'Heli-4-Hire' SimCopter Revival Dynamic Sandbox (WIP)

[moach_mayhem 10]

------------- updated --------------

alright! this is actually going better than i anticipated (not always true, but more than not....)

by now i can proudly announce we have ourselves a fun little starting point for the comeback of the former glory that was SimCopter in full force (coming soon)

and with that, i have decided to make the code public, so the curious may play with the latest WIP pushes and/or the enthusiastic may lend a hand with scripting collaborating through the magic of Git!

go ahead, knock yourself out!

get it here -- https://github.com/Moach/Heli4Hire -- (press the zip button for a most straightforward download, extract to your user-made missions folder, open in editor, hit preview)

keep in mind, however - all scripts and content featured in this project are the property of their respective original authors - DO NOT redistribute without ensuring proper credit!

you may not also use any of the contents of this repository for evil and/or evil-related purposes such as (but not limted to): world domination; spreading of deadly zombie viruses; overthrowing of local governments (with the exception of the federative republic of Brazil, which has it coming); all forms of advertising; harming harmless animals; whaling; non-requested structural demolition; protecting the economic interests of the automobile industry; broadcasting pop music; suicide-inducing bullying; mass murder; contract assassination; hobby assassination; terrorist activity; calling people names.

failure to comply with the above will result (and may not be limited to) the breaking of load-bearing bodily parts, ninja sniper action, having your beard shaved on the tail rotor, and that your friends won't wanna play with you anymore.

have fun!

------------- original first post --------------

Hi there, i'm new to TKOH but not to programming or flying (been making addons for MSFS and KSP for quite some time)

anyways, TKOH got me inspired, to a point where i feel i might do something to give back to the game, while bringing back a lot of rotor-winged nostalgia from a game i'm sure some of you may have played back when it wasn't so... old :p

the game was SimCopter, by Maxis (you know, that one where you cold fly around your SimCity2000 cities in a helicopter)

that game had a very interesting open-world challenge, where it'd throw "emergencies" at you to which you should try to respond or risk losing an opportunity for profit... rings a bell? TKOH first struck me as a fine "spiritual successor" to SimCopter, and since it has the whole scripting engine to back it up, i though - why not?

operation flashpoint was the first game i had contact with programming through - it later led to myself graduating in game development and a career as a programmer.... but hey, enough about work - let's play!

programming is no biggie then, so while i have nothing to show for at this time, i have started a work-in-progress thread to gather a little bit of info on the receiving end (you) and what would be expected of a mission like this

first run of intended features (in no particular order)

* free-flight oriented mission, you start from your heliport and "call in" when you're ready to receive tasks

* you get money for performing tasks well, as you fumble around you pay gets smaller until an eventual "abort" is issued lest risking more harm

* money performs maintenance and buys choppers (courtesy the heliport module)

* tasks would include: (and here's where i need your input, read on)

* taxi service A (graded on steady flying)

* taxi service B (graded on prompt delivery)

* aerial photography/video shoot (graded on skill to circle and hover around locations)

* sling loading (graded on steady flying)

* search-and-rescue (graded on steady flying and response time)

* law enforcement insertion and extraction (graded on ??)

* news footage acquisition (same as aerial photography, but with added response time factor)

then, most missions would be subject to a chance of some inflight "suprise", such as:

* passenger medical emergency, requires immediate detour to hospital

* aircraft systems malfunction (likelihood depending on your maintenance habits)

* secondary passenger pickup (during taxi missions)

* SAR victims may be on boat, land, rooftops or somewhere in densely wooded terrain

but then, this is only what i was able to cook up on my own while writing this.... so that's where the purpose of this otherwise teaser-natured thread comes to play -- i mean to ask, what sort of tasks would YOU wanna find on a mission like this?

i was looking to put together a mostly concise dynamic flying experience, without so many impossibly-picky golf players or unlikely construction loads that could very well have been done by truck... so then, whadda you think?

of course, some addons could be used to make this more interesting.... but since that's subject to authors approval, let's take it one thing at a time.... first the basics

i'll keep you posted on progress as it comes along:popcornsmilie:

cheers!

