BeachAV8R

Awesome job Matt. I learned a lot! :D Specifically: The box in the HUD represents the gimbal limits of the gun - good to know! Also liked seeing the different modes of aiming, auto and manual..and I never realized at there was a burst length (and rocket #) switch on that weapons panel (until now it was always in Russian and it never really registered..!) Great stuff.. BeachAV8R

Thank-you letchik (sorry to intrude on the Russian language forum!), I'm glad you liked the video. The system I'm using: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 4GB RAM BFG 9800 GX2 PCIe 2.0 (1 GB) Saitek X52 Joystick CH Products Pro Pedals NaturalPoint TrackIR 4PRO™ It runs Black Shark nicely although I don't think I benefit much from the dual graphics processor and quad core. I think less exotic systems would do just as well. Regards, BeachAV8R

I'm sorry I don't speak a word of Russian, but I hope you guys are enjoying the videos, and I hope you forgive me for using Cyrillic gibberish for my title banners (they must be laughable to you all!). I'm glad to see the enthusiasm for this project transcends across all languages and nationalities. I hope to see some of you on the Multi-Player battlefield someday. Maybe we won't know how to talk to each other, but we can still data-link targets back and forth.. ;) Kind regards.. Chris "BeachAV8R" Frishmuth (If someone could translate that...I'd appreciate it!) :thumbup:

I misspoke about the blue bubble around the ZSU site. I had said in the video that the moving ZSU vehicle would also have a blue moving range on the ABRIS and that is incorrect..since there is no sensor onboard the Ka-50 that could detect that. The reason it was moving at all was simply based on line of sight calculations based on the site being preloaded into the ABRIS prior to the mission (consider that "intel"). Even destroying the site will not remove the blue shading from the ABRIS (thanks for the correction EvilBivol!)... BeachAV8R

No..as a matter of fact, I'm embarrassed that I can't give more credit to the people that are doing the real work. I'm just showing off the shiny front end...all the tireless work that has gone into the programming, bug hunting, sound effects, graphics, 3D models, and documentation..is just stunning. That I can put together anything to show is a credit to all of their hard work.. :notworthy: BeachAV8R

In the jets I fly for a living (Citation Ultra and V) we can overspeed the engines (JT15D-5A) since they aren't FADEC controlled. Interestingly though, you don't overspeed them in descents..but rather, more often in a climb. For instance, if I have maximum allowable power on in cruise flight at FL370, depends on temperature but the maximum ever allowable is 104% N1. The throttle is set for that..but if I get a step climb to a higher altitude, if I pitch up into a 4-500 FPM climb, obviously overall speed drops (from about Mach .73 to Mach .68) and the fan RPM will climb a few percentage points. If you don't pull back the throttles slightly, you will be (according to the charts) overspeeding the engine. The opposite is true when speeding up. Say I just leveled off at FL370 after a climb and I'm showing Mach .65 or something with 104% power (max cruise)..as the plane accelerates, I assume that is putting more force on the fan and the fan speed will actually drop a couple % points. So as it drops, you keep bumping it back up to max allowable until you get to where the plane isn't speeding up anymore (between .72 and .75). I don't know if any of this has anything to do with this discussion..lol..just thought I'd mention how it works in that particular type of aircraft. Now you can see why having a FADEC is so nice..you just sort of set it and forget it as opposed to having to constantly tweak it (at least it gives us something to do though I guess..) :D BeachAV8R Oh..and back on topic..yeah, Black Shark really is that good. Really. :D

I believe you are correct - and indeed I think that was featured in Matt's excellent overview of the ABRIS capabilities. Unfortunately my knowledge hasn't reached that level where I can find all those menus and sub-menus in the ABRIS system.. :cry: What you mentioned is exactly how I imagine it will be used in multi-player games though (or even single player I suppose). A good mission design will probably anticipate that we will try to probe for weaknesses, and I'd imagine those "weak" paths will also be reinforced with perhaps "trigger" events and things of that nature. The ability to mark those spots on the ABRIS will be invaluable to keeping an idea of what the big picture is. I'm really not very knowledgeable about the Mission Editor capabilities, but from what I've heard described thus far, I think we are in for some really challenging and unique missions. The hunter-killer aspect of Longbow 2 is alive and well in Black Shark..for sure! Thanks for the comments.. BeachAV8R

