While working at the KA-50 I noticed that the cockpit door animation for this helo isn't working. In the scene file the animation works but in the game neither alt + c (cockpit door) nor or shift + c (cargo door) does anything.

I would like to Fix the Altitude Hold so it works properly.

Currently, terrain following using Altitude Hold doesn't work. You engage it and it over-corrects or under-corrects as you fly and your altitude varies all over the place. A real helicopter behaves differently.
I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I've built and programmed simulators myself which were infinitely more stable than EECH is. EECH appears to use a defective proportional feedback loop. It should be using a full PID (Proportional-Integration-Differentiation) loop. I think the original programmers weren't versed in the physics and simply didn't know how to program it properly.

We can fix it. The input parameters are available within the program, you need three things: the current radar altitude, the current vertical velocity, and a time code for reference. The correction calculation is used to adjust the Cyclic to move the helicopter towards the correct altitude and keep it there without overshooting. That behavior is called Critical Damping. Currently there is very little damping at all, which is why it over corrects and hits the ground a lot.

Is there anyone on the team who can direct me in the code to the correct subroutines so I can dig in and take a look at it under the hood?

In eech.ini you can disable this. Or maybe i wrong understand.

I'd really love to see reflective, dynamic water using dx9+ shaders.

which is in my humble opinion, still superior to the hind in eech.

I think is not possible.

best way use external program to remap keyboard.

Also, there was some work done on the deadzones, but never really finished.

Customizable joystick response curves? Interesting idea, difficult to program.

I've also modded the automated controls in the sim so Altitude-Hold and Hover-Hold work now. I use Altitude-Hold all the time which takes over the collective making the helicopter very easy to fly, all you have to do is steer unless you go into radical moves to avoid weapons fire. I don't really notice the lack of an adjustable dead band in the joystick at all any more. You can download the mod here

For remapping keyboard commands I have a copy of AutoHotKey

You said a couple of buttons are hard-coded that you can't reassign. What buttons are those? We might be able to fix those ones.

However, personally, I think there's things with the helo sim that need worked on and improved first.

The key to precise control is a high quality Joystick, or do you have a more specific problem?

Hi Bunik,. I can see in the code where some joystick types are assigned a deadzone of 20%. Does that sound about right for your setup?

In all people steering work smooth,precisely and great.

Only you have problem.

so,where is problem- in game, or with you hardware/software?

The same about buttons. You not have good software for remapping, and you want change code in game.

With such arguments the discussion is unfounded ,good luck.

Test it for me and let me know if it corrects the DeadZone problem you're having.

Hi! Yes, it works! how nice to fly a helicopter now, thank you very much!))

the RAH-66 was capable of internally carrying 6× AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, or 12× AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, or 24× 2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 air-to-ground rockets, which would be evenly divided between a pair of retractable weapons pylons. Beyond storing munitions internally, the Comanche could also mount external stub wings to carry up to eight Hellfire missiles or sixteen Stinger missiles.

The maps in EECH are generated by the program. They are not outside rasters or pictures, but rather vectors and fill colors that are being drawn and easily zoomed in and out by the rendering engine. Bringing raster maps would be perhaps possible too, but then one needs to program and code all this in (as far as format goes) as well as the process of zooming moving, and maybe rotating.

Hi folks. I've created this thread to try and collate all of the various mods and requests that are spread about the forum in different threads and posts.

FM Stuff:

1. Make my ini Dynamics tweaks the default... including the comments, like dmrl at 0.9 for FM0/1 and 1.1 for FM2. Obviously when some of the below stuff is done, some of the explanatory text will go.

2. Fix Translational Lift option when FM2 is in use. Currently, on is off and off is on. Some people may choose to use FM2 with its bizarrely-weak Ground effect and Translational Lift even when it’s properly on, so might as well get that option setting working correctly. It’s also possible that in the long run this model might have more potential, such as with more stable yaw pedal performance, but only time will tell. (Edit: the ETL coding for FM 2 is very broken, as it's actually altering lift while in a hover)

2.1 Ground Effect actually seems to increase in the sim, at least in FM 0, the faster you go. I believe this is related to the main rotor pivot drag being decreased to 0.1 and the tail rotor drag in forward motion being at 10.0 in my ini, which is necessary for a variety of other reasons. You should actually get more GE the slower you go (and the lower you go, of course, with no significant GE with the rotor disc one rotor disc diameter from the ground), such that at RBS speed you get no significant benefit from GE. ETL does eventually slightly decrease if you go extremely fast, but this is mostly drag overtaking the effect, and by then you're close to RBS again, anyway.

