WIP Beta released Revamped Bell 407 (Improved Controls!)

Discussion in 'Air' started by stefan750, Apr 30, 2024.

  1. stefan750

    stefan750
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    One of the very few working Helicopters for BeamNG.drive, now updated and improved!

    Original mod made by @DrowsySam
    this version is based on the previously fixed Bell 407 uploaded by @Eren28 here.


    upload_2024-5-1_1-3-35.png
    Features

    Increased maneuverability
    upload_2024-5-1_1-4-17.gif
    Completely new control scheme that makes the helicopter more agile than ever before.
    Still completely powered by JBeam and the games aerodynamics simulation.

    The new controls use linkages connected to the blades of the main rotor to simulate a real helicopter swashplate, giving it proper collective and cyclic controls.

    Fully remappable controls
    upload_2024-5-1_1-3-30.png
    The helicopter now uses fully remappable vehicle specific bindings.
    Each binding can also make use of the filtering settings to change its responsiveness (depending if it is a key or controller input).

    Additional controls
    Activating the parking brake or regular brake will engage the rotor brake (useful for slowing down the rotor after shutting down the engine, not recommended while in flight).
    Pressing the Fog light key binding (default ALT + N) will toggle the spotlight.
    Turning on the vehicle lights (default N) will enable the interior and position lights, switching to high beams will enable the landing light.

    Custom skin support
    upload_2024-5-1_1-4-11.gif
    A colorable PBR enabled variant of the default skin is included.

    Improved Cockpit
    upload_2024-5-1_1-4-7.gif
    Reduced warping of the flight stick model, and the collective control and tail rotor pedals now move with your inputs as well!
    Some of the cockpit instruments also display more accurate measurements now.

    Functional Tow Hook
    upload_2024-5-1_1-3-48.png
    Attach cargo loads using the coupler on the end of the hook or use the node grabber.
    Lifting capacity is a little over 1000kg, this might vary depending on the altitude of the map you are on.

    New Sounds
    Added new turbine and starter sounds for the engine.

    How to fly

    Takeoff
    1. If the engine is off, start it by holding down the V key.
    2. Make sure you are in "D" gear and the parking brake is off.
    3. Wait until the rotor has finished spinning up, the engine RPM should be at or close to redline.
      Throttle is controlled automatically, no manual throttle input is required.
    4. Lift the helicopter off the ground using the Collective Up control.
      Controller: Left analog stick up
      Keyboard: Up arrow key
    Flying
    1. Hold the helicopter steady using the Cyclic Pitch and Roll controls.
      The helicopter does not automatically center itself, you need to manually keep it steady to hover in place!

      Controller: Right analog stick
      Keyboard: T, G, F, H keys
    2. Use the Collective controls to move the helicopter up or down.
      Controller: Left analog stick up and down
      Keyboard: Up and down arrow keys
    3. Use the Tail Rotor Yaw controls to turn the helicopter in the direction you want to face.
      Controller: Left analog stick sideways
      Keyboard: Left and right arrow keys

    Detailed Changelog:

    JBeam:

    General:

    • Changed main rotor controls to adjust individual blade pitch instead of tilting the entire rotor
    • Adjusted collisions and breakgroups for rotors
    • Fixed most of the console warnings about duplicate and zero-length beams
    • Fixed missing beam in tail rotor causing vibrations at high rotor RPM
    • Adjusted lots of JBeam values for better stability and less vibrations in flight
    • Small adjustments to aero and weight distribution
    • Added torsion bar in tail section to strengthen it against twisting
    • Added a few triangles to close some holes in the tail section
    • Fixed chase camera position
    • Added functional tow hook
    • Removed "Bell 407 Electrics" part because it didn't contain anything anymore
    • Removed redundant "Bell 407" from part names
    • Added "Paint Design" slot for custom skin support

    Powertrain:
    • Engine throttle is controlled automatically to support new controls (engine automatically goes to full throttle in drive, and idles while in neutral, lift is controlled by collective input only)
    • Removed all gears except "D" and "N", and made "D" the default gear on spawn
    • Torque converter no longer multiplies engine output power
    • Adjusted engine power and rotor speed to be more in line with its real life counterpart
    • Added locked differentials between rotors to ensure consistent RPM
    • Rotor sound now depends on RPM of the physical rotor instead of engine RPM
    • Added new separate turbine and starter sounds for the engine
      Sound credit: Explorer Helicopter Engine Start Up Ignition Sequence and Idle .wav by Paul368 -- https://freesound.org/s/410604/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
      Cut and modified by stefan750

    Visual:
    • Added moving collective control
    • Tail rotor pedals now move with yaw input
    • Improved stability of flight stick and reduced warping of the mesh
    • Fixed spotlight facing in the wrong direction and adjusted range and FOV
    • Adjusted interior and landing lights (lowbeam activates interior and position lights, highbeam activates landing lights)

