Patch Notes discussion December 2023

[giullep]

the calm before the storm?? what do you think.. I think that the next patch which I think will arrive soon will contain a lot of new features..

certainly many things that we have seen, let's wait for or have been anticipated could be included in the new update.. what do you think?

[razo+r]

I think you think too much. It will arrive when it's time and it will include whatever it will include. 

[BIGNEWY]

Threads merged. 

We are planning a patch in February, once we have the date confirmed by QA I will let everyone know as usual by updating the forum patch status post. 

thank you  

[Schlingel mit Kringel]

[Zimmerdylan]

  Not that this matters to me but.......Is ED doing away with Beta or did I misunderstand that post on the patch thread? I stopped using Beta years ago as I never really did any testing or report anything. It always seemed to me that they had plenty of people giving feedback so I never bothered with it. I am just curious. 

"For the past several years, we have released DCS in two forms: the Open Beta, which includes the most recent changes to allow broad testing and the Stable version which is based on the most recent Open Beta and has no known crashes, thus the term Stable. In 2024, we will be moving to unified DCS updates.

This change has been a common customer request and will streamline our release process. We believe that it will also help avoid version confusion for both single-player missions and multiplayer servers. Starting with our first update of the year in February, we will also be making the same changes to the DCS Steam Edition. Please stay tuned for more details."

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

4 minutes ago, Zimmerdylan said:

did I misunderstand that post on the patch thread?

No you didn't  There will no longer be Open Beta nor Stable. Instead, there will just be DCS (to us end users anyway - ED still has their internal test and development builds).

[scommander2]

4 hours ago, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

ED still has their internal test and development builds)

It is more like the commercial product delivery   

[Zebra1-1]

On 2/1/2024 at 2:22 AM, giullep said:

the calm before the storm?? what do you think.. I think that the next patch which I think will arrive soon will contain a lot of new features..

certainly many things that we have seen, let's wait for or have been anticipated could be included in the new update.. what do you think?

Well considering that the next patch will be merging the Open Beta and Stable releases, it could very well be a major bug fix release. I wouldn't expect too much in terms of new features.

That said, I am very much hoping that the MT version will include the Vulkan API.  

[waterman]

The wheels and valve gear on the German Steam Locomotive DRG_Class_86 rotate and animate perfectly in the open beta version.

However they do not move at all in open beta MT version.

Just looks like a wooden santa sleigh that kids push along the carpet.

Hope the merging is not a downgrade that forces users to use the broken open beta MT locomotive.

 

Edited February 3 by waterman

[Hammer3246]

I want the F4 in the next release!

[Lange_666]

Just wondering if the single DCS releases (future OB and stable unified versions) will be mandatory updates. Other sims are all mandatory these days.

Edited February 3 by Lange_666

[schurem]

They will be if you play multiplayer. Otherwise, why would they be?

[Lange_666]

Because everybody will be reporting about the same version instead of possible multiple other older versions hanging around which could cause questions about things that are already solved. The "other sims" don't have the option to skip a version, multiplayer or not, so either you are at the latest version or you don't play.
It keeps things tidy. The only drawback is that if there is a major bug introduced, there is no way to revert.

Edited February 3 by Lange_666

[waterman]

20 hours ago, Raven (Elysian Angel) said:

No you didn't  There will no longer be Open Beta nor Stable. Instead, there will just be DCS (to us end users anyway - ED still has their internal test and development builds).

So what about the MT option that has issues is that going to be locked in to the new DCS i can see a lot of confusion happening already ?

[Exorcet]

Mandatory updates would be absolutely terrible.

[HiJack]

23 minutes ago, Exorcet said:

Mandatory updates would be absolutely terrible.

It is easy to roll back to the previous version. That must be what ED have decided on. Why keep two products when you basically can do the same by a simple rollback.

[Exorcet]

18 minutes ago, HiJack said:

It is easy to roll back to the previous version. That must be what ED have decided on. Why keep two products when you basically can do the same by a simple rollback.

It's easier to just have two installs. I've never had to rollback because I have two copies of DCS, and I'll keep it that way as long as it's possible to do so. Isn't this separate from mandatory updates anyway? If the updates are forced, you're not getting a rollback.

I've used Windows enough to know that forced updates do no good.

