Burning Bridges

Yes, 500 Gb is more than enough for DCS. My 2.5 installation with Nevada, Normandy, Caucasus, 5 plane modules and other mods is currently 93 GB On a 250 GB SSD that also houses Windows however it gets too tight, as you probably want to play other games too without constantly moving them back and forth.

But that's what I meant. ED and customers should be striving for realism, flyability and sales. If one goes to the detriment of others there will be a problem, and as I said. it might be realistic, but for now: no more corkscrewing WW2 birds for me. Yes, I can fly the Mig15 and L39 just fine, the jets in general are great.

That may all be, and I appreciate the time and effort you invested in making these birds realistic. But in the end my verdict is also final. I now own 2 WW2 planes that cannot fly straight for more than a few seconds. Realistic or not, I probably don't want any more of those.

Very good. I think this was a feature that only increases hard feelings. Not long ago someone with enough points had chosen to nuke my entire reputation to zero because of a post he didn't like. Now don't get me wrong, I really did not give a shit but I was feeling less of the community because of that.

Ah well, and looking at your requirements. A few weeks ago I bought a Samsung 850 500 Gbyte for 99€. In the end that's what I would recommend you too. All those hybrid solutions only provide you a limited cache, and you must know exactly what you are using it for. Whereas for nearly the same money you can get a SSD, whose performance won't break down dramatically when a certain size is exceeded. Prices are falling btw, and even if 500 GB is not enough for you, 750 isn't that much better. So I went for a 250 GB SSD, now a 500 and will buy new ones as they come. This is not to say those hybrid drives are not a good idea. On the contrary, they are a great new option for a lot of tasks. But I'm afraid DCS ain't one of them, because it is also a geodata application and that is bandwidth hungry as nothing else.

If I were into this I would rather look at Intel Optane https://www.pcworld.com/article/3191706/storage/optane-memory-review-why-you-may-want-intels-futuristic-cache-in-your-pc.html?page=2 It's of course somewhat more expensive but benchmarks are surprising to say the least.

Left. Right image has a horrible green taint.

Well, they were very successful in making it look like CGI then :) Anyway, that would be an explanation. I tried the skin btw and it's really nice

Very nice skin, I'll try it later! To movie goers it's almost as famous as the 109 because it is seen in so many movies. I still did not understand why they made it in CGI too.

It was Brunottes video that eventually kept me from buying the D-9. He seemed totally not happy about the stalls, and seemed to indicate all those planes were rather easy to fly and land, not the flying coffins we now have in the sim. Might be just me but I think that's what he said. The Bf 109 is rather flyable by the way, but worst offender imo would be the Spitfire. I just cannot imagine that it was that difficult to take off, wanted to lose control almost every time you moved the stick and tore off its wings when you pull back too hard.

That would be one of the most complicated ways one could think of, but I guess it would work because the Windows pagefile defaults to C: And if you buy your first SSD only now, then a reinstall of Windows would be a good idea, because the reduced boot times are a major factor with SSDs. Btw, I already gave you a link where it is explained. Simply take 5 minutes and read it ;) It's not rocket science at all. https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-configuring-the-paging-file/ I am willing to help you brother, but you must now a) buy a SSD and b) find the windows where you configure the pagefile. Hint, it looks like this: https://11986-presscdn-0-77-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/optimized-paging-file.jpg P.S. If you want to migrate to Windows 10 then yes, do it first. P.P.S. And make sure you dont want one of those. They are still 5 times faster than SSD but require a controller card http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/ssd960/ prices are falling too, the 500GB version has recently moved below 200€ [url=http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/ssd960/][/url]

Ok, I agree inasfar that they are very attractive planes. Starfighter also has a very attractive cockpit this I can say from previous flight sims. But the more you know about those planes, the less attractive they become imo. Starfighter would be not much fun to fly tbh, as it was only a bullet with wings. Flying it was often compared to taking off, flying one huge circle and then landing because fuel was used up. I also think that the Mig-25 is attractive. But once you know more about the plane it would also be not that great. Being an extreme interceptor that could go Mach 3 strength was traded for speed. The result is that you can hardly maneuvre and the structural limit is only 5G. There is also zero variation in it's roles: it was supposed to go up very fast and shoot down bombers with its 2 rockets. That was it. Besides it is much too advanced to be modelled imo as much of it is probably still classified. You can go to Youtube and search "Wings of the Red Star" there is a very informative episode about the Mig-25 and some other planes too, as well as the misconceptions that surrounded it in Cold War times.

