Sh4rk

The coaxials are there, either on the 2nd feed slot, or as a selectable feed in the main gun. The swivels on top are visibly not (not for those MBTs), so they just don't have them.

CA as it is is more of an arcade game. Even more than Flaming Cliffs. ED has vouched to not develop FC-level stuff again. I think this includes CA. But here's +1 hoping they at least fix the glaring bugs, like this. The sights already more or less don't work with TrackIR, but at least it can be paused.

WIthout FFB, you are right, it isn't realistic. With FFB, it is - because that's how the real helo works. Still, in DCS and even without a FFB stick, holding the trimmer is the way to do it. And there are countless tutorials out there explaining how and why. I used to tap he trimmer, but that was before I undestood how the trimmer and autopilot work and what to expect. I should add that the OP's request is still valid, even though I don't use the controls indicator. It could be helpful in some situations.

The Ka50 used to lock things from 12 km away, either on the ground or in the air. Not by contranst or anything, just magically like that. Then at some point in 2.5, they changed the way designators work (how they trace to their targets). Something like, they used to work by using an invisible 3D object, that originated on your aircraft and touched the target. Like an invisible "wand". Its max length in the Ka50 was 15 km, the limit for the Shkval's laser ranging. Locking was capped at 12 km. In 2.5, they limited the length of said wand to 8 km. It broke both the Ka50's Shkval and (iirc) the Harrier's laser designation, possibly others at the time. Other modules (may) have been fixed since then, but the Ka50 was not. Also, the locking range was capped at 6 km at the slightest hint of it not being in daylight (such as, after 6 PM local map time). Locking range will instantly be reduced to 6 km at 'night', even though 'night' starts well before it's dark while the sun is still high up in the sky, depending on latitude. I think you still can get the Shkval to lock beyond 6 km if you use flare rockets (the S-8 OMs) first, unless that is also broken. Other functionality that, iirc, has changed (broken) since 1.5, is that the tracking gate used to work a lot better - it'd "shrink-wrap" and TA over the target automatically as long as you were in range, had a clear sight, and the proper target type selected in the K-401.

I used to fly with FFB before my FFB stick broke. Holding the trimmer will... well, trim the stick, It'll physically change the center of the stick, the position it'll stay on after you release it, to the point where it is when you release the trimmer button. Tapping will just send new desired bank, pitch and heading info to the autopilot. Which it also does when using a non-FFB stick. That's how you fly the thing. First you trim it, then you work with the autopilot. Repeatedly tapping the trimmer button is not the way you should be doing it. Using the center mode for non FFB sticks, it works "incrementally". When you release the trimmer button, and release your physical stick, your stick is centered, but the virtual stick is deflected (trimmed). If you hold the trimmer again and input a little more bank and/or pitch, then release, your input is added to the previous (virtual) stick deflection. And so on. When you eventually reset the trimmer, you get a yank back to centre (and possibly a few rotor blades chopped) if you're not already deflecting your physical stick to match the virtual one. With a little (or a lot) of practice, you learn to "recenter" the trim by giving it the opposite inputs you've given before. And you learn to counteract the yank from resetting the trim in an emergency. But oh boy, I do miss FFB. A lot.

It's waaaay clunky the way it works now. I also have to use 2 separate controls (ministick and hat) to effectively use the Shkval with any precision AND decent slew rate. I'll just join the bandwagon and say I want this fixed at least on BS3.

The EGT always goes up before the N1 spools, because the N2 starts burning fuel first, then the airflow will drive the compressor. How or why is the right engine being stopped before being restarted? I've seen that happen before, but usually when the engine is shot, flamed out or is cranked without the fuel valves open and pumps on, or throttle set higher than Idle. Things that break the engine or gearbox.

I think a mistake (typo) was made while tweaking the MTLB's armor values in the last patch, which was supposed to be made more resistant to small arms fire. The MTLB chassis is still rather vulnerable, if not more vulnerable, to small arms fire, such as 7.62 mm rounds. I notice that in the file DCSWorld/Scripts/Database/chassis/MTLB.lua, there is the line: Where previously it was Comparing those two values, I suspect that if the intent was to increase the armor value, there's apparently one extra leading zero that should be removed, as in: 0.0014 < 0.007 0.014 > 0.007 Hence, the value should 0.014 (or anything else higher than 0.007). Please revise this, as it should affect all other units that are also mounted on the MTLB chassis (such as the tracked Strela-10). Regards,

It's not that the gauges show correct levels when not energized. It's just that the needles don't move unless they're energized. So if you turn the FUEL QTY switch off, the needles stop moving. They don't go to zero when off, they just stay put at the last position they were when they were energized. If you fly for a while, refuel etc. with the switch off and turn it back on, you'll see the needles moving to the actual correct levels.

+1 Sea and land is all the same color, all the same shade of green, for at least the last couple patches (latest openbeta and the one before the dedicated server release). Both in SP and MP. Even if there are waypoints set in the mission file. Rivers, lakes and other water bodies are colored blue as normal.

