Flying Helicopters

[brfield 1]

So, I can't get the hang of it. I can fly them, but not aim or hit any targets. I have tried with my Xbox controller, but it just seems off. Sharing Keymaps would be great!

Other than that, mouse & keyboard is so hard to keep it under control for me. Any tips?

[rehtus777 10]

Practice makes perfect. Use the Mouse and keyboard for Helicopters and a joystick for the jets.

I find the the "little bird" very easy to fly in the Alpha.....I'm tree topping it all over the Island. I just fly with the mouse and hold down "Q". When I want to get some serious elevation in a hurry to clear an object, I push "S". When I want to stop in a hurry, I pull back on the Mouse and get the nose up. I rarely use the "Auto-Hover".... only in Emergencies. It's all in the wrist. Keep practicing....you'll get it.

[brfield 1]

I don't even know how to get the little bird lol. All I can get is the mission with the helicopter.

[Traece 1]

The flight model for helicopters is, literally, nothing like ARMA 2. In that game helicopters flight was more like being in a plane that moves up instead of forward. As my friends referred to it: "Thrust vectoring."

Obviously that's not how helicopters really fly. That's why in Take On Helicopters BI developed some actual helicopter-like flight, and made the helicopters fly far more realistically. What ends up happening is that the helicopters actually became much easier to flight and considerably harder to crash, which is fantastic because it's how it should be. For some people flying helicopters will probably be a lot more difficult, but for people like myself who enjoy a good Sim I suspect an easier time murdering all the little peoples.

[rehtus777 10]

Go into the Editor. Double Click on the map where you want to put a Unit (insert unit will come up). It should start with Blufor as your side (NATO). Go to Class and make it "Air". Then go to Unit and make it AH-9. Hit "OK". Then click on "Preview". Use "Q" to start the chopper (increase power)..... "Z" to slow it down (decrease power). "W" to dip the nose...."S" to raise the nose..."A" to tilt left..."D" to tilt right. But most of the movement should be done with the mouse.

Enjoy.

PS. You might click somewhere on the runway at Stratis Air Base....good place to start.

Edited March 8, 2013 by rehtus777

[brfield 1]

Thanks, really helped. Those choppers are a lat easier than the one in the mission.

[BeachGaara 10]

Actual xbox controller support for helicopters would be nice. I shouldn't have to fart around with 3rd party mappers to attempt to get them to work. Hopefully because this is still in Alpha they would be generous enough to do this. I hoped they would have done it anyway but it is still the same. Disappointing.

My main gripe is that the k/b and mouse setup seems super unresponsive or just wierd. I get how its supposed to work; the mouse is your cyclic and use the keyboard for everything else but it just semes to fail hard. Like gaining altitude, it'll just stop some times for seemingly no reason. I'll be zipping along and a hill will appear and I'll press Q to get some altitude and... nothing.... hillside is getting closer.... still nothing.... gonna crash.... stabbing the key relentlessly, still nothing....

The pedals? WTF is that? They turn the chopper like they should then it just snaps back to where it was and then stops working. It's been this way for me in all the ARMAs. I can fly fine in Flight Sim and stuff like that, but ARMA? Makes me want to shoot my PC.

Xbox controls would be super easy:

Right stick: Cyclic

Left stick L+R: Pedals

Triggers: Throttle

Bumpers for shooting and switching weapons

face buttons for... getting out and stuff I guess

D-pad for looking around or whatever I dunno.... could use the mouse for that...

Whatever, point is it super would work and just... why not?

I'm going to keep practicing with the keyboard and mouse because I'm the only one of my friends even slightly prepared to fly a chopper but damn a pad would be easy to implement.

[Atroxkeep 10]

The pedals? WTF is that? They turn the chopper like they should then it just snaps back to where it was and then stops working. It's been this way for me in all the ARMAs.

The reason the helicopter Snaps back after using the rudder controls is because that is what it really does in real life. Its just like an airplane the Heli wants to keep its forward movement when you apply rudder it will turn the heli while you are holding the rudder to that side, but it is still moving in the same direction it was going before, its nose just happens to be turned a bit to the side. The result is that the heli is actually sliding diagonally through the air and once you let off the rudder the airflow will cause it to snap back to its more aerodynamic position.

