Reticuli

Personally, I find the FD only useful at night. Otherwise it just seems pretty superfluous. Switching the heading diamond to heading or track usually seems enough...or just looking at the ARBIS in HUD only mode.

It's continuously yawing slightly even with autopilot-proper off because of Heading Hold, which does just that. It is not a true rate-damping channel (that desired rate being a max rate limit or zero, depending on if input is present, or not), as is more common. Turn the Heading/Track switch to its middle/off position to see where it's currently set. Note, you can't see it when in any weapons mode. Retrimming and double-tapping Head Hold can each reset the diamond to a new heading. Or you can just turn that channel off when you don't want to use it, though it requires minor yaw adjustments all the time and even counter yaw to stop a started rotation. ED said something about during coordinated turns the Head Hold channel getting specifically overriden in the Blackshark FCS due to a large off-center velocity vector, but I don't see how that matters since the entire autopilot/FCS only has 20% authority for any control axis. So all you have to do is input more than 20% and it's like Head Hold is off, anyway. Ditto with the autopilot-proper when not using forcefeedback. You can use GlovePIE and PPJoy to add manual trim axiis and other nifty things, if you're interested in doing that.

I always wanted to nod my head up and down to people in multiplayer when wearing my eMagin Z800 HMD in flaming cliffs. Couldn't do it. I could turn it back and forth in a "no", though.

I thought I read in the DCS:BS manual that real shark pilots "more often" use Flight Director, not less. And it turns off the autopilot flying the aircraft for you to the waypoint (or exactly on the course track, depending on the heading/track switch setting), instead giving you HUD cueing and symbology telling you how far off in orientation you are from where you'd be if the actual autopilot-proper was on. If it wasn't confusing enough, "flight director" is sometimes the name of the navigational computer the autopilot-proper gets its course information from in some western civilian aircraft. You also usually have a means of choosing between this advanced single-console solution as your source or the more antiquated back-up nav system with a knob or switch. So it's quite a bit different in the Ka-50 modeled here.

I would think because both main rotors are propelling air downward normally. Vortex ring requires sufficient decent rate, high enough collective, and low enough lateral (front and/or side) velocity that the downwash is getting sucked back up into the main rotor(s) -- usually the inner portion, like a doughnut, hence the "ring" -- rather than being used to push against the surrounding air medium, thus self-perpetuating a sudden reduction in lift. I don't see why having more than one main rotor would make that more of a problem. I get a hunch there's a little more behind your question, though. What were you thinking might be contributing to it? It's an interesting question and since I'm no expert on the matter I can't say there wouldn't be some issues involved. As a general rule, the correct procedure is to lower collective to regain cyclic authority, and use front/side motion to get out of the ring state. It doesn't seem to be perfect in DCS, but it's close. I believe the correct way to prevent it is to either keep your decent rate very low in a hover or at very low speeds, or if you need to decend very rapidly, fly down instead. BTW, that pic looks familiar. Is that from the FAA manual? Think I have that one.

Have you ever flown X-Plane 8 utilizing manual trim, autopilot, and auto-trimming of pitch loads? I have like a dozen modded helos for it that fly stunningly. Even the Werewolf flies similarly to the DCS version, perhaps even better, though it does not have fixed ground trim, use a combined trim-wingsleveling system (fine by me), or model certain types of helo stalls. Some of the stalls can be worked in, like low rpm & retreating blade, if you tweak the aircraft Vspecs with planemaker enough and I'm not sure if 9 has vortex rings. Blackshark's rings modeling is a bit weird, though. Too much cyclic authority when they hit, which also seems to be at too high a speed, and lateral motion does not remedy them as much as it should...considering you still have so much cyclic authority and ability to sideslip, which you shouldn't until you lower collective at least a little. The correct procedure, according to the US FAA, should be to drop collective sufficient to regain some cyclic authority, and use cyclic to get out of it before crashing. EECH's sucked, being closer to what you should do when you have low rpm stall (though your rpms were fine), though it also didn't model low rpm stall. Weird. But at least something is in there on rings in both sims, right? Blackshark is the first time I know of anyone's ever gotten the need to reduce collective at all right. So that's a plus.

