Which will turn into 2.5 stable

Which one of the downloads will turn into 2.5 stable or will all of the 3 downloads of dcs world turn into 2.5 stable.

You have 2.1 early access , 1.5 Open Beta and dcs 1.5.. If i keep the 2.1 early access will be a beta tester or will there be ways to opt out of the updates.

Really hard to explain

I assume 2.1 should be updated to 2.5

I thought Open Beta 1.5.7 would have all the Open Alpha 2.1 stuff integrated into it and that would be the final stable platform, its all very confusing at times and I'm lost.

I still have my DCS World 1.5 stuck at 1.5.4 because that worked really well for me, somewhere to go and play when I get bored with everything else, I keep my Open Beta clean for updates and use my 2.1 to try new stuff out in that new lighted environment using the NTTR and Normandy maps.

So, what will be the final platform ?

By some time ago, info by ED team, talk about the Beta and Alpha version not disappear with the 2.5 release version, only maintain as testing and new feature test. The "good" part has 2.5 and follow versions has unified with the same code, except ED build new features as Dx12, new upgrade map or other feature technology and a long etc with require specific testing versions. Only can take care and waiting news about them.

The stable release is 1.5 for now. When 2.5 will reach the stable release it will override 1.5.

Until then 2.1 is Alpha and 1.5 have a beta version too. Quite hard to explain but my first line alone should answer your question.

All I'm hoping for is that they make all the map files automatically transfer from your 2.1 install to your 2.5 install. I really don't want to have to download NTTR again.

All I'm hoping for is that they make all the map files automatically transfer from your 2.1 install to your 2.5 install. I really don't want to have to download NTTR again.

ED did a good job with the updater, which tries to copy as much as it can from parallel installs instead of downloading the same content all over again, so I guess the NTTR will be copied too.

Which one of the downloads will turn into 2.5 stable or will all of the 3 downloads of dcs world turn into 2.5 stable.

It would make a lot of sense if 1.5 turned into 2.5. After all, 1.5 is the one and only stable release currently available. It's the core of DCS basically.

ED did a good job with the updater, which tries to copy as much as it can from parallel installs instead of downloading the same content all over again, so I guess the NTTR will be copied too.

True. I guess it's likely we will see that happen.

I just wrote a explaination why this is not complicated or confusing at all, but what I wrote turned out to be somewhat complicated and confusing. So I dropped what I wrote and just keep it simple without greater explainations:

ED is currently upgrading the Black Sea map to 2.x standards. When the map is ready, the stable and beta branches will be updated to 2.x (probably 2.5).

Edit: If someone wants to try to understand what I wanted to explain, you can do so:

It's really not that hard. You just need to understand the difference between version and branch:

 

Version (e.g. 1.5 or 2.0 or 2.1 or 2.5) just marks different progression states of the software in development. Each version has certain changes or even new features compared to the previous version. Version 1.5 for example brought the new graphics engine (EDGE). Version 2.0 brought the new file structure that allows multiple maps. And so on...

 

Branch (Alpha, Beta, Stable) are the different development "paths". Ideally a certain version (e.g. 2.5) would go through all branches. It would first come to the alpha branch where it can be checked for bugs and problems in an very early state, after that it would come to the beta branch in an almost finished state where it can be checked for remaining issues. Finally it would come to the Stable branch (hopefully) where it can finally be played without any issues (hopefully).

 

That's exactly what ED is doing with the stable and the beta branch, but not with the alpha branch, which they are using a bit differently as a dedicated branch for all 2.x versions. The reason behind this is, that the Black Sea map in it's current state is not compatible with all 2.x versions, so ED decided instead of letting us wait for 2.x untill the Black Sea map is upgraded to release 2.x in the alpha branch (which has been created especially for this puprose), so people can already play it.

Once the Black Sea map has been upgraded to 2.x standards then they can update the stable and beta branches to 2.x (probably 2.5). I guess the alpha branch will get dropped at that point, because it is no longer needed then.

For us as the users this will mean the following:

- If you have the stable branch installed you won't have to do anything, because 2.5 will come as a normal update (1.5 -> 2.5).

- If you have the beta branch installed you won't have to do anything, because 2.5 will come as a normal update, but probably a bit earlier than for the stable branch (1.5 -> 2.5).

- If you habe the alpha branch installed, you won't have to do anything, because 2.5 will come as a normal update, but probably a bit earlier than stable and beta branch (2.x -> 2.5). The alpha branch might get dumped at this point so you would have to uninstall it and/or witch to one of the other branches.

Seems pretty easy to understand what QuiGon has stated. Bottom line - Whatever you are running, it will end up 2.5. I, myself, have always kept up with all three. When one is updated, usually a large portion is copied from one or more of the other two.

Thanks QuiGon for the detailed explanation and jimcarrel for the abstract.

:thumbup:

Whatever you are running, it will end up 2.5.

Crystal clear!

And I think it does answer perfectly to the OP question.

Thanks everyone. Just wanted to see what everyone things. I mean i was hoping that if i have the Open Alpha with Normandy and NTTR that i wouldn't have to uninstall the whole thing including modules and have to download another setup of DCS.

Got a new lightning fast inet connection for a couple of weeks now.Once 2.5 drops on whatever brnach and is stable enough, i will delete all the old versions and do a one time clean install. Thats vodoo, I know, but why the hell not. EDs file validator and repair tools work fine enough I reckon, so updating should provide the same result!

Thanks everyone. Just wanted to see what everyone things. I mean i was hoping that if i have the Open Alpha with Normandy and NTTR that i wouldn't have to uninstall the whole thing including modules and have to download another setup of DCS.

The branches are smart enough to download files locally from each other as needed to reduce the Internet transfer required. If the data is the same it should get a big chunk from another branch.

The updater should simply have the ability to reset the user configuration whenever there is an upgrade rather than an update. It would obviously backup it, rename it, Allowing you to recreate your old config by combining parts manually to speed things up, rather than using in-game gui to do it all from scratch.

It should also have messaging to let people know to NOT try to copy the configs in from previous version, and give some advice.

But everyone should have the configs on some external paper anyway. So every time there's a wider upgrade (which affects configs, shader caches) you can rebuilt it quickly if you don't want to mess manually with config files. It's just the nature of such software, it's demanding. People that assume copying over configs will just work are simply not realizing that DCS is not your normal video game. This is problematic in all other software to begin with as well, it shouldn't be much better here. But the thing is, this is NORMAL, it's just reality, there's nothing wrong with it.

There could be a "Reset Shader Cache" button in the options, that should definitely help some.