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Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-12 06:28
by Alan
Alright, been doing some flying lately and the one thing that has been bugging me is the viewpoints for the helicopters (particularly the transport ones). Our current setup is like this:

Weapon 9-Look Right
Weapon 7-Look Left
Weapon 8-Look Up

Now to be honest, the one that really gets on my nerves if the "Look Up" weapon. Now who in heaven would want to look up? Surely if you came in in that general direction, you can go out that way (no offense intended). I would like to suggest we add a new viewpoint that allows you to look down through glass windows on the underside of the cockpit, so you can see where you are landing. That's what they are for, to point. Of course this only applies to the Huey, LB (perhaps the attack LB as well?) Blackhawk and the Lynx as those are the only helos with those windows. It would really help landing, especially in hazardous (read: annoying terrain/on top of buildings) areas.

Now, before I complete this, is it possible for all these viewpoints to be moved to the "FX" controls (F10-F11-F12). While this is relatively irrelavent for the transport helos, it becomes a pain when flying a jet if every time you look left, right or up your weapon switches to the "RADAR off"; if you're trying to hit something with rockets, LGBs etc. this can get in the way. Then of course if you look behind you, you have to press "F9" to get back to the usual view, as looking behind you is a viewpoint not a weapon. Vice versa punching F9 does not make you look straight ahead from looking left or right as these are weapons, not viewpoints.

In light of those arguments, I suggest a view control setup like this:

For transport helos with lookdown windows:
F9-Cockpit (Unchanged)
F10-Look Left
F11-Look Down
F12-Look Right

For all other transport helos:
F9-Cockpit (Unchanged)
F10-Look Left
F11-Look Up (There isn't much else)
F12-Look Right

For attack helos*:
F9-Cockpit (Unchanged)
F10-Look Left
F11-Look Up (Same Reason)
F12-Look Right

For Jets**:
F9-Cockpit (Unchanged)
F10-Look Left
F11-Look Behind
F12-Look Right

*The attack LB would have the same views as helos with lookdown windows, because it has them.
**I'm not sure how useful the "Look Up" view is in jets -can we use more than the three available "FX" viewpoint keys?

My intention is that flying choppers (and Jets) will be made somewhat easier (from a reality point of view of course) and we won't end up having to flick through jet weapons after locating our targets any more. Also, it means those guys with the programmable sticks won't end up typing "1" endlessly whenever they switch modes.

Thanks DEV's, and see you on Battlefield!

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-12 08:42
by Oskarious
Change the bindings of weapons..

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-12 08:44
by Sparatan117
What I think hes saying is he wants to be able to look down to land.

But had he paid attention to what real pilots do you take into account for how long your bird is and then touch down with the back wheel before putting the front 2 down.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-12 09:27
by Kruder
Suggested 3 months ago,no dev replied,i mean its both realistic and very simple to add it'll increadibly increase the scouting mission performance from altitude,along with dangerous drops pick ups from hilltops,rooftops...

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 04:48
by Alan
Oskarious wrote:Change the bindings of weapons..
If it were as simple as that, I wouldn't have suggested it. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick -in the jets left/right views are counted as weapons, while the behind view is actually a viewpoint. Which means if you try to look left/right from looking behind, your view doesn't change because all you've done is switch weapons, not views.
Sparatan117 wrote:What I think hes saying is he wants to be able to look down to land.

But had he paid attention to what real pilots do you take into account for how long your bird is and then touch down with the back wheel before putting the front 2 down.
You could do that, but the windows are there for a reason, and I'd like to be able to use them..estimating may work well in some cases, but sometimes you want to make sure you don't put the nose on a satelite dish etc.

Thanks for your feedback so far though.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 05:02
by kevlarorc
Please leave my wonderful function keys alone. They're there to perform functions!

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 06:03
by nick20404
You know while flying you can hold down CTRL and you can free look around your cockpit with your mouse.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 06:19
by Snazz
nick20404 wrote:You know while flying you can hold down CTRL and you can free look around your cockpit with your mouse.
I'm sure he knows that.

When you hold down CTRL you can't input flight controls at the same time.
Sparatan117 wrote:But had he paid attention to what real pilots do you take into account for how long your bird is
I bet he knows that as well.
Sparatan117 wrote:and then touch down with the back wheel before putting the front 2 down.
Provided the helicopter has wheels.

What he seems to be suggesting is more of a landing guide then a necessity.

Compared to the current top view it would be more useful and theoretically just as simple to implement.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 06:21
by nick20404
Snazz wrote:I'm sure he knows that.

When you hold down CTRL you can't input flight controls at the same time.
unless you have 3 hands you would have the same problem setting the numpad to be view keys.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 06:28
by Snazz
nick20404 wrote:unless you have 3 hands you would have the same problem setting the numpad to be view keys.
Why would you need to bind them to numkeys?

There's already alternative views binded to the Fkeys (or cycled through using the C button), what I think he's suggesting is changing one of the view points.

You'd just have to tap a key and you're looking down at the ground with full control of the helicopter.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 13:08
by AnRK
There isn't much room to see down though is there in most jets/helis? the only exception I can think of where there's plenty of downward visibility is the littlebird. The A10 is renowned for having a good field of view from it's cockpit, but I still don't reckon you could see downward in front of you, probably a fair bit to your left and right though.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 13:30
by awqs
Alan;961171 wrote:
Now to be honest, the one that really gets on my nerves if the "Look Up" weapon. Now who in heaven would want to look up? Surely if you came in in that general direction, you can go out that way (no offense intended).

I use it for the helis when im on the deck of the carrier and another chopper is landing so i can see if hes gonna hti me because there are time they land on top of me. As for the plane ya it dosent really have much use. They should change the view point buttons to the F keys to avoid any problems

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-13 13:49
by McBumLuv
*Ahem* *Ahem*

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f18-pr ... -view.html

I've already suggested this, actually (Which, in turn, Kruder apparently suggested, too). The problem with the Function-view keys over the weapon-slot views is that you get the ugly 3rd person view of the vehicle, meaning that the cockpit would be sh!t. Read Rhino's post.

That's why you'd have to implement a new weapon view rather than a Function view. Same thing with Jets, except the reason you get your function view to look back is because the behind of the plane isn't actually modeled in the 1sr person cockpit view, IIRC.

Re: Helicopter Viewpoints

Posted: 2009-03-14 05:19
by awqs
McLuv wrote:*Ahem* *Ahem*

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f18-pr ... -view.html

I've already suggested this, actually (Which, in turn, Kruder apparently suggested, too). The problem with the Function-view keys over the weapon-slot views is that you get the ugly 3rd person view of the vehicle, meaning that the cockpit would be sh!t. Read Rhino's post.

That's why you'd have to implement a new weapon view rather than a Function view. Same thing with Jets, except the reason you get your function view to look back is because the behind of the plane isn't actually modeled in the 1sr person cockpit view, IIRC.
SO are like the vehcile views like hardcoded or something? So they cant just reassign the buttons?