Edited December 16, 2012 by Moach_Mayhem
updated!

[zentaos 10]

The oil rig definitely beckons for personell and equipment transport. Emergency evacuations, disasters and clean ups. Some GOM inspired events.

So far it sounds really exciting!

( just caught that it said old instead of oil )

Edited January 22, 2013 by zentaos

[mjr.hassle 13]

Whilst I can't think of any additional tasks to suggest at the moment, I just wanted to say that this sounds like a great idea! If I think of anything I'll be sure to post it here.

ToH could really do with a multifaceted sandbox mission, and this sounds like it. :)

[moach_mayhem 10]

alright nice to see i'm not the only one who'd like to see this!

ok, i've made some progress with the fsm thingy, got a simple and humble beginnings of a taxi sandbox (gotta start somewhere) to which it should probably get a little easier to add features after the base functionality is all set up

i was looking through the commands reference, found a very interesting set of commands to handle the street traffic density...

this led to the idea of traffic report flights - quite a common thing to see in big cities... and i would know... i live in São Paulo, Brazil *shudder* the city with the worst traffic jams in the world, according to the discovery channel.... and to go with it, the largest helicopter fleet in any major city (or the second largest, maybe)

:o:

oh well, let me get back to it....

[moach_mayhem 10]

progress update!

got a nice little taxi cycle working now... the FSM takes care of assigning you a random, yet coherently located pickup point and one you're there, a dropoff likewise - it also spawns one or more (randomly) passengers and gets them in and out of the chopper when required

a few extra details, when you're assigned a fare (manually by radio, for now) you have a few minutes to get there, depending you the initial distance... if you take too long, two things may happen:

if you're past 4/5 of the way, you'll get a message telling you off (which later in development will warrant a pay deduction) -- if you're not that close, you lose the job and dispatch assigns it to someone else

even if you were close at your fist warning, you still have a proportionally adjusted time to get there - if you fail that, there's no second chance and the results are the same as if you had been too far on the first call

note though - you don't see the timer, in an effort to make it feel less deterministic i chose not to show you those arcade-like things... don't worry, there's some slack to it as this is not a time trial challenge, just a contextually coherent don't-take-too-long deal

anyways after you get your passengers aboard, you'll be expected to fly "nice"... the steady flight rules are engaged and you have a narrow tolerance to fumbling and tossing before your passengers begin to voice their terrifying lack of trust in your pilot skills

if you fail to fly like a sane individual within a few seconds from the first complaints, you'll be ordered down ASAP, as your passengers prefer to walk than risk death riding your bat out of hell any further

that will get you to lose the job - sure enough... your arrival marker is removed and your passengers will dismount as soon as the ground is close enough not to hurt much too seriously upon impact

fly nice though, and they might even compliment you on your skills!

anyways - i opted not to force the task as current when you get assigned a job, this leaves you the (highly honorable) option of flying true VFR! no needle or waypoint marker telling you where to go - this opens up a whole new side of TKOH, i found, making that beautiful scenery a lot more connected to your flying experience

...still, should you have some love affair for waypoints and needles pointing the way - just hit "set as current" for the task on the map view

i still plan on adding more detail to the passenger shuttle experience... little things like randomly occurring extra characters to see your passengers off on departure, or greet them upon arrival... maybe a car too, just to make it feel more natural

then there's the chance that you may have to deviate during flight, for reasons such as picking up someone else on the way, or maybe someone suddenly needs to rush somewhere else for some urgent "thing" or whatnot...

that would be "good enough" for the commuter transport bit, i think... this would integrate to a higher-level FSM coordinating the "dispatch central" - so you'd have possibilities of tasks popping in and out in real time, and you can "call in" and request being assigned any of them as they are prompted...

i'm still working out the details of how exactly one could interact with "dispatch"... i reckon the best way would be to use the radio, so that's a mostly set thing, but as for the details, i'll sort it out as we go along (feel free to pitch in at this point, it's easier to incorporate suggestions before getting down into actual code for these things)

well, if curiosity strikes you hard, i guess i could post WIP preview versions every now and then so you can keep up with the fun and all.... but do mind this would slow down the process somewhat, as each version needs at least SOME checking for dealbreaker bugs and other beyond-nuisance problems common at this stage

cheers!

