So if I don't download the beta patch and wait for Steam to be updated, do I still need to delete the old ini. files or will Steam do it automatically?

I'd like to add another few small items to Blackdog's excellent list. There is nothing in the checklist that I personally have not been doing - I love his list because it is coherent and one of the only pieces of structured guidance for beta patch setup that exists in our forums here.

I have installed and tested each of the release and beta patches since the beginning - saving and documenting results for each iteration. There have been many improvments since the beginning - but overall frame rates on my system when properly configured average around 42 fps - with min in low 20's - max in the mid 90's.

I got home late last night, so I was quite tired when I ran down the "Blackdogs Checklist". On my first TBD track benchmark - my average frame rate was around 21 fps. After checking my Catalyst, Game settings, configs and system to ensure all settings were consistent with my standard testing. I re-ran the benchmark after rebooting my system. Low frame rates again!

I gave up, went to bed and realized after I woke up, that I'd forgotten to clean out my 1C Softclub/Cache directory. Stupid me. Cleaned the cache, restarted CoD then ran TBD track for the bench. Crap! Back to 21 fps again. Went to work.

After I came home, I restarted my system - checked everything again - recleaned the cache. Still 20-21 fps. Restarted CoD and ran a second time and BANG 42 fps!

Why? **The 1C Softclub\cache has to rebuild itself after you delete the files. So CoD has to be run at least 1 time and closed again for this to happen.

Here are some additional steps:

1. Delete all files in /My Documents/1C SoftClub/il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover/cache
2. Start CoD
3. Playback "The Black Death" track - you can stop it after a few seconds.
4. Exit CoD
5. Restart CoD
6. Conduct testing

While I'm on this point, maybe it's good that I add this part.

1. Play "The Black Death" Track once all the way through, looking for anomalies or bugs - but don't use this benchmark.
2. Keep the benchmarks from the second and subequent playbacks, and report them together.

Why? On the first track playback, the track is loaded from disk to RAM. You'll find the second playback much more stable than the first (if you conduct enough benchmarks to be statistically significant), because of the random access loadup.

This way, random access storage is removed from the equation, and we are isolating the CPU/RAM/Video sections of each system. This makes the FPS results, much more comparable and non-dependent on the variables of storage, thus giving a better picture of cross-platform relationships and dependencies.

You can always report the first load, sometimes I do - but I keep these results separated.

In summary, if your not making multiple, full track benchmarks and not saving results to files, your results may not be all that usable, and most importantly - you can't see what is really occuring in your system, patch-to-patch.

S!

Gunny

Useful extra bits of info there Gunslinger ;)

I don't usually benchmark in the true sense of the word (i just fly some missions and see how things go over a variety of terrain) because tracks recorded on previous versions might give different results on newer ones (like it was in IL2) but it's good to know anyway in case i decide to start doing so.


Unless they incorporate this step in the automatic patching process you will still have to do it yourself.

However, this is a one-time deal unless they decide to change the .ini files again, which i doubt will happen soon...maybe in the future when new features get enabled they will just add new parameters, but i guess the basic structure will remain the same for now.

In other words, it's not something you need to do every time you download a new patch, just once if you had an early version of the sim initially installed on your PC.

EDIT:

I misunderstood (or should I say I'm being a wally!), you have to launch Clod and it creates the missing ini files in the 1Csoftclub folder ( I thought steam did it!). I will leave the question intact in case someone else has the same problem.





Thanks Blackdog_kt, may be you can help me suss why this doesn't work for me. I must be doing something wrong but can't see what.

I checked my ini files and they are dated March and April 15. (I disabled cloud as I had it enabled), moved the ini files to back up folders on my desktop, ran the verify cache option and Steam downloaded exact copies back into the Steam directory but none into the MyDocs installation folder.

:confused:

Can sombody be kind enough to post his conf.ini (new version)?

Mz conf.ini is sacred, I do not dare to let anyone (e.g. Steam) touch it thus I will do the update manually.

Thanks in advance!

~S~

Thanks for the advice, but in my case it is the controls config menu where I cant save, so I cant backup or load my saved control file, although the apply button works thankfully, strange because I have reloaded everything and it is still there, but I dont know of anyone else with this problem, as it is I just redo my controls each patch, it's a pain but doesnt take to long.

