Aluminum Donkey

As per thread title. I'm on the fence about going up to 32GB. My system seems to pull nicely in DCS (and everything else) and I'm wondering if a RAM upgrade would actually give me any kind of noticeably improvement in load times, stuttering in accelerated time etc. DCS is running well now, and just about the only thing left for me to do to my rig is jump on the 32GB bandwagon... Thing is, I'm using a 1080 Ti graphics card (11GB) and only ever notice about 8GB being used, and only about 10-12GB of my system RAM being used. So, is there really any need for 32GB? Has anyone upgraded, and did it make much of any difference? I've also been considering an i5-10600K and new mobo, but my old i5-6600K works just fine and the extra 500-600 MHz (If I'm *very* lucky!!) is a heck of a lot of extra dough... AD

I found lots of people griping about it. Some people say it's related to Nvidia GeForce Experience, but I don't use that. Disabling my HOTAS in Device Manager and re-enabling it fixes the problem until the next time I boot up. What an unholy pain in the tush. It only started happening when I updated to 2004, though. AD

It's plugged into a rear USB port directly on the motherboard--they're the only ones I have. AD

As per title. I'm using Leo Bodnar's USB control circuit for my HOTAS, which shows up in Windows as a generic HID-Compliant Game Controller. After updating to Windows 10 build 2004, now the bleeping monitor won't turn off and stay off! I have the Sleep button on my keyboard set up to turn off the monitor, and it refuses to stay off! It just comes back on again after about 1 second. Also, the monitor will not turn off after the 15 minutes of inactivity I have it set to in the Power Plan. Unplugging my HOTAS fixes it, but I'll be royally futtbucked if I'm gonna do that every single time I finish playing some DCS because I'll just wear out the USB ports. Also, going into Device Manager and disabling the HOTAS, then re-enabling it, also fixes it. My HOTAS works fine, and monitor standby works too--until the next time I reboot my computer! Anyone have any bright ideas? I've scoured the Web looking for useful crap, but all I get is un-useful crap. Do anyone know how these infernal computers actually *work*, and as such, is able to help me fix this stupid rubbish? (Sorry for my tone here, but this is pure distilled liquid pigshit!) AD

Two things happen: 1) You croak 2) Whenever it rains, the carrier has a pond in the middle of the deck Actually, you'll probably get chewed out and end up scrubbing dunnies for a few weeks. Never been in the military myself, but I understand that a butt-chewing and some sort of menial and/or degrading job for a while is standard fare when you screw up on the job, and that goes double if you damage and/or destroy any expensive hardware. If you're a good pilot (and you ARE, if you're flying off a carrier!) then they'll probably let it slide if it only happens once in a while, especially during wartime. Do it more often than you should, and it's butt-chewing time, and I hope you enjoy cleaning toilets. Do it all the time, and you lose your 'license' and get to scrub toilets full-time. It's sort of the military aviation equivalent of getting too many moving violations on your drivers license. AD

Thank you, I try my best. Anyway, the module could be finished in a year, or it might take 5 years. Who knows. That's what you're in for when you buy an early-access module. AD

The latest shiny stuff is what computer gaming has always been about. You don't see a lot of people playing Atari 2600. Most DCS fans, by nature, are always gonna go to OB. It doesn't matter how carefully you hide it. If OB is available, it's available--and it's what everyone wants. AD

Wow, thanks! If nothing else, this should be mildly entertaining to play with. AD

I gotta agree with you that DCS seems to perform well in 2004. Shame that the newest updates to DCS itself knackered up the gamma/lighting/usual crap, but I'm sure they'll get it ironed out eventually. Sucks about having to unplug my HOTAS just to allow the monitor to stand by, though. Really, REALLY sucks, since lots of other people are having the same problem and there's no straightforward solution. Kudos for using the phrase "Butt Dyno" on an Internet discussion forum, I haven't heard that one in quite a while :) AD

I don't have GeForce Experience installed, only the driver & NVCP. Still won't standby unless I unplug HOTAS. Unplugging HOTAS is PAININASS. Other than that, my system seems to run fine. AD

The processor has 6 cores, 12 threads, and a moderate clock speed. It's a lot of dough for average performance. You're better off with an Intel processor for DCS as long as it's a K type, it doesn't matter much (or at all) how many cores or threads it has. The graphics card you're looking at is a little pricey for average to mediocre performance in DCS. You'd be better off trying to find a GTX 1080, or 1080 Ti, used. The 1660 Ti is all right, but certainly not great, and they want a lot of bread for a GPU with only ~1500 CUDA cores. You'd be better off with twice as many, if you can find a card used/open box/black market etc. Your choice of RAM looks good, but you're much better off with a CPU that can be overclocked instead of one with lots of cores/threads and a moderate clock speed. Although the 3600 is pretty good and looks cost-effective, it won't run at 4.2 GHz with more than 1 thread. It'll probably only run at 3.6. Not bad, but not great. The i3-9350K has 4 cores & threads, and will probably overclock to 5.0 GHz or possibly more, and is roughly the same price. You'll need an overclocking motherboard to make full use of it (Z370/390.) AD