Even better the next generation is already there (NVME can achieve up to 3,500 MB/s compared to 500 MB/s for SSDs). And when Intels Optane takes off (right now it is still ridiculously expensive) I expect that loading times will be a thing of the past. [there is a snag though that most current boards can only support 1 of those drives as they go into the PCI Express slots] One of the best computing experiences I had recently was when I for the first time copied large multi GB folders from one SSD to another, and it was finished almost immediately. This is comparable to my first computer with 1 Gbyte RAM, when I accidently selected and doubleclicked a whole list of files and all the different accociated programs popped up simulataneously.

"It must be very subtle" Yes, having Pato's cockpits installed for over a year and not activating it = priceless. And yes, I bet we are not the only two.

As I wrote I used to do that in the past, but I don't recommend it for games like DCS anymore, because they get dangerously close to running out of memory. But if you have 32 GB RAM I would say it should be the best solution. Of course you can also try it with 16 GB, there is nothing bad gonna happen if you just fly a simple training mission because that barely uses 4-8GB. Problems can only happen with heavier loads like campaigns. And if the stutters go away you are one step closer to a solution because now you now it was caused by disk access. Yes, until you have the game installed on your new SSD and understand what a pagefile is about, I would forego that step. It should however be said that setting the pagefile is only a matter of a few minutes and 1 reboot. Also you should understand the possible lifetime implications for your SSD. I personally I think it's not gonna be a problem - the maximum write cycles of SSDs are not the same as 10 years ago - but it should be kept in mind. A SSD does not get better with writing and rewriting the whole day 'til Kingdom Come.

No :) Virtual memory is something that the operating system controls. But the good news is, if you only move the game to the SSD it will already be very beneficial on its own right.

Well, I noticed that my sim stuttered like hell and fps went back to normal once I had deleted all Mig 21 units from the missions.. I also had 1 major crash while only flying the Mig 21 for an hour, a complete freeze that I had not seen in dozens of hours before. Make of this what you will but for me it looks like I will erase this module sooner or later.

I dunno. It probably would great if we understand wether DCS uses all available memory. I had the feeling it would not. But putting the pagefile on your SSD (or better NVME) it basically acts like 2nd level RAM (what nasty people would refer to as "potato RAM"). The NANDs on your SSD are not as fast as RAM, not by a mile, but technically it's probably not needed anyway and just slows down the system when there are random accesses to the harddisk. with 10 times faster SSD - compared to harddisk - I find it very noticeably alleviated, and I guess with a properly installed PCI 4x NVME it will probably be gone entirely. Same with 32 GB RAM. Just don't let your system read virtual memory from a harddisk that is so 1990. (on the other hand not many programs except DCS/Arma and such geodata heavy sims make much use of this, so you can merrily set it back to HD for office work) Another way to try would be to deactivate the pagefile altogether but this will probably lead to crashes, once your system runs out of memory entirely. But if I had 32 GB or more this would actually be first thing I would try. Ah, and that some people think this is not good for your SSD. It should be no problem but it does not exactly prolong the lifetime of the SSD either. But since I have already two SSDs and plan to get a NVME next, I can afford the risk of my old crappy SanDisk getting stressed a little. If it breaks, you will be the first to know. It would also possible to buy a cheap 128 GB SSD just for virtual memory. They cost as little as 40$, cause no one wants such small drives any more. Compared to 300$+ for a new 32 GB set of good, matched RAM, I would rather bite into the cheap replacement until RAM prices normalized, and that could take 1 or 2 years. @silentbob11 I refer you to this guide. https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-configuring-the-paging-file/ I set the values for my primary SSD minimum and maximum 16384 (16GB) and also (this is important) removed pagefile from all mechanical harddisk. Having pagefiles on 3 or 4 different drives, half of them harddisks sounds like it could be more harm than good. You want to a) reduce the disk access during flying as much as possible and b) the unavoidable accesses to be as fast as possible. And btw, I have set preload radius now back to 100,000 and fps are still excellent. I don't understand 100% what this does at all, but going 2/3 on an unknown variable sounds more "right" to me than max.