No problem GRAthos, this is the one Clod created after following Blackdog_Kt instructions. Apart from epilepsy flag and my screen res its a virgin...:grin:

I'm doing the same as you and will use it to modify my original Conf file then replace it.



[BOB]
EpilepsyFilter=0

[window]
DepthBits =24
StencilBits=8
DrawIfNotFocused=0
SaveAspect=0
Render=D3D10_0
width=1280
height=1024
posLeft=0
posTop=0
ColourBits=32
FullScreen=1
ChangeScreenRes=0
Frequency=60

[NET]
speed=100000
localPort=27015
serverName=My Server
serverDescription=IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover
serverInfo1=
serverInfo2=
serverInfo3=
serverInfo4=
VAC=1
maxPlayers=255
socksEnable=0
socksHost=
socksPort=1080
socksUser=
socksPwd=

[Console]
IP=20001
UseStartLog=1
WRAP=1
PAUSE=1
HISTORY=1024
HISTORYCMD=1024
PAGE=20
LOG=0
LOGTIME=0
LOAD=console.cmd
SAVE=console.cmd
LOGFILE=log.txt
LOGKEEP=0

[rts]
; 0 - not use, 1 - show cursor and not capture, 2 - not show

cursor, and capture
mouseUse=2
; 0 - not use, 1 - use if hardware exist
joyUse=1
; 0 - not use, 1 - use if hardware exist
trackIRUse=1

[rts_mouse]
SensitivityX=1.0
SensitivityY=1.0
SensitivityZ=1.0
Invert=0
SwapButtons = 0

[rts_joystick]
FF=1

[core]
RandSeed = 0
TexQual=3
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0
Shadows=0
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=1
LandShading=1
LandDetails=1
Sky=3
Forest=2
VisibilityDistance=3
LandGeom=2
DrawCollisions=1
Water=-1
Effects=1
EffFlags.Light=1
EffFlags.SpriteRender=0
Grass=-1
CordEffect=1
UseFog=0
UseLandCube=1
UseLandConnectedObject=1
LinearObjectManager=1
Roads=-1
Sun=1
Clouds=1
EffFlags.LightSpritesProj=1
ShadowMapSize=5
TexFlags.AsyncLoad=1
TexFlags.ShowTexture=0
SimpleMesh.SWTransform=0
SimpleMesh.QuadTreeClip=1
SimpleMesh.InstancingHW=1
EffFlags.LightContextSprites=1
CloudsFlags.Detailed=1
TexFlags.CreateHDR=1
Decals=1
EffFlags.SWLight=0
TexFlags.CockpitOnePass=0
MegaTexture=0
TexFlags.Reflection=0
RenderTargetQual=3
MSAA=0
MeshStatics=1
MeshStaticsDetail=2
SimpleMesh.QTNoCompose=0
MeshFirstLod=0
MeshShowLod=0
SpawnHumans=0
TexFlags.SSAO=0
TexFlags.VSync=1
TexFlags.FastTransparency=1

[sound]
SoundUse=1
DebugSound=0
SoundEngine=1
Speakers=1
Placement=0
SoundFlags.reversestereo=0
RadioFlags.Enabled=1
RadioEngine=2
MusicVolume=14
ObjectVolume=7
MusState.takeoff=1
MusState.inflight=1
MusState.crash=1
MusFlags.play=1
MasterVolume=14
Attenuation=7
SoundMode=0
SamplingRate=0
NumChannels=2
SoundExt.occlusions=1
SoundFlags.hardware=1
SoundFlags.streams=1
SoundFlags.duplex=1
SoundExt.acoustics=1
SoundExt.volumefx=1
SoundFlags.voicemgr=1
SoundFlags.static=1
VoiceVolume=8
Channels=1
SoundFlags.bugscorrect=0
SoundExt.extrender=0
SoundSetupId=8
ActivationLevel=0.02
Preemphasis=0.8
RadioLatency=0.5
AGC=1
PTTMode=1
RadioFlags.PTTMode=0
RadioFlags.PlayClicks=1
ActLevel=9
MicLevel=10
SoundFlags.UseRadioChatter=0
SoundFlags.AutoActivation=0
SoundFlags.forceEAX1=0
speakers=1
vgMaster=7
vgVoice=7
vgMusic=7

Thanks SEE ! :D


~S~

I've looked in Steam but cannot find this. Help!:confused: