Upgrading Hardware - Any Benefit to Clean Install of DCS?

[Maddaawg]

So, I'm upgrading from an I9-10900k to an AMD 9800x3D.  My DCS install is pretty old, this will be the 3rd reinstall of Windows with the same installation of DCS. Is there any benefit to a clean install of DCS? And if so, can I keep my modules backed up, so I don't have to download for 3 weeks. My priority is VR and possibly upgrading my Q3 soon too.

[pete_auau]

if it were me i would be starting  from scratch least you know you have a clean install  and wont  be  taking or porting  any issues with the previous install, dont think it would  take 3 weeks to install, i did it the other week took around one afternoon

Edited April 13 by pete_auau

[niru27]

Just run a slow repair on DCS, it will check all game files and redownload corrupt/missing files. This is the same as deleting + reinstalling DCS, except doesn't unnecessarily redownload everything.

What makes a bigger difference is starting with a new Saved Games folder. Don't copy the old folder to the new PC. Start fresh.
For keybinds you can use my script to automatically restore them on new PC: 

 

[Mr_sukebe]

On 4/13/2025 at 8:10 AM, niru27 said:

Just run a slow repair on DCS, it will check all game files and redownload corrupt/missing files. This is the same as deleting + reinstalling DCS, except doesn't unnecessarily redownload everything.

What makes a bigger difference is starting with a new Saved Games folder. Don't copy the old folder to the new PC. Start fresh.
For keybinds you can use my script to automatically restore them on new PC: 

 

 

Will they be the same files?  Yes

Will it perform the same?  Not necessarily

 

As I understand it, a clean new install will nicely lay down files into logical groupings, meaning that sequential reads and similar are really quick.

As time goes on, and files are replaced with patches and similar, Windows will free up space from the "old" files, and then dump the new files onto the drive.  Windows might well place that data in a different area of the drive, meaning that a sequential data read might go 1, 2, 3, oh hang on 4 has been replaced, let me go find it, then back to continue 5, 6.

With SSDs, that delay should be massively less than with say a HDD, but it'll still exist.

 

 

[niru27]

8 minutes ago, Mr_sukebe said:

With SSDs, that delay should be massively less than with say a HDD, but it'll still exist.

Your logic only applies to HDD. With SSD the data is never physically sequential since the controller has to do wear leveling, so it automatically moves the data to different parts of the flash memory. With HDD the data stays exactly where it was first saved, so the game files don't get "spread around"

Further, the seek time for all sectors on a SSD is almost equal since there's no delay from a head having to physically move to the right place to read data, so it doesn't matter whether data is sequential or not. More importantly a human can't tell the difference between sequential and non sequential data reads.

[Mr_sukebe]

26 minutes ago, niru27 said:

Your logic only applies to HDD. With SSD the data is never physically sequential since the controller has to do wear leveling, so it automatically moves the data to different parts of the flash memory. With HDD the data stays exactly where it was first saved, so the game files don't get "spread around"

Further, the seek time for all sectors on a SSD is almost equal since there's no delay from a head having to physically move to the right place to read data, so it doesn't matter whether data is sequential or not. More importantly a human can't tell the difference between sequential and non sequential data reads.

 

Thanks, didn't know that.  

[Hiob]

On 4/13/2025 at 7:58 AM, Maddaawg said:

So, I'm upgrading from an I9-10900k to an AMD 9800x3D.  My DCS install is pretty old, this will be the 3rd reinstall of Windows with the same installation of DCS. Is there any benefit to a clean install of DCS? And if so, can I keep my modules backed up, so I don't have to download for 3 weeks. My priority is VR and possibly upgrading my Q3 soon too.

Short answer: No. The basic install is checked with every update anyway (and ou can always do a repair that would functionally equal a complete fresh install).
Only exception from that is the savegames folder that contains all the configuration and setup that MAY be affected by a hardware change. 
But I would only touch that if any problems become apparent. (If necessary, just rename it to _old and let DCS build a new one)

[Maddaawg]

Thanks for the replies, I moved this week and everything is still in boxes and my new CPU, MB, RAM, and thermal paste are on my desk.

I'll keep the install and do a repair.