HWM ADDONS PACK V4.0 - WIP

[icebreakr 3159]

I agree with RobertHammer, current sound is like a BB version ... he even did a Eric's Hindbeta soundmod that my team uses all the time

[kasrkin85th 1]

@XSparky: thats great, also the gun recoil and damage system are fine, too.

i think engine/rotor sounds are fine, but roberthammer are right about the gun sounds.

the guy who flew in the vid needs some training in how to use a attack chopper in the field. no one will fly directly over the enemy when you can attack them from distance

[sparky 0]

i was flying it...

my purpose was to die for "mother country"

kidding, nah i just wanted to demonstrate this, i guess when you'll have it in your hands you can squeeze it the way you preffer

[GD Mast 0]

The cannon doesn't sound like a 30mm cannon.  That's the big thing.  Also the rate of fire doesn't sound right either.  Going to try and find a vid of the Apache firing the 30mm cannon (from soldier's point of view).

GD Mast

[Inkompetent 0]

The cannon *does* sound good. Inside the helicopter, where the sound really muffled and directed away from the helicopter. I can agree with that it sounds very "meh" outside though.

Non the less it looks marvelous! I don't want to imagine how much work has gone into all the FFAR proxies and to make the gunner interface.

[GD Mast 0]

A few months back somebody was working on a mod for the FLIR or was it AH-64 FLIR?  The video sounded so great and realistic.  It looked and sounded just like the Apache videos from Iraq and Afghanistan.  The interior cannon sound was spot on.  Anybody else remember who it was?

GD Mast

[mr burns 132]

Anybody else remember who it was?

Mikefectious. Sadly he disappeared and all his vids are removed from YT.

[PTV-Jobo 820]

Anybody else remember who it was?

Mikefectious. Sadly he disappeared and all his vids are removed from YT.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mikefictiti0us   If this is the guy, the videos are still up more or less.

[mr burns 132]

Anybody else remember who it was?

Mikefectious. Sadly he disappeared and all his vids are removed from YT.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mikefictiti0us   If this is the guy, the videos are still up more or less.

hmm..funny, they´ve been shown as "removed" in my favourites list. Good find

[GD Mast 0]

That's the video. Thanks!  Weird... that he just posted the video... then gone.  My guess is he probably just edited the actual sound in there.  Bummer, too bad.

GD Mast

[mikefictiti0us 0]

I'm still about. I didn't edit any sounds into that video either, and I searched through countless Apache vids for the best M230 sample that I could find. You're welcome to use the samples I have if you want, though I don't want to step on any toes.

Anyway, awesome work all round so far and kudos for finding a new method of implimenting FLIR! The only real issue I can see, as others have pointed out, is that the M230 needs a bit of work.

The ROF is definitely too high. I've read that a few Apache's use modifed M230's with slightly higher rates of fire but the majority stick with 625. Also, the tracers should look like large paintballs and (assuming that you are using HEDP ammo) the explosion effects should be larger and more dramatic. 30mm HEDP fragments as well, around 4-5 meters (IIRC) so there should be some splash damage as well.

[GD Mast 0]

I'm glad I guessed wrong then.     Good to see you're still around.

GD Mast

[shadow 6]

The helicopter is coming along nicely I see

A few more things I'd like to see for the M230 in addition to the correct ROF and sound:

[*]Barrel recoil backwards (see video)

[*]smoke from M230

.

I'd like to know more about the MFD overlays that was hardly visible in the YT video if possible.

Will the IHADSS also come in green (standard colour)?

[Αplion 1122]

Hi all,

just a minor WIP pic for you ...

... please have in mind that picture quality is not reflecting the true one

Also regarding M230 ... as far as I know it will have recoil movement and ofcourse we are working for a better sound.

@Shadow ... with all my respect ... is that smoke from M230 (in this video you post above) or the empty ammo shells ?

It is going down so ... smoke should be gone up I think ...

Anyway I'll have a better search on that and I'll come back.

[GD Mast 0]

Holy Shiite!!  That looks amazing!    

[the_shadow 0]

the smoke would probably not go up due to the downwash from the rotors...

you know, tha thing that makes the helicopter stay in the air and dont fall to the ground

[themaster303 22]

nice work , really like it.

@smoke gion down:

if its smoke it will go down from the rotors downwash.

greetz

[PTV-Jobo 820]

Just saw the RACS version......wow! My jaw dropped immediately. Gonna need an ice cold shower here in a sec. Seeing that, plus the videos....whoa baby. Can hardly wait! Keep up the excellent work, it's coming out splendidly.

