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

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

AH-64D Apache Longbow v1.4



Arma 2

We have also "connected" these pages to your account (NodUnit) on Armaholic.

This means in the future you will be able to maintain these pages yourself if you wish to do so. Once this new feature is ready we will contact you about it and explain how things work and what options you have.

When you have any questions already feel free to PM or email me!

** Note: since this is a project on which more people are working we will contact you in the future to discuss how you want this to be setup on Armaholic.

[Tubby_Vermin 10]

all i can say that this is fantastic, i'm looking to join a realism unit that operate this weapons platform, i've already been flying it and would like to join and pilot / gunner team, to support ground troops as and when needed.

if anybodys interested in teaming up with me, or if groups are recruiting out there for capable pilots then PM me or leave me a reply!

on ArmA 2 or 3 i dont mind (currently running on arma 3)

Edited February 3, 2015 by Tubby_Vermin
added more information

[Gunfightersix 10]

When flying with a friend in the ARMA 3 version our cockpit views dropped down in the seat and we could not rest it. Any ideas on how to fix this?

[marinesrule1980 10]

I have been flying chopper sims since "Longbow" early nineties, that took days and hours to learn. I've played Arma since 2012. I just got a quick look and a short flight with this mod. Sir, congrats on the most awesome flight sim I've ever flown with choppers. The extreme details, controls etc. is not so complicated that someone can't learn and fly but just enough to be as close to realist as possible and fun. Thank you for such an awesome chopper...hope you will enter it into the contest and I will vote for you.

Semper Fi.

[nodunit 397]

When flying with a friend in the ARMA 3 version our cockpit views dropped down in the seat and we could not rest it. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Strange, can you do it again and provide a screenshot please? This is the first we've heard of that happening outside of when the TADS were stowed and the camera would show the CPG's feet.

I have been flying chopper sims since "Longbow" early nineties, that took days and hours to learn. I've played Arma since 2012. I just got a quick look and a short flight with this mod. Sir, congrats on the most awesome flight sim I've ever flown with choppers. The extreme details, controls etc. is not so complicated that someone can't learn and fly but just enough to be as close to realist as possible and fun. Thank you for such an awesome chopper...hope you will enter it into the contest and I will vote for you.

Semper Fi.

Contest is over and the finalists are chosen, at this point there is no place in that contest for us. But thank you and glad to hear it is doing well thus far.

We're planning on expanding and looking into more A3 specific features now that we aren't trying to use a cross platform between both games so stay tuned folks.

Though likewise we'd like to nip whatever bugs we can in the bud, if you find one please included a video demonstration, screenshot, or an explanation of how you encountered it so that we may replicate it or get better insight of what may be going on. Once that is done we will go for a truly "official" Arma 3 release and keep this thread to Arma 2's release.

Edited February 4, 2015 by NodUnit

[kimi_uy 135]

Hey guys,

Been testing around the **stuff and things** of the new update and I noticed the following in the HMD (sorry, I'm obsessed with HMDs :p):

- The TVV or FPM on the HMD isn't properly displayed since it's following the head and not sticking to the actual flight path. This becomes confusing when flying with poor weather and visibility when "aiming" to land at a spot.

- Here's an idea, add the "fly-to-cue" marker in the HMD kinda like u guys did with the C-SCOPE, since it's relaying info form the TSD page i recon this would be that much of a feat.

- Another Idea, have the sensor point of interest crosshair (two dashes for each line in the crosshairs), which would enable the pilot to know where the gunner is aiming with the TADS at all times.

Also I've been strating to get my head around the AFM :)

Cheers!

Edited February 4, 2015 by geraldbolso1899

[nodunit 397]

Hey guys,

Been testing around the **stuff and things** of the new update and I noticed the following in the HMD (sorry, I'm obsessed with HMDs :p):

- The TVV or FPM on the HMD isn't properly displayed since it's following the head and not sticking to the actual flight path. This becomes confusing when flying with poor weather and visibility when "aiming" to land at a spot.

