Why are all servers running the Beta?

[SharpeXB]

Is it wrong that all the servers are running the Beta? Not just some of them, all of them. What about players that don’t want to go through being beta testers? I appreciate that so many are willing to but I’m sure there are many people who can’t bother with testing the game.

DCS is perpetually offering a beta of every update it seems. So now nobody is able to ever get on multiplayer?

It would be better and more reliable for everyone if servers stuck to running the release version. Not everyone wants to deal with potential unreliability and bugs in the beta when they’re online.

[ouPhrontis]

I understand - and was told by one admin - that this is related to how Open Beta differs in it's RAM usage, so server admins migrated to it for that. As to whether this still stands, that perhaps stable had this change merged into it; I don't know.

[BIGNEWY]

That is up to the server admins, if they run the beta or not.

 

Why not run your own server on release branch?

[SharpeXB]

Why not run your own server on release branch?

Really I have no clue how to do that.

I know the current version has the memory problem that makes it really tough to join a server. Hopefully the servers go back to the release version when that’s fixed otherwise it basically kills off multiplayer for many people. There aren’t many servers for DCS. There’s only maybe 2 or 3 that ever have players on them.

[Gladman]

You think it's wrong that a person uses their own property as they see fit? Grow up.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Gladman

[Shadow KT]

You think it's wrong that a person uses their own property as they see fit? Grow up.

 

lol, this post.... just wow

 

anyway, from what you have written @OP, you might the wrong idea of what goes on in the beta release

 

maybe some time give it a try

[kobeshow]

That is up to the server admins, if they run the beta or not.

 

Why not run your own server on release branch?

 

 

Maybe because the release branch has not had it's memory management updated, and people would have a VERY hard time to join, if they would be able to at all.

 

 

"Release"-version sadly does not guarantee a stable expirience in any way, obvious bugs get carried over to stable all the time.

[Xoho]

Stable has serious issues, beta has serious issues, they both have major issues, and I think most of us are just hoping to get some of the older ones fixed, and maybe use our new aircraft/maps while we wait. Unfortunately the new beta, 2.5.2, is causing more issues than it's worth on some servers, since you get constant freezing/stutters/crashes/bugs, and you can't have an "aircraft graveyard" to mitigate that without forcing people to wait 20-30-60-120 minutes just to get into your server.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Xoho

[Drexx]

because no one in THEIR RIGHT MIND would host on release right now, release is far more buggy than beta....

[Johnny_Rico]

because no one in THEIR RIGHT MIND would host on release right now, release is far more buggy than beta....

 

The irony of that statement is not lost on me , lol

[104th_Maverick]

It would be better and more reliable for everyone if servers stuck to running the release version. Not everyone wants to deal with potential unreliability and bugs in the beta when they’re online.

 

 

 

 

Persian Gulf was just released on to OpenBeta, we have been flying on Caucasus for over 10 years, there was no way in hell we were not going to update.

[Johnny_Rico]

Really I have no clue how to do that.

I know the current version has the memory problem that makes it really tough to join a server. Hopefully the servers go back to the release version when that’s fixed otherwise it basically kills off multiplayer for many people. There aren’t many servers for DCS. There’s only maybe 2 or 3 that ever have players on them.

 

Here you go

https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=151

 

have a go yourself and see how you get on

[TonyG]

Seeing as the Hornet is about to be released on Beta, it would be an empty server this week waiting for someone not interested in flying the Hornet to show up.

[Mezelf]

You think it's wrong that a person uses their own property as they see fit? Grow up.

 

 

Holy strawman, Batman! :doh:

Maybe you should calm down?

 

That is up to the server admins, if they run the beta or not.

 

Why not run your own server on release branch?

 

 

I always found the "well why don't you do [X] yourself if you think you can do it better" to be a supremely unhelpful argument when it comes to criticism. You know well enough why OP can't/won't start his own server. It's either costly, time consuming and/or complicated and it's not fair to expect the average DCS multiplayer to set up and maintain his own server, create a brand, recruit people to their server (which cannibalizes and fragments the already small multiplayer population), maintain a Discord, etc.

If your answer to anyone with any criticism of a server is "go make one yourself", the only logical conclusion is 10,000 servers with 1 pop.

 

Both these comments failed to address the why question of the OP.

