Major SNAFU

Hmmm. I mostly agree with the Apache comment, but I think that what most vitrual pilots will want is the LongBow. I, for one, miss my RADAR, FLIR, and fire and forget weapons...... But I am really enjoying the BS. Very different philosophy in aircraft design and pilot interaction with systems. Don't get me wrong, people will buy for the Apache, but I think even more people would buy if it were the LongBow (AH-64D), which I know from teh forum is not in ED's plans. I will buy it regardless as we have to keep ED in the green so we can have ongoing development of excellent flight sims. SNAFU

I am certain I am entering the coordinates properly, because when I use them they take me to the correct position. So I think I have that licked. The more I play with the PVI-800 (and ABRIS) the more I am finding them a real asset. I can see using target points to keep track of potential threats, etc. Thanks for the information. SNAFU

I'm sticking with Black Shark. I also come from a Falcon 4 and IL2 (most recently) background and I find BS very much scratching an itch I had almost forgotten after my greatly loved LongBow2. That being said, I will want to try some training multiplayer soon. What is the current popular voice coms package? Teamspeak or what?

Now that would be a graphic that would be amusing to see modeled. :D

Just to be clear, so the PVI-800 only accepts DDD.MM.M, not DDD.MM.MM? In none of my attempts to input data into the PVI-800 would it accept and display the hundreths of a minute place. So we should always round the tenths place as we feel appropriate for the mission, correct? So as a minute equals (at sea level) 1853 meters), then .1 minutes is 185 meters and .01 is 18.53 meters. So the PVI-800 is accurate to around 185 meters, plus half again to be safe due to rounding. Do I have that right?

Many thanks! I want to point out, with respects to the other thread, that I am not attempting to overwrite anything. This is a mission I made for myself with no TP or FixPoints (haven't had time to read on how to do them in the mission editor). I am inputing fresh coordinates for a new TP 1 (no pre-existing data).

Following up on this as I have been working with inputting traget points in the PVI-800. I have the ABRIS set to DDD:MM.MM which is the format that the PVI-800 wants, BUT does the PVI-800 accept the hundreths of a minute data? To me it looks like the PVI-800 only accepts DDD:MM.M. For instance, I attempt to input the following for TP1: 0(+), 0,4,3,0,5,1,9 for 043 degrees, 05 minutes and 19 hundredths of a minute. but the PVI-800 does not accept the final "9" (what I mean is that it doesn't display it, so I don't know if I have poluted the next set of numbers. So I try again and input 0(+),0,4,3,0,5,1 for Lat. Then 0 (+), 0,4,1,1,0,9 (again the PVI-800 doesnt accept/display the final 9 so I start again with this final input sequence: Lat: 0(+),0,4,3,0,5,1 Lon: 0(+),0,4,1,1,1,0 <ENTER> on PVI-800 keypad I set back to OPER mode and check TP1 and I see: 43051 in the top set of numbers 043 degress, 05 minutes and 1 tenth of a minute (should have rounded up myself) and 041109 in the bottom set of numbers. 041 degrees 10 minutes and 9 tenths of a minute ( so the PVI-800 changed 11 minutes to 10.9 minutes). Is the PVI-800 rounding the entries? Why? What does it use for the rounding calculation since I didn't input the hundreths of a minute? Thanks,

Many, many thanks. I find the ABRIS and PVI-800 confusing coming from Falcon 4's avionics. Just a matter of practice. If I recall, you can set the tolerance for how close you need to overfly a waypoint to have them both "auto-advance"? So what is the more realistic way of preparing a mission where the number of way points will exceed what the PVI-800 can hold? Do you hover at the last point and then input the next set of way points in the PVI? (edit - I think I have the PVI-800 and ABRIS confused again, don't I) Or is that too un-realistic compared to real-world operations? The reason I ask is that I could have used a good many more points in the mountain terrain. I took a wrong turn following a valley and got spent quite some time flying around until I figured out where I had gone wrong. If I had put a few more way points in, I could have quickly switched to the next one and been clued into where I needed to turn. BTW: Flying through the valleys in this sim is nearly a game unto itself. I spent quite a bit of time flying around in the mountains and seeing how close I could follow the terrain once I gave up on the ABRIS issue for a while.

