[WWSandMan]

Just wanted to bump this little gem. Looks like good advice to follow.

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

....
Most people have had the issue resolved and many that didn't, eventually found out that it was fixable once they followed the usual patching procedure for optional patches like this one.

The official/final patches are automatically handled by Steam, but when installing an alpha or beta there's some more legwork involved to make it work properly. Here's what i do:
1) Verify file integrity through Steam: This makes sure i have the correct files for the latest official version, ie the one before the optional patch.
2) Defragment game files through Steam.
3) Go inside my documents\1c softclub\Il2 CoD\cache folder and delete all files within it and the shaders subfolder.
4) Extract the optional patch into the sim's main directory (if prompted to overwrite existing files, choose "yes").
5) Run the sim and wait for it to rebuild the cache i deleted with the correct files for the new version.
6) Run a quick mission and fly around for a couple of minutes to "force" it to load anything it might need to load.
7) Exit the sim.

From that point on, it's safe to launch the sim again, test and fly. I've been following this routine through all the Beta patches and each one has been an improvement for me.