Initial impressions on Black shark 2 please

As someone who has bought it but am waiting for my original BS1 activations to be reset before I can install and fly :(

What’s it like?

Does it feel fresh?

What are the differences you notice?

Can you have a Russian JTAC?

Will it pull me back from A-10? :pilotfly:

And please, I’m not interested in the whole “is it worth it / this should be free” argument that has taken over the release thread.

Hi Coolts, while I've only had a quick fly in the circuit, I can tell you the new sound engine is mind blowing, she flys absolutely wonderfully, not sure but she does feel more stable now, firing missiles and guns feel the same although be aware I have only test fired these in circuit rather than in battle, smoke and flare effects and lighting very well done, fps with dynamic shadows is also quite good, no slowdown or stutters that I've noticed, not tried Jtac sorry, will it pull you back from A10 unsure, I myself will be flying both as often as possible, poss using bs as a fac in mp missions.

I would highly recommend it, gonna test night flying and nvgs tonight to see if the old bug is fixed and whether I get slowdown with all the lights.

Cowboy10uk

How much better does it look?

Hey all,

My only gripe with BS was the bland terrain (buildings etc) and lack of much on the ground. Is there a much better feeling of low flying now, and is the autogen much improved? I know it's the same as DCS A10, but it's such a different experience of flight I thought I'd ask!

Cheers

I play with Scenes on medium (For performance) but the general look and feel of it is better, the colours (with HDR enabled) ,reflections and lighting is what I notice has improved the most. The new transport helicopter models are a great improvement, some of the trucks and thing still have quite low res textures which spoils it a bit.

I think it is defiantly worth $20 just for a new campaign with English voice acting.

I am also finding that it runs much "smoother" without the micro stutters when you look around with TrackIR (Probs becasue it is running 64 Bit)

The Sound is amazing with my Dobly 3D headphones! (last night I flew the first new campaign mission where you have to follow a Mi-8 on partol and even If he snuck out of my field of veiw I could tell where he was by the sound of his rotors)

Looking forward massively to joint BS & A-10 missions, (assumig ED allow them in the same coalition. I will be very surprised if not ;)).

Using the shark as a live FAC, how's that gong to work. Co-ordinates over the radio i guess. Hah, i'll bet the devs never though of that as being an issue or a requirement.

I've missed the shark to be honest, and whilst i love my hog, part of me (a big part), is itching to go through the engine startup, hear the new sounds, enjoy the added immersion of HDR & shadows and then realise i've forgot how to trim, and rediscover the sheer simple joy of finding a good stout hill to hide behind!

Getting my big daddy hi-fi setup at the end of the month with my emoumous subwoofer. WHUP WHUP WHUPWHUPWHUP goes the main rotor!

Has the control config changed? I will have to update my profile if it has

http://files.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/13224/

Are the voices in the new BS2 campaign recorded in english or russian ?

Works a lot smoother than BS at my PC...

The terrain and cockpit are amazing.

I bought A10, but fixed wing aren´t my total pleisure.

My X-65F throtlle works finally with the game throtlles...

I will make the multimonitor test this weekend.

For twenty bucks the bug solution and a lot of improve, i liked very much!

There are a few options to use Ka-50 as FAC , yes radio, also marker rockets and SPARKLE (shining you laser which can be picked up visually with night vision goggles)

A big sub-woofer would be good but i really want a Butt Kicker Gamer (but they are £150 )

The key binding don’t seem to have change much, but im finding with the Logitech profiler that it doesn’t reliably sent some commands anymore (which is a shame) not sure if it will affect the warthog profiler.

Or smoke rockets, or blowing up one vehicle or something :)

They don't have a compatible datalink, so don't expect them to communicate that way ... just like in RL!

Using the shark as a live FAC, how's that gong to work. Co-ordinates over the radio i guess. Hah, i'll bet the devs never though of that as being an issue or a requirement.