- Here's an idea, add the "fly-to-cue" marker in the HMD kinda like u guys did with the C-SCOPE, since it's relaying info form the TSD page i recon this would be that much of a feat.

- Another Idea, have the sensor point of interest crosshair (two dashes for each line in the crosshairs), which would enable the pilot to know where the gunner is aiming with the TADS at all times.

Also I've been strating to get my head around the AFM :)

Cheers!

Been testing around the **stuff and things** of the new update and I noticed the following in the HMD (sorry, I'm obsessed with HMDs :p): (yeeeah I noticed, great job with those by the way)

I'm not entirerly sure what you mean by the TVV/FPM, I'm guessing the thermal viewport on the HMD (PNVS). If correct then that's how it works, PNVS has its own rotation alongside TADS and is linked to the pilots helmet display, so similar to wherever the gunner looks the gun follows, so too does wherever the pilot looks the PNVS follows.

The fly to cue will most likely be a Block III or Block II+ thing since block II did not have this for..whatever reason, though I do hope we can add a velocity vector (previously could not in A2 due to script limitations but A3 has added some new ones)

Normally to the TADS position is displayed by the the Field of Regard (middle line 0 degrees, the two outter are 90 and the ones at the top and bottom are +30 and 60) And the small box inside (Field of View) represents where the TADS is looking in regards to the..field of..regard.

Edited February 4, 2015 by NodUnit

[near_blind_sniper 10]

I'm not entirerly sure what you mean by the TVV/FPM, I'm guessing the thermal viewport on the HMD (PNVS).

True Velocity Vector or Flight Path Marker (I think)

[nodunit 397]

Oh right the velocty vector, are talking about the vector staying with the helmet when you turn your head rather than sliding further and even off of the focus to indicate the flight path of the aircraft as opposed to directly where you are looking?

[NightIntruder 710]

Oh right the velocty vector, are talking about the vector staying with the helmet when you turn your head rather than sliding further and even off of the focus to indicate the flight path of the aircraft as opposed to directly where you are looking?

It is, more or less, what GeraldBolso meant, I think ;) FPM is like the calculated flying path of the aircraft projected on the helmet. Whenever you turn your head to either side, the FPM should dissapear from HMD unless the helicopter velocity vector is towards this particular side you are looking to. In other words, if you fly forward and look at 9 o'clock, the FPM should dissapear from HMD since it is pointing to direction of flying, not direction of where you are looking ;)

[franze 196]

Hey guys,

Been testing around the **stuff and things** of the new update and I noticed the following in the HMD (sorry, I'm obsessed with HMDs :p):

- The TVV or FPM on the HMD isn't properly displayed since it's following the head and not sticking to the actual flight path. This becomes confusing when flying with poor weather and visibility when "aiming" to land at a spot.

- Here's an idea, add the "fly-to-cue" marker in the HMD kinda like u guys did with the C-SCOPE, since it's relaying info form the TSD page i recon this would be that much of a feat.

- Another Idea, have the sensor point of interest crosshair (two dashes for each line in the crosshairs), which would enable the pilot to know where the gunner is aiming with the TADS at all times.

Also I've been strating to get my head around the AFM :)

Cheers!

The Flight path is only partially implemented since I never bothered to write the scripting to get the proper behavior for it. There's other HMD symbology that hasn't been implemented due to lack of time or uncertainty of how to achieve the right effect (such as a true horizon ladder for the cruise mode). As it is, it functions more like a velocity vector rather than a flight path.

The Fly-To-Cue wasn't implemented (even though it's on the FLT page) since the Block I doesn't have that symbology for the FLT page or HMD. Even though we call it a Block II, it's more like a Block I with various Block II features.

The last one is due to, again, lack of time to implement.

