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Hey everyone. A new major update has landed and is now live on Helo World. This update brings a breath of fresh air into the entire Helo World system, relocating almost everything to a couple small and nearby areas. Troops in Contact, COIN, and Sector Control have received huge overhauls in the way they work, greatly improving your experience. An all new random number generator was created that allows for billions of possibilities in random sequencing (the default RNG in DCS's Lua version is limited to a little under 2000 possibilities!) which should make some of the seemingly repetitive activities a lot less predictable. New technology and toys in DCS have been implemented and the use of the loader mission has been replaced by a much less clunky and more dynamic weather loading method. Here are some highlights of this update: Troops in Contact Significantly more dynamic spawning algorithm that uses the entire AO to find spawn points rather than relying on a finite number of predetermined zones. Dynamically spawns incidents to be nearby your aircraft so your flight time between contacts are more consistent More content in terms of templates, voice lines, and interactable features COIN Dispatch Significantly more dynamic spawning algorithm for random encounters and several activities so you wont see the same guys in the same spot twice Major changes to all activities to improve dynamic generation and to make the user experience more enjoyable Reduced down to 1 AO which is nearby the main airbase on Helo World Sector Control All new Factions feature that adds 13 unique factions with their own strengths and weaknesses and are themed from real-life militaries. Factions cycle through preset pairings after the entire sector control area has been secured by blue. The first pairing is US ARMY (blue) vs RUSSIAN GROUND FORCES (red). Many improvements and changes to CTLD based features like FARPs, Depots, and deployables Improvements to ground AI behaviour. ----------------- CHANGELOG v33 General Relocated all land combat activities to originate from Ramat David Relocated naval activities to offshore from Haifa Removed Invincible spawn and activity option Removed Maritime Security activity Removed FARP spawns for COIN area Added TACAN ‘1X TAR’ to Tarawa Added OH-6A as an officially supported helo Added UH-60L DAP variant to all combat spawns Changed King Training Area menu to only appear when you spawn there Removed mission loader and presets Added DCS bot weather management (wip) Changed ⁠unknown messages to appear in ⁠「」server-feed Troops in Contact Updated to newest version, featuring the following: All new generation algorithm allowing thousands of possibilities TIC incidents will generate between 10-15 km of the pilot New voicelines and callsigns New friendly and enemy group templates Additional features for friendly identification and lasing COIN Dispatcher Only 1 COIN AO exists now Random encounters will now spawn and navigate to locations generated dynamically rather than a set amount of zones Convoy escort routes are now generated dynamically and are no longer based on existing routes Convoy escort range is limited to roughly 15km, making the tasking take about 30 minutes max to complete Area Security friendlies now have 'plot armor' for a limited time to help with survivability on initial contact Area Security duration reduced to 10-15 minutes max Search and Destroy generation is now dynamic, resulting in thousands of possibilities for locations. This means it is unlikely you will see targets in the same place more than once. Air assault zone variety has been greatly increased. Custom stories have been removed as they become repetitive fluff Requesting a BDA during an air assault will tell you if you lack the minimum number of troops required to capture it Hot extraction issues related to it completing instantly have been fixed Sector Control All new AO in Northern Israel Reduced to 2 lanes Added 13 unique factions each with their own pros and cons. See Helo World docs for details on this (doc changes are a work in progress at this time) Added No Fly Zones around the AO, leniently enforced by mission scripting Added a block that prevents enemies from spawning for a specific lane when the final objective is secured Added a radio menu item in --PLAYER STATS/TOOLS-- to dismantle an established FARP and turn it into 6x parts, which can individually be converted into crates for transport using the CTLD menu Added the ability to use player-made FARPs from the dynamic spawn menu Added limits to CTLD deployables. Consider relocating units or returning them to base when you see them in unhelpful locations! Changed depots to immediately stop respawning groups when all 3 buildings are destroyed Changed depots to despawn defensive units on restart when all 3 buildings are destroyed Changed FARPs to despawn on restart when the main building is destroyed Changed FARPs to respawn on restart when ground units were lost, but the building is still intact Improved visual distinction between FARPs and Depots on the map Ground AI will no longer actively hunt recon and mortar teams Small improvements to advanced behaviours of ground AI Changed win discord message to post in ⁠「」hw-notams and it will no longer ping roles Fixed an issue that prevented retreating ground units from despawning after fully retreating Fixed an issue that allowed retreating units to rejoin the fight as a single adversary after server restart Fixed an issue that caused armor depots to create multiple labels after building it Many other unremarkable or unrecorded bug fixes and improvements that were implemented over the past several months while testing systems on S3

New video!

