Updated DCS on my laptop, now wont load any missions

[markturner1960]

As title, I recently updated my DCS on my laptop, which I sometimes use for making missions etc on. I had to re start the update a few times due to intermittent internet connection but it eventually completed OK. However since then, although DCS starts, I cannot get any missions, or instant action etc to start, what happens is that it gets to terrain init 1 vti and just hangs.....

I have run a full repair twice but this has not helped......

Any suggestions please? 

[Flappie]

Hi, please attach your dcs.log file (from Saved Games/DCS.../Logs).

Edited March 31, 2024 by Flappie

[Rudel_chw]

3 hours ago, markturner1960 said:

Any suggestions please?

 

I see that you have a Quest pro .. do you have the Oculus software installed on the laptop?  If yes, try to uninstall the Oculus software and then retry DCS.

[markturner1960]

Thanks Rudel, but this is on my laptop, that I don’t use for flying DCS with, just for working on missions etc when away from my sim PC. So no oculus software.

Edited April 1, 2024 by markturner1960

[markturner1960]

Hi Flappie, sorry for the delay, I have enclosed the log file as requested

dcs.log

[Flappie]

Thank you. I compared our logs. The errors I see at the end of your log don't mean anything, for I have them too.

2024-04-03 13:16:23.247 INFO    METASHADER (10868): loaded [117/117]
2024-04-03 13:16:23.262 WARNING EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10868): failed to open "surfaceDetailsHints" section in terrain config
2024-04-03 13:16:23.264 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND (11828): texture 'lightPalette.tif' not found. Asked from ''

What's interesting is what comes next in my log:

2024-04-03 20:40:08.314 INFO    METASHADER (10584): loaded [117/117]
2024-04-03 20:40:08.323 WARNING EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): failed to open "surfaceDetailsHints" section in terrain config
2024-04-03 20:40:08.324 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND (15972): texture 'lightPalette.tif' not found. Asked from ''
2024-04-03 20:40:09.802 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 1.468 s  Precompile metashaders
2024-04-03 20:40:09.802 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.000008s Loaded reference file "caucasus" buffers: 0
2024-04-03 20:40:09.802 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.000 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:09.815 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.008782s Loaded reference file "airfieldslights" buffers: 7
2024-04-03 20:40:09.815 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.009 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:09.897 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.081905s Loaded reference file "blockbuildings" buffers: 9
2024-04-03 20:40:09.897 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.082 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:09.901 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.003019s Loaded reference file "blocktrees" buffers: 0
2024-04-03 20:40:09.901 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.003 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:09.992 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.090287s Loaded reference file "caucasusafbbuildings_new" buffers: 30
2024-04-03 20:40:09.992 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.090 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:10.004 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): 0.011356s Loaded reference file "caucasusbridges" buffers: 11
2024-04-03 20:40:10.004 INFO    EDCORE (10584): 0.011 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-04-03 20:40:10.016 ERROR   EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): metashaders/terrain/varyhouselight.fx|metashaders/transformmodifiers/transform_instanser.meta.hlsl|CAUCASUS_NOISE=;COLOR_VTI=;DIRECTX11=true;GENERATE_NORMALS=;HACK_ASSETS_NORMALS=;LIGHT_TEXTURE=;NODEFINITIONS=;NOISE_OP=PhotoshopOverlay;OCCLUSION_TEXTURE=;PBR_TEXTURES=;SURFACE5=;USE_CAUCASUS_BLEND=;USE_DCS_DEFERRED=1;USE_TERRAIN_PALETTE=;VARYHOUSELOD_SELFILLUM_FLIR=|: geometry->getStructured(P,occlusionTexCoord,selfillumTexCoord) failed
2024-04-03 20:40:10.038 WARNING LOG (16000): 2 duplicate message(s) skipped.
2024-04-03 20:40:10.038 ERROR   EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (10584): metashaders/terrain/varyhouselight.fx|metashaders/transformmodifiers/transform_simple.meta.hlsl|CAUCASUS_NOISE=;COLOR_VTI=;DIRECTX11=true;GENERATE_NORMALS=;HACK_ASSETS_NORMALS=;LIGHT_TEXTURE=;NODEFINITIONS=;NOISE_OP=PhotoshopOverlay;OCCLUSION_TEXTURE=;PBR_TEXTURES=;SURFACE5=;USE_CAUCASUS_BLEND=;USE_DCS_DEFERRED=1;USE_TERRAIN_PALETTE=;VARYHOUSELOD_SELFILLUM_FLIR=|: geometry->getStructured(P,occlusionTexCoord,selfillumTexCoord) failed
2024-04-03 20:40:10.044 WARNING LOG (16000): 2 duplicate message(s) skipped.

