Jets - HUD improvements

[GuyWithaJeep 82]

Any thoughts on the Black Wasp's HMD taking some more cues from its predecessor?  I threw together something terribly quickly as a mock up.

Notable changes include removing the Pitch, Roll, and whatever C stood for indicators to make way for the more common Angle of Attack, Mach, and G readouts found in the Hornet.  A rate of climb counter above the altitude readout (and a nixed radar altitude to clean things up a bit), clock, and a "Selected Weapon" indicator.  Basically a bunch of stuff to keep the player from glancing up at the regular UI and taking them out of the fight.

[xon2 102]

The flight path heading cue in the Black Wasp 2 in level flight seems to be above the nose indicator which makes no sense i think. For level flight, shouldn't the nose be pointing upwards a bid since you usually need some positiv degrees/units of AOA and thus the nose cue should be a bit above the path heading cue?

[agent556 5]

33 minutes ago, xon2 said:

The flight path heading cue in the Black Wasp 2 in level flight seems to be above the nose indicator which makes no sense i think. For level flight, shouldn't the nose be pointing upwards a bid since you usually need some positiv degrees/units of AOA and thus the nose cue should be a bit above the path heading cue?

this depends on the lift characteristics of the aircraft's design. some aircraft, depending on speed and the lift generated at that speed, would need to nose down to maintain level flight.

[R3vo 2654]

Any chance the size of the HUDs of all the aircrafts could have the same size? The Wipeout's for example is very hard to read compared to the ones of the new jets.

[iratus 71]

It might be a bit late, but can we get the custom waypoint (the shift-click on the map) to show up like a waypoint in the hud?

If we do MP missions with CAS, we often radio coordinates to the pilot and the custom WP comes in handy for this.

[dragon01 902]

On 18.04.2017 at 11:58 AM, agent556 said:

this depends on the lift characteristics of the aircraft's design. some aircraft, depending on speed and the lift generated at that speed, would need to nose down to maintain level flight.

Not really. If a plane goes to negative angle of attack (the angle between nose and flight path), it'll always go into a dive, because lift depends almost entirely on AoA (shape of the airfoil contributes, but it being the entirety of the story is a popular "lie to children"). The only exception are aircraft with a crazy angle of incidence (the angle between wings and aircraft's primary axis), which is not the case with fighters. 

 

The truth is, Black Wasp's HUD is completely miscalibrated.

[jone_kone 158]

Might have missed this, but is there going to be an option to slew the TGP in "normal" HUD mode?

 

i.e. not mandatory to enter the TGP mode to lock a certain spot in the terrain?

[arkhir 135]

2 hours ago, jone_kone said:

Might have missed this, but is there going to be an option to slew the TGP in "normal" HUD mode?

 

i.e. not mandatory to enter the TGP mode to lock a certain spot in the terrain?

No, as far as I'm aware. I believe I've seen Oukej's post saying they're not planning introducing such feature, unfortunately.

[jone_kone 158]

53 minutes ago, arkhir said:

No, as far as I'm aware. I believe I've seen Oukej's post saying they're not planning introducing such feature, unfortunately.

 

That´s too bad. :(

[xon2 102]

yep, slewable tgp in HUD would be the shit. This would make things so much better and handy...

[arkhir 135]

Bugs:

Shikra's HUD is sorta broken. Display is way off.

 

 

Suggestions:

1) Make HUD TGP display carry more information. Quick mockup I threw together in Paint:

 

Should look similar for laser and/or radar targets (if introduced).

 

2) Introduce unwinding CCIP range indicator for rockets, as it is currently implemented for guns.

 

3) Unwinding CCIP range indicator for guns and rockets should appear significantly earlier than ~3.2-4km away from the target. Currently when the crosshair for CCIP even appears it's usually already unwound, indicating weapon effective range.

 

4) Add HMD missile sight for off-bore capable missiles (9x and 73).

Example 1. Sight.

Example 2. Outside missile range.

 

5) Mark RWR contacts on HUD for SEAD missions.

