Tales of war aav7 released

[munger 25]

I've been waiting for this a long time and was really glad when it was finally released. I like it but to be honest there are some problems which really ruin it for me. The most blatant of these is the armour. Four RPG's/LAW's to kill it?! There's no way an AAV7 could take such a pounding. In Iraq for example, US Marines found that Iraqis with RPG-7's were routinely putting holes straight through the front of them and killing everyone inside. I think an armour value along the lines of the a BMP1 or BMP2 would be far more accurate. As it is, this thing's a tank. Secondly, the MK19 is right now more of a IFV style cannon than a grenade launcher, with almost no arc to the trajectory of the rounds and thus extremely long range. It also seems slightly overpowered, taking out a BMP with only about ten rounds. This may be realistic, I'm not sure. Lastly, the model and textures could be better in my opinion. As Commander-598 said, it seems a little on the short side, and the turret seems a tiny bit too big compared to the hull. The textures are nice but slightly blurry in some parts.

I really hate to sound so negative about an addon you've clearly spent such a long time working on. Don't get me wrong; I'll be using this on a regular basis as I'm sick of the M113 being the only US amphibious APC available and also what with Suchey's marines on the horizon it will be great for them. With a few config tweaks and maybe a slight alteration to the model (maybe stretch it a bit lengthways and lower the turret) it would be a great addon.

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

Nice AAVP TOW.Ive never seen anything like it.

[Rifleman 0]

for a temporary armour fix just reduce the armour/health value in the editor by 3/4's then it only takes 1rpg to kill it

[SpecOp9 0]

Munger there will always be more versions soon

[edc 0]

I'm glad we finally have a nice AAV7 to use.  A few things that haven't been mentioned:

First, maybe change the machine gun and the Mk19 sounds to something different, they both seem a little bland. And maybe change the name that shows in game for the Machine gun to M-2, instead of Mgun.  It seems maybe a little bit light, but that could be my imagination.  The gunner view seems a little weird.  The textures inside for the driver could look a little sharper, and it might be nice if the gauges worked.  Overall really nice addon, good job!

[miles teg 1]

I agree with Munger.  The armor level is WAAAAAAAAAY too high.  I tested against varioius weapons and found it to be more heavily armored then the M60 tank.  In real life, the AAV-7 has very light armor and can not withstand hits from an RPG-7.  Some of the heaviest losses for the USMC in Iraq recently were from RPG hits to their AAV-7's.   They should definitely have the same armor values as the BMP or the M113.   As for the MK-19.  I've fired this weapon in real life and yes it does have a big arc and is not an extremely long range weapon.   However I believe there is a game-engine limitation that prevents "grenades" from being shot from vehicles... I believe only soldiers can shoot those.  

However there may be some other tricks such as reducing the velocity of the bullets in the weapon's .cpp file.  Perhaps by reducing the bullet velocities for the MK-19 the rounds will get a bit more of an arc to them... maybe.  With that said the rounds are not the same as the ones in the M203 grenade launcher as they are high velocity rounds.  Still you have to elevate the weapon quite bit when firing at distant targets.

Another problem I noticed, as Munger noted, is that the AAV-7 is to short.  It DEFINITELY needs to be streteched quite a bit (this is probably why only 12 units fit into it) and also as Munger noted, the turret reduced in size a little bit, although perhaps if the AAV-7 is lengthened, then the turret will look more proportional.  

Also the gunner position should have some kind of sighting system or periscope or something as it looks kinda plain with just the ends of the gun sticking out inside the turret.  Also the gunner position can not go up into the "turn out" position.

As for the power of the grenade launcher ammunition... in real life the 40mm ammunition fired by the MK-19 should penetrate a BMP1 or BMP2's side and rear armor as well as possibly the front depending on the angle of impact.  

However it's a moot question because of this.... these AAV7's DO NOT engage armored vehicles that are any more armored then the BRDM scout car.  It would be nice if they at least engage BMP's but I don't know if the .cpp can be manipulated to allow that without the gunner wasting his ammunition on tanks.   At least it engages infantry nicely.  

Anyhoo... it's a good addon but far from perfect.  Until these issues are fixed I'll take the advice someone else made about reducing the armor level on the mission editor for each unit.   But I hope that and the length of the vehicle are fixed soon.  