I just updated to 2004 just for a laugh, and what a laugh it's been! I can't put my monitor into Standby mode with my HOTAS plugged in. It just wakes a second later. Unplugging the HOTAS 'fixes' it. What a pain in the arse. Apparently this bug has been around for ages. Hooted if Microsoft ever gets around to resolving it. I never had it until version 2004, but lots of people had it before that. I haven't tried DCS with Windows 10 2004, yet. I just installed it. It's supposed to give "better performance" but I doubt it, the performance you get in gaming seems to be inherent in your hardware config and the OS has nothing to do with it. AD

You could get into hacking the data files, but why bother? You can get a half decent stick for the price of one module. Yes, the pitch control is accumulative, and yes, you might be able to mess with the files or write your own code to make the pitch position reset on release, or have a unique key command to center the stick, or switch auto-centering on release on or off, or any other number of hacks. But, I'm not sure why you'd ever want to fly DCS with the keyboard. Why bother going to all that effort just for that? (No problem if you like it, but... why?) AD

Dang, this is a *bug*?! And all this time I just though I didn't know what what the hell I was doing. AD

You say "charge" as if it's a police order and you HAVE to buy it, or go to prison. Some of you guys talk about DCS as if its a drug addiction. "But I *GOTTA* have it!!!! I *NEEEED* it, maaaan!!!" hehehehehe Don't buy the module, spend it on beer and Doritos instead. AD

So *that's* how they keep knocking me down with ETs when I'm not even in AMRAAM range yet! AD

Aaaawww, maaaan! Curling up the prop blades was one of the more fun parts of crashing the P-51 :) AD

Let your money keep burning that hole in your pocket--The 4790K is actually very good, and yours is running at 4.7 GHz. It will perform just about identically in gaming as any other processor going 4.7 GHz, including ones that cost over a thousand bucks. The 10th gen stuff is really nice, but your CPU is already cooking along at 4.7. You'll probably see a noticeable, but rather small, improvement in DCS by going up to a very expensive new system--and it's only because of the higher maximum overclocks, not the 67 extra cores :) If you just want to burn lots of money, get an RTX Titan. It actually *will* make an improvement. AD

Your CPU is a pretty good match for your graphics card and overall system. There's not a heck of a lot for you to gain by blowing a big pile of cash on just a fancier CPU. However, DCS uses 2 program threads and your CPU only runs at its best speed (4.2 GHz) when running a single thread. More threads (DCS and various Windows tasks), and it's probably going to run at 3.6 GHz, which is not bad, but not great. Instead of replacing anything, you can get substantially better performance by going into your BIOS settings and enabling "Sync All Cores". Make sure all 4 of your CPU cores are set to run at their maximum multiplier (42). That way, your processor will always be able to run at its highest speed (4.2 GHz) when it's working with more than one thread, instead of slowing down on you when you put a load on it. It'll give you a nice bump in performance and won't cost you a penny. The rest of your system looks fine. AD

The weapons all have similar-looking kabooms, just different sizes. In the Mission Editor there are a bunch of animations for fires and explosions you can use, some of them are really nicely done! I forget exactly how to implement them. But, you can have objects on fire and billowing smoke, and have trigger-able explosions when a unit is destroyed, making blowing stuff up more entertaining. Give it a try. For example, when an object is destroyed, you can trigger an effect that gives it a big, spectacular explosion with bits and pieces flying, and then trigger a big, smoky fire on it some time after. AD

Instrument lights don't work at all in the newest version? In any module? I haven't tried it yet, just downloaded it. AD

That sucks, I'm about 2/3 through the download and my speeds are around 150 KB/sec now. Just terrible. Oh, man... With no torrent mode, we can't share the portion we've already downloaded and help speed it up for everyone else, either. BitTorrent is a great way to transfer data and share files, it's a mighty shame ISPs have their knickers in a knot over it. It helps get around this kind of nonsense. Pretty funny considering the original thread title :) AD

Exact same here. Not expecting miracles, but I'm also getting about 1/4 to 1/3 MB/sec which is horrendous. It's a 10.7 GB download!! AD

I have a 130 Mbit/sec cable Internet connection, and I'm trying to download the latest update. It's 10.7 Gigabytes compressed, and I'm getting ~250 KB/sec., which is atrocious. I cannot switch between HTTP and Torrent methods to download it--it won't let me. AD

Accelerated time? It doesn't work in multiplayer, but when you're flying single-player missions you can request rearming/refueling/repairs, and then just hit Time Accel and it zips right along. AD