Zembla

From what I understand, what you're saying is only half true. Certain parts of the Ka-50 are still classified, as f.ex. an IFF system, or something to that effect. At least that was mentioned a few times in some posts by some ED representatives. Or my memory could be failing me, and they indeed have the full data of the plane, or are allowed to recreate the plane according to the full data. I think there's also an element of synergy involved. More specifically, I gather a plane is more likely to be modeled/featured in a DCS release, if both the military and the entertainment division of ED can both work on that project. So also the military's desktop simulation projects will be a factor there. As with anything, I could be wrong :) -Z

I think the game only requires the internet to exchange some data during the activation process. So if you can get it to connect to the net to activate it, I think you'll be fine. Maybe someone else can confirm or deny...? -Z

You hit the nail on the head there though :) There are a lot of self-proclaimed experts in the community, that and indeed, a lot of chest beating about how difficult it is to ramp start an F-16 or something (which in the end is just a 40 step procedure, not rocket science). That said, it's not about how difficult it is, it's about the lure of it. Not a lof people looking for the sort of quick thrill most modern games offer, will be convinced to try the somewhat more patient, longer approach flight sims require. Sure some will, but of those how many will try the conversion from "game" to "simulation" mode? I'm not saying Steam wouldn't be a success, I'm all for the developers fanning out the distribution of their fantastic game through other channels, I'm just not sure it's going to be such a huge contribution. -Z

Sounds almost like a threat, an empty one at that. You have made three posts, all in this thread, so it's fair to say you're more likely the one to be trolling here than Pole Cat. People expressed an opinion, it's their right to have one, it's your right to have a different one. Saying the success of DCS: Black Shark falls and stands with the implementation of that game in the virtual storefront that is Steam is a very very large stretch, and shows you don't really understand what sort of a niche this is. This is the sort of niche that people devote years working on a mod of a product, ages old, and people actually still dedicatedly follow the mods being released for that product. This is a community where people are a lot more altruistic, and a lot more patient than you seem to think. This is NOT Counter-Strike with helicopters, a game I'd imagine you'd need a strong multiplayer component for. Multiplayer in DCS is all fine and dandy, but Steam isn't the solution to dwindling multiplayer numbers, Steam at most is going to represent a client base as large as the one that gets the boxed version of the game. -Z

I don't like having to be logged in, having to be online, to play a game when I'm only going to use the singleplayer side of it. I play some Steam games, online, on Steam, and for that it works. It's a good digital distribution platform as well, the way it obliges you to be logged in to the service to play those games though is shoddy to say the least. It's good that they distribute many more publisher's titles than Valve's alone, it's just such a shame you need to be connected to anything, or in general are forced to do things their way, while you know there is another, just as viable, easier way. -Z

You're passing the blame. And the blame is Windows'es at best. Anyway, in the folder tree you'll see, Desktop stands on top, below that there should be things like Network, a falder named after your username, maybe a folder called Public, and then one called Computer, click that one, you'll see your drives, when clicking the correct one, you should be able to navigate to your DCS install folder. Also, Skypat, when installed to C:\ModMan, in my Vista installation it will still need to be ran as Administrator to ensure full functionality, to avoid having to point ModMan to DCS on every launch. -Z

Well, be that as it may. The "designate"-ing of the Shkval, just activates/uncages it, it doesn't lock/designate anything unless you press it in conjuction with operating the HMS. So, let's be clear, you rarely use the one, unless using the HMS, which this thread isn't about. In this thread it's about locking a target, so yeah, as I already said, when I said designating I meant locking. -Z

TD stands for target designation, the gates in other words. They form a sort of box, in other games (a.o. LOMAC this box is referred to as the TD box, or the target designation box, unless I misremember of course :)) The designate button is the lock button yes. So, to avoid any confusion, designating and locking are pretty much synonymous. Designation of a target as such then refers to moving the gates over the target and pressing the lock button. -Z

