blaster454

Hi, Cyborg. You may be right. And no, I don't need to use Modman to just replace three files but I think it's good discipline to use it for all mods to keep from losing track of which files get changed. Considering that the Sharkpit mod (mods, now) was Modman-compatible, I saw no problem using it to install and control the mod. I'll have to do some research and playing with files. Thanks for the help, guys !S!

Hi, Dragon. No, I have no other mods installed ... I did a clean install of BS then loaded the 1.01 patch and backed up all the DCS:BS folders to my archive drive. Modman was the only "mod" to the KA50 folders and it just created it's default backup files in the "Modman - Do Not Remove" folder. When I installed your mod via Modman, there was a warning about not modifying certain files (the cockpit cdds files I think) but I let it go ahead and finish the install since I knew I had an emergency restore available.

First, thanks for putting this together! When I installed this with Modman 7.110, it reset my cockpit to the Russian language version and I was not able to get it to revert to the English cockpit. When I uninstalled the mod with Modman, it said there were no Modman backups for the various cockpit cdds files. The only way I was able to revert to the original English cockpit was to restore from my original install backup files. Is this something I did wrong in the install? I would sure like to use this as the cockpit is very sharp ... but not at the expense of losing my English cockpit. Any way to install and get what I want? Either way, super job on the mods!

We're not talking about this are we?

Mark, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions here. It's done a lot to give us a more clear picture of this new system. Again, I think the time you invest on boards like this can only serve to make the G940 launch more successful ... I hope it goes well for you. Late August release in NA sounds good ... not so long now! Not having directional axes is not a deal killer for me, especially with the zone programming capability. Add to that, if I understood correctly, the ability to program mode states to an axis' zones and it adds a degree of flexibility that needs investigating. I am really sorry to see that more advanced logical programming is not available. CH Products has been the run-away leader here for many years (with Foxy being a close second but not nearly as intuitive). It might be worth tucking away into your business unit's idea bin the thought of adding some programming functionality ... and it doesn't have to be a point-for-point matchup against the competition. I'd think just adding a dozen or so settable flags and including some if-then-else functionality would be a strong feather in Logitech's competitive analysis standings. :thumbup: I understand your thought process regarding zone division being able to provide some degree of advanced logical "programming" but the disadvantage I see there is that the access control devices (e.g., rotary controllers) usually are not physically detented so it can be very hard to determine just which zone you are in. Two is easy as you can drop a big dead zone in the middle and use end of control travel as positive reinforcement. But in your example given to Hannibal, you show five zones...I think that would be hard to control. Maybe another idea for your "what might we look at next" bucket could be a detented controller--not a rotary switch but a rotary axis that can be divided into physical as well as logical zones. My engineering days are comfortably behind me now :smilewink: so I'd leave the implementation to some of your bright, young engineers. I'm certain that there can be an innovative and economically feasible way of implementing adjustable physical zones. The inclususion of cycling commands is a positive as is including any button as an additional shift controller (I assume you can have more than one) :thumbup:. The biggest issue with shifted controls is being able to remember where all the commands are ... with today's programmability, you can have a lot of keystroke assignments crammed onto a few buttons. Either need a good memory, or a cheat sheet, or a button that speaks the command to you as you press it and it's shifters :megalol:. Or better yet, a small but readable LCD display andgled so that it's clearly visible from an operating position that lets you either preview a command (maybe with a special preview shift button) or shows the command when the shifter-button sequence is pressed to aid in training on a new profile. I also must agree with the many other comments concerning hats. I fully understand the tooling and design constraints you are under so maybe this too goes in the idea bucket but a minimum of three hats on the stick and two on the throttle unit would be ideal ... even more could be used for some sims. So many ideas and so many constraints! I think Logitech is to be congratulated for their design ingenuity and for their acceptance of taking the first of what I'll call the new series FFB HOTAS products to market. Sure, others will come out with responses and they'll try to beat you on features or programming but if you have a well-defined product road map and the ability to "add features" through SW changes, you will be in the game. As a final comment, although I think I understand the marketing and logistical drivers for selling this as a complete system, you might be missing a chunk of the marketplace. The die-hard simmer is at worst going to seriously consider your product and at best scoop it up :pilotfly:. But that must be a fairly niche market and I can't help think you'd be better served by breaking out your offerings at least into HOTAS and pedal packages to make the price points more appealing to mainline sim buyers. Am I going to pre-order? Don't know yet :smilewink: but you've helped in the decision process. Given my proclivity to be a leading-edge buyer, I might well be in there at the start. Thanks, again!

