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

[Bloomster 10]

OK got the latest and now I only get one error, Missing Moach _HW_Basics

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------

OK can now get it started by removing that basics line from the sqm but when I start the mission and go outside at the base, there is no hangar, I must be being a complete idiot! I am good at that <--

---------- Post added at 10:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 PM ----------

and now when i load the file i get: -

the file heli_Light01_Heliworks no longer exists.

[delta9857 10]

OK got the latest and now I only get one error, Missing Moach _HW_Basics

---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------

OK can now get it started by removing that basics line from the sqm but when I start the mission and go outside at the base, there is no hangar, I must be being a complete idiot! I am good at that <--

Did you install the addon that comes with the download? If not, create a folder in your main TOH directory called "@Moach" and inside it create another folder called "Addons". Then open the folder inside the Heli4Hire folder you downloaded called "Addon (install pbo file as mod)" and copy the .pbo file to the "Addons" folder you created in the "@Moach" folder. Then launch the game and click Expansions in the main menu and enable "@Moach". Restart the game and you should be good to go. Hope this helps :)

[Bloomster 10]

added a helicopter and can get it to work just not sure if thats the right way to do it, i added and american light

---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 PM ----------

Next question: -

how close to pickup passengers do I have to be? 60m seems too far as I dont see anyone or no one ever gets in?

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM ----------

Thanks for all the help so far. :)

---------- Post added at 11:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

loaded fine now after the moach addon, i missed that Sorry, but I cannot get any passengers to get in the chopper still?

---------- Post added at 11:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 PM ----------

Do i just accept the jobs in the map tasking or is there then something I have to do with the Radio to confirm acceptance? Sorry for being such a newbie and taking up your time. :(

---------- Post added 01-24-2013 at 12:13 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-23-2013 at 11:45 PM ----------

Do i just accept the jobs in the map tasking or is there then something I have to do with the Radio to confirm acceptance? Sorry for being such a newbie and taking up your time. :(

[moach_mayhem 10]

passengers cannot board a helicopter without seats - are you sure you've installed those in yours?

check the hangar, all the parts are there... the seats for the moment being the only ones with a purpose other than affecting the mass of the aircraft and looking cool... they are required for everything except cargo slingload missions (where the extra weight is really unneeded)

once you set a task as your current, you gotta call it in by radio so dispatch knows what you're up to (how else would they, anyways?) -- similarly, upon completion you must also announce that you're clear, so they know you're ready for more work

the new version seems to check out pretty well by now... so right after posting this i'm gonna push up a new master release -- enjoy!

[delta9857 10]

Thanks Moach, downloading now :)

[Bloomster 10]

Thanks for the info, however, how do i accept the job via radio i do not see anything other than the sign out or the get new job options 1,2 ?

[moach_mayhem 10]

you gotta select a task other than your 'return to heliport' option... then you should get the radio option to call it in (0-0-2)

by the way, new master update - added a DME check action to show your waypoint distance and ETA for the currently selected task (very useful when playing on 'veteran' mode)

also fixed a couple of bugs with the cargo rope actions (nothing major, but showed errors for those who have them enabled)

you may download again now.... even for those who got it today, there's new stuff now

cheers!

[Bloomster 10]

How do I call the task in though on the radio, sorry I seem to be missing these points?

---------- Post added 01-25-2013 at 12:00 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-24-2013 at 11:42 PM ----------

I have the task selected, on the map it says current task shuttle passengers, however both the radio on the map and the radio via 0-0 has no other options other than sign out or reqst current task. when i select 2 reqst current task nothing happens?

Edited January 25, 2013 by Bloomster

[DnA 5154]

Besides this forum thread, do you guys have any information overview page for this project? E.g. some screenshots or even video? We could get it some more attention on it via our social channels :)

[Bloomster 10]

update:-

when starting the game in Administrator mode this seemed to work this time, will do some more testing, Windows 7 64 bit.