Hi Coolts, I'm basically planning to hide in the weeds, and talk my coop buddies in the hogs, onto the target, while I can't Datalink ( Yet, fingers crossed this gets modded soon ) I will be able to give map ref, and smoke markers, or even a blooming big explosion using my missiles.

Not to sure how this will work in practise though, fingers crossed I will find out next week.

As to your profile, I am using it in bs2, see below from previous message for what I've found. ( this maybe caused by finger trouble )

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolts

Dragon. Has much changed? I will update my profile once i get the bloody thing installed. I'm in 'activation hell' right now

That's great news Coolts, as u can see I asked this very question of you earlier today. The only issues I have found with your old profile, is hover hold dosnt seem to work, not sure if it's just the light not working though in bs2, also the multiple switches, e.g. The fuel, lights etc, don't seem to want to play, if you use the wh switches to activate these only half of the switches move.

Dragon, sorry for hijacking your thread, thanks for taking the time to do a profile, will try it later.

Hope this helps

Cowboy10uk

Or smoke rockets, or blowing up one vehicle or something :)

 

They don't have a compatible datalink, so don't expect them to communicate that way ... just like in RL!

Where there's a will there's a way! To bridge the gap between Russian and US, we just need..............

With a scottish accent of course!

Cowboy - Once i get my new serial and get off the ground i will update the TARGET profile next week.

Speed and I were testing the coordinates functions with the PVI. He was teaching me. We can effectively lase a target and get the L/L coordinates. We plan on passing those over TS to our Hog Drivers. I have WH and I will continue to fly it but rotary wing is my passion.

This is a home run IMO. For me it is worth $20. I find it puzzling as why people are so down on this. This is not the same BS1. It is a completely revamped sim. I did not expect DCS to throw all of A-10C, minus the jet, in there for nothing.

The sound is amazing. I landed on the fantail of the USS Chosin and throttled down as I have in real life and the sound was so right on. I approached from the port aft quarter and once I saw my smiley face on deck, I was having flashbacks. I started creeping back into my days in the Navy. It is that good.

The cockpit is beautiful. I do not see any need for a mod so far. She seems to fly a little more realistic. In BS1 I feel like I am balancing on a baseball. In BS2 I feel like a balancing on the head of a pin and that is how it is in real life with the Seahawk. With the HOTAS WH, I can finesse the stick properly and fly the airplane.

I crashed a three times, hard landings, due to having to get used to this more realistic flight model. I have become way too accustomed in flying fixed wing and the flight model of BS1. The unloading the rotor head feels and sounds real. I was about 2000 ft and nosed her over and unloaded the head and she responded better than in BS1. I had full control and no slip in the dive. I did over speed but was able to increase collective with no torque issues. She settled and I flew on and then crashed on a high speed rotor over. Damned coaxial vrotex!!!

BTW, when a bunch of Navy Seahawk pilots come over and fly BS1 on my rig and are amazed, what do you think BS2 is going to do for you?

There are a few options to use Ka-50 as FAC , yes radio, also marker rockets and SPARKLE (shining you laser which can be picked up visually with night vision goggles)

Is laser beam supposed to be visible with NVGs? For A-10C to see TGP LOS of another IR pointer is needed. Which leads me to the following: is it possible for a Warthog to act as night AFAC for a group of Sharks and designate targets using IR pointer? Shark pilots should be able to see the IR beam with NVGs, isn't it?

That is correct.

Scooter my exact same thoughts and feelings

on this BS2. Even an easy setup for my USB

Lilliput monitors and abris.

Can't wait for my new rig, i get it next week. After i've played BF3 on Ultra, im gonna play BS2 until i fall asleep at the hotas.. :)

Scooter my exact same thoughts and feelings

on this BS2. Even an easy setup for my USB

Lilliput monitors and abris.

Once I remembered to set my res to the full span I used the same monitor config lua from BS1 and changed the names. No problems.

I am going to look through the files tonight and see if the other displays can be exported. If it the same as A-10C we should be able to, just have to find them.