Thank you, Mark, for being here. I personally think it will do a lot for the 940 launch to have representation on the popular sim pages. My question concerns the programming software that will drive the 940 system. There seems to be very little available to read about concerning features and abilities. For instance, can you program rotaries as directional axes (one direction = some response while the other direction = a different response)? Is there any capability for setting bit flags so that, for example, if some condition is false a button press does one thing while if it is true, another action is realized (pretty powerful and very useful)? what are the macro capabilities of the software (how many commands, are all keyboard buttons recognized, can multiple macros run in parallel, etc.)? what is the size of the keystroke buffer(s) ... how many keystrokes can be input before you start stepping on previous keystrokes before they are implemented (important for complex macros). Has the software been tested for compatibility with other controller software (yes, even your competitors' software :)) to enable using multiple input devices in parallel. I seem to remember some difficult problems with setpoint software concerning other applications where I had to disable setpoint before being able to continue ... granted that is mouse SW but they are not that dissimilar, methinks. How will button and axis assignments be made viewable outside the software? That is, what utility is present for printing out control assignments. Is it possible to change profiles from within a simulation? I saw that the 940 is available for pre-order through Amazon but I'm hesitant to pre-order something that still seems a little too murky. Any chance on some information on the software that can make potential customers feel more at ease with a new product?

Easy can be a relative term :smilewink: but the short answer is, Sure! I have connected to or running on my system (which includes two PC's and three monitors) an X-52 Pro HOTAS, a Pro Yoke and throttles, an AV8R joystick, the Pro Pedals (all Saitek so far), two keyboards (one programmable), TrackIR, VAC voice control, and Touchbuddy. Granted, I have yet to use them all in any one sim but I have experimented and they can be made to "fly together" with sufficient care and attention to detail. I try to use an Excel spreadsheet with a sim's commands listed and with columns for each control device. That way it's easier to see where you have each command implemented (and you can have the same command implemented on more than one controller--e.g. using different hats for panning views or moving cursors). More importantly, by sorting you can easily see what keystrokes are used and which are free so it's easy to remap when needed. With BS's ability to map modifiers on the controllers, you can have an almost endless array of input choices...unfortunately, it can easily become a bewildering array of choices if you haven't planned things out well. Controller management can be almost as much fun as flying the sim :pilotfly: My goal is to be able to control a sim with no actual keyboard input (and without building a sim pit) ... I'm not there yet (seems like I'm never getting close to the ultimate sometimes :)) ... but I think it is reachable.

Please see my post in Chit Chat ifr interested http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=43212

SOLD - Thank you!

I elected to do FedEX ground because I know how long USPS takes from west to east coasts. :cry: ... the difference was only a few dollars I think that tracking via USPS is less than ideal ... I seem to remember that the last thing I ordered stayed at that initial status until the item ws delivered ... could be wrong. It looks like FedEX is estimating Monday or Tuesday delivery here based on a Tuesday order.

GoGamer Apparently has stock in the US ...or at least they accepted my order and they say shipping within 24 hours. Sadly, Amazon still lists this as out of print and unavailable.

I can really appreciate that, Matt. But it seems that if anyone can do something about this situation it is you, the publishers. It seems that something has broken down in the channel (in the US anyway) and that it might take some sort of "push" to get it flowing. Maybe I'm wrong but I tend to think that an issue that needs resolving, needs resolving :smilewink:. Regardless, I will wait and hope I can get an order in to one of the US distributors before they sell out. Again, I appreciate and understand your frustration. Thanks for the work you and the team are doing (and for the best darn combat flight sim to come along in a long time :thumbup:).

Printed Manual USA Availability We're approaching the end of June and Amazon.com still lists the manual as out-of-print rather than as due-in. Also, GoGamer.com is still out of stock after apparently selling out their initial shipment. I can appreciate ED's unfamiliarity with the US marketing channel but would like to ask if there is nothing that ED can do to push things along a bit? There must be avenues available to suppliers to find out from Amazon why they list it as out of print and do not offer a pre-order. Also, since GoGamer sold out of their initial allotment, I wonder if there is a subsequent reprint coming to replenish their supply? Given the probable low profit margin, it's not clear to me that ED will be reprinting the manual. This might further restrict supply of this manual, especially in the U.S. where there are apparently only the two cources (GoGamer and Amazon). With Amazon not offering pre-order, and not knowing the quantity they have been allocated, I expect that they will also have a chance of selling out before demand is satisfied. I wonder if any of the other channels have sold out their initial supply? I'm not trying to belabour the manual issue. I merely want to get my copy. And no, I do not prefer to order through the U.K. ... not because I don't want to see TFC get the money but rather because I prefer to order through my own national channel.

