A Beta Test?

[Guest proflight]

Hi!

 

I would like to know if there is a beta test to be test by a player like me.

 

Thanks!:thumbup:

[Longbow]

Get in line pal. :smilewink:

[SuperKungFu]

lol everyone wants to be a beta testers, including myself, but its up to ED and their beta testers to choose who they want on the team.

[Wags]

Sorry, but right now we are not looking for new testers. If however any of you feel you can provide something unique to the testing of upcoming DCS: A-10 and DCS: Apache (practical experience with those REAL aircraft), then by all means PM me.

[CAT_101st]

I see troble with that statment Wags... would 2000+ hours in LB2 get me in on the AH-64?

[Wags]

Heh, posted edited. ;)

[EricJ]

Hi!

 

I would like to know if there is a beta test to be test by a player like me.

 

Thanks!:thumbup:

 

I'm in a Soapbox mode, so here goes. We'll start with me at 2000-2001, while I was here in Fort Hood the first time, I came upon Flanker 2. I had previous experience with Flanker 1, but not as extensive, since I didn't have a joystick. Fast forward to Flanker 2, I was just a low-bit player by Flanker562. I was fairly active in the forums but never did much. I think I started doing skins and some such to get my name "noticed" because really, the ulterior motive was to be a beta tester. It's just cool to have the goods, but on the other hand, be able to do something worthwhile, so there's also some altruistic motive to it too.

 

Then Ironhand back then got lazy, or in reality, really didn't have time to redo alot of tactics tutorials, so Flanker562 tries to redo it, sends it to Ironhand, and Ironhand says "Good job brother", which opened me up to Flanker 2, since I tried to reproduce in my own way, what he did. So along with my skinwork, and knowledge of the sim, established in the small community as somebody who can do things.

 

So then eventually I feel my oats, knowing that Lock On is in the works. So I start begging, pleading Rich (Ironhand) to get a slot in the sim department... Which in retrospect, due to an Iraq deployment, and the overwhelming prospect of Kovy, and some others who did far better than me, gave me a bad name (I feel) to the guys at ED. So after Iraq.... I futzed around with LOMAC a bit, and eventually moved on to a GRAW beta, and a GRAW2 beta test. Generally, I shot myself in the foot with what I did, was move on and just sort of not do as I expected. Fortunately I still persevered and did alot of skinwork and some help with some projects for LOMAC. Even managed to get a moderator position... and well that's another story best left talked about.

 

After GRAW and GRAW2... was in a lull, did some more LOMAC here and there, got into ArmA slightly, and then DCS: Black shark. I got in with SIM-MOD.com (great bunch of outstanding modders) to work on a good amount of textures for the Ka-50 and some other stuff.

 

Overall point is, that you can't just waltz in and say you want to be a beta tester. Establish yourself as knowing what they're doing. Now even then, me being in the US Army, I can raise my hand, because I'm a Joint Forward Observer. I'm qualified in CAS, CCA, Dropping Laser Guided bombs, AC-130 use, and Naval Gunfire, in addition to regular mortars and artillery use. And I've worked with the Dutch 301 Sqdn here at Fort Hood and with helos at NTC just recently, coordinating Apaches for surveillance missions, and a company defense that involved 4 Kiowas, 1 Apache, and a UH-60 and doing a CASEVAC, and doing strafing runs.

 

While I may be called in for more texture work, that's fine, because I don't fly them technically, I just tell them where to shoot. Other testers, like britgliderpilot, Alfa, AirTito (who is a real pilot in the Bulgarian Airforce?), GGTharos, Ironhand, and I can step in as a qualified pilot as well, though I'm more of a fast jet guy than a helo guy. But either way, we all have vast experience already, and we've worked with them before. So its a long hard road to end up beta testing, as honestly Wags is being fairly too easy in my opinion but I don't call the shots. So in short, find a niche, exploit it, expand it, and get noticed for what you can do, and they may ask you, or may get recommended. Hell I recommended a guy based on his 3D modelling skills. But he's got other stuff going on and again, it's not my call ;)

[JimMack]

No surprise, an excellent post by EricJ.

To be a beta tester you need to be:

A SME (Military jargon for a subject matter expert) on a particular military area of knowledge - preferably you are ex-military.

Very knowledgeable about all flight simulators. their strength and weakness.

