helicopter and ARMA II Options

[s1267]

Hello ARMA II friends,

maybe I am just stupid, but why I get so crazy problems with air vehicles in ARMA II ?


I have put a MI24 on the ground, gave it some waypoints (with F4 in the editor ) ,but the AI pilot cannot start the engine ??????

-sometimes the AI pilot could start the engine :

1. he was flying somewhere, but not to the waypoint

2. he was hovering on the start position, but didn't fly to the waypoint



I tried with the following command:

mi24 doMove getMarkerPos "Marker";

1. sometimes the AI pilot couldn't start the engine

2. sometimes he was flying to markerpos

3. sometimes he was hovering at startup position


What kind of nonsense is that ?

How can I controll (give waypoints, height, speed, direction, land etc.) AI helicopter in ARMA II ?

It seems to be different from OFP and ARMA I .

greetings

Thomas

[Jeza]

Hi Thomas, few tips which may/may not help. Obvious one's first, make 100% sure your unit i.e the heli is in bold and the unit selected when your marking waypoints, Also are there any enemy in the area your doing? because this can throw the ai off course. Id suggest setting the following in the options in the waypoint dialog, Speed: Full Behaviour: Safe/Careless. If all else fails if the unit is in youe squad you can give them waypoint ingame by selecting them and clicking on the map. For hight in the units name put anything you want, then in the init line type Heli flyinheight 200 . All the relative info however is really within the waypoint options in the editor. Also this site should provide you with any further queries: http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/index.php?ac...=tu&type=me

Regards Jeza

[s1267]

Thanks for answer...

I was "playing" and testing around with my AI Air Vehicle problems; until now I couldn't manage with the AN-2 landing (will try later your advice).

The heli problem,well very strange !!!!????

I closed my mission and started with a blank map of Utes.
One soldier (my person ,the player) and one heli (it doesn't matter which one ).

I gave the heli waypoints in the editor (F4) and a Helipad for landing.

Well, the heli started well and was flying to the waypoints (more or less accurate ?!!) .

I found out, that it is possible to make it mor accurate, while repositioning the waypoints.
With other words: If the waypoints are too close together or in unlogical positions, the AI will go far away of waypoints its own way !

I think my problem was connected with my mission/map ( something wrong behind the scene ??); now it functions ; on the same map; just reloaded !!!

With the waypoint types in the editor: some doesn't function, like would expect (e.G. get out, unload, unloadcargo)
- just with one I could force the General (inCargo) to leave the chopper.
- I was writing as command {unassignVehicle_x} forEach units General;

Well, I am not an "expert" for ARMA , but it's still annoying, that the user gets so many problems with easy tasks in the editor.
It seems, that many commands of ARMA1 doesn't work the same way in ARMA2 ???

Is there a way that the CARGO of a chopper doesnt jump off , when the chopper hitting the ground on LZ (landing zone) ??
I would like to let them sit for maybe 10 sek. in the chopper until the blades don't move anymore ?

Another question:
When I give the General the get In waypoint, he runs like crazy around the chopper until he get in the heli (with other vehicles similar behaviour of AI persons.
Is there for any person a special "location" which they want to reach before getting in a vehicle ?

I would like to let them stay just at the side of the chopper (maybe 10 seconds); then to "teleport" the persons in to Cargo with "moveInCargo" .
But when the "moveInCargo" command starts, they start to run around ...

greetings

Thomas

[Jeza]

Question one, i would suggest tell the group to hold, and place timer on the hold for the roters to stop, (btw Example:soldierOne action ["engineOff", vehicle soldierOne] if the chopper pilot is not part of the squad its dropping off).

2nd question, erm im guessing your asking about the AI eradic behaviour before getting into a car/chopper ect? well thats just comon place, i think its so when they arrive at the object they can get in straight away.
Id imagine, playing around with the hold waypoint, may help, however, there maybe a more practical solution. Possibley in the link below:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Actions

Regards Jeza

[tsd1]

AI + Helo in Arma II is broke plain and simple.

It stinks because I love Helo insertions under fire.

I have tried everything. I cannot get consistent results.

Ive tried, the careless/never fire + helo land "land"; in the waypoint activation.

Ive tried the different helo land commands, tried setting the helicopter pilot skill to zero.


70% of the time the helo will just fly off somewhere and hover about 50 feet off the ground for eternity.

Ive tried forcing the pilot to turn the engine off, ive tried a combination of having the helo crew get out and get back in as opposed to unloading the transport (in that case alot of times the cargo troops will refuse to get off the chopper.

The only thing that remotely works, having the helo fly high and forcing ejection of the cargo.

For such a necessary feature, with all the mission makers etc. I am surprised nobody has come up with a sure fire way to make a helicopter land when its supposed to(I mean I cant so I suppose I shouldnt expect anyone else to either).


The behaviour is generally consistent, when there is no enemy activity in the area, when there is, you cant expect the damn thing to do the same thing every time and its frustrating.

This post has been edited by tsd1: Jul 6 2010, 02:14

[tsd1]

This script:

http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/index.php?ac...&game=Arma2

Actually works.

The helicopter just moves so damn slow. If your under fire, odds are the helo will be shot down long before you land. 50% of the time it will over shoot the LZ and have to circle around and land. While in theory it doesnt seem like that big a deal, the fact it could literally take 5 minutes to land (real time, while the game is sped up to 4x speed), makes it rather unwieldy.

Im trying to see if I cant decipher the script, I mean I really dont care it it has pinpoint accuracy in its landing zone, I just want the damn thing to land in the general area every time.

Looks like it triggers a while loop, continuously gets its current position then runs the set velocity command to move (essentially bypassing the AI it appears). So i dont think its possible to alter this script to turn it into a "force landing" while removing the "accuracy" of the landing.

Ive gotten the engineoff command to work correctly on a trigger, I get relatively decent results, by setting a trigger, to turn the helo's engine off (the pilot does and ok job of guiding the decending craft for a respectable landing) when it approaches the transport unload waypoint, only problem is again its dynamic, the approach isnt always going to be the same way twice so sometimes the landing is for crap, and the helo is rolling all over, but for the most part it works ok. I just set a get out/unassign vehicle for the cargo troops to a timer, so it forces them out after the helo lands (hopefully). There are times, despite setting the flyinheight, the helo will get a little too much altitude and the troops hop out too high to their doom. Maybe if i could set the troops not to jump out until the helo is at a certain altitude as opposed to using a timer.

This post has been edited by tsd1: Jul 6 2010, 09:36

[mrkeys]

I find that using "unitname setcaptive true" helps, then no one shoots at the heli and he doesn't go into bacon saving mode. Not very realistic but helps for the important parts of the insertion/extraction.

AI is still a pain though

Also, setting units mode to safe helps them get in the choppers more quickly as they spend less time hiding and running away and head straight for the chopper....