Helicopter Gunship DEX News

This is being released as a 2nd beta called "Terrain Streaming Testing" to ensure I haven't broken anything from the Fixed Wing beta!

This update adds the following....

1. Terrain streaming system. This allows terrain tiles to be streamed in as needed which reduces overall RAM usage as well as allowing huge, if not massive map sizes. 500 km x 500km is easily possible with the only real limit being the time it takes me to create a tile.

The terrain streamer only works on the Central Libya map and you should see the terrain tiles take a lot less time to load when starting a mission.

Over all RAM usage has also been reduced from 8-12Gb to a more sensible 5.5Gb. This should make the game much more stable on devices like the Steam deck. My aim is to keep RAM usage below 8Gb.

2. New terrain textures. Seeing as RAM usage has been lowered I am able to cram in some extra splat map textures on to each tile. Instead of 3 they now have 6 giving much more variety to the desert.

3. New foliage. The whole foliage planting system has been recreated to give a much more realistic feel to the desert. You will now see hardy grassy tufts for the most part but in valleys and other depressions you will see more varied plant life.

Terrain foliage no longer uses GPU instancing as the performance difference was negliagable.

4. New trees. You will now find trees living in the depressions and valleys where water is likely to gather. Trees are fully GPU instanced and have negligiable performance impact.

Trees with leaves will react to your helicopter's rotor wash when you get close.

5. New U.I. I have started upgrading the user interface. Some buttons have been moved and their placement standardised across all screens.

Most of the default menu screens have been upgraded to the new U.I. Mission planning screens still use the old style U.I. at the moment.

A small update that adds the following...

1. Harrier now has nose wheel steering.

2. Mavericks now have their correct Lau-88 Triple Launcher on the A-10

3. There is now an airbase to the South West on the Central Libya map to practise your take-off and landings!

4. Special Forces troops are now excluded from the player bubble system so they will continue to work and complete their mission even if you're not around to watch them.

Added an option to switch the "Thrust Vector" control to "Relative Control" in the "Control Settings" menu.

This is very important for those who do not have a axis on their controller and instead want to bind the controls to buttons/keyboard.

There is also a slider to set how fast the relative controls will move the thrust vectoring system.

This update adds the following...

1. Fixed the elusive "No Collective" bug which.

2. Added manual vector control for the Harrier. You will need to assign joystick (or keyboard) controls to the new "Thrust Vector" control under "Aircraft Controls".

For Joypad users you can change the "Collective" (left stick up/down) into "Thrust Vector" mode by holding "Modifier 1" (left bumper).

3. Joypad users can now access an analgue trim system by holding "Modifier 2" (right bumper) which will switch the "Collective" (left stick up/down) into "Trim" mode.

4. Improved wingtip contrails.

5. Heat blue for the Harrier now follows the nozzle direction.

6. Added a new information display above the "TRIM" setting that will show you your current "NOZZ" (nozzle) angle.

7. Fixed HE blast zone damage calculations so damage is now applied correctly. This will improve the effectivness of pretty much every weapon!

8. CAS support aircraft will now attack from a slightly higher altitude which should help their shot grouping.

This update adds the following....

1. Updated flight model for fixed wing aircraft which is a lot more closer to real world physics. This is a bit of a double edged sword as it makes flying aircraft a little more tricky - you'll need to trim for different airspeeds, engines now produce accurate power, turning at high speed is more difficult.

I've tried to match each aircrafts flight performance to real world as best I can with most aircraft having the highest turn rates at around 280-350kts.

2. GAU-8 now fires at very nearly real world rate (3,000rpm vs 3,900).

3. AT-6 missiles have a better guidance system

4. Selected firezone for CAS aircraft will now no longer be moved by the A.I. You can still redesignate it though.

5. CAS waypoint sequence has been updated so that the aircraft will dive in from a slightly higher altitude. This should help them get guns/rockets on target more often.

7. Shilka and Strela turrets have been updated so that they can turn faster allowing them to track an engage faster moving targets.

8. All aircraft now carry a full load of fuel and this can often weigh several thousand kilograms!! Don't expect full performance with a full fuel load.

Known Issues

Due to the updated physics, the Harrier may not be able to perform a vertical takeoff if it is too heavy.

Instead I've adjusted the automatic nozzels so that it gives a bit more forward power to allow rolling take offs as necessary. It does take a little getting used to and the solution is less than ideal. However it is only a stop-gap as I will be adding in both manual nozzle control and a runway next week. ːsteamhappyː