3. Muted yaw on coaxials in FM2 needs fixing next. Makes them and much of FM 2 basically unusable right now.

4. Fix rotor brake engaging when you jump into an aircraft already in flight. Autopilot also sometimes is off. Falling out of the sky abruptly could be categorized as a FM problem.

5. Vibration from extreme cyclic and also on extreme coaxial yaw changes, so like from -1 to 1 of the roll axis in a split second would apply most vibration, and that same amount slower or a less amount just as fast would be less vibration induced briefly. Have it IAS-compensated, too, like the current banking angle vibration is, which is a good thing, by the way. Coning effects from just holding a bank causes some vibration, so don’t get rid of that. Edit: On the vibration, I forgot to add to the list the part about it needing to happen additionally moving in and out of ETL.

6. Main rotor damage from the more extreme #5 for longer lengths of time. Less length of time means less chance of damage. More extreme handling requires less time to cause damage. First instance causes some damage and main rotor oscillations, continued extreme handling after a few seconds of oscillations or another instance causes loss of main rotor. The damage and vibration threshold could lower when you are already damaged. Obviously the vibration and noise will be a warning this might occur before the first instance occurs.

7. Try to put RPM effects from FM2 into FM0/1, or at least make similar RPM response effects in FM0/1. The RPM effects in general need be greater even in FM2, so more sluggish RPM response and opposite effect even with very large and fast collective changes. Excessive RPM and eventually damage with rotor disengaged is already occurring with FM2. Rotor engaged effects are too slight right now, though. In general, RPM and lift needs to also increase sooner when you lower collective and nose down with rotor disengaged. During autorotation you manage RPM that way immediately, while currently there’s a lag for the first few seconds and you require a ridiculous amount of IAS and altitude loss to get the RPM to start increasing.

8. Add an axis in-sim for yaw scaling for people that don’t want to use PPJoy/GlovePIE. All the way to one end and you get normal full yaw available on the yaw axis, other end of axis and you get some fraction. Probably bringing the axis that’s been smoothed and added 2 then to the power of 1 is sufficient rather than a power of 2, which gives you a divider of 1 at minimum (the original axis), around 2 on the center of the axis, and a divider of 3 at max attenuation. A power of 2 for 1 of the axis itself plus 2 at max gives a divider of 9, which is excessive unless you’re doing crazy stuff with the ini yaw drag and acceleration Dynamics.
*Another method: https://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4555477/re-crosscoupling-poll#Post4555477

9. Yaw is too fast and ramping up on coaxials on FM0/1. The most extreme yaw rates in a hover are related to an acceleration or ramp up and increases dramatically after extended continuous pedal. It appears worse with higher altitude or collective. While yaw drag should not be mimicking yaw damping and yaw acceleration is really the wrong value to be adjusting, I don’t know how much of max yaw is dictated by the GWUT. A separate yaw damper parameter may be necessary. The only current damping reference in the source code is on wheel suspension.

10. In FM 0 and 2, auto coordinated turning mixes in too much yaw at low an IAS. Turn coordination needs to not occur until well into translational lift, and then only more slightly at low speed and to keep FPM centered during bank at higher speeds. 50-60kts is usually a good threshold. Right now on FM 0 and 2 it seems almost completely proportional to banking regardless of IAS or direction as if it's an inherent part of the roll physics independent of the aircraft's own yaw capability, making side slipping in a hover impossible without counter yaw, which is difficult to do predictably, as well as adding to yaw capability. So, for instance, on FM2 with coaxial helos, you clearly get more yaw by rolling than you do with the pedals. There should also be no turn coordination when going backward ever. Of course FM 1 doesn’t have a lack of ease of side slipping when in a hover...

11. FM 1 should really just be FM 0 without coordinated turns. The yaw streamlining when in forward flight is too weak right now to be remotely realistic in FM 1, though its current lack of coordinated turning is slightly useful considering the current ways it mixes in too soon in FM 0 and 2. Hypothetically, FM 1 could simply be removed completely if Auto Turn Coordination became an in-sim options setting like Translational Lift and Ground Effect are… assuming #10 can be done. In contrast, the only reason ETL, GE, and RBS are in-sim settings were so people could turn them off and see how deep the EECH flight model was. It is not easier to fly without ETL and GE, as should be glaringly obvious to anyone trying the current FM 2 with Translational Lift set to "ON" (actually off).

