VBS2/3 Discussion thread - the one and only

[aidas2 10]

So it's not available for dl?

[noubernou 77]

So it's not available for dl?

Are you any of those mentioned above?

[zigzag 0]

By Herbie on Project Reality forum

VBS2 US Army Lite Download Links:

JCOVE Lite Community Forums

http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f11-off-topic-discussion/46423-post-your-screenshots-videos-not-pr-image-heavy-503.html#post1580057

I have not checked it myself because you have to register, so Im not sure if its there or not.

[rekrul 7]

This seemed as appropriate as any other forum as there's a story about the Spanel brothers (don't remember their nicks now - brain freeze).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/technology/02gameside.html?src=busln

[Bob.Dob 0]

Not sure if this is a first for Bohemia Interactive to get coverage in such a large mainstream publication like the New York Times or why nobody has posted this on here yet but I figured such publicity can only be good for the BIS community at large. We've done a little blog piece on this article and included all appropriate official links over @

http://gaming.operationreality.org/2011/05/03/military-simulator-from-the-czech-spanel-brothers/

Congrats BIS! You guys seem to keep going from strength to strength and are really starting to get noticed out there! :cool:

PS - if this is posted in the wrong forum section obviously feel free to move it.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Bob.Dob

[RozekPoland 591]

Interesting article! Thanks!

[walker 0]

Hi all

An intersting article about simulation particularly VBS2.

Keyboards First Then Grenades

2011-05-02ANDREW MARTIN and THOMAS LIN The New York Times

(From Page 4) ...An oft-cited example is VBS 2, which was first bought by the Marine Corps in 2001. The game-based simulator, which runs on laptops, was created for the military by two Czech brothers and the leader of an Australian heavy metal band.

While the graphics aren't as sophisticated as some commercial games, VBS 2 has an open platform that allows soldiers to plug in new details -- say from a recent mission -- so that its database of potential situations is constantly growing. In the last 14 months or so, user input has increased 1,200 percent, officials said.

The latest version can import detailed aerial and satellite imagery so Marines can rehearse in virtual 3-D copies of their places of deployment.

"Once they get into combat, they have seen almost every possible scenario," said Leslie Dubow, project director for Games for Training, the Army's acquisition program for games. She said the Army bought the licensing rights to VBS 2 for under $10 million.

"You can't simulate the dust, dirt, heat and stresses that you inevitably feel in combat situations," said First Lt. Roy Fish, 34, a platoon commander based in Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, "but I think the simulation gets as close as you're ever going to get in North Carolina to Afghanistan."

Speaking by phone from Afghanistan, Lt. Fish, who first trained on VBS 2 in 2008 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., said the virtual simulator had saved lives in the field. Using the abbreviation for an improvised explosive device, he said, "Every time we go outside the wire and react to an I.E.D. or small-arms fire, it all translates to what we did in the simulator."

When his Marines are done with the simulation training, he said, they are "sweating from head to toe. It's amazing how realistic it was. It's literally the same exact terrain."

(Continued on page 5)

Lt. Fish emphasized that game-based simulators like VBS are not video games like Call of Duty. "We try not to make training fun for Marines," he said. "If you don't take it seriously, someone will die."...

http://m.post-gazette.com/business/technology/keyboards-first-then-grenades-1143488?p=1

As always folow the link to the original article in full

It apears to be an extended companion piece to the previous published New York times article.

Kind Regards

[Muahaha 10]

the virtual simulator had saved lives in the fields

I think these words carries a lot of weight and BIS will definitely feel proud of their product.

[Colossus 2]

PS: Article reposted on one of Norway's biggest newspapers, Dagbladet.no. Forwarded from their game website, Pressfire.no. (Link to article)

Now they have their own little article. (Google Translate. It's readable.)

I actually didn't know Norwegian troops uses VBS2, better yet their own vehicles and weapons.

Edited May 6, 2011 by colossus

[skaith57 10]

yes, I bought the game and I'm not rich, but only a few savings for 2 years.

