jamie_c

I haven't noticed any issues, it may be worth doing a repair from the new launcher to see if there's any issues with installed files, from my time in the Mudhen since the patch it has worked as expected mostly, there did appear to be intermittent issues in multicrew over the weekend but I'm not sure they weren't somehow operator error.. The only problem I've had beyond that is the mouse stutter bug where I've had to lower my mouse polling rate to 500Hz.

Confirmed an official fix is in place, the radar functions in the absence of Budgie. You may delete the mod and resume normal DCS use. I will take a break before releasing the next update to Budgie which is the just in case version, I had the interim patch nearly ready and it was working really well in testing. It was probably less than 48 hours away. Thanks to all who helped with testing, providing feedback or words of encouragement along the way.

Yeah, it’s one of those things where some systems handle it without issue, but others, particularly i5/i3 and the AMD equivalents struggle somewhat. The patch should improve performance for all, it’s just the better your system, the less improvement you’ll see. Unfortunate byproduct of the original TimeFix being written for other environments and me just trying to get Budgie out so people could fly.

Very brief note, anyone having framerate issues with Budgie, please head to the discord to test an interim fix, react to the message in #general and when I'm able I'll set you up as a tester. Please be patient as I can't replicate all the issues on my own system, we're dealing with extremes of system spec and configuration with some people using CPU affinity and others not. I also didn't fly Mudhen that much myself before the break, and my system the performance is only bad on Sinai. Additionally if you're not having problems and happy to test, you're welcome to join in, just let me know when the tester channel is setup. You can help confirm it still works.

My assessment is it was in play long before the last patch, it only happened to activate within days of the patch by coincidence and the proof it was based on local time is an online Squadron’s resident Australian had the issue before his mates. Concurrently there was a code signing certificate issue and that’s when Anti-Virus started precision strikes on Mudhen. Not allocating blame or wanting to wander into the middle of the dispute, merely stating it’s incredibly unlikely the patch caused the issue from my perspective. Budgie doesn’t touch the code signing issue, merely lies about the date to the Mudhen, your AV will still happily take out the DLL without an exception in place in settings.

Just a quick note, I’ve updated the Budgie main page on Github, specifically Readme.md to address initial performance issues on lower spec machines and why that happens and also a note on how bad my documentation has been since I found yet another reference to DLL injection. I’m currently coming down with the flu or something so I’m going to try and enlist ChatGPT to help proofread and ferret out any mentions of DLL injection. Regarding performance issues, Budgie keeps a record (in-memory) of everything that tries to call the time function responsible for the date based failure, the first time something new calls, Budgie essentially takes notes, this is so later on in the mission when that thing calls the function again as you’re lining up to pickle, Budgie knows it’s not the Mudhen calling and instantly responds with correct date/time. On Mission load, a LOT of things are calling for the first time and unfortunately with CPUs approaching minimum spec DCS may stutter or almost grind to a halt while this is all figured out by Budgie. While it’s not ideal you can wait it out and it should improve. We recently had a user in the discord where this took something like 2 minutes on an i5 4000 series. Having had an i5 CPU in the past I’m well aware if you push them even a little too hard you’re going to have problems. I am looking into ways to mitigate this and potentially push out an interim release before the next full patch, perhaps by writing some of the info to disk so when Budgie loads it reads from file to prime the system. This may take a while, please be patient. EDIT: The next full patch is intended to add features back to Budgie it had making it more complex and versatile, unless another module has a time/date based break I intend to release this after an official fix to be held in reserve should issues arise in the future. The complexity requires far better documentation than I can manage at the present time.

There is a mod that fixes it, it’s in these forums, it has many users not waiting on an official fix which will come next week at the earliest and hopefully we’re not waiting 6 weeks.

