" Just started seeing v2.1 for me as well, seems like it takes some time to update all the mirrors. 30 Peers, downloading at full connection bandwidth."
how’s that possible?? I have 20Mb and cant barely get 200-400kb/s instead of the 2Mb/s I should…is there something Im doing wrong?
EDIT:45 peers more or less…
Probably depends on how maxed out servers are in your region.
I noticed that @SkateZilla! has a new version of the Updater out which is Normandy friendly.
I guess but 300kb/s seems too slow even if servers are full…
I finally got 2.1 installed.
But Normandy was nowhere to be found… Not in the modules manager…
I used Skatezillas latest GUI utility, and that seems to work.
With my slow connection, I will be lucky if I can get 2.1 downloaded in time to play with it tomorrow morning. Normandy? Maybe Sunday… I love living out in the country, but I’d give a lot to have a nice fast connection right now.
Me too mate, I have about 3.7 MB into the house. The new place we are looking at which is even more remote gets 58 Mb/s go figure 
Currently d/l @148 kbps 
more or less the same mate…
We could play charade’s whilst we wait 
I hope I’ll get to update to 2.1 tonight, but as I’m taking a trip over the weekend it’s not like I’d get much chance to look at the changes anyway.
Is there a list of changes outside the Normandy stuff?
The biggest thing is this new PBR lighting, or some such and the new water effects, IIRC stuff like explosion effects and clouds are WIP
Also
DCS 2.1.0 is starting of new lineup of DCS 2.1 versions with integrated of NTTR and Normandy map together, new deferred shading and PBR features and numbers of a less major improvements.
Known issues that will be fixed ASAP:
The HUD indication would not be visible on the sky background in some circumstances.
DCS World
Introduced deferred shading and PBR.
Crash on second launch of track with JTAC fixed.
Scripting Engine. Weapon.getTarget() will returns correct value with SEAD weapons.
LOS determination fixes, Fog Of War fixes.
DCS Hawk T.1 by VEAO
Rear cockpit functionality removed for now for server stability. This should prevent server crashes when players eject, please report feedback.
Known bugs:
GTS and Engine spool up sounds not working.
HUD glass showing pink during day and red at night with deferred shading set to On.
External model bullet hole textures showing incorrectly with deferred shading set to On.
Taxi/landing light not casting light on surface with deferred shading set to On.
Taxi/landing light texture on external model incorrect with deferred shading set to On.
For now, it is best advised to turn deferred shading Off (in settings) when flying Hawk.
DCS MiG-21bis by MAGNITUDE 3 LLC
Added navigation support for Normandy (RSBN/PRMG only, no NDBs at the moment).
SAU landing mode improvement
FFB stick movement on roll improvement, when SAU is activated
Fixed pitched trimming with FFB
DCS Mi-8MTV2 by Belsimtek
Input. AI gunners commands can be bind to input devices.
Bug-fix HSI initialization
Bug-fixes of AI-gunners:
no fire during FIRE behavior option choice and target are within the range of shooting
AI gunners aiming
AI gunners skill slider
Bug-fix scale of speed indicator US-450
Added “dirty glass” (_glass_dirt) texture and livery (with choice from SPECIAL tab)
Tuned swing during engine start and buffet (vibration) during flight
DCS UH-1H by Belsimtek
Bug-fixes of AI-gunners:
no fire during FIRE behavior option choice and target are within the range of shooting
AI gunners aiming
AI gunners skill slider
DCS MiG-15bis by Belsimtek
Bug-fix RSI-6 frequency dimension in kneeboard
Excessive aileron drag fixed (Ailerons extremely draggy - Bugs and Problems - ED Forums)
DCS F-5E by Belsimtek
Corrected rockets release with 60 ms interval set via kneeboard.
DCS C-101 by AvioDev
New changes not included in latest 1.5.6 update:
Reworked ADI model and texture: new appearance, plus pitch and roll angles are now more accurate.
Fixed PAT mode FD pitch steering indication.
Fixed ADI FD Bar for GO AROUND mode.
Fixed FD GO AROUND light, which stayed lit after PAT, ALT modes engagement.
Best climb attitude in GO AROUND mode adjusted according to aircraft operations manual.
Fixed HSI course and heading knobs which should have no limit when sliding mouse (scrolling was already OK).
ANTISKID logic is implemented now as follows:
- The indicator is off when the system operates normally or gear handle is set to ‘GEAR UP’ or CB ‘BRAKES & ANTISKID’ is pulled.
- The indicator displays ‘OFF/ANTISKID’ (both orange and red lights) when gear is set to ‘GEAR DOWN’, antiskid system is powered (CB not pulled), and antiskid system is turned OFF.
Fixed following switches, they are now spring-loaded:- Generator on/off/reset
- Generator fault/overvoltage test
- Manual temperature control switch (the one in the Air Conditioning Panel - COLD/MANUAL/WARM)
Following lights can now be rotated to adjust their brightness: Markers, IFF Reply, IFF Test, Emergency Pitch Trim, and Ignition.
