helicopter transport Hermes Airlift Services Script

[nomadd 66]

Way to go, on getting 1.4 out. Once I fix my computer.(HD failure). I will be back to Arma

[Gunter Severloh 4055]

Thanks! Best get an SSD for Arma game will run better, put arma3 on an SSD by itself (all your games), and put the OS on another SSD performance ;)

[nomadd 66]

My game drive , not only for ARMA is an SSD.  It was fine. Was  my drive with operating system.Since I had to do a drive swap and pretty much full wipe , I went ahead and took the time to throw a testing server back up.

I have HAS 1.4  in about 4-5 of my missions. Local hosted everything seems to be working fine. Will try with some friends on dedicated and see what happens

[johnnyboy 3793]

On 1/16/2019 at 5:44 AM, Rydygier said:

PS Indeed, initial code was 35 lines long, current is about 4000. 

Haha.  I know how that goes!

 

This is great and impressive stuff.  Thanks Rydgier and Gunter.

[nomadd 66]

Had a chance to try this out on dedicated with some friends. Ran into a few problems but did some testing and think I figured out what is causing them.

 

1:  Fastroping will completely bug out on dedicated, if you try and use any helo with units in  FFV positions,  including gunner seats. Units will stand up in the helo but then just lock in that position. I tested this with CUP helos and the default BIS helos with FFV. 

   Didn't not have any problems with any type of helo with just landing, ie CUP or BIS. Also did not have any problems with fastroping with any type of helo as long as it did not have FFV positions.

 

2: First player that gets in the helo gets the actions, no one else gets them. I want to limit who can call/access the helo. Mainly to team leader and FAC. So I tried to set "RYD_HAS_whenInside = false;" and then limit who can control helo with  the variables you created "unit1 setVariable ["RYD_HAS_canCall",false]; and unit1 setVariable ["RYD_HAS_canCall",true]; "

   Problem is outside the helo, support menu is accessible , inside the helo support menu goes away. Maybe apply the actions to all players that get in the helo. Whoever uses the actions first gets to order the helo. I  can still control who can call the helo with  the variables. Ran into a problem playing on my server with a new player to arma , he jumped in the helo and got the actions . luckily we  had voice comms and I was able to explain to him what to do. Any of the other guys playing would have been fine, they knew what to do.

 

First problem is mission breaking. second problem is just an inconvenience. 

 

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

1. I'm not familiar with FFV positions. I mean, I heard, there's such feature, saw some pics, but that's it. Don't even know, how to use them really :). Didn't think about them at all. Apparently FFV works in some unexpected way, if breaks the code. I'll test this. With some luck all, what's needed, is additional line with detach command. 

 

2. I'll look into this, not sure yet, what I'll decide about it. And what's possible in the first place. I'm affraid, it's pretty hardcoded, that actions to choose the destination are given only for the caller (in this case the caller is the unit, that entered the heli first), but perhaps possible to change. Also should be possible at least to make so the HAS will ignore unit entering the heli as first, if "RYD_HAS_canCall" is false for him. It should be done anyway - it's a gap in the logic. 

 

Quote

inside the helo support menu goes away

 

Hm. Not for me. When I'm getting in, the task begins by this fact, thus obviously gone are options to call the heli (it is considered called already), but I can use 0-8 to change flight ceiling, as should be at this point, no problem here. 

[Rydygier 1309]

Ad. 1

 

Tested that with Hummingbird's benches. Fast roping works OK also from FFV in SP, but fails, as you described with dedi/client-side players. So it is related with MP somehow. I've no idea, how at the moment, it maybe something, I should do on my end but also it may be some game bug in FFV feature. So far my attempts failed (tried remoteExec on setPos outside and unassignVehicle). I'll continue tests, but have to figure out, what else I could try. Advices anyone? 

 

EDIT Weird thing. Applied modified code, tested on Hummingbird with 6 men, me as TL, on dedi, rest AIs. Fast roping goes OK till the fourth unit (first from inside). It is going down along the rope, but as soon it is detached from the rope, it's immediately teleported back on its cargo seat inside the heli. At this point code stucks. So one issue is replaced with another now. Did I mention, how I love MP sc... OK, I mentioned. 

 

Perhaps there's something wrong with issuing "get in" order to AIs on dedi. There's suspicious delay before they embark. Maybe this is bounded somehow... Same code in SP no problem of course. 

