[MOD 0.16] Helicopters

[d3x0r]

off-centered collision boxes are impossible

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=51212

Somehow the game centers a offcenter box when turned horizontally from its native verticle position...

[kumpu]

The key bindings are set to non-consume, which means they shouldn't block anything. But since we don't live in a perfect world were everything works as expected, its still possible they're causing this behaviour. Let me know what you find out! Also, maybe try a new map without the mod in the first place.

Having the same issue, got fixed by changing the keybindings though, might be caused due to the even distribution mod.

Another thing though, this eats a lot of ups, anyway to reduce it?

ok, I just tested it again.
It is not caused by your mod.

I am also not sure right now, if this happens all the time, that I cannot walk and place items in ghost mode at the same time.

Right now, it works perfectly fine. And I have changed nothing in factorio since yesterday where it was not working (no mod changes, no update, etc)

Just now I think it has nothing to do with factorio at all ...

But thanks for quick response!

Yeah I found too it is caused by the keybindings. Will change them in the next release, I'm thinking maybe shift+e for up and shift+q for down.

[Lemlin]

As suggested by kyoshiharu (mod portal), this version includes a remote control equipment item that lets you control your helicopters. Once you place it in your armor grid, a button will appear in the left top corner where you can access the remote gui.

It's not yet finished but I'd like some feedback. I fixed every issue I could find, but this was a pretty complicated piece of work. So if someone is interested - please give it a try and let me know if you have any problems. I'm sure there are some left. If you do, make a post here and please don't forget to include information on how to reproduce it. If you have any suggestions, let me know

How to use:
Imo it's pretty self-explanatory. Things to mention are that left clicking the to-player button will let the heli follow you, while shift-clicking will send it to your CURRENT position. Right clicking the top of any window will close it.

remote.png

I´m not sure if it´s something wrong with the version you uploaded or not but I can´t find the item(s).
When I edit the mod and add them ingame the remote isn´t working. Helipad look awesome though.

[Xtrafresh]

Am also VERY interested in playing around with the remote. I can't find it either as a craftable item, it also isn't mentioned as a research or as an item unlocked by the heli research. Some more polishing to do?

Keep up the sweet work, I'm a fan!

[Xtrafresh]

So I decided to actually make an effort instead of setting you to work some more. I edited the recipes for the helipad and the remote, and at first glance, everything works as expected. LOVE what this can do with the remote.

Some VERY first observations:

• Can you make the heli shoot at biters while I have it following me via the remote?
• When you have it path to a map tag, there's no "back" button in the GUI.
• Why allow it to navigate to a map tag at all? Having Helipads makes this all but redundant.
• Multiple helicopers can land on the same helipad. This can get messy
• Landing on helipads should vertically align the heli before it sets down. just to give it the feeling that it really is home, instead of haphazardly parked. This will also work much nicer with the hitbox issues mentioned earlier in the post.
• You've laid the groundwork of a fantastic secondary low-throughput logistics system here. It would be pretty damn awesome to produce science packs via trains and belts, and then chopper them into the lab area. I realize that this is not trivial, but I really would like to plant that seed

I've attached the edited (corrected?) zip file so others can test and mess around with it as well. All I changed was the "enabled" tag from false to true on the helipad and remote recipes in remote_recipes.lua
I hope you are ok with me doing that. I'll remove this if you wish. I'm not trying to steal your thunder, and I'll keep an eye on the thread and remove this as soon as you have a newer version out. Rock on!

[Lemlin]

It wasn´t too obvious for me the first time that I had to click at the helicopter to select it before I could do any command. But once that minor issue was solved it worked great.

I consider the helipad to be more a decorative feature than a useful option.
The map view of the helipad is small so it´s not always easy to find the right one to go to. Map markers solve that issue.

[Xtrafresh]

Agreed on the helipad map preview. I'm assuming there's plans to be able to name the helis and helipads the same way you can name train stations. They're all unique anyway, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem?

The clicking on the helicopter to control it becomes apparent when you have multiple choppers in one map. It's actually quite intuitive if you just have the first one selected as default, instead of no selection.
You'll probably want to limit the number of helicopters you can control at once. Maybe have a research tree to be able to do more? With the remote you can set them all to follow you around, so you'll be bombing down the map at the head of a fleet of attack helicopters.

I tried using inserters on a landed choppa, but couldn't get that to work.

[Optera]

I tried using inserters on a landed choppa, but couldn't get that to work.

