DCS Black Shark

Hey guys!

I am just wondering if any have you have played DCS Black Shark on your notebooks, and if so, with which hardware, settings and performances results?

Thanks
-Cow

 

Here are the recommended system requirements:

OS: Windows Vista
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz, AMD Phenom 9850 2.5Ghz
RAM: 2 GB
GPU: 512 MB ATI HD 2900+ or nVidia 8800+
HDD: 4 GB of free space on HDD

 

I own it but have only tried on my desktop. Will try on my Gateway and Dell Vostro (8600m GT / 2.2GHz C2D) later to let you know.

Minimum system requirements: Windows XP, Vista; CPU P4 2GHz or AMD equivalent, RAM 2 GB; Video 256MB RAM, compatible with DirectX9; 5GB of HDD space; sound card; DVD ROM; keyboard; mouse.

Recommended system requirements: Windows XP, Vista; CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 3GHz or AMD equivalent, RAM 2 GB; Video Card with 512 MB RAM (ATI Radeon HD4850+ or nVidia GF8800+), compatible with DirectX9; 5GB of HDD space; sound card; DVD ROM; TrackIR®; keyboard, mouse, joystick

 

Thanks guys

I was especially interested how well an 8600 gs would hold up Seems to be kinda close to min requirements

CHeers!

-Cow

 

The Crysis nuts never seem to realise how hardcore flight simulators put any other game's recommended requirements to shame. At least the HDD space isn't as extreme as X-plane.

 

I believe the game engine is similar to that of Lock On, in which case if you want to play at reasonable setting (not maxed), the 8600 should do if paired with a good processor. Since DCS is a helicopter sim and therefore requires more ground rendering, the graphics card requirement may be higher.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Thanks!
I just ordered a copy (english) so once that arrives ill install it and keep you guys posted on settings/fps, etc

-Cow

 

Good, thanks UltiCOW. Expect to spend a LOT of time with it though before you even get into battle, which will be the real indicator of FPS. I wanted to do the same, but it's just simply overwhelming.

 

ha, that's why I haven't ordered it yet.... figure it's much simpler to go hop in my plane and fly a bit than figure out a russian helicopter ha.... but sure plan to when I have some time! looks like a fantastic sim.

And shoot, I'm still having fun with Lock-On!

 

Ahh so it arrived Yay! Simply awesome...
I have all details set to around middle and most features turned on. So far its very playable (full HD res), but then...I am not fit for battle yet so I cant comment on that

I made my own freetrack thingy using a wiimote and just bought the x52 HOTAS...I look forward to seeing the full potential of this sim

-Cow

 

is that running on the laptop in your sig? Have fun with it, look forward to picking up a copy one day!

 

Yeah it is As I said, i have not flown in combat yet i hope I can continue to play at that res

Off topic: is that your bike on your avatar?

 

Let me know if it slows down much, and look forward to picking up a copy when I have a little more free time to learn it.

And yeah, that's my bike, it's an '08 Kawasaki Concours, their sport tourer. Picked it up last summer. It's actually not my exact bike, as I didn't take the picture, but it's identical to mine. Very fun machine! You ride? Been real happy with it, it's the first bike I've had with removable saddle bags, and it's added a ton of usefulness to it. Plus, love the speed ha

 

I haven't played it on my laptop, just my desktop.

For better performance here's a tip:

Although it can utilize up to 4 threads and 2 physical cores, Black Shark for whatever reason only uses 1 thread/core by default. So when you start a mission, alt-tab out of the cockpit and in the task manager, right-click on the process and use set-affinity to enable multi-thread/core support.

I get around a 40% boost in average and 60%+ gain in minimum frame rates that way.

There's also a free program called PriFinitty out there that does this.

Unfortunately, every time you start Black Shark, it resets to single thread/core support, so you must do this at the start of every mission.

EDIT---my version was the digital download off their site. No idea if they patched this and added proper multi-core support in the boxed version.

 

great tip, thanks! will have to remember that, but hopefully they patch it at some point.

 

Somewhere I found some starter scripts (2 versions for 2 and 4 core machines, multiplayer and single player) that seem to take care of the affinity issue. Im not sure how much the performance increase is, as I have never played without them But thanks for the tip!

(I dont know if it makes a difference but I got the boxed version)

Off topic: I started riding about 2 years ago, got myself a BMW GS 650 Dakar, wanna upgrade to an affordable (older) R1150GS towards the end of the year. Nice ride though