OH-6A by Tobsen and Eightball

[Mapi]

man - need more ppl in Torrent... now at 50%

or a new DL

THX

[Rudel_chw]

14 minutes ago, Floyd1212 said:

No excuses...

 

With that argument, you could have an autopilot too, with auto-hover and whatever else I could need to simplify its handling ... I'd rather strive for realism.

[tobi]

On 5/2/2024 at 4:04 PM, Mapi said:

man - need more ppl in Torrent... now at 50%

or a new DL

THX

try this one:

Alternate link 3:----

Edited May 13 by tobi

[Mapi]

lol  - now 100% THX

2 late

 

and the link will not work ...

Edited May 2 by Mapi

[tobi]

On 5/1/2024 at 2:23 PM, CommandT said:

Glad to see this finally being released! 

Regarding the flight model - is there any updates planned in this regard or is this the way it's going to be?

As much as I would love to do a million mission and videos with the OH-6, I have to say I don't think I can do anything until there's some changes to the flight model I've spent a long time playing around with curves and practicing and fine-tuning but it feels very odd and doesn't allow for precision flying. I appreciate that all helicopters are unstable but there's so much static instability here in pitch and roll (especially roll) that it really doesn't feel right. I haven't flown the real thing of course and am just an armchair enthusiast like everyone else, but the way it flies feels extremely odd. Centering the stick after inducing roll, results in that roll continuing way more than it should (I think, at least compared to other helicopters). I also noticed that changes in collective result in rather abrupt yaw changes - I understand that in principle this is correct but it seems rather abrupt and excessive.

I really appreciate all the work you've put in guys so I don't mean to be unthankful here - the assets pack is fantastic, the 3D model of the chopper and cockpit is fantastic... it's just that the flight model IMO sort of lets it down a bit. I get that this is a mod and it's never going to be like a full fidelity FM but I think many of us are totally happy to accept a somewhat "arcady" feeling FM, so long as it's flyable with some degree of precision. Maybe I'm the odd one out who can't fly it properly but I generally don't suck at flying stuff and I can't get any decent precision here due to the rather strange static instability in pitch and roll - mostly roll. The yaw is manageable I find, just a bit twitchy, but nothing that can't be overcome with some practice. With regards to the odd roll and pitch behaviors, I'm not so sure. Perhaps adjusting the static instability somewhat could be a good idea on your end? 

Again, no disrespect in any way. You guys are phenomenal and I'm sure there will be plenty of folk here who will be delighted with having an OH-6 in their virtual hangar! 

Thanks!
 

That sounds somehow strange. Would you like share a video to see what's going on?

[Xupicor]

7 hours ago, tobi said:

I also get very inconsistent, chaotic roll behaviour.
Do you counter the roll moment?

Yes groundeffect is implemented. Groundeffect decreases with the distance between the rotor and the ground. The OH-6 is about 2.5 high and has a rotor radius about 4m. So you need to be quite close to the ground to get a "strong" effect.

I gave it another try, this time around I kept the axis display on. It was much smoother today, I'm not sure if anything changed -- I played on the same instant action mission as well as on Normandy 2, and the roll axis was behaving a lot better, the display showed smooth deflections and I didn't feel any kind of random laggy behavior from yesterday that CommandT was describing.

Yes, I do counter the roll moment, the thing is, yesterday if I would do a momentary push and release to left or right - most of the time it would be a momentary change. Some of the time it would deflect, get stuck deflected (at least it felt like that), push me a lot more than I'd ever want and then force me to make a big counter. Again, I didn't see this behavior today... So not sure what's going on there. I know, not very useful feedback, that one.

I tested the ground effect some more and maybe I was too hasty yesterday. I kept it at a low descend again and it finally did settle into hover, even if only a couple feet over the ground. I guess I wasn't careful enough yesterday. So that seems OK.

 

So today I kept a deliberately light touch, didn't try whipping it around or anything, no j-hooks, no big turns, no power slides.  I just took a very gentle approach and I could fly around rather OK. Touch and goes, gentle turns, I took a sight seeing flight over London, it wasn't bad. It feels very touchy but not impossible to fly at all (zero curves here on a Rhino).

The thing is, after maybe ten minutes of having this pretty cool experience I was in a coordinated turn, rather gentle, and pulled on the collective just a smidge -- and the helicopter went wild. It felt like it was swinging on a pendulum kicked by a pissed off cow -- it would wildly oscillate in both roll and pitch axis. I deliberately kept the cyclic steady to see what would happen - it just oscillated as if it was getting wide uncommanded inputs (PIO kind of style) until it crashed. No inputs were visible on the axis display though.

So I'm not sure what's going on with that... RPM was at 98% or close to 100% at the moment of collective adjustment that started it off. 

 

The model looks very nice, weapons work, it flies, but... I'll probably give it more time. Commendable attempt though. Can't imagine making your own flight model for a helicopter. Right on.

Edited May 2 by Xupicor

[harryharry]

Thank you so much for your work @tobi@tobi and @Eight BallBall!

