In the latest update of the famous air combat simulator DCS World, the developers introduced support for multiple CPU threads in the game. The change was found to have a very positive impact on the game’s performance.
It was definitely a good weekend for fans of realistic air combat simulations. Eagle Dynamics released a few days ago an update to its flagship title: DCS World. Of the many changes introduced to the game with the tagged update 2.8.3.37556, the most significant was probably the addition of support for multiple processor threads (multithreaded). This seemingly minor change turned out to have a remarkably positive impact on how this technically demanding game works.
Shortly after the release of the landmark update, online forums and blogs that bring together DCS enthusiasts were flooded with comments from positively surprised fans. On Reddit, gamers bragged about the impressive frame rate gains:
“Flying over Vegas before multithreading support, it was hovering around 60 fps. After multithreading was introduced, I don’t go below 110 fps. I have an (RTX) 3080 and a Ryzen 3600x” , writes Simonayy.
“The usual open beta: 65 – 75 fps
Beta with multithreading support: 110 – 115 fps
It’s just a rounded average, as the frame rate keeps jumping, but it’s an obvious improvement,” says Gozzling.
Note that owners of more modest equipment have also noticed a marked improvement in performance:
“Seriously, I used to have 20-30 frames in-game (on low settings) before multi-threaded support was introduced. Now I have over 90, all on a laptop with a 9e i5 processor generation and a GTX 1650”, praises FlightSimEnjoyer
However, it was not without problems. For example, Mango gamer Rajhin reported difficulty with the latest features when playing with VR headsets:
“Thanks to the multi-threaded support, even at 80fps, the ground shakes and my eyes sting when I stare too long to the sides,” says Rajhin.
A ShamrockOneFive user in his long post on stormbirds.blog, centered on the subject of flight simulators, confirms the positive impact that the new functionality has on the comfort of play. Looking at the future of DCS, the author hopes to continue the development of the game in the context of the integration of the developers of the popular Vulkan API.
While such an extreme increase in performance from update to update is quite rare, the example of DCS World brilliantly demonstrates how intelligently implemented features can dramatically improve the gaming experience.
Eagle Dynamics is a study founded by the British Nick Gray and Igor Tishin in 1991 in Moscow. In 2017, the company’s headquarters moved to Switzerland, but some developers still operate from Russia. DCS is also developed by third-party teams around the world.