Project Reality Media Update - August 21 - Merlin Helicopter

Post by **BlakeJr** » 2006-08-22 18:37

never mind... Good looking renders though!

Post by **Hitperson** » 2006-08-22 18:51

duckhunt wrote:Like the chinook in Bfv, except it didnt have a door, so on maps like Op Irving all the people without seats would scatter across the sea if the pilot tilted back a little

pfft people. i got a jeep in the back

you have to balance it though cos it tends to flipwhen that is done so you have to ba on the CoG otherwise you will nose dive or tail dive.

Lugubrum · Post by **Lugubrum** » 2006-08-22 19:37

Very good modelled it looks good, I can't wait to see it ingame.

Post by **eggman** » 2006-08-22 22:42

Actually guys my humorous slag at eGor was incorrect .. he did actually go out of his way to get it roughed in and workable in game before he left.

It's f'in HUGE heh. Keep in mind that a Blackhawk irl carries a crew of 3 + 11 soldiers afaik. And the Merlin carries a crew of 4 and up to 25 soldiers afaik. It's a really large helicopter!

The one we have in game is really rough right now, it hasn't been tweaked at all. And there are still a couple of issues to sort out with the model and textures that Stigger is wrapping up.

But it is flyable and in game and looks absolutely superb.

By spreading out the Brits to come over 2 releases for most of their equipment, it's enabling us to focus on making sure that stuff is really high quality.

We actually had a Land Rover in game with the first release of v0.4 to test, was nearly completely done .. then . er.... we sent it to the scrap heap and started all over again because it wasn't to an appropriate standard of quality or accuracy.

At this point we know, at a minimum, that we'll have a couple of Brit vehicles supporting the Brit infantry in v0.4. We're shooting for really high quality for these vehicles and the Merlin is coming together nicely.

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » 2006-08-23 01:04

Would it be possible to have it carry 24 soldiers in a future release of Project Reality?

.:iGi:.U.G.H. · Post by **.:iGi:.U.G.H.** » 2006-08-23 08:13

Shining Arcanine wrote:Would it be possible to have it carry 24 soldiers in a future release of Project Reality?

Wipe out of a full side with 1 AT.

.:iGi:. Greg · Post by **.:iGi:. Greg** » 2006-08-23 11:50

.:iGi:.U.G.H. wrote:Wipe out of a full side with 1 AT.

Now that sounds like a fun time. I like doing that to whole squads on Muttrah, but being able to do it to the whole team sounds sweet

Pence · Post by **Pence** » 2006-08-23 16:02

I am unhappy that Samonius, Stigger, 2Slick4U and eGor barely recive the praise first hand.

It is one of the best looking vehicles in BF2 and dare i say, in any game i have seen. The second picture rerly shows off what a nice model it is.

Anyway, on to capability. The Merlin can fit a Land Rover inside and carry light field gun's so it is a big thing but only seven men ingame is a little light, i would at least have a copilot spot for the squad leader.
The MI-17's are big and they and the Z-8 can fit way more men inside, look ingame when you sit in the back.

Anyway, great work PR-team, nice to see some content.

Top_Cat_AxJnAt · Post by **Top_Cat_AxJnAt** » 2006-08-23 16:17

I see you point Malik about small number of passengers. MErlin is big and 7 is a very small num.

Although is still think 7 is fine for the mo, it allows the ferring of squads And allso keepign 6 men squads together - vital.
8 would be pretty pointless.
9 has reason becuase, it would allow for standard ferring of 1 whole squad But also 2 smaller, 4 amn squads + a pilot.
However this might actualy cuase more suqads to be split up.

7 is really jsut a balance.

In my perfect world we would have 8 man squads and a co-pilot system where he can map out a rout for the pilot with places to land and he could even operate a chin mounted machine guns adn spot enmies. BUT both of the those things are pretty much impossible HOWEVEr they would reasult in a 10 man MErlin which, most people would agree would be very much accetable and a slight improvement over present 7.
BUT that is another game and engine so for nwo 7 rocks in my mind compared to present 6 - small change BIG DIFFERENCE.

