Mirknir

Closed Conflict Hello guys I have been struggling with this decision for some times now but here it is: Open Conflict is closing. Lately, hosting the server has been feeling more and more like a chore and a source of anxiety. I've always said I will close it when my fun runs out and it sadly did. Hosting OC was a great experience for me and I had a ton of fun playing and discussing with you guys. Because I would like to end on a positive note, I don't want to dwell too much on the reasons of this decision. However, I've been told that I was bad at communicating the struggles I faced hosting OC so here is a small explanation for people interested. Hosting a server for a game with so many aircrafts each having diverse perks is time consuming and will become more with the addition of new aircrafts and different maps. I have now less free time in my life and would like to focus on some other projects. Lately, DCS 1.5 has become a more stressful platform for me to develop on with more bugs, performance problems and unstabilities. I always have a shot of anxiety each time a patch is dropped :) Hosting OC and being able to properly tests my features with every aircrafts and their diverse perks is also somehow expensive. The addition of buyable maps and assets packs will also increase this cost in the future. I was never able to secure dev licences with ED and I am thankfull for the donations I got and that allowed me to buy some aircrafts and replace the broken hardware. On a more positive side, I wanted to thanks: The 26030 unique players that visited the server, at least once :) I hope you had fun. The 52 unique donators that help me keep the server afloat. Vyrtuoz for lending me the original computer to open the server (go buy Tacview now :smilewink:) CrimsonGhost for hosting TS for me Ciribob for hosting SR for me Cosmicdoubloon, Bert and DustOff=3=6 for being awesome admins and advisors The WarDogs clan in general for their advices and beta testings for aircrafts I don't own :) Belgriffen for his help in what should have been the next OC. Everyone that killed F-15Cs ED for making the game :) I am not quitting DCS and will go back to pilot my Su-27 and be one of these FC3 pilots that everyone will bash because their cockpit is not clickable :) On a side note, even if I don't agree with all their choices, I really like where ED is bringing DCS. DCS 2.5 with a proper dedicated server system that can host efficiently and freely on any map would be awesome :) I know this news can be a downer for some so I will end with a quote of a famous philosopher and even more famous F15 pilots: "I am sad that it is ending but I am happy for what it was." -Taylor Swift Over and out,

Tecnically, its not guns only, it's no AA missiles. Ag missiles will still be there.

Thanks for the cool feedback ; I am glad you are having fun. For some times now, my plan has been to create a bigger server with a bigger mission and a better masterscript (codename ReGenesis) and host it on 2.0 or 2.5 or whatever new version will come. I've been working on it and last month, I've started to wonder if I should really sign up to host another server :) Hosting a server is going to get way more expensive with even more planes and ED's system of map and asset pack to buy (twice if you host a server I guess) More planes also means more dev time to create and update the missions. Also, a lot of patches comes with broken features and recently it mega-triggered my inside perfectionism and created a lot of frustration to see the server not working properly :) Every patch is a stressful moment for me and I am not sure it should be like that. Concerning the current Open Conflict, I feel the mission is almost already too small for the number of players and I don't want to add more. I've been trying to put in place events/experiments to add variety and we'll see if I can get some traction on this. Adding preset waypoints is kind of hard with so many objectives and even more spawning randomly ; I am not sure how you will see that?

I could ask "what's your favorite icecream" and I would get rant #7517 against FC3 :) I am trying something new and potentially fun that would significantly drop the gap between modern and old planes. Without AA missiles, modern planes would loose their crazy missiles and because the fights would be closer range, the f10 map displaying your friends would help AC without iff. I would also have to change AIs armament or remove them since less protection would be necessary.

Open Conflict Dogfight Experiment I am thinking about doing a old school dogfight special on Open Conflict. I am thinking about 2 options: Option 1 - No Air-to-Air Missiles I remove all air to air missiles from all airports. I put back the fuel level of all planes to 100%. Everyone with only guns. Option 2 - No Modern Air-to-Air Missiles I remove all modern air to air missiles from all airports. I put back the fuel level of all planes to 100%. This would leave modern fighters gun only in front of let's say F86 and Mig21 with old AA missiles. This might be interesting as it might change the predator and prey balance of the server. What do you guys think?