[Raptor 10]

Besides this forum thread, do you guys have any information overview page for this project? E.g. some screenshots or even video? We could get it some more attention on it via our social channels :)

This.

Asked them several times (also per pm), but it seems no publicity wanted.

[JoaoHackbart 1]

This.

Asked them several times (also per pm), but it seems no publicity wanted.

Hello, First of all I'm still figuring out how to make it work, because since the last update from github I only get a whiteboar din the hangar and I cant accept the missions by radio. Whenever I have it configured and working I will try and make a video...

[Bloomster 10]

Hello, First of all I'm still figuring out how to make it work, because since the last update from github I only get a whiteboar din the hangar and I cant accept the missions by radio. Whenever I have it configured and working I will try and make a video...

Have you installed the @moach addin, i had smae problem with no helicopter, also run the sim in Admin mode if u windows 7 as it only seems to accept jobs in admin, must do some file writing I assume.

[Raptor 10]

Hello, First of all I'm still figuring out how to make it work, because since the last update from github I only get a whiteboar din the hangar and I cant accept the missions by radio. Whenever I have it configured and working I will try and make a video...

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it. :)

[delta9857 10]

Hi Moach, I've been away for the last few days and am out of the loop when it comes to this mod's development. Has there been any major news?

[moach_mayhem 10]

hello back!

the last 3 days were an extended holiday weekend, so well, that tends to ruin productivity every now and then, no?

even before the holiday, my second monitor went kaput, and work grinded to a halt... i acquired a new 27'' one to replace my primary 22'' - and relieved that one to the position of secondary, replacing the recently deceased 17'' of old

well, now we're back! and maybe now i can finally get progress going again... (with a LOT more screen space)

so well... that was my week - not much more news to boast, that was pretty much it...

cheers!

[moach_mayhem 10]

well, ok... progress news!

i'm mostly half-way through the logic for MEDEVAC missions - and i seem to have hit a larger-than-minor situation....

what to do when the paramedic gets to the victim on location?

in SimCopter, you would just carry the victim yourself (a very poorly animated feature) to the helicopter... now, perhaps needless to say - you should NEVER move an accident victim by yourself in real life - lest doing more harm than good, you'd leave that for the professionals...

indeed, that is a thing... now, either way, a paramedic would also not carry a victim in the same way a soldier would piggyback his injured buddy out of harms way in combat (we do have this behavior built in to the game, as you may know) -- a paramedic would use a stretcher, and move the injured person only after he/she has been securely strapped and immobilized...

we do not have a stretcher in game, i reckon... and albeit one could be modeled and featured as part of the 'basics' PBO - how would a paramedic transport that to the chopper?

a fast/simple approach would be to use the infamouse 'fade in/out' solution... when the paramedic is ready for you, and you land close enough to the pickup site (may not be the same as where he jumped out) - the screen would fade and come back with everyone already aboard and ready to go...

alas, i can't seem to figure out any other way to model this process... not without an amount of work orders of magnitude larger than what it's worth....

and so i brought this here, in hopes that someone has a better idea that does not involve a huge heap of trouble to get done :rolleyes:

cheers!

[nephros 23]

I just stumbled across this, and am very excited to try it out. If you are still interested in mission ideas, here is one I'd been thinking about. I don't have any editing experience, but was going to mess around with creating it for my own amusement. If you can use it, I'd be thrilled.

Night missions - Blake's mobile workshop add-on has a feature where you can set up keys/joystick hat to move your camera manually. You can also slave a searchlight to the camera, so that you can therefore manually direct your searchlight. I was thinking of SAR night missions without NVG in which you have a search grid in which there spawns a target (guy in a lifeboat for instance) at a random location. You fly over the search grid, and if you direct your camera / search light at the target for 5 seconds, it triggers an onjective to rescue him (5 seconds so that you can insure that he's actually been seen by the player). With Blakes's add on, you can have the camera/search light lock onto a spot on the ground or target the nearest vehicle. The target could be set to release colored smoke or strobe light (can those be seen without NVG in CO, I can't remember?) when you get close. Don't know if using Blake's add-on is a problem or not, but I love the idea of a search light that can be directed.

