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ANZACSAS Steven

Enhanced Advanced Helicopter Flight Model Mod

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Enhanced Advanced Helicopter Flight Model mod for Arma 3 by ANZACSAS Steve.


- An enhanced flight model mod for helicopters with an emphasis on modelling torque and ground effect.

 - More challenging flight characteristics.

- Sim level tolerances for RPM and rotor stress.

- Take on Helicopters Sim level.

- Works for the following helicopters - UH-80,MD500,CH-29.

 - May work for addons based off these units/classes.

- Signed and has server key.

- Works in SP/MP.

- Can be used by client only.

 - Enjoy. 🙂

 

 

Link - 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1923464093

 

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Wow that's awesome! Imagine this coupled with the upcoming ultra-realistic UH-60... It will make DCS helicopters collect dust on my hangar. 😅

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is this compatible with your other mod "Enhanced Helicopter Tailrotor Effect Mod"  ?

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AirShark,Yes it is bud.But its not really needed if you run this AFM mod due to the torque effects are better handled by the AFM.

Thanks.:)

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Updated. v1.1

 - Tinkered with the torque,Horsepower and tolerances.

 - Next update will be the CH-49 Mohawk.:)

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Updated - 1.3.

- Tweaked UH80 flight model.

- Fixed ai behaviour issue introduced in last patch.

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Love where this is going! Thanks for all the hard work. One question regarding the lift still being generated when dropping the collective. It seems it takes quite a while to bleed this. Is it possible to tweak this further? The helicopter theoretically should "nearly" drop like a rock when dumping the collective.

P.S regarding the MH-9 

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Please don't take this as a "bump" I have just been doing some experimenting across the board with all arma helicopters and it does seem they exhibit the same fixed wing tendency taking a bit of time to bleed speed almost as if the blades are acting more like a high lift wing rather than rotor blades when power is reduced. Just a rambling thought!

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Is it possible to make the Arma helicopters to ,at the push of a button,place a square at a designated landing spot and `shoot harpoon` at all corners and in the middle and `reel`in the lines and make that helicopter land at a set speed and attitude?

 

To make it not baloon during landings.

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@Cochise333, Thanks for the feedback and interest.:)

 

I'am honestly not sure about rectifying the rotor disc lift like your describing.I have thought the same thing on occasion,but figured i was just carrying too much momentum.Ill keep it in mind though.:)

 

@John111 and all, The problem with the ai landing crappy is they are going too fast for a nice landing.Use this code in the init of the heli, a waypoint or a trigger to set the AI's max speed. -

 

this limitSpeed 150;

That will help immensely.The terrains aren't that big so there's no real hurry to get places.This speed also allows for much easier formation flying with AI.:)

 

@Cochise333, I've seen the ai do that trick ingame, Its only when something is going really wrong somewhere though..lol

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@Cochise333, I just watched that linked vid again and realised i didnt watch it till the end.I was refering to the chinook doing a "handbrake" turn when i said i seen the ai doing that.Wouldnt know how to re-enact it though.:)

 

The above code i posted will solve most of your troubles and start to get the ai to look cool while landing.:)

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Awesome thanks for the advice! 

 

If you look at the CH53's quick stop. Trying to do that in game right now with the current rotor dynamics even if you dumped all the collective (power) and pulled the nose up to that angle every helicopter would balloon regardless of weight. Having looked at some of the rotorlib values I do find them extremely hard to decipher so none the less kudos to your work so far!

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The value you may be interested in, is most likely the one below (if I understand the problem correctly):

<DragDueToAoA scale="1.0">

It can be found in AFM config file (xml) under "Fuselage" section. You may either tinker with a table of values related to the class or basically scale the whole table up/down using that scale="1.0" multiplier and see if it works. You may also need to adjust <PitchingMomentDueToAoA>, <MomentsOfInertia> and <ControlSystem>. However, it all depends on <Mass>, <CenterOfGravity> and overall agility of said helo, at least. Not so easy and simple task, I guess.

PS. BTW, helicopter rotor does work like a plane's wing above some speed (from aerodynamical point of view), otherwise it wouldn't be possible to do loops and barrels in helos and some of them are certainly capable of doing such maneouvers, right? 🙂 That's why helos are called rotary-wing aircraft 😉

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@NightIntruder, Thanks for the info m8.Any and all insight welcome.🙂

 

Thats right, the rotors spinning creates a disc which has all the attributes of a wing.I got a lil lazy with the answer regarding that and just said i thought it was just a case of me having too much momentum/speed.(therefore creating lift from the rotor disc)

Ive done a lil experimenting with the scale values, interesting stuff.:)

Also,Ive heard of a uh-60 AFM file floating around ,do you know anything of it and if so where abouts can i get a download?

 

Thanks again m8.🙂

 

For all interested this fellows youtube channel training vids are super cool - 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo9VDn3PyXhdDY57e764HGw

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Totally agree with both of the above posts to certain degrees. It's been nearly 17 years since I flew actual helicopters (my old man ran a helicopter tour company and I was fortunate enough to grow up around the hangar with a few ex army Hughes 300s, a civilian Hughes 500 and Bell 206 getting my feet wet before learning to fly myself) I haven't kept my rotor-wing licenses current but there are some things you never forget, like dropping the collective during a  autorotation and that initial feeling of being light in the seat! This obviously as stated above changed with the size of the helicopter and weight etc but was especially noticeable with the lighter categories with lower inertial rotors that required you to trade that airspeed or altitude for rpm very quickly to avoid blade stall.

 I sense that since this isn't a dedicated flightsim that BIS has done this intentionally for the "game factor" especially when experiencing an engine out. 

I did not realize, probably foolishly that tweaking this would be so complex. Hats off to all of you independent mod makers that have enjoyed / suffered through hours of experimentation. I shall try a little tweaking and no doubt hair pulling! Thanks for all the input guys.


 

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On 2/26/2020 at 6:03 PM, Cochise333 said:

Totally agree with both of the above posts to certain degrees. It's been nearly 17 years since I flew actual helicopters (my old man ran a helicopter tour company and I was fortunate enough to grow up around the hangar with a few ex army Hughes 300s, a civilian Hughes 500 and Bell 206 getting my feet wet before learning to fly myself)

Cochise333, Sounds like a cool childhood dude.😎

 

 

On 2/26/2020 at 6:03 PM, Cochise333 said:

I haven't kept my rotor-wing licenses current but there are some things you never forget, like dropping the collective during a  autorotation and that initial feeling of being light in the seat! This obviously as stated above changed with the size of the helicopter and weight etc but was especially noticeable with the lighter categories with lower inertial rotors that required you to trade that airspeed or altitude for rpm very quickly to avoid blade stall.

 I sense that since this isn't a dedicated flightsim that BIS has done this intentionally for the "game factor" especially when experiencing an engine out. 

I did not realize, probably foolishly that tweaking this would be so complex.

Have you played Take on helicopters? Iam interested in your thoughts on that.Theoretically , we can do anything in Arma 3 that was done in that game.

 

On 2/26/2020 at 6:03 PM, Cochise333 said:

I did not realize, probably foolishly that tweaking this would be so complex. Hats off to all of you independent mod makers that have enjoyed / suffered through hours of experimentation. I shall try a little tweaking and no doubt hair pulling! Thanks for all the input guys.

No worries bud.Interested in your feedback.😀

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I didn't quite understand the problem and its source, mainly due to language barrier, so my apologize gentlemen.
For the changes in rotor inertia, the best way would be to tinker with this subsection of the AFM config file (within <Rotors> section) instead of <DragDueToAoA>: 

<MechanicalFeatures Ir="500"  Ib="120" maxBrakeTorque="900" />

- where, Ib is the moment of inertia of a single blade, and Ir is combined moment of inertia of the whole main rotor (note, there are two separate <MechanicalFeatures> subsections - one for main rotor and the second one for a tail rotor). The unit should be in kg/m2 but cannot remember at this moment. Obviously, decreasing the MOIs of blades and rotor should, theoretically, create low inertia system with relatively short response time for succesful entry into an autohover before blades stall.

 

However, changing the inertia of the rotor without taking care of the other characteristics of the rotor system like NACA airfols tables could be dead end tho and might create unstable platform. I did suffcesfull attempt to create an helo addon with high inertia rotor on purpose, ie. SA-313B without adjusting the tables, so simple changes may also be possible. Still, they require an access to valid data about the mechanical and aerodynamical characteristics of a helo's rotors to include dimensions, which aren't easy to find. These characteristics can be found under <Rotors> and <Rotors->Mechanical features> sections. A rotor nominal speed has significant importance as well.

 

Honestly speaking, AFM is based on RTD libraries that are mil-grade simulation of a helo. Whatever the reasons were behind the decision that BI crippled it in A3 must fall under game-play purpose, I guess. I still dream about BI taking a chance to create "Helicopters+ DLC" with fully implemented libraries from TKOH plus turbine engine support and enhanced damage system. Sadly, it may never happen if you look at players' interest in this and similar AFM-related posts. 


As for UH60, I do know nothing about well developed AFM ready for download from somewhere, I am afraid😞 Steve, have you asked Yax/Rivers, devs of UH60M? They work is supervised by RL BH pilots, afaik.

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On 2/27/2020 at 3:44 PM, ANZACSAS Steven said:

Have you played Take on helicopters? Iam interested in your thoughts on that.Theoretically , we can do anything in Arma 3 that was done in that game.

