Mattressi

I've just noticed that fixed guns with optics (such as the L111A1 minitripod and the minigun on the SUV in the PMC campaign) don't actually work for me. They fire fine, move around fine and will zoom in and out fine, but I can't actually look through the optic that's attached to them. I first noticed it in the PMC campaign, but I thought that maybe it was just there for show and that most people probably play with the crosshair on and don't notice. However, on the L111A1, the sight covers a reasonably portion of the centre of my screen, making it impossible to even 'walk' the bullets to their target. I've got to assume something's wrong. Is this a bug with the game, is it specifically a bug on my end, is there a separate key to use the sight (I tried RMB and /[NUM]) or is the sight purely intended to be aesthetic and non-functional?

Already covered that, one line below:

On a related note, will Arma 3 have an option to invert the Y axis ONLY when in aircraft? Or at least have an option to bind a key to switch between inverted and not?

Do you mean on a static gun in a helicopter (like a door gun)? If so, I just tried it then and both RMB and NUM 0 bring up the ironsights. In fact, any static gun with ironsights works if I press RMB, but static guns with optics (Aimpoints, ACOGs, etc) only work if I use NUM 0.

Thank you so much! I don't know why I didn't try that, but it works! And to think; I played through the entire PMC SUV escort mission without using the sights and with no crosshair, lol.

Yeah, I've tried the v key, RMB and the optics mode key (/[NUM]) and none of that has worked. With those keys I can normally see through a sight and switch between sights (irons or Aimpoint, for example). Here's some screenshots: Looking straight on http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7508/arma2oa2012072407340527.jpg (114 kB) Clicking and holding RMB http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3803/arma2oa2012072407342418.jpg (120 kB) I didn't take one of me just clicking RMB, since all it does when using the L111A1 is quickly zoom in a little and then zoom out (the same as what happens when you're unarmed). And here's me looking down, in case this is odd http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5853/arma2oa2012072407345212.jpg (123 kB) I'm running Arma 2 Reinforcements (a shortcut targeting the OA exe and with "-mod=BAF;PMC -nosplash -skipintro" after that, without quotes) Any ideas about what's wrong would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :) Edit: I tried to get image thumbnails working, but I just can't seem to do it on this forum. Sorry.

I'm the same; I use mouse forward for nose down and mouse back for nose up and use mouse forward on infantry for look up and mouse back for look down. Do you have pedals? I've found that I'll often lose someone out of my sights because they moved a little left or right. If I use the joystick to go left or right, I'd just roll, rather than turn, losing them in the Y-direction too. If I use the rudder keys I turn left or right, but the keys make me turn too far (they're just not accurate). Using pedals for the rudders gives you much more precision for targeting and holding a target.

Since I've started flying helicopters with a mouse and keyboard (as opposed to just keyboard), I've found it quite a bit easier to fly precisely. My main issue with this (and the reason I used to fly with keyboard only) is that I only mouse-fly with an inverted Y-axis (in FSX and other games). The problem with this is that when I get out of the helicopter (or when I want to freelook), the Y-axis is still inverted. I've asked before if there was a way to invert the Y-axis ONLY for helicopters, but was told that isn't possible. So, now I'm thinking that there must be a way to bind a key to toggling inverted Y-axis off and on. Does anyone know how to do this? Thanks in advance :)

That's...different. I've honestly never heard of someone who plays FPSs with an inverted Y axis. Maybe I'm actually the minority, but I was under the impression that most PC gamers use the default mouse axis. If I'd just like to hear what people do who don't invert the Y axis for normal infantry play. Maybe the majority all use either non-inverted or inverted Y axis and don't switch between when flying or using infantry? Maybe lots just use the keyboard only? As gunso said, the flight model isn't complex enough for me to bother with a joystick (though, once I get TOH and use the Rearmed patch, that might change), so I tend to just use the mouse and keyboard. I used to use keyboard only, but there just isn't enough precision for me when flying helicopters (though, for planes, the keyboard is better IMO). Does anyone else have any solutions? Does anyone else even have this problem? Are there mods or some way to make a mod that would help/fix this?

Damn. How do other people fly using the mouse and keyboard, then? Does everyone just either put up with having the Y axis inverted always or do people learn to fly with no Y axis inversion? Surely there's a way to toggle between them without having to go into the settings every time I get in and out of a helicopter (or want to freelook in a helicopter)?

Ok, thanks very much for that. I'd still like to get ToH anyway, but not as much as if the flight model for ToH helicopters could be easily applied to Arma 2 helicopters. I missed the flash sale on Steam recently, so hopefully it goes on sale again soon; if not, I'll wait a bit. If I get it soon, I'll have a play around with creating new helicopters and see how far I get. I've modded a little before, but nothing as complicated as this. Thanks for all the information :)

Are there any mods which improve the helicopter flight model? I haven't been able to find any, but perhaps I've just overlooked some. Also, if I buy Take on Helicopters and use the Rearmed patch, is there a way to give the Arma 2 helicopters the TKOH flight model (light for AH-6, etc)? I remember reading somewhere that the TKOH flight models will only apply to TKOH helicopters - that is, Arma 2 helicopters will still fly the same. But, would it be possible for me to mod the TKOH flight model onto Arma 2 helicopters? I don't necessarily need the startup sequences and all that, just the actual flight model (better aerodynamics and more realistic controls, such as the collective being a 0-100% range, rather than something you push like a car accelerator). Is this possible? If so, I'll buy TKOH (and Hinds). Right now I've only played the demo, but it seems a lot better than Arma 2 in terms of flight model realism (though, still not perfect). In short, is there any way to give Arma 2 helicopters a better flight model (through mods, modding myself, purchasing things, etc)?