A proven track record to make a long term commitment of giving up your time to do a beta test. You need to be prepared to give up weekends and evenings to carry out your beta test task. We have been testing Black Shark for 2 years, with new builds every 3 weeks. This is not a 6 month commitment.

Once you are a beta tester, it does not end there. If you do not pull your weight, you are chopped.

So - being a beta tester is not an easy way to get experience of a new title.

 

Jim

[EricJ]

Yeah I'm nowhere near a real pilot, but been flying sims since DID's EF2000 came out, or the first real simulator that will always have a special place in my heart :D

 

And even being a "simple" texture artist takes alot of you too. Depending of course what they want and what you can do. Overall since I've done mainly Flankers, it's a snap doing those. I would say that BS really put some challenge for a couple I did, as I'm used to Russian designed skins. Well the few I did for Crimean Air Wars wasn't any different really, but all the same the Ka-50 textures were fairly easy to a degree. Remember you're going by what they want. Sure if you know what you're doing, it can be a good compromise. There's only a couple I'm not too keen with, but hey that's allright, as most of them I like myself and a couple were challenges for me. So did I do some beta testing? Yeah.... a little bit, mainly obvious stuff, but that wasn't my overall focus and responsibility to do (least in my world view). I've got some ideas that I want to fully exploit that I started before NTC so whether or not they will work out not sure but if you want a hint, the skinwork that everybody did is just beautiful and glad to work with them, as they even made me feel small. And another thing, you gotta be a people person :thumbup:

[AlphaOneSix]

If however any of you feel you can provide something unique to the testing of upcoming DCS: A-10 and DCS: Apache (practical experience with those REAL aircraft), then by all means PM me.

 

 

I better get my resume ready! :thumbup:

[Fjordmonkey]

Does being completely insane and wanting to test the inverted-flight characteristicts under bridges while fully armed and being chased by SAM count as providing something unique to the testing-enviroment? :D

[RvETito]

... AirTito (who is a real pilot in the Bulgarian Airforce?)...

 

Eeeeek! Wha? Who? Where?... :D Unfortunately I'm not even near of being a real pilot but that's a long story.. Thanks anyway Eric ;) I'm a civil aviation engineer working on Ka-32 helicopters, which share many common things with the Ka-50. Showing my knowledge about that matter in few posts here is what got me in the beta team, exactly one year ago.

 

There are so many different aspects of a flight sim that are impossible to find in one or two persons. I, for instance, have no clue about texturing or 3D modding while Eric and the rest of the SIM-mod team are doing amazing job. But when it comes to the physical model of the helicopter and it's systems- this is where I swim in my own water.

 

So there must be something surplus the average simmer that you can provide.

[airea]

I am a paraglider pilot, does it count:)

[RvETito]

It counts. It means you're lucky- I've always wanted to do paragliding but never went beyond skydiving.

[britgliderpilot]

Does being completely insane and wanting to test the inverted-flight characteristicts under bridges while fully armed and being chased by SAM count as providing something unique to the testing-enviroment? :D

 

It doesn't qualify you on it's own, but it's an important consideration to have . . . . because sooner or later someone is going to try exactly that!

 

I did once trip across a bug by doing something a bit ridiculous with the Ka50 and a bridge. Way outside the normal operating envelope - but then that's how a lot of people (me included) will fly the Ka50, because it's more fun :D

 

Some of the bugs are caused by really obscure events. Some are tiny. Chasing those down can be a real challenge . . .

[airea]

It counts. It means you're lucky- I've always wanted to do paragliding but never went beyond skydiving.

 

Skydiving is way ahead of paragliding, when it comes to guts:)

You should try it, it is easier then driving a car:)

[GGTharos]

Well, my qualifications so far are putzing around a bit in a Diamond Katana, as far as real world stuff goes but ...

 

Other things to add: As Eric and Jim have mentioned, you could be an SME: There is a lot of stuff you can find out even on the internet, but it's not stuff that's on say, wikipedia - a lot of it comes from journals, contacts with real pilots, hours and hours of research just to find out one little tidbid of information (you might be surprised at the information revealed by incident investigations, for example), or aircraft manuals (like the F-15A-1, or the F-16 MLU upgrades) as well as analysis of various videos, a knowledge (passable knowledge if not good knowledge) of physics, and better yet aerodynamics - the ability to understand how simulation works, the ability to understand what the GOAL of a particular simulation is (for example, GOZR always complains about turbulence - but the primary goal of a combat sim isn't to show you what the wind does to your plane which, for a heavy jet, ain't all that much on a regular basis - the purpose is to simulate COMBAT ... same with the Ka-50 ... a lot of people are asking for A2A weapons, which, sure, they -might- get sometime in the future, or not ... but realistically helis don't have the time nor, often, the opportunity to employ such weapons).