I hate the VR pit shake in LB2 and that you can't see the flir. I think it's a bit odd to say since certain helos were tested for using AAMs but never equiped with them as yet, that somehow that justifies not simulating them in a sim. No modern russian or american helicopter has ever gone up against another modern airforce or helicopter force, so there has never been a need as yet to use such weapon systems. If you're going to make a combat flight sim that models such scenarios, it's absolutely appropriate to include them. You don't think if we went to war with Iran or Korea and airborne threats were an issue for helos they wouldn't be equiped with them?

The script will work with anything. GlovePIE doesn't care what your stick is, except that you need to change the axis names or get them to match up in PPjoy. That utility can be used with any, even the most complex, HOTAS, head mounted display (HMD), the Wii remote, VR gloves, TrackIR emulation, and lots of other stuff. One of the best tools around. I don't know about ch or tm scripts, but you could very easily adapt the concept of the script for stick-specific program schemes that you may already have available without needing GlovePIE. More simple than it looks, probably. The Blackshark 1 dat is really not anything. I have only one key programmed: the rotary press (x52 mouse button 2) as shkval center since the original dat profiler and x52 (non-pro) doesn't allow that key to be recognized normally. So, yeah, I haven't actually programmed my x52 yet. I just threw it in there to be complete. I essentially have only one mode on my HOTAS and it's through the sim's key assignments...so it has nothing to do with the X52 mode rotary itself. Whatever you want the trim reset key to be on your stick, change joystick.button6 in GlovePIE to that. No biggy. Mod away! Since you already have an x52 Pro, I recommend you download the big V10 profiles so that you can get GlovePIE, PPJoy, and more detailed instructions on getting exactly the same axis assignment as me. You also have to make sure you run GlovePIE and go through the Windows calibration for the stick so everything is properly recognized. Often it won't even show up otherwise. In your case, the rudder pedals would also need to be assigned in PPJoy instead of the twist. If I were you, I would just have them both in PPJoy assigned. Then in the script just + (add) that axis in the respective spots right next to the top rotary and twist that's already there so they can all work together. Just keep the X52 lock on when you're not using the twist. Having the rotary is immensely helpful for fine trimming or when heading hold is turned off. Not sure if the X52 LUA in Blackshark will work for you. Try it and let me know what shows up in the sim under control options. I have the stick curves changed slightly, along with the key assignments. I find that necessary in X-Plane, as well. So in my opinion, the LUAs and script work together just right. Otherwise the capture rate and trim ranges will need tweaking to get my results. The end result of all this is something closer to X-Plane, EECH with my trim bands X52 dat, Gunship!, Longbow Anthology, and real FBW helos that use recentering joysticks. Rough, but it does the trick if you're gentle, but don't you have to be already? Don't be afraid to email me if you have problems. My address is in the readme. If it's not working for you, I am certain your issues can be resolved. Everytime I think it can't be done, I find a way. So don't just install the stuff, run it, and if it doesn't work abandon it. I have the flu right now, so plenty of time available...plus it's a holiday. heh heh. God my head hurts!

Forget FLIR for a moment, does the Shkval even have basic light amplification ability?

Reinstall?

So is any custom res possible within the sim portion?

Here's a better script. And sorry for having the slider axis not inverted. I will fix that. Not sure yet if I like 45 or 50 capture rate better, but you can put it at whatever you want. A higher number will have more bobbing/wobbling, but be less prone to overcontrol. The available trim needed some limiting added and has reduced the tendency to continue rolling or pitching. if singleclicked(joystick1.Button6) then begin { var.y = -0.2 var.x = -0.1 } if doubleclicked(joystick1.button6)then begin { var.y = -0.5 var.x = -0.1 } if helddown(joystick1.button6, 1) then begin { var.y = 0 var.x = 0 } var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / 45 + var.y, -0.85, 0.0) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / 45 + var.x, -0.575, 0.275) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x PPJoy1.Analog5 = Joystick1.zrot + (Joystick1.yrot * .5)

