Combat Helo Interview at CombatACE

Yes, I am a little bit jealous over getting trumped in an interview concerning Combat Helo but I'm sure that Flexman and Pedro will make it up to us somehow (ahem, ahem).

http://combatace.com/topic/81874-game-developer-interview-tricubic-studios-combat-helo/

What do you need? The name Combat Helo originated here at SimHQ, we don't forget that. Shoot Dave, Fred and me some questions and we'll be happy to answer them.

Oh, I'll think of something.

I'm going to come up with a list of questions myself, maybe get some help from a couple of buddies.

I have a good buddy that was an OH58 pilot until about five years ago. If he hasn't pcs'ed to his next duty assignment I want to get him in my home pit with a copy of of the game to get me his impressions. He has worked closely with the Apaches obviously so he knows a little bit about them. Might ask him to throw in some questions.

Granted, a CH Throttle and Fighterstick isn't a true cyclic/collective setup but I don't have 1k sitting around to buy something like that. Well, I do but it would just go to the wife in the inevitable divorce.

Q1 this year? Is that still on target? Looks interesting.

Oh man, I'm really starting to get excited!!!! I was hoping this would become reality before I died And now it looks like it will. Go Flexman!

Given that we're already into Q2, I'd assume not.

Looks really good, though.

That video posted in another thread was really amazing! One question I have is about deployment of rockets. In LB2 the 2D cockpit provided a stable I BEAM cursor fixed to the "HUD" and helo axis. Wondering what is done in sim (and in the real life monocle) where the I Beam presumably tracks with head movements. I'm guessing you only get a solid cue when everything is lined up correctly but I would imagine that is hard with the helo and the head moving around. Maybe just hard FOR ME

Wondering whether there's going to be TrackIR support. Sorry if this tidbit was included in some info released earlier. If so, I just missed it.

We got some outstanding bugs but we're certainly in the end-game as far as getting this ready for public consumption. We just starting limited external testing which has demonstrated some gremlins with regard to controllers and hardware.

TrackIR is supported and yes it's a PITA to aim but you can cycle it at any time. On the whole it works quite well.

I-bar rocket cues are virtual, they take info from the air data sensors (the whiskers on the engine pods) this info is used to make the I beam 'drift' left and right. The rocket pods elevate between -4 and 11 degrees and there's a couple of sub-modes on the I beam that you might not have seen before such as fixed firing mode (basically an I beam with a hole in the middle).

CombatSIM is not where that interview was done.



The Jedi Master

Any new news on this?

Any news?


Hello, Hello, Hello.

There is some new info at their website that was uploaded this month.

I am sorry, but I just don't understand Devs, this was posted in this interview. The Interview was done in Feb (ish)

"We don’t talk about dates but we’re aiming for around the end of Q1 this year which is not far off. "

We are now in Nov. Q1 is Jan-Mar. That was 8 months ago.

Making sim's is not easy, thats why many comppanys won't give those estimates. It comes when its done is much better.

Just read here http://www.combat-helo.com/

I fully understand that , but this interview was done in Feb, he estimated end Mar (Q1), and yet here we are 8 months away and still no beta even.

Then again, look at the Falklands War one, was a month away from release (according to website at the time) and here we are years later and still nothing.

I think in this thread you have all answers
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4038881/Combat_Helo_-_Hangar_shots.#Post4038881
in short- do not believe this BS from Flexman.

Only bs is from you, are you teen or why you can't stand that somebody makes sim with is own money and its ready when he gets it ready.

Just shut up and don't buy it when its out if you don't like it.

Yup,Flexman : " closed beta will be released in mid 2011"
I do not know why this forum has been reopened.Ch is just a scam.

A scam? LOL; yeah all the money they are grabbing... LOLOLOL.

I've heard better stuff from kids at the playground.

oh komemiute who many times wrote that he was on the team ch, only flexman anything about it did not know lololol.

Oh Sweety, you're not improving.
Do your parents know you're on the internet without them?

No papa, i just dont like liars.And eot, for five years people still will be ask here when go out full version of ch.

I see that you still fail to mention how a product in development which is collecting no money is a scam.
Or to type correctly, for what it's worth.

You are a liar.

CH may never be released, that is true.

However it has not cost you a cent.

It is not a scam.

Complain if it makes you feel better, but don't lie.

- Horsey

Of course this is not a scam in the literal sense of the word this.but .... how it will be looked for some time, we'll see.

For sure flexman many times cheated all regarding the date of release.I do not have bad intentions, just have a good heart, and warn the people, who do not know what's going on.Talk vain, is repeated from time to time, and the game as it was not so no.

What are you warning people about?

What danger might befall them if CH is never released?

If it is never released it will be a great pity, but life will go on.

'Cheating' implies knowledge of wrongdoing and you have shown no proof of that, you have also used that word incorrectly.

Please be more careful with words you don't understand.

Or if you do understand these words, please stop lying.

- Horsey

I can specify a number of examples, but it does not make sense.People who follow CH from the beginning as well know how it looks.


Yes, I use only the translator, do not know English.Maybe because my posts look strong aggressively;)
I do not know how many words are similar to the scam, that will be more responsive to the truth.

Edit : We return to this subject for some time, then you will understand before what warned.Because everyone knows this
who has experience in programming.

I said this 2 years ago, best thing these guys could do is release an ah64a or d model as a third party module for Dcs. Why reinvent the wheel, just put it in Dcs and make some money to move on to your own gig if you want...or stay with Dcs. The recent success of the third part modules has made this a viable option. I guess CH could just ignore me and continue to release nothing....which sounds like insanity to me. This thing is headed on the path of jet thunder...some bodies' pipe dream.....go Dcs .....build it and they will come.