12. Zulu Cobra needs its max IAS and RBS threshold raised. Most other helos need it slightly lowered, but for the meantime I’d probably leave the others where they are.

13. Taxi yawing in FM 2 is not working right, as there seems to be weird force moments occurring, possibly related to the suspension mod interacting with the ‘alternative’ FM coding mod.

14. Ensure wind is part of IAS calculations when there is a headwind or tailwind. Not sure if it is.

15. G-forces head movement is too slow to move, especially on returning back to center.

15.1. Also, if G-forces are monitored on the aircraft, this would be useful for better affecting the sound of the rotors and vibration currently, as some of the ebbing of the sound is reminiscent of the rotors unloading at the top or beginning downward portion of a parabolic ascent, but the timing currently seems somewhat off.

15.2. Crosscoupling is momentarily off when disengaging autopilot.

15.3. There's still a bug where rolling in a, especially a Comanche, will cause a freeze in 1.16.2 while you're inverted.
*This can be replicated by going into a Comanche in 1.16.2 in a campaign (Cuba, Afognak, so far), ASE page showing, turning on the helmet mounted sight, cycling to padlock targets with prev/next target, and rolling.

15.4. Engine power (or I suppose collective pitch or lift calculations themselves) needs to be exponential or log, such that at 30% torque you're getting the equivalent of about 50 or 60% torque that we're currently getting without increasing the maximum available power. It shouldn't take so much torque to taxi (30% torque should be enough) or lift off with the combination of IGE & ETL (more than 30% torque but less than currently), but obviously we don't want to increase total max available lift or power beyond what we're currently getting with dmrl at 0.9 to 1.1 and the global drag at 3.0.

15.5. Hover hold with no altitude hold (where you manually control altitude) is causing collective, torque, or lift calculation issues (or maybe it's only including one engine) compared to 'stable' hover hold with altitude hold that agrees with full manual hovering.

15.6. Translational lift is still too weak in FM 0 & 1, though other values like global air density will have to be changed from 3.0 when it is fixed. Something like a fully loaded Hind should not be able to lift off without ETL, but ETL is too weak currently to provide enough benefit to fully compensate. Obviously FM 2 has ETL and ground lift even weaker than FM 0 & 1.

15.7. While it's too easy to get into VRS right now without tweaks, it's also too simple to get out of. Going to 120% torque should not get you out of a VRS if you still haven't gotten lateral movement, and you shouldn't be able to regain all cyclic authority until either you've at least reduced collective a little or already gotten out of the VRS somehow (wind, moved the cyclic in the direction opposite of the pedal required to keep a heading when adding power, etc). Going to 120% torque briefly is not the solution to VRS, in fact it should make it worse if that's all you do.

15.8. FM 0 & 1 have broken crosscoupling OFF behavior.

15.9. Nose pitch currently changes when in a stable hover hold and you switch FLIR on and off.

15.91. RBS should shift lower below Vne with added weight and higher G-forces.

15.92. Like to have random oscillations and vibration when near and behind other aircraft, based on front aircraft's size (total weight as proxy).

15.93. At highest altitudes, low density, and/or high temperatures, the engine compressor stages should reach their limits before you overtorque. Compressor stage performance is the limiting factor of max cruise altitude, not torque. Obviously at lower altitudes and temperatures, the current method of over torquing first is appropriate.

15.94. The Kiowa may have its RBS happening slightly too soon but definitely has way too much power such that it's very easy to reach the never exceed speed. Some of its analog dials are also giving wrong quantities..

16. Later on we can figure out a way to add my GlovePIE scripts into EECH so people have to do less setup. I will work on having three control modes where you double tap the trimmer button to change to each with a voice telling you the mode. First will be the current default pitch and roll wings level mode with manual trimmer. Second mode will be same as first but with auto trimming of pitch. Third will be full dynamic auto trim like the above posted scripts.

17. As for FM stuff off the top of my head, the final step before a complete rewrite of the FM code of EECH would be simply to find a way to stop the continuous roll that occurs past a certain roll angle. That way you could roll inverted, stop applying X axis, and it will stay. Right now, past about 0.40/-0.40 on X, you get this continuous roll. So when you are finally inverted, you have to deflect a bit back in the opposite direction to hold the attitude rather than just release stick pressure. This appears to be part of this artificial wings leveling it’s doing.

