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DCS: Black Shark - Q&A **READ FIRST!**


EvilBivol-1

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those clouds from #4 and #5 look same as clouds from LOFC!

 

Q: Why is the DCS terrain not as detailed as other games like Battlefield II and Armed Assault?

A: The initial release of DCS (the Black Shark module) uses a modified version of The Fighter Collection Simulation Engine (TFCSE). This is the same engine we used for earlier entertainment and military-grade simulation products. This engine provides worlds that are much, much larger and much greater rendering distances. As such, object density cannot be as high or suffer significant frame rate slow downs. We believe the current DCS engine provides a good balance of large and diverse worlds with detailed graphics. As we develop our new DCS engine, we will increase terrain detail even further.

 

I would guss this goes for the clouds as well.

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Do BS will have a different way to draw dots at distance ? different way to draw far aircraft shapes .?
I don't think the graphics engine itself has been altered in this regard, but some individual LOD visibility ranges might have been, in particular for new 3D models.

If already discussed please post a link to original answers!
http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=450573&postcount=22

 

and

Q: What will the weather system in DCS: Black Shark be like?

A: Be it clouds, winds, fog etc., weather will be much like it was in our previous products given we are using the same base engine. As we move forward with the new engine, we plan to add greater detail to the weather model.

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Which (non)flyables are gonna be in DCS besides the Ka-50? I suppose the question has been asked before?

 

Look at the promo-movie Action Point by ED, released about 8 months ago there are dogfights between MiG-29 and Su-27.

At the "3 min 50 secs" a Su-27 dodges a missile by flying up a damwall. WTF?

 

1. Does that mean that DCS will will have flyable Su-27/MiG-29 etc?

2. Will ED disable them in the program code, so as to limit every1 to only Ka-50?

3. Was that movie made with a special inhouse-version of DCS, which we the consumers community wont have as end-product?

 

Even myself a dedicated Su-25T pilot from The 159th, Strike Wing takes a Su-33 for a spin once in awhile. Many ppl such as my brother have clocked <=1 hour total in the Su-25T, countless other LOFC pilots havent touched the Su-25T in its entirety. Surely ED knows this, and wont wanna loose this crowd esp with new SAM and AI logic which would keep the fighter jocks occupied too. Maybe the official DCS website mentions flyables, and i havent seen or looked properly?

 

Certainly we all are waiting for DCS though not every1 will wanna fly the

Ka-50 all the time! No flyable fighters will be limiting the appeal and commercial success of the to-be released product.

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DCS inhouse project management

 

Hi devs,

 

This isn’t a 100% DCS-question so please bear with me.

 

How DCS as a commercial product managed differently than is say for example a new financial leasing system at a commercial banking institution?

 

In my line of work my tools employed are Rational Unified Process,

, Requirements management, Use Cases, team reviews feedback reviews with the key users.

 

I am curious to know if any Project Managers / programmers / devs at ED have had previous experiences at banks / government agencies? In my experience commercial projects are cost/time driven while government projects are sometimes slowly paced, highly political nature with accountability shifted across multiple layers.

 

1. Do you use business cases?

1.1 Do you take in consideration target market, competing products, time-to-market etc?

1.2 Do you have multiple business cases, for each DCS iteration a new business case?

1.3. Do the end-user / core community input influence business cases?

 

2. How is scheduled work broken down into manageable pieces?

 

3. How do you get from business case to end-user program code, testable by ED Test team?

 

4. Are you writing out UML use cases, using object relations UML etc etc?

 

5. DCS is likely a very expensive, specialized product not appealing to a smaller market (unlike Battlefield 2, Crysis etc).

5.1 What commercially justifies the development of DCS? Bedroom programmers does it for the love/fun, DCS development isn’t free so what is the $$$-reasoning?

 

6.1 Are you using Use Case driven development & testing, RUP, PRINCE2 or something else?

6.2 How is work and releases scheduled of this? Are you working in iterations delivering more functionality on the go?

 

7. If possible, a short highlight DCS vs. Banking Project vs. Government Agency project?

 

8. How much specialized knowledge does a programmer need to be productive in this project? For example in order to accurately develop a section of functionality the DCS satellite geometry?

 

8. Any other tidbits relating to project management, requirements etc can you disclose?

 

If possible I'd like to interview ED for a podcast series via Skype on the above topics.