 

Above all you have to be able to keep a cool head and be open to things; a little programming knowledge can help, and of course, paying attention and suggesting small things here and there sometimes (you won't believe what a huge difference a tiny thing like sorting a list properly can make).

 

Ok. I'll stop now. :D

 

While I may be called in for more texture work, that's fine, because I don't fly them technically, I just tell them where to shoot. Other testers, like britgliderpilot, Alfa, AirTito (who is a real pilot in the Bulgarian Airforce?), GGTharos, Ironhand, and I can step in as a qualified pilot as well, though I'm more of a fast jet guy than a helo guy. But either way, we all have vast experience already, and we've worked with them before. So its a long hard road to end up beta testing, as honestly Wags is being fairly too easy in my opinion but I don't call the shots. So in short, find a niche, exploit it, expand it, and get noticed for what you can do, and they may ask you, or may get recommended. Hell I recommended a guy based on his 3D modelling skills. But he's got other stuff going on and again, it's not my call ;)

[joey45]

so World in Confict [closed Beta] and Front lines don't count then... Oh well

[Glowing_Amraam]

I didn't ask to become part of the team, i was lucky enough to get contacted by ED. :)

My guess is because of my dedication towards the sim, the series, and ED as a whole.

[GGTharos]

^^^^

As GA mentioned, your mileage may vary. People have been brought aboard for all sorts of different reasons.

While my main concern is A2A, I still have knowledge is other areas (not necessarily anything to do with simming/flying in particular) that can be helpful, so it all works out for me in Black Shark. And hey, that thing's fun to fly, the systems are always interesting to operate, and missions can be very, very interesting and challenging, especially with the new trigger system.

[SuperKungFu]

I'm a pilot....(at heart) lol. Does that count?

[VMFA-Blaze]

I've actually been trying to get a job Beta testing for Eagle, for roughly about 5 years and still haven't been called.. :music_whistling:

 

So really its not an easy position to acquire... :D

 

~S~

 

Blaze

[- Piloto da Morte -]

For become one beta-test we need know or studing

Aeronautics mecanics in Faculty or flown in real aircraft.

 

How i become beta-test without know whats happens in the real aircraft...

[EricJ]

3D Modelling... Texture work... Programming.... anything else that will help get things done, which is why grandsurf, Yeneciri, rockwelder, Mizzy of the SIM-MOD.com group (and me) are "ED Partners" Glowing Amraam is just a great movie maker, see? You have to show some aptitude in a field to where it's worth a shot for them to ask you. Knowin somebody helps... but that's just a hard option since you end up looking like you're just there for a free ride and not willing to spend long hours for free (oh yeah, external testers don't get paid ;)). Mind you... it's not a quick process unless you're a prodigy at something, in which it's been..... seven years? Realistically it's been longer but then again, it's been worth the ride, somewhat anyways....

 

As far as aircraft knowledge?..... It helps as I've been an Air Force brat so I kinda picked up the airplane bug. However realistically I'm an FSNCO for a light infantry company, which naturally is more ground combat oriented. But combat aircraft and combat flight sims has always been my most extensive hobby so it helps when doing testing. But reading about general aviation news is the way to do it. When I was into Shadowrun (an old role-playing game) I would find topics of interest, print them out and read them to get an understanding, then apply it to the game's mechanics of doing stuff. So I got alot of knowledge on aerodynamics, but the only real airplane I've been in is of course an airliner, so you don't necessarily have to be a real pilot to know about the basics, and overall technology, and current and future trends. Just get involved, improve yourself and remember, it's not a fast process man....

[joey45]

I've actually been trying to get a job Beta testing for Eagle, for roughly about 5 years and still haven't been called.. :music_whistling:

So really its not an easy position to acquire... :D

~S~

Blaze

go to other Devs/Pubs* like i did... WiC & Frontlines

 

*as in publishers not public houses

 

i've flown planes before being in the Air Cadets.. bulldogs only though but that was over 10yrs ago