Sunday, May 12, 2013

DCS UH-1H Huey Beta: Of All Things That Could be Off ...

... Why it had to be an over-reactive pitch angle?

Still a work in progress (it's a beta after all) but praised by enthusiasts and real life pilots all around discussion boards, this thing has all the signs of a big winner in the twitchy world of helicopter flight simulators. When real helicopter pilots say the DCS Huey flies very close to the real Huey, I listen.


According to the official discussion forums, one of the tweaks the flight model needs (besides a likely over-modelled vortex ring state) is the virtual Huey's over-sensitivity and over-response of the pitch angle.



The current DCS Huey bobs its nose up and down more than in any other axis. It's like it is saying "yes, this is how I kill your crew!".

Move the collective up? There goes the nose up! Move the the collective down? There goes the nose down! A bit of pedal to align your hover? Yes, nose up or down again (depending on which pedal you push)!

People in the know, including real life pilots, say that the nose will tend to go up and down when the collective is moved. What appears to be a tad off is how much that nose will go up or down.

The problem with the pitch angle/nose over-reaction in the DCS Huey? The pitch angle is the means a helicopter pilot has to adjust its forward speed!

So, right now DCS Huey is like a car with a pair of wonky gas and brake pedals, and it will let you down at the most crucial moments of your flight, like trying to land at an angle of approach bigger than 15 degrees or trying to catch a hover over a spot.

The DCS Huey cruises just fine. The transition from forward level flight to a hover or a descent will prove not so much fun.
I taxied this bird out of the airbase and into the streets of the nearby town.  
Very proud of my work here. This time I managed to crash into the right airbase!
Give this blog entry some thought before you buy the beta, and maybe wait to see if this will get fixed.

Cheers,

5 comments:

Johan said...

This is an awesome video, that anyone interrested in simulators, DCS, Arma and anything related should watch. Touches upon the subject of the "combination of Arma, DCS, and Steel Beasts" thing.

Link to video

Daisy Gowan Ditchburn said...

I remember playing the old microsoft combat flight simulator and once taking off, and then the bottom of the plain hitting the top of a hanger, that was fun. still at least I had a joystick at that point. I didn't earlier and it came as not surprise that the same button that was "bail out" became the first button to fail on the key board.

nice crash also, I love how the gunner is still seated as if nothing happened.

JC said...

Thanks for your comments, guys.

Thanks for the link, Johan. Dslyecxi is very entertaining in this video.

Cheers,

Johan said...

Hi JC,

I saw your comments on Youtube, instead of posting there and having my comment lost among all others, I'll just say a few words here.

I think Dslyecxi is being too negative. It's not feasible today, sure, but I can't see why a combined electronic battlefield will not be possible in the not too distant future.

First, the economic/manpower argument. Sure, you'd need a lot of people developing this title, but the market would also be much bigger, as you could sell it to everyone that is now playing Arma, DCS and Steel Beasts. And in the military training market, the Armies and Air Forces could use the same software too.

Also, I don't buy the lethality/boring gameplay argument. I get killed a lot today in Arma, DCS and Steel Beasts not knowing what hit me. It's part of the realism, and forces you to think about your tactics.

Also, there would be both fighters and other AA defences, so the aircraft wouldn't be operating unopposed. And with limited air support, maybe only a couple of attack helicopters and one aircraft in a mission with lots of tanks and other vehicles on the ground, I don't see this as a big problem. This dream is still many years away, but I don't see it being such an unrealistic goal as Dslyecxi thinks it is.

It would bring all the simulation communities together on a single battlefield, therefore making bigger, more engaging virtual battles possible.

JC said...

Hi Johan,

I argue that massive events with multiple platforms simulated to a really hardcore standard would be quite difficult to organize or keep realistic. But a blast to play!

Cheers,