Recomendation prior to beta

[addman]

Originally Posted by nakedsquirrel

Just throw out your old machine, burn your clothes, sell your home, change your name and move out of the country so that the old version of the game doesn't find you

Quite so, yes. Don't forget to get rid of the old Mrs also, it's essential for a clean install.

[LcSummers]

Originally Posted by addman

Quite so, yes. Don't forget to get rid of the old Mrs also, it's essential for a clean install.

Addy,

i like your humour!

[addman]

Originally Posted by LcSummers

Addy,

i like your humour!

Humor?...yes of course! I was only joking. *cough! cough!*

[Gourmand]

you should format C:\ before installing the patch !

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by von Pilsner

As mentioned above the new patch should do this, but right before installing a CloD patch you can clean your cache: 'C:\Users\<USER NAME>\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\cache\' by deleting everything in that folder (it will all be rebuilt when you run the game next).

You should probably back up your .ini files in 'C:\Users\<USER NAME>\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\' before you run the beta installer.

This game installs everything important in (one of) two directories so there is not really any advantage to uninstalling/reinstalling over using steam to verify the game files (I don't think this game relies too much on registry entries).

STEAM STUFF

Verify integrity of game cache

1. Load Steam
2. From the Library section, right-click on the game and select Properties from the menu.
3. Select the Local files tab and click the Verify integrity of game cache... button.
4. Steam will verify the game's files - this process may take several minutes.
5. Once the process is completed, the Check Window will automatically exit.

Defragmenting Game Cache Files

Game Cache File (GCF) fragmentation may result in increased load times and sound skipping or stuttering - to ensure your Game Cache Files (GCF's) are stored contiguously, please observe the following process:

1. From the Library, right-click on the game you would like to defragment and select Properties
2. In the Properties window select the Local Files tab
3. Click the Defragment cache files button
4. Once the defragmentation process has completed, you will be presented with a report detailing the extent of fragmentation

Happy Beta Testing!

Agree, reinstall is not absolutely necessary.

I will
1) rename the Documents\1C Softclub folder (to have a backup)
2) check files integrity to rebuild missing/broken files
3) defrag using a 3rd party utility like Gamebooster (always finds defragged files for me even after Steam defrag)
4) install patch
5) defrag again.
6) copy controls settings file from backed up 1C folder to the new one

[justme262]

This is uninstall business sounds funny.
It reminds me of this guy who was telling me how he runs the DotNet installer a couple times a week to "clear CODs graphics". Swore by it....

I told him he was probably wasting his time... it would have taken me too long to explain exactly how pointless and irrelevant it really was.

I'm planning a sacrificing a live chicken before I install the patch myself... I couldn't get anything larger on two weeks notice.

[DroopSnoot]

My life, IL2 community making life hard for itself again, the only thing that you need to do is clear the shaders and cache:

1. Install Beta Patch

2. C:\Users\username\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\cache - Then delete all the loose files, leaving the shaders folder

3. Then go into the shaders folder and delete the contents leaving an empty folder


This ensures the game will repopulate with the new shaders and cache.

Simple.

[addman]

Originally Posted by justme262

This is uninstall business sounds funny.
It reminds me of this guy who was telling me how he runs the DotNet installer a couple times a week to "clear CODs graphics". Swore by it....

I told him he was probably wasting his time... it would have taken me too long to explain exactly how pointless and irrelevant it really was.

I'm planning a sacrificing a live chicken before I install the patch myself... I couldn't get anything larger on two weeks notice.

lol! That's priceless! geeezus some people. Also, your chicken sacrifice is useless, I've tried all the different barn yard animals and came to the conclusion that you have to sacrifice 3 1/2 cows every second week, but only during the summer months. Rest of the year a monthly sacrifice of sheep will do, only sheep though and every third full moon.

P.S The game still stutters over big cities though.

[Force10]

Originally Posted by Thee_oddball

I would recommend that everyone uninstall the game and empty all cache and other applicable folders so there is no garbage left over causing problems that people have experienced in the past.

make the beta a clean install as to get the most relevant and clean data to provide sound feedback to the dev's

S!

Shouldn't be a problem since a lot of people probably uninstalled this months ago...lol!

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Jaws2002

No need for all that voodoo. Clear your cahce, back-up the personal files (controls and stuf like that) and enjoy the beta.

I concur and the reason is quite simple.

The next patch is beta, which means that it doesn't get installed automatically through Steam, but manually by the user.

If you uninstall and reinstall through Steam, you'll have exactly the same version, same files, etc that you had before uninstalling. Steam installs the latest release version, not betas, so uninstalling/reinstalling will just spend an hour or two of your time for no change in the game's files at all.

In both cases, you would have to manually extract the beta patch on top of the exact same files, which are the files included in the last release version.

The only difference between uninstalling or not, is that a "fresh" install will be "blank", meaning that

1. the configuration files (control settings, graphics options, etc) will be back to default settings after reinstalling and
   
2. any custom missions and skins will have vanished

In other words, simply moving your config files and extra missions/skins outside their folders (or just renaming them), followed by telling Steam to verify integrity of the game files, will yield the exact same files without having to waste time uninstalling, downloading and reinstalling the entire software.

Plus, like always, clear your cache folder before launching the sim with the beta patch for the first time, to force the game to rebuild its shader cache.