[the chief 15]

Any news of VBS2 v1.50 full list of features yet?

[mankyle 372]

http://resources.bisimulations.com/contentnew/

You can find also more information in bisimulations.com

[noubernou 77]

Is 1.50 out yet? I don't see it on the forums.

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

Newsletter mention "We expect wider release to occur in June".

[walker 0]

Hi all

VBS2 has started its move up in the Military Helicopter training market.

http://rotor.com/Default.aspx?TabId=177&newsid375=73099

Kind Regards walker

[Pyronick 21]

Hi all

VBS2 has started its move up in the Military Helicopter training market.

http://rotor.com/Default.aspx?TabId=177&newsid375=73099

Kind Regards walker

Would Take On Helicopters have anything to do with this? If so, I really hope BIS will make a tank and driving simulator aswell! :D

Maybe acquire Steel Beasts developer eSim?

[walker 0]

Hi all

VBS2 is also increasing in the Ground Pounder department with Fort Levenworth looking to enlarge its VBS2 training facility.

Note Added some return charachters to the quoted text to ease readability

Army Warfighters Go Digital to Hone Skills

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2011

With more than 1 million service members on active duty in the United States, the military services, and especially the Army, are running short of a critical commodity — training grounds.

The problem, intensified by the winding down of two wars, is ratcheting up the interest of Army senior leaders in virtual solutions to real-world constraints.

“We have a lot of Soldiers coming home to stations here in the United States, and … we don’t have enough terrain in many of those places to train those soldiers out on live ranges,†said Army Col. Anthony D. Krogh, director of the National Simulation Center at Fort Leavenworth.

“We just physically can’t do it,†he said. “Fort Lewis is a good example.â€

Seven 5,000-Soldier brigades are on the ground at Fort Lewis, now part of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., he said.

“But here’s the thing — there’s only enough maneuver space and range for one brigade there at a time,†he added.

That means “our perishable skills as Soldiers start to atrophy rather rapidly,†the colonel said. “The only way we can make up for that is to use a synthetic, or virtual, world.â€

Krogh said Army command and control systems themselves produce a kind of synthetic environment that has been in use for a long time. Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, called FBCB2, for example, is a computer-based communication platform for commanders.

Blue Force Tracking is a GPS-enabled system that gives military commanders and forces location information about friendly and hostile forces. Other command-and-control visualization tools let commanders see a three-dimensional battle space and locate units or particular Soldiers there, Krogh said.

“It doesn’t look like an avatar,†Krogh said, referring to digital representations of users that populate virtual worlds, “but it is a synthetic environment that’s created because we learn or understand quicker through visualization than anything else.â€

The Army also uses simulators of all kinds to train Soldiers at different levels, he said, from squad and fire-team leaders and individual Soldiers to division and corps commanders.

Emerging-technology Army initiatives include a Training and Doctrine Command effort called the Training Brain. This combines capabilities, systems, networks and data into a system that uses modeling, simulation and gaming to replicate real-world events for use in training.

Within about four days the Training Brain system can turn a firefight or a mission into a simulation game, the command’s website says.

“In terms of virtual worlds, our primary focus is on Virtual Battlespace 2, the VBS2 game,†Krogh said. “Gaming initially got a bad rap, because a lot of us had teenagers who were playing Xbox and Nintendo instead of doing their homework. Fortunately, we as leaders grew into this and recognized the value.â€

VBS2 has been particularly successful, he said. “Arguably, it’s one of the most successful simulations we’ve ever brought to the force,†he added. “In terms of cost versus usage, it’s a huge success.â€

Prague-based Bohemia Interactive Studio developed the gaming and training platform in cooperation with the Marine Corps, the Australian Defense Force and other military customers. It includes a virtual battlefield on which users can operate land, sea and air vehicles. Many people can play the game at once in complex urban areas that include buildings players can destroy with realistic weapons.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63884

As always follow the link to the original article in full

Increasingly physical capabilities are being matched in VBS2. The plan is for each soldiers Physical Training Scores to alter their settings in the simulation. So that the if you are not as fit your avatar slows down in simulation.

