Patch notes discussion May 2023

[kerlcat]

58 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

I have edited the MT FAQ to remove the beta reference now it is in both, for now it will remain an optional preview version. 

hope you enjoy and have a great weekend 

Just tried it and love it. Did experince a few crashes upon 1st launch but somehow now it works. 

Will share a bit more details in seperate thread. Saw ~20% increase in fps & more essential improvement with stutter issue, now eliminated at all!

You too. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Edited May 5, 2023 by kerlcat

[Pyrocumulous]

On 5/3/2023 at 11:12 PM, BIGNEWY said:

Patch notes discussion May 2023 
 

Started May with a small fix patch 

DCS 2.8.4.39731 Open Beta

Appears that there is an error in the Changelog, it's showing both the "small fix patch" on May 4th and a giant one on May 5th, both numbered 2.8.4.39731. It appears that it's a Stable entry listed with Open Beta.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Pyrocumulous
correct typographical error

[BIGNEWY]

38 minutes ago, Pyrocumulous said:

Appears that there is an error in the Changelog, it's showing both the "small fix patch" on May 4th and a giant one on May 5th, both numbered 2.8.4.39731. It appears that it's a Stable entry listed with Open Beta.

 

it looks correct to me. 

we had the open beta update to DCS 2.8.4.39731 on the 4th

and then stable was patched on the 5th to match open beta DCS 2.8.4.39731 

[Pyrocumulous]

37 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

it looks correct to me.

I was under the impression that the Open Beta list was always before the Stable, but looking further down the list, I am incorrect.

[twistking]

21 hours ago, BIGNEWY said:

yes follow the FAQ and create a shortcut. 

MT is an optional preview currently while we continue to gather data and tweak. 

thank you

Just letting you know, that the stable version on STEAM does not have the MT launch option when starting through STEAM.
Starting from the bin-MT folder still works. Might be confusing for some, since the FAQ has the picture of the STEAM "play mt preview" launch prompt...

Edited May 6, 2023 by twistking

[twistking]

On 5/6/2023 at 2:46 PM, twistking said:

Just letting you know, that the stable version on STEAM does not have the MT launch option when starting through STEAM.
Starting from the bin-MT folder still works. Might be confusing for some, since the FAQ has the picture of the STEAM "play mt preview" launch prompt...

 

seems solved now!

[Splashtrick68]

Is MT on Open Beta by default or still separate shortcut we've been using?

[Rudel_chw]

29 minutes ago, Splashtrick68 said:

Is MT on Open Beta by default or still separate shortcut we've been using?

 

Still separate, on the \bin-mt\ folder.

[Splashtrick68]

Thank you. I saw the MT was on stable and thought maybe MT was by default, I've had good results so far, thank you Rudel! 

[falcon_120]

@BIGNEWY if i may put in here some positive criticism related to the PATCH STATUS thread, it does not make a lot of sense to leave the planned date unknown until the very same date of the patch, only for some hours later delay to the next day. 

What i mean is, i know that is wishful planning when things can go wrong, so if a patch was expected for today you could very well update that on Monday or past Friday, and if its delay all is fine.  Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of that thread as a public planning reference to check.

[BIGNEWY]

26 minutes ago, falcon_120 said:

@BIGNEWY if i may put in here some positive criticism related to the PATCH STATUS thread, it does not make a lot of sense to leave the planned date unknown until the very same date of the patch, only for some hours later delay to the next day. 

What i mean is, i know that is wishful planning when things can go wrong, so if a patch was expected for today you could very well update that on Monday or past Friday, and if its delay all is fine.  Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of that thread as a public planning reference to check.

I hear you, but I can only update the patch status post when we are ready to patch, and as you can see today things changed at the last minute during final checks. 

We need to be flexible and I hope you can be to, the complexity of DCS makes development very dynamic and plans can and do change. 

thank you. 

[ngreenaway]

10 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

I hear you, but I can only update the patch status post when we are ready to patch, and as you can see today things changed at the last minute during final checks. 

We need to be flexible and I hope you can be to, the complexity of DCS makes development very dynamic and plans can and do change. 

thank you. 

with the same intent as what Falcon said above, there seems a trend of patches shifting dates at last minute- and thats ok- life goes on, for most of us, without disruption in the face of delays-  *but* had you considered simply adding a day or two to the patch estimate? internally planning on the 17th, announcing the intent to patch for the 19th, and when it gets delivered on the 18th (after a last minute delay), people are happy you delivered a day early?

 

a psyop for sure, but it could be an effective one

[BIGNEWY]

Just now, ngreenaway said:

with the same intent as what Falcon said above, there seems a trend of patches shifting dates at last minute- and thats ok- life goes on, for most of us, without disruption in the face of delays-  *but* had you considered simply adding a day or two to the patch estimate? internally planning on the 17th, announcing the intent to patch for the 19th, and when it gets delivered on the 18th (after a last minute delay), people are happy you delivered a day early?

 

a psyop for sure, but it could be an effective one

We do not share our internal patch plans intentionally, the patch was announced this morning the 17th as we intended to patch. 

final checks showed a problem, we moved the patch to the 18th. 

I understand your feedback, but I can tell you if we gave you more warning about patches things would change even more, and your frustration would be greater. 

thank you

[Dragon1-1]

I'm more interested in whether it's a big one or another hotfix. Hotfixes are always nice, but big patches are sometimes worth waiting for with SP campaign missions and so on (or, conversely, a reason to do a mission that works fine right now, in case the patch doesn't breaks it).  