Wags movie should be a lot more educational than mine…he’s got the knowhow about all these systems, I’m just flipping switches and hoping something happens! Sorry about the download problems we had at SimHQ guys..we were testing out a new downloads server, and by all accounts it did OK, but the number of connections just exceeded our ability (I think). We appreciate the enthusiasm for the series and even though we’d like to get the traffic through our site too, we understand that people were anxious to view the video. I don’t speak Russian..so maybe he WAS pissed and I just couldn’t understand him..lol.. The terrains and trees are coming out fantastic..the guys doing the modding are just incredible. The low level sense of speed is great.. You think so? They were very smooth in-game actually…although the FRAPS overhead does take a bit of a chop in my FPS when I’m recording. Particularly in that I recorded at full FRAPS resolution and I was reading/writing to the same hard-drive. FPS was better than what you saw..and frankly, I thought the FPS was still fluid even in the video.. Indeed. Watching that cannon fire from the external view is awesome. And the sound from the cockpit is killer.. Thank goodness I have the smart people here to keep me straight!! He is quite right. The blue shading shouldn’t move..although it does adjust for altitude and terrain masking. Since the helo doesn’t have any RWR gear I should have known that it wouldn’t have any way to ascertain the strength/location of a signal (or whether it was turned off/on). So indeed..those threat circles are preloaded into the ABRIS prior to the mission… Good catch! Haha..yeah..I was pissed when I missed him in flight..and then I got all whacked out with regards to finding him again with my Shkval sensor. So I just waited for him to land..lol.. I think Matt should do that one..<grin> I’d be dead meat..I’d be looking down in the cockpit trying to figure out what button I needed to push and I’d be toast. I’d say for hard missions or ones with tricky mission designs, one will have to be pretty familiar with their helicopter and weapons system to be effective. I’m still just working on the very basics..hopefully I’ll get better with time. <grin> Yeah..you are dead-on right. Someone has been reading their manual <wink>..lol.. Thanks everyone else for the comments..I know we aren’t always covering what you might want to see, but hopefully we are getting around to it. Regards.. BeachAV8R

+ 1.1b ;)

Yeah..one beef I've always had with Team Speak is that the clarity of the voice comms is so good that I don't really feel like I'm using an intercom or walkie-talkie or whatever the sim/tactical game is trying to simulate. Way back when dedicated voice utilities were first showing up there was a program called Roger Wilco which I thought did a pretty good job of replicating true intercom/radio sound quality. Team Speak is the standard now though..so while the clarity is fantastic, I still think it is a little too good. :D Shepski has a great list there. He can probably get the Ka-50 up and running in 4 minutes or so...I'm not nearly that proficient yet. Regards.. BeachAV8R

Yes, I think that can be done, but since I haven't even tried using the Shkval or any of the weapons sensors yet, I didn't attempt that on that flight. Also..a more experienced person could just fly over the INS update geographic point at normal cruise speed and hit the INS update button real quickly (have it set up to do it)..but like I said, I'm having enough trouble just rubbing my belly and patting my head. ;) Regarding the ABRIS and GPS stuff...since it was mentioned in the video it's OK to discuss it..that yeah, I was really close in to that steep valley and didn't have LOS on some of the satellites. As well (I think) was the fact that there were only 4 satellites that could have possibly been used at that point in time..so even lacking just one or two would have been problematic. When the fifth satellite popped into view the position firmed up. I don't know how the GPS satellite availability is calculated, although I think I heard it being discussed once. I'll leave it up to the developers whether they want to give out any more information at this point. Glad people are enjoying the video. :thumbup: BeachAV8R And even though I mention in in the written article that accompanies the video - it bears mentioning once more here - the sim is a work in progress and whatever you see may or may not be representative of the final product. Also, errors like me not knowing whether I forgot a switch or setting for the ABRIS are mine alone..the manual is quite detailed and 99% of the time I'm finding it is user error or not having read enough. But that is why I'm doing the previews with all my mistakes included..I think it gives a good feel for the depth and the fact that it will take a good bit of learning to master. Although there is an easy mode that will take a lot of that learning curve out. More on that later...

