glottis

Not sure this is what you expect Hans... :S

If games is the only thing you use your computer for, Vista really isn't bad at all, in my opinion. I tend to work using XP, mac or linux. Vista is fine for gaming, after SP2 anyway, so long as you fiddle with it a bit to stop all the background crap. Sorry about that - I wasn't trying to be facetious; there just aren't many options at the moment if you want to stick with XP.

At the point at which it goes amber, do you get 'Saitek Rulezzz!!!' displayed on the MFD? From what I can tell, there's a (currently quite buggy) system for scripting the MFD and lights from within the game scripts. Once this works properly, it will be totally awesome. As it is, it makes my game crash. Anyway, the solution to your problem may be to go into your black shark folder, then bin, then stable. In there, delete (or better still, rename so you have a backup) the file called lua-direct_output.dll If this doesn't fix it, let me know :)

There is a utility to automate setting the affinity, but it's only worth using in Vista because of this: Yep, in XP it makes little or no difference. Distributing load across multiple cores (the 'affinity trick' as it's often referred to here) is only useful in Vista. Even in vista, it's no substitute for a proper multi-core aware engine, which is something ED are looking into I believe. So unfortunately your options for making the most of your multiple cores are: 1. Get vista. 2. Wait for new engine (could be next year or later). 3. Overclock so at least the core that _is_ used is going as fast as possible.

As I understand it, the old (nasty) starforce was all about checking the DVD in your drive was a real one. I think the new StarForce (like the version in BS) just checks online that your product key is valid - much like the windows activation process, and doesn't install stuff. Not certain that's all accurate, but I'm pretty sure.

I started out with around 20fps, now I have about 40-50. For me, the biggest things that increased frame-rate were: 1. Affinity trick as ZaltysZ says. It only works in Vista. Although you can make the change manually each time, using this utility makes it much easier and gives you a nice launcher. 2. Turn water effects down to medium. Sounds silly, but due to an inefficiency in the engine, this actually increases frame rate by a lot.

Oh yeah, I wasn't suggesting that it wasn't realistic of course. I was just philosophising (aka talking rubbish) about the mind of the flight simmer... ;)

It won't, but in XP it would be irrelevant anyway. I'm afraid your problem is caused by something else... :(

I know what you mean, but if you really think about it it's kind of meaningless. Unless you are a (or know a) real KA-50 pilot, you're just taking ED's word for it that it's realistic, surely?

Kevlon are you running a surround-sound setup in Vista? If so, the problem might be caused by the fact that Vista won't support direct-sound properly. If you are using vista and a creative Xfi or Audigy, you can use the Creative Alchemy utility to 'fix' the problem. It seemed to clear things up for me anyway...

With the clickable cockpit, I really don't find many uses for the 3 modes or the shift state (I use them for other games, but not Black Shark).

Alchemy does seem to improve the sound situation a lot. It's still not perfect, but better than it was. I don't have weird cuts when changing view, and surround-sound seems to work nicely from within the cockpit... I just used the default settings. EDIT: Using Creative XFi (extreme fatality gamer edition or some rubbish) and Vista x64 with latest drivers & alchemy version.

I'm in the uk - I ordered from the flightsimx flightstore. Ordered at 3pm on the Thursday, and received it Friday at about 10am :D It was a bit pricey though (compared to other non-next-day options I mean - I couldn't wait :P). Glad you've chosen to grab one anyway murdoc - it's a great piece of kit. I'm using it in Arma as well, and it's good fun (though the implementation is nothing on BS's).

I use the button (C?) that's between the two cyclic hats. I tried using pinkie as trim for a bit but it didn't stick for some reason.

I agree, the shift is very useful. But for BS I prefer it as a button because (with TrackIR) it's so easy to glance down and flick switches using the mouse, that I find I don't really need shifted buttons. Also I like the psuedo-realism of taking your hand off the stick to fiddle with stuff that's not on the real KA-50 cyclic (kind of silly logic I know, but meh...)

