KA-50 Black Shark available now!

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I don't know if there's many simmers out there in goodjerstan but the long-awaited Black Shark sim has been released directly from the developer. Visit http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ for info. If anyone gets this please hit me up so we can try some co-op multi. Be warned I'm mostly a WWII prophead and occasional F16 pilot, so this whole "rotating wing" aircraft thing is foreign to me. A warning since it's gonna come up, the game is protected with Star Force. I don't know why, but there it is.

The KA-50 broken english intro!

running through the startup procedure

The manuals in PDF, so you can get a head start (400+ pages :p)

$50 is a little steep for not knowing how well it would run on my system and whether or not it might be way over my head.

I'm reading through an interview with the project lead Matt Wagner over at RPS

When the price drops I'll definitely be picking this one up.

Apparently, there are something like two-dozen actions you need to take to start the engines. This is an extremely high fidelity sim.

I believe these are the same guys who did Lock On: Modern Air Combat. You can get that and it's expansion, Flaming Cliffs (SU-25T with high fidelity flight model) for dirt cheap now, and although it probably isn't as in-depth as the type of sim as DCS: Black Shark, it's in the same sort of ballpark.

I don't know much about it, but read somewhere that the learning curve is severely rough.

Stylez wrote:

A warning since it's gonna come up, the game is protected with Star Force. I don't know why, but there it is.

This, unfortunately, makes it an instant no-go for me.

I believe these are the same guys who did Lock On: Modern Air Combat.

Oh good. In two years from now there may be PCs capable of running the game properly!

The game can be run properly now if you aren't a smartass. It looks good, it's very functional, it's fun. You don't have to max everything out to feel warm and fuzzy or to blow stuff up.

Also, alt home starts the engines if you aren't into button mashing to get off of the runway and wish to focus on other things.

Just so people know, this does not use the version of StarForce that installs drivers that potentially muck up your system. It uses StarForce's version of activation (which I know can also be an issue) but not the invasive version of the protection. If activation doesn't bother you, SF won't be a problem this time.

I've watched Stylez play a lot of this (we're going to be trying to make some videos in the future too) and they seem to have done a good job of making it at least somewhat accessible. The auto-start function certainly makes things easier and what's cool about it is you actually get to watch the computer go through the motions for you so you can learn it. Having never been a sim person, I can say that this is still way over my head but if you've been comfortable with other sims, this won't be too bad I don't think.

Spunior wrote:
I believe these are the same guys who did Lock On: Modern Air Combat.

Oh good. In two years from now there may be PCs capable of running the game properly!

The problem w/ LOMAC is that it REALLY bogs down if there are a lot of assets in the area at the same time. I seem to remember some of the A-10 missions getting really choppy because you had a convoy you had to attack, troops on the ground w/ Stingers, civilian vehicles (which, thankfully, you can turn off), buildings, other non-objective military vehicles or friendly military vehicles. Some of the custom missions you can download perform very poorly because of this problem.

Since Black Shark is exclusively based on an air-to-ground platform, I would expect this is still a problem, but I don't know because I haven't played it.

Runs like a dream for my mid-range PC. Q6600, 4gb ram and 8800gt. Recommend the FFB2 stick from Microsoft for it, and a Trackir 3 (or 4) with vector is HIGHLY recommended.

I am definitely looking forward to playing this game. Trying to get my feet wet with IL-2 Sturmovik since I have not played any sim games before. I believe there is supposed to be a box (retail) release sometime in spring (March or April). I may wait for that. I'm not sure why I'm leaning towards a box copy for this when I'm such a fan of digital distribution with steam. I'm not used to or comfortable with other digital distribution platforms I guess.

MoonDragon wrote:

I don't know much about it, but read somewhere that the learning curve is severely rough.

That's what scared me off. That and I've never flown a.) helicopters or b.) Russian aircraft.

If anyone wants to play IL2 or Black shark lemme know. I'm fairly well adversed in both now and am happy to show new folks the ropes.

Good timing on the thread revival. I picked this up a few days ago after seeing some good reviews. I think this may be the most complex sim I've played, at least on par with Falcon 4.0.

So far, the only thing I've really mastered is silencing the warning indicators. I'm also really good at crashing into fuel trucks while trying to take off.

Just flying around is a lot of fun though; it definitely feels much better than EECH2. I just need to learn how to land and shoot stuff now.

Yay, finally a new reason to dig out my joystick and TrackIR

SIMHQ has a server up which is a great place to learn how to fly. If anyone wants to learn the systems together friend me up on Xfire. It's not as complex as Falcon 4 as your battlefield awareness is limited to your area of operation. I still haven't completed a single flight in Falcon 4 with a "mission accomplished" :).