[dr_eyeball 16]

FLIR:

The FLIR mode has been further improved yesterday, (although more possibilities still exist):

<ul>[*]colour flooding on the ground, water & cities has been eliminated

[*]new default mode is now grey-scaled (not B&W), with objects illuminated in white, which fixes water & sky shades and looks more natural

[*]the other 2 secondary FLIR modes will still exist as options: B&W (black & white) mode & RGB filtered mode

1. New default FLIR mode / 2. FLIR modes comparison

Will the IHADSS also come in green (standard colour)?

IHADSS:

<ul>Edit: I now think you must have meant the background colour. That has been added. Although most I've seen are violet.[endEdit]

Yes, the IHADSS has 10 colours, including (dark) green & (bright) lime, suitable for night & day. Later I might put in a configurable RGB scale.

Note: The HUD is obviously different for the pilot: primarily with velocity vector & horizon line.

Pilot IHADSS HUD image

I'd like to know more about the MFD overlays that was hardly visible in the YT video if possible.

MFD:

Regarding the MFD, although it's technically not native to the AH-64A model, as you can imagine, it was impossible to accomodate 50 items in the normal Action menu and an interactive analog console is not feasible, so a compromise was made to provide the MFD as a substitute interface.

Some of the benefits of the MFD:

<ul>[*]it's not a dialog, but an rscTitle, so you just toggle it on/off with your lookAround key (left Alt), it remembers your last page and also doesn't interfere with normal flying and (most) commands

[*]menu items can be selected using keys 0..9 or normal menu navigation

[*]it uses standard action key mapping for menu navigation, not hard-coded keys, so you should be able to map menu navigation to joysticks

[*]it handles a nested menu system (so many "pages" can be handled)

[*]it handles graphics underlays and icon/vector drawing modes

[*]currently the main menu pages are: Armaments, Targets, Chaff deployment, FLIR/PNVS/IHADSS/TADS, Vehicle accessories, plus sub-pages like Configuration.

[*]real-time updating

Sample MFD pages

Although probably not part of this AH-64A model's release, there's also work being done to handle:

<ul>[*]dual MFD screens, which becomes useful for combined radar & targeting.

[*]forward radar MFD (forward 80 degree sector)

[*]global radar MFD (360 degree)

[*]fully scalable & movable panels

Screenshot: Forward radar MFD

Footnote 1:

I wish to direct BI dev's to this post about EH ignores right bracket key bug too, since that limits the navigation interaction with the MFD buttons.

[roberthammer 582]

Very nice , can't wait to test it

[Αplion 1122]

the smoke would probably not go up due to the downwash from the rotors...

you know, tha thing that makes the helicopter stay in the air and dont fall to the ground

oups !! I must stop drinking to much !!

My mistake man ... respect

[sparky 0]

[*]Barrel recoil backwards (see video)

[*]smoke from M230

.

about the barrel recoil. Well the AH64A architecture doesn't alow us at this point to have only the barrel recoil. The reason is that the M230 is a proxy, the m230 proxy is the exact model part in order to represnt the approrpiate mainturret bone, in order to avoid a hard implementation. That's why we have put a vgeneric recoil/shake to the whole m230 (except the base and the pylons), in order to make and the barrel recoils seperate we need to make it a new proxy of it own, but this will demande a new skeleton bone (which at this point is a PROBLEM) since we've reaced the "skeleton array index out of bounds" durring binarization and that why w have to limit the skeleton bones. Alreeady if you see the video you'll notice that about 5-8 rockets don't produce flash.

About the smoke, we we can see what we can do, but no promisses.

[kasrkin85th 1]

it looks awesome right now. racs skin looks cool also...but flir is great, too. can´t wait to fly this beast.

any updates on release date? because i planning a campaign called "sahrani strike" inspired by desert strike game

[xnodunitx 0]

FLIR and sounds are quite good I can't really say there is much to comment negatively one except for the M230 sights and MFD. I understand that you are using the MFD for lots of actions in place of the action menu but why not use the VIDEO DISPLAY UNIT (VDU) in its place?

http://www.tpub.com/content....049.htm

And about the M230, the sights are great but that bracket surrounding the screen shouldn't be there, from all video's depicted the screen was clear with no obstructions on the sides to form a box.

[chops 111]

Fantastic work gentlemen! Looks like you have some great innovations with the MFDs.