reported ST - mirrors in the cockpits are "muddy"

[TopoSolitario]

12 hours ago, Flappie said:

There seems to be two different issues:

1. (ST only) Mirrors render things black. I'm able to reproduce this bug and it's now reported.
2. Mirrors are hollow/empty or they render things grey.

I suspect issue 2 only happens with the Steam version. @TopoSolitario @Romandv Do you run DCS Steam version or the standalone?

I'm using the Steam version, MT, VR in Open XR (tryed Quest and Steam VR too and it happens no matter what VR system I use, the same for the dissppearing controllers). 

• In VR it doesn't work in standard and MT, both with the exact same bug in the mirrors.
• In Flat it works in MT only, and the bug is the same in standard version

That's what is happening for me.

The problem seems a little different from plane to plane, in AV8b for example you see a very blurry pale cockpit with no other detail, you don't see the pilot, the sky or the backtround. In most FC planes you see transparent mirrors with some sky rendered with no cockpit, ground or closer clouds (or something), except for the sabre where you get a grey background with the same abstract sky over it...

[Super-B]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:50 AM, BIGNEWY said:

please ensure you are using the multithreading version of DCS 

thank you 

Thanks, this fixed the problem

[SonicBoom1000]

I have the exact same problem with both simple EXE and the Multi Threading one. Same problem : black mirrors with some bubbles of color.

Edited July 16, 2024 by SonicBoom1000

[Flappie]

Thank you for your precise reporting.

I'm still unable to reproduce the issues in Steam (I have no paid modules there, so I only tried the TF-51 and Su-25T). I tried MT VR.

[schweini63]

On 7/15/2024 at 3:56 PM, schweini63 said:

I have the same problem. I am running the MT version. Start via the new launcher. The mirrors look as if they are heavily steamed up, as if completely fogged up. So completely unusable. I fly the F 14 from Heatblur.

Same Effekt in the AV8B NA Harrier!

[YoYo]

Its a bigger problem with the settings:

 

[jado_sword]

Hello everyone
Maybe my post is A) in the wrong place and B) the topic has been discussed before, but after searching the ED forum I didn't find anything in this direction.
In my case the mirrors in the cockpits are "muddy", but only since the last patch. Here is a photo from the Hornet:

null

Is this a known problem and can anyone help?

[Beirut]

17 minutes ago, jado_sword said:

Hello everyone
Maybe my post is A) in the wrong place and B) the topic has been discussed before, but after searching the ED forum I didn't find anything in this direction.
In my case the mirrors in the cockpits are "muddy", but only since the last patch. Here is a photo from the Hornet:

null

Is this a known problem and can anyone help?

 

I know there are issues now with the mirrors in several planes. And one of the bug testers asked me to send some data to get looked at. So they are dealing with it.

 

I'm sure it will get worked out.

[Beirut]

This is what I was getting intermittently in the Harrier. Seems a lot like what you're getting.

 

 

[jado_sword]

I know of someone who has the problem in the F-4. I also have it in the A10C II.

[Flappie]

User @Beirut helped me diagnose the MT bug: it seems to be caused by something located in the Saved Games/DCS... folder.

Can somebody else among affected MT users test the usual Saved Games/DCS folder swap? (only do so if you know what you are doing)

1. Browse to Saved Games.
2. Rename your DCS folder to "DCS.bak" (do NOT remove it, it contains your keybindings and other precious custom settings).
3. Run DCS, check mirrors.

If the result is satisfying, you can copy subfolders from DCS.bak to the new DCS folder, until you find the culprit.

 

[troye]

I also have the empty/ghostly mirrors bug, using Steam MT. Same on 2D screen and in VR. Varies by plane (A-10A ok, others bad)

I tried the fix - to rename DCS "Saved Folder". Bug remains

[Flappie]

1 hour ago, troye said:

I also have the empty/ghostly mirrors bug, using Steam MT. Same on 2D screen and in VR. Varies by plane (A-10A ok, others bad)

I tried the fix - to rename DCS "Saved Folder". Bug remains

Please attach your dcs.log file, from Saved Games/DCS.../Logs.

[troye]

On 7/20/2024 at 3:32 PM, Flappie said:

Please attach your dcs.log file, from Saved Games/DCS.../Logs.

