GLT's hands on AfrographX CH-47

[[frl]myke 14]

Good morning,

As we at GLT-Clan got permission to lay hands on AfrographX excellent CH-47, here a few WIP Screenshots:

We hope you like it.

Plans:

The CH-47 "Chinook" will be included into our Cargolifter pack, splitting the airlift capabilities into "light cargo" for the UH-60 and "heavy cargo" for the CH-47.

So you might transport a Car with both choppers but for a Tank you should look for the CH-47.

Any comments welcome.

Myke out

[lennard 447]

Looks good, Nice work

Also thought about adding a gunner in the rear? Would be cool.

Lennard.

[ck-claw 1]

Looking Good!

Will you be fixing the 'Tex' error and upping the sound volume?

[[frl]myke 14]

@Lennard

as we plan to make it a Cargolifter, there are no plans to add weaponry of any sort. But might be something for the future. I will not say "no" just "no plans yet".

@ck-claw

my plan is to release error-free addons. An addon that writes error messages on-screen or in the arma.rpt is a no-go for me. Also the sound i will definately re-work but this is far down on my foot-long todo list.

[Shadow_Spyder 0]

Any chance for a Marine medevac Ch-47? Love your UH60 Medevac... but my unit is a marine unit, we could use something marine.... or maybe a UH1 if you can get your hands on one of those...

[Commando84 0]

Mm sweet with all 'em different camoes!

[.kju 3245]

hey Myke,

may I ask you for an unpopular decision.

Please make the addon modular by splitting each model / retex in

a separate PBO.

Preferably even the config for each to a separate PBO.

Reason: Download size.

Cons: More download hassle. More setup hassle for you.

Why:

Let's take an example with the OAC MOD.

We use the old CH-47 by AfrographX as replacement right now.

Now if you bundle them even with your other choppers - which

are great, yet not useful for the MOD - people will have to

download most likely +-10 times the size only for using one model of it.  

Thank you for the consideration!

[[frl]myke 14]

@ Q

i see your point and i understand it pretty well. I will try to do something different:

One p3d with the complete hull as hiddenselection.

All it needs then is a init eventhandler which sets the correct texture for the selected variant.

I will also rework the Medevac & Cargolifter Blackhawks for the same handling.

I guess this would be the best compromise, all CH-47 variants into one single addon but as less data as possible.

:EDIT:

As i will probably make a CH-47 medevac (thx for the input, Shadow_Spyder) i guess splitting it up into separate addons for Medevac and Cargolifter would be a logical decision.

[NoRailgunner 0]

They look good and would be nice to transport howitzer . Are you going to make triple hook load configuration like the real CH-47?

The central hook is rated to carry up to 12,000kg and the other two hooks 7,500kg each. But they wont really fly with a full equipped MBT like Abrams with 60-70t.

Would be nice to "feel" the differences of weight during transport flight. Are you going to mount two machineguns on starboard side (crew door) and one window-mounted on the port side?

Hehe and dont forget about independent side.

[lennard 447]

If you need an M240D model for starboard side machinegun. Just pm me.

Lennard.

[max power 21]

Looks good, but the panelling lines look too dark and thick on all skins.

[VXR 9]

Is there more plans beside the cargo script?

Will the textures be weathered or released as they are shown now?

[[frl]myke 14]

@ Q

Did some tests and i can release the whole CH-47 with one single p3d. The textures were applied by setobjecttexture so i guess i found the the max balance between download size and hassle for me and others.

Surplus this allows easy change of texture without creating complete new models. Might be interesting for mission makers. Also changing paintings during a mission is possible this way.

I guess this is a good way.

@ NoRailGunner

I know a CH-47 wouldn't lift a M1Abrams MBT in reality. But it is still a game and so i think it's a small loss on realism if the addon is made to lift MBT's.

At least you wont see a Littlebird carrying M1Abrams with this addon.

@ Lennard

Noted. Do you mind to send me a screenshot of it?

@Plaintiff1

Thanks for your comment. We will take a closer look on the textures and normal maps. At least it is still WIP. And finally, if you really dislike the texture, you're free to apply your own by using setobjecttexture.

