Best way to install the Open Beta?

[SharpeXB]

What’s the best way to have both Stable and OB?

Just have two installs? If so does that overwrite your Saved Games folder? What if these installs are on different drives? 

Or use the Skatezilla Mod? Does that share the Saved Games?

[AlpineGTA]

I have two installs on the same drive. They each have their own separate Saved Games folders.

[SharpeXB]

3 minutes ago, AlpineGTA said:

I have two installs on the same drive. They each have their own separate Saved Games folders.

That make sense. Where would it put the OB folder? If I have Stable on my C drive and OB on the D drive?

[AlpineGTA]

3 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

That make sense. Where would it put the OB folder? If I have Stable on my C drive and OB on the D drive?

I'm not sure to be honest because I just have both on my C drive.

[SharpeXB]

46 minutes ago, AlpineGTA said:

I'm not sure to be honest because I just have both on my C drive.

It put them both on the User/C drive. My Stable is on C and the OB is on D

Edited September 10, 2023 by SharpeXB

[MAXsenna]

It put them both on the User/C drive. My Stable is on C and the OB is on D

Doesn't matter where you place them, as they're not going to run at the same time. If you want, both installations can share the log book.
If you look inside the OpenBeta installation root. You will find a dcs_variant.txt file. Inside it you will find openbeta, that file is what creates the DCS.openbeta folder in Saved Games. If you change openbeta to whatever, it will create a DCS.whatever folder in Saved Games.

Cheers!

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[SharpeXB]

6 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Doesn't matter where you place them, as they're not going to run at the same time. If you want, both installations can share the log book.
If you look inside the OpenBeta installation root. You will find a dcs_variant.txt file. Inside it you will find openbeta, that file is what creates the DCS.openbeta folder in Saved Games. If you change openbeta to whatever, it will create a DCS.whatever folder in Saved Games.

Cheers!

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That’s ok, I wouldn’t want them sharing that folder. I’m only using it for MP out of peer pressure from friends. 
 

Otherwise… rant coming…

 

WFT does everyone use OB to play online?! like as soon as I launch it I find stuff that doesn’t work. As if DCS isn’t difficult enough already

End of rant. 

[MAXsenna]

1 minute ago, SharpeXB said:

That’s ok, I wouldn’t want them sharing that folder. I’m only using it for MP out of peer pressure from friends. 
 
Otherwise… rant coming…
 
WFT does everyone use OB to play online?! like as soon as I launch it I find stuff that doesn’t work. As if DCS isn’t difficult enough already
End of rant. 

Newest "toys"?  

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Edited September 10, 2023 by MAXsenna

[SharpeXB]

Just now, MAXsenna said:

Newest "toys"?  

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I can wait… seriously what the point in having the latest stuff when it’s broken?

[Darcaem]

Well... It is new stuff


Enviado desde mi POCOPHONE F1 mediante Tapatalk

[IanC58]

On 9/10/2023 at 5:24 PM, SharpeXB said:

I can wait… seriously what the point in having the latest stuff when it’s broken?

Why do you think the majority is Interested in your rant in regards to what you think or your opinion?

Edited September 13, 2023 by IanC58

[SharpeXB]

27 minutes ago, IanC58 said:

Why do you think the majority is Interested in your rant in regards to what you think or your opinion?

Just my opinion, everybody is entitled to one. The exciting new feature I notice most in the current OB is that my zoom view doesn’t work.

[Slippa]

I had both stable and OB in my C drive. I think during installation it gives you some options to share folders? Like Max says about the logbook, I think I had both sharing inputs, liveries and all that. 

I can’t check it as I only have OB now to save space. I had two shortcuts, one for each and never used stable after a while so binned it. Why have both installed I thought. Fair enough if different people or servers you want to fly with require one or the other.

 

[SharpeXB]

12 minutes ago, Slippa said:

I think during installation it gives you some options to share folders?

I didn’t see an option like that. Having two Saved Games folders is fine with me. I would worry about one interfering with the other. 
 

Imagine having to explain this all to a new player

which is what I find myself doing here…

Like they won’t know what a Beta or Stable even is. I have a feeling that most players don’t understand the modules and game well enough to know what would be broken or what isn’t. They just want to play online. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by SharpeXB

[Slippa]

Well I didn’t know there were two versions of the same sim at first either. Took me a bit to get my head around why OB was available to anyone other than testers, it’s just the way they do it here. Seems to work.

Coming to DCS fresh, particularly if you haven’t been messing with computers for a while, you find a massive learning curve. The amount of different modules to learn alone. Cold startups gives plenty to go on straight out. You could open the Mission Editor and easily lose a couple of hours without even starting an engine.There’s a lot to get your head around.

I’m still learning , I’ve no idea what I’m being told half the time when all that BRA stuff kicks off. My radios and Nav skills are laughable if not non existent. 

loads of fun though.

[BIGNEWY]

On 9/10/2023 at 1:10 AM, SharpeXB said:

What’s the best way to have both Stable and OB?

Just have two installs? If so does that overwrite your Saved Games folder? What if these installs are on different drives? 

Or use the Skatezilla Mod? Does that share the Saved Games?

The open beta install by default has a dcs_variant.txt in its root, the first line of that txt document ( openbeta ) determines what saved games folder it will create and use.

[SharpeXB]

16 minutes ago, Slippa said:

Well I didn’t know there were two versions of the same sim at first either. Took me a bit to get my head around why OB was available to anyone other than testers, it’s just the way they do it here. Seems to work.