That was not the sound of the APU cutting off you heard when I hit that switch..although I can see why one would assume that. The sound is actually a "static" file that I had playing in the background for the voiceover audio, sort of to add to the feeling that you were listening in on an intercom. I also ran my voice file through a high and low pass filter to give it that "tin cup" audio sound that we often associate with intercom radios. When I did the formating of the video I also significantly dropped the in-game audio sounds down a lot so that my voice could easily be heard over the in-game sounds. As a matter of fact, there is one mistake I made and you can hear the in-game audio at full volume there when I reach the main runway for takeoff..sorry about that blast of Russian ATC controller..that one slipped through. Regards.. BeachAV8R

By the way, for those interested, my "build" article for the new machine is here: Part I: http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_126a.html Part II: http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_127a.html

Thanks Mark... It was a fun process to build a new machine. The results are...impressive. The only reason I went with quad was for a bit of future-proofing. Some software is forward looking and I'm guessing things like Adobe Premiere and maybe even X-Plane will benefit. General consensus seems to be that dual core is plenty good for now..and I also think that non-SLI video cards are actually a better value for the money. The monster 9800 GX2 is really cool..but the price vs. performance probably isn't all that compelling unless again you are looking for some additional future proofing.. Regards.. BeachAV8R

Funny thing is..I'm learning a lot from Wag's videos! :book:

I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that I've broken my helicopter many, many times. If you can purchase stock in rotor blades..I'd suggest going all in with your portfolio.. :pilotfly: BeachAV8R

Yeah..that was the fun part of it. And using the "muscle" (an AH-64 wingman) was fun because you had to be sort of smart with him and keep him on a leash..lest you get caught way behind enemy lines alone and defenseless. Longbow 2 was (is) a really fantastic sim.. BeachAV8R

Oh..and one other correction. In the article I said the nosewheel was "steerable"..when in fact it is a free castering nosewheel. Once you have some momentum, the rudders do sort of feel like they are steering it..but they aren't..you are just imparting some force on the nose and making it freely rotate. I found that "leaning" the rotor system into the turn with the cyclic can help ease the free castering at very low speeds too. Just FYI.. :) And thanks for the correction EvilBivol!

Thanks for the info AirTito - I just assumed that the APU was there to provide electrical power. But just to be clear, if I'm running the APU, and the battery is ON..is there a danger of depleting the battery if I'm running electrical systems at that point (assuming ground power isn't hooked up)? Or can I (if I'm reading Laivynas's post right) also then turn on the onboard generators and have that provide electrical power? No, I haven't mapped the trim to my stick yet. :lookaround: I still haven't sat down and figured up a good profile for my X52..there is so much to learn. I should probably start with the basics like trim and other functions that would actually be on the real stick. I'll ask in the other forum if I can get someone to send me their X52 profile and start from there! Can't wait to try out the autohover..(my shoulders will be happy for that feature!).. :D And you do it spectacularly! I've loved all your videos...and most of the time they leave me scratching my head and asking "How did he do that??!" You manage to find the coolest camera angles and perspectives..great stuff.. :thumbup: BeachAV8R

Well stated EB. I think accolades for its achievements and acknowledgments of where it can do better in subsequent versions is a good attitude to take. I figure by the time DCS gets to the Tornado add-on release they'll have perfected it.. ;) (Just kidding guys..but I do hope they would consider it.. :D ) BeachAV8R