Also in the Levenworth Lamp

http://www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/news/around_the_force/x1539862243/Army-expands-virtual-training-grounds

Perhaps of greatest interest is that the article then goes on to say this:

...An after-action-review module records every player action, bullet path, explosion and vehicle movement for a detailed examination of the training mission.

“The most important thing in any of these synthetic environments is to have focused training and the ability to conduct an AAR critique (to understand) what you did right and what you need to work on,†Krogh said.

VBS2 and other initiatives have helped Army senior leadership understand the value of virtual training. Now, Krogh said, the Army is looking to expand the use of virtual worlds, noting that virtual reality will allow an entire brigade to train at one time next year at Fort Bliss, Texas...

My use of Bold in the quote!

Think of it 500 plus people in an MP game.

I guessing now but it sounds like they are using the server farm Idea I pointed out back in the old days of BIS's OFP and VBS1 using HLA and a constructive sim such as JSAF or ONESAF or any of the multiplicity of other platforms to provide the integration of the multiple servers.

If I was doing it it would be one server per platoon then link via ONESAF to provide integration then chuck in some tank sims via Steel Beasts and some of those expensive flight sims for the flyers.

By the way the same thing could be done in ArmA II.

Meanwhile Terrain Databases imported into VBS are playing an increasing role in preparing troops for deployment around the world.

http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2011/pa051611.html

Kind Regards walker

Edited May 16, 2011 by walker
added some return characters to the quoted text for readability

[walker 0]

Hi all

An interesting little thing to note in this Months edition of the Bohemia Interactive News Letter.

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a26fbe53f68fee4dde9f902b7&id=f5c6c96693

I wonder what they were using that for?

...in partnership with TerraSim, we will be showcasing the Osama bin Laden compound in Abbottabad highlighting our rapid development capabilities...

When did the Bin Laden operation take place? Interesting how fast the VBS version was produced. Hint Hint. ;)

Kind Regards walker

Edited May 16, 2011 by walker

[noubernou 77]

Wow the VBS2 1.50 screenshots make me think they have moved to RV3 :|

This was expected, I know, but still... YAY! RV2 is... like... The clunkiest piece of crap ever compared to RV3! :D

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

That just show's how fast they can create an AO in a virtual environment with quickness an easy using VBS2 software. An for the RV3 that going's to be VBS2 2.0 from what I have read.

[noubernou 77]

That just show's how fast they can create an AO in a virtual environment with quickness an easy using VBS2 software. An for the RV3 that going's to be VBS2 2.0 from what I have read.

From those tiny screenshots in the newsletter it looks RV3ish already... One of them looks like Takistan too... lol.

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

Yes they are. But I'm guessing those pix are just for advertising the 2.0 version. Would be nice if 1.50 was RV3 but I don't think that's going to happen until 2.0 arrives which will probably require a new license/purchase if available for Serious G's. Dont let me get your hopes up I dont know whats being release or anything im just stating my opinion.

[noubernou 77]

Yes they are. But I'm guessing those pix are just for advertising the 2.0 version. Would be nice if 1.50 was RV3 but I don't think that's going to happen until 2.0 arrives which will probably require a new license/purchase if available for Serious G's. Dont let me get your hopes up I dont know whats being release or anything im just stating my opinion.

Yea, talking to a few people that were at ITEC last week and they said its still RV2, at least it appears to be, they didn't get any hands on.

On another note, one person I talked to said they saw at least 20 booths at ITEC using VBS2 in some form or another. Go BIS! :cool:

[st_dux 26]

rom those tiny screenshots in the newsletter it looks RV3ish already... One of them looks like Takistan too... lol.

It's shameless marketing. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually was Takistan... and it was taken using ArmA 2.

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

It's shameless marketing. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually was Takistan... and it was taken using ArmA 2.

Well where do you think the core element for VBS comes from?

Edited May 17, 2011 by NZXSHADOWS