solved Occasional high constant disk write activity during gameplay.

[Aernov]

For a long time I am experiencing strange disk write activity from DCS client:

Normal parameters - disk write rate fluctuates from < 0.006 to 0.6 MB/s during gameplay,

But sometimes (recently - almost every time) I get unusually high rate from 3+ to 6+ MB/s for entire time DCS is running a mission (increasing in cockpit and seemingly depending on scenery in view), returning to normal rates in menus and mission editor window.

It usually has almost no effect on performance, but can degrade SSD lifetime if left as is for every flying session. Some time ago people recommended me clearing shader files (standard FXO and Metashaders2 in Saved Games folder, and from Mods/Terrains/[map name]/MIsc/Shadercache and Metacache) and running repair afterwards. This procedure used to help, eliminating the issue for seemingly random amount of time (from months to a couple of game launches), but recently (maybe from the last update) the issue has been occurring almost every time I launch a mission or enter a server, and clearing shaders + repairing doesn't help most of the time.

I've tried client repair, full reinstall with registry clearing, disabling all addons (I have SRS and Tacview, disabling and uninstalling those does not affect the issue), and clearing shaders multiple times, with no effect, or sometimes, after PC restart, for one game session. I have no mods, and currently no custom liveries or kneeboard pages and such. RAM is 32 GB, no pagefile is present on this SSD.

Below is my DCS Log from today attempts - none of them (3 or so attempts) were without the write rate issue.

dcs.log

[Aernov]

Here's the name of the file that it seems to be rewriting constantly:

Similarly named files in that directory have a size of 1 kb, some of them have .txt file with the same name and "TXT" written in it )

Edited April 20, 2022 by Aernov

[Flappie]

You can use Windows Resource Monitor to see which files are being written. Go to the "Disk" tab, select "DCS.exe", play, wait for disk activity, then come back to Resource Monitor.

[Aernov]

This issue have disappeared completely since the update that was released after I made this post. Also, I have found the file, see post above yours.

[Aernov]

Arise, topic! The issue returned with last update or with one of hotfixes...