Black Shark Ka-50 (English version) is out
 

Hi

Helicopter simulation Black Shark Ka-50 is out. Buy and download from here!

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.co...r=shop&lang=en

Reviews and previews look pretty good.

cheers Porphy

Hi

Now it's on my HDD :) Went for a spin in arcade mode. Gorgeous to watch the helicopter move around, even if things are simplified in this mode. Performance seemed good, much better than Lock On anyway. Same style of graphics, but certainly better as well.
It's a pleasure just to ride around with the helicopter. I guess I will be sweating considerably more at the controls when I turn on simulation mode... This one might turn out to be very good indeed. Now, lets see where to start in the 380 pages pdf manual. :hmm: Full printed one will be avaible as separate purchase later I hear.

Oh yes, btw it has Starforce as copy protection. Not a hitch so far.

cheers Porphy

Lucky dog you are. I waited long for this - just to learn that it comes with SF, which brought immediate death to it, at least for me.

If it ever gets a non-SF treatement working reliable, I will buy a full copy and then enjoy it. If it never happens that way, I will always pass on it.

Could you compare handling of the flight model with FS, EECH and LB2? Handling in LB2 was the most user-friendly but maybe at the price of lacking realism, while EECH is simply arcadish rubber-ball-jumping up and down, and FS being unrealistic and bad to handle at the same time.

I've been watching this baby for quite a while and even set aside some cash to buy an FX50 for it, so you can imagine how disapointed I was when I heard it has Starforce.....oh well, i'll just wait for Storm of War instead. Shame though, would've really liked to have bought it :shifty:

Hi

Just turned of "easy flight" and went for a ride. Wow, this is how a helicopter should behave. I'm in control, sort of, but this beast can have some ugly surprises in store for the pilot who push a bit to hard, or ignore how trimming works. Needless to say, this is just first impression.
Compared to EECH, which I know quite well, this is like day and night when it comes to flight model. You can really feel (and from the outside see) the complex forces at work when maneuvering "the shark". The ballooning effect was always a problem as you say Sky, even if some mods improved the way you could adjust the response curve for cyclic and collective. Nothing like that in Black Shark, and I haven't got into adjusting response curves at all. The helicopter in EECH also had a tendency to snap itself into a mad and unrealistic spinn when rudder was applied. To lose control in Black shark will probably not be uncommon, but it seems like that is something you get when you deserve it :D
I used to have LB2, but it was long ago and I can't really remember enough to compare the two. FS helicopters have never really attracted me, and as I don't fly FS or FSX I can't really compare.
In short it feels really good, but I'm sure helicopter experts can spot problematic things in flight modelling that I can't. But from what I have read so far, most people praise how good the flight model feels, even as you try to get to grips with the trimming methodand auto-pilot.

Starforce is an ugly way to do copy protection, that is for sure. But I have had no problems so far, and as long as it works as intended with activating the software, you acctually just hit the "fly Black Shark" shortcut, and you are away. No disc check, or server check, steam log in every time e.t.c that takes time and can go wrong. The two downloaded install files and your product key are simple to burn to a dvd for back up. You also have both more activations and deactivatsion than with Lock on.
In short, I would say go for it anyway. Who knows, maybee someone have a solution for the Starforce problem shortly, at least if you are willing to install other drivers with similiar intrusive access to the depths of your computer. ;)

cheers Porphy

A short notice to any TrackIR 1 & 2 owners. It looks like these lack support for Black Shark. At least my TrackIR 2 didn't work as usual, and some quick reading about this indicates it might be a problem if you plan to use these devices with Black Shark. There might be a way to get around it, or support might be added, but I haven't seen anything definitive about this.

Natural Point dropped the ball when they decided to leave TrackIR 1 & 2 users behind when it came to driver support. Luckily there are ways to get TrackIR2 to work with XP 64 for example. Disappointing if Black Shark can't use these older devices, as TrackIR 2 works just fine in many sims.

