FEATURE REQUEST: Animated Ground Crew

[Michaelc136]

Greetings... First off I would like to say please ignore misspellings since I am typing on my iphone at 1:00 am.

 

My bold feature request is a military animated ground crew for dcs... This may be taxiing on the system yet it does not have to be shared through multiplayer. My hopes is that it would enhance realism and it would make the player feel like they are apart of something bigger. Imagine being marshaled out of parking space with lit wands. AMAZING.

 

A big part of my request is also because of proportions... I realize a lot with simulator games is that sometimes i loose the size and definition of reality because there are no humans to base it with. I was recently at an airshow at mcguire afb and I was shocked at the size of the A-10. I feel this is because lack of humans to enhance realism/proportion.

 

Just a request/opinion. Thanks for reading.:book:

[WHOGX5]

I agree and think this will be a necessary addition when Coretex Design release the carrier for the F-18. Ground crew will be absolutely essential. Taxiing up to the cat and navigating around the tight spaces of an aircraft carrier will be close to impossible in first person, especially if you have a crowded deck. And for the sake of immersion, it would be really cool if the ground crew walked around and checked your control surfaces, gave signals for the pilot to spool the engines, actually attached the munitions themselves when rearming, etc. I'm not a programmer so i don't know how hard this would be to implement but it feels doable.

[Michaelc136]

Not only the f18 but much more of the modules as well.. I doubt we would see people loading weapons ... I hope for atleast marshalling lol. Im not trying to kill all my frames with such a process..

[Irregular programming]

This game really needs more fluff like this, it a great flightsim but everything around it is so empty and dull.

[howie87]

If ED had unlimited manpower, sure. As it is though, they already have too much on their plate and this is one of those things that falls into the 'law of diminishing returns' category.

 

The programming, animations, pathfinding etc would require a huge amount of work for relatively little gain to the overall experience.

 

I agree that it would be nice to have, but things like dual cockpit aircraft would be even nicer and should rank as a higher priority.

 

As should resolving long term bugs.

[Sephki]

Sure, I'd love to see this feature but there is a lot of other things I'd like to see first. ;)

[SUBS17]

Animated ground crew would rock, I think EDGE supports such animation.

[doright]

I really love just flying around in DCS World and saying 'oh wow' at how realistic the look of flying is. Unfortunately that ends on the ground with an extremely sterile environment. Ok for a civilian airfield (I have actually landed airports, got out and felt very alone, like in game). But a military airfield should be much more active.

Some of the A10C tutorials liven things up on the ground more. I'm sure that took considerable effort on mission designer part. So that raises the question of is it a DCS problem or a mission designer problem?

[Steph]

100% great idea !!!

Should be good like this :

:)

[Wabacku]

I actually have been working on a little mod/experiment that uses scenery objects. The objects are models of ground crew that will marshal different animations based on sensors. I suck at coding though... would love to find someone who is experienced to help.

[Ktulu2]

I think that it would be a great idea for a 3rd party, but I don't want anything from ED util the F-18, or secondly edge.

[Snoopy]

I might add that now on the topic, ONLY having refueling and rearming crew would satisfy me in this category. Sitting in your warm cozy cockpit with a slight drizzle of rain, calling for fuel to the tower and seeing a truck with crew in it drive up and park by the aircraft, carry the hose, connect it with an audible thud, hearing the fuel flow with the crew watching their gauges and making small talk, see them give you a thumbs up and gather up everything, start the engine and drive back to the hanger to eat doughnuts would add some life to the game.

 

Well realistically that isn't how it works. The pilot doesn't get to call for the refuel truck, the expediter does. When you have engines running you also wouldn't hear the fuel flow.

 

Actually hot pit refueling (the only kind accomplished on the ground with pilot in seat) takes a total of 6 people. Two crew chiefs at cursory inspecting to make sure the aircraft is safe to refuel, one fuel truck driver operating the truck,two crew chiefs conducting the refueling operation, and one crew chief acting as the Hot Pit Super.