Helo World Update 31 There was a bit of a hiatus in development since the last update, however there's been several improvements and changes made to Helo World in this latest update: CHANGELOG Added a map restart vote option to the PLAYER STATS/TOOLS menu. The server is set to restart the mission after 5 hours and nobody is online. If at any point you want the server to restart earlier than this or when there's people still flying, you can now cast a vote for force that to happen early. Anyone can initiate it and the vote is active for 60 seconds. The vote requires 50% or more YES votes to restart, and will favour YES votes in the event of a tie. If a vote fails, you must wait 15 minutes before casting another vote. Please remember that if there's a serious need to restart the server and the vote fails, you can come to discord and request HIGH COMMAND to manually restart it. Added a bi-weekly NIGHT mission Every other Friday from Midnight to Midnight EDT (currently 0400z) , the server will host a NIGHT mission. This mission is set to start at sundown with the FEW weather setting and provides a unique dark experience on helo world. The first night mission is set to begin on October 11th 2024 and will repeat every other friday from there on out. Player Stats Reset This one is a bit of a hard one to swallow, but it is necessary. All player stats have been wiped and reset to zero. The reasoning for this is because of the unreliable UCID handling prior to the v29 update. Players were unknowingly writing into each others stats due to bugs and poor event handling on the DCS side of things. This has been mitigated and testing over the past several weeks has shown UCID tracking to be much more reliable. There are still instances where UCID fails to be retrieved, a mysterious DCS bug with no fix. However, there should be no more instances of overwriting other player stats. Your stats should be yours only. Previous stats are archived and can be retrieved upon request for anyone wanting them. Firemission Script This interactive script by Fargo allows players to call in artillery strikes organically in the Sector Control AO. Simply place a map marker on the F10 map and enter fm into the box, and deselect the marker (dont close it!). Enter the Firemission radio menu and call your your initial strike. From there, you can navigate through the menu to adjust the impact point and when you're satisfied, call for a barrage. When you're all done, remove the map marker and the system will reset. Anyone can use this script as long as you're in a Minakh helicopter. Lift helos will play an incredibly important role in this as well. A new artillery battery of Firtina 155mm cannons has been added to CTLD. It requires 4 crates, each weighing 2000kg. At least one of these batteries must be deployed in Sector Control to engage targets. Be sure to check the minimum and max range when deploying to ensure there's plenty of coverage! FARP Redesign With the new Syria map update, all FARPs in the COIN area have been redesigned: ALTOBELLO - Moved downhill to the small base added there. Helo spawns are outside the base area as there is only 1 pad here, which can instead be used for cargo and rearm/refuel needs. CORLEONE - Hand built in the same location with M92 assets in a Russian/Soviet outpost style. BARZINI - Also built in the same location out of M92 assets. This one is more NATO outpost style. PENTANGELI - Without any prior research or google maps browsing, the new home of FARP Pentangeli wound up being directly on top of a small military outpost. It has been integrated into the outpost. The two pads there are used for the LARGE spawns and the two SMALL pads were moved into some free space within the outpost.

