Helicopter Gunship DEX News

The new ZSU-23-2 model is now complete and ready to be integrated into the air defence network!





You'll likely see this unit placed in villages or other locations where you might not spot it easily. The good news is that it is not likely to be that accurate, the bad is that you probably won't know it's there until it starts shooting unless you are particularly vigilant with scouting an area ːsteamhappyː



The DAGR weapon system will also be available shortly once the redesigned M299 Hellfire launcher is complete. While the DAGR is similar to the already available APKWS system it does have the advatage of being more flexible as you'll be able to fit a 4 x DAGR pod on the M299 launcher in place of a Hellfire missile giving you multiple weapons systems on a single launcher.

The available options will be 4 x DAGR + 3 Hellfires or 8 x DAGR + 2 Hellfires.



The "HERO" Chinook interior will also be available in 3 - 4 weeks time at which point it will become available as a flyable helicopter for heavy cargo/troop transport missions.

The Chinook will also probably be the 1st helicopter to utilise the new 360 degree engine noise system which should give a much more realistic portrail of engine and rotor sounds.

This should be the final update for the Terrain Streaming Beta.

1. Added options in "Video Settings" to control both the density and draw distance of terrain grass. Trees are uneffected by this setting as they must always be rendered out to 12km to ensure vehicles remain obscured even at long range.

2. AH-64 '88 can now carry AGM-65B missiles while the AH-64D & Longbow can carry AGM-65D missiles. While these missiles are not particularly useful at the moment they will have their uses against hardened structures such as bunkers etc in the future.

Hellfires will also be re-balanced shortly so that their maximum range is more inline with real life i.e. around 8km fro the radar and 10-11km for the laser (weather permitting). This means the Maverick will provide a longer range missile capability for attacking things like Tor SAMs at a lower technology level than the Brimstone.

Mavericks work slightly differently to other missiles as they are IRTV homing. This means the target must have a valid heat signature i.e. a vehicle or building. They cannot lock on to the ground. Once fired they are self homing and do not require constant designation by the T-POD allowing you to quickly engage multiple targets.

This update adds the following....

1. New glow/holographic effect for the HUD. There are also 2 new sliders in the Game Settings menu to control how much glow intensity and glow spread.

The default values should give a subtle glow for most colours. However, the glow is calculated based on colour "brightness" so a whiter/lighter colours will naturally have more glow while darker colours have less. Setting the Glow Intensity to 0 will remove it completely.

A particular favourite of mine is...
Red: 255
Green: 120
Blue: 0
Glow Spread: 3
Glow Intensity: 0.2

Which then looks like this...



2. New main menu music which is actually from Stealth Fighter D.E.X. It's a bit more subtle for menu music while still being a little retro.

3. Removed foliage from under the runway

I think this now brings the terrain streaming beta to an end. It's working as far as i can see.

Early next week I will push all the updates to the public branch and we'll be starting on the upgrades for the sector system which means I am now working on Dynamic Campaign elements.

While the main focus of the next beta will be sectors it will also include a lot of other bits and pieces such as mission upgrades and A.I. upgrades for both fixed wing and rotor aircraft - you might even see vehicles starting to move as part of the supply column system ːsteamhappyː

This update adds the following...

1. Fixed the white lines that sometimes appeared underneath terrain foliage

2. Reduced the brightness of the tree foliage so it no longer looks too bright.

3. Adjusted the sun brightness in Central Libya. The idea is that midday sun should be extremely bright and the sand should reflect this light making everything terrain look more washed out.

This may look too bright, but it does work well with the cloud shadows which is something only I can see at the moment as the weather is always clear.

I will be exposing some image settings such as Gamma, brightness, contrast etc so you will be able to tune the image to your monitor / own preference in the future.

Fixes tracer colour so red tracers are now red instead of green!