Moezilla

A lot of important bug fixes that affect MP usually first appear in the OB branch. Modules launching in early access mode usually make their debut in an OB build. If the MP community switched to Stable there would be a lot less stress-testing of the OB builds and so, bugs would inevitably creep into the Stable branch.

MiG-29 now has lods as of DCS Open Beta version 2.9.0.46801 Thanks @Flappie for keeping us updated on this.

Thanks Flappie. The MB-339 has no lods. The MiG-21 and Mirage F1CE have lod transitions in their .lods file but some, or all of the transitions re-use the highest detail LOD0 model. All would be worth a bump as it has been a long time since these issues were reported to the 3rd party developers and no changes have happened. EDIT: I see you have reported the MB-339 issue. Thanks again.

Issue still present in DCS Open Beta 2.8.8.43704 @Flappie Is there a chance the fix will make it into 2.9?

Thanks for your work on this mod @Why485 It definitely accomplishes it's stated aims of mitigating the higher-than-1080p spotting penalty, and capping dot visibility at a reasonable limit. Hopefully this mod, plus the community poll and feedback, will inform ED's next changes to the dot shader, as this file will inevitably become part of the IC system very soon.

Issue still present in: DCS Open Beta 2.8.3.37854.1 DCS Open Beta 2.8.3.38090 DCS Open Beta 2.8.4.38947

Please add LODs for the 3D model to help improve performance on multiplayer servers. Fewer tris is important but also consider reducing object count in the LODs as DCS considers these when calculating lighting and shadows. This change would benefit all of the multiplayer community.

Issue still present in DCS Open Beta 2.8.2.35759 & 2.8.3.37556

This issue has been reported by @NineLine but it was handled inside a report for a different issue which has now been resolved and will likely be closed in the future. I'm creating this thread to have a place to track it's progress through different Open Beta updates until it is resolved. The MiG-29 variants in DCS do not have lighter LODs. Under certain conditions the full detail model will still render at a range of more than 75km. The evidence for this issue is the .lods file for each variant and the absence of relevant .edm files in the shapes folder. This issue is still present in DCS Open Beta 2.8.2.35632

That particular issue seems to have been fixed, and that's great, but more testing will have to be done on live servers to be sure that all sources of the objects have been found.

@BIGNEWY@Flappie I recreated the issue with the MiG-21 with a simple mission. When the MiG-21 jettisons the UB-32 pods with the S-5 rockets, 66 objects are created, 2 (the pods) are cleaned up but 64 objects are not (likely the rockets) and are shifted to the map origin point as in the original report when they reach the "ground". Thinking about the 76 objects in the GAW mission it is likely that the pods and other stores which are jettisoned together are counted in that total but only the rockets (hydra in that case) are not cleaned up correctly. So something like 8xpods + 56 rockets + some other stores could get you to 76 initial objects created. I hope these latest discoveries will lead to a comprehensive fix and the players won't have to create a track and report for every pod/munition combination. type99_jettison_test.miz

I know right now you need some tracks but I just wanted to add my separate confirmation regarding the jettisoned objects. This time it is from the MiG-21. Data was gathered on Enigma's Dynamic Cold War server using @abelian's tool. Two large groups of objects (58 and 66) seem to have been created by two separate MiG-21s who also seem to have been in close proximity. The groups of objects were created within roughly 2 seconds of each other and proceed to lose altitude until they reach 0 units of altitude and then their position shifts to the map origin point where they remain, as was reported by @rurounijones. The objects had been in existence for over 23 minutes when I left the server.

A v2.0 would be great but that will take some time and, as you say, will probably need to wait for the F4U to be released and post-launch bug-fixes applied, before it becomes the focus. For the multiplayer Cold War server enjoyers, adding even one lighter LOD to the current MiG-21 would make a big difference at busy airbases or in multi-aircraft dogfights. ED's multi-threaded update is coming, and will help, but it shouldn't be seen as a cure-all or used as a bulldozer.

The 3d model of the Mirage F1CE is very detailed and beautiful. But for multiplayer servers it can be quite heavy when there are multiple Mirage F1s close by because, at the moment, DCS multiplayer is very hard on CPUs when dealing with high object counts & shadows enabled. The F1CE LOD transitions at 50m and 100m still use the LOD0 model. Are the Mirage-F101/02 files going to be replaced with lighter models when there is time?

Thanks @okopanja , I have reported the issue on the bug tracker.

The MB-339 has a beautiful 3D model but it would be helpful for performance on multiplayer servers if there were some simpler LODs added. Multiplayer in DCS is currently very hard on CPUs, especially with shadows enabled, so reducing load where possible will help all players.

The MiG-21 currently only uses a LOD0 model. It has a .lods file describing transitions but they all reference the LOD0 model and the LOD0 model has no embedded transform nodes. While the model is not the heaviest in DCS, in a multiplayer environment near a busy airfield, a few MiG-21s can add up to a lot of objects and triangles very quickly, putting an unnecessary load on the player's CPU & GPU, particularly with shadows enabled. Also, due to how the camera seems to work in DCS, zooming in can cause the 3D model to begin rendering at longer distances. I did a search in this forum for the term "lod" and saw references to different LOD levels in the past, so possibly they did exist once and have been omitted along the way. Attached are two in-game screenshots showing 10 MiG-21s taking off at Senaki airbase, at close range and 6km away, with similar object counts in both scenes. I hope you can find the time to add the lower detail LODs as it would be a great help to the multiplayer community, especially the Cold War servers.

Thanks for the really exciting mission. Doing 600kph through the valleys, spamming flares and calling out threats for the Ka-50s really gets the adrenaline pumping. Rated on download page.