FLAY Hang Glider Mod

[postal vending machine 10]

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[froggyluv 2130]

I haven't the foggiest of real dynamics but I found flying this thing to be pretty instinctive and very fun as well. Landing was no problem once I got the hang of it and picking up/reducing speed seemed reasonable though there was a few times I just seemed to sort of stall and lose altitude with very little chance of recovery.

[Guest]

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

FLAY HangGlider Mod [ALPHA]

[Magirot 14]

Awesome! I thought I experienced some weird mouse control lockdowns at first, but I guess they were all related to low speed.

The videomod really makes me want to hang glide

So true.

[Woodpeckersam 18]

Im having an issue... I can only see the Hang Glider here in "Empty -> Air-> FLAY Parachute.

When I place it down, I cannot see it, it seems to be invisible.

If i moveInDriver myself to it on the ground, I dont move, Im stuck in a pose.

If i set the Hang Glider to special: Flying all i do is float down and down.

---------- Post added at 11:43 ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 ----------

Hang on I've just noticed that I was using the invisible parachute, not the Glider. Well in that case I cannot see the Glider anywhere in the editor :/

[R0adki11 3945]

Im having an issue... I can only see the Hang Glider here in "Empty -> Air-> FLAY Parachute.

When I place it down, I cannot see it, it seems to be invisible.

If i moveInDriver myself to it on the ground, I dont move, Im stuck in a pose.

If i set the Hang Glider to special: Flying all i do is float down and down.

Hang on I've just noticed that I was using the invisible parachute, not the Glider. Well in that case I cannot see the Glider anywhere in the editor :/

Are you loading the addon as mod? Is your mod line setup correctly?

[Woodpeckersam 18]

Yeah I am using FSF Launcher, and loading @FLAY as a mod, the launcher is obviously setting up the command line automatically. Very strange as all the other mods installed are fine :/

Here are the mods currently installed... maybe a conflict somewhere?

[mrflay 4]

I haven't the foggiest of real dynamics but I found flying this thing to be pretty instinctive and very fun as well. Landing was no problem once I got the hang of it and picking up/reducing speed seemed reasonable though there was a few times I just seemed to sort of stall and lose altitude with very little chance of recovery.

Awesome! I thought I experienced some weird mouse control lockdowns at first, but I guess they were all related to low speed.

I can't believe I forgot to mention the low speed issue. Yes, it's a pain and the reason why I added the possibility to increase the speed with 'Forward' key. I will add it to the list of known issues. Thanks!

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

Very nice! Thank you :)

Im having an issue... I can only see the Hang Glider here in "Empty -> Air-> FLAY Parachute.

When I place it down, I cannot see it, it seems to be invisible.

If i moveInDriver myself to it on the ground, I dont move, Im stuck in a pose.

If i set the Hang Glider to special: Flying all i do is float down and down.

Hang on I've just noticed that I was using the invisible parachute, not the Glider. Well in that case I cannot see the Glider anywhere in the editor :/

Sorry, my bad. It's been fixed in the latest download.

Thanks for reporting it.

[R0adki11 3945]

As there is now a download link for the addon, i will move the thread to the "ARMA 3 - ALPHA ADDONS & MODS: COMPLETE" section :)

[mrflay 4]

As there is now a download link for the addon, i will move the thread to the "ARMA 3 - ALPHA ADDONS & MODS: COMPLETE" section :)

Thanks! :)

[Woodpeckersam 18]

Great stuff it works now :D Good mod, somehow it feels very GTA when running with a Glider to take off etc. This proves that the "Life" game mode can be made far better than those in the OFP, ArmA and ArmA 2 days.

---------- Post added at 14:38 ---------- Previous post was at 14:37 ----------

Now we just need to wait for a map with a huge flat side cliff, or an addon that allows you to sort of build your own cliff somewhere....

---------- Post added at 14:39 ---------- Previous post was at 14:38 ----------

(Grand canyon anyone?)

[mrflay 4]

Now we just need to wait for a map with a huge flat side cliff, or an addon that allows you to sort of build your own cliff somewhere....

Have you tried the sample "mission"? No cliffs, but I've added a "thermal" to the launch site to make it easier to gain some altitude. It also, has the ability to toggle the variometer and cheater vision on/off.

[brad7 4]

was messing around with this and found wingsuit so i tried it out and its pretty good but im guessing its WIP because its invisible and you blow up when you crash. :-)

[liquidpinky 11]

A Gliding I shall go. Thanks for the release, was looking forward to this leisurely little flight around Stratis.