I love it! Just installed it and feeling like in the good old Magnum series. Have to learn a lot and like that... 

 

Edited May 3 by harryharry
Wanted to see a YouTube picture

[Mistermann]

I'll add my video to the mix here.  I narrated this for the members of my flight group and thought my ramblings may help others.  I fly in VR and the beginning where I'm on the ground talking has a lot of head movement - it gets better once I takeoff.  See chapters to fast forward to different sections.

 

Edited May 2 by Mistermann

[flyingscotsman]

I've just downloaded it, not flown yet. Tried last night and all links were too busy, well done for breaking the internet, lol. Looks like a big hit. Congratulations

[tobi]

1 hour ago, Xupicor said:

I gave it another try, this time around I kept the axis display on. It was much smoother today, I'm not sure if anything changed -- I played on the same instant action mission as well as on Normandy 2, and the roll axis was behaving a lot better, the display showed smooth deflections and I didn't feel any kind of random laggy behavior from yesterday that CommandT was describing.

Yes, I do counter the roll moment, the thing is, yesterday if I would do a momentary push and release to left or right - most of the time it would be a momentary change. Some of the time it would deflect, get stuck deflected (at least it felt like that), push me a lot more than I'd ever want and then force me to make a big counter. Again, I didn't see this behavior today... So not sure what's going on there. I know, not very useful feedback, that one.

I tested the ground effect some more and maybe I was too hasty yesterday. I kept it at a low descend again and it finally did settle into hover, even if only a couple feet over the ground. I guess I wasn't careful enough yesterday. So that seems OK.

 

So today I kept a deliberately light touch, didn't try whipping it around or anything, no j-hooks, no big turns, no power slides.  I just took a very gentle approach and I could fly around rather OK. Touch and goes, gentle turns, I took a sight seeing flight over London, it wasn't bad. It feels very touchy but not impossible to fly at all (zero curves here on a Rhino).

The thing is, after maybe ten minutes of having this pretty cool experience I was in a coordinated turn, rather gentle, and pulled on the collective just a smidge -- and the helicopter went wild. It felt like it was swinging on a pendulum kicked by a pissed off cow -- it would wildly oscillate in both roll and pitch axis. I deliberately kept the cyclic steady to see what would happen - it just oscillated as if it was getting wide uncommanded inputs (PIO kind of style) until it crashed. No inputs were visible on the axis display though.

So I'm not sure what's going on with that... RPM was at 98% or close to 100% at the moment of collective adjustment that started it off. 

 

The model looks very nice, weapons work, it flies, but... I'll probably give it more time. Commendable attempt though. Can't imagine making your own flight model for a helicopter. Right on.

 

Could you record this with the controls overlay active? I would love to see what's going on. 

[Slippa]

Nobody wants to see my controls overlay with what I’m doing. It’s a horrible blur .

Yesterday when I tried it had my toebrakes mapped to my cyclic. I didn’t stand a chance. I’ve sorted that now and am learning to cold start it. Taking off and keeping it in the air is like trying to trap a bumble bee. Early days yet but I love it. Pilots change with different skins and they’re all great. The assets pack’s a real bonus. Bit of tinkering by the sound of it yet but it’s all good stuff so far and I’ve yet to even try any weapons.

Couple of things to add or agree with on the wish list:
 

Bindable Views - F1 etc. - I like seeing and hearing the flyby at times , map too. 

Battery switch or battery toggle, I can’t bind that at the minute. May be just me?

Open/close door? - Thinking about it, I haven’t been in it with the doors on yet . Bindable too please?

LWin + M toggle crew status and Controls Indicator - Could we either have those off at startup or a bindable toggle please?

Throttle too. I take it there are problems with that but would be nice to have of course.

Seriously lads, this thing’s looking every bit as good as I hoped it would be, I’ve just gotta get a grip of it .

Well done and thanks again .

 

 

[Floyd1212]

2 hours ago, Xupicor said:

The thing is, after maybe ten minutes of having this pretty cool experience I was in a coordinated turn, rather gentle, and pulled on the collective just a smidge -- and the helicopter went wild. It felt like it was swinging on a pendulum kicked by a pissed off cow -- it would wildly oscillate in both roll and pitch axis. I deliberately kept the cyclic steady to see what would happen - it just oscillated as if it was getting wide uncommanded inputs (PIO kind of style) until it crashed. No inputs were visible on the axis display though.

I had a similar experience to this as well.  I was in a banked turn and somehow managed to lose control of it, and on the way down I felt like the helo was rolling left and right uncommanded.  I'll fly it again and try to capture it as a track or video.

[Slippa]

I've just blagged a bit of airtime. Wobbled it into the air but once I got travelling somehow, I sort of flew it. For a bit at least.

I plotted a few bits just for a look and one of em took off from ground.  No AI I know but it's doing something.

Track for chuckles:

ETA: I meant to ask, is there a bit of stopping and starting of the rotor blades or is that just my dodgy computer?