There’s a likely official fix for Mudhen in the patch tonight, I suggest keeping your Budgie.zip on hand and simply deleting the Budgie folder in \Saved Games\DCS\Mods\services\ to test the Mudhen once patched. Once you’re satisfied that the Mudhen radar functions, delete Budgie.zip. Budgie will continue to live on github and potentially be updated in the near future with planned features if you ever need it again. I only urge caution and checking because the only confirmation of a fix coming was from NineLine in discord, but it was a direct response to a user question about the F-15E radar being fixed in the patch during a time the discord was exploding with people upset about the patch delay. I appreciate all the kind words of support and am glad I could help you, Budgie was never intended to live long and I hope we don’t need it after the patch. Traffic stats from github:

Just so everyone's aware, there is an open source alternative to Budgie, but it changes the date for everything inside DCS. EagleEye by StrikeRat Is this really why 200 lines seems like a lot? Basically the same entry.lua with the same "mistakes". Nice job While I joke, there is an upside, this is a deterrent for intentional time or date based failures and it's a good thing. But anyone telling me I could've done the same thing with less code, check the date in your mission editor.

You’re welcome and I’m happy to hear it works well for you. It certainly could have an impact as the radar code calls the function multiple times per second, even in STBY, avoiding that was priority 1.

Budgie does one thing and at least attempts to do it well, it does the minimum necessary within the target application to achieve the goal, but to do this it has to handle potential points of failure along the way no matter how unlikely. It has to do this because it runs with DCS all the time, even when you’re not using Mudhen. You could be in Kiowa, Viper, L-39, P-51 or any other module, Budgie is still running and performance matters. The same time function at the root of the problem is used in other parts of DCS and potentially used by other mods, work was done to ensure everything else functioned as normal and maintained optimal performance. Some users have tacview, some have SRS, some have the A-4EC, some have all of the above and others are building mods we haven’t heard of, Budgie has to stay out of their way. It also has to clean up after itself for this very reason. There’s been one total failure for it to work possibly attributable to Anti-Virus attacking the Mudhen with one other possible (in YT comments), and a few hours ago the only other person I’ve been aware of having issues installing, their DCS is still referencing Open Beta config. Every other user I know of has dragged and dropped the folder and ended up in a fully functional jet at the end with no reported detriment to performance across the whole of DCS, no additional bugs introduced.

Haha, I'm sure if you had the code you'd understand why it does what it does, I was really worried about performance especially releasing publicly. For a group of 5 friends, small performance hitch not a big deal. For hundreds of people, when I didn't want to release this at all, I don't want the noise! Could you imagine 500 angry Mudhen users getting 20FPS because I "fixed" the radar None taken, I'm just very direct at times and it comes off like I'm annoyed, if you had any interest in trying it, I'd encourage you to, it was an interesting puzzle.

It could've been less if it didn't check the stack to ensure performance. Maybe you could write your own and do better. Without that functionality it was a slideshow. Oh and I forgot logging which was still in but commented out.

Between 200-600 lines total depending on version. Contrary to popular belief, no reverse engineering effort took place. Between comments, headers, the core functionality, caching information to ensure performance for _EVERY_ radar frame, JSON config and the start of work on Lua functionality there's not a lot of white space.

I’ve seen reports a fix is coming, I’ll believe it when it arrives. The Mod wouldn’t break anything unless there is more date based functionality built into the DLL that Budgie targets and no module should have date based functionality. In the event of an official fix, you simply delete the Budgie folder from Saved Games\DCS\Mods\services\ That removes everything Budgie except a single line in DCS.log that’ll be overwritten on next start.

Still adding it to the first post, thanks!

Youtube Channel Plane Spotting Fargo has made a video about Budgie, first one I've seen, DCS F-15E Radar Fix by Plane Spotting Fargo Just a caution when he switches to the jet it may do for your ears what that link did for your eyes.

We can agree on that when it comes to changing system date, it's not ideal. Here's hoping for an official fix with either the next patch or the one after.