Edited by pappavis

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How much info is "enough" to be accurate

 

Hey, I have a question that just hit me today. How much info does ED need to be considered "enough" to make an aircraft to DCS standards. Like if somone gets a 100% declassified Dash 1 manual for a certain aircraft, how far towards "enough" would that be? :smilewink:

 

I ask this because I'm noticing that there's no F-14 and much, much more surprisingly, no F-18 on the list of aircraft that can be done at DCS quality. I'm more interested in the Tomcat, but the F-18 would seem to be a shoe-in, for a popularity contest anyways. So I poke around a few places and see that a few discussion board mods are iffy about allowing people to post F-14A NATOPS manuals (in contrast to the F-16 manuals you see floating around out there). However, I can see that the F-14A and D manual can be freely purchased elsewhere.

 

I guess I have another related directly about the inclusion of USN aircraft. I would assume that including those aircraft would also depend on the available info for carrier groups and carrier operations, right?


Edited by RedTiger
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Hi devs,

 

This isn’t a 100% DCS-question so please bear with me.

 

...

 

Although your interest is appreciated, most of your questions are outside the realm of what would be open to discussion here. These are internal questions of financial management and business planning and aren't something we will discuss freely. However, I can try to answer some of your questions.

5.1 What commercially justifies the development of DCS? Bedroom programmers does it for the love/fun, DCS development isn’t free so what is the $$$-reasoning?
As a business venture, The Fighter Collection and Eagle Dynamics have been working for well over a decade now as partners in developing high-end PC-based military flight simulations. For much of the staff, from management down to the individual designers, artists and programmers, this line of work is a personal choice in pursuit of passion. At the same time, turning a profit and earning a living have to be priorities, otherwise there will be no development to speak of. In the past, simulations were developed and released in cooperation with a 'big-house' publisher, which took on much of the risk and profit of the product. However, given various market forces, such relationships are no longer popular. Today, the TFC/ED partnership is pursuing an independent development course, which is relying more heavily on providing profits through other product channels, including simulations for the military.

 

You are correct in that DCS - as a highly realistic military flight simulation for the general public - appeals to a niche market and this poses significant financial challenges. Without going into great detail, one of the fundamental ideas behind DCS is to streamline the development of military contracts and entertainment-line products. Hopefully, this approach can minimize development costs while maximizing productivity.

8. How much specialized knowledge does a programmer need to be productive in this project? For example in order to accurately develop a section of functionality the DCS satellite geometry?
Finding the talent is definitely one of the basic challenges for a flight-sim developer. Consider some of the highly specialized skills a development house requires: aerodynamics, aircraft engineering (mechanical and electrical systems), expert knowledge in general design and performance criteria of avionics and weapon systems, topography, military structure and tactical employment, game and code design, art, sound engineering, writing (e.g. the ~ 700 page manual), etc. When you remember that such specialized skills can easily earn high dollar in other industries, finding - and keeping - the talent can be very difficult.

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Hey, I have a question that just hit me today. How much info does ED need to be considered "enough" to make an aircraft to DCS standards. Like if somone gets a 100% declassified Dash 1 manual for a certain aircraft, how far towards "enough" would that be?
If you have documentation that you believe may be useful to ED, feel free to post it here or, if you feel it more appropriate, send a PM to Wags. However, the chances are that anything floating around the web they already have. Still, you never know.

I ask this because I'm noticing that there's no F-14 and much, much more surprisingly, no F-18 on the list of aircraft that can be done at DCS quality.
You mean the May 16 update? That wasn't a list of aircraft that can be done at DCS quality, it was a list of aircraft that can be done at DCS quality and are already in various stages of development in the studio. There are likely more aircraft that "qualify," but until some development is invested into them, they are not on any list. As a general reminder, even the May 16 list is tentative and not in any particular order beyond the planned sequence of the A-10A and Apache.
Edited by EvilBivol-1

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:) That is a cool set of smoke generators ...really confusing for NATO??? :D

 

I have a question while we're asking: In Lomac all rockets appear to deduct the same amount of hit points from a target (despite some randomisation). This means that it always takes several rockets to destroy a target. On the other hand a direct hit by an S-8KOM or S-8T should destroy any vehicle that has weaker armour than a main battle tank.

 

So:

- Do the armed forces in Eastern Europe regularly mix different types of rockets in the same pod?

- Are the different types selectable or are all tubes fired in a standard sequence?