    Model/Textures:
    • Minor changes to 3D model to make cockpit flight controls move correctly
    • Switched from materials.cs to main.materials.json and skin.materials.json
    • Added a colorable variant of the default skin with PBR enabled

    Lua:
    • Removed vsi.lua and moved code into 407electrics.lua
    • Force the gearbox into "D" gear while in Arcade mode so it spawns correctly
    • Fixed vertical speed indicator displaying incorrect values due to naming conflict in electrics
    • Increased airspeed indicator accuracy across its entire range
    • Rotor RPM indicator is now based on physical rotor RPM
    • Heading indicator now rotates in the correct direction
    • Added 407controls.lua for input events and filtering

    Inputs:
    • Added vehicle specific bindings for lift, pitch, roll and yaw
    • Inputs can now make use of the the different filter settings in the controls menu
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 stefan750, Apr 30, 2024
    Last edited: May 1, 2024
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  2. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Holy shit this is fucking amazing, did you adapt the propeller pitch from the B25 or?
    --- Post updated ---
    Yea, copy and paste the image in the textbox instead of uploading
     
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  3. stefan750

    stefan750
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    Thank you!
    I'm not sure how the B25 does it, but since its a plane I assume it adjusts all propeller blades at the same time to change thrust.
    The heli does the same with the collective controls, but for turning it works differently.
    For example to roll the helicopter left the blades on the right side have to produce more lift than the ones on the left, so each blade needs to have a different pitch depending on which side of the heli it is on.

    I can not edit the original post in any way right now, it keeps telling me the content is spam-like or contains inappropriate content... I'm not sure what's triggering it, I just want to fix the broken formatting :(.
     
    #3 stefan750, Apr 30, 2024
    Last edited: May 1, 2024
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  4. FlippedPigeon

    FlippedPigeon
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    thanks man
    --- Post updated ---
    Ive just realized your acc is from 2013 and this is your firts message :skull:
     
  5. LegThePeg

    LegThePeg
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    Oh, this would be the version that Failrace used recently, right?
     
  6. stefan750

    stefan750
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    Yes, but that was a slightly older version that wasn't colorable yet and had less engine power.
     
  7. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Did you improve the jbeam too?
     
  8. stefan750

    stefan750
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    Just slightly, the body is a bit less wobbly and I changed some of the strength values, especially on the rotors.

    Also I just realized my reply to your first message is still awaiting mod approval before its visible, so again in short: It's quite different from the B25, every rotor blade has a different pitch depending on where it is in the rotation to make the helicopter turn.
     
    #8 stefan750, May 1, 2024
    Last edited: May 1, 2024
  9. Communism

    Communism
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    Controls so well, especially compared to the old version, amazing work!
     
  10. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Yea good to hear, the old rotor and rear fuselage are both really cardboard-like

    Damn, that's really cool. I hope manufactures make a helicopter sim rig
    --- Post updated ---
    Also just making sure, the collective is the throttle right?
     
  11. stefan750

    stefan750
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    It functions the same as a throttle input when flying.
    But the actual engine always runs at a constant RPM and the collective just changes how much lift the rotor produces.
     
  12. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Ah ok so can it hover now?
     
  13. stefan750

    stefan750
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    Yes, it is set up so at neutral collective (not pressing the up or down inputs) it will hover.
     
  14. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Uh, then how do you do that with an axis like an aircraft throttle? since they aren't like joysticks and buttons
     
  15. stefan750

    stefan750
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    With any axis input it will hover at 50% input, below 50% it will go down and above 50% it will go up.
     
  16. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    Oh how splendid! Magnificent work, my good sir!
     
  17. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    @stefan750 What sim gear do you use for this?
    --- Post updated ---
    Also are you interested in other aviation projects? me and @jgb are working on a Tu-154 from an abandoned project, if you are interested in anything regarding collaborations in BeamNG Aviation then join the discord server here to further discuss this matter: https://discord.gg/79nEbNnw
    Also would be really cool if you can make an Me-262 PBR fix lol, I recently fixed the paint issues but its still a bit outdated without PBR
     
  18. stefan750

    stefan750
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    Most of the time I use an RC transmitter with a USB adapter for flying. It takes up way less space than a flight stick + throttle but still has way more precise sticks than a controller and a few extra analog sliders and knobs on it.

    Yeah the game definitely needs more aircraft :). I don't have much time to properly work on something bigger at the moment, but if you need some help with lua or finetuning some parts of the JBeam I could probably do that.

    I just about managed to convert the existing textures into color and palette maps to make the separate parts colorable and get the metallic and other sliders in the color selector to work, but I'm not an artist so I can't really make new textures.
     
  19. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    That is the most cursed way I have heard of playing BeamNG lol


    I'm pretty sure that it's got all the files, the only issue is that some of the code in the material.cs file doesn't work anymore, a new json file should fix it but its up to you really
     
  20. Happyhusky

    Happyhusky
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    We should make something like this:

     
    • Agree Agree x 1
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