My main gripe is that the k/b and mouse setup seems super unresponsive or just weird. I get how its supposed to work; the mouse is your cyclic and use the keyboard for everything else but it just seems to fail hard. Like gaining altitude, it'll just stop some times for seemingly no reason. I'll be zipping along and a hill will appear and I'll press Q to get some altitude and... nothing.... hillside is getting closer.... still nothing.... gonna crash.... stabbing the key relentlessly, still nothing....

remember when your flying forward and your nose is pointing down your going to be gaining speed AND losing altitude. now if your flying forward nose down and your pressing Q "collective up" then the collective will be countering the loss of altitude. So if your flying forward and your nose is down and that hill is coming up quite fast and Q is doing nothing STOP pointing your nose down. Level off your heli and press Q and you will gain ALT or if you really need ALT quick nose up and press Q.

If you are using the keyboard and mouse to fly I think like this. The mouse is for more fine adjustments and the keyboard for times when precision is not required. For me once im moving forward i use my mouse to control most of my flying besides my collective "Q and Z". If i need to make a sharp turn left i bank left by moving the mouse and then press my S key as i find i can make it pull up harder using the keys.

Its all about practice

Just get in a heli on editor mode and auto hover on press Q till your up like 300 feet and then auto hover off and starting messing around. the altitude will give you the safety to mess around with out having to worry about crashing into the ground. If everything starts to fall apart and your in a dive heading to the ground double space bar usually puts you into autohover. wait till it levels you off then Q to gain altitude and start practicing again.

[sproyd 2]

If you have Arma 2 OA there is a fantastic helicopter training mission where you fly through the hoops. Its a really good way to get the hang of it - helis handle slightly differently in A3 but its the same controls. I recommend it and its a Black Hawk if I recall correctly which should handle more similarly to the one in the A3 Showcase Mission than the Little Bird.

[adonai 1]

Actual xbox controller support for helicopters would be nice. I shouldn't have to fart around with 3rd party mappers to attempt to get them to work. Hopefully because this is still in Alpha they would be generous enough to do this. I hoped they would have done it anyway but it is still the same. Disappointing.

My main gripe is that the k/b and mouse setup seems super unresponsive or just wierd. I get how its supposed to work; the mouse is your cyclic and use the keyboard for everything else but it just semes to fail hard. Like gaining altitude, it'll just stop some times for seemingly no reason. I'll be zipping along and a hill will appear and I'll press Q to get some altitude and... nothing.... hillside is getting closer.... still nothing.... gonna crash.... stabbing the key relentlessly, still nothing....

The pedals? WTF is that? They turn the chopper like they should then it just snaps back to where it was and then stops working. It's been this way for me in all the ARMAs. I can fly fine in Flight Sim and stuff like that, but ARMA? Makes me want to shoot my PC.

Xbox controls would be super easy:

Right stick: Cyclic

Left stick L+R: Pedals

Triggers: Throttle

Bumpers for shooting and switching weapons

face buttons for... getting out and stuff I guess

D-pad for looking around or whatever I dunno.... could use the mouse for that...

Whatever, point is it super would work and just... why not?

I'm going to keep practicing with the keyboard and mouse because I'm the only one of my friends even slightly prepared to fly a chopper but damn a pad would be easy to implement.

mmm, it does work; perfectly.

use motioninjoy

[real KHz 11]

it does work, but not perfectly.

I'd like to see proper support for controllers too, with button mapping and sensitivity adjustment.

one thing I have noticed (it happens in arma2 too) is that flying with controller in multiplayer the helicopter keeps levelling out when i'm flying forward. this is with the stick pushed forward slightly to point the nose down

this means forward flight resembels a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

this does not happen in single player (in arma2, at least)

as for flying over mountains during level flight, the helicopter will behave like a plane (or more like a glider) over certain speeds, so if you need to climb just point the nose up. you'll sacrifice some speed for altitude but if you plan ahead, you'll be fine.

it's often a better idea to fly around high mountains to avoid enemy fire anyway

[Sarlac 1]

I use a ps3 controller and have button mapping and sensitivity adjustment. Why don't you?

[real KHz 11]

really? in game?

with the xbox controller, the buttons are premapped and there's no sensitivity control.

I get the same with an afterglow controller for xbox too

ah, I remember now. you can assign the different buttons, it's separate from the controller set up options.

it's not perfect though, the collective is borked if you assign it to the triggers and impossible to use if you try it with the thumbsticks

to the op, try the helo mission, (it doesn't seem to work unless your on the mission) go to keyboard options and you can assign the different controls to your xbox buttons.

I use xpadder for some controls, (it's a must for decent collective control) and for assigning other buttons, though that may not be strictly necessary

Edited April 22, 2013 by realKHz