Maybe it's because your gate is too big? You can decrease the size of those. If it's failing to lock a moving object, what you can try is slewing the designator over the area your target will be moving through in a matter of split seconds. Once it does move through the area, you can push the designate button, it's a matter of timing rather than accuracy now. Once the Shkval picks up the movement of the target, you can reposition the TD as you please over the target by holding the designate button together with any TD movement keys. Practice makes art, or so they say here in Belgium :p -Z

You mean when you manually hover then? Flight director namely won't work with auto-hover. -Z

EKRAN often enough tells me "Perform NAV POS fix" or something to that effect. So, yeah, the PVI is updated through the GPS, you can fly over the INS fix point (you know when you're over it because of your ABRIS), or you can use the Shkval to update your INS. Or am I misinterpreting your question? Are you asking if the position is automatically updated? May I also point out the K-041 is mainly the targeting system, and the PVI is the inertial navigation system (INS). So, maybe the K-041 is updated automatically, but I know for sure the PVI isn't. -Z

The way videocards and CPU's handle arithmetics are different. It's one of the reasons why a lot of things like "folding" etc are done with your graphics card nowadays rather than with a CPU. The absence of a feature is not a bug. Also, Crossfire/SLI aren't exactly "multicore" in the sense that a Core 2 Duo processor is a multicore processor, AFAIK. What you're suggesting might well be an overhaul of the engine, which may come with new releases of later installments in the DCS series, but may just as well play second fiddle to recreating avionics/flight with authenticity. I know what I choose. Why does that need to be fixed? I'd rather see them focus on something that's either really broken, or could stand a lot to improve, than waste their time on something that does pretty much exactly what it should. -Z

How did you manage to make a SATA HD slave? SATA is always master :) -Z

You sure you're not confusing the Sikorsky designation with the Army / Navy designation? Sikorsky calls its bird the S-70, the Navy the SH-60, the Army the UH-60 / MH-60. On topic: realistically speaking, I'd like a Cobra. Seems like a fun helicopter to fly, or a Kiowa Warrior or a Little Bird failing that :) -Z

I guess you just didn't read the whole post then? :) You're suggesting he spend €250 on an upgrade that's more of an update, a patch if you will. It's better, but not by as much as I'd say really warrants an upgrade. It's his choice ultimately. For the RAM, I wouldn't go above the 800MHz mark either, try getting low latency RAM, rather than fast clocked RAM. Unless you're instantly going to overclock, you won't notice that much of a performance boost with the higher clocked RAM in comparisson to the lower clocked RAM. Between 800MHz and 667MHz etc though there is a sensitive difference. -Z

World War Two Online? Or do you mean Aces High? Or Warbirds? Also Armed Assault and Battlefield have it, not to mention Operation Flashpoint. None really makes operating the different vehicles that authentic. I think the game would suffer from it. And even then, most programming focus I think can be best aimed at producing other true-to-life recreations such as the Black Shark. Anything 's possible, but it would take a lot of time to get it to the level you're hoping :) And if released without getting to that level, it would just be the odd one out, and it would stand out as such. -Z

Most tests show an X2 6400+ to be about the same performance wise as an E6850, a chip he could fit on his motherboard. Also, your current CPU, that you seem to be getting favorable performance with, comes up in the benchmarks as being nearly (with a tiny margin of 1,5% depending on which benchmark). Logic then would dictate that if you're getting good fps, he wouldn't need to get a new processor, let alone buy / fit a whole new motherboard. So yeah, maybe a new graphics card wouldn't be bad either, but again there, better to advance in strides, than to only make a small step. Also, 4GB vs 2GB holds up if you use WinXP32bit, but, if you go 64 bit, or in general, with the current RAM hungry games, 4GB isn't such a waste at all. I'm on Vista 64 bit, and nothing but a few ancient programs won't run, what I need to run which won't run I dual boot into 32 bit XP for. -Z

