EricJ Release thread

[EricJ 757]

Well it's been a busy afternoon for me. I finally got the M197 and M230 armed helos gone away now permanently. I managed to figure out how to do a "gun pod" for the USN M197 and M230 armed helos. I managed to remove four models, config entries, and model.cfg entries today. That means you don't need to have a specific gun armed helo in order to do things. The good thing is that the co-pilot can now fire the gun, so if you don't have a pilot you can fire it. Note that the 240 and M134 guns are still slaved to the pilot, so you have something to work with. Other than that I'm sure I'll find something else to do with the Helicopter Pack. I may work on the Kiowa for a bit, but for now I'll deploy the update for the EricJ Helicopter tomorrow, just don't want to ruin missions that use my helos and cause issues with groups that depend on my mod. I don't think most people use my mod play on Sunday, and may move it to Monday, which was my original plan. The weapons are selectable in the appropriate slots where the gun used to be prior to the change, so there's no confusion. I'm not sure if the US Army has dual M230s, but I stuck with one gun on that specific pylon just to keep it somewhat real and should be accurate somewhat. This also helped me understand what to do with the Kiowa, as I had to eventually do the .50 cal  machine gun that is mounted on the left side. Given how the model works and with the Helicopter Pack, I should be able to model everything at least reasonably. Again if anybody is interested in helping with the Kiowa let me know and we can see what we can do, but looks like modeling and whatnot.

[EricJ 757]

EricJ Helicopter Pack

 

RC102
-Removed the "MH-60S (M197/pylon)" due to the pylon system and gun pods. The M197 is now a gun pod, so now I can remove that helo from the list. The MH-60S 2-pylon has the new M197 gun pod.
- Removed the M230 armed helos (MH-60/92), and now the M230 is a pod for the appropriate pylon. While I'm sure the 160th has a dual-configured gun pod, I chose to stick with the pylon that had the gun before, to keep with appearances, and allow a wider variety of options for configurations and the like. Simply select the weapon in the Pylon Settings field of the aircraft.
- The MQ-17 now has small 1000-round miniguns added to it's list of weapons it can employ.
- Increased Armor for the MH-80.
- Created an MQ-17 in SOAR camo. It has some enhancements such as a datalink system.
- MQ-17s now have a shadow LOD.
- Adjusted the MH-80 datalink system
- MH-67 now has limited datalink capability.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-M_sUyyaoZAQuFSisMtj3Rrut_cCtuHT/view?usp=sharing

[EricJ 757]

Right now, I'm wondering about doing a specific rocket pod for the bird on the Kiowa front. I more or less figured out how to it (I think) from the Hatchet GitHub download that they had. I have to actually model each rocket it looks like, or I can see if I can use a tube and call it a day, and find some textures and the like, or ask somebody to make a rocket pod for the bird, though the Shrieker 7x HE seems to be enough, even it if it's a bit too bright in color for my taste anyway. Another thing is that I hope to recolor it to more suitable look, given that the current scheme is off on the color. ADuke said he'd do a PSD for me, so I can sample the color from a few photos I have (which in my experience isn't something I particularly like to do) and get the color right for the helo. Other projects include the gun pod. There was a mention of the GAU-19, but from what little I remember it was trialed, and not used, mainly sticking with (If I remember correctly) the M3P, or whatever it was called. So that's on the backburner for now as well as new AO maps for the helo by ADuke, so I'm kinda on hold for it. I'm also not going to give it too many weapons, because well, it didn't have much of a selection if I recall and from what I saw in photos and from my tour in Afghanistan. So there's that. I'm waiting for feedback on the latest upload of the EricJ Helicopter Pack because it's like "What's next for it?".

[wansec_6 199]

G'day @EricJ,

 

Glad to see things are progressing with the helos.

 

Gave the updated MH-60 DAP a brief trial today.  The M230 worked great. The only issue I found was that the volume of the gun was quite low.  I don't know for sure, but I think a large calibre cannon that close to the pilots would be a lot louder, even with hearing protection worn.