First version of my solution to DCS Blackshark's trim. You can download it at the lower link to AVSim Online. Here's the Readme: Note: Always reset your trim within the sim itself (ctrl+t) each time you start a mission that gives you a non-centered trim state, such as missions where you start out flying. Put the Blackshark 1 in your saitek software folder. Put PIE file in your GlovePIE profile directory. Obviously you need to download GlovePIE. Both LUA files go in your internal DCS profiles directory, which is somewhere inside of config/aircraft/ka-50/joystick, I think. I'm actually not totally sure if these are the correct ones, since I don't know where they saved. This is what was in the folder. You also need PPJoy installed. See the other uploads under my name if you want further details. Pinkie trigger single tap resets to slow flight trim or somewhere around the lower detent. Pinkie trigger double tap (quickly) resets to fast flight trim or somewhere around the upper detent. Holding the pinkie trigger for over a second will engage ground trim. When landing, you can choose to keep this held or not. The current "capture" value is 62. If you have very high fps in the sim, you can lower this to 50 if you'd like in the GlovePIE script. I currently have the y.rot (top of throttle) on the x52 as a 50% authority trim range, which is nice to suppliment the twist axis or pedals (if you have them). The three keys under the x52 MFD are the channel hold buttons. Reset is the all important Heading Hold. The middle is pitch. The right most is bank. Switch the Desired Heading/Desired Track switch to the middle when autopilot and weapons are not selected to see where the FCS is trying to realign you slowly to (limited to 20% authority). Yes the X52/DCS profiles are simple, but I've been mostly just using the keyboard and cockpit clicking for other commands. Not sure how much I want to program. I'd also like to plug, for a moment, the first commercially available stereoscopic driver set which actually works. Go to www.iz3d.com to download it. They already have a dcs profile for it. Please support this company if you have an interest in true 3D...especially if you have an ATI card. Here is the PIE script itself: PPJoy1.Analog2 = Joystick1.z if singleclicked(joystick1.Button6) then begin { var.y = -0.2 var.x = -0.1 } if doubleclicked(joystick1.button6)then begin { var.y = -0.5 var.x = -0.1 } if helddown(joystick1.button6, 1) then begin { var.y = 0 var.x = 0 } var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / 62 + var.y, -1, 1) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / 62 + var.x, -1, 1) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x if (abs(var.x) = 1) and (abs(Joystick1.x) > .0001) then BeepDefault if (abs(var.y) = 1) and (abs(Joystick1.y) > .0001) then BeepDefault PPJoy1.Analog5 = Joystick1.zrot + (Joystick1.yrot * .5)

It's amatures the US Army went to in the ADOCS program to find out how to create the next generation of helo control interfaces, precisely because of how stuck in their ways pre-existing pilots are. When you're trying to reduce casualties and crashes, sometimes you have to tell the real pilots to shut up. So ditto.

Or choice 6: I read most of it except the ARBIS section the first two days it was available. I got the sim, started fiddling with stuff, then went back to the manual to look things up. When I wanted to learn more about the ARBIS, I started going through that again. Much of the manual is reference charts, though, so it looks more confusing and is shorter than it actually is. If there's something cryptic, just don't read it because probably it won't make any sense until you have hands-on with the system and get some sense of what they're talking about.

I agree. Separating cockpit textures into a separate setting in the options menu would be great. Though, if you have a lot of graphics card memory I'm not so sure turning the main setting down really helps THAT much. I think the info in the corner on mine said only 490MB were in use the last time I checked.