Coming to DCS fresh, particularly if you haven’t been messing with computers for a while, you find a massive learning curve. The amount of different modules to learn alone. Cold startups gives plenty to go on straight out. You could open the Mission Editor and easily lose a couple of hours without even starting an engine.There’s a lot to get your head around.

I’m still learning , I’ve no idea what I’m being told half the time when all that BRA stuff kicks off. My radios and Nav skills are laughable if not non existent. 

loads of fun though.

Right. In the rest of the gaming or software world that’s what “Beta” is. A test version. Here it’s the de facto release game. Which means it’s not really a Beta…. It’s just a buggy release version. This isn’t really a normal game though. But I can recall a time when it was possible to play MP and find servers with the Stable version. It’s just odd that every server uses this. Sure some people might want to but everyone? That’s really odd. 

[buceador]

41 minutes ago, BIGNEWY said:

The open beta install by default has a dcs_variant.txt in its root, the first line of that txt document ( openbeta ) determines what saved games folder it will create and use.

That file doesn't exist on my installations?

[MAXsenna]

That file doesn't exist on my installations?

It's created as default when you use the OpenBeta installer. If you initially installed Stable but converted it to OpenBeta, it will not be created.

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@Slippa
To share files and folders between versions and installations, you need to use symbolic links. A Windows feature.


Cheers!

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[Slippa]

17 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

It's created as default when you use the OpenBeta installer. If you initially installed Stable but converted it to OpenBeta, it will not be created.

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@Slippa
To share files and folders between versions and installations, you need to use symbolic links. A Windows feature.


Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Oh cheers, that’ll explain my confusion. As you know, that’s how I have it set up at the mo.

[QuiGon]

On 9/10/2023 at 6:22 PM, SharpeXB said:

WFT does everyone use OB to play online?! like as soon as I launch it I find stuff that doesn’t work. As if DCS isn’t difficult enough already

End of rant. 

Because most people want to use the new stuff as soon as it becomes available and not wait for several additional weeks (or sometimes even months) before it becomes available to the Stable. Also, OB has been running pretty well in recent years, so it's not really an issue at all.

Also, and this might be a surprise (well, not really), OB gets bug fixes SOONER than the Stable, so it's often the case that issues that are still in the Stable have already been fixed in the OB.

Edited September 14, 2023 by QuiGon

[SharpeXB]

48 minutes ago, QuiGon said:

Because most people want to use the new stuff as soon as it becomes available and not wait for several additional weeks (or sometimes even months) before it becomes available to the Stable. Also, OB has been running pretty well in recent years, so it's not really an issue at all.

So if everyone is using OB and it works so well, why is there a Stable Version? It really makes no sense having two versions, the OB isn’t actually a “test” version then it’s just a duplicate release. Besides OB can’t work that “well” since it takes months to fix everything in it. 
For myself I don’t have any problem waiting for content especially if it means dealing with more bugs. There’s plenty to keep me busy with DCS and in life.

Edited September 14, 2023 by SharpeXB

[Art-J]

Contrary to your yet another rant on the very same subject (samo old, same old in the next thread, broken record at this point), each OB release nowadays is polished enough and works good enough for most players - otherwise they would indeed not use it and stay with Stable instead.

Even "shiny new toys" factor would not be enough to draw people to OB if OB was THAT buggy. But the fact is - it just isn't. And a couple of extra bugs each OB patch always brings (noone denies that), is offset by more fixes of old bugs. That's why I stick to it at least. I pretty much don't buy new modules nowadays, but fixes and new core features are always welcomed. At the same time it's been years since I last encountered an OB bug which forced me to revert to previous version number or return to Stable (I recall it was inop airplane trimmers in one of 2.1-2.2 patch releases). If you're stumbling upon so many issues in current OB as you claim, well, either you're just extremely unlucky, or bent on exaggerating / noth telling the truth. I think I know which is more probable.

Why ED keep the Stable goin' then? I don't know, BN basically hints they want to keep it just in case. If such business model works for them for the time being, then it works for them. They won't change it because someone's grumpy about it.

Be happy that you've got enough SSD space to have both versions on your PC. I used to do that in old days as well until Stable slowly fell into disuse. Having that flexibily was good though. Keeping separate folders in Saved Games is also a good idea I'd say.

[DD_Fenrir]

49 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

So if everyone is using OB and it works so well, why is there a Stable Version? It really makes no sense having two versions, the OB isn’t actually a “test” version then it’s just a duplicate release. Besides OB can’t work that “well” since it takes months to fix everything in it. 
For myself I don’t have any problem waiting for content especially if it means dealing with more bugs. There’s plenty to keep me busy with DCS and in life.

 

 

At what point are you going to accept that this isn't your decision. It's EDs. They have decided that having a Stable Release version to revert to when a major game breaking bug slipped through has saved many of us from having no DCS to play. It's been a while, granted, but it at least shows ED have improved their Beta process. Plus they cannot possibly account for every hardware and software combination out there that can cause issues. This gives them- and us - a buffer.

This has been explained to you ad nauseum. The greater question is when are you going to realise your opinion is irrelevant and are actually going to listen to whats being said? 

[SharpeXB]

5 minutes ago, DD_Fenrir said:

At what point are you going to accept that this isn't your decision. It's EDs.

Sure. And the “problem” isn’t necessarily with ED, it’s the players I really can’t fathom the appeal of Beta games myself. 

Perhaps when the Dynamic Campaign can be run online it will be easier for more people to create interesting scenarios. Right now it seems the limited number of populated servers has to do with individual owners ability to create appealing missions on them.