Future Big Updates / Releases Suggestion

[Dangerzone]

Dear ED & DCS Community Members, 

Firstly, to ED - thank you for all the work that you have put in for such a big update. Dynamic Spawn slots are something that many of us have been waiting on for quite some time, as well as the ability to change graphic settings without first loading in game. It's exciting to see these features getting implemented into DCS. I can only imagine how large of a job this would have been and how big this release truly was. 

The update however has unfortunately not been smooth for many of us, and has created game breaking issues with missions, not to mention the bugs that have not been picked up by the closed beta team. With such a big release I guess this is to be expected, however I do believe that there may be opportunity to reduce this for future large releases in a way that will be beneficial to all.

I would like to put a suggestions out there for both community feedback, and for ED to consider with the hope that we can look at having future big updates roll out more smoothly. 

Firstly, I would like to throw out for consideration the option for a different type of Open Beta testing. I am well aware (and appreciate) why the Open Beta version has been discontinued (in part I think I may have had a part to play in it with a previous suggestion ), and I am not suggesting that we have that return. However, it is possible that the current Closed Beta testing is not picking up on all the bugs, and many are slipping through - some with significant consequences to gameplay. I'm also aware that recruiting more people to the closed beta team to cover this is not a desired option.

So, as an alternative, for special situations such as large updates, I wonder if it would be worth announcing to the community a special custom open beta update for testing on the odd occasion when there are large releases like this. 

The way I envisage how this would have worked in this situation is this (I will use the last update as an example): It would be situation as normal, with the only exception being that last week, 2.9.6.57650 would not have been released on the release cycle. Instead, an announcement (maybe in a "Open Beta thread here?") saying "Open Beta Version 2.9.6.57650 is available for testing" could be announced. Those of us that wish to update to this version for testing could do so by using the custom dcs_update.exe update dcs_updater.exe update 2.9.6.57650.  

This differs from the 'old' way in the following:

1. General users would not have a prompt that a new update is available, thus the majority of DCS players would not even be aware of it's existence.
2. This would not be used for every release - it would only be used for large releases like this one, that have the potential for numerous breaking features.
3. It would give mission designers and community members time to test, and provide bug reports, as well as feedback for possible missing functionality.
4. It would give mission designers and server hosters the opportunity to identify undocumented changes that cause problems. (Such as changing FARPS from being unlimited by default to nothing by default - which is breaking a lot of scripting at the moment) 
5. It would give mission designers and server hosters prep-time to make changes to their server's missions in advance so that when the actual version is built there is far less downtime for servers after such big updates.
6. It would allow a larger pool of true Beta testers to test and identify bugs before it reaches a production release. 

Once the bugs are ironed out, another Open Beta release could be issued, and if that went smoothly, that build could be then added to the official release cycle where normal DCS users would then get a prompt to update. This would bypass the current buggy build.

Given that this would be a custom command to execute, and it wouldn't be a common thing, I believe it would avoid the previous trap of the community defaulting to Open Beta as their default for general gameplay, servers, etc thus avoiding the risk of any Open Beta becoming the 'main game' and allowing for true Open Beta testing. And for the few community members who would use it as their 'play game' - there would be no recourse for complaint that things aren't working because the only way to update is to obtain the build information from a thread that specifically says it's for beta testing only. 

I would imagine that the functionality to support this is already embedded in DCS now. We have the ability to update to custom builds, so if this build was released, but not updated into the "Current Version" variable on your website and update API - this may well be able to work without any programming changes necessary at all, just a slight change in procedure and a tick of approval from upper management. 

There may well be a better way to handle this than I have suggested, so I welcome constructive criticism on my suggestion, however I do believe that something needs to change because dealing with constant breaking bugs on releases is not good for any of us, ED included. 

I would also welcome the opportunity to be able to provide feedback and requests prior to an actual release. Besides the bugs, there are a few features desperately missing with the current version (such as the ability to set a FARP to have unlimited resource through script) that if we had the opportunity to give this feedback I envisage the release of this new feature would have been smoother and more welcomed by all. 

Thanks for your consideration

DZ

Edited July 15, 2024 by Dangerzone

[BIGNEWY]

Dear DZ,

Thank you for your feedback. Due to popular demand, we have discontinued the open beta. This decision has successfully brought the MP community together and has provided us with more time to thoroughly test internal builds before they go public.

DCS is a vast and ever-growing platform with numerous aspects to test between patches. Our QA team and volunteer testers excel at identifying many issues before a patch is released. However, despite their best efforts, some issues may still go unnoticed. Public feedback and reports are invaluable in helping us identify and resolve these problems. While we may never be completely bug-free, we strive to catch as many critical issues as possible.

This recent patch was particularly significant for us, marking one of the busiest periods I can recall in over a decade. Consequently, the potential for problems was substantial. We have already begun working on fixes, and we will inform you of the next patch date as soon as it is determined.

Best regards,

Bignewy