Jets - HUD improvements

[reyhard 2082]

After hitpoints, sensors, custom info & dynamic loadouts here is time for some love HUDs.

 

 

Some of you might already spotted that HUDs already received some upgrades like integrated CCIP inside HUD instead of being part of UI. Other changes involves upgrade to ILS systems and inclusion of airport outline visible in HUD during landing & remaked Helmet Mounted Displays for Mi-48 Kajman, P-30 Orca & Y-32 Xi’an  which is kind of beginning of larger plane to improve all remaining HUDs with new features.

Goal is to make those displays authentic & enjoyable to use so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment with suggestions or ideas below.

 

For anyone interested in implementing those splendid changes into your own mod, head to the wiki page which should contain all recent additions

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/A3_MFD_config_reference

 

[xxgetbuck123 945]

 

Praise!!!! Yes pls

[killzone_kid 1331]

Niiiiice. This should probably be connected to the type of helmet pilot is wearing. An additional script command to forceEnable/Disable it would also be nice.

[Chairborne 2594]

Good job.

Is there any tip or tool you'd recommend to make editing/working on HUDs easier? I always found it an immense asspain.

[Strike_NOR 898]

This is fantastic news!

 

I think you should consider and decide upon a few things though:

 

HMD functionality (Helmet Mounted Display).

 

Some aircraft use a combined solution, where the HMD and HUD interact seamlessly, while other aircraft only have HUD or HMD.

 

Example:

 

The A-10C traditionally had only a HUD to function as a visual overlay. The pilot has no HMD and has to get all info through the HUD essentially.

 

The F-16 MLU has both a HUD and HMD. They are synced so that when the pilot is looking at the HUD or inside the cockpit, the HMD automatically switches off. This way, you won't get double "overlapping" of HUD and HMD, and the pilot will not be distracted when trying to find knobs, buttons and switches. Once he is looking outside the HUD and Cockpit, the HMD switches on again and basically shows compass-heading, airspeed, altitude etc.

 

The F-35, to my knowledge, does not have a HUD at all, and only uses HMD. I would imagine that the HMD also switches off when the pilot is looking inside the cockpit, so he is not distracted by "floating text and symbology" when trying to read the monitors and other devices inside the cockpit. 

 

The clue is, how realistic do you want it and what is possible to accomplish in ARMA?

 

All military fixed-wing aircraft in ARMA now have HUD's (correct me if I'm wrong), which means that they can manage without HMD. HMD would, however, be an advantage, but in real life it requires a helmet that incorporates such a display feature.

 

My suggestion would be to enable HMD functionality based upon two criteria:

 

1. Does the aircraft support HMD technology?

2. Does the pilot have HMD compatible helmet?

 

It would actually give players a reason to leave the ghilliesuit behind and wear flight gear when piloting. I have seen way too many "pilots" in ghilliesuits :p

 

Coding the "F-16" variant would probably be a nightmare, because you would really have to model each cockpit with a canopy and HUD occlusion-type geometry and tell the game to turn off HMD when player is looking inside this area.

 

Using the two criteria above, HMD functionality could be "disabled" by mission makers by using pilots that are NOT equipped with HMD-compatible helmets, since HMD can give advantages.

 

Just thinking out loud here :)

 

 

[I'mJimFuckingSterlingSon 10]

Yea since last update flying the BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT is really enjoyable, continue the good work ppl. 

 

I know u guys are working on Jets DLC, with that you should also try "TRY" to create the helmet the F35 uses, have a look at this: https://www.wired.com/2016/06/course-f-35-comes-400000-augmented-reality-helmet/

 

I mean  how cool would it be to have a hotas, rudder, trackir and this piece of gear... emersion level over 9k? 

[xxgetbuck123 945]

2 hours ago, Chairborne said:

Good job.

Is there any tip or tool you'd recommend to make editing/working on HUDs easier? I always found it an immense asspain.

 

+1. I'm only just getting into HUDs/HMDs and its aids to work with! 

[dragon01 902]

Crossposting my feedback from the General thread.

 

1. The new HMDs need a countermeasure quantity readout. 

2. FPMs are too small and should be more than just a circle. Orca's FPM isn't even a circle, just a line, which isn't a good design.

3. RPM indicator on Orca is missing, all of them are nonfunctional. They're useful for monitoring engine startup.

4. Failure indicators would be helpful additions. They would allow eliminating most non-diegetic symbology.

5. AFM gauges overlap the HMDs. With the latest improvements, they're pretty much redundant (but only on helos with new HMDs). It would be nice to automatically disable them when using a HMD.

 

Also, I'm fully behind the idea that HMDs should require wearing a pilot's helmet. Considering that we have non-diegetic AFM gauges for flying helicopters, I suggest that, if they're enabled (on lower difficulties, in general), they could appear instead of a HMD when not wearing a pilot's helmet, even when not using AFM. That way, those who want to fly without a pilot's helmet (for whatever reason) would have an option of leaving the gauges on.

[Yoshi_E 179]

Will there be a new Alarm sound system as well?