In Masterscript: Skynet v3.6.0 (Applied on next full restart) Altitude in Detailed Report If relevant, altitude will now be displayed in the objective detailed infos The detailed report is accessed by -ag/-re/-tr <objectiveCode> This information was requested for mission planning by someone at some point for some plane :) <See attached picture> I hope this will help :)

Thanks for the feedback. Sometimes, it's hard to know the real state of the server. Like the internet rule says: 9 of 10 unhappy people will comment while 1 of 10 happy people will :) I am trying to balance the server so that it's not just for fighters but it's not easy ; fighter pilots are numerous and the bloodthirst intense English is not my native language either ; I also accept good feedback in French and very very very simple German :lol:

Well, I am glad to see the server seems more stable and that the updated warehouse seems to work. In logs, I can see Mirage killing F15 so everything is right with the world :) Even if it's not a popular decision, the adding of more SAMs and the removing of some fighter slots seem to allow more diverse aircrafts to fly on the server. I see a lot more helicopter, viggen, f5, f86 and such :pilotfly: I am also glad to see the weather is appreciated with comments like "This weather is cancer dude" or "Mirknir depression is getting worth" :thumbup: Have fun guys!

Power Outage Ended. Server is back online. I've re-done the warehouse so missile availability should be back to before patch

No I didn't know ; dont hesitate to report bugs on this forum ; it's the best way. When I have power back, I'll check if they are still in the airports warehouses or it could also be a DCS bug. If ED did some changes to the weapons, it is possible I have to redo all the airport and carriers warehouses :mad: But I don't own the mirage so it's a bug I won't be able to test fully. I'll keep you guys posted.

Power outage in my neighborhood ; server is temporary down :( Being doomed is not easy. If elon musk is reading this, come to Quebec to sell your solar panel because Hydro Quebec, our power provider may be the worst of every countries I've lived in. 5h now that we have power problem in my neighborhood, finally hit my building.

Maintenance / Server Update / Mission Update Completed (was longer than predicted because windows 10...) In OpenConflict Tuapse - v3.7.4 Ships Some carriers are back The carrier hospital objectives are back Each side gained a Moska warden cruiser whose ranges include the tankers Ship performances have not been fixed so I can't add back all the ships OC had :mad: Attack Convoys SA15 have been replaced by Gepard AAA SA19 are still there so be careful or ask for help / use explosive packs Weather Weather is cold, rainy and overcast (high ceiling) - cue complains :) Overcast is still visually glitchy but screw it, still using it - Tell me if it's a big problem for you guys I feel it's not OC without period of bad weather :smilewink: Date / Time of Day Winter, end of December From 13h00 to 19h00 (after dusk) Let's see how it goes with this new patch....:pilotfly:

Server in maintenance / upgrade....

Yea the convoy was buffed a bit as an experiment, it was a bit too much I have to admit :)

Ya I've been notified by Cosmic. I will update the server at some point when I come back home. Well see what's fixed, what's still broken and what's newly broken :)

Between the broken weather (glitchy overcast, disappearing cloud...), the broken ship performances (ships were lagging the server badly), the sea rescue that had to be removed, the weapon DLL crash (crashing the server every 1-2 hours) that doesn't seem to deserve a hot fix, open conflict is just half of what it used to be. It just became unfun abd stressful for me to work in this conditions while players are asking for so much and I just spend my time in damage control patch after patch. I am using this time of weapon.DLL breakage to take a break and think about what I want to do with this project.

Cool. I still wish a game breaking bug plaguing the game for weeks would deserve a priority hot fix but i might have been spoiled by other game :) On the bright side, regenesis master DLL and launcher have progressed. They are now communicating properly and have been improved to safely run on a server outside my living room on a farm. Most low level boring stuff have been done. I now focusing more on gameplay and objectives.

Ok yea, I just checked and no updates have be rolled out yet :cry: We'll wait.

ok thanks for the info. I didn't get a steam notification but I guess it was released only on web client for now. I ll try to update the server and see how it goes.

