AH-64 Pack

[franze 196]

We want to do new crew models complete with helmets, but that's secondary to completion of the helicopter.

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Will your pilots wear the nomex flight suit or will they wear the air crew BDUs?

[islesfan186 83]

Nomex 1 piece flight suits are no longer authorized for wear in the US Army. I've provided Franze and and Nod with reference pictures for A2CUs (Army Aviation Combat Uniform), which Army aircrews currently wear

[wolfbite 8]

Yeah tried the joystick configuration as it detects my warthog but still its just better using keyboard..... Its like it only detects the direction you pulling but doesnt detect the centering if that makes any sence

[nodunit 397]

IHADSS are for certain, can't have apache without IHADSS. Would be the first time I've done any clothing related stuff, stitching and so on...welp I guess we'll see what happens!

About the joystick, I don't think Arma detects the centering itself, I don't have HOTAS or anything like that (I'm guessing that is what you are using?) But when I release the stick the aircraft for the most part stays on course or if level will raise itself up pending collective input (make sure you're ingame configuration is set to analogue rather than the default)

Edited January 22, 2013 by NodUnit

[scfan42 0]

Would love to finally see some proper "Air Warrior" kit in ArmA, but would love to see your Apache first.

If you guys do make new crew models, could you also do a regular style helmet for us H-60 and H-47 folks? (I do assume that the ALSE and other gear are the same between helo types.)

[franze 196]

If we go to the trouble of doing new crew models then I see no reason why we couldn't do some additional tailoring to encompass more than just Apache crew.

Also, new video up demonstrating cockpit interaction (big thanks to NouberNou on helping to get this working!):

Edited January 23, 2013 by Franze

[PuFu 4591]

Franze, you and nou will most likely have me as a pest not so far away in the future ;)

fabulous work lads!

[kilrbe3 37]

Absolutely fantastic, and amazing work so far guys! That interaction is just outstanding detail. This is gonna be by far the most amazing Unit addon to come to ARMA I am thinking. :)

[Sakai 1]

What kind of black magic is this? :S

This is a outstanding job u guys have done!

[raptor 6 actual 13]

You may have answered this already, but will starting the engines be as simple as hitting "Q" or after putting all of that work into the MFDs and cockpit, will it be more in-depth?

[slatts 1978]

You may have answered this already, but will starting the engines be as simple as hitting "Q" or after putting all of that work into the MFDs and cockpit, will it be more in-depth?

I can see myself sitting at base getting a call saying CAS is needed and me forgetting which buttons to press on the MFD :p

[metalcraze 290]

He definitely launched the engine with Q in the video

But that's a one nice job with MFDs

[Ezcoo 47]

Make the startup procedure like this

Just kidding ;) Think about the radio chatter...

"HQ, Razor 1 requesting CAS"

"Razor 1, negative, pilot is unable to start the engines"

Absolutely amazing job. Proper MFDs and no tab lock, hooray!

[scfan42 0]

Franze, are you sure you're not working on a DCS: World module mocked up to look like ArmA? :P

[noubernou 77]

Grats guys, amazing stuff. Glad I could be of assistance! :)

[raptor 6 actual 13]

Well, it's just sad that people put a lot of detail into the model, just to have to simplify it to a "Q" key....because that's the way we start our aircraft in real life. Guess we have to keep it simple for the new age of kids coming into the arena.

Either way, absolutely great work on the helo.

[franze 196]

You may have answered this already, but will starting the engines be as simple as hitting "Q" or after putting all of that work into the MFDs and cockpit, will it be more in-depth?

Prior to this we did have a mechanic for starting up the engines with several clicks but that was linked to the action menu, so I removed it when I built the new script. An in-depth start up is still on the table, depending on what info we can put together on the start up and how to integrate it.

Make the startup procedure like this

Just kidding ;) Think about the radio chatter...

"HQ, Razor 1 requesting CAS"

"Razor 1, negative, pilot is unable to start the engines"

Absolutely amazing job. Proper MFDs and no tab lock, hooray!

If we put in a complex start up it will likely remain an optional feature, for A2 anyways. If we have the time to move on to TKOH then it will likely be a permanent or required function.

Franze, are you sure you're not working on a DCS: World module mocked up to look like ArmA? :P

Given that we still don't have CLASSIFIED Manual #57373-ZFTWOMGWTF-28-a, "Piss tube operations and usage for Attack Helicopter, AH-64D" and therefore are not eligible for DCS, I'd say we're still working in ArmA2-land. ;)

Grats guys, amazing stuff. Glad I could be of assistance! :)

Thanks Nouber, pretty much everything you see in that video was possible with your help. We were able to implement things that we considered a bust before but now they're a lot more intuitive. The unfortunate side effect is now I have to document a lot more than just key bindings. :dead:

[gatordev 214]

Also, new video up demonstrating cockpit interaction (big thanks to NouberNou on helping to get this working!):

Did I just see you create FLY-TO points on the fly? Really nice. A few things to ignore as you see fit...

