Step by Step Helicopter Extraction Guide

Hello all! First off, I have been watching this thread taking tid-bits of this and that to try and create my own mission(s).

Concerning this thread, I created a mission composing of SEVERAL add-ons by the awesome members of this community(i have so many add-ons i cannot name all of the authors for fear of getting them mixed up! You know who you are.....and MANY THANKS!!!!)

now to the thread at hand.I too, have had problems in this area..I.E:getting an a/c to takeoff and fly to a w/p and land,wait for troops to board and then take-off and return to (base).

After only soaking in the info here and at Armaholic.com,I have managed to scratch together my testbed of a mission.

Here's what i did:

1:I placed the great add-on USS Nimitz carrier in the Isla Duala map,including dusting the carrier with empty a/c of all sorts(but,only what you would have seen on a real a/c carrier.....Tomcat,Hornets....etc...as i said, you great authors know who you are!)

2:placed an Osprey on an elevator(still cannot figure out how to start the Osprey on a lowered elevator with folded wings/propellers and make it rise to deck level...ala "TOPGUN" scenes!)

3:I placed myself as a USMC pilot(Captain) and another USMC pilot(Lt.) near a/c.I order pilot to enter a/c and i enter as co-pilot(ride in back position,as i guess 2nd passenger gets co-pilot position)

4:created a waypoint(w/p) to the northeast airfield(Aeroporto Molatian AF) with a move w/p with an "on Act" code of helicopter land "GetIn"(i named the Osprey "helicopter" although i think you can name it what you want,as long as you keep the letters or numbers in name without spaces(?)...i'm assuming,providing you call it what you name it in the various fields that control the unit.)

5:Next i place a "load" w/p,typing within the condition field...((!alive unit1) or (unit1 in helicopter))...and so on for ever how many units are present to load into transport.

6:Next I sync the "move" and "load" w/p.(BTW, i did place invisible "H" landing zones on the Nimitz and airfield...although i do not know if it is needed.)

7:I created a USMC MSOB/MSOC Squad(4 men) to go to w/p of the Osprey( i named "helicopter") with the "Get In" order, then a w/p of the "Join" order.Then I sync the ground units w/p with the Helicopter "load" w/p(both "get In" and "join" w/p's....don't know if this means ANYTHING(?))

8:Then I make a w/p (for the transport,flown by the AI pilot with me(player)) to return to the carrier and land with the "helicopter land "getout" code)

Situation:Ordered pilot to enter Osprey as pilot.Then I enter as "ride in back" making me co-pilot.Hit "M" for map, and order pilot to 1st w/p by pointing at map at my 1st w/p on the airfield and left-click.Osprey spools up and does a nice turning takeoff from the deck and heads toward airfield.Osprey makes it to airfield and does an awesome combat ingress to w/p(I didn't expect it to enter the LZ that way...but i'll take it!looks very nice!)

Osprey goes into hover then lands NEAR intended w/p(50 meters or less)where the ground troops come running and enter the Osprey during spool down(props don't even get to fully stop before they board!)

Osprey spools back up and takes off returning to carrier.I'm giddy with delight!

Now the problem:The Osprey simply circles the carrier until it run out of fuel.It will not land on the deck.

I cannot figure this one out....I'm surprised i even got the Osprey to takeoff from the deck,let alone pick up the intended troops as directed!

Ah well, I'm halfway there!

Any suggestions?

Hi, follow these steps if you want to add a helicopter extraction to your mission in the editor.

1. First go to nonplayable, empty, objects, and insert a visible or invisible H (helipad) where you want to the helicopter to land.

2. Place a transport helicopter on the map where you want it to start flying from, I used a MH-60S seahawk. Name it as: Helicopter

3. Type Helicopter flyinheight 85 in the initialization. You can put any height number in.

4. Place a MOVE waypoint next (very close) to the helicopter.

5. Synchronize the first MOVE waypoint to whatever trigger you made (such as destroying an objective) that will cause the extraction to take place.

6. Next connect the MOVE waypoint to a LOAD waypoint placed on the helipad. In the ON ACT for the LOAD waypoint type:

dostop Helicopter;Helicopter land "land"

this forces the Helicopter to land on the helipad and turn off the engine.

7. Now place another MOVE waypoint right next to the LOAD waypoint (place it practically on top of it) In the condition for the MOVE waypoint type:

((!alive unit1) OR (unit1 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit2) OR (unit2 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit3) OR (unit3 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit4) OR unit4 in helicopter) AND ((!alive unit5) OR (unit5 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit6) OR (unit6 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit7) OR (unit7 in helicopter)) AND ((!alive unit8) OR (unit8 in helicopter))

What this condition does is it asks: Is the unite alive or dead? If he is dead then don't wait for him. If he is alive, is he in the chopper? If not then wait for him. Basically it checks to see if everyone is in the chopper before leaving to the next waypoints. You may need to adjust the condition to fit the number of units in the group for your mission. Also you should go to the group of infantry that you want to transport and individually name each one of them unit1, unit2, etc... so the Helicopter knows who you're referring to.

8. Now place the remaining MOVE waypoints that you want the helicopter to travel through.

9. Put a UNLOAD waypoint where you want the Helicopter to land. And an invisible helipad as well. For the waypoint under On Act type :

dostop Helicopter;Helicopter land "land"

to force the helicoper to land at the drop off point.

After doing all this (apart from the using "dostop") my men are picked by my heli and then once loaded heli takes off. But it doesn't go anywhere i have way points set it should follow, any one have any idea what could be wrong please?

Hey all, I am trying to get a heli "ghosthawk" to wait at point A until hostages are freed, then come in and land, have hostages load and then heli extracts them out once loaded on heli. Does anyone have anything that is working at this time for that??? Its for MP mission. thanks in advance.

I wrote a SP/Campaign mission (Alpha One Diaries - Baptism) and uploaded it to Armaholics that includes a perfectly working extraction routine (extraction.sqf). During the mission you can call for extraction from anywhere on the map. It sends a fleet of choppers to your location and extracts back to the base barracks. It uses many variables specific to the addon but a decent coder could use it as a template and amend accordingly. Do not remove the "sleep" commands; there is an anomaly that requires the "sleep" commands.

As a side note, if you enjoy the addon, and are capable of doing so, you can extract the PBO files and amend the three configuration files (config.sqf, configArrays.sqf, configScores) to configure the game to your own liking.