Seriously, if the autopilot is down in Blackshark, you might as well land there and quit the mission, because it's unlikely you're getting home in one piece without the pitch and bank hold channels. Why would Kamov even apply the trim to the pedals? Very little pressure is needed even in a hover to prevent the chopper from continuing to rotate with hover hold off. And the amount of pressure is not necessarily fixed, so trim becomes a less than steller solution. Seems to cause far more problems than it helps, especially with the heading hold point being reset at the same time you've retrimmed...causing a conflict. I don't see how FF pedals would improve things much, because you'd still have to look down at the control window, recenter them, and trim again each time you've actually set them off center. Having to hold down the pedals in a hover in a conventional light helicopter without tailmixing/crosscoupling and no heading hold autopilot is not uncommon. A coaxial design needs far less pedal in hover, so it's a terrible design choice. The more I'm flying the Ka-50 here, the more its design is seeming a disaster. Poor integration of aftermarket & thirdparty modules/systems, screwy yaw trimming you can't turn off that conflicts with the heading hold system, poor low light performance of the TV sensor, no flir (even police & boarder helos have that in the US), and on and on. It's cheap and not susceptable to being taken out by a single shot to the tail boom, but those are about the only positives worth mentioning. From a purely game-play standpoint, its negatives certainly make things dynamic and interesting, though.

The trim should not be affecting the pedals. That's what Heading Hold is for. Glitch. You should never have to trim the pedals in a coaxial helicopter. It should either rotate freely (Head Hold OFF) or the trim button should be resetting your heading (Head Hold ON). Because of this glitch (either a mistake on ED's part or incredibly stupid Kamov design decision), you are constantly fighting the Heading Hold reset feature and the pedals becoming trimmed. The pedals should ALWAYS be untrimmed in a coaxial helicopter. Either you (Head Hold OFF) or the AFCS (Head Hold ON) do constantly make small, varying corrections to the yaw (actually the rotation difference between the two main rotors), but that's not a trim. DCS:BS does not have yaw dampening. I have no idea if the real helo has it, but the Head Hold function effectively gives you the same end results...or it would if it wasn't conflicting with the trim. Until ED fixes this, my recommendation is to only turn Head Hold on when you actually want to hold a heading. And when you do have that channel on, either tap it off/on to reset new headings as needed, or when trimming make sure you center the pedals/twist before tapping Trim Button since it will reset your heading. If you want to see what Head Hold is currently using as its reference marker, change the heading diamond selector switch to the middle so it's on neither Desired Heading nor Desired Course. It's right next to the Flight Director button. When autopilot flying is not on, it's always there, but unless it's in the middle position you're not seeing it since the PVI-800 is hogging the diamond for itself. Piggy, piggy...give me back my diamond. I always have it in the middle unless I'm actually using the autopilot.