It is, more or less, what GeraldBolso meant, I think ;) FPM is like the calculated flying path of the aircraft projected on the helmet. Whenever you turn your head to either side, the FPM should dissapear from HMD unless the helicopter velocity vector is towards this particular side you are looking to. In other words, if you fly forward and look at 9 o'clock, the FPM should dissapear from HMD since it is pointing to direction of flying, not direction of where you are looking ;)

Exactly, and current functionality treats the flight path cue as relative to the crosshairs, not the aircraft direction.

[emayers04 10]

The campaign has too many dependencies on A2 in order to justify a streamlined port of it. If the demand is there, then I may entertain making a new campaign for ArmA3.

Well if you're going for a vote/interest feeler for an ArmA 3 Campaign then I am in! Since I wasn't too familiar with creating my own missions (and I really wanted to do the training Campaign) I took the liberty of unpacking the mission PBO and editing it to use ArmA 3 default classes/items. I've gotten a pretty good working copy. If you want, I can send it to you to review and then you can probably push it out to others that want a working ArmA 3 Training Campaign. I didn't get a chance to do the others, hence they are untouched and still reference Arma 2 classes.

Regards,

Rico

[Gunfightersix 10]

Is this aircraft multi player compatible? Everything works great when flying in the back seat by my self, but when I get in the front seat with another player in the back, none of the head tracking works stuff works. The gun jumps around and my view jumps to it randomly. I even get this problem siting in the front seat by my self. playing 1.4 in Arma 3

[gunny24 46]

hey is there a way to remapp the "pushbutton" function to custom user key 19 or so?

because in arma 3 it is conflicting with alive menü :-)

[Sacha 'Voodoo' Oropeza 230]

hey is there a way to remapp the "pushbutton" function to custom user key 19 or so?

because in arma 3 it is conflicting with alive menü :-)

Use left Windows key for ALiVE menu.

[kimi_uy 135]

@Franze,

Rgr on all, and id like to point out that the pitch ladder and horizon aren't meant to be "true", and by this i mean that it is supposed to be an attitude indicator that's using as reference the HMD's center (exactly how it is now).

Another thing that should be facing forward is the aircraft's centerline.

@Nodunit,

Thanks for the kind words :).

[Patchwork 1]

I was testing the update with a friend and I noticed that in the advanced flight model the gun has trouble slaving fast enough to adjust/correct for the oscillations in the pilots flight (e.g. micro adjustments to keep in a hover). This ended up throwing off the guns aim and the rounds ended up all over the place. We went ahead and swapped to the standard flight model and put it into an Auto hover and all aim problems disappeared. So because of that I'm fairly certain it is due to the gun not being able to keep up with the oscillations with its restricted slave speed.

Thanks for the work you guys have been putting into the mod, and I'm enjoying the updates and progress within Arma 3.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Patchwork

[snake67 10]

WOW amazing heli lol.man how add the logo skin?,thank....

[nodunit 397]

WOW amazing heli lol.man how add the logo skin?,thank....

According to Franze, make your skin, save it to an accessable path, then put the path and the texture name in the skin field, hit test skin, then hit ok. ie C:\Skins\Myskin1_co.paa or P:\testskin_co.paa

We're hoping to add skin packs and whatnot in future with different nationalities as a temporary holdover as well as some more silly and just for the fun of it ones. PSD files will be released in future once I am done cutting down the layer count (at one point the layers surged to 900+)

Is this aircraft multi player compatible? Everything works great when flying in the back seat by my self, but when I get in the front seat with another player in the back, none of the head tracking works stuff works. The gun jumps around and my view jumps to it randomly. I even get this problem siting in the front seat by my self. playing 1.4 in Arma 3

This was one of the big bug bears with our earlier release attempts, it appears as though the data is not being transferred fast enough between the pilots if both are human.

We're hoping to explore a possible alternative that may allow us to keep the feature but also allow the gunner to do his task if not better.

