DCS: Black Shark

-PornStar-

Hey peoples, I am by no means a hardcore sim person. But I do love to mess around in virtual whirlybirds. EECH is a fantastic game now that the very talented and dedicated modding community has got their hands on it. Unfortunately they are seriously hampered by the almost 10 year old engine.

I just found out yesterday, that Eagle Dynamics have released a sim dedicated to the very sexy Russian Ka-50 attack helicopter. Words cannot describe the lengths they have gone to in order to replicate this fantastic machine. You can look freely around the cockpit, and click on every button, every knob, every switch. Once you get good at the start up sequence it will still take you over 3 minutes to get the bird in the air.

Not only that, but the DCS in the title of the sim stands for Digital Combat Simulator. Thats right, they are planning on releasing a series of these games, each one dedicated to one particular plane or helicopter. The next one, planned for 9 months from now, will be titled DCS: A-10C Warthog .

Check out their homepage here.
http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/

Also have a look on www.simhq.com, they have an extensive playtesting and writeup on the sim.

If your still not convinced, there are many videos on youtube.


Now if only Oleg Maddox would get his bloody finger out .

Edit:- I'm so sorry, there is already a topic on this.

Captain Chaos

I'd be amazed if they have their A-10 sim out in 9 months. It took them 2 years for the Su-25 addon Flaming Cliffs. I can't even remember how long the Ka-50 project took. First it was going to be an addon like FC but then became a stand alone game.

I don't know how they will get enough info on the A-10C as its a fairly new variant and complex avionics compared to what they usually do.

One of the devs, Oleg posted on their forums when they were working on the Ka-50 that their next project would be based around the F-16C and an advanced MiG-29 variant possibly the MiG-29S but that was 2 years ago.

I'd love if they could do LOMAC again in more detail. Loved flying around in the F-15C and Su-27.

Nate--IRL--

Captain Chaos wrote: »

I don't know how they will get enough info on the A-10C as its a fairly new variant and complex avionics compared to what they usually do.

They've got military contracts, and have already done an A-10c simulator for the Air national guard and USAF. They are currently working on a second version of the A-10c for the the USAF. The military side of ED is here http://www.thebattlesim.com/

A leaked page in Russian can be found on the DCS site regarding the A-10c, hope your Russian is good

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?lang=ru&end_pos=2320&scr=default

Nate

Captain Chaos

Wow, that looks impressive. A few JDAM variants listed in the weapons list and all. On of the MFD pages was displaying targeting pod IR image, possibly the Litening II pod but didn't see the name listed. All the Maverick variants listed aswell, really going to have to thing about weapons loadout with this one. I haven't posted on the Ubi or ED forums in years so I'm really out of the loop.

Hopefully its got fully clickable cockpits and MFD pages like Jane F/A-18 and Free Falcon.

I'll get my brother to go through it for me, he's being learning Russian for the past 3 years in Trinity:D.

Time to dust of my TrackIR 4 me thinks.

Mr Benevolent

Any good, CC?

muppetkiller

Did anyone pick this up yet ?

Nate--IRL--

muppetkiller wrote: »

Did anyone pick this up yet ?

Yep, had it a while now and I love it, but i'll give you some more impartial reviews to read first (note some are typical gamer mag reviews and not that deep).....

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0409/DCS/Blackshark.htm

http://www.simhq.com/_air12/air_390a.html

http://pc.ign.com/articles/945/945520p1.html

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/software/2239378/dcs-ka

http://www.gamerzines.com/pcgzine/issue-28/dcs-black-shark-review-pc.html

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/dcsblackshark

After that lot, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help.

Nate

Mr Benevolent

Impressive systems simulation, what's it like flicking switches in the air? Or do you need to worry about anything other then HOTAS?

Nate--IRL--

Confab wrote: »

Impressive systems simulation, what's it like flicking switches in the air? Or do you need to worry about anything other then HOTAS?

A lot of the switches are set during the start up and shut down sequences, but important stuff like the Autopilot and Stabilisation systems, Datalink & Countermeasures are not on the HOTAS and can be quite hairy to deal with in combat, however you can map this to HOTAS if you wish. Using the mouse in cockpit becomes intuitive after short amount of time. Edit:- I should note that every command is mapped to the keyboard too, should you wish to use that instead of the clickable cockpit. The key command list and both manuals are available on the DCS website

The ABRIS navigation computer is incredibly deep, and to be honest I have only skimmed the surface of it. This is not an item you want to be playing with as you arrive over the battlefield. As with all of the other systems, preparation in preflight, to get the aircraft configured to the mission you plan to fly, is vital.

The layout of the KA-50 (real and simulated) is bad ergonomically compared to western aircraft, and you'll soon find you are mapping stuff to your HOTAS that is not on the real aircraft HOTAS, a crutch a real KA-50 pilot would gladly have IMHO. This is the reason why the KA-52 was developed, to take the workload off the pilot in combat.



There is also great fun to be had randomly flicking switches in the air and then trying to control the aircraft (or now, the bag of feral cats) to the ground in one piece.

You will crash... a lot. It's all part of the fun. The flight model has to felt to understand how good it is, nothing else has come close.

Nate

Nate--IRL--

From a disscussion between Confab and myself, might be worth sticking back in here.

EDIT:- I'd be interested to hear how you get on Confab.... Need any assistance, I'd be happy to help, also the DCS forums are an invaluable resource.. http://forums.eagle.ru/index.php

Confab wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for the great reply in the Blackshark thread. I didn't want to be dragging it off topic so I thought I'd PM you instead.

Have you had any framerate issues? My PC will run FSX fine but it's a bit stuttery of some of the more advanced stuff.

