Helicopter Gunship DEX News

This update adds a new mission area "Central Libya" to the game and utilises satellite imagery and real world height maps.

The current map size is roughly 51km x 51km and this is about 1/4 of the actual total area that will be used by the dynamic campaign system which will be around 100km x 100km giving you plenty of room to fly around!

There's currently no map for the new terrain so the mission planner will just be black. I'll be adding proper topographical maps this time so that you can see the terrain elevations etc allowing you to plan you route using the many different valleys and channels as this desert certainly isn't flat!

There's also no foliage e.g. trees and plants just yet. I will be adding those as soon as I can - I've just got to work out a good way of placing things in logical places!

There are still a few glitches with the terrain for example sometimes the join between tiles is really obvious and visible. I'm not 100% if I can fully fix that or not, but I will certainly be trying to!

I've also done numerous optimisations to the helicopter models, LODs etc to keep everything running smoothly. ːsteamhappyː

This update adds the following...

1. Harrier can now take off again!

2. Fixed a bug where the wheel brakes would remain locked even after releasing the parking brake. This was actually a bug in Unity's wheel collider rather than my code but it now means Apaches and Hinds can taxi along the ground correctly if you so choose.

3. Added a countermeasures readout to the right hand side of the HUD.

4. AH-1Z & AH-1Z CRS helicopters now have their hero interiors which look pretty good ːsteamhappyː

5. Upgraded both Lynx helicopters to allow custom skins.

These are some more screenshots showing how the textures maintain detail even in very low level flight...


This image is at 274m above the terrain which is quite high for a combat helicopter. Detail is good at this altitude!


This image is at 26m above the terrain and is a more realistic altitude for helicopters. You can just start to see the detail textures become visible at this altitude.


At 12m above the terrain you can see the detail textures more clearly. It still looks pretty good even at this height and the added detail gives a much better sense of speed.

These are a couple of screen shots from the new desert terrain which will eventually replace the current Lush Desert area.

The terrain is generated from real world height maps and satellite imagery from the Sentinel 1/2 satellites which is then recoloured and then "A.I." upscaled to roughly 2m per pixel.

These are just the first couple of test tiles which is why the horizon appears to be quite close!

This update adds the following...

1. Zoom to MFDs in the Hind now properly fixed!

2. Radar removed from all Hind variations

3. Added custom texture support to all Hind variations.

4. Added custom texture support for the Kiowa which uses a multi texture setup.