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

[Matze27 10]

Hello, at first congratulations to your outstanding mod! many thx and have a good year in 2015! :-)

I have only one question: if I fly at the co pilot seat, is it possible from there in any way to give the pilot the order to go to autohover mode and then for myself to use the Optical Relay Tube and

dtv by using the mouse with zoom function to identify visual targets ? I can't get it to work.

[freesets 11]

I have only one question: if I fly at the co pilot seat, is it possible from there in any way to give the pilot the order to go to autohover mode and then for myself to use the Optical Relay Tube and

dtv by using the mouse with zoom function to identify visual targets ? I can't get it to work.

if you put it in arma 3 using the older version, once you go into the gunner seat you can take control of the helicopter and fly like with the commanche. in arma 2 i havent tried it yet, since the graphics quality scream for arma 3. i could also bypass the start procedure in a3 that way, so if you want quick flights, go in the gunner and order your other soldier in the pilot seat, that way you are a gunner, a commander, and a pilot at the same time.

[Matze27 10]

if you put it in arma 3 using the older version, once you go into the gunner seat you can take control of the helicopter and fly like with the commanche. in arma 2 i havent tried it yet, since the graphics quality scream for arma 3. i could also bypass the start procedure in a3 that way, so if you want quick flights, go in the gunner and order your other soldier in the pilot seat, that way you are a gunner, a commander, and a pilot at the same time.

I use the version for arma3. bypass the start procedure is no problem. I go everytime in this way (sorry for english mistakes I´m german!) :

Start as co pilot

when in air:

• go to IHADSS Toggle
  
• "right mouse click" to use the TADS over Optical Relay Tube
  
• then i can move the IHADSS with mouse an zoom with ZB+ ZB- FIR or DTV
  
• then over mouse wheel: "take control of Helicopter" and
• Go to "autohover" to scout the area
  
• when i go then to Optical Relay Tube, i can´t move the mouse in anyway
  

Fact: i can fly or take gunner but not both

is it a version problem, like you said ?

Edited December 27, 2014 by Matze27

[nodunit 397]

I use the version for arma3. bypass the start procedure is no problem. I go everytime in this way (sorry for english mistakes I´m german!) :

Start as co pilot

when in air:

• go to IHADSS Toggle
  
• "right mouse click" to use the TADS over Optical Relay Tube
  
• then i can move the IHADSS with mouse an zoom with ZB+ ZB- FIR or DTV
  
• then over mouse wheel: "take control of Helicopter" and
• Go to "autohover" to scout the area
  
• when i go then to Optical Relay Tube, i can´t move the mouse in anyway
  

Fact: i can fly or take gunner but not both

is it a version problem, like you said ?

Whenever you take control Arma 3 automaticly takes gun control away from you through default actions, this occurs on every attack helicopter (if nothing else the camera point becomes locked).

Some time back Franze added the ability to sort of control the pilot while being the gunner, I do not know if this works in Arma 3 however.

Edited December 28, 2014 by NodUnit

[Matze27 10]

Thx for your reply NodUnit ! It´s only a little Problem, everything else works fine for my opinion ! you have my great respect for this project ! :pc: I wish you a happy new year !

Greets

Matze

[nodunit 397]

And happy new years to you all. I don't know how soon we will be working on the apache further for Arma 3.

Last I heard we are stuck in using Dev Branch due to modeltovisual (?) not yet having been released for stable branch, though that was some time ago.

And still nothing can be done the issue related to MP co pilot lag with the toggled weapons control (gun following both pilot heads, pivoting pylons, etc) which is pretty bummer..kind of takes some of the enthusiasm away.

[freesets 11]

gun following both pilot heads, pivoting pylons, etc) which is pretty bummer..kind of takes some of the enthusiasm away.

you just remind me of something i tried with a few civilians planes from TOH--> i remade the config.cpp giving them the same crew as the uav, that way i could spawn as an uav opp and go into the copilot seat, take control of the pilot and fly the plane in some sort of autopilot WHILE the copilot head and external view were opperational(fixed and freelook) i could also play the air traffic controller by ordering those planes to fly or land after i connected to them from the safety of the control tower top floor.

i will made an a3 simple config.cpp for your new version to see, if as an uav, i can control the heli from the gunner position, fully like Matze27 refered(piloting and shooting). i know for a fact that a drone in arma 3 can be manned by a crew and piloted by the uav console(the non-gunner variant of the 6 wheel ugv rover). i just need some time or you could try it since you know better about your addon than me. a lot of things wont work, but at least the rocket pods wont move like crazy like you said it happens.

