EinsteinEP

Wish list: An SDK or documentation to enable X52 Pro MFD or other external application visibility and/or control of Black Shark in-game parameters. (See IL2's DeviceLink.txt for a decent example). I'm OK with limiting it to prevent abuse during multiplayer play, but give us something to play with single player! [edit: just learned about export.lua. I think there's enough info to start playing, but it'd be nice to see it updated for Black Shark]

Wow! I would have never guessed there would be so much passion about background noise!

Sounds like your tactic is to attack enemy targets outside their threat range. Seems like it works just fine. Why would you want to change it?

No matter how precise you manufacture a jet engine, each one consumes fuel at its own rate. Cross-feed pumps generally make sure that both tanks have the same amount of fuel in them, even though one engine is sucking more fuel than the other. Cross-feeds really come in handy if one engine is shut down. As the engine pulls fuel from only one tank, the cross-feed pumps fuel from the unused tank to the tank being emptied by the engine, ensuring the pilot can use all the fuel he has, not just what happens to be in one tank.

Laser sensors could be considered optics. ;) Ambient air temperature is a factor in predicting the trajectory of unguided rockets, which is what the little circle that shows up on the HUD when you select unguided rockets is trying to do. As pointed out in an earlier post, ambient air temperature will have some effect on the ballistic profile of stuff flying through the air. Additionally, the core temp of a solid rocket motor at ignition affects the thrust profile: rocket motors with a higher fuel temp produce more thrust but burn out faster than a rocket motor with "nominal" fuel temp. Vice versa, colder rocket motors produce less thrust but burn longer. For you rocket scientists out there, total impulse generally stays the same, +/- 0.1%, it's the time rate at which that impulse is applied, which will affect the overall trajectory and impact point on the ground (if you're not pointing straight up or down!). Changes as small as 10oC in initial temp can have measurable effects on performance, depending on the rocket motor, fuel composition, etc. My ejamukated guess is that, once fully implemented, spinning the temp dial will change the predicted impact point in the HUD when using unguided rockets, altering the projected burn profile and post-burnout ballistics, and not have any effect whatsoever on the rockets themselves. Of course, that said, it seems kinda strange that they'd include a high-accuracy intertial navigation system with a complex autopilot paired with a sophisticated targeting and display system to reduce workload on the pilot and then make him/her turn a dial to the current outside air temperature instead of using a thermocouple system, but, hey, I'm no Kamarov...

And only release the collective brake *after* you've achieved your desired altitude and won't need to touch the collective anymore.

Cheers, all. Sorry to rain on the parade in this thread, but combustion engines perform better when ingesting cold air because of density differences, not specifically the air temperature When you consider the chamber temperature of a combustion engine goes anywhere from a few hundred degC to a few thousand, a difference of even 30 degC in the intake air is in the noise. However, colder air is usually denser air which means there's more O2 per gulp which allows more combustion. Superchargers work off of this principle (take a big gulp of air, squish it down it a higher pressure/density before stuffing it in the combustion chamber), but even supercharged engines get a performance boost from denser intake air. Props and turbines love dense air too because they get more push for each swing of the blade. "Cold shock" when yanking back the throttles on a high performance engine refers to the uneven expansion and contraction of the metal pieces of the engine, not fuel lines freezing. Cold shock will greatly reduce the life of an engine, and while catastrophic failure due to cold shock is theoretically possible, I've never heard of it. And yes, while the internal combustion engine concept is over a hundred years old, it is the cheapest, easiest, most reliable, and most powerful form of vehicle power we have. I'm all for hydrogen/fuel cell/fusion/fission/ion-powered engines, as long as I can get it for around $350/mo. and still have reasonable insurance payments! Have fun!

Thanks for the lead, CyBerkut, but, unfortunately, it's got as much information as we've got in this thread! Oh well. Off to go do some diggin'.

I've taken up, as a hobby, writing applications that interface with the MFD on my x52 Pro. I'm currently working on one that takes data from IL2 and displays it on the MFD. Next I was going to make a similar utility for Falcon 4.0. Eventually, I'd like to make something for Black Shark as well. IL2 shares info via DeviceLink (see DeviceLink.txt in your IL2 folder) and I'm planning on using the F4SharedMemory reader for Falcon 4.0, but I haven't been able to find any info on how to get info from/to Black Shark. Perhaps I'm just not looking in the right place?