[daikan 1]

This definitely sounds like fun! I really appreciate the time and effort you consider putting into this. I'm glad to help with testing, too, if needed.

Maybe add some firefighting and logging operations to the task list?

It would be really awesome if this could be made into a multiplayer sandbox game by providing the building blocks for an open economy of basic supply & demand. Things like building, maintaining & selling facilities, trading parts/goods or work as a contractor for others (i.e. competing for tasks on a job board) would help contributing to a long term fun factor by adding some sense of purpose and achievement... although I admit hardly a trivial task to do for any game designer ;)

[moach_mayhem 10]

mutliplayer is a whole other ballgame, i think....

i mean, let's take it one thing at a time... firefighting missions sure seems fun, but sanity dictates we work from the simpler tasks up :ok:

right now, i'm just touching up the whole commuter transport operations system... it's loosely based on the Jedra Taxi missions, but you get some more possibilities and the process is something less predictable as you can get more than one location to fly into, for pickup up a secondary passenger, or dropping off one of two aboard...

you get to manually "call in" and tell dispatch when you're available to pick up a ride, as well as you can also declare yourself "unable" and tell dispatch you won't make it where you need to be...

if you have passengers aboard when you go "unable" you'll still need to land them safely so "dispatch" can "send another helicopter for them" (mind the quotes, that stuff doesn't really happen - they just get deleted when you fly off)

anyways, i did also spend a large amount of time going over the seattle map and identifying potential commuter locations... there are a LOT of real helipads not modelled in the game, as well as some that are there but never really used (like those the cruise ships)

i've hooked up a way to "mark" such places so they are used as travel possibilities... some are ground painted helipads, some even platforms like those you see on rooftops, and some are just... more or less flat and open(ish) areas

it's quite fun already... even though there's no "game" to it, just a sandbox air taxi simulator where you can fly yourself out of fuel to your hearts content...

speaking of which, i've included the OSMO service and interaction systems, so you get to make inspections to your bird as well as getting it repaired/refueled/equipped as per your needs when you land at your base

i also gave you a copilot... the guy just sits there and presumably does the "boring part" talking to ATC and making sure things get done "by the book" - so you can focus on the flying while he fuddles with his iPad thingy strapped to his leg...

well, let me get to it... soon there'll be enough to post here for your enjoyment (maybe even later today, if all goes well)

cheers!

[JoaoHackbart 1]

Hello, Can someone please explain how to install this? I am really excited with this Idea.:D:D

[mjr.hassle 13]

Thanks for the preview release Moach. :)

Just a couple of things. I needed to add .United_states_H to the folder name to get it to show up. After that the mission wouldn't load in the editor, as I was missing the Jedra_missions addon. After activating both Jedras' time trials and Take on Taxis the mission loaded up fine. :)

Just FYI for anyone wanting to play.

Anyhoo, I'm about to load this up and have a go for the afternoon. :)

EDIT:

@JoaoHackbart. You need to place the folder in the following location:

Documents\Take On Helicopters Other Profiles\yourprofilenamehere\UserSaved\missions.

It should then show up in the editor.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Mjr.Hassle

[JoaoHackbart 1]

Sorry to be bothering you that much but, I still can't figure out how to open the mission? Is it in the load mission option in editor? :/

[mjr.hassle 13]

It should be, yes. I forgot to mention that you need to open the folder, and inside you'll find another folder with the same name. Thats the one you want to be using.

So, open the `Heli4Hire-master` folder, and inside you'll find another `Heli4Hire-master` folder, place that in the location I mentioned before. Rename the folder to Heli4Hire-master.United_States_H

Hopefully it should now show up. *Fingers crossed*

Edited December 30, 2012 by Mjr.Hassle

[JoaoHackbart 1]

Hey, Thanks for all the help. I've saved a mission and then tracked its name, and I found out it appeared on the missions folder under Documents\Take On Helicopters Other Profiles\yourprofilenamehere\ For some reason it saves on this location and not under the UserSaved folder. So If canyone have this problem just add in themissions folder under Documents\Take On Helicopters Other Profiles\yourprofilenamehere\.

