DCS World 2.5 Release

The big moment we've all been waiting for is finally here. The Open Alpha release of DCS World 2.5 is out.

You likely got the same e-mail that I got but just in case you've not yet seen it, I've posted the relevant text below.

Please complete your download to be ready for Saturday night. Note below:.....
.......Download and install time are short by comparison with DCS Open Beta 2.5.0. It seems that DCS World 2.5 downloader copies the existing files from your DCS 2.5.0 Open Beta into the DCS World 2.5 folder while the downloading of new files is relatively small. Before launching the downloader however, you need to uninstall your existing DCS 1.5 program, as that folder will have the same name and the downloader will prompt you that the program already exists.  
My download and install took about 2.5 hours. Should take you guys about ten minutes.
Looks like DCS SRS copies over without issue. I'm going to test it next.
You need to ensure your controls settings remain (mine seem to have survived).
Check some of your other default settings as some of mine reverted to default (e.g. metric versus imperial etc)
Copy your tracks files from Open Beta into the tracks folder for DCS World 2.5
Copy your mission files from Open Beta into your missions folder in DCS World 2.5
Copy your sound files from Open Bet into the corresponding Sounds folders in DCS World 2.5
Otherwise, these files will be the ones you saved in DCS 1.5.8

DCS World 2.5 "Release" Version Available Now
The "Release" version of DCS World 2.5 is now available and can be downloaded from DCS site

Key features of DCS World 2.5:

The most realistic Free-to-Play digital battlefield ever.
One-of-a-kind, internally developed graphics engine that looks amazing from 0 to 80,000 feet.
Includes a beautiful, free, and highly detailed map of the Caucasus region that includes south western Russia and Georgia.
Includes 20 fully-equipped operational airbases, millions of buildings and trees, and thousands of kilometers of usable roads and railway.
Includes 156 free and fully operational weapons systems, 105 ground vehicles, 19 ships and 84 AI-controlled aircraft.
Fly the TF-51 Mustang and Su-25T attack jet for free!
Play all DCS World modules from one DCS World version.
State-of-the-art graphics with amazing lighting, shadows, and performance.
New breathtaking effects for explosions, clouds, fog, fire, and smoke.
Hundreds of land, air and seaborne AI vehicles. The world is your sandbox.
Create your own missions and campaigns for unlimited gameplay!
Mission generator included allowing rapid mission creation.
Enjoy multiplayer with friends, and even fly together in the same aircraft for multi-crew missions!
Purchase and fly the most iconic airplanes and helicopters from WWII up to the modern day.
Mouse interactive 6 degrees of freedom cockpits for most aircraft and the most accurate flight models, cockpit systems, sensors, targeting systems and sounds available.
Purchase and fly the most authentic simulations of the A-10C Warthog, UH-1H Huey, F-86F Sabre, Spitfire, and many others now.
Exciting new aircraft coming to DCS World like the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18C Hornet, F-4E Phantom II, Mi-24P Hind, P-47D Thunderbolt, and many more!
Purchase additional high-quality maps such as Normandy 1944 and the Nevada Test and Training Range.
Play hundreds of missions and campaigns with new campaigns continually created.
Both hardcore realistic and casual gameplay modes and options available.

Thanks Speed,

I did a fresh install to a formatted SSD and it only took a couple of hours. It looks like they boosted the torrent with seeders.
I'll need to set up SRS and my controls again though.

Thanks for the heads-up Speed....will do! Hawk

Good news on the DCS SRS as it worked perfectly without my having to copy in any files. I flew a mission in the Korea! 1952 server and had comms with the other pilots in the server.

I did notice that the frame rates have dropped by about 20 fps. I was north of 100 fps in my single player dogfight practice scenario and that has dropped to 80-84 fps. No real effect on the sim that I could see and the multiplayer worked fine.

After a considerable and frustrating time I believe that downloading DCS 2.5 Release version is probably a waste of time and effort - that is, if you have a fully up to date Open Beta version. I say this because after three attempts to download (the first two attempts ended when the download told me that there was insufficient disk space on my SSD and then I installed the down load to my main storage disk - a 2TB HDD - which then worked).

However, I then had the downloaded version on my D drive and the Open Beta version on my G drive. What I found is that I could access and spawn in to the Korea server using both the new version and the Open Beta version both separately and (almost) simultaneously. While it was fun to have two of me on the Korea server at the same time (and I did need to Alt Tab between versions to control the two F86s I spawned in to) it suggested to me that the new download is just the latest up to date Open Beta version renamed by DCS as the Release version.

If this is the case then I could have saved a lot of time and effort - setting up a new control profile for my aircraft has taken some time and I notice a clear delay in control response probably due to the "release" version being on my HDD storage drive rather that like the Open Beta version which I have on one of my fast SSDs.

My advice is, if you have an up to date Open Beta version - then do not down load and install the Release version - because you alr4ady have it! Both have the same version number and, in my case, when installing the Release version it did not need to torrent as it copied every file from my Open Beta version.

I didn't have any of those problems Dev. I did have to uninstall my old DCS 1.5.8. version as the new DCS World 2.5 wanted to install using the same DCS folder name.

Other than that, I did notice the same as you in that the new version copies files over from the Open Beta as I mentioned at the beginning, but I just assumed that there would have been some files at least that were updated and overwritten with the new version.

I did tests in single and multi-player and everything worked fine.

If the guys are able to install a clean version of DCS World 2.5 then I would still recommend doing so. Of course, the Open Beta version will still exist so if someone does experience similar problems, they can default to that if it still operates on the server.

Strange that these would have the same version numbers. I noticed the number but didn't compare.

Speed