Non-FM wish list stuff:

18. I would like a view mode that keeps the FPM in the center of the view as you maneuver.

19. Calling in artillery or air strikes don’t seem to be working. Not sure if that’s actually a bug or just a misperception on my part. *Correction: Artillery calls requests work sometimes in Taiwan! Any other campaigns? Air strikes?

20. AI helos landing on top of helos.

21. Carriers don’t seem to be protected by CAPs or the rest of their group ships very well.

22. The game’s low-level foot of its contrast curve or gamma seems off, like you’d need a pro-quality CRT or an OLED to see any detail in shadows. I don’t mean just at night, which by the way I turn down to 0.3 darkness usually in the ini to make the NVG necessary. The gamma just seems oddly skewed. I can sort of adjust for this with my monitor or with NVidia settings, but it might be worth checking out.

23. The ability to change the amount of dust or have the dust change depending on environment. Deserts should have the most, obviously, and are fine where they are, but most other environments have too much dustout effect. Maybe use the same flag as clouds not being in deserts to have them get the full dust out and everywhere else get 50% of that amount.

24. Add jettison stores. Ctrl + J. Useful for increasing lift after engine failure.

25. Previous/next target both cycling in the same direction bug is also present in 1.16.1, so might be quite old. *Correction: Yes, bug from the beginning it looks like.

26. Escorts are being assigned way too late.

27. Recon mission transmission allowance needs to be much further away from X. For that matter, any helo should be able to transmit recon data whenever you want to update the campaign map.
*Seems to work. I will also include my latest ini again, but the recon fix is in this GWUT1162e.csv file.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14s9kHl9L2HZFGcB5ATCjLqiH_xvCFVAr?usp=sharing

28. Jumping into a landed helo at a FARP to start a mission that you have to activate the rotor and its gear is retracted with ongoing multi systems failures.

29. Swap the payload menu Hellfire L and R designations back from their technical designations to the original designations (L for laser, R for radar) the game used that are still used on the HMD and MFDs.

30. New issue in 1.16.2 where the sound stops working until restarting EECH.

31. In some campaigns you irreparably become immortal, with infinite weapons and fuel, and must restart the campaign.

32. The horizon is too bright at night when it's not just before dawn or just after dusk.

33. Wingmen need to employ weapons using their longest-range weapon at standoff range when told to hold position and then are ordered to attack a target.

34. FLIR targets need to be saved.

35. All detected targets should be shared between your flight as if there is an automatic data link, at the very least for the heads-down situational display, which should be able to be utilized for at least targeting Hellfires and aiming an aircraft's own FLIR.

36. SAM engagement envelope should decrease probability of acquisition at very low altitudes and/or at low altitudes when you're directly in front of a hill or objects. Currently you can get shot down by radars meant for airborne targets even when you're landed and even when you're landed right in front of a building. The only radars that should be capable of discriminating such a landed target is a radar meant for ground targets.

37. Ground and object temperature values for FLIR and IR missile homing. Include burning objects and sun angle in IR homing.

38. Vikhrs sometimes just fire into the ground repeatedly even though a target is properly lased.

39. Comanche can damage its tail on ground contact too easily.

40. Besides the Zulu Cobra 'Viper' needing higher top speed, its gun should only be holding 750 rounds, not 1345.

source code for Comanche, SupCobra, SeaCobra, and Viper: #define NUM_CANNON_ROUNDS (1345)

41. Comanche radar mast is too short.

42. The same message should not be sent by one AI unit more than once in a row. If it's the same message that unit previously said, that comms should not be sent again, such as "Python 1 seeking firing position" over and over.

43. Flight path marker and horizon line on HMD does not adjust with changing HMD pitch.

44. Allow us to choose NVG color (green, orange, original different ones for sides, or grayscale) and IR mode.

45. Hind vertical speed needle disappearing.

46. Be nice to have a marker on the situational display of where your EO/FLIR system is currently locked.

47. Turn to target with H in EO display and target locked should work even when there is no target locked, even when not in hover, and needs more yaw authority.

