molevitch

My understanding, re Mi-24s in Afghanistan and "reloading from the cargo compartment".... There was no advantage to this idea. Operations were not so far from the airbases or forward operating bases to warrant the risk of landing, out of weaponry, shutting down, rearming by hand from the awkward cargo compartment by the pilots, then taking off with a view to returning too the fray. The safest place to land would undoubtedly be the airbase, which would be not too far a ride. Added to this, why add weight to further limit the performance already compromised by the terrain and meteorological conditions. It just was not done, it is a myth, or conjecture.

I fly in VR in helicopter specific server. We sometimes have over 20 helos in the air. No problems here....

Pre-ordered. OBVIOUSLY!

This is the scenario perfectly illustrated in the Tom Clancy novel, Red Storm Rising. The casualties and losses of men and equipment is catastrophic on both sides. This was envisaged by both political sides in Cold War Europe. War-gamed sandbox recreations by professional military tacticians found that the Red Wave of tanks, armour and air assets crossing into Europe from a Warsaw Pact aggressor would be unstoppable by purely military means, hence the political arm of nuclear deterrence. In Red Storm Rising, the Mi-24 is featured quite often. It’s a great read, I have it on Audible, and return to it often. It’s a great resource for ideas for missions set at that time.

[BSD] Molevich Good formation skills in Mi-8 - ITC +0 Very saddened to hear the news about OWWE Osa, I admired his Ka-50 demonstration skills for some years.

Exquisite video, production values are top notch, and the vocal delivery clear and precise, informative and engaging. Well done, Viktor! Very much looking forward to the next one. Mole

Hi Maffo, i suggest you add a physical switch to the Arduino and add that to your sketch, something easy to see in cockpit, Master Arm on or something. Shut down DCS, shut down DCS-BIOS. Make sure you have a good path for DCS-Bios to DCS. Start DCS, DCSBIOS should start automatically. In cockpit, focus on that switch. Activate the physical switch. Watch for changes. See if that works.

I love this video, and have watched it and others from the same sources often. The Mi-24 is a big beast, with the inertia of its tonnage, but in the hands of a skilled pilot, it is pretty agile, as seen here. There will be lots of provisos and cautions about what not to do or try, but I am sure we will be enthusiastically pushing the envelope. I find the Mi-8 in DCS is a lot more nimble than is usually to be expected of a craft of its size, and hopefully gives an indication of what to expect from ED’s Mi-24.

Bignewy announced on DCS Discord that Mi24 is the next module for release, in 2021.

Robin = Molevitch

My squad, Black Shark Den, made extensive tests of the Huey Multi-crew update last night and all reported very satisfied with the outcome. A few protocols to follow, but all said it was a blast! And that flying the aircraft as a solo again was just the same as usual. So, hopefully this bodes well for the same functionality in the Mi24, (and all other helicopters and aircraft).... looking forward to the roadmap promo video, and fingers crossed for some good news about the Crocodile!

Hello fellow DCS-BIOS Users! I have a strange problem. I have a sketch running own an Arduino Mega clone for the Mi-8 ARK-9 Radio Compass. @Hansolo originally helped me with getting this Sketch written with some complex Pin register tricks. It used to work beautifully, then a few months ago I found that getting refuelled/rearmed was very hit and miss, and finally the Ground Crew ignore me altogether if this sketch is running. After swapping the Arduino out, I established that it is not a hardware issue. I broke the code down and rewrote the sketch, chunk by chunk, and have worked out that the code at fault is for the Frequency Tuner for -10kHz to +20kHz. If I /*---*/ this code out, the sketch works fine and the Ground Crew do what I ask. In the Mi-8, on the ARK-9 the freq tuner is a potentiometer, and allows adjustment of -10 to +20kHz. In the ARK-15 it is a rotary switch from 0 to 10 in in 0.5 increments, ie 20 (0-19). So my Sketch has the following code to emulate that, written with the help of Hansolo. The DCS-BIOS code for the rotary encoder uses increments of 3200, so that has been used to emulate the 0.5kHz increments. This code works well for the instrument, but it blocks the Ground Crew.... // Check and adjust 1st dial if (DCS_valueDial_1 != inputDial_1()) { if ( inputDial_1() == 0) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "0"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 1) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "3200"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 2) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "6400"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 3) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "9600"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 4) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "12800"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 5) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "16000"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 6) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "19200"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 7) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "22400"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 8) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "25600"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 9) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "28800"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 10) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "32000"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 11) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "35200"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 12) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "38400"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 13) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "41600"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 14) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "44800"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 15) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "48000"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 16) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "51200"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 17) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "54400"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 18) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "57600"); } if ( inputDial_1() == 19) { sendDcsBiosMessage("ARC9_MAIN_TUNE", "60800"); } } This is causing the Ground Crew to not respond to my requests for rearming and refuelling, or repairs. I can however call up the Rearm/Refuel dialog box and make selections of weapons, and fuel, flares etc. Just no acknowledgement or action. Livery/skin can be changed. So, Wise Men of DCS-BIOS with skills and knowledge, please help! I continue to think about and try amendments to the code, but its all trial and error, and probably misguided, depending on luck rather than info. Hope you can help! Thanks, Mol

I have also seen it nicknamed "Hunchback"...!

