Installing DCS Black Shark and DCS Black Shark Upgrade

[Kenadian]

Mondo, I finally found my DCS info. on the drive that used to be my System C: before it started falling apart (bl00dy Seagate).

Anyway, I tried a straight transfer which didn't work of course so I'm dl'ing again from a Direct2Drive account I didn't know I had lol.

Thank God the one habit I got into was taking screenshots of my Digital Purchases.

Anyway, I hope to have it installed/patched and upgraded to DCS Black Shark 2 by next weekend.

 

[mondo]

Awesome! The version of BS2 which is downloaded directly from the DCS site is the latest version so no need to do any patching.

To get BS2 to work (if you bought the upgrade), you don't even need BS1 installed I don't think, it might just need the key code for BS1 to verify you own it when you installed BS2.

I'll put together some kind of newbies guide to it. Once I got my HOTAS sorted out and learnt a few of the nuances of the KA50 its quite easy to fly it and at least shoot stuff with a few of the weapons.

 

[Kenadian]

Ya it didn't even ask for my new Serial # upon install and went straight into game.

The one problem I'm having though is that the game simply cannot find my throttle control on my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro.

I think I'll try creating a persistent profile for it tomorrow and see if that works. As it is, the game can't even see it at all yet it works in BF3 without incident.

 

[mondo]

Its handy to set the stick throttle to the collective (use the page up and down keys for the engine throttle since in flight you hardly ever touch the throttle) but I think it can be done through incremental steps.

Have you looked to see if there are any profiles available on any sites? I did that and saved myself hours of work!

 

[Kenadian]

I did a quick peek around the net to find an existing profile but came up empty. I'll put a little bit more time into it and if I can't figure it out I'll likely contact Logitech Tech. Support.

 

[mondo]

Did you check out the ED forums for one?

 

[Kenadian]

I actually created another thread with what I've found so far.

I didn't want to lose the information in another thread which I do pretty much all the time

 

[mondo]

I'll try and put what I've got together tomorrow evening. There is a ton of useful stuff on the official ED forums though and its well laid out.

 

[Kenadian]

Maybe I'll just create a sticky such as Black Shark Knowledge base and add everything to the very firs post made up of all the responses.

That way at least everything is centralized and easy to find. God knows we're going to need some structure if we're ever going to advance beyond n00bie in this game.

 

[mondo]

Sure, sounds like a plan.

I'll try to put things in a logical order and add some tools along the way so its progressive. I've found some really cool tools...along the way.

Its unfortunate because DCS A10C is like LOMAC, it has interactive tutorial missions. DCS BS1 and BS2 doesn't.

 

[Kenadian]

Once A10C comes down in price I'll likely pick it up. I just can't foot the bill right now with everything else that's going on.

 

[mondo]

I only got it because it was cheap on the UK steam store. I wouldn't get it at full price. Does mean however it can be played together with BS2. My buddy Mike who you've played BF3 with might also get BS2.

Its pretty hard finding people who play sims these days!

 

[Kenadian]

I only got it because it was cheap on the UK steam store. I wouldn't get it at full price. Does mean however it can be played together with BS2. My buddy Mike who you've played BF3 with might also get BS2.

Its pretty hard finding people who play sims these days!

They take a lot of time, patience and perseverance and which I don't think the average gamer wants. They just want to jump into a game and actually accomplish something as a release rather than load up software with a steep learning curve and then commit to actually learning it.

The good new is that it means there are far less n00bs around mucking up everyone's fun

 

[mondo]

I'll find some time soon to collate all the neat stuff I've found.

I managed to find some immediately useful stuff:
An interactive start up tutorial
A quick take off and destroy stuff guide
A brief tutorial on the autopilot/flightcontrol/damping system
A brief guide to getting into a hover
A flash based cockpit guide
How to do multi monitor support -DCS has some really cool support options. You can place some of the systems panels on other monitors and its fully touch screen compatible.

I'll also make a map where with some targets in it and not much else for multiplayer/learning/crashing!

 

[Kenadian]

I actually have some money put aside for Track IR so if anyone else is thinking about it, let me know and we'll see if we can get a better discount.

So far the best deal I've found seems to be from Tactical Gamer who's offering 15% off:

http://www.tacticalgamer.com/content/153-tactical-gamer-announces-15-off-trackir-gear.html

 

[mondo]

The Track IR 5 proclip bundle sure isn't cheap in your neck of the woods is it?!

 

[Kenadian]

I think the Track IR bundle is around the $185 USD dollar range if I remember correctly.

 

[Kenadian]

...actually it's down to $169 USD but that promotion seems to be no longer valid.

 

[mondo]

So did ya get it? Did you also get your momo pedals to work?

 

[Kenadian]

Yup, game is installed and confirmed running. I've yet to spend any time flying though because I just figured out how to import the config file for my controller.

I haven't yet configured the rudder pedals either but hope to get to that soon.

I'm going to create a scenario in the Mission Editor as well to hopefully get me up to speed on how to actually start up and fly. Hopefully I can add dialog popups like in ArmA so I can run through the start up procedures as the mission states.

...of course that kind of detail is down the road, for now I just want some neutral targets and a wingman.