 

I have and was a huge fan of it! With a bit of controller curves tweaking and some testing of the different rotorlibs that people (including hovercontrol) put out, I thought it really gave an immersive experience.  I thought it was definitely on the right track and had hoped that more of it would have been implemented in arma.

 

 

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On 2/28/2020 at 5:44 AM, NightIntruder said:

<MechanicalFeatures Ir="500"  Ib="120" maxBrakeTorque="900" />

- where, Ib is the moment of inertia of a single blade, and Ir is combined moment of inertia of the whole main rotor (note, there are two separate <MechanicalFeatures> subsections - one for main rotor and the second one for a tail rotor). The unit should be in kg/m2 but cannot remember at this moment. Obviously, decreasing the MOIs of blades and rotor should, theoretically, create low inertia system with relatively short response time for succesful entry into an autohover before blades stall.

 

However, changing the inertia of the rotor without taking care of the other characteristics of the rotor system like NACA airfols tables could be dead end tho and might create unstable platform. I did suffcesfull attempt to create an helo addon with high inertia rotor on purpose, ie. SA-313B without adjusting the tables, so simple changes may also be possible. Still, they require an access to valid data about the mechanical and aerodynamical characteristics of a helo's rotors to include dimensions, which aren't easy to find. These characteristics can be found under <Rotors> and <Rotors->Mechanical features> sections. A rotor nominal speed has significant importance as well.

Very interesting! Thanks for the input. Are you still testing the SA-313B? I got to ride in the SA-315B  "Lama" years ago. One of the coolest sounding engines ever. I'm going to try and tinker with some of these values for the light heli and see how they work out.

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5 hours ago, Cochise333 said:

I have and was a huge fan of it! With a bit of controller curves tweaking and some testing of the different rotorlibs that people (including hovercontrol) put out, I thought it really gave an immersive experience.  I thought it was definitely on the right track and had hoped that more of it would have been implemented in arma.

I thoroughly enjoyed TKOH aswell.:)

The vehicles that i have done so far in this mod are basically the ones in TKOH.The UH80 is using some unique code but the MD500 and the CH29 are virtually identical to TKOH as ive been able to reproduce.I have a version of the Hellcat in dev now that will be based very closely off the medium heli from TKOH.There is some turbulence code that i still have to try but that will require CBA if implemented.It may not work ,i still have to test it.

Apart from the aspects we've covered here now is there anything else you can think of that needs bringing into Arma?

Also , there is a start up procedure mod in dev atm.

 

 

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@NightIntruder,

On 2/28/2020 at 12:44 PM, NightIntruder said:

I didn't quite understand the problem and its source, mainly due to language barrier, so my apologize gentlemen.

Np bud.Your posts are a wealth of knowledge and insight.Thank you.:)

 

On 2/28/2020 at 12:44 PM, NightIntruder said:

Honestly speaking, AFM is based on RTD libraries that are mil-grade simulation of a helo. Whatever the reasons were behind the decision that BI crippled it in A3 must fall under game-play purpose, I guess. I still dream about BI taking a chance to create "Helicopters+ DLC" with fully implemented libraries from TKOH plus turbine engine support and enhanced damage system. Sadly, it may never happen if you look at players' interest in this and similar AFM-related posts. 

Yes ,i agree.But, TKOH  was once only a pipe dream and we now actually have an AFM in Arma!!🤪

Anything is possible with BI.:)

CDLC..?

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On 2/29/2020 at 5:14 AM, Cochise333 said:

Very interesting! Thanks for the input. Are you still testing the SA-313B? I got to ride in the SA-315B  "Lama" years ago. One of the coolest sounding engines ever. I'm going to try and tinker with some of these values for the light heli and see how they work out.

You're welcome, mate! Reg, SA313 - it hasn't been in R&D for some time now and was removed from my workdrive as being useless. Not great loss, really - it wasn't flying well and needed a lot of efforts to bring the source model up to A3 standards. But, its engine sounds great, indeed.
 

 

On 2/29/2020 at 10:56 AM, ANZACSAS Steven said:

Yes ,i agree.But, TKOH  was once only a pipe dream and we now actually have an AFM in Arma!!🤪

Anything is possible with BI.:)

CDLC..?


Well, in fact there are many possibilites for people who are great in programming, especially in SQF. I am not skilled in that, unfortunately.
CDLC - what? Do you mean, there's a chance for modders to create AFM DLC or even Helicopters+ DLC? I doubt it would be succesfull...
We cannot go beyond the current A3 engine's capabilites, which are not gonna be expanded, as per BI stuff announcement. For my knowledge, RTD's turbine engine support was never brought to TKOH nor A3. It may only be partially simulated through SQF scripts/functions as it was done in TKOH, afaik. That being said, options available for potential CDLC are really limited in terms of high fidelity enhancements of the advanced flight model. Those new features of a helo that could be implemented are purely cosmetics with no actual ties in RTD/AFM...

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