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AH-64D Apache Longbow for ArmA2 by Nodunit and Franze

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I'd consigned the hope of seeing this addon released to a vague distant future. I've played through all the training, and am about to finally embark upon the campaign. Nodunit, Franze, you've heard this said in this thread ad nauseum, but great work. I've never loved any ArmA 2 addon this much - And all the more because I'm a huge, huge fan of the AH-64D and WAH-64 (My greatest job fantasy being to pilot one)

I eagerly await the Take On Helicopters variant - And the variant for ArmA 3, should you decide to develop for the newer game.

One question, and I apologize if you've already answered this: Have you any plans to release the British WAH-64? I ask primarily because the HIDAS defensive system would be a great deal of fun to use (That, and I secretly like its paint job better)

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In training you can not load the missiles, but if the rockets .... have if someone else can confirm and fix it Please

If you're in the Weapons Training mission, you are restricted to loading two rocket pods and two missile racks at a time.

Well, do you have a way where a mission can start with a partially-performed sequence, i.e. battery and APU turned on and warmed up for about 67% of the time needed, or battery/APU both turned on and warmed up for long enough with both engines started but the throttles at idle?

The switch "fza_ah64_cem = false" will enable standard BIS helicopter startups (Q/throttle up to start).

One question, and I apologize if you've already answered this: Have you any plans to release the British WAH-64? I ask primarily because the HIDAS defensive system would be a great deal of fun to use (That, and I secretly like its paint job better)

Further variants were planned but I don't know if we will make them for A2. TKOH will see these variants.

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The switch "fza_ah64_cem = false" will enable standard BIS helicopter startups (Q/throttle up to start).
I'm not asking about that, I'm asking about whether a mission can be scripted to start with an AH-64D's startup sequence already partway performed.

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I'm not asking about that, I'm asking about whether a mission can be scripted to start with an AH-64D's startup sequence already partway performed.

Yes, use the following:

fza_ah64_pwron = 1; - will turn the battery on

fza_ah64_apuon = 1; - will turn the APU on (make sure fza_ah64_pwron is 1 for this as well)

heli animate ["plt_eng1_start",1]; - will set the No1 engine to ON

heli animate ["plt_eng2_start",1]; - will set the No2 engine to ON

heli animate ["plt_eng1_throttle",1]; - will set the No1 throttle to FLY (use 0.25 in place of 1 to set throttle to idle)

heli animate ["plt_eng2_throttle",1]; - will set the No2 throttle to FLY (use 0.25 in place of 1 to set throttle to idle)

heli animate ["plt_rtrbrake",1]; - will set the rotor brake to OFF (use 0 in place of 1 to set to ON)

Note that if the engines are ever shut off, all will return to the neutral state and the standard start sequence will have to be performed again.

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There's something the training missions and manuals haven't mentioned. Is taxiing or a running takeoff possible? I assume ArmA 2 simply won't allow such things; though does Take On have any provisions for it?

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A2 has no provisions for rolling takeoffs or landings (at least, not without damage); TKOH does. You can check it out on the TKOH Heavy helicopter as it has wheels.

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Yes, it's technically possible through scripting, but I'm somewhat leery of the price in scripting power cost to do so versus an out of the box solution like in TKOH.

ETA: A more detailed explanation is that we tried it before and the overall complexity is that you have to detect your ground contact points for each wheel, set the helicopter's pitch and bank to conform to the terrain, and consistently setpos the helicopter just above that position, while adding in power and cyclic plus pedal inputs.

Edited by Franze

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In other words, if the only solution is too patchy and it can't be done in a manner that matches the quality (not to mention script-efficiency!) of the rest of the chopper, it wasn't worth doing in A2 at all.

And I'm fine with that. What you have done with it was nothing short of amazing.

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This is what happens when you run into a tunguska without your jammers active

clippe_zps454cd1f3.jpg

those guys sure know how to make things go from well to hell in a split second.

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I played the second Campaign mission, titled Night Owl, and made the mistake of flying so fast that by the time I'd spotted enemy units I couldn't stop in time. I was flying over their heads a split-second later and the missile they launched after me shrugged off my jammers and went right up my ass.

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The SA-19 is a deadly threat - there's a big reason why you don't want to be detected by them and to be sure you operate near cover. The RF jammer can help along with chaff, but sometimes you just run out of luck.

Meanwhile, v1.1 has been uploaded! We have fixed a few bugs and some nagging issues with this update.

v1.1 -

- Engine startup now has sounds and UFD/WCA page feedback for state of components.

- APU and engines will burn fuel in complex startups.

- IHADSS must be turned on (IHADSS toggle action) after battery turned on.

- Added IHADSS toggle capability to click action on IHADSS storage box.

- UFD, MPDs, and IHADSS in off state until battery, APU, or engines are on.

- Added rotor RPM audio message when exceeding 110% and an altitude above 5m while ENG page active.

- Modified UFD messages to be uniform in color and size; removed some messages.

- Replaced main rotor sounds with Robert Hammer samples.

