Helicopter control

[Zadok13 0]

Aaaaargh!

I was an ace pilot in all aircraft in Flashpoint, now I can't take off in the AH-1 without crashing.

I figure it's not entirely my fault, however, because it appears that the helo doesn't necessarily require any input whatsoever to make it move.

AH-1Z:

If I get in, switch off mouse control, start the engine and lift off, the AH-1Z drifts backwards at a more than noticable rate without me touching anything.

If I do touch any controls, they are so sensitive; tapping WASD as lightly as I can causes the helo to pitch/bank about 30 degrees in the respective direction. The rudder controls XC cause a turn of ~30 degrees *and* a bank of similar magnitude (for some reason). Now I know that the rudder does give rise to a small bank but 30 degrees is ridiculous!

If I try navigating by mouse, the helo could do anything. Move the mouse left and the helo *usually* goes left. But sometimes it goes right, or left *then* right, or right then left. The same applies to forward/back motion (pitching forward/back).

UH-60:

This is not without fault either. I find it difficult to control but this time it is mostly my fault and it'll just take some getting used to. *But* the rudder doesn't do anything at all unless I'm in auto-hover. Speaking of which, it seems fine at high altitude but if I get below about 50m, strange stuff starts to happen. Sometimes, the helo will only move one way around (for example, press 'x' and it turns round to the right (clockwise), but pressing 'c' does nothing or also turns to the right. In addition to this, at about 20m altitude the helo sometimes starts swinging back and forth as if I was pressing 'a' then 'd' and keeps doing this until I gain height.

I have so far only tried these two 'copters, but it will probably do the same to the rest. I've seen harriers around so I assume you can pilot them but I don't know how they are controlled.

What the hell is happening? And is there any way to change the control to replicate OFP?

[peterj 0]

The goal is for it to be a more realistic flight model.

Basically, unless you're on autopilot a helicopter will need constant cyclic input not to crash. The helicopters in ArmA are still very forgiving in this aspect. And the problem is that manual controlability with keyboard/mouse and realism can't be combined.

So i'd recommend you to get a joystick

[celery 8]

I think you have left your joystick or gamepad in an angled position or you haven't patched your game. There is no way the stuff you explain would happen.

[peterj 0]

Iv'e tried it and it's very stable, like it's on autopilot, but it will start to drift very slowly.

The yaw control is generally not very useable at speed, because you have a vertical stabalizer in the back that gives the helicopter directional stability. Thus you have to slow down to yaw. (It's possible that the tail rotor should have a little more authority than it has now)

[RogueRunner 0]

Iv'e tried it and it's very stable, like it's on autopilot, but it will start to drift very slowly.

Wind!

[fubar_diver 0]

Personally i think that the flight model is vastly improved, well in the UK one anyway, its more unstable and requires gentler contolling like a real helo. I think we were all aces in OFP

[l mandrake 9]

I agree - I always thought all the vehicles in OPF needed a steeper learning curve, it was kind of arcadey the way you could jump in and bring sights on target so easily. Online, this will stop everybody fighting for the choppers and leave the good pilots to fly...get practising!!!!

[Armalite666 0]

To my surprise I could actually fly the copters in about ten minutes. I even killed all the soldiers with the KA not just the vehicles. Although the height and yaw are difficult to set up on my Joystick as there isn't a gradient its either on or off. I'll work it out. The yaw doesn't seem to react in the way it should sometimes.

Compared to the BF1942 Desert Combat mod they're a piece of cake. Mush easier than the real thing as well, so I'm not sure about the realism aspect.

[Armalite666 0]

Double post on flow ctrl

[Zadok13 0]

OK any suggestions that don't involve buying an expensive joystick? (I couldn't really afford to buy the game on my budget)

Also, I'm finding that even the BF42 desert combat mod helos easier than this AH-1. It just does crazy stuff as soon as I touch anything and there's no way I'm gonna keep it between 3-30m altitude.

[Duffers 0]

Game pad for me. Works fine and just treat her gentle.

Avoid playing 'tennis' with the controls by UNDERcompensating. i.e. If I want to bank or turn to say, 5 o'clock for example, keep turning and begin correcting your flight path around 3 to 4 o'clock. The chopper should settle at 5.

Also, don't leave any other control device plugged in, even if it's disabled, I had a wheel in my USB port and my chopper flipped right over on take off. Took it out and had no problem.

[Jack-UK 0]

Really i have no issues using the keyboard and the mouse, check you got nothing else plugged in, check joysticks in control panel and stuff make sure there are no profiles running for anything else or whatever...

Its really not difficult, first time i tried a chopper in ArmA i had no issues (and i was flying the MI17 which aparently is hard to fly)... And im using a standard keyboard and mouse, no fancy crap :P

Its a different flight model to OFP, just takes time. I just need to master my landing...

[Steve L 0]

The controls are fine for me except when I start being a pendulum of auto hover and swinging 150m from side to side.