1stLilBirdCrazy.trk

Edited May 2 by Slippa

[KeyserSoze62]

6 hours ago, Mistermann said:

I'll add my video to the mix here.  I narrated this for the members of my flight group and thought my ramblings may help others.  I fly in VR and the beginning where I'm on the ground talking has a lot of head movement - it gets better once I takeoff.  See chapters to fast forward to different sections.

 

 

@Mistermann Truly an outstanding video. Thanks for the contribution.

[ThorBrasil]

On 5/1/2024 at 5:18 PM, Rudel_chw said:

 

You are welcome ... the Pack includes a bit of documentation in graphics format:

 

Vietnam Assets Pack (by Eight Ball)

 

Where can I download the unit package from these screenshots? thanks!

[Hotdognz]

I added it to out Discord groups TT1, we had a blast 10 up in the air most of the time, throwing's the smoke bombs out is a hoot.

With a few teaks to the keybinds for this bird it will be fantastic in VR, it needs the following.

Y & H for the gin sight up and down elevation in front of your face

Insert and Page up/Page down or at least make the Throttle axis work, its bindable but does nothing in the OH6

F view keys
 

Of course plenty of other keys could be made bindable but they are easy to get with the mouse.

Good luck and great work

 

Edited May 3 by Hotdognz

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Add a silly video below. Don't know why the spins happened (3 times in a row) and how I managed to save myself every time... I am not an experienced helo pilot and find that when this one stalls, it goes down real fast. Only managed to (glide) land on the third try in which there was no stuttering.

 

[tobi]

49 minutes ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

Add a silly video below. Don't know why the spins happened (3 times in a row) and how I managed to save myself every time... I am not an experienced helo pilot and find that when this one stalls, it goes down real fast. Only managed to (glide) land on the third try in which there was no stuttering.

 

Thanks for the video! could you send me the mission? i have a feeling that it happens when you reach a certain height. The FM uses density and temperature for its calculations. I would like to see if you cross a "weather layer" Jumping parameters might have impacts like that

[Xupicor]

12 hours ago, tobi said:

Could you record this with the controls overlay active? I would love to see what's going on. 

I'll give it a try after work.

[Rudel_chw]

6 hours ago, ThorBrasil said:

Where can I download the unit package from these screenshots? thanks!

the file is "OH-6A-Modpack_VAP_v1.zip", link:

 

https://github.com/tobi-be/DCS-OH-6A/releases/tag/v1.0
 

[ThorBrasil]

1 hour ago, Rudel_chw said:

the file is "OH-6A-Modpack_VAP_v1.zip", link:

 

https://github.com/tobi-be/DCS-OH-6A/releases/tag/v1.0
 

Thank You!

[Scarecrow84]

Thanks for this Tobsen and 8ball...I like it.

The FM has alot of neutral stability, which feels pretty unique. I haven't added any curves and I find it very controllable with my Virpil setup.

I flew the ah-6j mod alot, so its great to have this with a hi-res cockpit, animated rotor, controls without backwards animation, etc.

Only problems I have so far are inability to map view buttons and the startup mission doesn't have any slots to fly. Neither of those are a big deal.

Anyone want to host a multiplayer server this afternoon? Marianas, Syria, Normandy...Hot starts are cool.

 

[Mistermann]

10 hours ago, KeyserSoze62 said:

@Mistermann Truly an outstanding video. Thanks for the contribution.

Thanks for saying that!  Most appreciated.  Happy to contribute something to this awesome community.

[Marshallman]

Anyone finding left roll produces a spiral left into a dive? only way to counter is crossed controls mid way right?

Regards

Nimbus

[Slippa]

13 hours ago, KeyserSoze62 said:

@Mistermann Truly an outstanding video. Thanks for the contribution.

Yeah, well done Mistermann, watching it through, haven’t seen if you land it yet, we’re getting there. (No spoilers please ).

I’m finding it easier to just spring her into the air on take off. Any slow and sexy trials lead straight to a world of chaos for me. I literally can’t hang about. She throws herself around thrashing this way and that breaking us both into a sweaty mess. No, at the minute, I try and leap her away and never look back. I haven’t run out of fuel yet and splashing into the trees I can’t consider a landing so I’m yet to sit her down properly for a nice glass of wine.

I’ve fired her rockets though. Ooh, I like those . They travel a fair way and I was pretty close to my targeted tree line within a shot or two. 

‘She’ seems to spin out pretty quickly, much like my missus. Almost out of nowhere like a gust of wind sets us off and it’s ‘turbulent time’. I seem to escape these little storms sometimes and almost as quickly as it all went wrong, so it all goes right and I’m toddling along quite merrily. It’s a lot like going shopping with the missus, only this, I really wanna get the hang of. 
 

 
 

eta: If possible could we have bindable lights too please?

position lights and anti-collision lights work but can’t be bound. Searchlight I’ve got bound but have yet to try it all .

Edited May 3 by Slippa