RedTiger

QFT. Dynamic campaigns are overrated. Vastly, I might add. If dynamic campaigns are the end-all be-all, why is it that the training tools used by actual militaries lack such a feature? You want to know my opinion now that I've messed around a bit with Black Shark? Dynamic campaigns are gamey. They're sacrificing accuracy for easy replayability and the feeling of hyper/fake "realism". They can be very difficult, but the difficulty may have little to do what the actual pilot/driver would experience in such a situation, or they provide you control over the action from a point of view unavailable to the pilot/driver. I would take a single well-crafted mission with randomized elements over a fully dynamic campaign any day. Why? Because I'd rather play a sim that replicates the way the pros train concepts and tactics vs. whatever the dynamic campaign decides a "real" war is going to be like. ;)

IIRC, what that instructor in Fulcrum is talking about is a system similar to what the Eagle has. The force needed by the pilot to move the stick remained constant even when subjected to things like high G.

Hey! Welcome Madmatt! I haven't see you around a forum for ages. I used to participate on the BFC forums years ago, when CMBO first came out. Awesome to have you here!!! :)

The solution I provided in the thread didn't work? Are you sure you did it correctly? You need to set the Nvidia control panel "Adjust Image Setting with Preview" to "Quality". This has fixed the problem for most people. As for the CTD with overcast, try medium water. I get those too on high and very high water.

Interest in BS is going to last at least until the next module is release, I would bet on that. Look at the DCS forum, most of the people posting there are new. They aren't the same people that have been on the LOMAC boards arguing about the AMRAAM for 5 years. Its new blood, which is excelllent. You can't assume that the lack of fighters is going to hold BS back, because it isn't. Like I said, I'm finding it harder and harder to justify playing LOMAC in the state its in. Finally we have a study sim that doesn't look like 10 year old piece of software stitched up and propped up to be something "new". Truthfully, I'm not playing Black Shark much at all either. I'm enjoying other games and other pursuits at the moment. The fact that its a helicopter does affect my will to play (its no where near what it would be with a fighter), but this clearly isn't the case with everyone.

Yoda's modification is very good. Not that I've used it, but I did read what it did. It would probably be the equivalent of a rather significant patch, if it applied the same changes to the entire game, not just multiplayer. A change like that would satisfy me.

I agree mostly, but I want to hear it from the horse's mouth before I declare it dead and thrown the white sheet over it.

I wouldn't recommend putting immortal on. Yes, it will save you the pain of crashing during start-up like you did here, but if you decide to fly around, you won't have any of the realistic damage like your rotors snapping off when you get a little too happy with the controls. I guess it depends what you're going for and how far along you are in learning the start-up. If you are 100% not concerned with getting off the ground for the moment, then it would help! :) Me? I just have crash recover on.

Maybe game mode *realistically* doesn't model the Ka-50 with the capability. That's kinda ironic, don't you think? :lol:

I always thought Kinko's was know for their strict stance on copywrite and copying non-original material. I can remember them even giving a friend of mine some guff for copying pages of his text book in college. They were very clear about copying the F4AF manual, no go unless the Lead-Pursuit gave the ok. I didn't actually go through with it though. Lead-Pursuit said to ask what exactly Kinko's required, but I never followed-up.

Tell them that I appreciate their lack of "get it out the door as quickly as possible at all costs" attitude. :D

Wait...Kinkos let you copy it? That's far more amazing than the price tag IMO. What authorization from Eagle Dynamics did they ask for? When I wanted to print the F4AF manual, I had to contact Lead-Pursuit and get written permission from them to have Kinkos even print it for me. I will say that the price was about $70 for printing and binding, and this is for a 750 page manual.

I think the choice of the Black Shark has to do with couple of factors: 1. The info available to model an aircraft in such high fidelity. This information doesn't exactly fall into one's lap. You have to dig, research, and makes some friends. You may not have a wide variety of subjects to do a study sim on. ED had help from Kamov, so that clearly had something to do with it. Had it been Mikoyan or someone else, the choice may have been different! 2. Unless we're stuck with the stuff like the Hog and Frog for all eternity, fixed wing aircraft will inevitably require simulation of much more sophisticated systems, namely radar. Wags stated in his interview with SimHQ that the focus is currently on air to ground operations. Radar modeling and WAFM will be developed going forward in order to simulate fighter jets. Really, this has been discussed before. Their reasons have been stated. If you think making a Ka-50 study sim is "shooting yourself in the foot", I've got news for you; making a half-way serious sim period might as well be shooting yourself in the foot these days. I don't exactly think the choice of a helicopter study sim over an F-16 study sim is going to cost them tens or hundreds of millions dollars in lost sales. The genre is just not that popular.