Another thing, surely you should be able to target tanks while hovering instead of having to move around just to keep the nose down. Ive seen footage of a chopper using the gun to kill soldiers while hovering but this doesnt seem possible in AA.

[Zadok13 0]

The controls are fine for me except when I start being a pendulum of auto hover and swinging 150m from side to side.

Dunno about 150m, but that's one of the problems I'm getting. (nearer 30m either way)

[=Grip= 0]

I manage and run actual military simulators for both ground and air, the flight controls in ArmA are to sensitive and lack realistic response and movement. The flight model from OFP to ArmA has greatly improved but on a realistic scale is still lacking. The rudder movements need to be relooked to mimic more realistic response.

[peterj 0]

Another thing, surely you should be able to target tanks while hovering instead of having to move around just to keep the nose down. Ive seen footage of a chopper using the gun to kill soldiers while hovering but this doesnt seem possible in AA.

Ka-50's cannon is fixed in one position, which is not correct. The real one can deflect -2°30'(left) to +9°(right) in azimuth and +3°30'(up) to -37°(down), and also lock on to a target with Shkval.

(I made a thread about this, some time agoe)

However Vikhrs and Hellfires can be locked and fired when hovering, and the Cobra's cannon moves, so I'm not sure what you meant?

-

Back to the flight model. I agree that overall there's to little tail rotor authority. The Bell 206 in FSX has a resonable amount of tail rotor authority even at 120 knots. When hovering the yaw is also faster. For example the AH-6, a small and very agile helicopter, shouldn't be worse in this aspect. The low tail rotor authority makes it harder to aim fixed cannons than it should be.

[Tunguska 0]

While I control the helicopters with mouse and keyboard I prefer flying the Harrier with a joystick. But that seems impossible due to a sensitivity problem I could find no solution to by searching the forum. I really would apreciate your help:

When trying to move left or right the plane does not react until the joystick is pushed to about halfway of its range. When a certain point is exceeded the plane reacts very abruptly and rolls over uncontrollably. No chance to compensate back the plane horizontally as it overreacts again the same when pushing the joystick back towards the other direction. The problem also occurs with helicopters but the movements are not as exaggerated as with the Harrier. Moving up and down works great, no problems with the vertical axis.

I tried to reset the joystick sensibility in my ARMA players profile but that does not seem to have any impact at all. I use a Logitech 3D Extreme Pro joystick with current drivers.

I play the German version patched up to current state. The game runs on high settings on my Core 2d 6600, Nvidia 8800GS machine. No graphic issues, game runs fantastic, just the joystick issue is bothering.

Sorry for the bad English and thanks for your efforts in advance.

Tunguska

[law-giver 189]

I too was an excellent pilot in flashpoint of old but now i have to have L-plates and i can't fly for shit! Considering the vast majority have a keyboard and a mouse then surely priority to the majority should have been given, with maybe an option to have realism enabled/disabled. I don't care if they fly more realistically, they handle like a turd on a stick.

I don't want to have to buy a game and then go and have to buy a joystick just to fly a few heli's. So far i've taken my disk out and popped it back in its case and back to flashpoint for me. With all the cool mods and addons its way better imo.

I think it'll be a while before ArmA will be at it's best. Cant wait. But until then back to old reliable.

[Jack-UK 0]

Really, i dont see the issue with ArmA piloting being too complex. I've yet to try the harrier but i've heard it has a sensitivity problem. Try flying from inside the cockpit, i cant fly 3rd person in ArmA.

If you fly in 1st person its easy, use the keyboard and mouse. The little bird is really easy to control, im not a good pilot in OFP/ArmA but im able to low fly those things along roads at about 5-10 m from the ground.

I use the keyboard and mouse with no issues. Not tried a joystick yet.

[Zadok13 0]

I've tried it again and I'm getting used to it. I haven't seen any of the problems described for a while now, and I managed to do the campaign mission. Since then I've tried all the aircraft except the Ka-50, and the AH-1 is by far the hardest to fly. I'll just have to put a lot of practise in I suppose.

[Jack-UK 0]

Glad to hear you're getting the hang of it

Easiest chopper to fly IMO is the MH6 Littlebird, master the control of that, then move up to different choppers and eventually u'll become a master

[kenjara 0]

One thing I found with regards to controlling the helicopters that may be useful is that the rudder almost does nothing at speed. If you slow down you can spin on the spot really easy.

[Jack-UK 0]

Yup, thats intentional as im pretty sure that happens in real life. I've heard comments that the rudder works slightly faster when in reality at low speeds however... BIS will tweak the flight model further i hope

[kenjara 0]

I think is pretty good as it is. My friend was whining because he couldnt fly a helicopter like he could in bf2 but I like the realism and enjoy the challenge of flying the helicopters as they are. Plus its logical that the rudder controls are ineffective at high speed because a helicopters never gonna turn well with that much forward momentum.

[Bad Pilot 0]

Sounds like I'll have to unplug my steering wheel and pedals to make my joystick behave, which is a shame cos I was hoping to use the pedals.