UAV guide ?

[frederf 0]

It does work with the module and the trailer and the UAV. You are right about the weapons thing though. The problem is that this "unmanned" aerial vehicle actually have a 2-man aircraft with a rifleman driver and gunner in it. The driver is the defacto "vehicle commander" so when you use the UAV trailer it places you as the UAV gunner. The driver acts just like any other vehicle commander which will command you to switch weapons, will fly directly at enemy targets, etc.

[Alex72 1]

I made the module trailer uav sync, but in MP only me could get the action "UAV" up. I added my mate in my squad etc but he never got the action. Then when he placed himself as leader (module synced to) he still couldnt get it.

Must be something else i need to do in MP for it to work. However its quite useless in its current state. Hope it gets better with patches.

Alex

[THEBLITZ6794 10]

it needs to be able to hover or circle with stabalization, depending on the type

[frederf 0]

Alex, dedicated server or no?

[engel75 10]

For targets that are red dots on the radar and are in the forward 60 deg x 30 deg cone in front of the UAV. You can step through the available target designations using "Next Target" which is default tab. If the target is not red or is to the side or behind the UAV you're out of luck for the moment.

Once you designate a target a box will appear around it. You then have to get the UAV to turn to face the target enough that the Hellfire is in angular launch parameters at which time the lock circle will appear along with the box.

Then fire.

This works once for my 1st target but not for any other target I try to lock. The pilot tells me "Target Tank" and this "broken" red circle appears at the target but no green circle or square.

And I fly directly in the direction of the new target... tried it for three hours now...

[frederf 0]

Right, the 4-segmented target circle is just a UI indication of your orders. Unless the target itself is not sufficiently bright red, you won't be able to step-target (Tab) lock it.

You should be able to manually designate placing the cursor over the IR lockable (but not red-radar) target and use the Lock or Zoom command.

EDIT: I've done some testing and it's possible to designate "gray" targets using the cusor+ Lock or Zoom command. However with the hellfire it is difficult to get the cursor over the target since it is not attached to your turret view.

Try the following test: On Utes runway place 1 rifleman (player), 1 empty T-72, and 1 empty AH-1Z. Start and get in the AH-1Z as gunner. Switch to Hellfire. Notice the big circle crosshair (crosshairs on) for the Hellfire. You cannot move this cursor right now. Engage freelook with 2xLAlt and swing the (now invisible) cursor over the empty T-72 target. Press the button for Lock or Zoom to designate the empty T-72. Notice that if you enter the optics view as AH-1Z gunner you can no longer move the cursor over the empty T-72.

When you are in the UAV from the UAV Trailer module you have no ability to point the cursor (it is fixed ahead along the Hellfire boresight) with the turret view. Thus it is impossible to designate-under-cursor any targets as UAV gunner while using the UAV trailer module unless you get extremely lucky and the pilot points the aircraft (and thus the cursor) directly at the empty "Gray" target.

Edited July 13, 2009 by Frederf

[engel75 10]

Right, the 4-segmented target circle is just a UI indication of your orders. Unless the target itself is not sufficiently bright red, you won't be able to step-target (Tab) lock it.

You should be able to manually designate placing the cursor over the IR lockable (but not red-radar) target and use the Lock or Zoom command.

EDIT: I've done some testing and it's possible to designate "gray" targets using the cusor+ Lock or Zoom command. However with the hellfire it is difficult to get the cursor over the target since it is not attached to your turret view.

Try the following test: On Utes runway place 1 rifleman (player), 1 empty T-72, and 1 empty AH-1Z. Start and get in the AH-1Z as gunner. Switch to Hellfire. Notice the big circle crosshair (crosshairs on) for the Hellfire. You cannot move this cursor right now. Engage freelook with 2xLAlt and swing the (now invisible) cursor over the empty T-72 target. Press the button for Lock or Zoom to designate the empty T-72. Notice that if you enter the optics view as AH-1Z gunner you can no longer move the cursor over the empty T-72.

When you are in the UAV from the UAV Trailer module you have no ability to point the cursor (it is fixed ahead along the Hellfire boresight) with the turret view. Thus it is impossible to designate-under-cursor any targets as UAV gunner while using the UAV trailer module unless you get extremely lucky and the pilot points the aircraft (and thus the cursor) directly at the empty "Gray" target.