[Art-J]

Unless they decide to dump their current practice of keeping a few older builds on their servers for a while, one should still be able to roll back as usual with relevant dcs_updater command. They haven't suggested otherwise (so far at least), and neither did they say anything about forced updates of the unified version, so let's wait and see before predicting doom and gloom.

[MacEwan]

What does the unified version mean for the MT executable. Will we have a MT and non-MT executable? Or will this all be pushed to a single MT executable?

[Hiob]

People really WANT to worry….  Afaik, it wasn’t said a single word about mandatory updates. So why panic in advance? 

The question of MT/ST is slightly different. ED already emphasized a lot of times that ST is a dead horse and will be removed eventually. This happening in time with such a major update makes kind of sense - but nobody said so either, yet.

Edited February 4 by Hiob

[waterman]

1-    I Play on Steam and i have to update anyway when an update comes out or i cannot play.

2-    I do not want to worry but i would like the wheels on the steam locomotives and valve gear to work normally but they dont in the MT version..

3-    I thought ST "the dead horse" was the proven stable reliable version to use if you do not want problems and test and trouble shoot  problems.

4-   I am in a very very very very small group who like the Steam Locomotive in DCS and i have built several Locomotives that work in DCS along with wagons and coaches for the British side of Normandy 2 .

5-   Just my last push before -  I Look forward to the next update that may put my Worries to rest.

       My DCS Railway Creations may become as useful as chocolate Teapots in the 45 degree C Australian Sun.

       Are well Dont Worry Be Happy !

       

 

Edited February 4 by waterman

[rob10]

5 hours ago, waterman said:

3-    I thought ST "the dead horse" was the proven stable reliable version to use if you do not want problems and test and trouble shoot  problems.

Not really.  They kept an ST version going while they work through issues that came up specific to MT -- it's a massive overall change in the program, not a little tweak (and there are still some MT issues, interestingly mostly with newest hardware, but I dare say for the majority it works well), but for DCS to move forward it needs to be MT.  There are things they just can't do programatically with ST vs MT, and also MT is likely needed to at least maintain performance as they are constantly increasing the overhead in the game (read adding new stuff/improving DCS).  So as they are (increasingly) indicating, ST has a short term end of life.

My *guess* is that their plan last year was probably it would be gone by this month or next, but I think they had more challenge to squash the last big issues with high end systems than they planned on, so I'd bet ST isn't gone in Feb.

Edited February 4 by rob10

[waterman]

Thanks rob10

  The MT version works very well for me apart from the steam locomotive animation issues.

  ED did fix the trains shuddering around issue a while back thanks .

  I do have old hardware and no VR .

  For me It just needs the Steam Locomotive wheels and valve gear animation to be activated in the NEW updated DCS version same as it is in the Beta and ST.

  Why you may ask ?

  So that anyone crazy enough like me to attempt these complex locomotive animation Mods can add enjoyment and emersion to the Simulator.

  OK for now i will shut up and go back inside one of my secret Krupp K5 Leopold tunnels and see what the new DCS update does. 

   

[Zebra1-1]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:20 PM, MacEwan said:

What does the unified version mean for the MT executable. Will we have a MT and non-MT executable? Or will this all be pushed to a single MT executable?

My guess is there will be two separate download/install options. ST and MT. If you have both installed, you'll likely have two separate executables with distinct icons. At least that would seem like the most practical approach. Especially since ST is on life support at this stage. 

[rob10]

6 hours ago, Zebra1-1 said:

My guess is there will be two separate download/install options. ST and MT. If you have both installed, you'll likely have two separate executables with distinct icons. At least that would seem like the most practical approach. Especially since ST is on life support at this stage. 

Assuming they keep both ST and MT for at least a little while longer, I can't imagine that anything will change from current way it works.  There is a ST and MT BIN folders.  The default icon is now directed to the MT and if you want ST you have to launch it from the ST .exe (either directly or via an icon you create that's pointed at it).  The only "unification" is the fact that there will no longer be a "stable" version that's just the current OB version when it 1st goes to stable and by default is a previous OB version when the next OB's are released.  They are literally the same thing.  There are not 2 different forks or anything, Stable is literally (except when they were on same build) an older version of the OB build.

Edited February 6 by rob10