Sure thing Flappie, see attached. Really hope you can help

dcs.log

[Flappie]

Thank you. You're using DCS ST, which explains that renaming DCS "Saved Games" folder did not help:

2024-07-22 07:32:17.931 INFO    APP (Main): Command line: C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\DCSWorld\bin\DCS.exe --force_OpenXR --restarted

Try DCS MT.

If, like many, you thought that you were using Steam MT version, read this thread:

 

[Raffi75]

Hi.

I have the same problem with mirrors regardless of which plane or helicopter I choose. Symptoms vary. Empty frames, frosted mirrors or fragments of a framed mirror.

I'm using the Steam 2D version, ST.

Can I force Steam to run DCS in MT? How do I do that?

[troye]

Oh wow, that is so strange Flappie. I literally have "MT Preview" ticked as the Selected Launch Option (see image attached). But clearly Steam ignores it, as per the thread you provided.

Anyway, I now have it sorted (starting form the drop-down menu instead of the desktop icon) and can see mirrors again.

Thanks Flappie!

 

Edited July 22, 2024 by troye

[Flappie]

@troye Ah, so it's the Steam DCS Desktop icons that are wrong, correct? Thanks for your feedback.

@Raffi75 See troye's post above.

[Raffi75]

Thank you gentlemen for your help. It helped me, the mirrors came back. I checked the operation on: Mi-24, Mi-8, MiG-21, F-14, A-4E and SK 60.

[corb]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:12 PM, Flappie said:

Ah, OK so my test is not representative. Thanks for the test.

Ah! Somehow Steam had reverted back to ST from MT since last update when Mirriors stopped working properly. Thanks for finding the sollution. I had black mirrors in both VR and Flat, but after reselecting MT in the drop down menu, mirrors are working again. 
On a side note, I noticed absolutley zero diffrence in performance aftering being in ST (instead of MT) for several days or weeks...
Got a i9 14900K, Nvidia 4090 and 96 GB DDR5. 

Edited July 24, 2024 by corb

[jado_sword]

Hello everyone, thanks for all the feedback, tips and tricks!

Unfortunately, I haven't been home since my post and haven't been able to test the suggested solutions.
I'll be home today and will go through the solutions and give feedback accordingly.

[jado_sword]

On 7/25/2024 at 7:19 AM, jado_sword said:

Hello everyone, thanks for all the feedback, tips and tricks!

Unfortunately, I haven't been home since my post and haven't been able to test the suggested solutions.
I'll be home today and will go through the solutions and give feedback accordingly.

Hi Guys
I've finally got around to analyzing and solving the problem!

1. the new SAVED GAMES order didn't work for me
2. deactivating the new luncher has already fixed the "MISC" customizations (other problem)
3. switching to "MT Preview" has finally fixed the problem with the mirrors.

Small side note:
In order to fix the "MT Preview" in the STEAM version also in the desktop icon, I had to put the following call in the desktop shortcut: steam://launch/223750/option1
Note the "launch" and "option1"... only "option1" did not work for me!

Thank you for all the wheeling and the final solution...
Many happy landings and see you out there in the sky! 

[LOW_Hitman]

Am 13.7.2024 um 10:32 schrieb Flappie:

Recent CPUs are very powerful, but their power is distributed among cores and threads. A lot of applications, among them games, are not multi-threaded, which means most of your CPU power is left unused by these apps/games.

ED introducted a mutli-threaded (MT) version of DCS in 2023, which puts recent CPUs to good use for better performance. The old, ST, version is still available.

To determine which version you're using, go to Saved Games/DCS.../Logs and open your dcs.log file (it may simply appear as "dcs" in Windows). Look for "DCS.exe".

Here's MT (bin-mt):

2024-07-12 22:25:14.083 INFO    APP (Main): Command line: "E:\DCS World\bin-mt\DCS.exe" --restarted

And here's ST (bin):

2024-07-13 08:31:33.318 INFO    APP (Main): Command line: "E:\DCS World\bin\DCS.exe" --restarted

 

@TopoSolitario Your issue is different. Are you running the Steam version or the standalone version?

Either way, try and repair the game files (standalone procedure, Steam procedure).

 

what's the sense of --restarted at the end?

[Flappie]

It seems to come from the launcher. I don't get this when I start without the launcher.

[EsPeKTr0]

Thanks for the advice. I had the same problem and it ended up being solved as you said here. Now I can see the mirrors again as before. Thank you Flappie for your advice and to everyone who commented to solve the problem. A big hug

Edited August 16, 2024 by EsPeKTr0