In need of flight school - KB and Mouse.

[Etc 10]

Hey guys,

So I have been playing the demo a LOT lately and I must say this is my first ArmA experience and it is absolutely amazing, great job.

I am having a lot of trouble flying the two helicopters half well though in the training mission. My chopper keeps see sawing and I often go nose straight up or nose straight down.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any guides or just had some tops for flying helicopters and planes with a mouse and keyboard.

Many MANY thanks :D

Etc.

[Alex72 1]

Mouse for easy tilt/roll and keys for hard when needed. Dont have any other real tips than that. I find it very nice in ARMA2. it feels heavy but with power even though rudder authority could be better and some more collective +/-

Not much help maybe, but i cant understand how you go nose up or down lol? Mouse move forward a little will tilt a little and not make you nosedive. ;)

[Thirdup 0]

I find the helos are actually very well controlled via kb/mouse. I pretty much always use a joystick for planes.

A few things I'd suggest for basic helos:

*Practice, practice, pratice.

*For training purposes (learning the basics) use 3rd-person view until you're comfortable with how all the controls are reacating. I think you get a better perspective of your situation and what's around you in 3rd-person (that is, unless you're using a TrackIR)

*Never turn on "auto-hover" (unless you're already in a steady hold pattern and just need a quick look around for something).

*Keep one eye glued to the "Alt and Speed" display at all times.

*Learn to bleed off speed and alt by flaring (nose up) slightly and dumping collective ("Z") well ahead of your aproach to an LZ.

*Keep your attack runs fast. Set up from a good distance, go in hot and fast and extend out beyond your run (and plan your pass so that you don't fly over an occupied town or enemy base, etc). Taking a little extra time to set up each pass will improve your odds of hitting a target and survining the run.

*Get a TrackIR once you've mastered flight.

Edited June 26, 2009 by Thirdup

[monty67t 0]

One trick that I found to be vital is to change these settings in the controls options.

By default mouse left and mouse right are set to left turn and right turn. I would highly recommend changing it so mouse left and mouse right are set to bank left and bank right.

Makes a huge difference in my opinion.

EDIT: With or without TrackIR I highly recommend using 3rd person view when making landings. In real life you have crew chiefs calling you in to landing zones and watching the rotors, tail, etc. Even with TrackIR you can't see what you need to see. Unless you have a full crew communicating with you and guiding you in, I recommend 3rd person view on landings.

Edited June 26, 2009 by monty67t

[An Fiach 10]

I played the Demo, (deleted now to save HDD space) and the choppers seem to be a lot more controllable as compared to ArmA 1. I don't notice the severe yaw issues v1 had unless you get really loose with the controls.

I hope I can get my system to handle the full version with some tweaking as haven't the funds to replace my Q6600. It ran great for the most part with most everything set to very high and fill rate 100% but I can see it bogging down in online play or scenarios with a large amount of AI.

[BaseJumper 10]

I played the Demo, (deleted now to save HDD space) and the choppers seem to be a lot more controllable as compared to ArmA 1. I don't notice the severe yaw issues v1 had unless you get really loose with the controls.

I hope I can get my system to handle the full version with some tweaking as haven't the funds to replace my Q6600. It ran great for the most part with most everything set to very high and fill rate 100% but I can see it bogging down in online play or scenarios with a large amount of AI.

Besides the Q6600 Quad Core, what's your graphics cards and system ram ?

Care to share ? :D

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

One of the least-needed flight-model "realisms" added in ArmA 1 was the need to constantly adjust your elevation (via collective) as you navigate uneven terrain.

When I was given a chance to fly the UH60 Blackhawk simulator at Ft. Rucker, AL, my old Air Cav Army buddy told me that the Blackhawk's computer managed terrain-hugging like you saw in Operation Flashpoint's helicopters. When I flew the simulator NOE I didn't even have to adjust the collective. I managed using pitch.