AND happy new year.

Edited December 31, 2014 by freesets

[nodunit 397]

you just remind me of something i tried with a few civilians planes from TOH--> i remade the config.cpp giving them the same crew as the uav, that way i could spawn as an uav opp and go into the copilot seat, take control of the pilot and fly the plane in some sort of autopilot WHILE the copilot head and external view were opperational(fixed and freelook) i could also play the air traffic controller by ordering those planes to fly or land after i connected to them from the safety of the control tower top floor.

i will made an a3 simple config.cpp for your new version to see, if as an uav, i can control the heli from the gunner position, fully like Matze27 refered(piloting and shooting). i know for a fact that a drone in arma 3 can be manned by a crew and piloted by the uav console(the non-gunner variant of the 6 wheel ugv rover). i just need some time or you could try it since you know better about your addon than me. a lot of things wont work, but at least the rocket pods wont move like crazy like you said it happens.

AND happy new year.

I don't know if Franze would have the time to test it at the moment or not, he would have to be the one because I know diddly in the coding sector (thats all his stuff, I can't touch the code because I turn things into bombs apparently) it certainly sounds like a curious work around though I think I'd need to see an example of how it works to get an idea as to wether or not it would work.

The problem isn't so much the pylons moving like crazy as much as a lag input, it seems in MP if you place two human pilots in the same aircraft the gunners weapons lag behind by five seconds and is the weapon itself not just the optic updating screen position. Needless to say for attack heli's that just doesn't cut it, its a problem specific to A3 and not one we had in A2 or TKOH (A3 due to optimizing the netcode). The only solutions of which are to do away with the system as a whole which means no elevating pylons, no pilot gun control like in A2 including track IR, and no gun tracking if the crosshair is placed close enough to a large enough target to be tracked.

[freesets 11]

a lag input, it seems in MP if you place two human pilots in the same aircraft the gunners weapons lag behind by five seconds and is the weapon itself not just the optic updating screen position.

i think that this is caused by too much scripting function. i know, scriptings enable impossible functions, but at the same time, like a bis dev told someone here a few years ago, they tend to create lag proportional to the script lenght.

if i remember corectly this addon has A LOT of scripts for almost everything.

like you said the only solution might be to release an a3 version config that use the official basic helicopter controls without scripts just because the graphics are amazing and this addon is the best thing i seen so far as model/graphics.

for the rocket pylons, they move without any scripts activated(i tested it yesterday on the last addon version), all you need to disable almost all the scripts, is to remove the CBA addon and spawn the heli as empty, then get in the gunner pos and in my case the pylons moved up and down corectly in a small test setup(shooting rabbits and static red trucks on stratis airport). i didnt tried the MP, but if my scrip lag theory is correct, it might work.

[nodunit 397]

i think that this is caused by too much scripting function. i know, scriptings enable impossible functions, but at the same time, like a bis dev told someone here a few years ago, they tend to create lag proportional to the script lenght.

if i remember corectly this addon has A LOT of scripts for almost everything.

like you said the only solution might be to release an a3 version config that use the official basic helicopter controls without scripts just because the graphics are amazing and this addon is the best thing i seen so far as model/graphics.

for the rocket pylons, they move without any scripts activated(i tested it yesterday on the last addon version), all you need to disable almost all the scripts, is to remove the CBA addon and spawn the heli as empty, then get in the gunner pos and in my case the pylons moved up and down corectly in a small test setup(shooting rabbits and static red trucks on stratis airport). i didnt tried the MP, but if my scrip lag theory is correct, it might work.