Thanks for the help and Have nice Flights.

João Hackbart.

[moach_mayhem 10]

the 'usersaved' location is reserved for ingame saves, the kind you do before trying something dangerous so you can revert if/when something bad happens...

the folder name is misleading, indeed - the one you want is the 'missions' folder, that's the same as where the missions you create in the editor will appear

btw - almost done with the slingload operations code... just trying to get the loads to actually stay atop the damn buildings now, then it should be a go! :rolleyes:

cheers!

[JoaoHackbart 1]

Oh Ok, Thanks. Are you going to upload it here whenever it is done?

[TheHarvesteR 11]

Being a huge Simcopter fan myself, I very much approve of this idea. :)

So much so, in fact, that I'm helping out develop the mission whenever I get a chance (Moach is my brother, so that makes things easier).

I started working on the "Office" UIs for the management part of the mission. The Office is a screen you can access from inside the heliport's office area, and lets you access several tabs.

In the Online Store tab, you're presented with a selection of items from Heli-bay, your trusty online store for helicopter parts and stuff. You can order items there, like service components, new gear to customize your chopper, and anything we can think of really.

Items you order don't arrive immediately though. They take time to arrive, depending on the size of the thing. You can track your incoming orders on the Orders screen. You can also cancel an order that hasn't arrived yet for an 80% refund.

After orders arrive, they're displayed in your Inventory panel in the Overview tab. There, you can see the items that are available at your heliport.

You'll need to buy new replacement parts to keep your heli service going. Servicing your chopper on the pad can fix minor damage, but those quick fixes will eventually break again, and replacing a part is sometimes your only option.

You'll also need to buy fuel, since those tanks at the pad won't magically refill themselves.

The current status of this system is this: We have the Store and Orders pages up, with a little FSM that handles the page switching for the whole dialog, and a growing collection of functions that handle selecting items on lists, displaying their details on another panel, placing orders and cancelling them. Items are defined as bundles of data, so we can add a large amount in not a lot of time, once we get the whole system working. Next on the to-do list is the Overview panel with the inventory screen (orders don't arrive yet), and after that, making it so items are actually used for servicing and customization, and finally, adding mission rewards (which, depending on the degree of your failure, might be a bill instead of a paycheck).

This is just the first 'iteration' for the Office mechanics on the mission. We have plans for later to add several other features, like being able to put items up for sale, buy items and pick them up yourself (would generate a slingload mission), buy/sell/lease helicopters, and also manage pilot certifications, which you'll need to be able to take on missions like medevacs or winch ops, or transition to a larger chopper. Well, unless you don't mind a visit from a man in a suit.

Of course, KSP is my main focus, so I'll only be able to devote a few hours a week at best to this. But it's a really cool weekend project, definitely. :)

Cheers

[moach_mayhem 10]

ok, right now we got slingload ops all up and running...

a few bugs exist here and there (still surprisingly few for this stage in development) but most of the base features are all set...

you should notice, though - as will be the case in many aspects of this mission, realistic situations are handled in realistic ways, so not only you will not be running loads between two equally crane-equipped (why on earth do they need a chopper then?) construction rooftops, you'll also be required to perform an extended set of steps which i managed to abstract based on what i recall from my days of R/L glider piloting (i'm somewhat familiar around moving aircraft with ropes attached)

these are the features that come to mind (in no particular order)

- a distinction between two points in any job was identified, namely the "base" and the "tower" - respectively, the place where the trucks muster the loads going up in a helicopter-friendly area, and the rooftop/high-rise structure that must be reached from the air...

by definition, any job that doesn't feature these two points will almost certainly also not require a helicopter...

continuing...