 

I think this is a fair question, because it's an actual, active problem. I came back to DCS with the stable release of 2.5 only to discover all the servers I used to play on were gone. It wasn't until I checked out the forums and found a thread asking "why are all the servers are gone" and saw a reply suggesting it might be because the most popular servers switched to Open Beta, that I had my answer.

 

This isn't explained in the multiplayer browser (because the servers that switched aren't visible). There isn't a sticky on the Multiplayer forum saying "YO SWITCH TO OPEN BETA FOR MULTIPLAYER".

So you have a very niche game, of which <5% plays multiplayer. Of those players, how many do you think read the forums? Even if half of them do, that's still half of the entire multiplayer base that's left wondering wtf happened to all the servers. (I'm not counting all the players that switched to OB on their own, because I don't know how many of them did).

 

As to the why all the servers are on beta, that's thankfully explained by other, more helpful commenters.

 

 

This whole situation is even making me wonder what's the point of having a "stable" version of the game when it's about as buggy as the Open Beta, it's behind on updates and content and has an effectively dead multiplayer base now.

[SharpeXB]

^ This

Yes I understand the reasons for servers running the beta. I just hope they go back to the release version when these problems get sorted out.

Mezelf is really correct. Most players don’t read forums or even have an account. All they’ll see is a dead multiplayer.

According to Steamspy there are 1-2 million people who own DCS World. Amazing! (go figure it’s free) vs 68,100 forum members.

Yet 50% of owners have only played the sim for 18 minutes. So that’s a million potential players who get the sim and then probably check to see how active multiplayer is and see nothing. Then maybe quit and do something else.

[firmek]

Guys but sorry, what you're trying to achieve with this post?

 

The servers in DCS are purelly community managed. There are no ED official servers. Unless some hudge disaster happens (which is really seldom) server admins choose the Open Beta. Its obvious why - most people are running the Open Beta. Or in other words, admins go after the demand as it's clear they want to have their servers populated.

 

So, maybe instead of trying to change something that is regulating itself in a natural way (kind like in democracy) maybe you should adjust and change to OB instead of fighting the current. It really seams that almost everyone is running OB. For sure if OB would be soo bad it wouldn't be this way. I'm sure 99% of people running the OB are not programers but regular folks having a job, families and way much less time to play DCS they would wish to have (which includes 0 time for tinkering with the thing). Or, I'm sure 99% of pople running stable would not notice running OB if the "OB" label would be taken out of it.

[BIGNEWY]

I was not trying to provide a solution, I was explaining why and asking a question in the same post.

[Dagger71]

^ This

Yes I understand the reasons for servers running the beta. I just hope they go back to the release version when these problems get sorted out.

Mezelf is really correct. Most players don’t read forums or even have an account. All they’ll see is a dead multiplayer.

According to Steamspy there are 1-2 million people who own DCS World. Amazing! (go figure it’s free) vs 68,100 forum members.

Yet 50% of owners have only played the sim for 18 minutes. So that’s a million potential players who get the sim and then probably check to see how active multiplayer is and see nothing. Then maybe quit and do something else.

 

This goes back to when I got banned for calling 2.5 release version (there were no other versions!) when it came out and a large portion of the population couldn't even access MP. I was told 1.58 was Release and 2.5 was OB and I could not contest that. Release came shortly after and it was in fact the exact same version as OB.

 

 

Today "Release version" is an older unpatched, and mostly broken version of the new engine. Open Beta is Release version with latest patches applied. It's backwards, but it is what it is.

 

 

If you want to join a server that is the most up to date version, you need OB. no question

 

 

As for the # of Steam downloads vs player time, that's easy to understand. Since DCS is free anyone can downloaded it. But only hardcore milsim study sim players will appreciate its complexities and stick it out. An arcade twitch player will load the game up, see how much time he will need to invest just to just start a plane, close the game and move on to War Thunder. Study sims will always have a absolutely small fraction of the player base of arcade games.

 

 

 

I read a review on Steam where some idiot claimed this was a pay to win game that required spending hundreds of dollars to acquire all aircraft!

Edited May 28, 2018 by Dagger71

[SharpeXB]

most people are running the Open Beta.

I really doubt that’s the case. Again there’s a million people who own this through Steam who don’t run the Beta.