 

[Rydygier 1309]

HAS 1.5 wip1

 

- units from FFV positions should be fast roped properly on dedi (not sure, if 100% reliable, it's kinda voodooish and messy workaround but worked in my tests...);

- units with "canCall" false will no longer trigger transport task by entering the heli (such unit entering heli will be ignored);

- AI units after fast roping will now take some random positions few meters around to avoid next unit landing on previous unit's head etc. 

- also on dedi AIs should now after several seconds properly follow player TL's lead again. 

[nomadd 66]

Wow, that was a fast update. If i find anything I will let you know. 

 

Thanks

[Rydygier 1309]

Unfortunatelly appeared, now, for a change, there's similar issue when fast roping from ghost hawk on dedi. Last unit (player) hangs at the top of the rope, won't go down, then is teleported back into the heli. What causes that MP voodoo? It may be getting out delayed by lags interrupted in the middle by attaching the unit, which breaks it. So I've added waituntil unit == vehicle unit between ejecting the unit and attaching it to the rope. Helped, but who knows what may happen for high ping...

 

HAS 1.5 wip2

 

Tried also to improve how fast roping looks. With some success in SP - units are now moving down rather along the ropes, than vertically to the main heli axis (the difference is visible when the rope doesn't hanging exactly vertically which happens sometimes), but in MP it looked very choppy, so this small improvement is applied only in singleplayer.  BTW also because MP I didn't tried to make it more fluid via onEachFrame. Possibly too often changes to sync over network. 

[Rydygier 1309]

HAS 1.5 wip3

 

Changes:

 

- added new type of heli support: CAS with custom heli behavior pattern along with proper comm messages and new user config variables:

 

RYD_HAS_CAS_Distance = 600;//how far from target area CAS helicopter should take firing position (can be lower, if object draw distance is lower, but never below 60% of set value)
RYD_HAS_CAS_Range = 150;//how wide around target position CAS helicopter should look for hostile targets
RYD_HAS_CAS_OnlyKnownTargets = false;//if true, CAS helicopter will shoot only at hostile targets actually known to its crew or the caller unit
RYD_HAS_CAS_reammo = true;//if true, designated CAS helicopter will have ammunition restored at CAS task start

 

Technical details of the procedure itself here (code was improved since then though).

 

Usage: as other types of support. After confirmation map is shown and the heli awaits for the map click marking CAS position. Position may be changed during the mission as long heli didn't reach destination waypoint (as long marker circle is orange). May be also cancelled any time. 

 

Recognized as CAS-able gunship helis will be those with some kind of rocket or missile weaponry. It is assumed, heli will shoot straight ahead, thus side/backdoor etc. weaponry not supported. 

 

Tested in SP and on dedi, also with vanilla two blufor and two opfor attack helis. 

 

 

[Rydygier 1309]

BTW still trying to script for 1.5 reliable ultra low altitude flight for helis. The only but decisive obstacle stays the fact, flyInHeight is semi-broken for low altitudes and, as I read, that issue is known for years, still not fixed, thus seems hopeless. SetVelocity makeshifts so far not good enough to me. Anyone anyhow forced flyInHeight to work reliably? For me it works if I set 5 meters, but then, if en route I set it, say, to 15, heli starts to climb up to 50-60 and more and can't be lowered back reliably anymore. 

[johnnyboy 3793]

8 hours ago, Rydygier said:

SetVelocity makeshifts so far not good enough to me.

I hear you, but did you try setVelocityTransformation  loop?  You could potentially maintain vehicle's current velocity, vectorDir and vectorUp, and modify only the height in toPosASL parameter (your desired flyInHeight).  You would need to control when this loop is active or not (distance to waypoint completion?  Next flyInHeight higher than 50?).  It sucks to have to work so hard to accomplish something realistic...  Good luck.  You might have to disable animation simulation on the pilot while this loop is in control...not sure.

 

I remember seeing a cruise missile script where missile hugged terrain on its flight, so it should be doable.