A user just mentioned the links to the discord have expired, I set them for 7 days not thinking. Here’s the new link for anyone who wants to chat with other Mudhen users, find a Pilot/WSO/Wingman to fly with: Slasher84 Discord Server Also added this link to github docs, checking my forum profile momentarily then sleeping.

Good stuff, I've just spotted another Mudhen on GS, poor guy pushed negative G for too long and shut his engines off, wont name them, but just to be clear Budgie can't help with that sort of thing! I did the same a few minutes earlier so they're not alone.

Just checking in with everyone, I know it’s a weekday but if any of you have flown, any issues to report with Budgie? Over 1500 unique visitors to github now, still no idea how many actual users and beyond the initial thanks, there’s no feedback, so I assume all is ok! I still only know of one person who it didn’t work for noted above which I suspect was an anti-virus issue with the Mudhen itself, so if that’s correct I think it has done ok as a mod.

@MAXsenna glad it continues to work for you and you're most welcome! I've noticed an increase in visitors to the GitHub in the last few hours above normal, if anyone's seeking support I really need to inspect the back of my eyelids for a few hours (sleep), message me here or on discord and I'll reply when able in a few hours.

Wrong way, go back! You've found the old version, please delete that. Current Release: Budgie 1.0.0.2 on GitHub EDIT: If you're seeing this, the injector release of Budgie has been removed. There is only one release available now. Further to the above, I've had a single report of a user not being able to spawn in their Mudhen after installing Budgie, it's unclear whether their AV Quarantined anything from the Mudhen to cause it. If your Mudhen install is working otherwise and Budgie is stopping you from even flying the jet, I'd appreciate a direct message. Thanks.

@Beirut glad you’re getting some fun out of the Mudhen. I will do my best to keep it flying until we see an official fix. There should be an update in the near future, these changes are planned: The ability to specify targets to change date for, that way if any other module has a date based break, an end user can mitigate it and keep flying Custom date setting, specifically to tie in with above with separate Day, Month, Year fields Log to DCS.log so in the event Budgie causes an issue in future, support staff know it’s there with bug reports (hello support people if you’re reading this! you’re doing great!) Fortunately the Budgie approach to fixing the issue is particularly robust and the chance for further date based changes to take place with Mudhen is extremely limited due to the Mudhen having no idea it’s nearly July. If I’m wrong and another date based issue crops up before any official fix I will investigate and do what I can. I’m hoping after the next update to work on some other stuff unrelated to Mudhen, but still DCS, to be announced at a later time, because to be honest it could be any number of one offs I’ve made being converted to a public mod.

@Slippayou’re welcome. I built this for a friend, he loves the Mudhen so much I have to include a slot for it in earlier cold war scenarios on my server and he was devastated, he reluctantly jumped into the Hornet but couldn’t remember how to fly it. I ended up in an F-4 merged with a MiG-19 trying to teach him the Hornet, I was so annoyed I switched to guns and ripped the wings off that Farmer. I thought at first it may have been the patch, but then I saw a few videos and posts about changing system date. I made TimeFix ages ago as a tool to mess with dates and times in various applications and games, injected it into DCS and it fixed the issue, the next two days were spent sharpening the sledgehammer approach. By Saturday my friend had the first test copy for our weekend flying. It wasn’t until the patch intended for the 26th was delayed I made an impulsive decision to go public, up until that point only 5 people had Budgie. 2 days or so later and the injector was abandoned as the mod approach worked. I hardly flew the Mudhen before this, I was so new to the jet that when I heard the radar hitting the stops I went external camera to check I wasn’t dumping chaff or flares. This is my first public release of pretty much anything, prior releases are all covered under DLMs, and limited to those orgs and associated groups. I only wish I had moved sooner, I’ve received plenty of messages from people saying they stuck with Mudhen but their friends refunded. EDIT: I’ve added a channel on my discord for Pilots, WSOs and Wingmen to find each other. Squadrons are also welcome to promote. Slasher84 DIscord