You have to remove the fake car providing collision for landed helis.
As side effect it will also make Inventory Sensor properly read helicopter inventories.

[Lemlin]

It works fine for me, and I can even refuel in the air.

1. Put an inserter down and let it place item on the ground.
2. Place the helicopter over/next to the place fuel type.
3. Inserter is now working and refueling the helicopter.

Unless you pick up the helicopter the refueling should work fine. I have tried with two refueling station without any issues.

[kumpu]

Gooosh yeah I'm a retard. Totally forgot to include a tech when I disabled the recipes. Sorry. Leave your version here, that's totally fine.
Xtrafresh you have no idea how motivating it is to see something like that. You thought about whats going on, put work into it, etc. Thanks, and also thanks to everyone else who commented.

Now back to topic:
- Shooting at biters while under remote control: I've got no experience with that part of the API so I really don't know. It's on the list. On the other hand it could not always be a good thing... If it's loaded with nukes... Guess I don't have to say any more.
-Back button: good idea, on the list.
- Map tags make it more flexible. What if you don't have a helipad at your target destination? Particularly if you want to explore the map. Originally I wanted to make a custom map based targeting system but I figured this was a lot easier.
- I might do a "pad in use" check but it's not that big a deal imho. As said before tho, polish is important..
- Alignment: I actually already implemented that, it's just not out yet. Didn't work on the mod for the last weeks.
- Secondary low-throughput logistics: That's a neat idea! Not sure how I'd implement that tho, maybe I could hook the helipad up to the circuit network, add conditional triggers and let you read heli contents... Will see.

Default selecting the 1st chopper is a great idea, makes me wonder why I didn't come up with that myself. Will do. As for helipads, you can zoom out with right-click and zoom in with shift+right-click. Same for heli selection. I think that helps a bit, although naming them would be preferable. It's not trivial to implement tho, afaik at least.
Control tech is a good idea. Will do.

[Xtrafresh]

Gooosh yeah I'm a retard. Totally forgot to include a tech when I disabled the recipes. Sorry. Leave your version here, that's totally fine.
Xtrafresh you have no idea how motivating it is to see something like that. You thought about whats going on, put work into it, etc. Thanks, and also thanks to everyone else who commented.

Glad to help Mods are for the people, by the people, so now I get to be both people without actually having any skills, haha.

Now back to topic:
- Shooting at biters while under remote control: I've got no experience with that part of the API so I really don't know. It's on the list. On the other hand it could not always be a good thing... If it's loaded with nukes... Guess I don't have to say any more.
-Back button: good idea, on the list.
- Map tags make it more flexible. What if you don't have a helipad at your target destination? Particularly if you want to explore the map. Originally I wanted to make a custom map based targeting system but I figured this was a lot easier.
- I might do a "pad in use" check but it's not that big a deal imho. As said before tho, polish is important..
- Alignment: I actually already implemented that, it's just not out yet. Didn't work on the mod for the last weeks.

Sweet to see you tick the list off like that. On second thought, I do agree about the map tags, if only as waypoints on automated routes that are totally a thing in my head now

- Secondary low-throughput logistics: That's a neat idea! Not sure how I'd implement that tho, maybe I could hook the helipad up to the circuit network, add conditional triggers and let you read heli contents... Will see.

This should be a potential rabbithole and it a total feature-creep red flag. I'm sorry to expose you to the idea, but... man it would be cool to see a base in full operation with chinooks whirling overhead with valueables and trains underneath doing the heavy hauling. I always thought that in a game that's basically about logistics, we don't have enough logistics options. Again, sorry
It should be possible to lift a lot of the needed code from train stations and locomotives?

A slightly evil thought occurred when I wondered what should happen when a chopper runs out of fuel on automatic runs, and then I figured it should just crash. Yeah those 15 sattelites you just produced? They're now a happy little crater where your red circuit production used to be.

Default selecting the 1st chopper is a great idea, makes me wonder why I didn't come up with that myself. Will do. As for helipads, you can zoom out with right-click and zoom in with shift+right-click. Same for heli selection. I think that helps a bit, although naming them would be preferable. It's not trivial to implement tho, afaik at least.
Control tech is a good idea. Will do.

Zooming in and out on helipads: great! A GUI button would be friendlier though
Poo on the non-trivialness of names. I totally thought that would be easy. (said every coder ever I guess).

Thanks for the great mod, it's on my essentials list already.