Edited May 17, 2023 by Dragon1-1

[falcon_120]

I hear you, but I can only update the patch status post when we are ready to patch, and as you can see today things changed at the last minute during final checks. 
We need to be flexible and I hope you can be to, the complexity of DCS makes development very dynamic and plans can and do change. 
thank you. 

I understand. Don't take it as a rant, just a suggestion to better handle customer expectations.


In fact maybe worth exploring giving a planned window a bit wider (eg. Next patch: "estimated week 15th-19th") but then putting this a bit earlier, not the same day it happens. This has one additional positive psychological effect, it generates the surprise factor of not knowing whether the patch will be Tuesday, Wednesday... which mean more healthy hype and more room for the devs when bugs appear.

Enviado desde mi ELE-L29 mediante Tapatalk

[BIGNEWY]

Just now, falcon_120 said:

I understand. Don't take it as a rant, just a suggestion to better handle customer expectations.


In fact maybe worth exploring giving a planned window a bit wider (eg. Next patch: "estimated week 15th-19th") but then putting this a bit earlier, not the same day it happens. This has one additional positive psychological effect, it generates the surprise factor of not knowing whether the patch will be Tuesday, Wednesday... which mean more healthy hype and more room for the devs when bugs appear.

Enviado desde mi ELE-L29 mediante Tapatalk
 

It is not always possible to please everyone or meet everyone's expectations,

but I appreciate the ideas.

thank you

[draconus]

Current system works fine - when they are sure about the update they give us the info. Week estimates or false dates - no, thanks.

[corbu1]

Great Patch with Apache and Huey involved

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Impressive! Thanks for your hard work!

Edited May 18, 2023 by Raven (Elysian Angel)
Typo

[cw4ogden]

Does anyone else's DCS Options - Special get reset every patch?  Is there a way to prevent this?  
It seems lately I have to recheck every plane's Special tab because it's reset to default.  

Most annoying is takeoff assistance defaulting back to 100, but it's annoying on a few levels.  

Thanks all,

[Minhal]

13 minutes ago, cw4ogden said:

Does anyone else's DCS Options - Special get reset every patch?  Is there a way to prevent this?  
It seems lately I have to recheck every plane's Special tab because it's reset to default.  

Most annoying is takeoff assistance defaulting back to 100, but it's annoying on a few levels.  

Thanks all,

Never happened to me. Do you use any mods or external tools? Maybe also check if your Windows Defender or 3rd party Anti Virus interferes.

[cw4ogden]

2 minutes ago, Minhal said:

Do you use any mods or external tools?

Thanks for the reply.

Why Yes!  Yes, I do!  

Sorry I just found it funny asking a DCS player if they use mods or tools.

Meaning, which third party, totally necessary to enjoy DCS piece of mod software could it be?  It would take some narrowing down, there's SRS, TACVIEW the brilliant A-4 Skyahwk mod etc being my point.  

Yes I have mods and tools of a varying nature, as do most here.  It's why I hate making any DCS bug report because you have to caveat it with 10 different things.  

Yes, this could be me for sure.  Just curious if it was affecting anyone else.
 

[hreich]

They added robby fuel tank...didn't saw it mentioned in patch notes! Yehaaaw!!

[Minhal]

19 minutes ago, cw4ogden said:

Thanks for the reply.

Why Yes!  Yes, I do!  

Sorry I just found it funny asking a DCS player if they use mods or tools.

Meaning, which third party, totally necessary to enjoy DCS piece of mod software could it be?  It would take some narrowing down, there's SRS, TACVIEW the brilliant A-4 Skyahwk mod etc being my point.  

Yes I have mods and tools of a varying nature, as do most here.  It's why I hate making any DCS bug report because you have to caveat it with 10 different things.  

Yes, this could be me for sure.  Just curious if it was affecting anyone else.
 

When DCS updates, it also checks all files for changes and replaces them by an original file. That is why i asked. Sounds a bit like your settings files might be altered by some external source in a way DCS updater does not like. So on every update, it replaces the settings file with an unchanged copy (which presents itself as a "reset to default"). Maybe it is the A-4 mod as the A-4 probably also injects its own sub-tab in the special tab. Could be any 3rd party tool that for some reason writes into the DCS settings file and corrupts it by doing so.

Removing all mods and 3rd party tools and then adding them one by one while checking for the bug will be the only way to see what causes this. This is just how things work in bug testing. As no one else seems to have this problem (never heard so far at least), it seems like it is not a vanilla DCS issue.

Edit: just to add: i also had Windows Defender block certain settings files (non-DCS) with anti-ransomware protection in mind. Had to whitelist the application that  tried to access the files. Hence i asked for anti-virus software. It might just misinterpret the update process as an unwanted file change and revert. Or block it and the updater interprets this as the file missing.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Minhal

[Rudel_chw]

34 minutes ago, cw4ogden said:

Does anyone else's DCS Options - Special get reset every patch?  Is there a way to prevent this?

 

It doesn't happen to me, just updated DCS and then went to check the Specials because of this thread ... my options were as I last left them. The DCS Updater does not touch your /Saved games/ files, where your options config is stored, so  your issue should not happen.

What does happen seldom, is when a developer changes the control bindings of his aircraft ... on those cases it might mess with your control assignments.

Can't say if User Mods or other tools could produce your issue, on my case I use a Mod Manager and use it to disable my Mods before I allow DCS to update itself, maybe that's the reasn why I don't have your same issue.