(I'm on a Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz, 2gb, NVidia 8500GT)

The reviews mentioned crashing alot too... why is this? Is it really that hard to control? I'm more interested in the systems and flight dynamics then the weapon stuff tbh.#

Cheers,
Niall

Nate--IRL-- wrote:

Ideally i'd have kept this in the Black Shark thread to give BS more exposure, anyway....

I suppose I have a system close to yours, mine is a Core 2 Duo 1.8ghz overclocked to 3.0ghz with 2gb and a 7900 GS. In general BS is CPU dependant, the more stuff (AI flights, ground unts etc.) going on in a mission the greater impact on fps, however there are ways to mitigate this.

I run BS with all the options up full except for the water (medium) and the cockpit mirrors off. These are unnecessary fps hogs and everybody turns them off.

I run at 1680x1050 with 4xAA and 16xAF with Vsync on.In free flight with nothing else going on I get 30 to 45 fps, when its busy with other active units this can drop into the low 20s. I find this acceptable, you may think differently. I rarely get any stutters, and if you are running vista there is a slight hack that will give you another 50% increase in fps due to DX10 (although BS is DX9 only, weird but it works )

Yes, the crashing If you were to hop into a real Ka-50 and manage to get it off the ground right now, how long do you think you'd last? Believe me the flight model is the best ever created for any sim. That is not an idle boast, it is really that good. Expect to do a lot of reading on the subject of the autopilot and stabilisation system as you learn how to fly.

Until you have the A&S systems mastered and learned the peculiarities of a co-axial rotor system you will no doubt be involved in lots of Fiery Rotor-less Crashes (TM)

But believe me, learning the beast is so much fun, crashing is fun. When you do you first barrel roll, you will have such a sense of achievement.

The systems themselves are faithfully represented from the real aircraft a quick browse of even the Hydraulics part of this page should give you some indication of the depth of the systems http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=950&scr=default&lang=en#p8

The Damage model also faithfully represents system failures (Hydraulic failures, in particular, are a bitch)

Long story short, buy it, you'll be glad you did. For what it is, it is a steal.

Nate

Confab wrote:

Cheers Nate, sounds brilliant, I'm off to buy it, 20 fps sounds fine to me

You're right about the exposure, probably as well putting your reply up on the thread.

Niall

Wossack

I seem to have become quite obcessed with this after watching the startup video about 2 weeks ago :eek::o

I'll be looking at getting it from game.co.uk once they have it back in stock (it seems to fluctuate quite alot! In stock mon, gone tues, in wed ). And I'll be getting an x52 pro from dabs most likely (seems to be the best value decent HOTAS).

Any irish walk-in store have it? Any ive tried havent heard of it, and its not on game or gamestops systems afaik

Nate--IRL--

I haven't seen it in any Irish shop yet, I wouldn't count on seeing it anytime soon either. Its a very niche product, and my local Gamestop only has 1 rotating stand thing for all the PC games out today. It's all bloody consoles these days. Back when I were a lad...........grumble grumble.

The boxed copy is available from the Developers themselves for £35 ( http://fighter-collection.com/pages/tfc/shop/index.php )

A few left in stock in Amazon.co.uk ~£35 ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001UE7N8C/ref=s9_sims_gw_s0_p63_aw_t1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0A64AYCYV9FYR2K8TYP8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294 )

There could be more retailers that have it, but I haven't looked that hard. Game seem the cheapest, but as you said are out of stock.

Other than that, you still have the option of getting it right now with the Download Version from the DCS website ( http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ $50 ~ €37) or Direct2Drive ($40 ~ €30). The boxed copy is exactly the same as the Download, just on a disc.

As can be seen above, buying Directly from the developer is the more expensive option, but does have the benefit of all of the money going directly to the Developer (and to the developement of that lovely A-10C thats on its way)

Either way, for what you get, it is a steal at any of those prices.

Also due to go on sale from the Developers, is an Extended Hard copy ring bound manual for the Ka-50, this is due in about 2 weeks. Perfect bedtime reading

The X52 by all accounts is a decent bit of kit, it is a bit quirky with DCS for a small number of people, so if you do encounnter any oddities, head over to the DCS forum for guidance.

Nate

BattlingCheese

Just started playing this and wow it's going to need a fair bit of studying.
I'm an ex Falcon 4 player and boy I had long weeks trying to master that but this is intense.

Me thinks I will have to raid the work printers printing off the documentation and simhq stickies

Mr Benevolent

Still evaluating this... I'm not enamoured by the flight model, it's been done in X-Plane for the last 10 years and is only better when compared to FSX. The only really revolutionary thing is the way the view leans in turns and the sense of perspective, which is excellent. Graphics aren't anything to get carried away with either.

The systems? Meh. Give me an MD11 any day. This thing is like learning the systems for a 737-200 or maybe a King Air... not that much of a challenge. Once you figure out the engine start the rest comes easily. Yeah yeah the ABRIS is complicated. I don't think anyone cares at the end of the day whether the ABRIS accurately simulates the toilet flushing :rolleyes:

My conclusion? €50 down the crapper. Now I understand why they didn't want to make a demo. Back to XP and FSX for me. I won't be buying a standalone sim again unless it's under €25.

BostonB

Isn't this a combat sim? Why no mention of the combat?

Nate--IRL--

Confab wrote: »

My conclusion? €50 down the crapper. Now I understand why they didn't want to make a demo. Back to XP and FSX for me. I won't be buying a standalone sim again unless it's under €25.

Sorry to hear you feel that way Confab, personally I love it, I think its fantastic combat sim. To each his own i suppose, but then again I never really got in to FSX, I need explosions

Nate

Nate--IRL--

Now on steam, uses Steam DRM now, not starforce. Bit more expensive though - €40

http://store.steampowered.com/app/61000/

Nate