Post by **eggman** » 2006-08-23 17:45

Just going above 6 required some minor changes in BF2 that were clear no vehicels were ever thought of carrying >6 passengers. The theoretical maximum is 8 *per mesh*. Some mdels consist of multiple meshes. Helicopters for example consist of a body, tail rotor and main rotor mesh (I think that's it).

So theoretically it's possible to stuff 24 guys in there. But it wouldn't be practically useful.

In a future release we might try and revisit the helicopter capacities, but it's a fair amount of work, so for now .. as noted .. the small change of having a dedicated pilot and a full squad has a big impact on game play. We'll take a look at other possibilities in the future.

JellyBelly · Post by **JellyBelly** » 2006-08-23 20:58

Looks damn sweet. Good job to the Devs once more!

[SAF]stal20048 · Post by **[SAF]stal20048** » 2006-08-24 10:06

that is HOT!!!!!!!!, cant wait to be flying( also cant wait for the other skinned WIPS, great work dev team!!!!)

PlayPR! · Post by **PlayPR!** » 2006-08-24 20:31

Man I wanna play as the British so bad, ever since the day I heard about this mod doing, is it finaly their time?!

PS Any hint on when .4 is goin to release?

[SAF]stal20048 · Post by **[SAF]stal20048** » 2006-08-25 09:49

o, i gotta add that some of the BBC info is a load of bullshit. for one, the merlin did not replace the 'wessex' helicopter, the wessex was raplaced centuries ago by the seaking. the merlin wont be replacing any helicopter in the forces, but might take over the role of maritime surveilance from the seaking with the big radar/sonar sticking out its side

Dylan · Post by **Dylan** » 2006-08-25 09:56

If you scrapped the land rover, then can you show us what it looked like? Its not going to harm anyone because we know its been scrapped. I can see why you wouldnt show us if it was high quality work, but without more updates boredom takes over. Im talking out of my rear now, so I am going to bed, but at least PM me some pics if anyone of the devs got ingames, or renders. Please.

Harmless_Mad_Man · Post by **Harmless_Mad_Man** » 2006-08-25 13:17

Bloody Hell you miss alot when your travelling! Just popped into an internet cafe and thought I'd see how the mod goes.... That render is awesome!!! Nice one!

Whats this about no landrover though? Sorry if its in another thread but 56k sucks arse and I can't afford to check the whole site!

Post by **Fullforce** » 2006-08-27 21:49

Hathaway wrote:Beautiful work. I'm curious though, with it having a ramp, is it possible that upon pressing E instead of placing you outside instantly, you instead stand up (if you were sitting) inside the chopper, and proceed out the back? Or would this cause issues for people who wanted to use the chopper to paradrop?
I can just picture it now, a fully laden chopper has just landed, the dust is whipping up all around it and a bunch of guys scurry out the back to find the nearest cover and get the lay of the land.

That would be awesome, but it'd probably go something like this:

The chopper has just landed, the dust is whipping up and the crew exit and are all immediately teamkilled by the chopper pilot.

Damn the BF2 physics engine. Why can't it be more like JO?

Harmless_Mad_Man wrote:Bloody Hell you miss alot when your travelling! Just popped into an internet cafe and thought I'd see how the mod goes.... That render is awesome!!! Nice one!

Whats this about no landrover though? Sorry if its in another thread but 56k sucks arse and I can't afford to check the whole site!

The Land Rover was scrapped as it didn't meet the required quality on both the model and the driving. Not to worry, another one is being made.

Malik · Post by **Malik** » 2006-08-27 22:04

Fullforce, you're a DEV? What's your new position? Sorry to go off topic.

Dylan wrote:If you scrapped the land rover, then can you show us what it looked like? Its not going to harm anyone because we know its been scrapped. I can see why you wouldnt show us if it was high quality work, but without more updates boredom takes over. Im talking out of my rear now, so I am going to bed, but at least PM me some pics if anyone of the devs got ingames, or renders. Please.

We already saw it, back in those first images of the new UK army player models. Do a search, there's a few lying around.

Post by **Hitperson** » 2006-08-28 15:15

fully isd a tourneyt admin and that makes him a DEV.