AH-64D Apache Longbow for ArmA2 by Nodunit and Franze

[nodunit 397]

checking... Are you using the last official patch or a testing patch?

Edited September 2, 2013 by NodUnit

[nerdwing 13]

Latest OA beta. It may be a Russian T72 now that I think of it.

Either way, the helicopter is the only mod I'm running.

[franze 196]

Looks like the Russian T-72, had me for a loop there for a bit.

This hasn't been tested with the latest OA beta, only 1.62 CO. Can you try it without the beta?

[nerdwing 13]

Yep, that fixed it! Thanks for your patience. Went 3 for 3 in two runs versus 3 Russian T72's at 2.3km. The taxpayers must be ecstatic :P

[nodunit 397]

It's okay, we got plenty, not like our military spending isn't more than the world.

Edited September 2, 2013 by NodUnit

[franze 196]

The beta may have altered the functionality of some commands used to calculate the missile guidance as it seems the missile went right into a spot behind the tank with great accuracy. I'll see what I can alter in the next update to possibly fix that.

[scarecrow398 43]

Looks like the Russian T-72, had me for a loop there for a bit.

This hasn't been tested with the latest OA beta, only 1.62 CO. Can you try it without the beta?

Yep, that fixed it! Thanks for your patience. Went 3 for 3 in two runs versus 3 Russian T72's at 2.3km. The taxpayers must be ecstatic :P

Hrm... well it appears when i moved the content over to a different drive a few years ago some time between now and then steam decided to chuck a hissy and Six won't launch without the beta because the key 'doesn't exist'...

*sigh* Back to reinstalling another 12gb...

[nerdwing 13]

Loving the addon even more now that Hellfires work for me :)

Just completed Hornet's Nest with all ZSU's dead, multiple dead tracked vehicles, and got the two Havoc's as well. 23 out of 24 Hellfires hit enemy targets. The one that didnt hit, hit a friendly DSHK pickup I'd accidently locked on instead :P

Had a chance to see the damage model in action too. Got too close to the enemy airbase and ate a MANPAD, and lost tail rotor totally. Results were catastrophic, rather than relatively easy to salvage like vanilla ArmA and regaining control from a hover was impossible. Had I been moving beforehand, I imagine I could have just kept speed up and RTB'd and tried a runway landing :P

[comp_uter15776 1]

You can lock onto BLUE/GREEN forces? Nice!

I think there was something where if an enemy got in a different side/faction's vehicle, either the faction or side of the vehicle changed to match the player but the other one didn't, so thus it would be possible for the game and targeting to still think that vehicle was enemy.

[nodunit 397]

I think there was something where if an enemy got in a different side/faction's vehicle, either the faction or side of the vehicle changed to match the player but the other one didn't, so thus it would be possible for the game and targeting to still think that vehicle was enemy.

Deliberate design of our FCR.

We've heard mixed opinions on it being able to identify and classify targets, and it is milimetric but I'm not convinced it knows a literal profile of EVERY vehicle from EVERY angle on the field and wether it is blueforce or not.

Many vehicles do not carry IFF, and after some deliberating we figured that with the 10km and classification range, having all forces garunteed and labelled by blue, red, or green would make things too easy and the radar too godlike, even more of a "win" button than tab locking.

We also wanted to emphasize that the digital battlefield is all about information, and bad information can be even more devestating. You need to know what you are getting into before you actually do. If there are friendlies in the area then you need communication otherwise you may have a friendly fire accident as our dear friend whose body is now welded into the seats of a pickup knows..

So it instead it classifies vehicles based on their type rather than what they are (It can't tell one wheeled vehicle from another, if it's a tractor or a UAZ)

which would enforce the dynamic of teamwork through priority firezones with other apache's, laser remote codes and of course guys on the ground.

Edited September 2, 2013 by NodUnit

[ckount 0]

Thank you. Jane's Longbow 2 got nothing on you guy's. Excellent work!!!

[pressytcn 10]

Thank you. Jane's Longbow 2 got nothing on you guy's. Excellent work!!!

i see i am not the only one who got taken back to longbow 2 as soon as everyone learns how to fly it and use the systems i could see this being on every domination server

[nodunit 397]

Well then mission accomplished..though I highly doubt we'll be seeing it as a standard anywhere.