- a job will feature a mostly random combination of loads requiring transport down from the tower and/or up from the base

- all loads that require a ride down from the tower must be brought down before any new loads are taken up for safety reasons

- on the base site, the pilot is required to step outside and attach the rope to his bird and the cargo ensuring it's secure (would you trust anyone else?)

- the pilot has full authority over the rope and load once it is attached to the helicopter, it's up to him to detach the rope from above on delivery

- for loads coming down, the pilot must first attach the rope to his aircraft, and leave the free end loose so the roof crew can strap on the load (they will NOT attach the rope to the helicopter as it skittishly hovers an often highly-obstructed rooftop full of evil sharp metal things ready to make helicopter shish-kebabs)

- you are recommended and given a chance to inspect the base and tower sites from the air before running loads - a safe pilot will know where he's going

- you get to use the 'Rope Interaction' command (which you can set to a joystick button) to release the load from the air

- you also get to choose the length of rope being used - make sure you select long enough to clear any antennae and other obstacles atop the tower - on the counter side, a longer rope is a lot harder to "feel" around and requires more room for everything, it also swings quite more furiously when tossed around

- a little set of sound effects was added to rope connect/disconnect/release events - it makes the whole experience much more immersive and... juicy!

for this to be as varied and fun as possible, i've identified and "tagged" over a hundred rooftops and >70-something base sites manually - i made a short script that allowed me to fly the chopper anywhere and get an array position ready to ctrl+v onto the script listing

a few hours of fun and extremely dangerous flying later, we now have a very comprehensive assortment of freely-combined possibilities for locations and loads

but doing it this way ensures all combinations are fun, pilot-oriented, and albeit random by design - don't feel 'too' random in an unlikely manner (very common result of letting the machine do the man's job)

anyways.. it's not really done... even though the features are in, polish is still coming around the block trying to find a place to park... it does not feature the intended object compositions of trucks and crew around the base site nor the handling team on the roof ('magic' is used to fasten the loads atop thus far)

ah well, let me get back to it, then.... all this writing means i'm not doing anything productive, right?

cheerz!

[Raptor 10]

@Moach_Mayhem or someone else.

Can you make a short movie or trailer of your mod?

The concept sounds great (especially it's based on Sim Copter) and i'm interested in the realisation of your work in TOH.

I think to buy TOH because of your mod. :)

[JoaoHackbart 1]

I would do it, if my Fraps didn't consume all the FPS. If anyone know any recorder that doesn't consume all the FPS, I would be grateful.

[TheHarvesteR 11]

Another progress update on the UI side:

I've got the inventory panel implemented now, and set up an update system that keeps track of items you order. When they arrive, they are sent to your inventory list, where you'll then be able to do stuff with them.

The store system is mostly complete then, for a first implementation. Next up is having the items actually do something.

The plan for that is as follows: Items will have a few more bits of data on them to define a few things.

First of all is what type of item this is. Can it be sold if you don't want it? (Parts and such should be sellable, Fuel, on the other hand, shouldn't). Or is this some small bit of equipment, or a part that can be installed on a helicopter?

One thing we did with the inventory was to make sure each item was its own independent object. You buy things one at a time, and you can buy as many of the same item as you want. Since parts on your helicopter will wear off and eventually need replacing, it would make sense to let you keep a stock of replacement bits, so if something breaks, you'll have a replacement ready to go without having to wait for it to arrive.

That means consumables like fuel will need to be handled differently. When you order fuel, you're ordering a delivery of some quantity, And unlike parts, fuel would be immediately sent to the tanks at your heliport. If those tanks are full, the "guys with the tanker truck" won't wait around all day, and any amount your tanks can't hold will be wasted.

Other items like small bits of gear, like GPS or NV goggles wouldn't need to be installed. They'd just add themselves to your equipment. Also, having more than one of those would be pointless, so those should be sellable if, say, you get that same GPS you just bought again on your birthday or something. :P

To be able to handle all those different behaviours, the plan is to set up bits of code on the items themselves, which will get called when things happen to the item. For instance, there would be a code block for when the item arrives, another for when it gets sold, another for when it gets installed, and so on. It's a simple event system, which allows each item to do its own thing, instead of having to add cases for each separate type.

