When will we get a serious military helicopter with TacPack?

[Daube]

Hi all,

This is just a topic to seek for information, or maybe just a rant...
The world of helicopters is quite poor in FSX and P3D. The legendary Dodosim is still the most realistic one available today, and that's just a 206...
And, to this day, we never ever had any serious military helicopters. Most of them are just pretty empty shells, with no military systems inside or anything serious.

Since TacPack SDKs were made available, we finally saw quite a few military jets appearing on the market, some of them being excellent (IRIS A-10, M2M Mirage 2000, and more), but as far as I know, nobody has announced anything regarding helicopters....
I would LOVE to see a good Apache in P3D, with a nice FLIR screen in the VC. Last time I flew a "good" Apache was in Longbow2 from Janes...
Of course, a few years a ago I couldn't resist buying the Virtavia Apache... and there's no need to explain how big the dissappointment was...

So the question is in the title: when will be finally get a serious military helicopter to fly in P3D ? IS there any editor out there who is at least considering the question ?

[Stickshaker]

I second that! Especially since TacPac makes not just a HUD possible, but a helmet-mounted display, like Dino made for the F-35. The absence of a HMD in P3D and/or FSX attack helicopters has discouraged me from flying and buying them.

[joe bob]

I am all for it, though I am not sure tackpack has the ability to do flexible weapons.

It would be a chance to dominate a niche market within a niche market withing a niche market.

I was thinking about the state of rotary wing simulation in FS the other day. I went on Hovercontrol to get the expert opinion on a new helicopter and was stuck by the indifference.
That was in sharp contrast to how it used to be in the FS9 days when a new helicopter, payware or freeware, came out and any night of the week you could pop on and fly online with half a dozen guys at a minimum who were excited that there was something new out.
Now that helicopters are easier to fly in FS it seems to have taken that comradery away.
It seems the average reaction is for the old guard to make a press release like post announcing that they won't be buying it.
You would think that such a small market would nurture those who bother to make products for it but the opposite seems to be the case.

[Daube]

The thing is, I'm not sure if the market is small because people don't want helicopters, or because the available helicopters are bad.
I mean, today, if somebody wants a REALISTIC military jet, he has quite a few possible choices.
But, if that same person wants a realistic military helicopter, he has... absolutely nothing, niet, nada, nuts.

And no, I don't want to use DCS. I know DCS very well, it's a very good sim, and it's totally not what I'm looking for.
Well, actually... yes, I would love the DCS helicopters, they are what I'm looking for... But I'd like to fly them in P3D, not in DCS.

Concerning the TacPack, as far as I understood, the availability of a type of weapon is linked to the request from developpers. If a company starts developping an Apache, there are good chances the Hellfires, rockets and orientable machine gun appear in the SDK at the same time.

I would really pay for a good Apache, a good Kiowa, a Cobra... and Russian copters as well (with english labels :P ).

[Ripcord]

I could not agree more. TP would be perfect for helos. Hell even guns only would be better than nothing, but air-ground missiles would be so much more fun.

Imagine that against moving targets, in a cooperative MP session.

Probably we would need CeraSim to jump in. Milviz has done some very nice helicopters as well, although not military. IRIS has the experience now having worked with TP already so they might even be the best candidate, from that point of view. That would certainly be something.

[Daube]

Milviz are most likely to do it. After all, they have both the helicopter modelling experience and the TacPack experience.
CeraSim hasn't done anyTacPack-ed model yet.
I'm surprised by the lack of replies to this topic though. This explains why no editor has done any TacPack helicopter yet: because nobody cares in the FS community. This is quite sad

[Loerch]

This explains why no editor has done any TacPack helicopter yet: because nobody cares in the FS community.

I care

But I think that we'd need to make TacPack in general more popular first. Military pilots in P3D (and FSX) seem to be a very small group, and it is split up in thousands of virtual squadrons which are more or less open to new pilots. It just feels really hard to get into the TacPack world. The single player capabilities are still very limited and multiplayer has it's own share of problems, like all the Cessnas flying around when you don't own every TP aircraft. FSX@war might be great, but so far I have given up because it is horrible to use and I always end up in some french forum when I try to google my problems with it.


I hope that if the demand for TP aircraft is there, we will see a good Apache or -what I am hoping for- Cobra or sth. else eventually.

[Loerch]

seems like we all missed this announcement: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1155986151112425.1073741868.184784678232582 &type=3&comment_id=1155992987778408&reply_comment_ id=1156016587776048&comment_tracking=%7B"tn"%3A"R2 "%7D

Totally new systems, totally new FDE, totally new night lighting in the VC, new soundset, revamped model and textures, fixed, reanimated and re-textured H/C rotor systems and Tacpack'd C version with rockets and mini's....

So Milviz is already working on a UH-1C

[Daube]

I was more thinking about "helicopters with modern military systems and weapons".
A Huey with rocket would be nice of course, but not what I was looking for.

[wombat666]

Milviz are most likely to do it. After all, they have both the helicopter modelling experience and the TacPack experience.
CeraSim hasn't done anyTacPack-ed model yet.
I'm surprised by the lack of replies to this topic though. This explains why no editor has done any TacPack helicopter yet: because nobody cares in the FS community. This is quite sad

With all due respect Daube I'm inclined to think that TacPack users are a relatively small niche of the FS community, while the serious 'vertical flight' users are also a minority.
If we look over the uploads around the general FS Community and do the numbers, Civil Aviation is the main game.
Sims like DCS and the like are popular but (IMHO) appear to have an appeal to a certain type of user.
I do like 'flying' helicopters, but as a retired 'Grunt' I have little or no enthusiasm for the combat versions..........
The only combat sim that I use and find immersive is Rise of Flight, which has no need of TacPack.
Just my own (me, myself) personal opinion.

[Daube]

Your opinion makes perfect sense
Of course the TacPack fans are a very small (too small) part of the FS community, and this explains the small amount of TacPack'd aircraft so far.

However, the focus is not always on the "combat". We're all aircraft enthusiasts here, and most of us want to enjoy these aircrafts in the sim and being able to play around with all of the systems they have. This should include the military systems. Not necessarily for blowing up anything, but just for the sake of "using" completely the aircraft, in the environnement we like (FS, and not DCS or other dedicated sims).

[Stickshaker]

Yes, Daube, that is exactly the way I use military aircraft - if only because I would be shot down if I tried a serious dogfight.