By the way, I'm going to be so dissapointed if after all that big talk of being so anxious to crash our bird into a hill, we see nothing of it.

Don't be afraid to share stories, good or bad, we won't judge you for being bad...truth be told, my very first time in this bird..I didn't even get off the ground, I raised the collective a bit and pushed the cyclic hard, immediately flipped and blew myself off without ever leaving the ground.

Edited September 2, 2013 by NodUnit

[saul 24]

Love it, entirely way to much fun.

[vengeance1 50]

"Don't be afraid to share stories, good or bad, we won't judge you for being bad...truth be told"

Ok NodUnit, here is one, I just finished a MSO mission and I was landing back on the Nimitz, I get hit by a rocket, lose Tail Rotor control but I am only a few feet off the deck so I am trying to get down and get out. Get hit by another rocket and it blows the Tail section off, there I am on the deck half a bird and engines burning and rotors still turning trying to get to the action on the Fire Extinguisher with the lady telling me my helo is falling apart and finally I rotate off the deck and into the water!

[nodunit 397]

"Don't be afraid to share stories, good or bad, we won't judge you for being bad...truth be told"

Ok NodUnit, here is one, I just finished a MSO mission and I was landing back on the Nimitz, I get hit by a rocket, lose Tail Rotor control but I am only a few feet off the deck so I am trying to get down and get out. Get hit by another rocket and it blows the Tail section off, there I am on the deck half a bird and engines burning and rotors still turning trying to get to the action on the Fire Extinguisher with the lady telling me my helo is falling apart and finally I rotate off the deck and into the water!

Oh man that sounds hectic, I would have loved to see a video of that.

[343rdBadger 0]

Are we only supposed to operate this from the pilot seat? using the gun in the gunners seat is uncontrollable for some reason.It seems to flip all over the place and at times I see in reverse (facing to the rear of the pit instead of forward??) got no idea whats wrong. Seems to work ok in the pilot seat though.

[nodunit 397]

HMD and AUTO modes don't work too well for the gunner currently, you can use it but it is VERY sensitive. But I also noticed that the gunner does not seem to have TADS as an ACQ source so we'll look into that.

Facing the rear... is that with the helicopter flying or on the ground? If on the ground then the TADS are stowed and will orient once the engines are one, later you'll not be able to use the TADS until the aircraft is on, so you won't see between the cpg's legs anymore. This was a last minute quick change due to a curiosity so it will need some tweaking.

Edited September 3, 2013 by NodUnit

[343rdBadger 0]

This was while flying and on the ground with engines running

[nerdwing 13]

Is there any procedure to attempt recovery if you lose tail rotor while in a hover in reality? Or are you pretty much boned?

[nodunit 397]

This was while flying and on the ground with engines running

Is that so?...curious...from 3rd person was TADS facing outward or inward as well? Can you replicate this and get a screenshot from the optic and the outside? Also are you using the official OA patch or a beta patch?

Is there any procedure to attempt recovery if you lose tail rotor while in a hover in reality? Or are you pretty much boned?

Think of your loved ones and their faces in the last moments of your life...jesting aside (I'm serious) it's possible but you will be very lucky to walk out alive.. Loss of the tail not only means no anti torque but also a loss of control surface, and lift (the horizontal stabilizer) the nose will either raise or drop depending on your pitch when that occurs along with violent oscillations so the rotor is fighting you on every front. IF you can get the nose up you might stand a small chance.

A small suggestion is that either on your way to where you are going, or before you take off, you go to the ASE page and set AUTOPAGE to TRACKING, this will cause the page to immediately come up should a threat be detected, at that point you need to activate the jammers and get the hell out..you only get a 30 second window and it's not going to stop shells from raining down upon you, even with the jammer you aren't garunteed 100% to get out unscathed.

Edited September 3, 2013 by NodUnit

[CombatComm1 10]

WOW! Just loaded this up with AiA in ARMA 3, (hope it actually works) but you guys had me at the fully animated swashplate! Just Fing gorgeous and the kind of quality that you would expect from a major game studio like BI NOT a 2 man modding team. I haven't even gotten around to turning the engines on on this complicated piece of machinery (assuming I can in AiA, ARMA 3) and I love it that way. Just found the online guide and going to try to start this beauty up.