- Have probability values been added in DCS:BS to simulate the wide variation in effectiveness of different types of rocket warheads against targets?

- Or is it eventually planned to be able to select different warhead mixtures for your rocket pods?

 

Thanks,

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The question was more to see how much information is needed before it is considered enough to do something at DCS levels.
Aircraft manuals usually cover specific aspects of operation, so the more you can collect, the more comprehensive description you will get. One manual is usually not enough. In addition, access to SMEs (subject matter experts) is highly desirable.

Not sure it's been asked but will there be smoke generators for the aircraft also in DCS? Even for heli's?
Currently, smoke generators have been "carried over" from Lock On and are available by default for aircraft that were flyable in Lock On (and are now AI). These can be modded to be available for other aircraft through the configuration files, but I'm not sure if ED will have a chance to do that on their own before release.

- Do the armed forces in Eastern Europe regularly mix different types of rockets in the same pod?

- Are the different types selectable or are all tubes fired in a standard sequence?

In real life, I believe only one specific rocket type can be loaded into the tubes, because the impact point is calculated by the computer for a specific rocket model (including warhead type). These settings are actually available in the cockpit, but are on the back panel behind the pilot and are normally preset before flying out. Similarly, I believe the rockets are fired out of the tubes in a standard sequence.

- Have probability values been added in DCS:BS to simulate the wide variation in effectiveness of different types of rocket warheads against targets?

- Or is it eventually planned to be able to select different warhead mixtures for your rocket pods?

For now, only the blast-fragmentation and smoke marking warhead types are available for unguided rockets, but ED does plan on modeling other warheads.

 

Ground units now feature a more detailed armor model that includes various levels of armor "thickness" on the vehicles, which, combined with the ricochet model when using the cannon makes target aspect an important factor when conducting an attack.


Edited by EvilBivol-1

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These settings are actually available in the cockpit, but are on the back panel behind the pilot and are normally preset before flying out. Similarly, I believe the rockets are fired out of the tubes in a standard sequence.

 

So Is this panel functional in BlackShark? Will we have to preset the correct warehead before flight??

 

Regards!!



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So Is this panel functional in BlackShark? Will we have to preset the correct warehead before flight??
Yes, it is modeled, but normally you don't have to alter it, because it is automatically set to whatever ballistic weapon type is handing on or closest to pylon #1 (outer left) at mission start. In real life, these settings are configured by ground personnel when preparing the helicopter for the mission and standard payload options are such that the pilot does not have to alter these settings in flight. Generally, only one type of ballistic weapon is loaded. This practice is reflected in the default Ka-50 payloads available in DCS. However, the player can create custom payloads using a combination of ballistic weapon types (for example, S-8 and S-13 rockets or rockets and gun pods), in which case he would have to correctly place the switch when selecting the relevant weapon. Also, the player will have to remember the ballistic switch if altering his payload during a re-arming session.
Edited by EvilBivol-1

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HOTAS COUGAR mini-stick target designator

 

Will there be full (better) support for HOTAS COUGAR analog precise target designation mini-stick?

 

Currently in Lock On there's close to NO SUPPORT. We can of course assign it in the input options but we can't use it effectively because each time I release my finger, stick goes back to center, and in-game designator also goes back to HUD-center! So we (Cougar owners) need to make a workaround using HOTAS COUGAR CONTROL CENTER, switch analog mini-stick to digital mode, and emulate up/down/left/right keys for the target designator in Lock On - by this we are missing analog precision of target des. ministick.

 

I'd like to know if ED will finally address this in DCS.

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This aircraft’s avionics package ensuring a full day/night, all weather capability. If it is to be employed at night in an attack role, it must be fitted with a night targeting pod. This pod includes a FLIR, a millimeter wave radar, and an electro-optical sight takes up one of the underwing pylons. The Ka-50N, and Ka-52 are capable of performing attack missions in day/night, and all-weather conditions.

 

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/ka-50.htm

 

this pod is simulated in BlackShark?

 

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About the clickable cockpit, after watching the start-up developers note video, I got the idea that the mouse cursor position is determined in the screen coordinate axes, i.e. it moves with your head relative to the cockpit.