Because the PVI-800 doesn't get nav information from the ARBIS. Turns out they are two separate systems that work in parallel, but independently. As EvilBivol-1 described it, it's an aftermarket add on. If it was designed with it from the get-go, you'd have the PVI-800 and ARBIS routed to a selector switch/knob for choosing which one you want the autopilot getting its nav information from. I have yet to actually program them ahead of time in a mission editor, but I assume the sim loads them into both before hand. I would love if they could talk to each other or be selected between, mostly because the ARBIS is such a powerful system and who doesn't like a nice GUI? Heh heh. *** One thing to remember, I think, is we're not letting go of a non-tensioned cyclic in the real bird. If you let go of a real heli cyclic, usually the cyclic and corresponding rotor disc will tilt over on its own, right? I think someone said the newer Apaches don't actually allow you to get rid of the cyclic tension/trim setting, but let's disregard that one. With this sim, though, we are controlling a virtual cyclic, which you can see when the control display is up. The sim pilot's hand never actually comes off this virtual cyclic. Try this at home on DCS:BS. Fly strait and level at a speed of 100. Trim it out for that. Turn off all the hold channels, now come in on a 60 degree down angle. Even with the hold channels all off it will still always come back up...messy, but it does. So right now the Bank Hold and Pitch Hold functions are not really turning off. You're just losing some AFCS dampening ability. In contrast, Heading Hold is no real dampening feature at all right now, rather it's effectively or functionally dampening-like. What it's really doing is just, well, holding the heading. Good. Like I said, I don't know whether the real helo has yaw dampening or not when the Heading Hold channel is off. For all I know, it works just like this right now where it will mostly continue to rotate until you apply counter-pedal. The big issue with the yaw, though, and I am sure it's giving people much more trouble than anything else, is the fact that the pedals are affected by the cyclic trim button AND the heading hold reset feature that this trim button also produces. Do the following: put Heading Hold and Trim Button both on your HOTAS. Go fly. Set your airspeed for low or hovering. Now, trim the helo out only in the pitch and slightly in the bank to be level, but no pedal trim on the control display. With Heading Hold off, you rotate pretty much freely, and pedal input is pretty imprecise and requires some counter-pedal to stop. Fine, let's assume the Ka-50 does not have yaw dampening. Next, make sure the heading selector for the autopilot is on neither Desired Heading nor Desired Course. Leave it in the middle. It's right next to the Flight Director Button. Don't turn Route Autopilot on, though. This frees up the heading diamond in the HUD to properly reflect the Heading Hold setting at any moment. That's always happening in the background when the autopilot is not on, but this makes it easier to see what is happening since otherwise it will show your next PVI-800 waypoint. Assuming you're not rotating too quickly, tap Heading Hold on your HOTAS. The caret will realign to this new heading and the AFCS will slowly move at or close to it. Again, the pedals should show no trim on the control display. O.k., now pitch, bank, and rotate yourself moderately with the stick & pedals and tap the Trim Button on your HOTAS and release pressure on the controls. Now you have a problem. The system has trimmed the pedals *and* it has a new Heading Hold position. The latter is fine. The Trim Button should absolutely be resetting your Heading Hold to a new point. If the Ka-50 doesn't have a yaw dampening feature, this reset is necessary. However, the trimming system should not be affecting the pedals and that's what it has just done. Your virtual pilot now has his pedals stuck to one side while the AFCS is also attempting to realign to the new Heading Hold point you just set...which causes you to errantly rotate away from the desired heading. The Trim Button should be a function of the virtual cyclic only, not affecting the pedals at all. A coaxial rotor design does not require steady trimming in the yaw, since we don't have to worry about the imperfect tail-mixing/crosscoupling of conventional designs. It instead requires constant small, variable yaw input from either the pilot (if the Heading Hold is off) or from the AFCS (if Heading Hold is on), but it does not require a specific yaw trim. Instead in the sim now, we have the Heading Hold reset to this new spot AND a pedal trim added by the Trim Button. I guarantee this is 90% of people's control problems, the other 10% or so probably being the trim delay & the necessity to release the controls. Get rid of the Trim Button trimming the pedals, but leave the Heading Hold function unchanged: it is reset to a new heading by both turning Heading Hold on/off quickly and by tapping the Trim Button. But you wouldn't get the conflict and doubling up of inputs in the yaw. Now, I've become very proficient dealing with this issue in the sim. I often turn the heading hold off when I am not trying to actually hold a heading (duh!), and when I hit trim I always make sure the pedals/twist is not being applied at that moment. If I do accidentally trim the pedals, I immediately correct it with counter-pedal & another trim tap. But I would bet money this is not the way the real Ka-50 works. ED has been emphatic that the hold channels are kept on all the time, though they *can* be turned off (hence the reason the buttons are there). However, ED has already stated their trim arrangement is altered for home use, and my guess is they goofed up and applied it to the pedals, too, even though the Ka-50's Heading Hold function already entirely serves that purpose. Easy mistake. Easy fix for them. Totally understandable.