EDIT: And what a treat it was. This and Gnat's Cessna are now my two most cherished mods.

Maybe release a texture PSD so we can make our own skins sometime in a future release.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Liquidpinky

[josche 11]

Hi, nice Mod, thanks for this :)

Can we in the future demontage the Glider to a Backpack like the Mortar ?

[pillpopper123 10]

Just made 2 quick vids, hope you don't mind, ive put your Armaholic link in..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X51qGlxj1UM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23RBGmD_qQM

[liquidpinky 11]

Hi, nice Mod, thanks for this :)

Can we in the future demontage the Glider to a Backpack like the Mortar ?

It should on the demo mission he included.

Going on a mad thermal mapping mission of Stratis, going to do some reading up on them first.

[noblesteve 1]

Great! Its still the first day of release and your download already have 700 hits! Everything about this so far is great, except Id recommend a readme file incase there are some people new at downloading addons.

[mrflay 4]

was messing around with this and found wingsuit so i tried it out and its pretty good but im guessing its WIP because its invisible and you blow up when you crash. :-)

Everything in this mod is wip, but yes the wingsuit is probably the most wip in there :) Btw, shift+space will drop into the wingsuit from the hang glider, although not a good idea currently as there is no way to activate the parachute.

A Gliding I shall go. Thanks for the release, was looking forward to this leisurely little flight around Stratis.

EDIT: And what a treat it was. This and Gnat's Cessna are now my two most cherished mods.

Maybe release a texture PSD so we can make our own skins sometime in a future release.

Complete sources will be made available in the proper release. I don't have the skill to make textures, so I can't make a template.

Hi, nice Mod, thanks for this :)

Can we in the future demontage the Glider to a Backpack like the Mortar ?

It's possible to disassemble the glider to a backpack right now. However, you don't get the option if you are already wearing another backpack. That being said, the way it works now is not what I have intended for the end result. In the future I would like it to be a bit more authentic (i.e should look like your carrying a glider bag and you should not be able to run while carrying it).

Just made 2 quick vids, hope you don't mind, ive put your Armaholic link in..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X51qGlxj1UM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23RBGmD_qQM

Very nice! I like the second one more, the bugs are too noticeable in the first one :) Thanks for sharing.

Haven't seen any feedback on the swooping yet. Personally, I feel it's maybe a bit challenging at the moment and I'm considering making some changes to it to make it easier. However, I'd love to get some feedback on it before I do. Here's a video of swooping with the hang glider.

You need to be above water and below 2 meters to activate the effect. Going below 1.5 meters results in death.

Edited June 11, 2013 by mrflay
doh!

[pillpopper123 10]

Very nice! I like the second one more, the bugs are too noticeable in the first one :) Thanks for sharing.

Yer I was smacking my head on the posts hanging down.. :)

If I want to add another player and Glider for a friend what do I have to change ? Thx

NM I think I've done it :)

Edited June 11, 2013 by pillpopper123

[liquidpinky 11]

Just some small suggestions.

Is it possible to add a transparent outer cylinder to the thermals that indicates their maximum diameter or radius?

Can the thermals be affected by time of day and weather conditions?

My biggest ask is if it is possible to tie the controls to your assigned movement ones, I am using a controller so WASD and Shift for on foot require keyboard and not pad currently? Using Xpadder to assign the keys to the stick messes with the analogue control while on foot.

I just pack the glider away and load the backpack into a quad now, great for a doss about on the map and there are plenty of good launch sites.

Keep up the good work.

[mrflay 4]

Just some small suggestions.

Is it possible to add a transparent outer cylinder to the thermals that indicates their maximum diameter or radius?

I've been wanting something like that myself. I'll definetily add it for the next update.

Can the thermals be affected by time of day and weather conditions?

Thermals are not affected by weather or daytime currently, but you should be able to cook something up with a bit of scripting. See following example code:

_thermals = (position player) nearObjects ["FLAY_Thermal", 20000];
while { true } do {

  { 
     _thermal = _x;

     _strength = [overcast, daytime, rain, fog] call YOUR_thermal_strength_function;
     _radius = [overcast, daytime, rain, fog] call YOUR_thermal_radius_function;

     _thermal setVariable ["flay.hangglider.lift.thermal.strength", _strength];
     _thermal setVariable ["flay.hangglider.lift.thermal.radius", _radius];

  } forEach _thermals; 
   sleep nextWeatherChange; // (default 30 minutes?)
}

After implementing the two functions, you should be able to stick that into a script in your mission folder and call it when the mission starts. Haven't tried it, but I it should work.

