Improved stability and dedicated server

I don't think it will ever happen.

I feel MP community is just a nuisance for ED.

They are talking about dedicated server for 10 years already. My life passed... literally.

Yeah, I agree with you guys on the stability and dedicated servers for DCS World. But also there is so much going on in DCS World it might take some time for stability to happen. I totally want to see DCS Dedicated servers soon....

Flight Simulators in general are not easy and take time. There is a lot of work needed with new things coming out for DCS World 2.5 that Developers have to adapt to there aircraft the can cause bugs and problems.

I am happy with the online to a point. But remember like other people told me DCS World will always be considered a Work in Progress with all the stuff being added each week which include new terrains, new aircraft, new aircraft features.

But like I said I totally agree with everyone on this but have to remain patient.

Just a stripped down front end on the server that can host all maps would help greatly. The simple front of a server is something that could be done anytime, no MP priority is the truth. We have heard promises of a dedicated server before also but then just taken of the chart again. I mean any changes towards a dedicated server would help.

Just a stripped down front end on the server that can host all maps would help greatly. The simple front of a server is something that could be done anytime, no MP priority is the truth. We have heard promises of a dedicated server before also but then just taken of the chart again. I mean any changes towards a dedicated server would help.

Sadly is think you are right, people been asking for Dedicated server since LOMAC

and still many years later pretty much zero progress

Do not get me wrong I hope that in one weeks time ED .. go SURPRISE

and give us a free dedicated server exe that will run all maps ....

but I will not hold my breath

Speaking for myself the problem with playing DCS online is that once you try it its very difficult to go back to single player missions and such. Sure campaigns are a nice bonus to learning a new aircraft but most modules released these days usually only get a campaign as a later paid DLC.

When it works, playing DCS online, regardless of which module is used is really, really great fun.

We know they are working on the graphic engine and core code still. I was always thinking it would come after all this is sorted out and the vulkan api implemented. It seems they are basically building a sort of dedicated server on our pc's now to run DCS better. Once this gets polished it's not far off having a dedicated server?

what is being refactored/rewritten does use multi-threading where possible.

 

atm the major parts which do it are:

resource loading and other I/O (logging, input, ffb ...), integrity checking, sound

 

w/o rewriting the engine, splitting simulation into a separate thread from the graphics will benefit it most - which will be, in fact, the mentioned client-server approach, just inside the app.

Speaking for myself the problem with playing DCS online is that once you try it its very difficult to go back to single player missions and such. Sure campaigns are a nice bonus to learning a new aircraft but most modules released these days usually only get a campaign as a later paid DLC.

 

When it works, playing DCS online, regardless of which module is used is really, really great fun.

This. lacking a dynamic campaign of sorts, MP is the only way to have variance and unpredictability, the game feels more alive. I find myself playing online even on the free flight or aerobatic servers, I'd rather be there with other people doing s*it around me, than offline.

However MP is very buggy, laggy and unstable and I lost count of the hours I literally wasted connecting, freezing, crashing, reconnecting etc. The fact that servers need to restart every couple of hours is already a pain in the neck, add to that the massive lag and CTDs, and you have a very frustrating experience.

+1 for MP stability and improvements, we really need it to fully enjoy the possibilities of DCS.

+1 for MP stability and dedicated server

Honestly I suspect that ED's dedicated servers will be to service their online multiplayer world (be it a dynamic online MMO campaign or otherwise)..

I think people hoping for ED to have dedicated servers to rent for things like Open Conflict, Blue Flag or otherwise will be disappointed.

Whenever ED mentioned dedicated server previously the idea was a binary that would run without the need for a graphics card etc.

This is a vital issue that deserves far more attention than it seems to be getting from ED. It's 2018, people want a stable multiplayer experience in DCS. Time to devote some serious resources to fixing this.

ED need to move out of the single player format, This generation is for Multi-player, Like Multi player campaigns etc, But with how stable dcs MP is in release and beta, Its going to be a long time yet before we get a nice stable MP.

ED need to move out of the single player format, This generation is for Multi-player, Like Multi player campaigns etc, But with how stable dcs MP is in release and beta, Its going to be a long time yet before we get a nice stable MP.

Most campaigns you buy from 3rd party are single player format, Unless you download the free ones (User made files) But yea i couldnt give a hoot about the F-18 just give us a nice MP experience, With out the stutters, Crashing, Load times and warping.

ED need to move out of the single player format

Not likely, since the vast majority of DCS players do SP only. Or that's what I've heard anyway.

Not likely, since the vast majority of DCS players do SP only. Or that's what I've heard anyway.

That's what they keep saying/people keep reiterating, but the real question is whether people play SP because they actually prefer it or because of the state of MP.

DCS doesn't have a huge influx of new players, and you have a far more stable core of enthusiastic players if they get to play what they truly want to play rather than settle for something less.

That's what they keep saying/people keep reiterating, but the real question is whether people play SP because they actually prefer it or because of the state of MP.

 

DCS doesn't have a huge influx of new players, and you have a far more stable core of enthusiastic players if they get to play what they truly want to play rather than settle for something less.

I know for a fact I've had dcs since 2010 I believe and I never did multiplayer until this year to be honest and that was thanks to the folks like acidic and others that run the hoggit discord/server. I never expected to be good for multiplayer either but felt comfy enough to join the hoggit server anytime I wanted and not feel completely retarted.

I agree, many people dont want to jump on to Multiplayer servers right out of the box because they dont know the aircraft enough, arent good enough at A2A, or just general intimidation of all that and more. It's easy to say that DCS MP issues are stopping people, but its not true, I spend time every day checking out peoples twitch streams or other such things, and they appear to be enjoying Multiplayer just fine.

My experience with hoggit is a little bit of both. We try to encourage multiplayer as a way to get acquainted with planes because having a responsive tutor is much easier to work with. Each week we have people that tell us its their first time in MP (or DCS in general!) and that they're having a good time and want to play more.

So while I do think that there's a fair amount of people doing SP only because they 'arent good enough' and worry about not impeding or getting in the way of more serious people, that's a problem that's constantly being solved by hoggit and other welcoming communities in DCS. It won't be a problem forever, and as DCS grows and gets more content creators it'll get easier to become comfortable with things.

I do know a lot of people that are cautious about joining MP stuff but we encourage them to do so. I have also seen a lot (way more than I should, tbh) that just can't play 2.5 anymore. I understand that as engines get improvements that hardware requirements shift, but even matching the recommended settings and more people still have trouble staying in servers for any reasonable amount of time.

So while it's easy to say that MP issues are stopping people, it's just as easy for you to say it's not true. But I've seen it first hand with the people that join our discord and ask for help running MP, and I'm imagining all the people that don't get that far because they can't find the help they need, or are too worried about being branded a noob to ask.

and I'm imagining all the people that don't get that far because they can't find the help they need, or are too worried about being branded a noob to ask.

Or it takes them 5-10 minutes to get past the loading screen.

Good community support is very important, and I think Hoggit has come a long long way in this for sure, DCS is very daunting to get into, not just MP, having good support all around will make it even better. No one is saying MP is perfect either, but I dont want it to all be slung that way, complaining about warping when you have a 500 ping to a server, things like that, never seem to get mentioned.

Well, in our case we don't see problems related to the 500 ping so that's why we don't mention it. Warping occurs for everyone on the server, and the server itself has its ingame time skipping periods of 3-5 seconds after about 2 hours of running our mission.

I fully understand that our mission is pretty complicated, but only from a DCS mission side of things, it's logic is really fairly simple once you get down to it.

But maybe they (the 500 ping issues) don't get mentioned because ping related latency is easy to pinpoint and understand, but the important part is that it only affects the person with the high ping, instead of everyone on the server.

That's what they keep saying/people keep reiterating, but the real question is whether people play SP because they actually prefer it or because of the state of MP.

Thats is a good point you make, is it because they only want to play SP ?

or because MP is so badly bugged they give up on it ?