Helo World Update 30 Work towards the new stuff is ongoing. Fixing up some bugs, tying up loose ends, and improving core systems is a higher priority and that's what this update brings. The biggest changes in this update are to the CTLD specialists, improving their performance and usability. You will also notice some changes were made to the F10 Radio Menu as it was getting a fair bit cluttered. You should only see relevant menus now, minus the [KING TRAINING AREA] menu as it's a bit too fancy in the way it's built to be made exclusive to certain airfields. Check out the full changelog below to see what's been changed: CHANGELOG: ASW -Implemented an automatic cleanup of sonobuoys in the ASW area -Added a button to ASW to clear all active sonobuoys CTLD -Added callsigns to FPV Drone Operators -Added menu controls for the FPV Drone Operators (similar to JTAC) -Moved JTAC and FPV Drone Operator menus into a new [ CTLD SPECIALISTS ] menu category -Disabled forcing Mortar Spotters aboard aircraft after dropping mortar teams (caused too many problems) -Moved the Mortar Spotter from Extras to Specialists in the CTLD menu -Added weight display to CTLD troops -Added weight display per crate and number of crates needed to CTLD equipment/vehicle crates -Optimized detection methods of specialists and 'camo pants' to help improve server performance Misc -Set VBSS, Troops in Contact, and Maritime Security radio menu categories to only be visible to eligible aircraft -Added CH-47 troop and crate limits to COIN transport tasks -Added CH-47 weapons to warehouse supplies (needs verification) -Added watchdog to warehouse resupply method to ensure FARPs are actually being loaded with weapons, fuel, and aircraft after the call is made The above changes will take effect the next time the server restarts

Hey all. A bit of an early update here while all the new shiny stuff gets worked on. This update addresses many of the issues you all have been having with things like COIN, stats, ASW, and the activity feed. A major overhaul of some core systems had to be done since the July update of DCS shattered the world of scripting and bandaid fixes were applied. An all new client handler script has been deployed which should be much more reliable and more responsive than the previous iteration. This new client handling script grants us the ability to use dynamic spawning as well, so you all can enjoy the boons that come with that. Here's a list of what's all changed in today's update: -Replaced all slots with Dynamic Spawns at all airfields and FARPs -Overhauled client management to use a more refined and reliable method (affects ASW, COIN, and stats) -Adjusted FARP pads to be compatible with dynamic spawning -Adjusted FARP supply logic to facilitate blocking/unblocking dynamic spawns at FARPs PLEASE NOTE: The FARPs in the COIN area now use the warehouse for slot blocking/unblocking. While you can use the warehouse cargo manager to resupply these FARPs, it is strongly recommended you continue to use the CTLD FARP SUPPLY crate. This crate will unblock ALL slots at ALL pads, as well as fill all ammunition and fuel stores at each pad. On top of that, the crate will save the FARP supply. With the CH-47, you can bring 4 days worth of FARP supply in one go and is much more worth your time. One more thing. FARP slots may take up to 20 seconds to unblock. Some delays needed to be added in order to get around some unexpected DCSisms.

Fresh News June 2024 Quick update on the intro of the Kiowa at BlackSharkDen. Of course we are now working on the ATM for our newly created platoons flying the 58 and are hoping to welcome newcomers in a couple of weeks. The structure for this new chopper is already built and our IPs are checking the relevance of each task in the ATM. Ah, for those of you who are wondering about the CH-47, yes, ATM and platoons structure is in place, we have IPs ready to go. Now we need the module... On the dedicated servers side, our 4 servers, including our public one, Helo World, are going strong. Helo World is one of the best Rotary Wings only public server available in the community and we cannot encourage you enough to check out the community dedicated thread! Finally, we created on our discord server a new APAC (Asia Pacific) group to help those with availabilities that do not fit "normal" hours for our NORAM and EMEA companies fly together. As usual, if you are not familiar with BlackSharkDen, we are the largest and most respected squadron in the DCS community operating exclusively helicopters (no fixed wing) in a cooperative environment (no PvP). Check our www.blacksharkden.com or join our Discord server.

Hello RW pilots! Quick update to let you guys know that the Kiowa is now available on Helo World! Come and play on one of the best RW dedicated server in this community, meet and fly with our pilots!

Large welcome MP flight at BlackSharkDen for the Kiowa.

I don't know how this is working for this module, but both the MFDs worked on my 5 inches USB screens without having to do anything to export them. This really blew my mind.