I bought 'Take on Heliciopters' as I was having a helo itch and two days later this comes out!!!!!!! Sounds awesome and I cant wait to fly as soon as ED sort my serial key / activations out ;)

Figuring out combined ops is going to be a whole load of fun.

Damn me and my habit of rebuilding my PC every 6 months. Grounded because of Starforce :mad: I wonder if their HQ is near Batumi as i have a few GBU-31's in the hanger and an A-10 all warmed up!!

(Starforce HQ is in Moscow. Anyone care to lase the target for me? ;))

Actualy yes, you will be able to fly the Ka50 on the US side, there is a Ka50 in USAF colors on blue side. Dont see why it would not be the same with the A10c version.

AI is 100% better especialy your AI wingman, he will follow your orders much better and no longer goes wondering off alone and refuse more commands, hes now a very usefull asset. He will even attack buildings if you ask him (also a first for DCS series I think)

Sounds have had a huge revamp for the ka50. The sound changes when you go from Hover to full speed ( im pretty sure this is new as the old one was jsut the same sound all the time)

When going 300k/h you know it!

New Cockpit shadows are just stunning and on par with the A10c.

Cant find anything to fault with it. Well worth the $20 (thats like £12 in the uk hehe)

A buddy and I flew BS2 for the first time last night. After some initial frustrations with my control config and finally giving up on target because my profile would stop responding mid-flight for some reason, I did the mappings in the BS2 control editor and it's working good now. (I still want to figure out the Target issue, though)

Compared to BS1, I find BS2 to be much more immersive. Everything has improved. The sound engine as mentioned before is amazing. My BK2 is getting a work out, where it wouldn't even activate with the original Blackshark sound engine. The impact sounds of bullets are back, that were lost in 1.02. If you've got a BK you can feel impacts now, which is very helpful.

What stood out the most for me when flying a quick mission last night, is that the improvments in the AI really add to the immersion when you're down in the weeds with the shark. To have targets actually move around when you're trying to take them out makes it feel a whole lot more immersive. One of the reasons I stopped flying BS1 was because more often then not, missions would turn into a boring shooting gallery. Not so anymore, with the new AI.

Ground clutter and all the graphical improvements in general really make you feel like you're flying low and fast in the shark. This also adds to the immersion! :)

Well worth the cost to upgrade - this is a whole new experiance! :thumbup:

Can't thank ED enough.

-Mack

Very happy overall with what i have seen so far.

My wingman seems to behave himself better now when i issue commands and he tries his best not to get himself shot down.

However i do have a couple of issues:-

1) I was shot down whilst hiding behind a very dense tree line by a tree proof missile !!!......

---Not really a problem when flying the A-10C, however when flying the KA-50 low down this in my opinion becomes a major flaw within the game engine.

2) Another time when i was hit by a missile i never even realised it until a couple of minutes later when i lost my hydraulic pressure.

---It would be nice if they could include some kind of impact noise and an airframe shudder or something when you are hit by ordinance.

However i'm happy to say they have fixed the bug which caused the cockpit aspect to resize whenever you turned on the NVG's during night time when using a dual monitor setup.

Well done DCS and BS2 is worth every penny.......Even my wingmen approve as i'm getting a lot more "affirms" now when i issue them orders !!!..

Regards Gunner....

I am flying trough the new campaign, it is very nice. Flying is much more fun now, indeed more immersive. It is definitely a must have if you fly the shark, the experience is so much better. Too bad you cannot setup a fac for ka-50, it is in the GUI manual but you cannot select it in the avtual editor.

I am flying trough the new campaign, it is very nice. Flying is much more fun now, indeed more immersive. It is definitely a must have if you fly the shark, the experience is so much better. Too bad you cannot setup a fac for ka-50, it is in the GUI manual but you cannot select it in the avtual editor.

Gobes....off subject but long time no see....

Hey paul, yeh long time no see, still alive and kicking though, and flying :D