save a track file from the debrief screen when you finish the mission.

I actually read through the whole changelog usually but could have missed, but I went back and checked and it's not mentioned in F-18 or general sections at all.

Not sure it's really about the size but rather than the fact that you have 4 very powerful engines all turning the same direction. You get the same effect on the Mosquito which is definitely a much smaller beast (and wood construction ). Seems crazy, but makes sense for manufacturing/maintenance to have 4 identical engines rather than 2 and 2, even though that would be easier to fly. Talking to a squad mate who flys IRL and apparently most multi-engine aircraft are this way (all same direction).

Yep, that's what I stumbled on as the solution too. Annoying that they changed whatever it was set for currently and defaulted it to 256.

Not sure what's happened, but the kneeboard on the pilot's knee in the Hornet has become super low res to the point where it's unreadable. Pics/track to follow. This is on Sinai map currently, haven't check others. EDIT: in messing around with settings it suddenly fixed itself and I can't reproduce it (it happened over 4 or 5 launches of DCS, so not a one off). I had already deleted FXO and Metashaders before I saw the issue and didn't touch them again before it fixed itself. I did notice there is now a 256 option for DDI resolution and it had defaulted back that, and it feels like when I changed that back to 1050 solved it, but I can't reproduce issue when I drop it down again. Saw it on Sinai, Syria and Caucus maps. Dunno.

In fairness, since you appear to mainly fly on the Caucus map and it hasn't been updated in a lot of years, that isn't that surprising. With newer maps that receive regular updates/changes deleting metashader and fxo is 1st troubleshooting step for this type of issue. When the map you were using hasn't changed, this likely isn't required.

If you have many maps there is a lot of stuff being updated. It will replace a bunch of the existing files, but first it has to download and unpack them. So you won't see that big of increase in total usage after it's done, but it needs a bunch to do the update. You can remove a map or two to free up space or do a search in the forums for how to use symbolic links to move maps to a different drive to free up space.

I would be shocked if they specifically test ANY graphics card before releasing an update (let alone "fully testing" them). Any issues that show up on whatever graphics cards the devs and internal testers or external beta testers would get caught, but there are too many possible graphics cards and combinations of cards and other hardware combos to make any specific testing of graphic cards basically impossible. There could be a problem with that particular card or combo of it with other hardware because super long load times are not common and are usually caused by having DCS on a slow drive (not your case since you're on an SSD) and/or AV software.

Yep, like I said, it can help in some cases. PC's (and Windows) are weird (and the infinite number of combinations of hardware don't help). I actually just replaced my gaming computer last spring and no issues with previous or current one. I only make the point that it's not an absolute requirement so people don't think it's the only cause/solution and are confused if it doesn't fix the issue. Some previous posts imply that "you must do it this way". It's a very easy thing to try and check so absolutely a good troubleshooting option, but may or may not be relevant.

It's not hard to rip the landing gear door off on the F-18 if you're careless with speed (which at a minimum means you can't drop A-G weapons).