• Radar Warning (*sound*)
• Stall (*sound* Maximum Angle Of Attack)
• Terrain ("PULL UP")
• Overspeed ("Overspeed, Overspeed!")
• Missle Lock ("Warning")
• Missle inbound ("Missile 9 OClock Low", "Missile 12 OClock High")
• Gear ("Gear Up","Gear Down")

 

Advanced Sound for the new Damage model would be nice as well:

• Gear - Wing damage ("Hydrolics Failure" / "Flight Controls" )
• Engine damage: ("Left Engine Fire" / "Left Engine failure")
• Fuel Level ("Fuel 1500", "Fuel 800", "Fuel 500")
• Flares ("CHAFF, FLARE, LOW", "CHAFF, FLARE, OUT")
• I.F.F ("I.F.F" for locked / unidentified target)
• Master Caution (*sound*)

Similar to this, I have more examples if needed: 

 

And what about ECM / Electronic Warfare,  Arma 3 takes place in the future?

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I think a soft tone for being locked and a incoming missile warning is enough. I really don't want a "BB" (Bitching Betty) telling me how to fly. XD

[reyhard 2082]

43 minutes ago, Chairborne said:

Good job.

Is there any tip or tool you'd recommend to make editing/working on HUDs easier? I always found it an immense asspain.

Good macros save a lot of time. You can look for some useful ones in A2 sources or in A3 Plane sample & those should cover ~80% of most problematic shapes (circles or lines under specific angle). Probably A3 samples could receive some update in that field so anyone interested could have a nice base for some custom HUDs, therefor, I will try to see what can be done in this field.

 

What helps me a lot is a also good test mission where I can quickly reload any changes ingame with diag_mergeConfigFile & simple script which respawn the vehicle upon pressing key combination. (ctrl+1). For anyone interested give it a try here https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzZeinghghyNbzJfLUQzN0wycDA (warning, made in 2d editor)

[kimi_uy 135]

Well then, it's time for me to go back to the dungeon and start working...

I'm so happy for this stuff I'm about to cry :')

[WastedMike_ 27]

I wish they would put the next DLC bundle on sale so I can buy it.

[Cephell 16]

Please, when you update this, make sure that every part of the UI can be hidden and you retain full functionality. What I mean by this is no more UI element overlays for targeting reticules, CCIP indicators and stuff like that. 

 

[sammael 366]

1 hour ago, Cephell said:

Please, when you update this, make sure that every part of the UI can be hidden and you retain full functionality. What I mean by this is no more UI element overlays for targeting reticules, CCIP indicators and stuff like that. 

 

Are you talking about lock on white squares? Sadly it can`t be hideen at this moment. When  set alpha color to 0 it make invisible all game UI even weapon name and e t.c. Really need to separate this  config from jets and MANPADS

[Cephell 16]

3 minutes ago, sammael said:

Are you talking about lock on white squares?

 

Among other things, yes. All relevant information required for weapon employment should be on the ingame hud, the user interface should be entirely optional.

[dragon01 902]

Actually, lockon squares are already on the HUD. I presume that the devs plan to remove non-diegetic ones eventually. 

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I agree. Anything not connected to either the HUD or HMD be removed. This way, it's far more interactive and immersive, and fluent throughout gameplay. 

[kimi_uy 135]

IIRC u can easily remove the GUI in the vehicle config. I think it was vehicleinfotype="empty" or something like that. That's through modding although i agree it should be vanilla.

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

Reyhard, great work on the HUD improvements!

Are there plans to have some of these new data outputs visible in the gunner/targeting pod views?

Gunners spend most of their time with their viewmode set to 'scope' mode to search for targets and it would be nice to have things like Time Of Flight visibile without having to come back up to HMD view.

 

Also, with Time Of Flight is there any chance that could be Time To Impact instead? Have it count down until impact?

 

thanks!

[da12thMonkey 1943]

59 minutes ago, Imperator[TFD] said:

Are there plans to have some of these new data outputs visible in the gunner/targeting pod views?

Well currently, the pilot's HMD displays in pilotCamera (targetting pod) on the Xi'an. So I guess in a way you could say the outputs can be seen in TGP. But it's unclear if this is a bug or a feature.

 

Feels kind of like a bug since the green attitude indicator stuff in the centre of the HMD gets zoomed in as the pilotCamera zooms in (funny thing is, this would actually be kind of awesome for first focal plane reticles on weapon scope attachments)

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Not a bug, considering there's a MFD screen in the Gripen... I mean "Gryphon".

[Strike_NOR 898]

8 hours ago, Imperator[TFD] said:

 

Also, with Time Of Flight is there any chance that could be Time To Impact instead? Have it count down until impact?

 

 

I second this. It would be very nice to have a "TOF" display before launch, and then have it count down after launch as an Time to Impact. This becomes more important for Guided bombs, where ground troops could be alerted that it's 20 seconds to impact etc. If you fire many bombs/missiles at once, it could display the time to impact for the last weapon fired.

[OlegAckbar 47]

Add, please, some cross or point in the middle of Neophron sights. Now it's very difficult to aim through this, because I don't see where I'll shoot when locking target.

[reyhard 2082]

2 hours ago, OlegAckbar said:

Add, please, some cross or point in the middle of Neophron sights. Now it's very difficult to aim through this, because I don't see where I'll shoot when locking target.

 

This is HUD is in WIP state so don't worry, proper bore sight indicator will be there once it's done.

 

18 hours ago, Imperator[TFD] said:

 

Are there plans to have some of these new data outputs visible in the gunner/targeting pod views?

There are some plans but they will be probably have to wait till work on HUDs is done ;)