Ok I understand that but this way the UAV is not usable imho. And I am not sure why I can only target the 1st target and non of the following targets the pilot gets insight. The Pilot is targeting like crazy but no hellfire lock appears and every hellfire fired does not hit.

[frederf 0]

The UAV Hellfires are perfectly usable if the targets are of the bright red "steppable" type.

[Trapper 0]

Can anyone tell me how to "unlock" the UAV from a target that it's chasing?

I want to have it just cycling again somewhere else, but it ignores the waypoints and repeats it diving runs.

(The target can't be hit/destroyed because it's surrounded closely by buildings)

[pooroldspike 129]

I'm not a UAV expert but I dabbled with it a while back and am pretty certain that I could lock onto any spot on the ground (with a mouse click?) so that the camera kept pointing at it no matter which way the UAV kept wriggling and turning, very useful for keeping an eye on the enemy behind a hill.

But I seem to remember I had to do some script to make it stay at higher altitudes to get a better smoother view.

But overall when it came to firing Hellfires and stuff, I found the UAV was too difficult to work with so I gave up on it.

[jakerod 254]

I normally just tell it to fly away from the objective and then fly back at it. Then I lock a hellfire onto a Red vehicle and fire.

[Trapper 0]

That's my problem, the UAV seems to ignore the order to fly to another area and stays focused on the target i want to spare. At least I lost patience after 5 minutes of that behavior...

[pooroldspike 129]

I've been running some UAV tests but have still got a long way to go.

I can get it to work fairly well in what I call "Recon mode' (unarmed), but when it's carrying Hellfires it seems to develop a mind of its own and goes off swooping down and crashing into mountains etc.

Recon mode is pretty useful on its own as it gives you an all-seeing eye in the sky, this is the script- this flyInHeight 1000, (don't forget the spaces, and the I and H are capitals)

The 1000 refers to its cruising height, you can set it lower or higher, but things look misty at higher altitudes unless you're using a long visibility setting.

You enter the UAV via the UAV terminal, and the camera will stay locked on the crosshairs (no need to click).

You climb/descend with the Q and Z keys.

Hitting 'N' cycles through DTV/ white hot/ black hot.

PS- i'm still working on how to make it stick to a patrol area; effects of making it Playable as pilot/gunner; entering it via the 'switch to unit' command, and how to get the bloody Hellfires to work..;)

Edited May 11, 2011 by PoorOldSpike

[sorophx 25]

ho-kay, I've been fooling around with the Predator for a couple of hours now, and I am yet to successfully lock onto a target with its Hellfire missiles. it has the 114K AGMs, which I believe are laser guided. so, at first I tried to guide them with the UAV's laser, and it didn't work. so I figured, "why not try the almighty Tab key".

funny thing is, currently Tab just locks the UAV's camera on a spot and doesn't seem to do anything else. so I am wondering, was it changed? if yes, how do you switch targets now?

I did somehow manage to get timestamped markers with spotted vehicles on the map while in UAV mode. but I can't yet figure out how

[Tonci87 163]

This thing is absolutely broken and useless

[sorophx 25]

aaaww :(

would be nice to get a developer response (preferably, from the one that designed this thing)

[kilrbe3 37]

This thing is absolutely broken and useless

This & so much this. I have yet in my ARMA 2 lifetime, seen the stupid UAV doing anything worth its time. None, Zip, Zero. It's so broken, its almost un-repairable, and in the kindest regards, I don't think its going to be fixed anytime soon by BI, or on their To-Do list. Which is okay, there are better community replacements for it anyway. Like the RQ-11 Raven.

I love the MQ-9 model an whatnot, but everything else about it is just so broken. It's flight path (its waypoints, that cant be changed or custom), you have about 5-10 secs of shaky camera time and thats it. Missiles 99.9% always miss. It's just a pile of junk.

[Lightningstrike 10]

it is yet 2013 and the UAV is still nearly useless... :(

[Tonci87 163]

it is yet 2013 and the UAV is still nearly useless... :(

And most likey it will remain like that.

A real shame...