Or, it might be time to get a TrackIR4 to enjoy 6dof capability. Isn't it Christmas soon by the way? ;)

Learning to fly again... I was really happy as I thought I had accomplished a "simulator mode" take off - landing - take off in a controlled manner. Then I went to outside view and had that distinct feeling, that something was wrong... :roll:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...enShot_003.jpg

Don't fiddle with the stuff on the helicopter control panel if you don't know what it is. :-?
For example the fuel shutdown valves are best left alone. But now I know where they are...
And I was a bit impressed with myself actually being able to do a kind of emergency landing without any engine power. The Shark is a bit messed up, but not too bad considering the rather grave initial pilot error. This sim is a very nice experience so far, I keep coming back for more all the time.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...enShot_004.jpg

Looks great! I'm curious, what are your pc specs and how well does it run on them? I'm waiting on the boxed version before buying it.

Hi

I'm on a Intel core 2 Duo 6600. It's a bit overclocked to 3.00 Ghz. 4 GB Ram and a Gforce 8800GTS (first gen). I'm running XP 64 at the moment.

Black Shark Performs very well so far. Most graphic settings in Black Shark are on High, except visibility range. A simple training mission with resolution 1650x1080 and 4x AA gives me about 30-40 fps when in cockpit. More outside. I tend to go for a tad lower resolution though, and then fps is of course a lot better both inside and outside.

In any case the engine is much improved compared to Lock On. Sometimes, you can still see micro stutters, but even that is much better. So far mostly a very smooth experience, but I haven't put heavy stress on the simulation yet, with intense and crowded missions. If you crank up resolution, all graphic options and go into a mission with rain and full overcast skies with a lot of active units, I guess most machines will take a severe hit. But that is not really a surprise.

Everyone needs to find a good compromise between looks and fps, and the mission makers need to construct missions that doesn't burn out the players cpu. In short, a very much improved experience when it comes to performance, but don't expect miracles. It is still the Lock On engine in parts. :)

cheers Porphy

Fantastic! :up: I got a little antsy when I saw that my rig just barely met recommended requirements.

I also have to say I'll be joining the "will not buy it if it has starforce" crowd. I also further suspect that having starforce on board will cost the company far more sales then it would theoretically protect.

I'm also getting royally fed up with these ultra draconian forms of copy protection like starforce and those requiring a internet connection to play a single player game. Especially since these things do not slow the software pirates down much at all.

I'm tired of being treated by the gaming industry as a suspected criminal, and suffering poor performance and all the other woes due to copy protection, while those who steal games suffer none of the above, and don't have to pay a cent either.

It's a shame too, as I was looking forward to this one.

:up:
+1

Too bad BS looks very promising, same with Jutland. I'll jump onboard when they're cracked.

Some crafty person made Track IR 1 and 2 + Freetrack to work with Black Shark. Good Karma to this person. :up:

Get it here link

Karma loss to NP for abandoning customers with earlier models of Track IR :down:

From the install file:

DCS: Black Shark FreeTrack Fix

Description
-----------

NaturalPoint are using a new encrypted TrackIR interface in v4.1.036 of their software that is incompatible with the standard TrackIR interface used by FreeTrack and TrackIR 1/2. DCS: Black Shark is the first game to use this new interface.

This fix will make DCS: Black Shark compatible with FreeTrack as well as TrackIR 1/2.


Version
-------

Based on the English retail version of DCS: Black Shark.


Installation
------------

Backup the original NewInput.dll in (black shark directory)\bin\stable\ and replace it with the one provided.


Thanks to
---------

Eagle Dynamics for bringing the study sim back.
FreeTrack developers for making head tracking more affordable, accessible and customizable.
FreeTrack community for assistance and testing.



All Degrees of Freedom for Everyone

I know that i am late but many thanks porphy for anouncing that this sim is now available in english via download.

The last HeliSim i played was EECH years ago and i played many since Gunship on C-64 :88). I really loved Mi-24 Hind as i have a weakness for russian equipment. Without your info i would probably have missed the best modern Helisim since Longbow 2. I only flew (and crashed ;)) around a little bit and liked the feeling of flight. The fully clickable cockpit is the best i have seen so far.

About Starforce: I bought the english download version last weekend and that one seemingly doesn't have it ...