[royaltyinexile 175]

well, ok... progress news!

we do not have a stretcher in game, i reckon... and albeit one could be modeled and featured as part of the 'basics' PBO - how would a paramedic transport that to the chopper?

a fast/simple approach would be to use the infamouse 'fade in/out' solution... when the paramedic is ready for you, and you land close enough to the pickup site (may not be the same as where he jumped out) - the screen would fade and come back with everyone already aboard and ready to go...

alas, i can't seem to figure out any other way to model this process... not without an amount of work orders of magnitude larger than what it's worth....

We did look at this ourselves, but considered the extra work involved in making the system robust (factoring in variable terrains or landing on buildings, etc) to be too great to pursue it further; particularly, when there were many other, more basic design challenges yet to be fulfilled.

At least as a starting point, I'd argue that it's better to focus on making the most fundamental gameplay functional and fun - even with a few 'shortcuts' like fade-in/out thrown in for the early work. One might argue that it's less important to see an accurate representation of a stretcher being loaded, as it is to generate a range of interesting and challenging places to land (like pinnacle landings, crowded areas, etc) or working with particular conditions (like high winds, brownouts, etc).

...On the other hand, sometimes the most infuriating challenges can be the most rewarding. :)

Best,

RiE

[moach_mayhem 10]

yeah, well - that was just what i was thinking...

in the meantime, though, i did manage to figure out a way to make things more interesting for you in the helicopter while the paramedic is away...

first off, the initially reported medevac location may not be completely accurate - so a brief confirmation search is in order upon arriving at the scene...

then you gotta let the medic down - he'll jump off as soon as he gets the chance, even if you can't touch down safely - a low hover is enough for this (keep it steady!)

then a few things may happen (i haven't really got that far yet, but it's right up next) - the 'default' outcome is that the medic will dismiss you upon securing the victim -- this is likely to be the case if your helicopter isn't suited for heavy-duty medical ops, or if it has no backseats... (maybe with seats a walking-capable patient could still use a lift, but that's about it for all you can do)

then you make some easy(ish) money, albeit not as much as for a full medevac flight... for that, you'd need a properly rigged bird... i'm thinking it could be possible to add a stretcher to the lite chopper in the back when there are no seats... - but in a first implementation, that would require the air-ambulance medium aircraft specifically...

perhaps if you do have it, you could still deploy medics rapidly with your immediately available helicopter, then once they get to the scene you can rush back and switch to the ambulance for the rest of the job... no reason why that shouldn't work (if you're fast enough)

anyways, for now we already have the basics working, so that's the first round of emergency features right there... the more advanced stuff is now pending on being able to switch to another helicopter and take on missions with it (there's a lot of setup involved, it's not simply adding another bird on the next pad) ;)

cheers then!

[mjr.hassle 13]

Maybe you could use the external benches on the light helicopter for moving casualties? I'm thinking of the TV series M.A.S.H. Use the two benches as stretchers, so to speak. The Paramedic could still be seated in the co-pilots seat?

You could move two seriously injured, which, when listening to the ATC, seems to happen a lot. ;)

Have been playing this a lot, and its nice to see that my landings are improving because of it. Keep up the good work! :)

EDIT: This is the sort of thing I mean:

Edited January 29, 2013 by Mjr.Hassle

[moach_mayhem 10]

i'm still trying to figure out the best approach to handling such emergencies in a more 'fluid' way...

right now, there's a function that calls out a 'dispatch gig' - which spawns into a mission when you request it, and only then, generates the involved parties and stuff...

an emergency would not work quite exactly like that... instead of waiting for YOU to request it, the thing should spawn itself, in a sense - so it will happen, whether you ask for it or not (isn't that always the case with unfortunate events?)