When I used a force feedback joystick, which works in DCS just like the real helicopter (the trim moves the stick's centering position), I also repeatedly tapped the trimmer instead of holding it. Because holding the trimmer would make the stick 'go limp', having no centering force on it at all. Now that I use a standard spring-centered stick (T16k), I hold the trimmer while maneuvering, as the stick's center position doesn't move and there's always a centering force in place. During engagement you can have AP on in any modes, but you have to keep in mind what the AP will be trying to do in case you need to override it. Which you can do quickly by holding the trimmer button while you move. The heading autopilot is specially useful in hovering engagements when you use it along with the K-401's Turn to Target mode (which is only in effect when the HDG AP is also on). In this mode the AP will yaw the helo to point the nose at where the Shkval marker is (so you can focus on working on other instruments/weapons instead of flying the helo). But beware if you turn the Shkval off, reset it or it goes out of bounds, you may need to turn the K-401 setting (and/or HDG AP) off as well.

The answer no one gave: Most likely, switching between unit systems is an option that'd be buried in an aircraft's flight computer or data cartridge. If the real aircraft doesn't have the option, or hasn't been adapted to/from metric for use in another country, etc. ED probably won't do it. That said, the issue could be ameliorated if DCS offered a proper way to switch the map units for distance while in flight, like someone already said. As for the AWACS' calls, the Russian / red side AWACS uses metric for altitude and distance. Maybe they could make it an option for Blue side to have metric calls. But general aviation in most of the world uses knots, feet and nautical miles, even in metric countries, including the military. It'd have to be a personal option to have the calls in either metric or imperial, and it'd create a lot of confusion while trying to coordinate with other players (as it already does).

It's not possible in DCS by default, so I just use Thrustmaster's TARGET software since I have their stick and throttle. Depending on what hardware you have, you may be able to use similar software or workaround 3rd party suggestions like suggested above.

+1 fix the cockpit lights I have managed to work around the autopilot buttons and over bright reflections during the day, but at night the cockpit is just unusable. None of the lighting works except the instrument lights and then some. The new downgraded monocular NVGs make it worse. I've bought the 18 and that's my last money in DCS until after they fix such long standing issues with the Ka50 and other modules.

Maybe Clear the binding for Lock Target, press Enter to jump to the other binding that's conflicting, and rebind both to different keys?

Seems this and the excessive cockpit reflective brightness will only be fixed when they remake the Ka50's model completely. In 2 weeks, of course :music_whistling:

Like @AlphaOneSix said, and it's even implied in the drawing. It can be a sensor, or a sliding float, but what is measured is the level, not the quantity of fuel that leaves the tanks and goes to the engines. The gauges do read from the fuel level sensor ("quantity transmitter"). When you perform high G and angle maneuvers, you'll see the needles jump around - as the gas is shaken around and 'washes' the sensors, making it appear that the tank is full (or empty) for a second - sometimes it'll trigger the EKRAN warnings (rear tank 110, etc) even if the tank is half full. Only, the needles will not move if the switch is off. But they will go back to showing the correct amount of fuel (in kg, calculated from the measured level at the tanks) as soon as you turn the switch back on. Regardless of fuel having been consumed while the switch was off. As long as it's on, it'll always show the correct amount.

Page 13-17 of the manual. Item 6. Fuel quantity is metered at the tanks, like in car. If it was metered at the valves, you wouldn't see the needles move while the aircraft is fueled up, or as the tanks are emptied by asking the ground crew to remove fuel. But yeah the needles won't move at all (up nor down) when the proper switch is turned off, so it's working as intended. If you refuel with the switch off, or fly for some time, the needles are only going to update when you turn it back on.

This is not the bug, as that I can't reproduce at will, let alone make a track file of. But look at how the Shkval ranging is (mis)behaving in the first 30 seconds of this video. Usually the Shkval only shows a range up to 15 km. But in the video you can see the ranging going all the way up to 100 km, then back to 0, then "counting" up back to 15 km when the laser is pointed ahead of the horizon. That's not how laser rangers work, and not how it worked before in the Ka50. It's like it's trying to "grope" in the dark with a stick trying to find the distance to whatever object is in that line of sight. In fact I think it might be using a collision mesh for that, or something like that. And sometimes that check might be colliding against some part of the airframe, the Vikhr that just launched, or some other invisible object, and that's when the laser ranger resets to 0.1 km and loses lock because the target is suddenly too close. I'm still trying to make a track or a video of the slewing bug, but reproducing track files (replay) is apparently broken too... The replayed track shows things differently than what happened in game (skips actions, etc). :confused:

It wasn't made for night ops, or rather, it couldn't be made capable of it because they had a lot of trouble fitting in FLIR and EWR (which came later on the Ka-52). But wasn't made completely incapable of it either. Hence it has NVGs and separate, adjustable, NVG compatible cockpit lighting. And a night mode HUD. And illumination rockets (S-8OM). The previous NVGs didn't allow you to 'see like daylight', they did blur the cockpit gauges, the Shkval, ABRIS, and even the HUD (even in night mode, unless you kept it very, very dim). Any lights and reflections from outside had very high bloom, like you can see in the video. And the NVGs couldn't be used at dusk, because they'd still make things too bright. Even at night you have to take them off sometimes, to operate the instruments. The point is, the Ka50 in game had different NVGs before, and now it has the same ones as every other aircraft in game. It's nowhere as "unique". I assume when ED had previously modeled the NVGs they have done it to be accurate to the real aircraft, but those NVGs weren't compatible with Deferred Shading (as everything else in the Ka50) and that's why they were disabled. The previous NVGs were also overall better suited for a game where the pilot is looking at a flat screen, with limited FOV per se (unless you're flying in VR, and even then). If you have a monitor and TrackIR, limiting the FOV to a round circle in the middle of the screen is silly, as the circle will stay in the middle of the screen and not move along your line of sight as you slew the view around with your head. As a result, you have to twist your head even further to put whatever you want to see in the middle of the screen, and you can't look at it without straining your eyes to the sides, unlike would happen should you be wearing real NVG goggles, while trying to look through a window or at a monitor screen. Does that make sense? It's even worse if you have multiple monitors in surround and a ultra-wide view, like I do (you may notice my wide resolution and aspect ratio of 28:9). Previously, the NVGs would fill up more of the center of the screen, so using them was less of an issue (or none at all). If you still think the new NVGs are 'more real' and want to 'suffer' realism, it's your call. I don't see the point in making a simulation a worse experience than what reality would be, and an awful one at that. I want the old NVGs back! ;)

Most people just don't enjoy spending time on a forum to complain about every single aspect of the game that is broken or could be improved, that's it. We'd rather be playing than complaining. Specially when there's only, multiple complaints about every feature around, and it doesn't seem that complaining helps fixing them at all, since many of those complaints are the same in years. @Drexx has a 100% valid point in one thing he said. We shouldn't need to complain. The 50 people that do, are speaking for the other 5000 that aren't doing that, because they just want to play a game, not be angry about it. But yes stability is a real issue. Lots of freezing, stuttering, servers crashing due to bugs that are 1 year old etc. On this topic, I can't say a dedicated server would do much for me at the moment, as I don't host any servers, I just play on them. But if "improved stability and dedicated server" are the features that are going to make my experience as a player better, I'm here to support it.

Yes they are broken. This is how they look in 2.5 And this video shows how they looked before People will rush to say 'yes NVGs look like you're looking through a blurry toilet paper tube' but here's the Ka50 NVGs for you, from the manual: Now grab 2 toilet paper tubes and put them parallel over your eyes, you'll find your FOV is more like a football like in the above video, than the round view you now see in DCS. Because each eye can see a bit more to each side. Also in real life you're not looking at the end of a toilet paper tube 80 cm from your eyes on a screen, so the feeling is a whole lot different. Then the cockpit lighting, specially the NVG compatible lighting, in the Ka50 is also broken, but that is not as bad as the downgraded "generic" NVGs that the Ka50 has now. It's like they just slapped on that NVG mod from 2013 for lack of a better one, when the game already had a nice working NVG before 2.5.

This is great info, thanks! I don't have the TM pedals, but I want to plug a DIY set to the TWCS throttle so I don't need separate electronics. The RJ12 connector on the throttle is a non-standard one, though... It has the latch on the left side. I can probably modify a standard (center-latched) connector to fit, but I'd rather find a proper one instead. Anybody got a good source for it (i.e., cheap)? I found it in a couple online auction sites, but they only sell like a 100-pack and shipping was too expensive. I only need half a dozen, and free (or dirty cheap) shipping :D

No, it's a new one (I think). Didn't use to happen in 1.5. The Shkval *does* have a "search" function (Shkval scan mode) in that it will slew left and right on its own if you lock it to a point in the ground (ТТ) using the HMS then press Uncage/Designate once more. But it's not that. Another function is the "tracking memory" in that the Shkval will keep moving / slewing to follow a lost track if you only lose it for a few seconds (the Shkval screen shows П instead of ТА). It's also not that. It doesn't keep slewing in the direction the target is moving, it loses track and moves in random directions, sometimes like if the target was crossing below you to behind you (even though it's many km away). Also happens to non-moving targets targeted by a hovering helo. And yes the "contrast" tracking by Shkval is faked in DCS (not correctly simulated). It locks to alive objects, not the image (alive units, buildings will get a ТА cue, dead ones do not,) and in low light conditions (after 6 PM in game) the Shkval lock range is artificially reduced even if you can still see the targets on screen clearly. But that's another matter. The "wandering slew" is present ever since 2.5.0, but then it was only slewing to the right on its own, sometimes. Now it just loses tracking and goes in whatever random direction. Repeatedly, and all of the time at the worst possible time, that is when you're engaged and being engaged by ground units.

This bug is really a game breaker, it screws over any attempts at having a mission that includes Tactical Command slots for players that have Combined Arms.