Hi all, I am struggling a bit in the mission editor. I created a mission to relocate and recon a small village in the mountains, following a river, etc., etc. However, when in mission I am getting caught up on a misunderstanding between waypoints and steerpoints. What I currently understand is this: Each point you click in the editor is a waypoint. The ABRIS can only hold 6 waypoints at a time. The currently selected waypoint is *the* steerpoint that the caret in the HUD will indicate. So here is my problem: I have 8 way points in my mission, including t/o and landing. I fly to and past my first waypoint (which is steerpoint 2) and I think is waypoint 1 in the ABRIS - but I get confused on this as well. Do they both start at zero? Anyway, noticed that the ABRIS didn't seem to be matching up with the caret in the HUD. So I went into auto-hover to do some checking. Now, when I select different waypoints with the ABRIS pad, the steering caret updates to the correct position (I planed out the way points to very different angles to assist in confirming this). BUT, the ETA, etc. information in the ABRIS doesn't change when I select the different waypoints. All ETAs and distance to waypoint remain exactly the same regardless of what waypoint I select. I re-read the ABRIS section of the manual, but I am missing something rather basic I fear and I am quite stuck. Also, the graphical representation on the XTE on the ABRIS display (any mode) nor the deviation in desired altitude seem to update either. The later I proved by hovering and then rising up and down in a vertical column to check to see if there was a response. Lastly, the green line in the ABRIS always points from ownship to the t/o point regardless of what I select. Can some kind soul please point out what I am missing? Thanks, SNAFU

I second the request for a new download link! Thanks, SNAFU

Looks really good.

Ah, Thanks for the extended explanation. Well, that is a disappointment. For me, the lack of being able to use trees for cover in a helocopter sim is a real blow. I mean, if you look at some of the military tactical manuals for helo use, they all seem to indicate using trees for cover. Is there a way to get rid of all of the trees? If all that can be used for cover is buildings and the ground, then anyting that clutters up the topography and keeps me from seeing what I can make effective use of is, in my opinion, a detriment to employing the helo on the battlefield. I know that this is, as has been pointed out, a flight-sim first (although I would point out for the sake of arguement that the series is named Digital COMBAT Simulation). And I am having a blast learning to squeeze the most out of the helo and I willingly support ED and their products because I believe in voting with your money and quality flight combat sims are few and far between. But once I get to a certain level of mastery with the helo, I am going to expect the hard won skill to reap dividends on the battlefield. If I get blown out of the sky because I could not see some potential covering terrain because of the trees (which are of no use is this regard), that will be frustrating. But this can be combated by not attempting to engage targets in large, flat and effectively coverless terrain except from long distances. Please keep in mind that I am saying this without having tried a "hot" mission or campaign yet. I'm still taming the beast, as it were. I am just trying to understand and anticipate what kinds of tactics will will be able to employ. Anyway, thanks for the information and I will be hoping that ED can find a way to justify addressing this that fits with their development plans in the future. SNAFU

Hi crazyeddie, Thanks for the reply. Those pics look great. I am not sure I understand you comment about sides. I mean I get that the building, tree, etc. would be assigned a side. But what difference would it make what side a tree was "on". It is an inert object. If I made a ring of buildings aka trees and they were side "x" and I was flying on side "y" and I landed in the opening between them (or just hovered for cover) what difference would it make? I would still have LOS blocked by all units on the other side of the building wall, correct? Thanks, SNAFU

Well. I have it all working. I don't know what was wrong. I switched to Dragon's sharkpit and it loaded fine, then went one to load a number of others (including ones that would not load individually) and so far no problems. SNAFU

Hi all, I am runing on XP Pro SP3 I have tried the following mods. ModMan7 skin sample Real Tower Frequency 1.1 KA-50 Cockpit HD Dashboard and Instruments MemoBalistic Selector Improved Lights I originally tried all of the above at once, and BS will not launch a mission. I took all of the out and all was fine again. I tried ModMan 7 skin sample and Real Tower Frequency 1.1 = BS will not launch a mission. I tried ModMan 7 skin sample alone, and BS launches. Since then, I have tried each mod listed above singly. The only one with which BS will run in the ModMan 7 skin sample. For all others, I can select a mission, but when I click the "fly" button, BS chews on it for awhile and then crashes. Thanks, SNAFU

Hi all, I decided to try out ModMan. DOwnloaded and installed, then it upgraded to 7.2.x.x. I then tried to load a few skins, a new cockpit and the real airport mods. result was that DCS BS will not launch into a mission. I took everything back out and now it is working again. BS in installed in f:\program files\Eagle dynamics\Ka-50. Modman is installed in f:\Modman I have since tried just putting in a single skin and am still having problems. Do I need to uninstall BS and re-install it in a directory not within the programs files group? Thanks, SNAFU

Hi all, I was thinking about the issue of AI transparent trees and it struck me that if you could add a new "building", but change the graphic to look like a tree or clump of trees, we might have a work-around. If new buildings/objects can be added into the game, then I am up to start trying to see if I can make something work graphically. SNAFU

Only SIM mode, baby! I am really enjoing this departure from Falcon 4. Gentlemen, I appreciate all of your assistance! SNAFU

LOL. Last question for the day (ha!) How do you turn on the red graphic in the lower-left hand side of the sim that is shown on the Trim video? I haven't made it that far in the manual....

The key combo is LALT+T. The control in the helo is on the cyclic stick, but I don't know if it is "click-able" or even visible in the sim.