- Improved shadow LOD.

- M230 burst behavior changed - waiting 1 second or more in the middle of a burst resets burst limit.

- Fixed FCR page components errors with TSD.

- Fixed gunner unable to turn on FCR in single player.

- Fixed Pilot-CPG damage effects - now passed between crew members.

- Fixed click helper not appearing after resuming from a saved game.

- Fixed CPG TSD map not hiding.

Known issues -

- Player will report 'out of fuel' radio message with CEM on. Reason: to keep

player from being able to take off without going through startup procedure,

fuel is set to 0 until startup procedure has been followed. Cannot disable the

default radio 'out of fuel' message.

- IHADSS toggle sometimes takes several activations/presses to initialize.

- Betty audio messages will play when dead or out of aircraft.

- Audio issues with engine loop sound.

Download available on the first page or here.

Edited by Franze

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I played the second Campaign mission, titled Night Owl, and made the mistake of flying so fast that by the time I'd spotted enemy units I couldn't stop in time. I was flying over their heads a split-second later and the missile they launched after me shrugged off my jammers and went right up my ass.

You shouldn't engage in combat that mission if it can be avoided, but always remember to not only operate near cover and have jammers at the ready, but also target them and ZUs and ZSUs first. The target filters help a lot there.

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Thanks Hellcat, Franze. Aye, I just thought I'd share my noob moment for the sake of a few laughs. I've downloaded the new version, so that's excellent.

Does anyone know if there's a way to target and engage multiple units automatically with RF hellfires, in a sort of ripple-fire function?

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Negative, you have to acquire and fire one after the other with RF missiles.

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EDIT: So just out of curiosity, how long would you guys be willing to wait on the start up sequence? Say we add the APU sound, how long would you be willing to sit for it to warm up to provide the power to engines? Ten seconds? Twenty? Somewhere in between? Faster or longer? I'm curious to know (would put it in a poll but..) I mean obviously 20 seconds is too much but how hardcore are you folks.

as long as you think is necessary. I know with the Su-25T I have to wait around 20 seconds for each engine to start up in DCS World and it doesn't bother me personally one bit.

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can someone tell me what is the key that activates the camera in the position of gunner? From the position of gunner can not find the way to activate the opticaltube. Can anyone tell me which is the key?

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awesome mod, the amount of work and fidelity is outsanding ... thanks for releasing it

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can someone tell me what is the key that activates the camera in the position of gunner? From the position of gunner can not find the way to activate the opticaltube. Can anyone tell me which is the key?

It should be Numpad 0 by default.

Edited by HellcatF6F

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I remember Ed Macy mentioning in 'Apache' that the preparation for a flight could take anywhere between fifteen to thirty minutes, because of all the pre-flight checks and diagnostics they had to run before they could get off the ground. I don't know if that's an exaggeration, but while you're naturally not going to make players go through a checklist, waiting a minute or three before getting off the ground to immerse the player more fully in the experience would not at all be unwelcome.

---------- Post added at 01:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 PM ----------

I want to report something that may be a bug. I'm running ArmA 2 CO with only the CBA addons and the Apache addon activated at the moment.

When the aircraft sustains heavy (but not catastrophic) damage, it sometimes starts to vibrate, and then shake a little. The shaking may get worse as time goes by, to the point the entire helicopter is spazzing out in a very glitchy manner, flipping end over end and spinning at ridiculous speeds - Which inevitably leads to a crash.

Edited by The Coyote

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For the purposes of A2, the 'quick' start will probably be kept - first reason is all the campaign missions and single missions were built under that premise and that a long, realistic startup would mess up the balance of those missions; second reason is that an actual startup would take longer than most mission durations.

The behavior you're talking about sounds like damage to the main rotor, which introduces oscillations to the rotor system.

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Guy's what to said, awesome job, thank you for this mod and keep going with improvement.

I just start to exploring this beautiful mod and learning how to handle this beast. I was little played in editor, inspire with ED Macy book about British WAH-64 pilots in Afghanistan, I put two mates to seat on both sides but when I fired from gun, both of them was killed. I understand if they gonna be killed if I fired rockets or missiles from pylons, but firing from gun should be safe for booth of them, so please if you can check about this. Appreciate

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If it means anything, I want to say that I wouldn't have minded paying for this addon. It really is wonderful.

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Guy's what to said, awesome job, thank you for this mod and keep going with improvement.

I just start to exploring this beautiful mod and learning how to handle this beast. I was little played in editor, inspire with ED Macy book about British WAH-64 pilots in Afghanistan, I put two mates to seat on both sides but when I fired from gun, both of them was killed. I understand if they gonna be killed if I fired rockets or missiles from pylons, but firing from gun should be safe for booth of them, so please if you can check about this. Appreciate

That one slipped through, we'll get it fixed in the next update.

If it means anything, I want to say that I wouldn't have minded paying for this addon. It really is wonderful.

Thanks for the kind words! Though if it were a paid addon we'd certainly want more content and more bugs fixed along with more polish than the rough edges we have now. :)

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