 

But that's only if people wanted realism which I'm seeing less and less of every day.

 

Normal refuel operations the pilot has left and gone to debrief, one crew chief to work the refueling panel and one fuel truck operator to operate the truck.

 

I actually have been working on a little mod/experiment that uses scenery objects. The objects are models of ground crew that will marshal different animations based on sensors. I suck at coding though... would love to find someone who is experienced to help.

 

If someone ever got to code this and needing to know exactly how launch, recovery, Arm end of EOR, Dearm end of EOR, or hot pits are accomplished i'd be happy to assist. A few new animated 3d models would be needed to represent true ground crew. Even in Afghanistan we don't launch/recover in a flack vest with our weapon over our shoulder.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Snoopy

[Grim_Smiles]

Would be nice to see, but like others have said there are other priorities and things I'd like ED to do first (or have a 3rd party do it).

 

That said, if we do model ground crew we NEED this guy added to it, he is critical to safe landings because "pilots are sometimes incompetent".

[Ktulu2]

:lol: this will bring more wemen to the sim.

[SUBS17]

Well realistically that isn't how it works. The pilot doesn't get to call for the refuel truck, the expediter does. When you have engines running you also wouldn't hear the fuel flow.

 

Actually hot pit refueling (the only kind accomplished on the ground with pilot in seat) takes a total of 6 people. Two crew chiefs at cursory inspecting to make sure the aircraft is safe to refuel, one fuel truck driver operating the truck,two crew chiefs conducting the refueling operation, and one crew chief acting as the Hot Pit Super.

 

But that's only if people wanted realism which I'm seeing less and less of every day.

 

Normal refuel operations the pilot has left and gone to debrief, one crew chief to work the refueling panel and one fuel truck operator to operate the truck.

 

 

 

If someone ever got to code this and needing to know exactly how launch, recovery, Arm end of EOR, Dearm end of EOR, or hot pits are accomplished i'd be happy to assist. A few new animated 3d models would be needed to represent true ground crew. Even in Afghanistan we don't launch/recover in a flack vest with our weapon over our shoulder.

 

They could start of small like just one crewman and then someday make it as realistic as possible.:thumbup: DIs Superhornet had ground crew marshalling you to the CAT which had a lot of potential but that sim never really took off.:doh:

[Cali]

Other things need to be added before this.

[AtaliaA1]

Essential for an aircraft carrier, but seems it would be pretty hard to get it to be authentic. Realistic ground crew = more and new ground vehicles, more life at airports, a lot coding to get it right and not random scripting, and so on. Plus people handling your aircraft seems to be underestimated. To get movements right they would need to go and get a motion capture suit with assuming trained people. Another factor is how different every aircraft is handled, sure it wouldn't take long for an A-10 to get refuelable, weapons crew, removing chocks, with all the realistic models and movements, but it's a lot different vs. for example the F-15, or eastern aircraft (not sure how different they would be, but I'm guessing it's not identical). Not sure how badly the players want this, but it would require a ton of work. Maybe someday.

 

I might add that now on the topic, ONLY having refueling and rearming crew would satisfy me in this category. Sitting in your warm cozy cockpit with a slight drizzle of rain, calling for fuel to the tower and seeing a truck with crew in it drive up and park by the aircraft, carry the hose, connect it with an audible thud, hearing the fuel flow with the crew watching their gauges and making small talk, see them give you a thumbs up and gather up everything, start the engine and drive back to the hanger to eat doughnuts would add some life to the game.

 

Cut scenes would do the job. similar to First Person Shooters. No need to go crazy with it. Not that your suggestion is "going crazy" with it just some of the other post took it further than a "Virtual Sim" needs it to go.

[westr]

In my opinion I think it's an important addition and will take the sim to a new level of immersion. It is missing from all other proper flight sims I can think of. I definitely feel it has a place in DCS particularly if we get the F18 and carrier ops.