[Rydygier 1309]

Well, that somewhat works, but, like with setVelocity, result is questionable (how this looks). Here, unlike setVelocity solutions, I have full, exact control of heli's movement from-to. But the problem stays same: as soon I lift scripted control, AI immediately climbs up back. So again I have ugly, vertical zigzags instead of straight, smooth flightpath. This could work with some AI-less missile, but here I'm affraid, the only remedy for AI stupidity would be total script control all the way, no AI involved at all. I don't want that, as this in fact is writing custom pilot AI from the scratch. To be exact - fragment of it concerning complete helo's flight behavior from A to B. 

[Gunter Severloh 4055]

Update

Alright guys we have an update for you, all links for download on OP including workshop have been updated to latest version.

Heres the changelog:

 

2-24-19

Update v1.5

• CAS support with custom attack behavior, used may be appointed for HAS helicopters that are armed with any missiles or rockets;
• units from FFV positions should be fast roped properly on dedi;
• units with "canCall" false will no longer trigger transport task by entering the heli (such unit entering heli will be ignored);
• AI units after fast roping will now take some random positions few meters around to avoid next unit landing on previous unit's head etc.; 
• also on dedi AIs should now after several seconds properly follow player TL's lead again; 
• improved fast roping looks in singleplayer (fast roped units should now go down rather along the ropes, than vertically to the main heli axis).
• Bikey included.

New video to demonstrate a couple of the major components of the update,

including a small tutorial on the new CAS support:

 

Thanks to Rydygier's continued work on this to improve, and make it better, and more optimized as well as adding new cool features and functions!

Also thanks to those who participated in discussions, and providing their feedback to help improve the script and module!

[kremator 1065]

Mod version coming soon too Gunter ?

[Play3r 147]

This is looking awesome, Thanks to Rydygier for his great work.

and thanks to you Gunter for making the videos so us old guys can understand it.

and also thanks to all the guys/girls who have helped with the script.

 

If i may i would like to ask a question to the next update. 

can you make it so you can decide what direction you want the CAS-Supplys-Trtansport to come from, i have tried when i request a transport the heli flies right over the enemy and get shoot down, it would be more realistic that it comes from the back off my units.

 

Anyway if it can't be done it is still a awesome mod/script

 

Cheers Play3r 

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks, Play3r. 🙂

 

As for custom incoming direction, I'll think, if doable in some reasonable way. Perhaps, after the call, but before target position is pointed, caller would (optionally) use shift+LMB clicks to set custom route for the heli (roughly, waypoint-based), but if so, this need to be incorporated also in the situation, where so far no map clicks was needed.  I'll investigate possibilities here. 

 

Quote

Mod version coming soon too Gunter ?

 

Mod version 1.5 is here. 

[Gunter Severloh 4055]

31 minutes ago, kremator said:

Mod version coming soon too Gunter ?

Its been out since January 1st

Also linked in my sig.

 

Some points on the video, this past week at work was hard on my, alot of lack of sleep, worked numerous nights doing 12 -14hr shifts,

although the money is great my work here in the community suffers because im tired as hell and unmotivated to do much.

For this latest video, i had to reedit the video after initially uploading it because the vid wouldn't end at 15min like i wanted and the cards that play at the end wouldn't show up.

      After editing it the second time i forgot to add the notes in the video (subtitles) that you see, for instance towards the end when i said Comanche i had a note there that said Blackfoot with a smile.

 You can also tell i was tired in the video i had to make several cuts just make it sound like i wasn't a babbling idiot, between pauses, mispronounced words, or words spoken in low volume it turned out alright.

 

I only recorded the large highlights of the update, but as you can see from the changelog there are other little changes/fixes/additions that make it up too.

[kremator 1065]

Thanks Gunter/Rydygier - I just wondered if the mod version had been updated to 1.5

 

Cheers chaps

[Gunter Severloh 4055]

Welcome, np ya both script and module get updated at the same time, so next update v1.6 which Rydygier is looking into will have both latest versions released at same time when ready.

Dont forget its also on steam workshop.

 

If you guys have any feedback for any aspect for script or module let us know and we can look into it, will depend what it is of course.

 

[Jnr4817 215]

Just tested the v1.5 CAS additions.

 

I was on multiplayer hosted.

Simple mission: placed several aircraft from CUP, BIS, MELB

Sync with player via module.

 

I called CAS several times from all different helos with multi different loadouts, rockets, guns, etc.

 

The results weren't that great. Targets were groups of ifrits. 3 out of 4 times the aircraft would actually fire on the enemy. The other time the aircraft would just come to a hover and never do anything, even after canceling the request.