[kumpu]

This should be a potential rabbithole and it a total feature-creep red flag. I'm sorry to expose you to the idea, but... man it would be cool to see a base in full operation with chinooks whirling overhead with valueables and trains underneath doing the heavy hauling. I always thought that in a game that's basically about logistics, we don't have enough logistics options. Again, sorry
It should be possible to lift a lot of the needed code from train stations and locomotives?

A slightly evil thought occurred when I wondered what should happen when a chopper runs out of fuel on automatic runs, and then I figured it should just crash. Yeah those 15 sattelites you just produced? They're now a happy little crater where your red circuit production used to be.

I figured I'd just have to provide basic r/w properties and triggers, e.g. read-inventory, read-fuel, set-destination, ...
So it shouldn't be too bad.
Rest can be done via circuits, that way it's nice and flexible (and easier to implement for me )
Actually a train-like solution would be better I guess. Problem is, most of that stuff is closely tied to specific entities. You want a train gui when clicking on something? Good luck, if it's not a train entity you're lost and you gotta do it yourself. The actual code is locked away from us modders, in C++.
Anyways don't get too excited yet, atm I gotta rewrite the heli code as it got quite messy. I'm switching to a state-based approach which will hopefully be a lot cleaner. But sadly I can't give the mod too much right now.
And btw, you do already take damage from an uncontrolled landing. Not enough for an immediate explosion tho

Zooming in and out on helipads: great! A GUI button would be friendlier though

You're right

Poo on the non-trivialness of names. I totally thought that would be easy. (said every coder ever I guess).

Again, tied to the entity type. Afaik the only entity that has a renameable name is the train station. So either abuse that, at least for the helipads, or do a custom solution. Or maybe someone can point me to the responsible part of the api which i've not discovered yet

Thanks for the great mod, it's on my essentials list already.

Nice to hear that

[Lemlin]

Would it be possible to release a version with the remote control on the mod portal?
I have played with the remote controlled version for a while now during my creative mode tests and it works fine enough to be released.
Much easier to tell (the lazy) ppl to download it through the portal instead of finding thread and install it the old manual way.

Rewriting the code sounds interesting, but if you don´t have time now the current one works ok even if it´s messy.
My suggestion is to release the remote controlled version now, maybe fix some small bugs that may occur, and then rewrite it later when 0.16 come. The update may require some rewrite anyway.

[miturion]

Love the helicopter. Especially the landing and take-off which makes it feel like a real helicopter.
Can you upload the latest version to the mod portal, its the most convenient way to check for updates instead of separate forumposts. Plus its bumps it so more people see this great mod

[Bilka]

Hey, according to Klonan you could try using projectiles for the shadows. Projectiles have a rotation and animation. He isn't sure if you can set their direction though.

[kumpu]

Thanks guys, did release now. Changes from 0.1.0 are mostly internal.
Bilka, that sounds interesting but the current setup works so why change it?
Also, I can't get markdown to work on the mod portal for the life of me... Can someone fill me in on what's going on with that? Please...

[Methelina]

Thanks guys, did release now. Changes from 0.1.0 are mostly internal.
Bilka, that sounds interesting but the current setup works so why change it?
Also, I can't get markdown to work on the mod portal for the life of me... Can someone fill me in on what's going on with that? Please...

Greetings!
And what do you think about collaboration?
Im 3D artist and i have some ideas what I can make as assets for the mod but sadly im not a lua coder

Best regards,
Linda

[kumpu]

Thanks guys, did release now. Changes from 0.1.0 are mostly internal.
Bilka, that sounds interesting but the current setup works so why change it?
Also, I can't get markdown to work on the mod portal for the life of me... Can someone fill me in on what's going on with that? Please...

Greetings!
And what do you think about collaboration?
Im 3D artist and i have some ideas what I can make as assets for the mod but sadly im not a lua coder

Best regards,
Linda

I think that any help is appreciated Although if we're talking new heli models, I have to tell you that @zumf is already working on something, and I don't want to steal his thunder. So I'd rather ask him before you start anything. But if he's fine with it, I'd love to do some collaboration. I can take care of all the coding.

[Methelina]

Yeah, agreed! I sent u PM

[EoRaptor]

Hello kampu,

I like and use the helo a lot in my current map. Especially the remote control is very usefull.

The list of possible marked map locations is a long one for me. Would it be possible to sort the markers, or be able to add a search function?

Regards,