The coaxial rotors generate pitch, yaw, and bank moments on the helicopter as a function of lift. Change the amount of lift produced by wildly yanking up (or down) on the collective, and the moments will change accordingly, resulting in equally "wild" motion along these three axes. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=649872

As mentioned earlier, try to set yourself up so SAMs don't get fired at you. Failing that, there's all sorts of materials on teh interwebs on missile avoidance. Some key points: Don't stand still. Don't just go straight unless you can outrun the missile. SAMs generally go fast and have horrible turn rates. Use this to your advantage by maneuvering so that the missile can't turn fast enough to get to you. Use the terrain. Flares only work on IR missiles, but lots of SAMs have IR terminal guidance, and flares still in the dispenser are no good against a missile that might have IR guidance. If you'd like, you can set up a mission with SAM launchers and let yourself get repeatedly shot at to practice evasive maneuvers. I suspect you'll find that being extremely cautious in your advance into enemy territory is an easier skill to master than SAM evasion.

Ditto leafer. The fact that the game required a start-up procedure just to get off the ground was the selling point for me. Lwin+Home? Puh-lease... ;) Anyways, I guess I'm one of those people that actually looks forward to RFTM and figuring out the Why's and How's of a system. The bigger and more complicated the better! There sure seem to be a lot of us folks flying Black Shark.

With so many systems, it's amazing you can keep track of any at all as well as you do!

Entirely possible. But, to me, for a design to have all sorts of relatively low-priority lamps and indications taking up valuable cockpit real estate, even though they only repeat info that the pilot can determine from other instruments ("Start Valve", "HUD NOT READY", fuel pumps, cutoff valve status, etc.), but to NOT have a way to determine the INU alignment quality just seems out of place. "Out of place" isn't the same thing as "impossible", of course, or even "unreasonable". My curiousity on the subject is just getting more and more intense and I'd just love to hear confirmation one way or the other. <speculation>Such a function would fit best with the PVI, possibly something not yet implemented? Maybe the "K-1","K-2" features? Or perhaps there's a quality indication when the "Normal" alignment button is pressed? Just guesses.</speculation>

Hmm, using a quick start procedure, I can takeoff from a cold start in about 100 seconds (1:40). The aircraft position on the PVI updates normally, velocities, times to waypoint, etc., are also all good, and the autopilot is able to maintain attitude and velocity in Route mode, long before the ground speed comes up in the HUD, all indicating a good INU solution. Based on this and the "Doppler Nav" warning that sometimes comes over the EKRAN, I suspect the HUD ground speed velocity is actually coming from a doppler velocimeter (see http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=950&scr=default&lang=en, search for "doppler"). Doppler velcoimeters work by bouncing some sort of wave (sound, radar, laser) off of the ground (or other reference surface) and calculating the relative velocity from the doppler shift of the returned signal. I doubt they'd use an acoustic doppler system on a chopper, and either a radar or laser system will need warm-up time, so... Anyways, trying to takeoff without a sufficiently aligned INU will result in your nav system being way off, in position, velocity, and attitudes. (see http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-634.html for one informative discussion on real-life INU alignment concerns). This, of course, would render the autopilot stupid, since it depends on those inputs to control the chopper. There are clever ways to align the INU while in-flight, but these generally have great amounts of error, due to the fact you're trying to "zero" the INU while you're moving with respect to the Earth (even in the best hover you can achieve, the chopper is still fidgeting, and those little movements reduce accuracy), which greatly increases the importance of a good pre-flight INU alignment. Which, if true, is scary! While an INU alignment quality indicator is by no means a required design element, it sure seems awfully strange to leave out such an easy and important indication.

I know there is a 0-second wait time for the INU to align in the current DCS implementation. When/If that time does go to more than 0-seconds, what indication will the pilot have that the INU is flight-ready? For example, in the F-16, there is an "INU Alignment Status" indicator. Once the INU achieves a specific level, the pilot can stop the alignment process and proceed with flight. If the Ka50 has any such indicator I haven't found it. Anybody out there know of one that I'm missing? What do the real Ka50 pilots use? Just time delay?