The good thing is it's the same socket as most CPU's on the market. The bad thing, as I said, is that you'll aparently only be able to get a CPU with an FSB of 266,5MHz max. Which isn't half bad, but doesn't give you a whole lot of options to be honest. With a FSB like that you'll be looking at an E6*** or Q6*** processor. The Q6600 is still fairly pricey, and eventhough I'm perfectly happy with mine, I wouldn't recommend getting that one for new, it'd be better to shell out a little more cash when you have the chance, and make a leap of progress, rather than a not all that big of a step. You can check Tomshardware's CPU charts. Or, you could buff the €250 to €500 or something when you can, and go for a newer/better system that way. It's always tricky advising people what to upgrade. Upgrading can be a lot of money, and not always be money well spent. It kinda depends on what you expect/are willing to spend. That said, for now, seeing as your processor isn't that half bad to be quite honest, and mainly that it's not old enough to really have any feasible upgrades that come at a low price, I'd suggest giving the RAM a good hugging for the time being :) Shouldn't cost much, but will make a difference, not necessarily much of a difference either though. -Z

Try running CPU-Z. It's a neat tiny proggie that'll fetch all your relevant system info. -Z

RAM and processor both should be feasible for €250. RAM's pretty cheap nowadays, and my guess is the current high end range of processors wouldn't fit your motherboard. So, you'd have to buy stuff from a year ago or something, socket 775 processors with a FSB clockspeed of no more than what your motherboard can run. I'm guessing that's going to be 1066 (/4 = 266,5 = an E6400's FSB), or 1333 maybe at the maximum for your motherboard. -Z

I generally line myself up either behind or to the side of the landing pad. Then when I decrease my altitude, when I hit the 30m marker or something (all done visually, don't really watch the altitude indicator), I slowly fly the heli over the pad. Bring her to a hover there, and let her settle down gently. Not sure if this is the best method, but indeed, otherwise it's kinda hard to know wether or not you're lined up nicely with the pad :p -Z

There is a very big difference between Black Shark (Eagle Dynamics), FighterOps (XSi) and Jet Thunder (Thunderworks) though. Neither XSi nor Thunderworks are being developped by a team of professionals. By which I mean, the developers of both games do it on the side, because they want to make a product, but not as their profession. Eagle Dynamics however is a professional studio, with plenty of contacts, and contracts, the fruit of which we can enjoy. Not to mention, Eagle Dynamics hardly fits the "new" bill, they've been around long enough. As such, both FighterOps and Jet Thunder have a TBA release date, which shifts quite easily. I'm looking forward to FighterOps as well as Jet Thunder, but we may well have received a second installment in the DCS series before either hits the (virtual) shelves. -Z

ATi Control Panel is what you mean, and he already said he's using it :) Tbh Amagad, ATi drivers and their inability to force AA have been around for a while now. Depending on which game you try it on, it'll work, either marginally, or not at all. More cases not though. There was a thread about this on the ATi forums a while back, clicky. Though I'm hearing later versions of nVidia drivers suffer from the same impediment. -Z

Whenever I get too close and want to strafe, you know, when you've taken out all the threats, and don't want to waste too much HE rounds on target, I usually target with the HMS. Correction with the Shkval is usually necessary, keeping it exactly on target while moving isn't really that easy :) Not sure what you mean by CCIP system? The rockets seem to have a CCIP system that works just fine, sure, they don't always hit there, but then again, they're just rockets :p I'm almost surprised if they exactly hit the spot I targeted. If you want to aim the weapons through maneuvering you can always change the weapons mode (above the laser operation switch). Should make the gun fire along the waterline. -Z

Did that. I landed at a nearby FARP when I last got the issue, was nearly out of Vikhrs anyway, and could use some fuel, so powered down completely. Rearmed & refueled, ready to take off again, hoping it was some simulation of being low on battery or something, so I hooked her up to ground power too, did pretty much everything. Took off, went to try and take out those last 3 tanks that would turn a 90% complete into 100% complete... and still had the issue :| Will try the Shkval wiper thingy next time, don't think I've tried that one yet, didn't really think it was functional/implemented, thought it served about the same use as opening the door, a pretty animation :p -Z