CBA isn't required for the addon, the goal was a self contained single package that could do everything it needed without outside assistance. And granted yes there is a lot of script overhead running at all times, it may be less than you think. For example the MPD information is dormant until the display is activated,the damage systems are as well, likewise the gun tracking and so on. Furthermore the majority of scripting overhead is local to the unit rather than global, so if you placed three apaches in a small area they wouldn't stress one another because all of the heavy processing is being done within each helicopter and only that crew sees/feels it.

I'm actually amazed that despite all of what runs, we have never had a complaint about performance in the whole time of running, for sure you will see a drop versus a standard apache but for what it does its amazingly stable.

The pylons and weapons tracking also perform perfectly in single player, multiplayer is where the issues come in due to the way weapon tracking works. It requires constant updating between both crew members which means that the script is always active and every second (if not less) data is being transferred back and forth between crew members to keep one another updated.

One of Arma 3's big goals was top optimize the network and flow of data which is a good cause but it more or less bottlenecked us on this ability because there is now a delay between the rate of which the data can be sent which in turn causes the 'lag' between two human crew members. Now if your script theory worked then hey that might be the best thing ever because that is a big feature which is holding us back.

I think really this is the only thing holding us back from A3, we already have the flight model, damage systems have been configured for it, we have a control file that uses A3 crew until our 3D artist gets off his lazy kiester and makes some apache pilots oh wait... we were even experimenting with PIP in the HDU with both FLIR and NVG/DayTV combined along with a lot of other things....but this issue seems to have stolen our momentum.

Edited January 1, 2015 by NodUnit

[freesets 11]

CBA isn't required for the addon....but this issue seems to have stolen our momentum.

i think that now i understand the issue of the lag.

as for the CBA, you confirmed another thing i suspected, as long as there arent: class extended_xxxxx_eventHandlers somewhere in the config, CBA isnt required, and even if those classes exist it doesnt mean the addon will not work propely.

as for the video, is the NVG viewpoint in the front optical unit or its somewhere just in front of the pilot helmet, i cant tell because when the pilot moves his head, the flir screen is off. nice work anyway and im glad you guys will make this to arma 3 the moment the ping issues in MP are fixed.

[nodunit 397]

Yep the HDU image is coming from the PNVS just like the real thing so you see a bit further ahead like the real thing.

The addon also isn't currently working properly due to the default configuration searching for Arma 2 crew, hence the error when you try to start one as a placed unit.

For the lag, I don't think its possible to get around this, at least not with the way it is currently working. I certainly can't blame BI for wanting to optimize the net code and try to cut down on people crashing servers by overloading them with commands.3

I'm not going to lie, things aren't looking too well for an official A3 release at the moment, aside from the MP lag the binarize tool has been broken for a month and isn't locking things correctly.

In the worst of circumstances I would be willing to let the aircraft go unbinarized and leave it open but this produces a bunch of string errors and other problems.

I have also been informed by Franze that our missiles are apparently subject to FOV requirement now in that when fully visible such as a camera attached or just in range, the missile will do its usual thing and calculate the targets location.

But if it goes into the fog then the system gets screwey and has a 50/50 chance of hitting.

Now we just need to run into some problems with the burst mechanism and possibly zone loading then we might as well scrap the project.

Edited January 3, 2015 by NodUnit

[BeachAV8R 0]

Well, I still think the Apache for Arma 2 was one of the coolest add-ons ever for a sim period. And the campaign...I still rave about the campaign. I've been flying a lot of the helo DLC in Arma 3. Tonight, me and a friend spend two hours just playing around with the UAV terminals and taking control of different platforms to drop bombs while each of us lased for the other. It is my dream to see the Apache functional in Arma 3 because it was so much fun to fly. Of course - the awesome campaign "Tarnished Gold" was a huge part of how great an impression it left. Just brilliant all around. I understand if roadblocks prevent you from getting it into Arma 3 in as good a shape (or better) than what we had in Arma 2. But man, I'll be disappointed.. <g> That's what happens when you put out something so loved by so many.

Best of luck with it... Fortunately I still have Arma 2 to play with..and it still looks pretty darn good!

BeachAV8R

[freesets 11]

In the worst of circumstances I would be willing to let the aircraft go unbinarized and leave it open but this produces a bunch of string errors and other problems.