Thanks for the support guys :) I took some time to think it over. Yea, seeing as DCS 1.5 is becoming more and more broken and OC less and less interesting because of all the features that are to be removed; I've decided to move on. I will focus my work on Regenesis and try to implement some of the solutions we've spoken about but that required too much work in OC. Some solutions will be script-wise like a more balanced awacs/CGI that will give more information to weaker planes and some will be mission-side like a bigger conflict zone and more dynamic objectives so the map doesn't always feel the same. I am sorry for the poor state of the current OC but DCS 1.5 just didn't give me a choice. For the lol, here is the crashes that happened today (all of them in weapons.dll):

Server going to shit this past weeks Hello Guys, After investigations and trying different fixes, I am just unable to prevent the multiple crashes that plagued Open Conflict the past weeks. Something was broken somewhere in the last patches that I cannot fix or bypass. Here is the crash dump that is plaguing my logs if anyone have an idea. 2655F79E 00CFF5B0 0000:00000000 C:\DCS World\bin\Weapons.dll ?findTargets@wWeaponSystemManager@@QEAAXXZ()+2AE 2653F5C0 00CFF5E0 0000:00000000 C:\DCS World\bin\Weapons.dll ?findTargets@wGroupTargetManager@@MEAAXAEAN@Z()+60 1BFDCAD5 00CFF610 0000:00000000 C:\DCS World\bin\Transport.dll ?setOption@wcColumn@@UEAAXIAEBVParameter@@@Z()+1F85 I won't lie ; I am pretty tired of DCS at this point and I am also not happy of the direction this forum thread or the server has taken recently. My original goal was to work for something new while the current server was working pretty much alone but I just don't have the time to maintain the current server on such broken grounds ; while trying to address all the same recurring complains and also working on something new I wanted/would like to provide to DCS. It's burning me and killing my Open Conflict motivation. I am contemplating putting Open Conflict on a break so I can free my mind of all the problems and complains while focusing on something new (that should actually answer some complains) I am also hoping this will give ED some time to get DCS to some kind of stable ground :music_whistling: I am somewhat perfectionist and having to cut all the features of my server one by one because of bugs and seeing my server crash every hour is just killing me :cry: Last Update: I removed all the ships from the map. Let's see if it's better :(

Thanks for the vote of confidence but when it comes to stability, I can't do that much except find the problematic content, remove it and wait until it's fixed :( It just takes so much time to just have OC not completely broken with all the new problems patches generates recently, I hardly have time in my OC dev time to work on the new stuff I wanna do. It was just a bad day ; I am going to sleep :pilotfly:

Maintenance done /pray In Masterscript: Skynet v3.5.9 Duel Slots Player in Duel Slots wandering too far from duel area will be sent back to spectator This will avoid duel slots to be used in Conflict Zone Gazelle All Gazelles have now 2 passenger slots to be able to do capture missions In Map: Open Conflict Tuapse - v3.6.8 Last patch introduced more problems with ships: They now attack other static ships @ very long range meaning I had to remove them. Sea Rescue Ships Removed completely because of the new bug Carriers are now firing on the static ships used to receive the down pilots :( Oil Field Objectives Replaced all target static ships with more oil platforms Carriers are now also firing on cargo ships cleaning these objectives in no time Su33 Rename Fleet Slots to proper reflect that they are now ground slots Ship performance is still mega broken so I can't add more carriers in the map, will see next patches Fighter Slots Removed some fighter slots I know it will not be a popular decision but I want to try making more gameplay space for other roles then air superiority. Ground Defenses SAM presence has been increased overall in map for installations and for convoys Be careful when plotting your routes Escort your SEAD / Strikers buddies Weather Winter Time Around 1h to 1h30 night time before sunrise (prepare your NVG)

I am not sure I get what you would like. What would allow precise INS Bombing? What do you mean by 'adding buddy laser'? I am pretty sure people already do that. In the recent patches, I've noticed more bugs about ships while the ship performance problem didn't get fixed. I will have to update some of the OC objectives. I have to admit that ED doesn't make it easy to host a server on DCS. I wish the updates wouldn't create so much problems each time ; it's eroding my motivation :helpsmilie: Speaking of problems, the overcast that I liked to use is still broke and fugly since like 3 or 4 patches ; that's why it's kinda always sunny. I ll see what I can do with a bit a cloud but they, too, are bugged and will disappear when you move your camera around the map by, for example, pressing F2 and watching other planes. I'll try to do some maintenance and push a updated version of the map tonight if I still have the will to live :)