JimMack

For those in the West Country in the UK. On 29th November, the English version of Black Shark will be on display near Bristol (see http://www.rcsimulations.com for details). The configuration will be with D-Box motion platform, TrackIR and Matrox TripleHead2Go, as integrated by RC Simulations. Come and fly it for yourself, you will be amazed! Also on display will be the helicopter controls from LeftSide (see http://www.leftside-limited.com) picture attached. For those with FSX friends, let them know, the hardware configurations work also with FSX, though obviously with an inferior helo flight model to DCS:Black Shark!

Yes - remember well DI's F16, because it was a competitor to our Falcon series. But I think the best title from DI was TORNADO, which had features that have not been repeated. I can assure you we have a copy of TORNADO at ED, we are still learning and evaluating!

Yes - Bob is a top bloke. First met him in the mid 1980s when I was running Mirrorsoft (Spitfire 40, Falcon, Flight of the Intruder etc). The reason for his company name - RC Simulations - is that his first product that he sold in the UK was a simulator to train radio control pilots which ran on the Amiga home PC. Happy days!

Great to see you all, it is always great to meet people in person and not just through forum postings. None of you scared me away, mainly because you did not ask me how to program the ABRIS, and my answer would have been to RTFM, unless you wanted a 3 hour lesson!

Need to RTFM (Read The Flipping Manual)! Carefully move cyclic forward, then collective.

At the Birmingham FS Show on Saturday, on the RC Simulations stand, we were showing Black Shark running with Matrox TripleHead2Go, TrackIR, MRCV Helicopter Controls and D-Box Personal Motion Platform (see http://www.rcsimulations.com for details on MRCV and D-Box). This is possibly the ultimate setup for running Black Shark, and in my view, in advance of many military spec simulators including, obviously the sim software :-). Though ED have written special drivers in Black Shark for D-Box, this is the first time to see if they actually worked! They did, and no problems of lag as reported above for Microsoft FS. It is an incredible experience, one feels everything, changes in flight configuration, weapons firing, taking damage etc. I've only flown in a helo in the second seat, but the vibration cues seemed real to me. For anyone wanting to experience it for themselves, the next outing will be at the FS Party in Bristol, UK on 29th November.

Or as my flying instructor would say RTFM (Read The Flipping Manual)

Yes - we will sell a printed manual. We can not yet declare a price until we go final and get a quote from a printer. But I can say from recent personal experience, it will be a lot cheaper than the cost of the print cartridges that you will use to print our the pdf!

This is to confirm that Black Shark will be shown at both Birmingham and the FSX Party, on the RC Simulations stand. It will be running on the D-Box personal motion simulator see: http://www.rcsimulations.com/

The Fighter Collection http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?lang=en&end_pos=150&scr=default

No! - sorry, it will still be work-in-progress.

Do a google search - pirates somali - it is a real current problem

It could be, but it would not be realistic. In real life you have to put a lot of rounds into a ship to start it burning.

Sorry, for certain technical reasons, speedboats can not operate on rivers. However, you can still create interesting missions. I have a test mission where insurgents are moving to attack a tanker in port from land and sea (hugging the coast). Mission is to identify the most immediate and greatest threat, and send your armed wingman to neutralise it in time. The HMG on the speedboat can set a tanker on fire, but it takes time, about 10 minutes.

Marketing campaign is going to start in December and as well as concentrating on the study flight sim aspects will also stress the "Game Mode" - just for 10 minutes of fun! To be honest, I do most of my testing in Game Mode!

Correct - Recon missions can be easily created. For those interested in evaluating threats for shipping (as in pirates off the Somalia coast), there is an insurgent speedboat armed with a heavy machine gun. Therefore you can create a mission "observe shipping lanes and ensure there is no threat from insurgents/pirates".

Black Shark (English version!) will be at the FlightSim Weekend, 1/2 Nov at Lelystad Aviodrome Holland, on the Dutch Flankers Display Team stand. see http://www.fsweekend.com We will be showing on a laptop (one of my test systems - see below), and a desktop PC with controls from Left-Side, see http://www.leftside-limited.com Also, we may have a hard copy of the manuals to inspect, assuming:- a) they are completed in time b) I can buy enough print cartridges!

Preview in the French Magazine PC4war see http://www.net4war.com/pc4war/numeros/pc4war35.htm

Both - but please take no action until it is confirmed.

No promises - but Black Shark may be shown at the show. Working out logistics. If resolved, will confirm.

Pricing Points in all markets will be declared when the English, German, French, Spanish versions are available for distribution. We are also aware of the problems of countries where pricing of a typical western price is too high in relation to the disposable income of those countries. We are investigating solutions. Please note that the world wide economy is collapsing and we can not predict what the position will be in early 2009.

Probably not - there are 600 pages to translate with correct military terms. However, it is the intention to release before the English version of DCS;Black Shark.

Probably not - there are 600 pages to translate with correct military terms. However, it is the intention to release before the English version of DCS;Black Shark.

Leafer, you have a pm.

Regret due to other commiments we can not be at SimWare Show. However we will be at FSWeekend a Lelystad - 1/2 Nov http://www.fsweekend.com/