It might just be and issue with the OFP mod then. The time it happened in OA, it was a huge firefight, so maybe there was an enemy that could see me somewhere who was directing the other AI's fire (though, I still think it's too accurate even for directed fire when they're blindly shooting through leaves). Aside from that, the AI has always been extremely intelligent (relative to other games, of course), but also have acted with human limitations (like, shooting at my last known position while I crawl away).

I've been shot through quite a few different 2D objects (leaves and such), but I think it's always been in mods. I know that the final mission of the OFP remake mod annoyed the hell out of me because AI would shoot through trees that they were behind. I was both in the open and eventually made it to the forest and took cover behind trees there, but I would still get shot at by AI who I couldn't see. This isn't an issue when they're in the open and I'm hiding (because I assume they're just being smart and shooting into the tree they saw me run behind), but it annoys the hell out of me that if they get LOS of me, then I run in a way that puts a bush right in front of them between me and them, they shouldn't be able to accurately shoot me while I continue moving. This is the only real fault I've found with the game. I also noticed something similar when playing a OA; I saw enemies run behind trees, with the leaves covering them (and right in front of them). I fired through the leaves and, despite being a good 100m away, instantly had fire returned accurately to my position. If I'd fired out of the bush, I would expect this, but I just can't see how someone could accurately pinpoint a shooters location from being shot through a tree right in front of them. In short; enemies seem to react the same whether I'm shooting from cover right in front of me or shooting through cover right in front of them. Can anyone confirm this still happens? This happened quite a while ago, so I'm not sure if it still happens.

I've recently tried flying the helicopters in Arma 2 with the mouse, having previously used only the keyboard, while using the mouse to freelook. However, flying using the keyboard makes accurately shooting things very difficult (such as shooting things with the Littlebird) and makes other precise movements difficult too. Mouse-based control certainly helps, however I only seem to be able to use it when the Y axis is inverted. The problem I have with this is that it means that when I freelook or get out of the helicopter, my vision is still inverted, which makes it impossible for me to play. Is there some way (editing config files or mods, maybe?) to make it so that the Y-axis is only inverted for aircraft or even for all vehicles (though, I'd prefer aircraft only)?

I'm playing with the latest beta patch and ACE mod (with all of the optional parts too). I'm doing the mission where you need to detonate the barricades. I've placed satchel charges on a barricade (I've tried placing 1, 2 , 3 and 4) and detonated the charge(s), but nothing happens to the barricade. When I had 4 satchels placed, I actually blew up a nearby wall, but the barricade still didn't have a scratch on it. Any idea how I can fix this or if I'm doing something wrong. Also, I tried placing them on both sides of the barricade. Another quick question: how the hell do I disarm the IED without getting close to it?? I've tried shooting it, I've thrown a grenade right on it, which exploded right on it, tried throwing smokes on it. Nothing has worked, except walking up to it, which magically detonates it (despite the concussion of a grenade not doing that...). There are no bad guys left around the whole place. What do I do?

I've got the Forgotten Few and I'm loving it so far. I'll check out SEAL Team Six too. I searched for "PMC ACE barricades" and got nothing. Guess I should have tried without ACE too. I'm not complaining or saying it's the fault of the mission designers (or ACE designers or anything); I was just wondering what was up. Thanks for letting me know.

Oh, ok then. I just assumed that ACE was compatible with the campaigns. I'll take it off then and see what happens. Thanks :) Also, is there a way to find ACE-compatible campaigns/scenarios? I tried searching on armaholic, but I've only been able to manually search for it. Not sure if there's a better way. All I've been able to find that's compatible with ACE is the Thursk set of scenarios.

A long time ago I had a few flights in an R22 (that is, I was flying it, with an instructor of course). Since then I haven't flown at all, but I recently heard about TKON and thought I'd give it a go. The demo has been quite fun, though it doesn't seem to perfectly match my experiences (though, as I said, they were a long time ago). I'd think quite a lot of the issue is that I'm flying with the keyboard only. I can easily manoeuvre through the training and missions, but I find it to be quite difficult to maintain a perfectly steady hover. So, I'm in the market for a good joystick (preferably with some kind of collective and pedals; even if the collective is just a plane throttle). The thing I'm wondering, is if there are any joysticks out there that respond like a helicopter cyclic - from what I can remember, the cyclic didn't spring back into the center if I let got of it - rather, if I were to let go of it, it would slowly fall away and could potentially cause a dangerous situation if allowed to fall too much. I tried the only joystick at the local computer store and it sprung back to center after I moved it. So, the question: are there any joysticks that don't do this? I know that it's not a huge issue, since I don't plan to let go of the joystick anyway, but I was just wondering if there were more authentic helicopter-oriented joysticks. Thanks, Matt

Awesome, thanks for the replies! I never thought of just taking the spring out of a joystick (I assumed it'd be more complicated). The C-Tek flight controls are more in the price range I was looking at. I might see if I can find any reviews (though, you mentioned you couldn't, zentaos) and get one if there's nothing too negative said about them. Looking forward to seeing how you make your controls, zentaos; if you can get it working, I might even give it a shot if I haven't already bit the bullet and bought some expensive controls. Thanks again :)

Wow, they look great! But the price is certainly quite high. I'm not sure I want to spend that much yet - maybe when I get more into helicopter sims. Are there any cheaper controls (joysticks, rather than those excellent cyclics) that work in a similar manner? If not, I might just buy one of the regular joysticks, play around with it for a while and if/when I start to really want a "real" setup, I'll move to one of those control systems.