 

The BIS aircraft worked better, then the CUP and MELB, but that doesn't make since.

 

Would turning up the skill of the pilots help.

 

Another weird issue, the aircraft would only seem to fire the weapon it defaults to when started, meaning you call cas and if the first weapon available was guns then the aircraft would fire guns or rockets, etc.

 

Just a few observations haven't tried in game yet.

 

Nice update and keep up the great work.

 

Just a suggestion, changing the fly in height from -+100, -+400 to -+50, -+250.

 

Thank you for an awesome script.

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks. Well, the code is quite fresh, issues was expected. Although I always hope, custom helis will work with HAS too, I can't guarantee this, as code is designed and tested solely on vanilla assets and with these assets in mind... I can check, what's going on with some modded heli in case, the problem lies in the code, not in the heli, but I need exact class names here: which wasn't working in what way exactly. Best would be repro mission in fact, otherwise circumstances inducing the issue may be impossible to recreate. Still issues with vanilla helis are my priority. BIS helis was working fine? 

 

BTW heli will ignore targets hidden behind terrain shape or buildings etc. but even then should respond to cancel mission. Perhaps they wasn't stuck, but cycling between the weapony and targets, just for some reason there was no actual shooting. It may take few minutes, before pilot decide, it's enough.  

 

Also, CAS heli should switch his weaponry and use all suitable weapons against given target - that's how it was in all my tests.  

 

Pilot's skill is meaningless here, CAS behavior is 100% scripted, no AI involved, as AI wasn't cooperate at all with such way of attack. 

 

Shortly: give me, please, this scenario with required mods list or at least list of the troublemaking helis classes/origin mods with exact issue description, so I knew, what exactly and where to look for. If you have RPT logs from your tests, this may improve chance for the fix too. 

[Jnr4817 215]

6 hours ago, Rydygier said:

Thanks. Well, the code is quite fresh, issues was expected. Although I always hope, custom helis will work with HAS too, I can't guarantee this, as code is designed and tested solely on vanilla assets and with these assets in mind... I can check, what's going on with some modded heli in case, the problem lies in the code, not in the heli, but I need exact class names here: which wasn't working in what way exactly. Best would be repro mission in fact, otherwise circumstances inducing the issue may be impossible to recreate. Still issues with vanilla helis are my priority. BIS helis was working fine? 

 

BTW heli will ignore targets hidden behind terrain shape or buildings etc. but even then should respond to cancel mission. Perhaps they wasn't stuck, but cycling between the weapony and targets, just for some reason there was no actual shooting. It may take few minutes, before pilot decide, it's enough.  

 

Also, CAS heli should switch his weaponry and use all suitable weapons against given target - that's how it was in all my tests.  

 

Pilot's skill is meaningless here, CAS behavior is 100% scripted, no AI involved, as AI wasn't cooperate at all with such way of attack. 

 

Shortly: give me, please, this scenario with required mods list or at least list of the troublemaking helis classes/origin mods with exact issue description, so I knew, what exactly and where to look for. If you have RPT logs from your tests, this may improve chance for the fix too. 

 

I send info when I am back home. Ill also make a repro mission.

 

BIS aircraft seemed to work fine 4 out of 4 times, I understand this is the priority.

CUP and MELB were having the issues.

 

Ill make repro mission and test again before I send info.

 

Thanks for the quick response,

Reed

 

Here is repro

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vax6pqe24nlnfmr/HAS%20Test%201%2e5.Malden.pbo?dl=0

 

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks, I'll test this, hopefully soon, then I should be able to tell something specific.  

 

Meanwhile, about 1.6: noted, in 0-8 variant attack helis are listed also as available for transport and supply. I'll remove from transport list any helis, that have 0 free cargo space at HAS init, but I wonder, should I restrict somehow also supply delivery list? By what criteria, if so? What do you think, guys? 

 

Manual route planning code implementation looks promising so far, not working yet, but that's hopefully matter of time and debugging. Caller will get map opened each time route planning makes sense: just after any task call (before HQ confirmation), and at using "choose destination" action during troops transport. Shift+LMB will add new navpoint, alt+LMB will clear all placed navpoints, LMB will end route planning (and point final coords, where expected). Also the heli should RTB using same route, so whole used route has to be memorized, at least that's the plan.