IRL example (SU-25) - radar emissions marked in diamonds

[dragon01 902]

I really like the new Blackfish HMD. However, I noticed a few problems in the other aircraft. They often lack important symbology and what they do have doesn't always function properly:

1. None of the planes display mach number, AoA nor G-number. Those are quite important, I think that they should replace the numeric pitch, roll and yaw indicators (which are redundant and useless).

 

2. Black Wasp has no real VSI (only a numeric climb rate indicator) and no altitude nor speed ladders. Visual indication of those parameters is important. Additionally, the zero pitch ladder is misaligned. When the FPM is put on it, the plane keeps ascending. Actual level flight is achieved a few degrees below the "zero line".

3. Wipeout has no altitude ladder, no pitch ladder (a very important indicator) and the compass would look better on top of the HUD. Roll indicator has no "2 minute" marks, as well (no use for them in ArmA, but they're good for immersion). The cockpit FOV is also a bit too large.

4. Blackfish is almost perfect, but should have an indicator which "clock" is altitude and which is speed.

5. Blackfoot lacks speed and altitude ladders, and the symbology is poorly annotated. It also lacks a torque indicator, which is an important tool for flying the helicopter safely.

 

6. Neopheron lacks a speed ladder, otherwise it's OK. However, cockpit FOV is too high to make proper use of the HUD.

7. Shikra has a misaligned gunsight (either that or there's something wrong with the cannon), the pitch ladder is misaligned in opposite direction to Black Wasp and no speed ladder with an oversized VSI in its place. Altitude ladder only shows AGL altitude, which is odd for a fighter.

8. Kajman lacks a speed ladder, and the pitch indicator is so strange that I almost took it for a second VSI. Also, no hover or CM indicator. Another thing that I noticed is that the HMD seems less "sharp" than the others.

9. Orca's altitude ladder disappears above 50m, but the HMD is otherwise fine. Torque indicator could use a visual component, like on Kajman. FPM is also rather minimal, it should be at least a circle, like on Kajman.

10. Xi'an has no ASL altitude readout and its altitude ladder disappears above 1000m. This is also the case for Kajman, but more excusable as helos generally operate at lower altitudes. It does have a CM indicator, which is nice. Also, the elaborate torque indicator serves no purpose here. As with the Kajman, there's something off with "sharpness" of this particular HMD.

 

11. Buzzard is missing a VSI, but the biggest problem is that all status indicators are visible all the time, just dimmed if the system is off. This is potentially very confusing and very unrealistic - real planes never do that. Could also use a smaller FOV. Also, the color isn't the most fortunate, I'd suggest making it green like the others.

12. Gryphon has no speed ladder and altitude is AGL only. Pitch ladder is misaligned similar to Shikra, the FPM has to be a few degrees above the zero pitch line.

13. Hellcat has no torque indicator nor speed ladder. FPM shares the same problem as the one on Orca. It also has the same problem as Buzzard's HUD, being a bit hard to see against the sky.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I really like the Buzzard blueish green HUD, and find it actually the most pleasing to use. 

[GuyWithaJeep 82]

If you load Skalpel ATGMs into the AH-99, the weapon indicator on the HMD runs over the countermeasure mode display.

Perhaps weapon information could be moved to the right side of the gunner's aim display?

[kimi_uy 135]

Damn BIS, that HMD looks way too familiar.... 

 

Found new sources and conditions that are not specified in here yet:

 

Condition:

- autohover

 

Sources:

- Time

- VtolVectoring

- Throttle

 

Also, type="polygon" appears to fill drawn polygons with color. I think it's limited to only triangles and squares.

 

And apparently the clock sources don't work off the box, are they linked to the clock in the model?

 

More similarties here (the night one is the one i did back when apex came out and the Blackfish had no HMD) :

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

Please give the Pawnee a HMD, it's the future after all. :P

[Jnr4817 215]

4 hours ago, Nightmare515 said:

Please give the Pawnee a HMD, it's the future after all. :P

Agreed

[dragon01 902]

And make it the same as all the other helicopters? Nah, don't do that. All it needs is an aimpoint on the windshield.

[Jnr4817 215]

5 hours ago, dragon01 said:

And make it the same as all the other helicopters? Nah, don't do that. All it needs is an aimpoint on the windshield.