I am curious however, (and I literally have NO modeling/texturing anything video game creating knowledge, which is why I ask) why did it take 3 years to do and release? Is it because you 2 were learning? The engine just didn't allow/support this kind of model/scripting in 2009/2010 and needed to be patched and added to? A model this beautiful just takes that much time to do? or You guys didn't come up with the idea/desire till the end of the ARMA 2 life cycle?

I can only hope and pray that you all will port/make a major overhaul mod of this to ARMA 3 and that it will be released much sooner in ARMA 3s life cycle. I also hope that if you all do decide to port/make a new one for ARMA 3 that the new engine makes it 10 times easier for you guys to make something this amazing.

Again wow.............dat swashplate though.... :eek:

So intricate, what a model. Kudos.

Edited : First Impression! - So I loaded this up both in ARMA 3 AiA and ARMA 2 OA just to make sure everything was as it was suppose to be by the modders. It runs danm near the same in AiA Arma 3 as it does in stock Arma 2 OA minus maybe some performance issues in ARMA 3 from script issues. I know that Nod has said this is NOT complete and has not said whether this was intended for ARMA 3 or not but in any case here are so impressions.

1. Everything is amazing texture/model wise. I am so impressed. BIS needs to hire these guys.

2. Sound inside the cockpit is a bit loopy. What I mean by that is you can tell where the loop begins, ends, and starts again.

3. Flight model is VERY floaty. That being said its 10 times more responsive than the stock Apache, which is GOOD because stock Apache is like flying a semi truck. I have never flown an Apache so I dont know how maneuverable/light feeling they are, but this feels like flying a feather. Every turn is a little too fast. It dosent feel like you are flying a 3 ton aircraft.

4. Again, I know it isnt done per authors comments but I hope/would love to see some sound effects, more scripting added to start up sequence, battery clicks, APU sounds, rotor RPM spin before unlocking rotor break and going to full speed.

5. ARMA 3 compatability: I understand that nowhere in the authors comments or stated intent was this meant for ARMA 3 but I sure hope it WILL BE! :) It would be nice to see the cockpit lighting work for ARMA 3,PiP,cyclic, (collective, if BIS implements) animation etc. The modeling and texturing are sure on par with ARMA 3 minues maybe lighting and new ARMA 3 specific maps.

Having a lot of fun with this though guys. Please continue to work on this and other projects of the same caliber.

Edited September 3, 2013 by CombatComm1

[scarecrow398 43]

So after a few hours of fiddling and testing it seemed i had a two sided issue, as above, I was running the beta.

However it seems after narrowing down mods that could cause it, it seems ACE core seems to fight a little with the hellfires.

In bullet cam i was noticing that without ACE the missile fires, goes up at an angle, tops out, drops to a angle, hits the target, While as soon as @ACE (and only ACE, not ACEX or anything) is enabled the missile goes out at a similar angle but the missile appears to be jittering/wobbling up and down as it follows the trajectory and then strikes off target.

So, at least I found what was causing the issue for me, though it's what could be considered the 2nd most popular mod after CBA :(

I know this usually ends in a "It's not our fault, it's their system, they have to fix it" and then ACE will respond with "They're a 3rd party addon, don't use it or they should fix it", etc and Seeing Nou created the system for ACE to my knowledge along with him making your clickable cockpit is it possible for you to talk with him about the designation systems to see about them not fighting each other for future releases?

Also, sorry if this was written some were and i've missed it but is it possible to select different missiles/racks for example if there's K's and N's loaded on the same rack?

and is the WPN page supposed to change from SAL1 to RF under mode when firing Longbow hellfires?

Thanks again, much more enjoyable now i can actually hit targets :p

[sorophx 25]

By the way, I'm going to be so dissapointed if after all that big talk of being so anxious to crash our bird into a hill, we see nothing of it.

I tried once, but the chopper just bounced off the ground back into the air without damaging itself. it happened during a training mission so I figured it was set to be indestructible? I like it that it's more durable than other Arma choppers, though.

[dar 12]

This addon really is amazing, but I just started and after a while canceled the tutorial as it looks like I will have to buy another keyboard to get this working.

Anyway, awesome work here.