That's about it for now... Just when I'll be able to work on the mission again is a bit uncertain now, since the holiday break is now ended, but when I get a chance, I'll continue working on this.

Cheers

[Raptor 10]

I would do it, if my Fraps didn't consume all the FPS. If anyone know any recorder that doesn't consume all the FPS, I would be grateful.

Don't know it's working for you but I've found the follwing alternatives:

http://camstudio.org/

http://www.growlersoftware.com/

http://taksi.sourceforge.net/

http://www.ezvid.com/

:)

[delta9857 10]

Well I just downloaded and installed the mission but whenever I try to load it in the mission editor I get the following error message: "You cannot play/edit this mission; it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted.hsim_misc_h_dlc1_objects".

I bought TKOH on Steam and have all the dlc except Hinds, is that why I am unable to play this, or is it because of something else?

[moach_mayhem 10]

well, it was made using the hinds DLC, but then, i don't think i really used any hinds material... so it could just be a "residual" dependency, in which case, a simple .sqm tweak solves the problem (you could even look yourself for the culprit in the "addons" list that determines what is needed for what first thing up in the mission.sqm file and remove it - opens with notepad)

** edit **

by the looks of it, it may not be very straightforward to remove that unwanted Hinds restriction... i'll have to go in and 'CSI' my way into discovering what particular object brings about this inconvenience in a scene featuring no fewer than a couple of thousand things...

but i'll find it - then i'll take it out back and beat it with a stick until problem discontinues existence ;)

** post **

on the other side of news, my aging flight-simulator seat finally gave way (due to the presence of full cushion-depth grooves permitting contact between rear end and awfully hard plating in tandem with other major areas of cause-related afflictions) and i had to replace it ASAP, before the user-end damage (my back) required a doctor's attention

it took all day, and was all but cheap (sitting comfortably costs an unbelievable sum, these days) - but after a whole yesterday, from not-so-early morning to about 2am of nonstop hauling and bolting and drilling and cutting - i got a brand new, extra-comfortable sim-pit to tell of (a favorite topic of conversation for me, it is) all made of very much solid aluminum and steel, with no structural dangle points or anything that drives one mad when the controls fail to be the sole moving parts of a flight simulator rig, a kind of nuisance that plagued the piece of kit it replaced...

alas, this whole frantic possession of me by all spirits engineering, had a down side (besides the numerous skin-deep injuries accumulated in the process, due to sub-par motor skills) - i also damaged (aka: absent-mindedly broke) the ps2 cable wiring my Saitek throttle and stick units...

and having already soldered that cable back into coherence once in the past, i reckon this is my cue to go out buy a new one... something like a more sane person than myself would have done at the first sign of problem

anyways, that's due for later today, after which, work on things inside the computer (rather than around it) may resume at full pace...

in the meantime, enjoy a sight (admittedly, a poor one, with storm-approaching weather not proving a very good source of lighting for cellphone photography) of the aforementioned behemoth rig i dare call my "home" PC

notice how the right-side unit of the X52 is blackened out in a cable-impaired state of disconnection

cheers!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Moach_Mayhem

[JoaoHackbart 1]

Hey, Thank You for your promptiness, I will check those out and try to record the mod.

[delta9857 10]

well, it was made using the hinds DLC, but then, i don't think i really used any hinds material... so it could just be a "residual" dependency, in which case, a simple .sqm tweak solves the problem (you could even look yourself for the culprit in the "addons" list that determines what is needed for what first thing up in the mission.sqm file and remove it - opens with notepad)

That would be awesome, thanks! I am really looking forward to being able to play this mod! SimCopter was one of my favorite games back in the day! In the mean time I'll have a bit of a look around the files myself and see if I can find anything.

[moach_mayhem 10]

ok, removed the needless dependency of Hinds!

just let me get a merge done to the master branch so you have a more straightforward download from github

** edit **

ok! now it's done - grab it while it's hot! ;)

Edited January 7, 2013 by Moach_Mayhem