Yeah, I understand what are you telling me. I though that my Idea was better because it would allow us to fly the Mi8 with armor, and also it would be easier to implement.
To add the lights we have 3 options:
My idea: It would allow to be covered by the armor, and the lights would be there, but could not be completly visible due to armor.
Your idea: The solution for that could be linking the argument to the hardpoints one, but it could not be perfect for everydays situations where you get shot by some infantry.
Combination of both ideas: This solution would require some coding probably. My point of view for this one would be to hace a place on the rearm and refuel menu, where I can select if I want the armor in my helo or not (could be done also for EVU). The same way you can load the PKV and the KORD, I would say it should be a box where it says ARM (from ARMor) and EVU (from EVU lol), so that way you can right click it and mount it or not, but this would require a lot of coding and it probably will never happen.
So, either way I don't care if I have armor or not, I just want to have light's while flying in night lol.
Maybe it could be a good idea to link the Armor 3D Argument number to the Hardpoints function. This would require much less coding, and it will be useful at nights!