Why am I concerned? Because DCS seems to exist in these perpetual dual versions and Betas and that can’t be good for the sim in the long run.

I’m fairly active on mp and haven’t noticed such a shift to the Beta version until now. Usually there are always some active servers.

 

As for the # of Steam downloads vs player time, that's easy to understand. Since DCS is free anyone can downloaded it. But only hardcore milsim study sim players will appreciate its complexities and stick it out. An arcade twitch player will load the game up, see how much time he will need to invest just to just start a plane, close the game and move on to War Thunder. Study sims will always have a absolutely small fraction of the player base of arcade games.

No doubt that’s true. Let’s not add more reasons that dissuade players from getting into DCS. People aren’t going to read through a 671 page manual if they don’t see anyone online and the game appears fragmented and dead.

Edited May 28, 2018 by SharpeXB

[Dagger71]

to be fair it would be quite silly to jump into a MP session if you have never even been in the air in DCS.

 

 

 

I agree its confusing, it's bad form to have the versions the waylike they do , but like I said, right now the players and server hosts have no choice! They MUST use OB to stay up to date.

 

 

 

It also happened in the 1.5 days near the end when the beta side started getting updated more frequently.

 

 

 

Again I don't agree with how DCS releases versions, but it is what it is.

[QuiGon]

to be fair it would be quite silly to jump into a MP session if you have never even been in the air in DCS.

Not necessarily. You can hop on a aerobatics or free flight server to learn to fly.

Edited May 29, 2018 by QuiGon

[Sylosis]

My god... why are so many people butthurt by what the OP asked!?

 

Maybe the wording was not perfect, but wondering why every server is now on beta is a fair question. I too, was wondering that myself.

 

From what I was able to gather, on different posts and what not, it seems it is mainly due to performance. When 2.5 was released, multiplayer, on larger scales (more than 2 or 3 persons) was almost impossible to play, even with powerful rigs. Since the beta version includes a rework on RAM management, it made sense for most servers to switch to the beta version.

 

I can very well be wrong, but I doubt this will stay like that forever. As soon as ED brings out a stable "released" version, I am sure a lot of servers will stick to the released version and not the beta.

[Dagger71]

Not necessarily. You can hop on a aearboatics or free flight server to learn to fly.

 

 

 

 

Well I guess there are exceptions to everything.

 

 

 

It is possible someone with zero experience with DCS and no knowledge of any of the planes decides to jump into a MP server before he does even some basic training missions or reading any forum posts.

[Dagger71]

I can very well be wrong, but I doubt this will stay like that forever. As soon as ED brings out a stable "released" version, I am sure a lot of servers will stick to the released version and not the beta.

 

 

I wouldn't hold my breath. Remember DCS version 1.5 had open beta (which most servers used) right till the release of 2.5! BUT when day comes when OB is relegated to the internal testers, it will be a beautiful day for all.. For players as this would signal the game has reached a level of progress where bugs are few and far between!

Edited May 28, 2018 by Dagger71

[Sylosis]

I wouldn't hold my breath. Remember DCS version 1.5 had open beta (which most servers used) right till the release of 2.5!

 

Well, again, I'm not betting all my money on it, however servers switching to beta in 1.5 was, I believe, few months before 2.5 was released.

 

I mean, I haven't been around forever, but I was on 1.5 for some time (couple of years, I don't know), and there were a lot of good servers for most of that period, that were on the released 1.5

 

For example, the "104th" server, which is quite popular I think, was on the released 1.5 version for a very long time. If it switched to beta during 1.5, it was only just before 2.5 was released I think.

 

Anyway... I'm not really debating... mostly thinking out loud.

 

If in the end, most servers stay on beta, I'll be the first to be disappointed. I was hoping to stop going against AI and join servers, but I very much prefer to stick to the released versions and not fiddle with the beta.

 

Moreover, to go back to what the OP said... when he wonders if it's "wrong" that all servers are on beta. Well I think it is, in a way, wrong. It means that ED fails to have strong, stable, optimized, released versions. Or at least, that's how I feel it.

 

If their released versions were coming out strong, a lot less servers would bother setting up the beta versions.

 

So it's not wrong in a sense that "server admins shouldn't do it". It's wrong that "server admins feel it's better on beta"...

Edited May 28, 2018 by Sylosis