For one thing... if you have forcefeedback off, trimming the helo to another control/orientation state should not allow any stick input between center and that trim point in the bank and pitch axiis. Forget yaw for a moment, since Heading Hold is just that: Heading Hold, with only functional damping rather than real yaw damping in Blackshark right now. Retrimming or toggling Heading Hold simply sets a new heading. But in DCS, right now, turning off Bank Hold and Pitch Hold only turns off their respective axis dampening channels. It does not remove the Autopilot orientation hold states, which you can see still sloppily attempts to reorient. With Bank Hold, that is quite obvious to check for: you still level out with it off. Real helos do not do that, except under just tiny inputs or at very low speed. In the Pitch Hold, this is less obvious, but if you pitch down far enough even at the highest collective, there should be a point where aerodynamic streamlining effects weathervane the airframe in that direction, without any pitching back up. That does not happen and is a discrepancy. Both Bank and Pitch should not be leveling back out (so completely in the case of pitch) when Bank Hold and Pitch Hold are off...unless you'd like to rename these two buttons "dampening" and claim the AP orientation modes in those two axiis cannot be turned off or are inextricably tied to the AP orientation state. ??? Other than that, I find it hard to believe the KA-50 has no separate axis damping system for all three axiis, even if the three hold buttons are off. That's pretty standard fair, but I've never flown this bird for real, so Kamov would be more likely to know that. If you're expected to have the three hold channels (or at least Bank & Pitch) on at all times to give functional damping without having real damping, then I don't understand why you'd ever give the pilot the option to turn them off. To the trim system again, the stick should do nothing in bank & pitch until you get to the trim spot...like a big dead gap between the diamond and center. I'd also like to see a Dynamic Trim Update mode available in the options so if you don't have a forcefeedback stick, you can choose between manual trim or automated trim "capture" dynamically. All helicopters that do not use pole cyclics use that method as their primary flight control mode, with manual trim as a secondary mode. They do not use recentering procedures and added delayed-effects to get around the lack of the stick staying put. In fact, a side joystick with centering and Dynamic Trim Update is seen as an asset. Comanche, ADOCS Blackhawk, Dauphine Experimental, and latest prototype Apache & Chinook upgrades all use(d) this method. Don't be reinventing the wheel. The perfect elegant solution already exists. I do like the sim a lot, though I think the key commands could have been named better along the lines of how F4AF did it. Very hard to find everything under a long list in the options menu. It's a bit troubling the bad weather/night TV sensor filters are not implimented, but perhaps that is classified? I’m amazed you can’t use the ARBIS for the autopilot with an ARBIS/PVI-800 source switch, but I might be missing something. Seems like a bit of a waste, but again, Kamov’s decision, not ED's and I'm still not totally through the monster manual. Naming the HUD autopilot manual mode "Flight Director" makes sense since it is coaching or directing you on the control inputs, but is really confusing to civilian pilots who may be used to that being the name of the navigational computer. The flight model is very good in spite of my above comments, approaching that of X-Plane's, which doesn’t even do certain types of helo stalls. My above remarks are meant to be constructive, so try not to take them too personally. This sim is a major achievement.

When the CD is not in, Starforce doesn't tell me to put the disk in. When the disk is in, Startforce starts the check on screen, then I see the star in the taskbar, hear the comms traffic, and then it all stops. No CTD dialog box; just cancels itself out. ??? I assumed FC & BS could coexist just fine.

Flaming Cliffs allowed this for the eMagin Z800 HMD. Is there some way to get this res in Blackshark?

Tech Support has a new SDK available, which includes universal 3D stereo support. Contact them to get a copy emailed to you: techsupport@emagin.com They also recommended contacting Sales in order to get a demo unit sent out for implementing the SDK: SYSTEMS DESIGN, SALES & MARKETING, INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS DISPLAY MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS and R&D eMagin Corporation 10500 NE 8th Street Suite 1400 Bellevue, WA 98004 tel: 425.749.3600 fax: 425.749.3601 info@emagin.com CUSTOMER SUPPORT & SALES tel: 425.749.3650 fax: 425.749.3601 customersupport@emagin.com sales@emagin.com

Are there developers on here who can answer the eMagin question?

That allows you to pan as much as you want inside the cockpit? Still, that's only a half measure and won't fix the drift issue. You need Lock On to be able to use the orientation/compass-North data from the headset to work the way it was intended. Why couldn't ED put native support for the eMagin in 1.12? The SDK has been out since December and is suppose to be easier to use than TrackIR's.