Above is a good side-view shot of the AAV-7 compared to the TOW AAV-7.  Also I forgot about the bow plate (splash plate).  It would be cool to see this animated with it folding out when it goes into the water and it retracting when it hits land.    

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Landwarrior87 0]

yyeh all of the above.. but the biggest problem of all is.. we dont have any good up to date marines to go with these babies.

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

What you want to do is try a get the AAV Hull as correct as you can.Which Im haveing problems with myself.Take this photo for example:

Once you get that done everything else just falls into place.

[r71 0]

Rpg's will go right through the front and out the back on some parts.

[Major Fubar 0]

The easy fix to the Mk-19 firing like a cannon instead of a GL?

Replace the mk19gl.pbo that comes with this addon with GFX-707 latest release, which he modified to fire in a more realistic arc...

[PFC_Mike 2]

Will that really work Major FUbar? If so, awesome.

Rifleman, your idea of cutting down vehicle health seems like a good one, but will it also make the crew injured?

I hope that if you guys do a desert camo version you make it look something like the real thing. The OGWC ones look just plain weird.

[PFC_Mike 2]

The track seems slanted at the back without cause.

FAS page on AAV7

Is this waht you were talking about Miles Teg?

[theavonlady 2]

If only BIS would donate the one from VBS1.

[Rifleman 0]

i dont know if it injures the crew or not, but its still better than haveing a aav that is as tough as a main battle tank

you could always put a empty one and set the armour level down, then add the crew in

that should work

[Speeeedy 0]

good addon. But the armor is indeed way to strong. But overal pretty good. Is there going to be an Dual M.50 version as well?

[Firestarter 0]

Great looking addon. but it would be much better with custom sounds and animated back door.

[(T)r@cer 1]

Ok, good to see there are no major bugs. You guys got a point on the armor level. We will see what we can do about that. The next version of the AAV7 will contain this:

1.) Extended wheelbase.

2.) Able to hold 25 marines.

3.) More detailed interior.

4.) Animated cargo ramp, water jets, and front water deflector.

5.) Desert and woodland camo versions.

6.) Bugs left will be fixed

No release date set yet, but it shouldn't take months like this version.

[Viriato 0]

I will be truly grateful if you make a quick fix with a proper armor value and maybe (but this is not important) tweak a little the MK19Launcher.

This changes are from ccp. so you can do it in a couple of minutes, and we have something with a realistic use to play while you upgrade your excellent addon.

I am going to do it for myself, but this will be better if everybody has this baby with the same proper armor values so we can play with the missions designed for it.

[miles teg 1]

Ok, good to see there are no major bugs. You guys got a point on the armor level. We will see what we can do about that. The next version of the AAV7 will contain this:

1.) Extended wheelbase.

2.) Able to hold 25 marines.

3.) More detailed interior.

4.) Animated cargo ramp, water jets, and front water deflector.

5.) Desert and woodland camo versions.

6.) Bugs left will be fixed

No release date set yet, but it shouldn't take months like this version.  

By extended wheelbase, do you mean that the entire AAV-7 will be stretched a bit so that it's a proper length?

If so that'll be awesome and I think it'll look much better then.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[(T)r@cer 1]

It will be a bit longer so more marines/soldiers will fit in its cargo.

Anyway, version 1.1 will be release shortly. It will contain:

- some small bug fixes

- some .cpp changes ( like the armor value )

- Ofpec tag compatible

- a AAV7 mission

- and a few other things

We hope to release it this week. ( Thursday or Friday )

[miles teg 1]

That sounds wonderful! That quick fix release should tie us over until the limosine version (hehehe) comes out. Thanks for are the hard work from you and your team at TOW. You guys rock!

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[munger 25]

I agree, it will be great if you release an interim version with CPP changes to tide us over until the new model and textures are ready. Thanks Tracer18.

[(T)r@cer 1]

Hehe, no problem guys. We are working on "version 1.1" right now, so with a bit of luck it should be ready by tomorrow.

Has anyone noticed any bugs that needs to be fixed? Our beta testers found a few small texture problems, but if some of you found some more then please let me know.

[Commander-598 0]

The MK19 sound. You can't hear it from 3rd person or when in another position.

[lee_h._oswald 0]

Maybe the wrong place to ask for, but:

Why are you making new Littlebirds?

Or are they from BAS and you make other versions?

Just wondering.

MfG Lee