accepting the task that comes with it would then add additional logic to the mess - as in, the victims of a crash would be right there at the scene, but the paramedics would require you to accept the task via dispatch.... if not, you could still perhaps 'risk it' -- maybe you have a doctor aboard as a passenger (this CAN happen) -- maybe you're confident you can land close enough and that the victim can still walk enough to board the aircraft like a normal person would

in that case, you might end up a hero -- but you risk doing more harm than good, or just wasting everyone's time and your fuel going back to the nearest hospital in a hurry for a qualified rescue professional...

the LittleBir... *ahem* Wright LD500 is not capable of fully-fledged medical operations in any of the currently featured configurations (or maybe at all, it's smaller than a VW beetle inside) -- so maybe with it you'd be constrained to responding to such emergencies under these limitations

the Medium helicopter ("Boss 420") is the "official" air ambulance, and it should be required in order to perform a proper MEDEVAC, specially when the victim is unable to move by him/herself

in simcopter, MEDEVAC's were individual events -- accidents involving a group of victims would create a set of multiple missions...

that logic works for us, anyways, but it may be best to combine such events so that the game may treat them as a single instance, rather than making a huge mess...

but keeping the logic independent for each victim makes the whole thing more manageable, specially because - you can still CAUSE YOUR OWN MEDEVAC by flying so poorly people would actually get hurt ;)

this may be the next step then... now that I know what i'm doing (or think so)

[moach_mayhem 10]

well, there have now been some major changes to how dispatch handles gigs and stuff that's going on...

when flying, you can't tell much difference, other than now you get a much clearer picture with other gigs turning red and becoming unselectable while you are committed into another... and that they appear blue or red depending on if your helicopter is properly equipped to handle each type of task

accordingly, you now cannot take on assignments that require equipment you do not have installed - nor can you access the hangar while 'available' with dispatch - so this brings out new gameplay elements emerging from the combination of such features and limitations

but beyond that, this under-the-hood feature leap will still allow more interesting situations to unfold, such as gigs that do not go away when requested, and instead allow you to pursue other options around them....

the whole point was to enable emergency type missions, like the MEDEVAC deal, to progress somewhat independently of you requesting them or not... in the specific case of the MEDEVAC scenario, you have the option to complete it even without calling it in at all...

calling in on a MEDEVAC will then be a way for you to request paramedic assistence, which will require a pickup at the nearest hospital from YOU -- the victim may be taken to another hospital still, should this be closer to the accident than the one you where you took the medic up from

anyways, right now with all the changes done, the MEDEVAC logic has been unplugged, and the latest master update will not have it dispatched

tomorrow i'll re-write it (more or less completely) to incorporate the new features and have it work in this new more interesting manner...

we are actually coming close to something now... it so appears that we are finally getting past the 'uphill' part of development...

now we may account for a limited set of features pending on the to-do list, rather than an ocean of things undone ahead...

we still need (in no particular order):

- the ability to earn money/reputation from completing jobs

- being able to purchase items and have them appear in the hangar inventory (integrate the still-underdeveloped office dialog)

- finishing up the hangar interface with item images and condition displays

- maintenance work and other hangar-related options

- getting the rest of the emergency scenarios implemented

- to assign equipment definitions to the other two default helicopters

- custom equipment such as the bambi bucket for more advanced types of missions

- being able to acquire new helicopters and take them out

- a properly detailed pilot's manual teaching the ins and outs of the whole operation

- packing it all up for the first 'official' release

of course, this is all easier said than done -- but then, for the first time I find it's possible to see almost all steps leading up to 'completion' where before was a gray wall of undefined neverendingness

but then again, there's no way of telling what we'll come up with along the way... who know what further madness has yet to spew out of our hyperactive minds?;)

cheers!

Edited January 31, 2013 by Moach_Mayhem

[nosecone 1]

Great stuff Moach

Every time I download the new features are amazing. It must be hard releasing and then updating as you go.

Cheers

Rhys

[delta9857 10]

Awesome update Moach! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of those features you listed implemented :). Unfortunately I have just started up school again so probably wont get as much time as I would like to play your mod!