DCS World 2.5 Open Beta - Now Available!

Stable release is not available yet. Only the Open Beta. You'll find the installer in the downoads section of ED site, just where you got the installer of OpenAlpha previously.

 

If you decide to install Open Beta anyway, in theory the 2.5 installer should copy files from your existing 2.2 game folder. Thus, with the new Caucasus map itself being almost 15GB in size, plus a couple of gigs for updated core files, you should probably fit inside 15-20 bracket.

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Thanks also Art-J--I did not initially see your reply. Nice to see this version Of DCS finally coming to fruition. I first started using ED software with Lomac Gold I think it was called about 10 years ago. Tried Lock-On Platinum, but could not get it to run on my machine--menus/options were missing in the campaign editor--pretty odd. I got out of flight sims after that for a while, but am now back into it.I also use FSX. My setup includes a Hotass Cougar which still works well, and TrackIR 5. I will likely be upgrading my GTX 580x2 sli cards soon, but they are running DCS 2.2 open alpha at reasonable FPS with medium in-game 'system' settings.

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JM1--thanks very much for your reply.Good news that I will only have to download around 15 GB instead of 75 or more which I am assuming will be the approximate size of the new install (with both NTTR, and Caucasus). Thanks also for the link. I had things arranged to do the download this weekend coming up. No big deal to change that, but if I were to install the 2.5 Open Beta would the final stable version then be a smaller download as a result, or still around 15 GB? After installing the 2.2 open alpha two weeks ago, when I first ran it I saw the news update, and it said something about DCS 2.2 files would be removed/replaced during updating to 2.5, so that is why I was inquiring. I just ran DCS, and also read the info at that link, and no longer see any reference to removing the 2.2 files. Do you have any approximate idea how long before the release of DCS 2.5 stable version? Besides having to transport my comp twice, would there be there any downside to installing the 2.5 Beta at this point i.e. it won't complicate the install process of 2.5 stable in any way? I guess I'm getting a bit impatient to experience the new Caucasus map. Depending on the time frame re the release of 2.5 stable I would maybe try the Beta version--how is it running for you?

If you install 2.5 OB I would expect that the download required for 2.5 stable would be reduced, although I couldn't even guess by how much.

I don't know how long it will be before stable releases, the latest I'm aware of was this post where Wags declined to give an ETA, so it might be a little while.

Aside from what you have to do to access two downloads instead of one I can't think of anything that would wind up being worse when you install stable if you have OB on your machine, provided you have space for two copies on your hard drive - on that note my OB is just under 90 GB with Nevada and my modules. I am hopeful that I won't need to download more than a couple of GB more to install stable, but that hope isn't based on anything lol. Still, might be worth just going far enough with the upgrade to see how large the download will be in case it's a small enough amount that you can manage it with your mobile data, if not you should be able to cancel it and start it again at your friend's house.

OB is running nicely for me, I think it is a big step forward from 1.5, I didn't use 2.2 OA much but I think 2.5 OB is better than that too. However, there is the memory leak that Wags sited as the biggest issue ED wants to resolve before releasing stable, and I'm not sure how high you'll be able to run your settings until you swap your 580s out for something with more vram, but if they were dealing with 2.2 OA ok I'd expect they'll be alright for the meantime.

If you install 2.5 OB I would expect that the download required for 2.5 stable would be reduced, although I couldn't even guess by how much.

 

I don't know how long it will be before stable releases, the latest I'm aware of was this post where Wags declined to give an ETA, so it might be a little while.

 

Aside from what you have to do to access two downloads instead of one I can't think of anything that would wind up being worse when you install stable if you have OB on your machine, provided you have space for two copies on your hard drive - on that note my OB is just under 90 GB with Nevada and my modules. I am hopeful that I won't need to download more than a couple of GB more to install stable, but that hope isn't based on anything lol. Still, might be worth just going far enough with the upgrade to see how large the download will be in case it's a small enough amount that you can manage it with your mobile data, if not you should be able to cancel it and start it again at your friend's house.

 

OB is running nicely for me, I think it is a big step forward from 1.5, I didn't use 2.2 OA much but I think 2.5 OB is better than that too. However, there is the memory leak that Wags sited as the biggest issue ED wants to resolve before releasing stable, and I'm not sure how high you'll be able to run your settings until you swap your 580s out for something with more vram, but if they were dealing with 2.2 OA ok I'd expect they'll be alright for the meantime.

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Thanks again--I am tempted to get the OB 2.5 now as we are not sure how long the wait for a stable 2.5 will be. One part of your reply concerns me though, and that is re the drive space. Do you mean that if I go to OB 2.5 now, that afterwards when I get the final stable version there will be a new folder created, and 2.5 final/stable will be installed there, but also leaving the OB 2.5 install intact in its' own folder? Space is an issue on my HDD--I am running 3 WD 'Velociraptor' HDD drives of 279 GB each. I had to move things around a bit, and also delete a few things to make space for OA 2.5 on my E:/ drive where it is installed. Currently I have about 60 GB free space there which is enough for the move to OB 2.5, but not enough for two versions of DCS.

I do have a 1 Terabyte WD 'Black' HDD which I could resort to if necessary, but would prefer to stay with my current setup if possible. If you could tell me if the move from 2.5 OB to the final 2.5 stable version will result in two DCS folders (probably about 180 GB?), that would be helpful. I am assuming that if I move from current 2.2 OA to 2.5 OB this will not create two DCS folders--is that correct? Could you clarify all of that a bit further? Thanks for any further help.

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Thanks again--I am tempted to get the OB 2.5 now as we are not sure how long the wait for a stable 2.5 will be. One part of your reply concerns me though, and that is re the drive space. Do you mean that if I go to OB 2.5 now, that afterwards when I get the final stable version there will be a new folder created, and 2.5 final/stable will be installed there, but also leaving the OB 2.5 install intact in its' own folder? Space is an issue on my HDD--I am running 3 WD 'Velociraptor' HDD drives of 279 GB each. I had to move things around a bit, and also delete a few things to make space for OA 2.5 on my E:/ drive where it is installed. Currently I have about 60 GB free space there which is enough for the move to OB 2.5, but not enough for two versions of DCS.

 

I do have a 1 Terabyte WD 'Black' HDD which I could resort to if necessary, but would prefer to stay with my current setup if possible. If you could tell me if the move from 2.5 OB to the final 2.5 stable version will result in two DCS folders (probably about 180 GB?), that would be helpful. I am assuming that if I move from current 2.2 OA to 2.5 OB this will not create two DCS folders--is that correct? Could you clarify all of that a bit further? Thanks for any further help.

I think you are supposed to get the option of keeping or removing 2.2 OA when you install 2.5 stable.

If you would rather just have one version of DCS installed, when 2.5 release is available you can follow the options here to convert your 2.5 OpenBeta to 2.5 Release, and if it doesn't give you the option to remove 2.2 OB you can manually remove it once you have 2.5 stable.