Since I have stepped in the same trap and it was previously not necessary, I reckon 1/2 of the people who installed this mod will need a reminder. To be able to switch cockpits is a very good feature by the way.

Ok that was new to me. But you are absolutely right it gets down right ugly otherwise. There are many things other languages do better but when it comes to technics imo German is the king of nouns. The advantage is that there can be no ambiguity about what the word means. The disadvantage is that human semantics often turns out so complex that you need 4, 6 or even 8 single words. But that's no longer the fault of the German language imo.

I also think that DCS is becoming much more than a "combat" simulator. Crimea is and Nevada always was a peacetime scenario, and with straight of Hormus this makes it 3/4. The level of simulation and the visuals are arguably unparalleled. So in a way more civilian planes and features could bring over lots of players who were sort of deterred by "that combat sim with Russian jets". Those people may not like the idea to be forced into combat, but it's huge to fly aircraft in the first place and always have the option to hop on to combat that is not just tacked on. I do stress though that it should be marketed right, and a pilot training campaign should also be produced for the Yak. To have a situation like with the L-39 where you have arguable the most fantastic jet trainer in the digital flight sim world and no training campaign to buy leaves a bit of a sour taste. And though it's not the end of the world, it will not pull over many people who have yet to install DCS. Ah and btw, even military sims have developed such ideas. Arma 3 has a campaign Laws Of War that deals with a humanitarian faction removing mines.

Because, bring it on please! I have played DCS since ca 2004 and never became very good. And I play exclusively as a non-combat flight simulation. I always planned to become a real combat pilot but that never happened, I am just not trained enough with the planes and I don't want to spoil my immersion by flying a modern jet in combat and then not knowing what to do. So as to me it has always been more of "Neverending Combat Pilot Training Simulator" a plane like the Yak is actually the right thing. As I would practive landings with slow trainers first before jumping in a Mach 2 jet. I also presume that flying the Yak will be great fun as it is light as a feather and should be able to do almost anything in the air (except going fast of course).

Ah yes, I know these stutters and have worked quite a lot to remove them. My theory is that DCS does not use enough RAM .. and unless you already have 32 or 64 Gbytes that boils down to bandwidth. Imo, if you have these problems and want something to be done a SSD is a must. And it's not only use the SSD to store the game. The thing that helped me most is to put the pagefile on a SSD. My fps stayed up at 60 both with and without that. But with the virtual memory on the SSD, the dips are only into 50s whereas before that I would see them go down to 30s. Is this conclusive? To me it is inasfar as it helped a great deal reducing the dips, as I suspect those dips happen when DCS loads extra data which sometimes turns out unpredictibly much (you sure notice how this seems to depend on certain view angles in external view where fps get suddenly extremely low in one particular angle) I have 16GB RAM and put another 16 on my SSD. I also maxed out preload. I would really like to know understand what Preload setting dies on anything, but theoretically is should prioritize holding as much data in memory as early as possible than to load it in the last moment so to speak. So again, it should prevent the game from loading a lot of data when you least want it. Ah, and btw if this works and you want even better performance you get eiterh get more RAM and or invest in one of those new NVMe drives by Samsung. They are ca 6-8 times faster than SSDs still, though you need a decicated controller to use their full potential.

Btw, I flew with the L-39 cockpit today, and it was really good. An important puzzle to my new favorite plane in the game (I suck with all other planes)

@Pato I have finally been able to try the latest Bf109 and Albatros cockpits. First of all, the 109 is amazing! It's important to enable the cockpit in the "Special" Tab - otherwise the default cockpit remains active - maybe that's why some people cannot stop nagging? They never saw any difference because the mod is not enabled?! The L-39 is an improvement but only a slight one. If you watch this great video you should see that the light grey is actually much darker which I also find more pleasing. Maybe you have time and motivation to work in this direction. I highly appreciate your work!