Right, but as a spotty 28 year old and a consumer of both, sims and other genres are both competing for my attention at the same time. In other words, to me longevity is longevity is longevity. :D I compare sims with any other type of game or entertainment. I've played some RPGs aimed at the mass market that have kept me playing just as long as any flight sim, but that's just about the only other genre. :) Maybe some war games too. Yes, this is what I'm guessing will happen to. I wouldn't even want to fool with LOMAC at this point if I were them. I ask since asking before would have received prompt replies of "after BS is finished". Now they just receive prompt replies of "BS isn't finished yet". :D

You didn't mince any words there, did you rattler? :D TBH, you and I are on the same page, but I'm trying to be more positive and understanding about it. My thought is that Black Shark really won't ever be "complete". Then the next module will be officially announced and the two will kind of run together and it still won't be "complete". Just so everyone here understands, LOMAC is an "end of life cycle" product. I get it. Its been played and supported longer than most PC titles are. Its still UBI's product, so I don't even fully understand how ED can make ANY further changes to it! I'm pretty much calling it dead at this point, other than the fact that we're sitting on the official forum of the developer and still discussing it. I'm not a helicopter guy but I'll admit I'm finding it hard to keep interest in it light of the improvements of Black Shark, even though I'm taking it slow and not exactly playing Black Shark for hours at a time. I'm not going to make myself a nuisance. Hell, if I were ED I wouldn't even feel like screwing with it at this point. I'd want to focus on the future. I just want to ask on occasion until a final answer is given.

Hey Yoda! I get those too. But the first place I ever saw them was LOMAC! They'd be very common when taking off from a base in near mountains. I just sorta figured it was a leftover and ignored it just like I do in LOMAC.

I've been lurking these boards longer than my Oct. 2007 join date suggests. I've been keeping track of what's been said about the patch. Consider threads like this from me just a friendly question to ED whoever has heard any news. :)

LOL...I knew someone was going to bring up the DVD. After that what will it be keeping it from being done? Steam? :P Kidding, and point taken. I just wanted to ask and keep this fresh in people's minds. I'm not getting my hopes up.

I feel almost silly asking this. Everyone and their mama is going nuts about Black Shark a few boards up from this one, so I don't know if anyone really cares at the moment. However, it was stated that if anything happened, it would be after Black Shark was complete. I think we can now officially call it "complete". Any plans or news?

Thanks AirTito, I couldn't remember what those classes were called. I don't think there really is a Western equivalent. "Top gun pilot" makes me think of FWS instructors. They would be the equivalent in terms of expertise and experience, but I think of them more as teachers than guys who remain "on the front lines" so to speak. The closest thing that ranking system reminds me of in Western terms in the marksmen classification Marines get, but that really doesn't do it justice since that is a basic training thing and even a cook, pilot, tanker, or other non-infantry Marine could get the expert badge.

Thank you for sticking with this one ED. I'm looking forward to many more such as this in years to come! :)

No, "Sniper Pilot" is basically the highest classification a Russian pilot may receive. I'm not sure about how it is now, but in Soviet times there were four grades you could obtain, I think, the last one not being so much a grade like the first 3 but the title of Sniper pilot. Having a Sniper pilot as one of your SME is boast-worthy. ;)

Stop spreading false info!!! ;) Check out the provantage.com link I provide. I see nothing overly expensive about $100 per piece. You spend $200 for the full HOTAS vs. $150 for an x52 pro and maybe $90 for the regular model. I own both the x52 pro and the CH stuff. I got the CH stuff because x52 pro was starting to malfunction. I think the smartest thing to do is buy an x52. Its cheap and will get you started and having fun. Upgrade to the CH stuff or Cougar from there. :thumbup:

Yeah, me too, I was going to rep you and make a remark about how much those TIE fighter pilots get killed in all those Star Wars movies.