Funny. Since I started playing Black Shark, my life appears to have lost a DOF.

Software Version 6.1.1.15 Hmm, no ideas here. Once I installed the beta software it worked for all left and right modified keys.

The latest version of the profile tools differentiates between left and right modifier keys. I think it's still labeled "beta". I have the utility and it works great with Black Shark.

Hmm, in my humble experiences, if Heading Hold's off, it's off. You may have some rudder input trimmed in that you weren't expecting. The fact that rudder position gets trimmed is a big surprise to many pilots. Here's how to verify: Press Rctrl-Enter to bring up a display of your virtual control inputs. Note that these control positions are the positions actually being input to the sim, and do *not* include any autopilot effects. If your feet are off of the pedals and the bottom marker isn't centered, you have some rudder trimmed in. To trim the rudder inputs out, apply the appropriate amount of rudder pressure to center the mark, then re-trim. If you're hovering and there's no wind, centered rudders should prevent any yawing. While in forward (or sideways or backwards, for that matter) flight, you'll need some rudder input to counteract the net yawing moment generated by the coaxial rotor system. This is also *not* due to autopilot, but to the dynamics of the Ka50 rotor system.

Or, with your targeting system reset: 1) Press the button for the desired target type on the PRT Datalink panel. 2) Press any number button (not sure why this step is needed, but can't get to work without doing it). 3) Repeatedly press the target type button again until the desired target is flashing on the ABRIS. 4) Press the "DL" button on the PRT panel. It should light up (yellow). 5) Press the "Designate/Uncage Shkval" button. The Shkval should turn on and slew to the selected data point. [edit: You can also read CooperHawke's excellent summary below ;)]

Check the big blue button on the right panel that has an "H" on it. If it's not lit, you don't have Heading Hold on. If it is, press it. It should go dark. You now don't have Heading Hold on. Voila! I use the method Zorrin suggested: using the Flight Director. The purists in this forum will argue that that's not how Real Pilots do it, and they're probably right, but I find flying with Flight Director with all 4 autopilot channels engaged gives me the best control of the Ka50. I turn Flight Director off when 1) engaging route mode, 2) engaging auto-hover, 3) utilizing auto turn to target, but other than those scenarios, it's pretty much on the whole time. Once the patch comes out with the new Heading Hold logic, I plan on giving the autopilot a fair shake again, as proper use of the AP does significantly reduce the pilot's workload. Good luck!

It's a punchline without a good joke. Q: Why'd the Ka-50 pilot start climbing immediately after takeoff, maintaining 130 KIAS the whole way, turning on his rotor-anti ice AND engine anti-ice once he got to about 2000 m altitude? A: To get to the other side! The important part to just to clear the mountain ridge. On more than one attempt at that mission I've had to make a couple climbing circles within that valley to gain enough altitude to make the ridge. Remember even though the Ka-50 is a badass helicopter, it climbs better with some forward airspeed than in a dead hover. It's also safer!

Aussie, Attached is a .trk of my quickstart, no engine shutdown. Hopefully the next patch (or hopefully a later patch/mod?) will introduce a more realistic INU alignment to make the startup procedure more satsifyingly realistic, but I have to admit, only having about 100 seconds between flipping the first swtich and being wheels up is pretty convenient!

... because in the pilot-world, stepping a throttle forward on an engine that hasn't warmed up for some arbitrary time limit is equivalent to embezzling money from the Orphan's Fund? Perhaps my earlier posts weren't clear, but I was trying to understand what would *actually* happen if the condition levers were prematurely advanced, not to determine whether or not it was a sensible thing to do. I concur it's not a sensible thing to do and am not proffering an opposing argument. For example, in combustion engines, a "warm-up" period is to ensure adequate lubrication coverage within the moving parts of the engine as well as to help improve combustion efficiency (hotter chamber = more complete combustion). The short-term effect of not waiting for warm-up is reduced gas mileage, reduced performance, while the long-term effect is reduction of overall engine life including earlier degradation of performance due to wear. In older engines, performance was so bad during the warm-up period that they couldn't carry much of a load at all without bogging down or even stalling. Because of better design and computer-controls most people don't worry about warm-up time in their cars anymore. Are these the same concerns in turbine engines?