I’m in the open beta branch of DCS, and being a VR user, I use the shader mod by kegetys.
This mod needs to be re-installed everytime DCS is updated. But, will an update remove this mod completely?
You see, I’ve read about improvements in VR performance in the last update, and I must say that performance is really good, without installing the mod. But how do I know that the mod is conpletely removed?
What happens if I do a repair? Will that reset DCS back to a fresh install status?
Maybe I should remove the bazar directory and then repair?
I think you should remove the mod!
Check the readme instructions you used when installing it!
Then apply the patch!
Without the mod you don’t have the eliptical image shown on the display!
After that you can apply last mod version!
I installed the mod 2days ago!
Not game changer but my fps are capped by my cpu old i7 2600k @4.3ghz 16gb ram
But with the mod i was able to run MSAA 4x at same fps
Rtx 2070
Ps i use it online restoring those few files that allow to pass integrity check!
Yes. But we’re passed that. DCS has already been updated.
The question is now, how do I make certain I get a fresh install, without deleting and installing DCS…
I use @SkateZilla 's GUI Utility thingy, which has a button “Clean”
“Clean” is not the same as “Repair”: repair only repairs the files that a “vanilla” unmodded DCS install has, while “clean” removes any additional files, thus removing mods like the VR shaders mod.
There is probably also a command line way to “clean” if you do not have the SkateZilla Updater Utility, but you will have to look that up yourself if you really do not want the updater utility.
Additionally, make sure you run @fearlessfrog 's shader removal script to be completely sure that there is no remnant. Also, it is apparently good practice to remove the shaders everytime you update your GPU drivers.
Not sure how Skate’s tool works with this, but if you run " DCS_Updater.exe cleanup" (just navigate to \bin, type “cmd” in the address bar, then enter the command) it will find all the non standard files and ask you if you want to keep/delete/move them elsewhere.
Never even considered that it was an option…
So, if clean removes non standard files, does this mean that it removes files that it doesn’t recognize, or does it check if the file has been altered?
Is there a point of doing a repair, after the clean?
Edit. Did a clean and a repair. Worked great! Thanks again for a really great tool, @SkateZilla!
The mod is a series of .hsl files, which are effectively an interim source code format for graphics cards shaders. DCS starts up and renders, the code references registered shaders and the DX11 takes those text .hsl files and ‘compiles’ them into a binary format for more efficient use. These are stored in your (User)/Saved Games/DCS/metashaders2 and fxo directories (plus pre-compiled ones as part of the DCS install under Mods/terrains/(map)/misc/metacache\dcs).
What happens when you update DCS is that it’ll see what files need to be updated based on what’s changed, i.e. it will move your existing DCS/Bazar/shaders changes under a _backup## folder and rewrite a fresh ones. It will also write a fresh Mods/terrains/Caucasus/misc/metacache/dcs set of folders as well.
So, the short version is that updating DCS does completely restore how it was before the mod was installed. You can tidy up by removing the _backup_000 etc folders in your install if you like, but otherwise you’re good to go.
I personally think DCS seems a little better recently without the mod, but I think that’s just general ongoing open beta optimizations, rather than anything explicit about better VR support. I think that’s still coming.
