Do it!

[ATAG_Bliss]

If you have installed a beta patch EVER, you seriously need to reinstall the game from scratch. My typical experience online was a 45 minute session then crash to desktop. It was almost like clock-work.

This is what I did based on the convo JTDawg had with me on TS.

1st thing I did was completely delete the Documents/1cSoft folder completely. Go to your steam/IL2 folder and save a copy of your defuser.ini. This file contains all your joystick/keymapping assignments. Then uninstall the game through your control panel's add/remove programs. (Make sure all remaining folders for IL2COD are gone)

Download/install the game through steam. And whatever you do, don't touch a single setting in any config files. Place your keymapping file back in the game. Start it up and adjust your audio/video/network settings (IN-GAME) and go fly.

In my 1st online session I flew with every single setting maxed @ 2650x1600. This was the 1st time in a long time I've ever been able to fly at my native resolution let alone with EVERYTHING cranked up. But that's just the beginning though.

My 1st sortie I took off in a Ju88 and completed a bomber sortie in England. I somehow limped it back home and was able to land at France. There's one hour already! 2nd sortie I do another Ju88 sortie bomb the snot out of stuff and, again, am able to make it back to successfully land. 2 hours no crashing at this point. My 3rd sortie I took off in an E4 and hung around England for a bit - around 30 minutes into that sortie I finally crashed. I have never had a sortie last much more than an hour without crashing, let alone almost 3.

Not only was it smooth, using higher gfx settings/resolution, omg @ the sounds. I swear I must have been missing 1/2 of them before. There was no more static noise on engine idle (I used to get that 50% of the time at the right RPM's) I could actually hear the wheels changing sound with different surfaces, the landing gear, the hydraulics, well, everything sounded soo much better. There was thunder coming through my headphones as the flak bursts were going off. I played 2 hours straight before I even had my 1st stutter. This was when there was 40 players online.

I know there's many supposed fixes/helpers out there, and trust me I've tried most of them, but this truly was a night and day difference for me and not a placebo effect.

I can't harp enough. If you've changed your files, loaded beta patches, or in any way shape or form have an inkling that you've corrupted your game in the slightest bit, trust me in saying the steam integrity check doesn't catch everything.

All I can say is reinstall and don't touch any configs at all!

Hope this helps.

[JG52Uther]

Might work for some people. I have CoD installed on a new HD with the new patch, and still get launcher .exe's. Not as many as some others though.

Bliss, I have only confUser file there....

[_79_dev]

Hey Bliss, I did reinstall my game after getting crashes too often, and yes it was nice on the beginning, few sorties, and then a few on the next day, but then eventually my game crashed to the desktop again. After all same problem came back but... game crashes rare and is much more playable and smooth after reinstall. Conclusion is that all those patch files must counteract with rest of the game and may cause problems, I would risk to say that is because of corrupted downloading theme patches...

[bw_wolverine]

I recently did the reinstall as well (just after the campaign mission on Sunday) and when I jumped online to try it out I definitely heard sounds that I hadn't been hearing before.

Example: I had been always hearing the loud POP POP backfiring sounds from other planes warming up but I never seemed to hear them from my own plane. I wondered if I was just warming up my plane differently. Well, I can safely say that I simply wasn't hearing them before I reinstalled. Now I hear those sounds very clearly and it's definitely different to what I was hearing before.

So, +1 on the reinstall.

[Sokol1]

I confirm this. When the last (final) patch come out I made a new install, and never have problem online minus eventual timed out (due my bad connection).
Almost accidentally I set graphics in HIGH (my system is old) and game run better than medium/low previously set used.

Sokol1

[Sven]

I never reinstalled Cliffs of Dover and used all the patches so far.

And I'm not crashing, well I did had 1 launcher.exe crash on ATAG some 2 weeks ago, but that's it.

[335th_GRAthos]

Very interesting Bliss, thanks for sharing!

I never had any problems with my sound so I can not comment on the usefulness of a clean installation for those with sound problems. Probably, the fact that I never experienced sound problems is a confirmation that some files on other peoples' computers had gone bad thus a re-install is a good solution.

Regarding your flying time online, I would say that you need to fly intercept against bombers. This is the moment where you see your RAM utilisation growing to unbearable levels.
I have also tested staying on the ground. While on the ground for one hour, absolutely no memory increase.
Therefore, you can well fly for hours as long as you meet certain conditions and the situation you described fits to that category (very little enemy contact and (presume) high alt flying).

~S~

[Insuber]

I did a complete wipe out and reinstall, original DVD then Steam update, an I have CTDs.

[ATAG_Bliss]

@GRAthos - I agree and don't agree just for the simple fact that I could only fly a little over an hour in an 88 before a CTD, before a complete reinstall. I literally make the same path everytime I fly it. So something has definitely changed. I do agree that the more planes, action, etc., does seem to speed up the process. But I was covered in action most of the 1st night I tested it. Time will tell I guess, but the sounds and smoothness alone made it much better.

@Insuber - Maybe my wording was bad, but I still do have CTD's.. It's just now I can go almost 3 hours before I get one. Which is almost 2 hours longer.