Datalink in MP = Instant CTD

I recently purchased the F/A-18. When I try to turn the datalink on n multiplayer I get a freeze and CTD as soon as I hit the on button on the UFC.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I couldn't find any other threads...

Your system should certainly be able to handle it. Maybe try deleting fxo and metashaders2 from the Saved Games folder and running a cleanup and repair.

I ran a repair. Still the same.

I removed all mods, ran cleanup and repair. Still the same.

I uninstalled DCS completely. Reinstalled vanilla DCS with F/A-18 as the only module installed. Still instant CTD in multiplayer when activating datalink. Happens in at least two servers.

The datalink works absolutely fine in single player. This is only occurring in multiplayer.

Some log files attached. Will try to capture another to make sure it's there.

BM

dcs.log.txt

dcs.log.old.txt

Tried again after reinstalling all modules I have. Still getting same CTD in MP when using F/A-18 datalink.

I have upped my swap file to 16384 MB but no change to behaviour.

Attached new log file.

dcs-dl-crash.log.txt

Couple more log files after deleting fxo and metashaders directories and letting them rebuild.

And more confusion.

Crashes seem to be server specific. I was able to start datalink fine in one server but then when I went back into growling sidewinder the datalink crash happened again.

Attached are two more log files, one for the ok mp server, the other for the crash in the growling sidewinder server.

Note memory usage during these sessions got up to 17 GB with almost no paging pool, seemed to be all in the physical RAM.

dcs-dl-ok.log.txt

dcs-dl-not-ok.log.txt

Completely fresh DCS install, everything from saved games deleted and vanilla settings.

CPU and GPU are both stock settings.

I did notice that the crashes might be related to having a JF-17 in the server mission? Consistent ctd with datalink active when JF-17 are around.

Also, I seem to be able to connect to openbeta MP servers even though I am running the main client? Is that normal?

Okay, I installed the open beta version. I've done a quick couple of tests and I can connect to MP servers and use the F/A-18 datalink without an instacrash.

My theory is that the issue is related to some change that has been made with the latest patch and implemented updates in the open beta that are not in the stable release. Joining openbeta servers when using the stable release seems to provoke the issue.

Well my release version is still not working. I don't have the hard drive space to have to run the open beta version as well as the release version with all of my modules installed.

At the very least the F/A-18 datalink should not be causing ctd when you are using the release client.

And is it intentional to allow connection to open beta servers when running the release client?

And is it intentional to allow connection to open beta servers when running the release client?

Kind of. Basically they have something on the backend that states what servers your install is allowed to see and as a byproduct connect to. They don't change the value with every single patch. So it is possible to have several patches where the value is the same which is likely the case. Considering the difference between open beta and release right now is that open beta has the JF-17 and release doesn't, then I'd think the back end value should have changed.

I am also experiencing these crashes and never had them before the JF-17 came out. I patched everything (Windoze, DCS, Drivers) and got no change. I am running the Release version. I can play fine as long as there is no JF-17 present. I can't prove that is what is causing it, but it is consistent. I spawned about 8 times and turned on D/L without crashing, as long as I was on a mostly empty server. There is nothing logged in dcs.log when it exits to desktop.

PS: I have 64GB of RAM, so this is not an out of memory issue.

Ok I checked and the server that I was crashing on does have JF-17 (I assume that means it is running Open Beta) and I was able to connect to it with the Release client. So I think what Grimes says is the problem, there needs to be a change to what versions are allowed to play together.

Same issue here.

Update to open-beta will solve the problem:

update to open beta with current stable release:

DCS_updater.exe update @openbeta

Revert back to stable:

DCS_updater.exe update @release