 

It looks like your PC is unable to precompile DCS metashaders.

I see your PC has a GTX 850M GPU with only 2 GB of VRAM, when DCS minimum requirement is 6 GB of VRAM, but I'm not sure whether it is the problem here.

Two things you can try one by one:

1. Ensure your drive has enough room, then set a manual size for your pagefile (init: 16384, max : 16384 should be enough).
2. Purge your "fxo" and "metashaders2" folders.

Edited April 3, 2024 by Flappie

[rob10]

And 16 GB RAM with 4ish GB pagefile is going to be pretty marginal even for editing.  With that low physical memory I'd definitely crank up the pagefile.

[markturner1960]

Hi, yes, its an old laptop, that I only use for mission making on, but its always been OK up until now? Will try the page file thing, I just increased RAM on it from 8GB to 16GB, so hopefully that helps as well......

 

[markturner1960]

OK< so I have done as suggested but it still hangs at Terrain init: 1 vti, as before. This is strange, as like I say, I have been using it to make missions on for the last 18 months with no issues, it has always coped in the past. 

I guess I am fooked then! 

[Flappie]

Two ideas have crossed my mind. Try this:

1. Browse to %TEMP% (C:\Users\your-login\AppData\Local\Temp) the delete the folder called "DCS.openbeta" (it contains unzipped missions).
2. Browse to "Saved Games\DCS.openbeta" and rename your "Scrips" folder to "Scripts.bak".

[markturner1960]

Sadly, still the same issue....but thanks! I guess something in a recent update has changed and it will no longer play ball on this machine. Very irritating as its much better working on a laptop at a desk for mission building than sat in my simpit

Edited April 6, 2024 by markturner1960

[markturner1960]

I tried opening caucusus new mission in the ME and the log file shows a different error, see enclosed......Opening syria still shows the same log error as before.......just wondered why they were different?

dcs.log

[Flappie]

What do you mean by "different"? I see the same error message. Only the numbers change.

2024-05-17 07:20:19.562 INFO    METASHADER (6696): loaded [117/117]
2024-05-17 07:20:19.575 WARNING EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (6696): failed to open "surfaceDetailsHints" section in terrain config
2024-05-17 07:20:19.577 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND (10868): texture 'lightPalette.tif' not found. Asked from ''

And I get this too when running a Caucasus mission:

2024-05-17 07:04:14.691 INFO    METASHADER (5164): loaded [117/117]
2024-05-17 07:04:14.701 WARNING EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): failed to open "surfaceDetailsHints" section in terrain config
2024-05-17 07:04:14.705 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND (6916): texture 'lightPalette.tif' not found. Asked from ''
2024-05-17 07:04:16.361 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 1.633 s  Precompile metashaders
2024-05-17 07:04:16.365 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.000008s Loaded reference file "caucasus" buffers: 0
2024-05-17 07:04:16.365 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.000 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-05-17 07:04:16.376 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.009677s Loaded reference file "airfieldslights" buffers: 7
2024-05-17 07:04:16.376 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.010 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-05-17 07:04:16.485 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.108977s Loaded reference file "blockbuildings" buffers: 9
2024-05-17 07:04:16.485 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.109 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-05-17 07:04:16.490 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.003810s Loaded reference file "blocktrees" buffers: 0
2024-05-17 07:04:16.490 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.004 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-05-17 07:04:16.609 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.118674s Loaded reference file "caucasusafbbuildings_new" buffers: 30
2024-05-17 07:04:16.609 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.119 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile
2024-05-17 07:04:16.624 INFO    EDTERRAINGRAPHICS41 (5164): 0.013473s Loaded reference file "caucasusbridges" buffers: 11
2024-05-17 07:04:16.624 INFO    EDCORE (5164): 0.013 s  landscape4::lReferenceFile

 

[markturner1960]

My bad, I was confusing your log and mine, my log stops at light pallette .tif not found .......what is this? Suggests it is a missing file, but presume it must be part of the shaders it cannot compile? 

On another note, I tried following a guide to roll back the version using cmd prompt but could not get it to work.....

[Flappie]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:53 AM, markturner1960 said:

My bad, I was confusing your log and mine, my log stops at light pallette .tif not found .......what is this? Suggests it is a missing file, but presume it must be part of the shaders it cannot compile?

It's an error message everyone has, and I've been seeing it in logs for years. This is clearly not the culprit. Watching at my log, it seems your PC cannot start precompiling shaders.

To roll back to another version, open a cmd console from your DCS "bin/" folder, then run this command:

DCS_Updater.exe update 2.9.4.53707