 

My request is to have an option available to make the mouse cursor direction move relative to the cockpit axes. The effect should be that the mouse stays fixed on a cockpit location while you move your head. For example, press the right mouse button to temporarily switch the coordinate system. This will make it much easier to flip a switch as you can control your cursor with only the mouse instead of both the mouse and the trackIR. Otherwise moving your head will make it much harder to keep the mouse on a certain location in the cockpit. Of course, when the next switch, lever or knob is outside your view, you would release the right mouse button, look at the desired object (while the cursor moves with your view) and then press the right mouse button again to steer your cursor to the exact location.

 

I hope this explanation is clear. I think it would greatly improve the interface as you depend quite heavily on the mouse cursor with so many switches, levers and knobs to be controlled.

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I saw insurgency warfare being mentioned somewhere and thought that it would be a perfect addition since there will be heli's in DCS. It would be a nice alternative to expensive-military-hardware VS expensive-military-hardware combat so I was very positively surprised when I found this: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=28941&highlight=insurgent

 

Can you provide any more info on this Insurgent faction?

 

"armed with a mix of eastern and western equipment" it sais but I'm guessing they won't have tanks, no? Aircraft, no? What kind of vehicles will they have? Any normal cars? Is there a varied selection?

 

If AI people is still on the list of features, can you place insurgents on the ground being able to fire rocket launchers and small arms fire?

 

Something that would be cool is if you could make the cars able to explode at a set time or when they feel threatened or when a convoy is passing by like a suicide bomb or car bomb.

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Will the new game engine for DCS be made for computer OS's in general or for Windows? I really really hope that ED will be making the new engine based on OpenGL instead of DirectX and possibly even make it playable under linux from the beginning, Linux is catching up in the game world and you don't want your product stuck in the Windows world when Linux eventually takes over as the gamers OS. As DCS is ment to be around for a long time this will be even more important. Please please ED, make the new engine not only for Windows but for everyone. The gaming future looks bright for Linux, there are rumours that Valve is working on a Linux client for Steam, and that, at least for me, will be a big step towards finally getting rid of Windows. OpenGL is just as powerful as DirectX and using it would go a long way to make DCS future proof and would at the same time make a statement about ED being supporters of gamers, not of monopolys.

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And I can say right now that the cougar radar cursor works as expected in Black Shark: When assigned as an axis to slew the Shkval, it does slewing proportional to the stick deflection, and remains where it is where you let go (ie. no re-centering)

 

Seriously, this is not a good idea. I won't have mouse available to use with clickable cockpit.

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Does anyone know how many buttons and controls the Ka-50 cockpit has? And what "area" (combat/navigation/communication...) they belong to? My thinking is that you might be able to configure the keyboard to act as the switches in the cockpit, and by having different modes selectable by say a few F# buttons you could use the same keys for several different functions. Doable?

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And I can say right now that the cougar radar cursor works as expected in Black Shark: When assigned as an axis to slew the Shkval, it does slewing proportional to the stick deflection, and remains where it is where you let go (ie. no re-centering)

 

Does anyone know if the CH Pro Throttle microstick be able to be handled in the same fashion?

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I can't say that I know, as I don't have a CH setup, but I don't see why it would be any different; they're all handles as windows axes'.

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When the game is paused, is the cockpit still clickable ? Can you move the camera around ?

The cockpit is not clickable when the game is paused, but yes, you can still operate the view controls.

Can you provide any more info on this Insurgent faction?

 

"armed with a mix of eastern and western equipment" it sais but I'm guessing they won't have tanks, no? Aircraft, no? What kind of vehicles will they have? Any normal cars? Is there a varied selection?

 

If AI people is still on the list of features, can you place insurgents on the ground being able to fire rocket launchers and small arms fire?

The Insurgents have no fixed-wing aircraft, but do have access to Huey and Hip transports. They also have a number of mostly Russian ground military and civilian vehicles, including the T-55 MBT, various AAA systems, APCs/IFVs, MANPADs, SPA systems, cargo trucks, etc. There are two insurgent 3D models - a rifleman (AK-74M) and a grenadier (RPG). Both are static, kneeling models that are animated in the upper body to point their weapons.

Does anyone know how many buttons and controls the Ka-50 cockpit has? And what "area" (combat/navigation/communication...) they belong to? My thinking is that you might be able to configure the keyboard to act as the switches in the cockpit, and by having different modes selectable by say a few F# buttons you could use the same keys for several different functions. Doable?
I have tried this and quickly gave up. :-p Maybe you'll be more persistent...

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