Gentlemen, Regarding your fist observation - I think I mis-led you or I am misunderstanding. For me, Trim is normally always on shortly after T/O. When you hit the trim key on the stick, and trim is active, you are suspending trim while you hold the button down, make adjustments to your flight path, stabilize (manually) the helo then release the trim button while letting the stick center. After a few moments the trim is re-established according to how the helo is flying now. Or do I have this all backwards? So the rotation and banking I am seeing are while trim stabilization is "on". I suspend it to make manual corrections and then re-enable trim. The problem is that when I suspend the trim, the manual inputs didn't seem to do anything (yet this is exactly the same process I use when flying around, hovering, etc. which seems to work; so it must have something to do with being slow and near the ground?) The banking and my attempts to adjust lasted much longer than the 2-3 seconds that trim takes to establish itself. for a time I neutralized my descent trying to level the helo. This went on for some minutes before I made teh attempt to force it to the ground. I want to point out that this was an anomally for me. Usually I have not been having problems landing, and usually I was doing a more vertical landing. I had read that landing moving forward was easier because you are moving ahead of the groudn effect, so I was attempting something new. I will review the manual again on the hud function you mention and pay more attention to it. Thanks, SNAFU

Well, Back again with yet another question: I was flying in Parabellum's training mission and had practiced t/o and landing for a bit. Then I proceeded to complete the mission of destroying the tanks, etc. with Vikhrs, missiles and guns. I had read about making sure to clear/turn of all weapons settings and to disengage the altitude hold after an auto-hover to make sure there were no problems with normal flight. I've made a check list just for doing an after-weapons/After auto-hover just to make sure I don't miss something. Anyway, I approach the base for landing (getting low on fuel by this point). I go into a manual near-hover (about 20 kph @ 100 meters) about 2 klicks from the end of the runway. I run through my checklist to verify that there is nothing left over from employing weapons, etc. No auto rotate, no moving ground. HUD reset and double-checked again by backspace. Altitude auto-pilot disengaged - verified. It looks like I am ready to land. I proceed in at about 45 kph and hold my descent rate to 1-4 m/s. Things are shaping up nicely. Using trim frequently when I make any cyclic adjustments. At about 30 meters from the runway surface droping at 1 m/sec I begin to notice a slight, but increasing, rotation and banking to the right. I hit the trim on the stick and move the cyclic slightly to correct and there is no response from the helo. I increase the movement on the cyclic slowly and there is still no response. The right-ward rotation continues (slowly) and the bank stabilizes at about 10-15 degrees. I am now not over the run way and moving about 20-30 KPH. I then do what I know I should not do and that is to try and bull the helo to the ground, with the resulting fireball. You cannot muscle this helo to the ground like I can muscle a fixed wing onto the ground (approaching the runway at a 30 degree angle, no prob, snap the rudder just prior to flare and she drops onto the runway nice as you please). Have to pound this through my head somehow ( I know, practise, practise). What I should have done is increased collective and aborted the landing until I could re-stabilize the helo and try again. My question after this long ramble is, what happened? I can't correct the problem until I understand what caused it. My guess is that 20-30 KPH was too slow and I ran afoul of an asymetric ground effect of some kind, perhaps there was more wind than I had anticipated. What I don't understand is why even extreme movement of the cyclic with the trim button pressed had no effect on the helo's behaviour. I await the sages.... SNAFU

Thanks for the assist. I am pretty sure I was switching over before the LH engine was spooled up sufficiently.

Hi all (again), I tried searching for this one, but didn't find a good hit. I have most of the basic controls sorted and can cold start, take off, land, and am starting to master the hover tricks and the Trim. The one thing that bothers me at this point is that the ASI in the upper left shows a red flag with "DIR" on it. It appears to otherwise function. I sorted (thanks to the above post) the missing switch in my start up that kept the backup ASI from working. I have one other question regarding start up, this has happened to me a number of times now. I have progress through to a successful start of the left engine and it is spinning up. I then enable the fuel to the right engine, switch the engine seelctor to the right and the right engine begins to spin up w/o my having to click on the start button. If it has done this, and I then move the engine (left side red lever) cut-off to the "run" position @ around 18%, then engine will sit at around 23-25% and then spin back down. If I move the Red cut off back to the start position, wait a bit and then hit the start button with the right engine selected, it will then spin back up and I again move the red cut off @ around 18%. This time the engine spins up normally. This doesn't happen every time. I would say 20% of the time. I follow the same check list each time and I don't skip around - so I am a bit puzzled. Ah, one more thing I wanted to ask. Is it just me, or is the EKRAN switch already in the on position when you first get to the helo? It is hard to read the text on this switch. I wish the tools tips reported the current state as well as the label of the toggle, etc. Thanks, SNAFU

thanks.