The following variables are used in the fn_lift script to set the "thermal" effect.

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.strength: How strong the thermal upwind is (default: 0.1)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.radius: Maximum distance this thermal has any effect on a glider (default: 500m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.altitude_min: Minimum distance glider must be travelling at for thermal to be applied (default: 20m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.altitude_max: Maximum distance glider must be travelling for thermal to be appled (default: 600m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.speed_min: Thermal will not affect glider travelling slower than this value (default: 18 km/h)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.speed_max: Thermal will not affect glider travelling faster than this value (default: 200 km/h)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.falloff_coeff_horz: Shape of the horizontal fall off curve (default: 1.5)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.falloff_coeff_vert: Shape of the vertical fall off curve (default: 1.5)

These scripting commands may also be useful to achieve what you are aiming for.

overcast: Return the current overcast level. Zero is clear skies, one is maximum cloud cover.

daytime: Returns the current ingame time in hours.

rain: Return the current rain density.

fog: Return the current fog.

nextWeatherChange: Return the remaining time (in seconds) over which the current weather change will occur.

My biggest ask is if it is possible to tie the controls to your assigned movement ones, I am using a controller so WASD and Shift for on foot require keyboard and not pad currently? Using Xpadder to assign the keys to the stick messes with the analogue control while on foot.

This is a bug, I'll look into it. Thanks!

[liquidpinky 11]

I've been wanting something like that myself. I'll definetily add it for the next update.

Thermals are not affected by weather or daytime currently, but you should be able to cook something up with a bit of scripting. See following example code:

_thermals = (position player) nearObjects ["FLAY_Thermal", 20000];
while { true } do {

  { 
     _thermal = _x;

     _strength = [overcast, daytime, rain, fog] call YOUR_thermal_strength_function;
     _radius = [overcast, daytime, rain, fog] call YOUR_thermal_radius_function;

     _thermal setVariable ["flay.hangglider.lift.thermal.strength", _strength];
     _thermal setVariable ["flay.hangglider.lift.thermal.radius", _radius];

  } forEach _thermals; 
   sleep nextWeatherChange; // (default 30 minutes?)
}

After implementing the two functions, you should be able to stick that into a script in your mission folder and call it when the mission starts. Haven't tried it, but I it should work.

The following variables are used in the fn_lift script to set the "thermal" effect.

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.strength: How strong the thermal upwind is (default: 0.1)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.radius: Maximum distance this thermal has any effect on a glider (default: 500m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.altitude_min: Minimum distance glider must be travelling at for thermal to be applied (default: 20m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.altitude_max: Maximum distance glider must be travelling for thermal to be appled (default: 600m)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.speed_min: Thermal will not affect glider travelling slower than this value (default: 18 km/h)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.speed_max: Thermal will not affect glider travelling faster than this value (default: 200 km/h)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.falloff_coeff_horz: Shape of the horizontal fall off curve (default: 1.5)

FLAY.HangGlider.lift.thermal.falloff_coeff_vert: Shape of the vertical fall off curve (default: 1.5)

These scripting commands may also be useful to achieve what you are aiming for.

overcast: Return the current overcast level. Zero is clear skies, one is maximum cloud cover.

daytime: Returns the current ingame time in hours.

rain: Return the current rain density.

fog: Return the current fog.

nextWeatherChange: Return the remaining time (in seconds) over which the current weather change will occur.

This is a bug, I'll look into it. Thanks!

Thanks, that is more information than I could have even asked for. Saved my me a ton of time in Wiki searching for sure and your Flay.thermals have pretty much all the factors I could possibly need to make it work.

I kept myself awake last night just figuring out the possibilities of wind and thermal dynamics throughout the map. First time a mod or the thought of modding has done in years, sad I know. But cheers anyway.

I was thinking of adding thermal and wind based lift areas independantly of each other so for example high wind can kill a thermal but increase lift from cliff faces at the same time, maybe even throwing in some wind direction factors as well once I develop it a bit more.

Will keep me out of mischief for a while to come.

[pillpopper123 10]

I'll have a copy of your mission when your done LiquidP. :) If you don't mind that is... ;)

[Graggor 10]

Looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out