Hi Miro. Join our Discord Server so you can get in touch with the devs and support. https://discord.gg/blacksharkden/

HELO WORLD UPDATE #5 (Major) Dear DCS RW community. Our BlackSharkDen community has been really hard at work for the last few months developing and extensively testing new additions to our Helo World server. The result was impressive enough that we had no hesitation to name this new release as a major one. We are bringing to you guys probably the most advanced RW dedicated public server available to the DCS community that provides not just a target rich environment for attack choppers, but a real interactive and interdependent environment where utility helicopters have a central role in the fight too. From the experience gathered during those last 8 years of existence of the Black Shark Den squadron, Helo World 2.0 is offering pretty much everything we were always dreaming to get from DCS World when flying helicopters: - A completely reworked SECTOR CONTROL module with new AI logic for ground forces to include capabilities such as supporting, retreating, abandoning vehicles, disembarking troops to attack, and changing speed/formation when attacking based on circumstances, more persistence to the AO, expanded radio messages for ground commander and ground forces, now fully integrated and played through SRS, changes from large sectors to smaller objectives and a significant optimization of the code. - NEW COUNTER INSURGENCY MODULE! All new dynamic tasking system for solo and group flights centered around low-threat COIN style ops that includes strike, armed recon, security, air assault, medevac, and combat logistics! - Reworked FARP SUPPLIES system: We changed FARP supply to a dynamic supply management method *FARPs store up to 4 supplies and consume one supply per day. - WEATHER: New logic for selecting the mission. Each weather option has a weight in a random selection. The weather now changes daily. Note that NIGHT has been removed as this mission significantly deterred player counts. But if you want to fly with this level of skills required, you should definitively consider joining BlackSharkDen! - PLAYER STATS: Added tracking and storing of tons of stats for players as well as a new leaderboard that shows the top 3 players for each stats. - GENERAL CHANGES: AI helicopter IFF settings set to realistic to use the improved detection modelling and balance a/c capabilities. Added ADF beacons to all FARPS, Added KA-50 v2 slots and SA342 minigun ones. Restored ATIS capabilities. Cleaned up other modules (Maritime Security, Anti Submarine Warfare and Visit, Board, Search, Seizure) that should hopefully be operational without bugs now. As usual, complete and updated documentation can be found on heloworld.blacksharkden.com. You can join our discord server to get all the latest and greatest updates, ask your questions and discuss with our devs and pilots (and why not fly together!). No mods are required on Helo World but make sure you are connecting on SRS with the frequencies given in the comm plan of the online documentation. All the BlackSharkDen community is wishing you hours of fun on Helo World!

This issue indeed has been here since the release of Black Shark 1 in 2009 as far as I remember But at that time, very few people were exporting displays so I guess it wasn't really high on ED's list. Now multi screens and exports are becoming a bit more frequent with off the shelves solutions available like Winwing MFDs, I would love to see ED take this into account without letting us doing some crazy level wizardry DIY. It is specially problematic with the TADS or the SHKVAL (don't know for fixed wings but I guess that's the same). AH-64 exported TADS is almost unusable in IR mode no matter the brightness and contrast. Moving map is dark but still alright to use. Problem at night is when you are cranking up like crazy brightness for your exported displays, your in game cockpit's MFDs are burning your retinas.

Hello @currenthill and thanks for your awesome work. Question about the Iranian Shahed 136 LM. Is it supposed to launch its drones? I can have the truck open its trail but when setting a fire at point, nothing happens. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

So this thing can scan its environment in 3D and activate/deactivate passthrough on parts of the screens (as you are entering the boundaries you set). Am I dreaming too much to imagine that you could define a fixed 3D area (a physical cockpit for example) where passthrough remains active while the rest of the display (like the DCS view) remains VR on the display and create an hybrid reality where you could physically interact with a real cockpit while looking at a virtual landscape? I have played with that in a sim displayed during last year at the NBAA in Orlando, and it was working well, but I guess with more expensive/pro type of gear. Now the Quest 3 seems to have everything it needs to do that?