The issue then becomes which “air weapons” you want your air defense to engage and which you do not.
Example: SA-15 deployed to defend against a CM attack. A Tomahawk is low radar observable, flying at fairly low altitudes, subsonic. An SA-15 should have a good chance of engaging them. However, there is a SEAD strike that goes in just before the CMs get into the SA-15 MEZ; a couple HARMs. Typically the defense against a HARM is to turn off the radar and hope, and you could do that with triggers but that would start to get complicated. So we just want the SAM not to engage the HARM but to engage the Tomahawks.
MISSILE IN ZONE trigger can work this. Start with Engage Air Weapons off. Once the CMs hit a point a few klicks outside the MEZ (inside the user zone), trigger to Engage Air Weapons on. Hopefully the HARM have already struck and te SAM is dead. If not, it will probably taker out the HARM too…but hey, that’s what you get for a late TOT.
After the first update for 2.9 I fired it up to see if the freezez and stutters are gone, sadly still an issue for me. I’ve read on DCS forums that other peaople are also having this issue. I’ve recorded a clip from latest 2.9 and then went back to last 2.8 again and recorded another clip from that one. Here’s how it plays on my PC (more info in video description).
As you can see 2.9 is silky smooth even above Dubai, while 2.9 struggles even on open sea with SC around.
I am doing a little better. I spent a day flying over Paris using every iteration of settings, especially AA. I’ve finally settled on settings close to those @schurem posted way above. DLSS on and set to “quality”. SSS on. I also followed the suggestion of the video posted way above by patiently (meaning days) allowing the FXO and Metashaders folders rebuild after deleting them. 2.8 was still better for me. But I am happy enough with 2.9 to keep it. Also, since the update, DLSS ghosting is mostly gone.
Scratch that. Yeah, outside my one test area (Normandy over Paris) it’s not great.
Also also, I used the Core unpark app posted above. Maybe placebo but I sensed improvement.
It never occurred to me to try switching power plans for DCS. Next MP flight I do this week I’ll try that out. I’ve been sticking with balanced even while gaming.
For those of you wondering like I was, no, there is no way to make Windows automatically switch power plans when you start a given program or game. However, given that at high performance all of my cores just idle at 4.6GHz (i7-12700k) I won’t just leave it on that all the time given my PC is often on at least a couple of hours per day while I’m not gaming. Too much wasted electricity.
I did however find a little utility in the MS store called PowerPlanSwitcher (these folks knew how to name a program!) that puts an icon in the sys tray letting you right-click switch between plans without needing to drill down into Settings menus each time. You can also enable a Win-shft-L hot key if you prefer.
Your typical Windows hate rant, skip unless you consider yourself an IT nerd
I’ve been using Linux lately for non-DCS stuff. No lack of automation possibilities there!
If you have an AMD GPU, it’s also 5-10% faster than Windows in most modern (Windows) games. 30% in Cyberpunk! I’ve even seen reports of people doing DCS in VR on Linux. But not with WMR.
Haven’t done a lot of gaming with it yet, as the RX 7900 XT did not like VR DCS so I’m stuck with the RTX 3080.
But yeah, I don’t mind setting Windows to the “heater” setting permanently now.
And for the next gen setup, I’m hoping to get an AMD GPU and a Valve VR headset so I maybe don’t have to experience Windows 12. 11 was bad enough. When it refused to give me the encryption key unless I paid, it felt like getting ransomwared.
I’m not sure how to feel about this. I want a pig. But I want the lancer more. But i want to fly really low and fast and pop up attack things whilst in full camouflage.
The viggen might be the best aircraft in the game. Its definitely in my top 3.
In a Windows VM, it Should™ work. But what I read was just proton/wine on bare metal Linux.
Though Linux gaming has come a long way, it looks like DCS in VR will keep me coming back to Windows after I’ve moved everything else over.
I have them on hotkeys to go between low power, balanced or High performance modes.
I’ve since changed some apps to auto run the command line to change it to high Performance if it’s not already set.
For me on my laptop:
Power Saver = 1.4 Ghz Max
Balanced = 2.2 Ghz Max.
High Performance = 4.2 Ghz Max
On My PC:
Power Saver = 1.4 Ghz Max
Balanced = 2.2 Ghz or 3.2 Ghz depending on my max CPU Power Limit, Dropping from 100% to 90% drops CPU to 2.2 Ghz.
High Performance = 4.8 Ghz Max.
I’ve also tweaked my system to where when it detects the move to high performance mode, all fans are ramped up to 92% (anything above that is increasing noise for < 2 CFM difference and next to no temp change).
As I game with headphones or VR Headset, I dont hear the fans at all, but with them ramped up to 92% before being heat washed, the GPU and CPU temps stay well under control.
Before I upgraded this spring to the now mobo, i7 and 3080, I was playing DCS well enough. There were struggles. The included “Scud” mission with the AH64 was one. It was just barely on the edge of playable in VR. After the upgrade, that mission ran like glass. Now, with 2.9, it’s as if I had gutted all the new stuff and put the 6 year old innards back in. This is with AA off completely. MSAA looks better of course but at a slight coast in smoothness. DLSS/DLAA makes it run maybe as well or nearly so as 2.8 but at a huge visual cost. Honestly, it’s just unplayable. Not a big deal as I have other distractions on my plate at the moment. But this was one FUGLY update for me.