48. Damaged hydraulics could gradually degrade based on how much change occurs in the flight controls, from one extreme of that axis to another as the above added vibration characteristics would be tracking. More gradual and slight control changes, such as slower banks, would cause less reduction of hydraulic pressure over time. A hydraulics page could show pressure. As pressure decreases there could be more control delay. As controls are moved, pressure gradually reduces. Damaged hydraulics can cause a tendency for the pilot to try to overcompensate which can cause pressure to drop even faster. When hydraulics are damaged, it is essential to be gentle with the controls and patient with the response of the aircraft to preserve control authority until RTB and landing.

49. A pilot roster and search & rescue operations.

50. Smarter overall AI with AI pilot skill that improves over time with experience.

51. Be nice if AI didn't fly through trees, even though they are invulnerable to them.

52. EO system keeps randomly unlocking targets, also seems low-capability on some helos.

53. Ground stabilization doesn't seem to be working well even when set to 1 in the ini. *Correction: you need to use Ctrl+S, though it isn't as strong an effect as locking to the ground.

54. SAMs have an infinite magazine. That's a problem. Perhaps have a finite number, a reload of that number at an interval dependent on distance from nearest large base, and the frequency that missiles are launched determined by how many the unit has.

55. A finite number of persons, especially infantry, and medevac missions to nearest big bases is a long shot wish. Seems appropriate with many bodies around FARPs sometimes. Maybe remaining infantry should be doing something... running or attending to them.

56. The more times you've over-torqued or rolled or looped inverted in a flight, the longer the maintenance turnaround time is for the helo after RTB and ending flight.

57. Ctrl+J appears to cause eject in Hokum B right now in F12 viewer.

58. The launch HUD symbology on the Hokum B should not be shifting when you look down to see the whole cockpit.

59. Radio menu to set NDB frequency required to change for FARPs and airfield communication.

60. Some trees don't show up in NVG/FLIR, but obviously you can still crash into them.

61. Make the Comanche in FLIR when still living or freshly wrecked gray instead of fully white.

My request is more aimed to only add more vectorial elevation lines. I agree that adding a bitmap as background will be more complex.

Anyone know what the GWUT values for rules_of_engagement (0, 1, 2) and engage_enemy (0, 1) values do?

I realise this would be a big change but it is a wish list so ......

Is it possible to have separate outputs for side views that could go to separate monitors in the same way that MS Flight Simulator does ?

I know we already have an export from the MFDs but I'm not sure if the same system would work on the side views.

Anyway, keep up the good work guys. This OLD sim is far better than a lot of the newer sims around at the moment.

Cheers,

Andy

Thanks, but that's still a little confusing. Do you think that means if Recon is 2 and 1 for those values, respectively, that they will not destroy the objective and only engage specific enemies to defend themselves? I very frequently see Recon missions engage targets near the objective or en route and I'm wondering how necessary that is and whether different values in the GWUT for Recon would make them less likely to engage when not necessary. Obviously I don't want them shot down when attacked, though.

No, I think 2 and 1 would mean they always engaged an encountered enemy. Although it says Retaliate in the code comments, I think it actually means engage.

I think it would be helpful to add more topographical detail in the planning map, I mean, more elevation contour lines at max zoom level. Don't you consider that right now the information it's very sparse even at max?. I think a typical topographical map could offer more information.

[quote=bostar]
I am curious as to what deficiencies you're seeing in the topology contours on the maps, though.

Sorry for answering so late.
In my humble opinion, in this way your situational awarness increase a lot, particularly in this SEAD mission where the knowledge of the enviroment is the key to plan an attack. Recon missions is another case where this information is vital, having to stay so close to the enemy.

I think this would be necessary only at max zoom level for planning attacks or routes in hot zones. The other levels give you enough information for navigation with the actual settings.

Have you tried setting the campaign_map_mode=2 in the eech.ini? This will give some more definition to the map, with smoother contour lines. I'm not sure it adds more though. I'm looking into the code for that area, to see how the contour lines are generated. But I'm not sure if there's much that can be done, as I think the contour data comes from the map files, and I don't think there's a way to edit them. There are some mapping tools, but I think they're for creating new maps rather than edit existing ones.

The attached screenshots are the same map (Georgia) at the same zoom level, the first is map_mode=1, the other is map_mode=2

I vaguely remember read something about this feature years ago, but I didn't check it. I've had almost forgotten it. I'll test it tonight. Thank you!

I know shiny, reflective water will never be added to EECH, but I can dream?

It's such a slight difference I forgot about it, too, but I already had the higher res on. Better than nothing, but it just appears to increase the horizontal detail of the map, as it were, rather than increase the number of contour lines per elevation change.