I have also been informed by Franze that our missiles are apparently subject to FOV requirement now in that when fully visible such as a camera attached or just in range, the missile will do its usual thing and calculate the targets location.

But if it goes into the fog then the system gets screwey and has a 50/50 chance of hitting.

Now we just need to run into some problems with the burst mechanism and possibly zone loading then we might as well scrap the project.

by fog you mean weather fog and smoke or the draw distance fog?

as for the unbinarization i think its the best way for something this complex. it may take a few more seconds to binarize at startup, but for a good computer its almost invisible. i know this because i backported some arma 2 units into arma 1 because arma 1 had a lot more destroyers and ships than arma 2 and i let them unbined. i had 0 errors except for the classic ST point error from the textures(but they look ok and the materials work too). i hope you dont scrap the project that easy, arma 3 has at least another year to go before the expansion...its not over, not even close.

[snake67 10]

Hello,lol asowe addons,thank alot guys.I will like see on AH-64D Apache this,

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9067

NodUnit,not work man.bad so bad:dead:

Edited January 10, 2015 by Snake67

[nodunit 397]

Not likely to happen, the purpose of this mod is a single package without dependencies on third (fourth?) party unless it would be absolutely necessary.

Of course you're welcome to try and use the addon in conjunction, not garunteeing it will work out nicely if at all.

[PC_Dave 10]

Hey guys,

I'm so sorry, i'm new to this and i'm really struggling to get this working in Arma3 - I've got quite a few mods and different vehicles up and running, but this one just will not work.

Would someone be able to help me get this installed? Maybe step by step of what's needed? I've searched high and low and I can't find anything.

Thanks!!!

Dave

[nodunit 397]

Hey guys,

I'm so sorry, i'm new to this and i'm really struggling to get this working in Arma3 - I've got quite a few mods and different vehicles up and running, but this one just will not work.

Would someone be able to help me get this installed? Maybe step by step of what's needed? I've searched high and low and I can't find anything.

Thanks!!!

Dave

It's not officially released for arma 3 but you can drop the files into the Arma 3 addons folder, ignore the CA water error, place an empty apache and then two men of your choice and board it.

Alternatively you may need to use the getin function init to start the aircraft flying from the start if the startup process doesn't work (it should).

[PC_Dave 10]

It's not officially released for arma 3 but you can drop the files into the Arma 3 addons folder, ignore the CA water error, place an empty apache and then two men of your choice and board it.

Alternatively you may need to use the getin function init to start the aircraft flying from the start if the startup process doesn't work (it should).

Thanks for that - I realise it's not official, but I can't work out what i'm doing wrong :) I've put the files in the folder as per the instructions, but the vehicle isn't available from the dropdown when in the editor. I've added the F/18, the F-35 etc and they all show.....

Dave

[PC_Dave 10]

Ok, so update - I can see it in the dropdown list, but now i'm getting "cannot open object ca\weapons\optika_empty.p3d" and "Bad vehicle type US_Soldier_Pilot_EP1" when I try and run it in Editor preview....

[nodunit 397]

Are you spawning it as an empty vehicle? It shouldn't be looking for a US pilot otherwise, if you place it as a normal vehicle IE crewed then it will search for Arma 2's pilots and not find them, hence the error.

[PC_Dave 10]

Yeah, i've tried both. I might give up..... :)

[nodunit 397]

Hmm...which version are you using and where did you get it from?

[freesets 11]

@pc dave

spawn the pilots first then the chopter

the pilots should be blue and the ah64 should be white or something close like any empty units

optional:

if you want to board it from start, cerate a small config.cpp that will made the crew in the error message inherriting from an a3 crew and the engine will consider it another set of a3 crew and it will be recognised as a VALID crew.

ex:

cfgVehicles{

class B_helicrew_F;

class US_Soldier_pilot: B_helicrew_F;

};

Edited January 19, 2015 by freesets

[BeachAV8R 0]

Your Apache mod and the campaign were so good I decided to put the campaign AAR on our main page as we roll out our new website this week:

http://wwwm.mudspike.com

http://www.mudspike.com/ah-64d-tarnished-gold-campaign-aar/

I hope to see more great stuff from you guys...

BeachAV8R