@ VXR

Actually there are no plans as we are still in progress of learning how to make addons. But as stated before, we don't know what future brings so maybe we come out with some other Chinooks.

About weathering...hmm...we'll see what we can do but so far the textures are close to final.

@ all

Thx for the general heads up and all your input. We try our best to release it as close to perfect as we can get.

[william1 0]

Myke , will you check the blades spin direction ? the ch-47 by smiley-nick based on afrographx one had the blades rotating in the wrong direction , maybe you could fix that if that's the case

[[frl]myke 14]

@ William1

already done. At least i hope they rotate the correct way. At least i've changed the rotation on both..so i guess it is.

[Maddmatt 1]

Did some tests and i can release the whole CH-47 with one single p3d. The textures were applied by setobjecttexture so i guess i found the the max balance between download size and hassle for me and others.

Surplus this allows easy change of texture without creating complete new models. Might be interesting for mission makers. Also changing paintings during a mission is possible this way.

I guess this is a good way.

Possible bug with setobjecttexture is that after loading a savegame in SP the texture will be invisible. In this case it could make the whole chopper invisible

Maybe BIS fixed it in the latest patch, but considering that this bug has been around since OFP I don't have much hope in that.

A workaround is to save the texture name to the chopper via the setvariable command and run a looping script to detect when global variable 'time' is reset to zero (it starts from 0 again when a save is loaded), then re-apply the texture via setobjecttexture..

[wld427 1705]

if your interested in cooperation Project RACS has working configs, RVMATs, and door guns... we just have not finished it up yet....PM me if interested

[Kirby 2]

Did some tests and i can release the whole CH-47 with one single p3d. The textures were applied by setobjecttexture so i guess i found the the max balance between download size and hassle for me and others.

Surplus this allows easy change of texture without creating complete new models. Might be interesting for mission makers. Also changing paintings during a mission is possible this way.

I guess this is a good way.

Possible bug with setobjecttexture is that after loading a savegame in SP the texture will be invisible. In this case it could make the whole chopper invisible

Maybe BIS fixed it in the latest patch, but considering that this bug has been around since OFP I don't have much hope in that.

A workaround is to save the texture name to the chopper via the setvariable command and run a looping script to detect when global variable 'time' is reset to zero (it starts from 0 again when a save is loaded), then re-apply the texture via setobjecttexture..

Super stealth helicopter? Ahahaa.

But seriously, looks good so far.

[.kju 3245]

sounds fair enough Myke - thanks!

[mrcash2009 0]

I haven't used any of your work yet but one question, will your addons take over sound for the helis (have its own) or are they left for sound mods / default to do the work?

(I prefer leaving to sound mods personally).

[1in1class 0]

CH-47 is looking good keep it up this chopper is much need in ArmA as is the AH-64 its the main key helicopter in the US. Would love to see them uptodate.

[[frl]myke 14]

@Maddmatt

Noted. Do you know if an init eventhandler is launched after reloading a game? If so the problem is already solved as the texture is applied via init EH.

If not i'll see to get a workaround to work.

[max power 21]

@Plaintiff1

Thanks for your comment. We will take a closer look on the textures and normal maps. At least it is still WIP. And finally, if you really dislike the texture, you're free to apply your own by using setobjecttexture.

Naw, I wouldn't do that.

Quite frankly, I'm not a big addons consumer. I hope my texture critique was helpful in this addon or in future addons.

[Maddmatt 1]

@Maddmatt

Noted. Do you know if an init eventhandler is launched after reloading a game? If so the problem is already solved as the texture is applied via init EH.

If not i'll see to get a workaround to work.

Init EH is only launched for vehicles at the start of the mission. However the global variable 'time' is reset to 0 when loading. So you can have a script that runs a loop (lauched via the init EH).

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

while {!isnull _plane} do

{

if (time<3) then {_plane setobjecttexture...};

sleep 2;

};

Something like that.

It would save some effort to just go the usual route and have different models. Textures contribute more to file size than models anyway I think.

Maybe BIS should be nagged to fix the bug with these textures being reset after a load