Well, I did not get the Russian version because I did not want it--I don't speak Russian and I was hoping for an English cockpit with the English language release. But I was among the first to download the English version shortly after it's official release. And I had no problems downloading or installing. I still maintain that the DCS:BS release was considerably cleaner and less painful than many mainline PC games and sims today. And it certainly runs a lot better than most with no patches needed to get it going.

I'd like to comment here that I don't agree with this opinion. IMHO, the simulation release was not flawed. This is one of the few--if not the only--pieces of PC game software I have purchased in many years that installed seamlessly and played right out of the gate. There may be some small issues here and there that people want to see changed or added, but all-in-all this simulation plays very well and does not suffer the many bugs (some of them quite serious) that other PC games have had. When we get the first patch--and I think the only one needed, I think there may be as much or revised content as "bug" fixes. I firmly believe ED deserves a resounding Well Done! for that :thumbup:. Not many of the other (read here bigger, richer, more recognized) PC entertainment software houses have been able to accomplish what ED have done with DCS:BS. My comments (complaints if you will) are about the distribution of the printed manual and I can understand that worldwide gaming distribution channels may well be outside the experience of ED/TFC. I agree with EvilBivol that they are most probably learning from this manual release.

Someone dropped the ball somewhere in the distribution chain. I've waited this long so I guess I can wait another month ... it is very frustrating, though.

Kurtz, I appreciate you taking the time to answer. I also have gone through the keyboard assignments and unmapped those where I need no keyboard input and replaced some of the longer combinations with one or two-stroke sequences ... makes it easier to assign keys to other uses ;).

First, thank you Kurtz for sharing your profile and the excellent layout picture! :thumbup: In looking at your custom keyboard config file, it looks like you mainly changed the use of the numpad views and some snap views. It also looks like you changed the default "cheat" startup and shutdown keystrokes. I am curious as to why you made the changes. Is it due to your using a non-English keyboard or was there another reason? All-in-all, a very nice profile. :joystick:

Thanks, Jim. I appreciate the update (and also appreciate that it might be frustrating for you, too--isn't marketing great? :smilewink:).

I understand that people have already received the manual...but as near as I can tell, these are all in EU (with maybe the U.K. getting the majority?). I would like to support TFC directly but I am uncomfortable ordering for shipping from the U.K. to the U.S. I've seen some things shipped internationally that did not quite survive. ;) Has anyone from the states ordered from TFC and received the manual? What was the packaging and what was the received condition? I'd prefer Amazon ordering since I have free shipping from them and usually get overnight service with no damage.

I am sure there are valid reasons why the manual is not available on Amazon but I sure can't figure them out. I just have the impression that there is a lack of communication here in the marketing chain. I have shopped Amazon for many years and it seems they always offer a pre-order option if they know product is due in (at least for game related items). The BS manual has been listed for many weeks now as out-of-print which indicates to me that they don't have any information about inbound shipments. Is the manual (in the U.S.) being distributed by a third party to the final sales locations? If so, they sure appear to not be doing their job very well. Jim, are ED using one or more distribution managers to get the manual to final sales points? 'Tis a bit frustrating to see this just sitting with no apparent action. :(

Is anyone aware of a list of the default snapviews in Black Shark? I don't mean the measurements from snapviews.lua. Rather, I am wondering if there is a listing of where each snap view is looking in the cockpit (like NumPad2 being the Sensor view).

Very well done! !S! This video was interesting to watch and your explanations and added details made it a satisfying learning experience. I would definitely consider a training set of DVD's as a purchase add on for BS. I have to believe that this first lesson took a great deal of time and effort to put together. Do you have the time to put together a complete tutorial set of videos? I surely hope so. :thumbup: At any rate, you have a positive vote from me ... i learned something from this lesson (and enjoyed learning it, too!). :smartass: Thank you for your effort!

I guess I'm having a problem understanding why the manual is so hard to get into distribution--it is still listed as out-of-print my U.S. Amazon and I've seen nothing flowing from any other distribution channels other than TFC and that is mostly UK/EU based. If it is in fact in the customs loop, then why is it not available for pre-order? Does anyone know exactly who will be distributing this in the U.S.?

Any news on US amazon.com? It's still listed as "out of print" and not available for pre-order.