Unfortunately that wasn´t the driving force that pushed Flexman to start this project...

Well said Skoop with this insanity;)
For me, insanity is this whole project- work for 10-15 people made by two.It's just physically impossible.
I wonder when Mr. F understand this simple fact.

DCS has already been discussed:

Official word on DCS World

This project currently belongs to Flex and AD.

They are developing it the way they want to.

Lots of brilliant people are 'insane'.

'Sane' people rarely create anything interesting.

- Horsey

Or don't create anything at all, which is the case here. Like I said this is jet thunder, never gonna happen. Best hope they have is going Dcs, they chose not to, so I guess that's why we have nothing.

You've also lost nothing.

Quit your whining.

- Horsey

You realize that the leatherneck team that brought us DCS mig-21 took the effort of 4 to 5 guys, and that's just the plane. The combat helo guys want to design every thing from square 1, with 2 guys ??? Sorry but I'm calling BS on this operation. I just hate to see all the work go to waste and the sim community gets nothing. If they had gone DCS then we would have an apache and they would have some cash, sounds like simple perspective to me.

Number one project killer in the software world, take on too ambitious a project with out supporting resources and nothing gets done.

Be back in another two years, bet nothing will change here.....Late...

Another post.

More whining.

You've also produced nothing.

Come back in two years and tell us what else you've achieved.

- Horsey

I'm a sim consumer, I don't have to produce anything, but my dollars will be spent on sims when they are actually released.

Doesn't look like that's happening here any time soon.

More whining.

You've even admitted CH hasn't cost you any of your 'dollars'.

- Horsey

Edit: I also wouldn't be surprised if CH still hasn't been released in two years, but I can't abide this poisonous attitude toward people who have done you no harm.

I'm the same, I have absolutely no idea why this attitude exists. Flexman may have quite ambitious in CH but at the same time, and whether we see it released or not the decision on how it is developed is his choice. It's plain to see that he has a massive amount of pride in his work and although CH is something that he has/is working on in his time outside of his day-job I don't think anyone one else is in any sort of position to recommend or judge what course of action he should be taking to get it released.

Look, I think you guys are tunneling in to my abrasive delivery of the constructive criticism I'm giving, rather than actually listen to what I'm saying. I'm not wishing anyone one harm, ill will, or spreading toxic behavior.

I'm also not going to sugar coat either or play cheerleader. It's been 15 years since a true apache sim has been released, and an indie 2 man team is working on one. It just baffles me that Dcs is offering an sdk for 3rd party devs to contribute under their umbrella, but these guys choose to start from scratch.

As a sim consumer, it doesn't convey confidence in their plan to bite off such an ambitious undertaking and just work on it in off time since 2009. If they truely believe in the plan, crowd fund, do 100 dollar early access packages, do something to hire a 10 man team to get this done. I've seen nothing but blogging and posting.

If they are going to stay with a 2 man team, then Dcs is the logical path. The mig-21 sold for 49.99 bucks on release, that's about what these guys are probaly going to sell their sim for. You guys keep saying we've lost nothing, but we've lost time. Are we going to have to go 10 more years before someone gets an apache sim built ?

You can not understand that for many people the whole DCS simulator is the worst ever, and do not want to have anything to do with it.
You can not understand that conversion to DCS take the next few years.

Someone has his vision simulator, and DCS is the worst choice of its possible.Sorry for those words, because I understand that you are fanboy DCS;)

If DCS doesn't provide the environment they want for their vision, it's not hard to understand why they would go a different route.



Do they need you to be confident? They aren't asking you for money yet, so I'm guessing they don't feel a large need to gain your confidence right now. Perhaps, they are content to wait until such time as they have significant progress, and have a sale-worthy product to offer.



If they do that, then they have to contend with placating/pleasing people who have sunk money into it. As it stands now, if they haven't taken anybody's money, they can do it their own way, on their own timetable. Perhaps they have made a wise choice for their circumstances/priorities.



Somebody else is free to make an Apache sim, regardless of what the CH devs do, or fail to do.

If the wait is bothering somebody severely, they might want to round up some credible programmers/developers that can work in the DCS World environment, or some other one, and setup the crowd funding, etc.

Btw I think much faster THIS will be released

Funny you brought that up XIII, because it would make more sense to me if Flex's team made a paid upgrade using EECH than doing what they are doing with 2 guys. When I say paid upgrade, I mean something like WOFF built on to CFS3...like that.

The sad truth is that the Ch never reach the level of eech.I have no doubt about this.EECH now is developing very quickly.
Coming full clickable cockpit mi 24 gunner and pilot , Arneh avionics, and dx9 .

EECH has always had a strong community modifying and adding functionality to existing source code. CH is being developed from the ground up....a big difference with totally different circumstances.

If you have major grievances with being 'scammed' after being made promises AFTER paying for a product and being consistently let down with regards dates, delays and content then I suggest you get in touch with Eagle Dynamics.

On the other side of the coin, Flex has not taken money of anyone, he is free to make decisions on how he goes about development of HIS software/IP and doesn't owe the community anything. There is a big difference in what you and 'Skoop' are trying to portray about CH development and what you seemingly think you are 'entitled' to as nothing but a user/gamer.

Paradaz I full agree with your bad opinion of dcs, not only in this thread
We will return to the subject in due time;)
Btw first beta(alpha?) apache avionics for eech is released.If you want see how looks terrain following radar on your pc, recommend thread a few posts above.Not everything works, but it looks amazing