At 1 hour in, he discusses DCS Roadmap 2021..../

Mi-24 announced for release in Q1, 2021. In theory of course. But hopefully, by March, we will have had some teaser Youtube videos released, showing some functionality, systems etc. like they normally do in the run up to a release. I also believe they are planning a very finished and tested module. It does not have much in the way of electronics to model, no radar, no complex avionics, no glass cockpit. And a large chunk of systems are presumably transferrable from the Mi-8. Anyway, it gives me time to finish wiring my pit....

I would expect ED to favour the release of their in-house produced module of the Mi-24, over the release of a 3rd party module, purely from a brand marketing perspective. Plus, I want the Mi-24, not the OH-58D!

Ah, now I zoomed in I can see the plywood. It looked like 3D printing can look too....

Very Nice! 3D Printed canopy frame I think?

I have used these in my NS430 button box. After much research, these are about the best price anyway, and can be bought with the matching knobs. http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_75&products_id=196

Getting out of VRS in the Mi-8 takes training and practice. But the main thing to watch for is your vertical speed at low horizontal speeds. And the closer you are to the ground, or landing, the slower your vertical speed should be. So as you approach a hover, do not be descending faster than 3-5 metres per second, and even less is better. To escape VRS, do not simply pull collective. This will make matters worse. You must get out of your own "dirty" air, the rolling torus which your rotors create to give you lift. You must move forward, sideways or even backwards aggressively and decisively with use of the cyclic, and hold your nerve on use of the collective.

The Mi-8 will be great training for the Mi-24. Once the 24 arrives, you will say, “Oh, I know that from the Mi-8!”

Hi BlackLibrary, I am struggling a bit with trying to set this Mi-8 fix file. I am currently using DCS-BIOS Hub, but cannot figure out how to add this new code. Do I need to revert to a non-hub version of DCS-BIOs? Or can i simply copy and paste the new code somewhere? If so, I am not sure where it should go.... Thanks, mole Don't worry! I figured out what I needed to do. I simply edited the json and Lua files in the Appdata/roaming/dcs-bios folder to use the corrected item names. So that works now, but it means I did not really test your updated file....

The DCS Mi-24P weapons panel has 2 x 3 way switches in the top centre. Same as the single 3 way switch above the pilot’s head in the Mi8, for selecting the GUV ordnance. But in the 24, I believe these are for selecting active weapon pylon. So, Left 1, 2, and 3, and Right 1, 2, and 3. That’s what I think anyway...

and some more pix.

Time for an update! I have finally added switches and wiring to the left foot panel and the right hand electrics panel. I now need to upload an edited DCSBIOS sketch to the Arduino Mega behind these 2 panels. @BlackLibrary has kindly updated the Mi-8 lua as I am currently flying that until the 24 drops. Within days, I should be able to run a full cold-start without using the mouse to click in the virtual cockpit. Also, a lot of cosmetic work has been carried out, adding bezels and dummy gauges to the dashboard, as well as the map box and drift gauge box. The intention is to add the knobs and switches to the various gauges as functioning switches eventually, but not high priority. Since getting a 3D printer, a whole new world of crazy possibilities has opened up, especially for repetitive stuff or multiple items like gauge light-posts. I have also produced the ASP-17V in Fusion 360 and printed it. Glare shields from scrap sheet steel have been cut, bent and spray-painted too, and a monitor mount made from MDF to position the screen behind all that. The weapons panel is mounted but still awaiting a few toggle switches, and those will be integrated with the dashboard switches into a DCSBIOS sketch too. 3D printer has been used to produce many items, especially knobs and switch guards, map box, bezels, ASP-17V, extensions to the top of the dashboard, landing gear switch, indicator lights (courtesy of @Razorback), map-box thumb-wheels and chicken-heads, etc. After all the functionality of switches and knobs is 100% (or at least 80%...) I will be tackling the exterior shell and framework including the door and frame, and possibly the canopy bubble!