-Please don't get locked into the limited field of view for the NVG/NVS. I understand that your FOV may be accurate, but you have to balance it with how the game engine works vs. what you actually see. Unfortunately, most, if not all, games model NVG/NVS systems as you only can "see" in the limited FOV and everything else is black. That's not how it really works, as you can look underneath your NVGs and still see everything unaided just fine. Again, I get this is limitation of Arma, but a decent compromise, IMO, is to widen the FOV in-game so you can still see, albeit in green.

-Does the WCA page (it's labeled W/C/A in the video) only show what's currently happening? The video shows a "history" page. This may be different in the Apache, so bear with me, but for the -60, the WCA page only shows what's happening at that moment. Once something has been turned off/fixed/etc, it goes away. It looks like it does that in your model, but just asking. Overall, nice touch.

Well, it's just sad that people put a lot of detail into the model, just to have to simplify it to a "Q" key....because that's the way we start our aircraft in real life. Guess we have to keep it simple for the new age of kids coming into the arena.

It's really not that hard to start a motor. You hit one button (the Starter), wait for a second or two (okay, 6 seconds for a weak starter), then move the PCL to idle. Done. It starts itself. So it doesn't need to be all that complicated... Just offering as a data point.

Looks fantastic Franze/Nod. Looking forward to it.

[franze 196]

Did I just see you create FLY-TO points on the fly? Really nice. A few things to ignore as you see fit...

Yup, uses the same functionality. It's not 100% accurate but on the fly it works. You can use the map for more precision.

-Please don't get locked into the limited field of view for the NVG/NVS. I understand that your FOV may be accurate, but you have to balance it with how the game engine works vs. what you actually see. Unfortunately, most, if not all, games model NVG/NVS systems as you only can "see" in the limited FOV and everything else is black. That's not how it really works, as you can look underneath your NVGs and still see everything unaided just fine. Again, I get this is limitation of Arma, but a decent compromise, IMO, is to widen the FOV in-game so you can still see, albeit in green.

Part of the reason for that is we want to balance the older PNVS with the newer M/PNVS on the II+ and III/E. That's also quite old as it was added around the time that PNVS was implemented as a separate working turret for the pilot; that being said, nothing says we can't experiment with some different methods to balance out and give advantages to one or the other with means other than FOV limitations. PNVS also has zoom which I'm not sure if the real thing has.

-Does the WCA page (it's labeled W/C/A in the video) only show what's currently happening? The video shows a "history" page. This may be different in the Apache, so bear with me, but for the -60, the WCA page only shows what's happening at that moment. Once something has been turned off/fixed/etc, it goes away. It looks like it does that in your model, but just asking. Overall, nice touch.

Your understanding of how we did the WCA page is correct; it shows only damage that's active and has not been fixed. Once it's been repaired or no longer applies, the message goes away. The WCA page displays messages in historical order, with latest messages at the top. We co-opted the WCA page to display all faults/damage and given the limited nature of the damage that we'll implement (we haven't finished the damage model or effects yet), more complex options were ignored. The UFD also displays those messages.

It's really not that hard to start a motor. You hit one button (the Starter), wait for a second or two (okay, 6 seconds for a weak starter), then move the PCL to idle. Done. It starts itself. So it doesn't need to be all that complicated... Just offering as a data point.

Looks fantastic Franze/Nod. Looking forward to it.

Not exactly sure how it is with the -60s, but everything in the AH-64A manual says once your fuel switch is on, master ignition is on, all you have to do is momentarily hold the associated engine switch on for a second or two and the startup is automatic from there. The mind boggling question I have is mostly related to APU starts.

---------- Post added at 21:13 ---------- Previous post was at 19:35 ----------

Ok, second video of the week is a brief action video, showing part of the campaign mission 'Emerald Forge' to give you a feel of what it's like in the game:

And a bonus, loading screens from three of the missions:

Mission 5

Mission 6

Mission 9

[scarecrow398 43]

Part of the reason for that is we want to balance the older PNVS with the newer M/PNVS on the II+ and III/E. That's also quite old as it was added around the time that PNVS was implemented as a separate working turret for the pilot; that being said, nothing says we can't experiment with some different methods to balance out and give advantages to one or the other with means other than FOV limitations. PNVS also has zoom which I'm not sure if the real thing has.

Is it possible to have it on the center of the screen without the black border to be a little more accurate/less obtrusive? and then at would just be a regular view non NV around the outside.

Edit:

Like how is done with Combat helo (skip to 3:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8AHX8uXHpQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=216s

Edited January 24, 2013 by Scarecrow398

[noubernou 77]

Is it possible to have it on the center of the screen without the black border to be a little more accurate/less obtrusive? and then at would just be a regular view non NV around the outside.

Engine limitation there.

[franze 196]

Is it possible to have it on the center of the screen without the black border to be a little more accurate/less obtrusive? and then at would just be a regular view non NV around the outside.

Edit:

Like how is done with Combat helo (skip to 3:40)

Only in TKOH is this possible; ArmA2 doesn't have picture in picture capability.

[jumpnjack 10]

Only in TKOH is this possible; ArmA2 doesn't have picture in picture capability.

Arma 3 will have that right?

[slatts 1978]

Arma 3 will have that right?

HiiiiiiOoooooh you are correct sir!