Prevailing Winds, Realistic Helicopter Wind Effects

[batboyx2 1]

http://i4.minus.com/iblVjDvwGDEIZZ.png (127 kB) << This image adder won't work, please fix it...

Prevailing Winds

by the

PhanTactical Mod Development Team

Description:

Prevailing Winds, or Pwinds, attempts to create wind effects on helicopters within ArmA 2. It currently works with all ArmA 2 and OA helicopters, and with the helicopters within Isla Duala. Wind simulation is drawn from the ArmA weather mechanics. If the ArmA mission has stormy weather, the wind will push helicopters around far more than on a sunny day.

To correct for wind effects, pilots will have to angle their choppers into the wind, just enough to keep them stable. Autohover does not work at high wind speeds, as the helicopter won't be able to manually correct. Urban landing zones become a huge issue, as wind could smash a helicopter into a building if corrections are not made.

Helicopters do not get pushed around when they are touched down. Once the helicopter lifts off the wind takes effect, as it would realistically.

Note that this mod does NOT effect the AI. Otherwise, AI couldn't do something as simple as landing the helicopter at an LZ. ArmA AI don't know how to handle this level of realism (haha).

To wrap up, Prevailing Winds is meant to overhaul flight. Experienced pilots may have to rethink their flying techniques. While previously courtyard landing would be optimal, a pilot may have to consider the wind and his surroundings before attempting such an enclosed landing. Prevailing Winds will be updated with bug fixes when required.

Features:

-Pushing about of all A2 and OA helicopters based on wind magnitude and direction.

-Disabled wind for AI, so they can still pilot.

-Disabled wind when touching the ground, so you don't skid off to infinity.

Installation:

Installation is pretty standard.

Unzip the file, and drop the @PMT_PWINDS folder into your ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead folder. (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead)

Run Arma 2 with the addon

Included files:

pmt_prevailingWind.pbo

Usage:

Place a chopper in the editor, and turn on wind effects via changing the 'Weather' slider in the editor, which is accessed by clicking on the sun icon on the right-hand side (This is called the Intel Menu).

This addon will work on a dedicated server that is not running the addon, and will work on a dedicated server with multiple people running the addon. Only the person who has the mod enabled will experience the effects of the mod whilst flying, unless they are the passenger inside a helicopter.

Media:

Change log:

v1.0

-Started Addon

Notes:

If anyone understands the effect of wind on helicopters, and would like to help bring more realism to the wind simulation, please let me know. It would be a massive help.

Credits & Thanks:

Project Head: Batboyx2

Big thanks to the community I am a part of, PhanTactical. Thanks to them for hosting my download and providing people I could have crash into the dirt repeatedly... for science!

Thanks specifically to Jani (Phantom) for writing the body of this text, as I was being lazy at the time.

Download:

http://repo.phantactical.com/downloads/@PMT_PWINDS.7z

Edited January 29, 2014 by batboyx2

[chrisb 196]

This looks really interesting, will try it out, thanks for your work and sharing it.

[zelectec 10]

Offered help over reddit and you didnt answered, so i guess that sentence with "Notes:

If anyone understands the effect of wind on helicopters, and would like to help bring more realism to the wind simulation, please let me know. It would be a massive help." isnt that true.

Still good luck with the project. peace

Edited January 29, 2014 by zelectec

[DaViSFiT 21]

Damn, this would be soo cool in arma3 :D will still try it out in A2 ;)

[Guest]

Thanks for sending us the release :cool:

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

Prevailing Winds v1.0



Community Base Addons

================================================

We have also "connected" these pages to your account (batboyx2) 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.

[Brainbug 10]

good stuff, finally popping smoke actually makes sense. *thumbsup*

[batboyx2 1]

Offered help over reddit and you didnt answered, so i guess that sentence with "Notes:

If anyone understands the effect of wind on helicopters, and would like to help bring more realism to the wind simulation, please let me know. It would be a massive help." isnt that true.

Still good luck with the project. peace

I apologize that I'm also a student as well as a redditor. Apparently I'm not allowed to be away from my computer for more than a few minutes. No hard feelings though man, I'd love if you could still reach out your hand and help me! I'm new to the Reddit thing, either I didn't realize that I had a PM or I just haven't been at my computer.

[tinter 186]

I hope you don't mind me saying that I burst open your .pbo and put some Arma 3 classnames in there to see if it worked. Because it does.

[batboyx2 1]

I hope you don't mind me saying that I burst open your .pbo and put some Arma 3 classnames in there to see if it worked. Because it does.

No, I don't mind at all. If anything, thanks for bringing it to my attention that it works as it is for A3!

[Gruman 123]

I love this feature.:cool: It really elevates the immersion while flying. While not yet perfect, its a huge improvement!

I did take a look into your pbo also. Wouldnt it be better to use "iskindof" instead of "typeof"? I didnt think the whole thing over, but that would probably make it better compatible for modded choppers (like the Yurapetrov MH-60L or MH-47 by Konyo), since they all inherit it from the vanilla birds.

Just a thought. If not, is there a way to add this feature to other modded birds?

Thanks :bounce3:

Best regards

Mag

[batboyx2 1]

I didn't end up using 'isKindOf' because I didn't want every single mod chopper to have the exact some reaction to the wind, I was planning on adding choppers with their own custom values as people came along requesting for certain choppers to be added.

[thoosequa 10]

Is there any chance you will be make an official version of this mod for ArmA 3?

Edit: after playing around a bit with the mod, it feels like it makes flying at higher speeds (+70 km/h) a bit jittery and laggy, although the fps generally don't drop, it feels like the mod is constantly iterating over the chopper. That could cause some problems on larger missions with multiple choppers (not tested)

Edited February 11, 2014 by thoosequa

[thoosequa 10]

Is the modder still active and replying in this thread?

[linuxmaster9 101]

Can this mod be re-written into a script so that every player does not have to download it? Is it Server-side or Client-side?

[batboyx2 1]

Can this mod be re-written into a script so that every player does not have to download it? Is it Server-side or Client-side?

Most likely not. setVelocity is a local command and therefore can't be executed serverside for a vehicle with a player driver--as that vehicle is local to the player only.