Ah..thanks for clarifying that EB.. Just curious..it isn't always there is it?? Because I flew that thing around for hours and hours last week and I never even caught it.. :D Maybe I was concentrating too much on flying.. :joystick: Oh..wait..I can answer my own question. Of course it isn't always there because I have about 10 other close up screens where it isn't. Must be a certain condition that causes it.. At least I know it isn't FRAPS or FSScreen that did it.. :thumbup:

Nah..it's this guy in the middle of this picture: http://www.mopo.ca/uploaded_images/lots-of-girls-one-guy-732620.jpg :D

Nah..it ain't work. That is actually the great thing about being afforded the opportunity to write up my observations. I get to participate in a hobby I love..and admittedly get to see the stuff early and see how it makes it to market. It has been very interesting to watch. I'll tell you, the real beta testers are really a fantastic and dedicated bunch. They work very hard and repeat test after test exhaustively (they aren't just tooling around like me..) and go back and re-test after adjustments are made. And it isn't glamorous stuff..it is things like verifying radio frequencies work and making sure textures and terrains and stuff work..and doing the millions of things that the end user *might* think of..all kinds of combinations of switches and settings and stuff. They are real pros and it is neat to see them work at it. BeachAV8R

:D LLTM vid is incredible. That monitor setup and touch screens are just jaw dropping. And unlike me...that dude can fly and manage all those systems on the fly. I have to find a safe place to sit and hover or land..then look around the cockpit for the switch I'm trying to find.. :D I know I'll get better as I get more familiar. I think Shepski and some of the other guys can get that baby started in about 2 minutes or so I'll bet... Not me though.. :geek: BeachAV8R

I'd rather let someone from ED make comments and valuations on system specs since I'm just a beta tester (tricky to talk about this stuff without violating the NDA ya' know?). What isn't a mystery is that my system is about 3 years old, is a P4 3.4 (not overclocked) 2 GB of system RAM, and the video card is an BFG 6800GT PCIe (256MB). When I flew and recorded the video I would guess I got about a 20% reduction in FPS because of the FRAPS overhead...but as you can see, the video is still pretty smooth. Granted, there wasn't much going on. As I mentioned, I had most of the settings at MEDIUM (similar settings to what you see in Flaming Cliffs) and a few like "scenes" to HIGH. I'm not a real guru on what settings most affect FPS and where you can give and take..I just messed around and found a good mix that worked at 1280 x 1024 resolution. I think it is reasonable to assume that if I loaded up an airfield attack mission with 20 planes and helicopters zooming around blowing stuff up that my FPS would drop significantly. Then again, with this current rig, I couldn't max out Flaming Cliffs either..that sim I played with pretty much the same settings (MED mostly and some HIGH) as I'm playing Black Shark. I'm not a coder or a graphics or objects guy..so I can't tell you if in the development time that is left if FPS or optimization or whatever they call it will cause performance to go up or down or stay the same. As you can see from the Mod Team..who are doing unbelievable work...the airfields have more objects and look like real, inhabited places now. That doesn't come without a polygon price. The new trees, landscape textures, and pavement and apron graphics are really, really nice. They really help impart the feeling of low flight and (in my opinion) give a nice bit of depth perception and...uh..I guess I could call it "gritty realism". Things look a little dirty and smudged..stains on the ramp..exhaust marks. It just sort of feels really lived in. Ya'll will dig it..very good for helicopter ops... And I'm pretty enthused..(as you can tell) and I haven't even scratched the surface. Seriously - I haven't even armed the weapons panel or used the ABRIS yet! All I've done is start the thing and fly around a little. And I don't even know half the gauges or switches yet. There is a lot to discover... And I'll remind people that there is an EASY mode..so don't let my thoughts on the coolness of the complexity scare the "lite" simmers away. ;) Sorry 'bout the long response.. BeachAV8R