I've got even more random behaviour - track IR works if (and only if) I plug it into one of the two ports at the back of the monitor. Additionally, my x52 Pro only works if I put it in the lower port on the side (other ones light up the stick but not the throttle, and the profile manager doesn't recognise the connection). I'm not sure if Dell hubs are registered weirdly with windows, as I've had problems with mouse/keyboard if I change the ports they are plugged into.

No worries. Did you get it all sorted in the end?

I actually already answered this in the other thread you made... you simply need to delete the shift-states in the profile editor...

You don't mention the weapon arm - it's the switch under the diagram of the hardpoints, across and down a bit from the master arm. Did you flick that?

You have to go into the profile editor, click on view to see the whole table (not just one mode + picture of stick), then delete any shift-states by hitting the cross. Once nothing is set to shift using pinky-switch, you will see its row change from blueish-grey to white - now it will bind properly in the game.

murdoc311 - I can tell you how I have my controls set up if that's any use? I don't think it's perfect but it's a good start. As I said in the other thread, I've made all these assignments in Black Shark - and used a blank x52 profile with the mouse buttons, clutch, and shift key all unassigned. So on the stick/cyclic I have: Main trigger: Push half way to select gun, push all the way in to fire gun. Launch button (under the safety flipper): Release weapon. Hat 1 (the main round one): Slew shkval (this works better if you set the hat to 4-way in the saitek profile editor). Hat 2 (the one with paddles): Up/Down: shkval 23x/7x 'zoom'. Left/Right: Shkval tracking stuff. Button 'A': Uncage shkval. Button 'B': Center shkval. Button 'C': Trim. Pinky button: Autohover. The row of toggle buttons at the bottom of the stick I have set to target panel functions: Toggle 1 Up: Laser on/off Toggle 1 Down: Turn on target Toggle 2 Up: Air Moving target Toggle 2 Down: Ground Moving target Toggle 3 Up: Helmet-mounted sight toggle Toggle 3 Down: Reset targetting On the throttle/collective I have: Slider: Throttle Dial 1: Wheel break Hat: Weapon select - see the real KA-50 collective hat for assignments Mousewheel roller: Shkval target window size + and - Mouse button 1: Collective break Button D: Lock target Button E: Reset trim Clutch button: Descend I think that's everything. I use TrackIR for view, freeing the hats up for functions. Autopilot, and gun select etc I currently do in the cockpit, but am looking to bind some of this to the dials etc. Also, if you're going for maximum relation to the real ka-50 assignments, my example is a bit of a mess.

I stick weapons release under the safety flipper, and use the trigger for guns (first stage select gun - second fire gun). Admittedly a little different to the mapping on the real cyclic, but that will always be the case with an X52 :)

Deleting the dll fixed my problems too. I wish ED would fix it though, as the Saitek Rullez message is just a test for all the awesome scripting that we could no-doubt do if the game didn't crash!

The only bug I've found and want fixed is the direct output dll crashing the game. I want to program my MFD in lua :D Obviously any improvements to the engine would be welcome too...

Apologies if this is patronising, but some people just don't know - the trigger button at the rear of the stick is 2-stage. Now in my experience, if you push it all the way in it triggers the half-way stage and then the full-in stage. If you've managed to assign something to that half-way stage that switches weapons, that could be your problem. Another thing to try is to go into the control setup in Black Shark, and select 'All' from the category drop-down. From here, press the button you're having problems with, and it will jump to the first command that button is assigned to - check it's what you expected for both half-in and full-in trigger. Finally, I think that you can assign the same button to multiple commands - so if I set button 5 to weapon select, then click on the 'fire' command and press button 5, it is now assigned to both. I don't believe the second one overrides the first - you need to explicitly 'Clear' commands to remove them. Edit: Also, the sim assigns some buttons by default when you first run it - switch to the 'All' view in control setup and scroll way down to check.