An aimpoint, altitude, speed, rate of ascent/descent, and heading would be useful.

[dragon01 902]

All of them are available as "clock" indicatros on the central console, except for the aimpoint (which could be a marker-drawn circle on the windshield, MELB-style). You also get torque information and engine RPM. Just tilt your view down a bit.

[Strike_NOR 898]

Technically two criteria have to be fulfilled to have HMD:

 

1. Aircraft that supports HMD technology
2. Helmet that has compatible hardware (visor, connector, projector etc.)

 

I wish BI would make the HMD style helmet a requirement in order to utilize the HMD.

 

That way, if you get into a Littlebird without HMD helmet, you won't get the full HMD tech (for those who want simplistic dot on the windscreen sights).

Those who want the full HMD need to strap on the correct helmet prior to flying :)

 

That would work for all aircraft with HMD tech and be optional. (Except black wasp that has no HUD...)

[dragon01 902]

It makes no sense for an MD-500 jury-rigged with weapons to support HMD technology. The real one doesn't, and AH-9 seems to be nothing more than a civilian MD-500 with guns added and an ammo crate chucked in place of the back seat (a really trim variant of MD-500 Defender, at best). The real AH-6 has a very different cockpit.

[Strike_NOR 898]

1 hour ago, dragon01 said:

It makes no sense for an MD-500 jury-rigged with weapons to support HMD technology. 

 

You are absolutely right. Because the MD-500 is a real helicopter.

 

The point is, ArmA as a game benefits from letting the player decide certain things.

 

If you make the AH-9 support HMD tech, but only make it active when the pilot is wearing a HMD helmet, then you can have both versions. The hardcore realism guy can fly with the standard heli pilot helmet and have no HMD. The arcade or future-guy can have HMD if he wants. At least both options are available. This would also work well for obvious gameplay reasons. Ghilliesuit sniper with Titan AT launcher and Parachute + shemag has to prioritize wearing a HMD helmet to use its potential. (LOL).

 

Anyways, your point about it being "no sense" from a weapon point of view is correct, but it is indeed a huge aid for pilots to be able to see airspeed, compass heading etc on the visor for situational awareness. You can point your head to a target and immediately read the exact three-digit compass heading to target. You may also see your airspeed, vertical speed etc when looking down at the landing spot. And let's not forget a flight path marker! I would dare say these reasons alone make it perfectly good sense to place HMD tech in a small chopper too.

 

I believe that the reason it isn't feasible today is because of bulkiness, pricetag etc that makes the whole concept "over-kill" for a MD-500 style heli. It requires a whole magnetic field set up in the cockpit and I think just a helmet is about 150.000 USD.

If you scratch the HMD visor and ruin the chrome-coating it's about 2.500 USD to replace the visor. :)

 

In other words.. in 2017, the painted crosshair on the windshield is "just fine" :)

 

[dragon01 902]

Military-grade HMDs aren't going to be all that much cheaper in 2036. If you look down for landing, you can see the dials without problem, ditto when looking forward at the target (just not straight ahead, tilt your head down slightly). IRL, or if you use headtracking, it's even easier, there's a reason that MD-500 has a cockpit set up like that. I found that flying with just the gauges as reference isn't a problem. FPM isn't necessary, either, most small planes and helos don't have it. Choice is fine, but some constraints are required to make them meaningful. If you want "arcade" gauges, you can enable them in the options menu.

 

Standard pilot helmet in ArmA3 does seem to include a HMD, so it wouldn't be feasible without editing crew loadouts. I'd rather have BI not give it a HMD and simply not bother with it too much. It's a light attack helo derived from a civilian MD-500. Don't start with "it's not a real helo", because it is, it's pretty much the exact same model as MD-500 from TKOH. I believe you can even animate the engine covers with a script. Lack of HMD makes perfect sense.

[iratus 71]

I like the fact the xH-9 series of helicopters does not have MHDs and sensors, because it makes it stand out. It fits its role and theme IMO.

But I am also a believer that not always having all the fancy toys makes them even fancier if it happens for you to have them