Standby Attitude Indicator setting knob has now limits when scrolling.
Fixed Airspeed Indicator Bug, it travels now correctly.
Updated training missions due to generator test switch argument value change.
Adjusted ILS parameters.
ILS receiver sensitivity adjusted.
Fixed instruments glass and canopy reflections (WIP).
Changes already present in latest 1.5.6 update, which are new for 2.1.0:
See DCS 1.5.6 Update 2 and DCS 1.5.6 Update 3.
DCS A-10C
Roll will not induced side-slip with SAS on.
TACAN. Test light shape corrected.
Landing Gear Position Lights will lit at night.
RWR PRI Mode indicator will lit at night.
DCS Flaming Cliffs
Su-27. Cockpit stick animation angles corrected.
DCS L-39
Corrected L-39 Instant Missions for NTTR map.
So, how does the updater work? mine keeps crashing
This is really the only interesting bit from the .log file
STATUS: Connecting to update servers...
INFO : Got reply from www.digitalcombatsimulator.com
INFO : Got reply from srv1update.digitalcombatsimulator.com
ERROR: Version 2.0.5.3140.194 is not available.
Do I need to download 2.1 from the website, can I not update from 2.0.5?
Force update with dos box or use skatezillas app
Yea that doesn’t work either. I’ve tried all the command-line options already.
EDIT: @SkateZilla updater does the job weirdly enough. I must have missed some sort of command in my wicked bashing of the terminal
Well, please, somebody post their surprise first impression at how lovely and crisp and smooth Normandy looks and plays. Because my experience does not come close to matching what we see in Wags’ videos. On the contrary, my experience leads me to think (or at least hope) that I am running two or three simultaneous instances of DCS. The GTX-1080 and Core I-7 running my system haven’t struggled yet but it seems they’ve met their match.
Most likely it is on my end because Nevada also runs poorly now.
{EDIT} It was on my end. I had found some Nvidia settings that made X-Plane rock. However, those settings did not play well with DCS. Returning to 100% default Nvidia settings has Normandy working just fine.
Oh…do tell…!
Well honestly I am not sure :(. I normally leave that stuff alone as I HATE mod-ing, tweaking, optimizing or otherwise mucking with settings. These things can easily send you down a rabbit hole. I went into Nvidia just to try to up the contrast a bit. Then I saw this beautiful rabbit hole called Global Settings and all sorts of cool stuff was turned off. So I turned on “Ambient Occlusion” and FXAA. This either improved X-Plane (which was admittedly already great) or it improved the placebo. DCS however was giving me about 15 fps and lots of skips. Returning Nvidia back to default pulled me safely out of the hole.
Set up those Nvidia settings for X-Plane only, instead of Global. Global means it changes those settings for every game.
FXAA is some form of anti-aliasing which is easier to render than normal MSAA (it makes the image less jaggy, at a lower cost than the usual way)
Ambient Occlusion does fancy lighting. Fancy lighting costs a lot of FPS. This is probably the one that took your DCS framerate down.
Using FXAA in Nvidia settings for DCS is actually advised, now that the built-in MSAA doesn’t work with the new engine.
TL;DR: Set up NVidia settings per game, not global. FXAA is good for X-Plane and DCS (turn off MSAA in DCS 2.1 in-game settings). Use Ambient Occlusion only in X-Plane.
Thanks Freak. You broke it down nicely.
I am a little surprised at the contrast shown in how this thread was so busy in anticipation of Normandy and how quiet it is now that its released. Its a lot to absorb. The experience posted above aside, I still see the early stages of a work in progress. It runs well enough over Caen but the underlying struggle is apparent in stutters that I don’t see with Las Vegas. I had the good fortune of being a late adopter of Nevada and only watched others complain about hiccups. By the time I got my hands on it (with a new PC) it looked great and ran well. In a year Normandy will sing. On my machine it is in this weird color space. It looks more like a Miyazaki film than northern France. This is why I lifted the hood on my Nvidia settings–an attempt to increase contrast and tone down the greens. Shadows along hedgerows and tree-lines jitter in unison–something I find very hard to ignore when flying low. One thing about dividing Georgia’s (as envisioned by DCS) broad grasslands into Brittain’s and France’s small, hedged-in farms is that doing so without including farmhouses looks remiss. Why don’t I judge Stalingrad by the same standard? I honestly don’t know. It could be predjudice. Or it could be the way that the orderly trees screem of a human presence that isn’t there. That is a criticism that was leveled against Rise of Flight where the front had continuous air bursts overhead as part of the terrain but no accompanying human presence in No Man’s Land below.
And airbases. They don’t look blended in with the surrounding landscape. They stand out like jungle LZ’s in Vietnam. All of my experiences with these fields are in black and white, so maybe this is how quickly built late-war airbases really looked. But to me they just seem starkly brown, uniform and unused.