I'm guessing that this "realistic" change was the result of input from a CIVILIAN helicopter flight instructor. I won't name any names. I'm guessing most civilian helicopters don't have something like the Blackhawk's computer.

What STILL needs to be fixed is the way the helicopter banks over on its side when you try to change your facing using the tail rotor at the least little speed. I could see this happening in a Hind trying to make a tight turn at high speed, but the result would not be what it currently is, that it stays aloft in that banked position. It would lose a dangerous amount of altitude, IF it managed to recover.

[Defunkt 431]

- I recommend controlling the chopper with keyboard only (your WASD + QE for rudder) and reserve your mouse for freelook (toggle FL when you board and leave it), helps a lot landing in tight spaces and for general immersion.

- Auto-hover is hax.

[An Fiach 10]

Besides the Q6600 Quad Core, what's your graphics cards and system ram ?

Care to share ? :D

9800gtx 512 AND 4GB CORSAIR RAM

[monty67t 0]

One of the least-needed flight-model "realisms" added in ArmA 1 was the need to constantly adjust your elevation (via collective) as you navigate uneven terrain.

When I was given a chance to fly the UH60 Blackhawk simulator at Ft. Rucker, AL, my old Air Cav Army buddy told me that the Blackhawk's computer managed terrain-hugging like you saw in Operation Flashpoint's helicopters. When I flew the simulator NOE I didn't even have to adjust the collective. I managed using pitch.

I'm guessing that this "realistic" change was the result of input from a CIVILIAN helicopter flight instructor. I won't name any names. I'm guessing most civilian helicopters don't have something like the Blackhawk's computer.

What STILL needs to be fixed is the way the helicopter banks over on its side when you try to change your facing using the tail rotor at the least little speed. I could see this happening in a Hind trying to make a tight turn at high speed, but the result would not be what it currently is, that it stays aloft in that banked position. It would lose a dangerous amount of altitude, IF it managed to recover.

I was a Blackhawk mechanic and crew chief for several years and it most certainly does not have any kind of computer for managing terrain-hugging. The closest thing to that would be terrain radar which is not on the Blackhawk.

[aced170 14]

Are you currently Monty? The Army just got the new UH-60M Black Hawks, but I can't find anything on a terrain-hugging system though. Not like it matters I've only heard anything like that from anfiach. There aren't many choppers that do not require constant input from the pilot, and I haven't seen any reports on a system like that on any other chopper.

[monty67t 0]

The UH-60M is currently deployed to Afghanistan with my old unit. The Mike model has updated alot of things, but it doesn't have anything like a terrain-hugging super computer. You can learn more about the Mike model here.

http://www.sikorsky.com

[frederf 0]

I know the Ka-50 (and probably Ka-52) can do a simple downward radar altitude sensor-based altitude hold. I wouldn't trust it for serious NOE though.

[BaseJumper 10]

9800gtx 512 AND 4GB CORSAIR RAM

Thankyouverymuch ! :)

[An Fiach 10]

Are you currently Monty? The Army just got the new UH-60M Black Hawks, but I can't find anything on a terrain-hugging system though. Not like it matters I've only heard anything like that from anfiach. There aren't many choppers that do not require constant input from the pilot, and I haven't seen any reports on a system like that on any other chopper.

I didnt say anything about computers mate, you're misquoting (terrain hugging) I mentioned yaw, but that's a physics issue. Edited June 26, 2009 by anfiach

[galzohar 31]

When I drive anything I keep the mouse locked on freelook. It feels unnatural to manuever any vehicle with the mouse and the freelook is very useful when you're not using trackIR. I also have an (old) joystick and I *still* can't control my helicopter properly. That is, I can fly it around but trying to land on a given spot takes me way too long. I guess I need more practice/technique. Though the height up/down control seems non-intuitive.

[monty67t 0]

I didnt say anything about computers mate, you're misquoting (terrain hugging) I mentioned yaw, but that's a physics issue.

I was referring to the post by Uziyahu. :)