Just my observation.

A duel M230 setup may cause to much recoil for the aircraft to handle, but it would be a nice addition to the arsenal, if you did choose to add it.

 

Another option you could add is to include the pylon weapons from the Hatchet MH-60s as an optional ordnance source.  This way they could be used by anyone that has the Hatchet mod, but it wouldn't be a dependency for your choppers. The Hatchet 60's also have a right side pylon mount for the M230 so a left, right or dual mount is capable.

 

Keep up the good work my friend. Looking forward to whatever you choose to bring us next.

[EricJ 757]

It's actually not a good idea to add the Hatchet mod pylons. I could delve into the code and stuff, but it seems that the game likes custom stuff.. That and I don't know where to set them, but it would come up with a "No config.bin/This magazine doesn't exist" and so on, and while I can get away with not depending on the USAF Mod and ACE3, I want to keep the dependency list down as much as possible. I like the Hatchet mod myself (even though I don't fly it a lot), and I can look into the right-side gun thing  As for sound I use BIS sounds, so it is what it is. I mean yes it loud (I heard a 25mm Bushmaster while in a Bradley one time quite clearly), but I don't have a better sound, so blame BIS for having low volume for it.

[EricJ 757]

Update: Currently have the guns available for use on both sides, both the USN and DAPs, after some double-checking and so on to make sure that they had them. Anyway they're modeled and configged, and ready until the next patch comes, which seems imminent, just don't know how long it'll be ready, as I can't verify the stuff until the game is updated so I can take a peek. I use the Dev version of the tools, so any major update and I have to wait until they update the stable game ( don't do dev as I like to go on servers every once in a while) so I can release the next update, as right now I have an older build so I can play missions with my helos without crashing. And if I release it now I'll get 33,000+ people screaming at me, so I'll hold off until things are updated for the Helicopter Pack, as well as any other mods requiring my attention.

[EricJ 757]

Future Plans: As I wait for the Stable version of the game to update, I came up with a plan for the AH-6J. Given that back then they had Hellfires on the bird I'm looking to make the system a pylon system. Personally, I think I can get away with a normal rocket pod, and not have to make every tube for it. I asked around and one person on Discord replied, but none of the experts, so when I can pack the files and not cause a crash due to formatting I'll look into it. If I can do it then I'll go with that, but not looking to make the pylons universal (unless there's a desire to) so it uses BIS weapons. I want to actually limit the weaponry for once, and that's the best way to do it, once I get the rockets configged and model setup so it can work with the game. I'm looking to limit it to Hellfires and rockets. While the MELB featured removable miniguns, I see no reason to do that either, so it'll be just Hellfires and the rocket pods. The minis will stay there as they are now, and be done with it. I'm not looking to expand it and not looking to make an M version, because you can't beat the MELB anyway, so there's that. Other plans isn't really much, given that there's not much to do as of yet. I am thinking of allowing the gun pod from the BIS Buzzard on the AH-96, but that's again on hold until things are good with the Tools (I use the Dev version) and the new patched Stable game. I only do it this way because the Dev Tools work fine and I like the latest updates. I keep the Stable version of the game in case I actually go on a server and play. Otherwise, I'd use the Dev version of the game, and have one, but I prefer Stable. Anyway, that's my musings for now. Of course anything I may have missed let me know and I'll see if I can't do it.

[EricJ 757]

EricJ Helicopter Pack

 

RC103
- Added a right-side firing M230 for the MH-60/92s and a right side firing M197 for the USN 2-pylon heli.
- AH-96 can now use the 20mm gun pod from the A-143 Buzzard on the outboard wing pylons
- The AH-6J has been upgraded with the pylon system, and can only use an M151 Rocket Pod and 2-round Hellfires. No other weapon compatibility is planned for the future. The miniguns aren't removable and remain fixed.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-PcTWH6vwWjsQybLRf8rn8NktiaqUKy1/view?usp=sharing