One thing with the Black Shark is to bind 2 very important keys to your joystick. One is your "Trim", which will recenter your stick with your current flight attitude. You'll want to do this EVERY time you change headings or pitch. The other is a view command "Num 0 + Keypad 2" This will lock your view to your ABRIS and TV screen, making it much easier to take in your flight plan and targets.

hehe, I don't know I really like simulators but Falcon 4 really took the wind out of my sails. I would take off and in about 5 mins 50 billions beeps would go off and I would die.. But I have very fond memories of AH-64 apache and f1117 Nighthawk games back in the day... I think I will wait for a price drop and then jump in.

Pharacon wrote:

I would take off and in about 5 mins 50 billions beeps would go off and I would die..

You forgot the disengage the hand-brake.

The thing to remember is that sims like Falcon 4 and Black Shark are what the hardcore flight sim crowd refer to as "study sims". The games are exceedingly hard, incredibly complex and they're meant to be. The flight sim purists want EVERYTHING in the game to work exactly as it does in the real world. The devs go to great lengths to make sure everything is as close to reality as possible and that's the way the majority of the hardcore simmers want it. Unfortunately this is also the reason that there's so few on the market, there just isn't the audience for the study sim that there is for "Air Combat X".

I haven't purchased it yet but it's my understanding that DCS made the flight modeling of the KA-50 very realistic. That said, it's my understanding BS has an arcade mode which makes it much easier to fly an blow stuff up.

They've also dicussed additional sims modeling the AH-64 Apache and the A-10!

Longbow 3 is WAY overdue!

Pharacon wrote:

hehe, I don't know I really like simulators but Falcon 4 really took the wind out of my sails. I would take off and in about 5 mins 50 billions beeps would go off and I would die.. :(

Yes, I loved Falcon 4 back in the day - it's a pretty good feeling when after reading the ~400 page manual and countless air combat tutorials you finally manage to pull off a successful mission. I have fond memories of the utter panic you end up in over the target, trying to do 10 things at once while not flying into the ground.

I don't think I'd have the energy these days. I would like a game between F4 and Blazing Angels in realism, though: something where the planes don't handle like X-Wings (so energy and wing-loading actually matter), but without all the worrying about radar tracking modes and waiting in holding patterns.

I still can't believe that study sims don't do a better job of holding the hand of a novice, the sole exception being my newest favorite sim.

Black shark is quite good at leading you through, however a once-through of the manual goes a long way. Be sure to configure your joystick to match the buttons used on the stick/collective as listed in the manual and it makes things substantially easier. One thing that isn't well documented is the "inner/outer hardpoints" this is the button you hit after you have enabled your master arm to switch between your rockets and missiles. Don't know why but it took me a while to figure that one out.

Here was my first attempt at landing.

IMAGE(http://www.box.net/shared/static/mv983nktr1.jpg)
Bigger

Up until then, it was a smooth flight. I was able to successfully kill some tanks. Reading the manual really helped. When landing, I engaged the auto-hover but it just swung the helo around drunkenly until a blade hit the ground.

This thread definitely needs more screenshots

Bear wrote:

The thing to remember is that sims like Falcon 4 and Black Shark are what the hardcore flight sim crowd refer to as "study sims". The games are exceedingly hard, incredibly complex and they're meant to be.

Part of the difficulty for me in adapting to this mindset was that in the real world you're working in a cockpit with switches and knobs close to hand. I could never get used to hitting the alt key plus 2 while tapping the Q button and reciting the Pledge of Allegience to switch frequencies on the radio, or whatever. That and having to use a hatswitch to change views while in combat killed it for me.

Screenshots from winter mission demo track:
Launching Missiles
Recce
NSF56K

I wish Stylez had been recording his first attempt at a take off in that game because it was hilarious. He had a hard time stabilizing after he just lifted off so the Black Shark started bouncing along the ground and eventually, started to flip over. I shouted "Eject!" as it began that but because it takes a few seconds for the ejection procedure to begin, by the time it happened the chopper was upside down and his pilot ended up pile driving into the ground with the blades stuck in the ground all around him. We both must have laughed hysterically for 2 minutes.

MORE SCREENSHOTS!

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_001.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_006.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_008.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_009.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_012.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_013.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/StylezXP/ScreenShot_015.jpg)

Sold... its downloading now

Starting to think I'm gonna do some writing about this. Been a while since I've spent some time with a good flight sim. Anyone down for some multiplayer this weekend?

georob wrote:

Here was my first attempt at landing. :)

IMAGE(http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt28/ColdForged/Scaledlanding.jpg)

ColdForged Industries - "Catering to the lowest common denominator since 1893."

Hmmmmm, should have impulse bought the TrackIR way back when. Now I just can't do it.

This looks fantastically tasty, I'll break down and give it a go.

Edit: Ouch, turned into an all-nighter. Proudest moment was achieving a full manual startup, then getting a minor understanding of the weapon system. Data link is next on my list. I found that I was very comfortable flying the things right off the bat, but anytime something goes wrong I'm lost searching for the correct switch/sequence of switches. Good fun though.

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