Loading missions - slow

I noticed that it takes a while to load missions, event instant missions. I haven't time it but it takes at least several minutes. On a few instant missions like for the Persian Gulf I had to end the program.

I have deleted DCS 2.5 and reloaded it. I still have the same issue. Should I upgrade my HD? I have a 240 GB SSD and it is pretty quick loading windows. Or do I need to upgrade from Win 7 to 10?

Thanks!

Putting DCS on SSD radically improves loading times . Prolly should get another at least 250 gb SSD . Make sure your pagefile is on SSD as well .

Putting DCS on SSD radically improves loading times . Prolly should get another at least 250 gb SSD . Make sure your pagefile is on SSD as well .

I partitioned the SSD as two drives. One with the OS and other with DCS. I have DCS on the second partition. Is that an issue? I also have a lot of extra space on the partition that DCS is on.

Would upgrading to Win 10 help?

Not good, do not do that with a 250GB drive, your Partitions run into less than 20% free too soon, better to keep it all under 1 logical volume in that case.

you can copy DCS to a safe place, delete the 2nd partition, extend C-drive and then move it back to the remaining partition ;)

Yeah , partitioning was a mistake-it generally is for home/gaming computers . My DCS installation , with 2 extra maps , L39 and Hornet modules and FC3 is about 105gb if memory serves . That already puts you on the margin with an equally partitioned 250gb drive . SSD's are dirt cheap right now , so i would get another for DCS , and extend the C partition on the other drive as Bitmaster suggested .

As to Win 7-Win 10 , it's largely a matter of personal preference and user-specific requirements . One could expound at length here , but a google search of Win7 vs Win10 might offer a more objective overview .

Thanks, Guys!

I was in error. The SSD is 500 GB. I partitioned it as two 250 GB partitions. Should I still combine partitions?

Blain

You're good . Tradeoff is you'll lose about 50 gig of effective storage space , vs not having to worry about any errors undoing the partition . Personally , I'd leave it alone and consider it a lesson learned .

....which brings us back to the original problem ; slow loading times . Try deleting Fxo and metashader files in the DCS saved games file . The first DCS load will be very slow while DCS rebuilds the files . Also try a cleanup and repair . Skatezilla's GUI makes this very easy .

You can download it here . https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=160053

:thumbup:

You can download it here . https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=160053

I ended up repartitioning the HD into one 500 GB drive. I reloaded DCS - the F-15 module and Maps for the Persian Gulf and Nevada. I now have 41 GB left. Besides the OS, the only large program I have on the drive is Falcon 4.0. I didn't know that DCS would take up that much room. I didn't load the A-10C module. Load times were much faster.

I am thinking that if I purchase the F-14 or Hornet module that I will need another 500 GB HD. If I put the new modules on the second drive will I see any performance issues?

Thanks!

Heck yes, 41GB is really low, below the 10% margin.

Try to clean out the drive with the onboard tools, that way you may get 30-50GB back if you still sit on some old win10 builds.

You should always have some 20% left, at least, so TRIM has a chance to work.

Best was to delete some stuff or get the new drive soon as you put some stress on your drive.

If you fill a pure gaming drive like "G" for games with games up to 80-90% is not as critical as for a drive that also hosts your OS and Home Folders but best is to have at least 20% free space left, regardless how big the drive is. Volume matters for the OS drive as when you install a new build you new some GB available or it wont happen. I try to have always 50% free on my C nvme drive. there are no games, no pics and no movies and no music, those large folders remain on my HDD but will move to SSDs soon. Anyway, my 250GB OS sysdrive is so small that I want 100+GB free so I can create 1-3 new VMs whenever I need to, work with them on nvme drive, then offload them to SSD or HDD for later use or storage.

Also, with an SSD, Sata or NVMe, it REALLY REALLY does not make sense to partition a drive into multiple partitions to gain speed. There is no more faster OUTER and slower INNER partition. All cells are equal speed. The only reason was to separate OS from DATA drive, but there 500GB is too small to divide as you have seen. Makes sense with a 2-4TB SSD, maybe.

You will always gain something if you put processes that will work concurrently on independent I/O channels. How much that is, depends on all those links in that chain. It will pay more for 3 virtual machines running on my rig than it does for DCS, but it is a "no barriers" config.

Having it all on 1 drive is OK as long as that 1 and only drive serves them all faster than they need that stuff. DCS is pretty arrogant when it comes to waiting for a cold beer that it ordered.

You better serve it fast or get in trouble :)

Kidding aside, it is a better configuration to splitt OS and APPS but with a good NVMe you really have to throw in 2-3 VMs to see a difference, DCS is not yet a load for a NVMe. I run my DCS on a striped Sata SSD set, 1GB/sec read, its not slower or faster than on 1 SSD or NVMe, not during the flight. It may load a misssion 0.05 sec faster, it actually should to some extend, but that I guess does not matter.

Since Win10 likes to install, update, index, whetever at freaking all times I like to have my games OFF that sysdrive. Let Win10 do its thing while I fly. It actually backs up with Acronis

at 00:30h sometimes when I fly, some short stutter for a few minutes the most and that was my backup, done. I wouldnt wanna do that on 1 drive.

I ended up repartitioning the HD into one 500 GB drive. I reloaded DCS - the F-15 module and Maps for the Persian Gulf and Nevada. I now have 41 GB left. Besides the OS, the only large program I have on the drive is Falcon 4.0. I didn't know that DCS would take up that much room. I didn't load the A-10C module. Load times were much faster.

 

I am thinking that if I purchase the F-14 or Hornet module that I will need another 500 GB HD. If I put the new modules on the second drive will I see any performance issues?

 

Thanks!

Huh. That seems pretty big. Although I don't know how much Falcon loads these days. If it's the original Falcon 4.0 or Allied 4.0, it can't be that much, could it?

You can always load up WinDirStat utility to see visually where the ginormous files/directories are hiding.

Just to illustrate.

EagleDynamics folder 136GB

A collection of planes and helicopters and all the maps

Saved games DCSworldOB 6.25GB

Is your download folder full of stuff it doesn't need to have?

The SSD is 500 GB. I partitioned it as two 250 GB partitions.

don’t do that.

two partitions are slower than one

use more space in overhead

require you to manage it

unless you need to physically separate the data, there is no advantage, and only downside