I was testing the update with a friend and I noticed that in the advanced flight model the gun has trouble slaving fast enough to adjust/correct for the oscillations in the pilots flight (e.g. micro adjustments to keep in a hover). This ended up throwing off the guns aim and the rounds ended up all over the place. We went ahead and swapped to the standard flight model and put it into an Auto hover and all aim problems disappeared. So because of that I'm fairly certain it is due to the gun not being able to keep up with the oscillations with its restricted slave speed.

Thanks for the work you guys have been putting into the mod, and I'm enjoying the updates and progress within Arma 3.

There may be a few extra commands that need to be added for the gun tracking to do its thing with the new FM, I guess it makes sense it would work for the default and not AFM since it was built around the default type, thank you for letting us know.

Edited February 5, 2015 by NodUnit

[gunny24 46]

unfortunatly not possible because, it is not possible to remap the alive key, because it uses also the .

uses the useraction 20 key( the same as th ah-64 for button pushing)

so is there any possibility to change the "pushbutton" function for the ah-64 to user action 19 or so?

[nodunit 397]

unfortunatly not possible because, it is not possible to remap the alive key, because it uses also the .

uses the useraction 20 key( the same as th ah-64 for button pushing)

so is there any possibility to change the "pushbutton" function for the ah-64 to user action 19 or so?

Err...we'll see, can't garuntee anything on that. *Goes to get the sacrificial beaver* Coding can be tricky...

[Sacha 'Voodoo' Oropeza 230]

unfortunatly not possible because, it is not possible to remap the alive key, because it uses also the .

uses the useraction 20 key( the same as th ah-64 for button pushing)

so is there any possibility to change the "pushbutton" function for the ah-64 to user action 19 or so?

I use Windows Left and E as userkey 20, haven't encountered any issue with ALiVE so far.

[nodunit 397]

Just having some fun with the skin system.

Here is the psd, feel free to make and post your own skins, the layers are structured so that you need only paint the undermost layer (color layer) and maybe adjust the shading or highlight and shading layers.

for the utmost ease all you need do is place the paa on the P drive and then click the Skin icon on the arming menu. Then in the entry line just type P:\X.paa boom, done.

https://www.mediafire.com/?kjaiinlkz6kbyax

I warn you now, be prepared to change a few things in future, the model is going through some changes which will include a few UV coordinate swaps, nothing major but you may need to adjust these later.

Likewise a few things may be off in a few points of the texture, a bit of shading that doesn't match up or something like that...the diffuse is a WIP and the PSD will be updated again once it is final.

I do not know when that will be exactly so I'm pushing it out now so that people can make what they like, so if you spot any UV errors currently, don't concern yourself with it.

Edited February 7, 2015 by NodUnit

[fons 10]

Hi, Nodunit and Franze, tested the last update and the physics are now great. Congratulations.

I have an issue, i use headtracker, "TrackIR" , and imho it's too difficult to see the crosshair to click buttons. It's so tiny, and so thin, that makes me loose a lot of time trying to find where it is. Also, if i need to touch anything during flight, it's almost impossible, just for the fact you need a lot of time to know where is it each time you move it, and if you have to take a quick look back to the winshield, you loose it again.

I don't know if you have played DCS World, a flight simulator, but would be awesome if you could do a crosshair similar to that sim. It's yellow and at least two times bigger and thicker.

I cannot find a picture with it to show you at the moment just if you don't played DCS and therefor you didn't see that crosshair, but i will do a picture inside the sim tomorrow as i cannot do it now.

EDIT: Here are two examples of the DCS World button crosshair:

P.S. Sorry for the quality, ended taking them with the phone as all my screenshot softwares wasn't picking the crosshair even with the "include mouse cursor" options checked :banghead:

Edited February 8, 2015 by fons

[citazenman 10]

Does this have an advanced flight model? I already have an apache mod but it is easy mode. I would love to use this if it is more realistic