Changelog

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UPDATE — v0.2.8 | 9 July 2026

⚠️ DayZ 1.29 limitation — co-pilot flying controls: on 1.29, only the pilot seat can fly (this applies engine-wide to every CarScript helicopter mod). The co-pilot Take Controls / handover feature is therefore disabled for now, and engine start/stop is pilot-only — the co-pilot seat is a full passenger seat with instant actions. If Bohemia opens this up, handover comes back.

⚠️ Running @Vehicle3PP? 1.29 made helicopters subject to its third-person whitelist. Add CZAutoz_Helicopter_Base to your $profile:3PPVehicleWhitelist.json (or empty the list) to keep third-person flight.

• Changed The entire flight simulation now runs on a physics force model with native client prediction — the pilot’s aircraft responds instantly and smoothly to input, with no server round-trip feel, no rubber-banding, no “stepping” while holding a turn
• Fixed The low-altitude stutter/instability near the ground under input — several force transitions (altitude hold, ground lift blending, landing braking) flipped on hard thresholds the client and server could disagree on; all are now smooth ramps
• Fixed Lift-off is smooth — the jolt as the helicopter left the ground is gone
• Changed Attitude holds on stick release — bank into a turn, let go, and it stays banked like 1.28. Auto-level-on-release is gone from free flight in both modes
• Changed Full aerobatics — loops, rolls and inverted flight in both flight modes; tilt past vertical and you lose lift realistically until you roll back out
• Changed Per-helicopter rebalance, real-life-informed: MH6 and MD500 the agile light birds, SA342M fast and nimble, UH1H steady, Blackhawk a stable fast heavy, Merlin a stately heavy-lifter. Top speeds raised to realistic values (up to ~138 kt where appropriate)
• Changed Autorotation, properly — cut or lose the engine and the rotor windmills: glide, flare with collective, and set it down; the landing settles cleanly. The autorotation tuning values (autorotation.*) are now fully functional on the new model
• Changed Tail rotor failure is a real emergency — lose the tail and the aircraft winds into an uncontrollable spin with extra sink (tailRotorFailure.* tunables now fully live), while the main rotor keeps flying; lose the main rotor and you’re going down — no lift, no authority, the healthy tail keeps spinning until shutdown
• Fixed Weathervane (nose-into-wind at speed) now actually works — the value existed but was inert on 1.29

• Fixed Cabin Walk is fully working again and enabled by default (cabinModeEnabled = 1). The in-flight rework promised in v0.2.3/v0.2.4 is done — move to the cabin in flight and you track the moving aircraft smoothly: no snapping, no teleporting, no flicker, at any speed
• Fixed The black-screen/camera flicker when moving in the cabin is gone, you stay crouched, and edge & wall blocking holds you inside the airframe
• Note Your cockpit seat stays reserved while you’re in the cabin — return to it any time
• Note Available on the cockpit-door helicopters (UH1H, MH60L Blackhawk); the AW101 Merlin and cabin passengers already walk the cabin natively

✅ If you disabled Cabin Walk on our earlier advice, turn it back on: config migration keeps your custom values — so if you set cabinModeEnabled = 0 back in v0.2.3/v0.2.4, it will stay 0 after updating. Set features.cabinModeEnabled = 1 (or flip it live in the Admin Panel) to get the finished feature.

• Added A new mod-config setting flightMode — "Simple" (default) or "Advanced", switchable live in the Admin Panel
• Added Simple — forgiving assists: releasing collective holds your altitude, turns auto-coordinate, inputs are smoothed
• Added Advanced — raw and manual: altitude is yours to manage, minimal turn coordination (fly the pedals), crisper input response
• Note Both modes fly the identical physics and share the same per-helicopter tuning — the mode only changes the assist layer

• Changed Engaging at speed now decisively counter-tilts and brings you to a clean stationary hover — fast, straight and smooth; engagement ramps in rather than snapping on
• Fixed The curve/bank while arresting to a hover is gone — turn coordination and weathervane no longer act under auto-hover
• Fixed Altitude hold works properly (terrain-referenced) — no more diving or climbing away on engage
• Changed You can nudge the hover to reposition — the hold suspends while you steer (capped at a safe tilt), then re-arrests where you release, not back at the original spot
• Fixed The heading twitch on engage and the “fights every small input” feel

• Changed Start-up is now real: no lift and no control authority until the rotor reaches full RPM — exactly when the blades blur. Spool time follows each helicopter’s start-up sound automatically, or set it with the new spoolUpTime / spoolDownTime overrides (rotorSpoolRate remains the visual blade-spin rate only)
• Fixed Engine start can no longer get stuck (radial menu stuck on Start, rotors never spooling) if the start-up sound failed to play — with a server-side failsafe behind it
• Changed Main and tail rotor are properly independent — shear the main and the engine keeps running with the healthy tail spinning until you shut down; the reverse holds too
• Fixed Gunfire can kill rotors again — sustained fire on a rotor disables it in-session (the basis of rotors-only damage mode for AI servers)
• Fixed Rotor shear detection is snappier (~100 ms), and a sheared rotor repairs correctly — no more “reappears but doesn’t spin”
• Fixed The repair actions show reliably for every player when zones are damaged — and disappear the moment the repair completes (no more repeatable ghost repair)
• Fixed A damaged engine smokes and a holed fuel tank visibly leaks — and now leaks in flight, not just on the ground
• Fixed Wreck fire no longer re-ignites on an old wreck after a server restart — and a fully repaired helicopter can burn again if destroyed later. Fire only ever ignites on genuine destruction, never on a live airframe
• Fixed Crew crash damage setting renamed playerCrashDamageEnabled — your existing value migrates automatically

• Added True park-sleep: a parked, unoccupied helicopter now stops simulating entirely (matching native 1.29 vehicle parking) and wakes instantly on any interaction — doors, windows, ramp, refuel, repair, damage, boarding. Big server-tick savings on heli-heavy maps
• Fixed Parked helicopters no longer run per-frame physics checks on every nearby client — a fleet of parked helis at a trader is now nearly free
• Fixed Parked helicopters no longer slowly sink into the ground over time
• Fixed Gear/ramp animations and lit nav-lights no longer spam network sync / material updates every frame

• Fixed Players no longer fall through BaseBuildingPlus floors (and other elevated structures) on relog or server restart
• Fixed Autorotation landings, rotor dust and low-altitude warnings now correctly detect base-building floors and rooftops as ground — not just terrain
• Fixed A helicopter that persisted mid-air (server went down while flying) now falls and autorotates on restart instead of teleporting to the terrain below

• Fixed Co-pilot actions are instant — getting out, doors, everything (previously delayed, flickering or vanishing from the co-pilot seat)
• Added Your own door opens instantly as a passenger (client prediction)
• Added Survivor Animations support (optional soft-dependency): run @Survivor Animations on server + client and pilots sit in a proper helicopter pose instead of holding a car steering wheel
• Fixed Pilot cyclic sticks animate correctly in flight for all viewers, and the collective lever no longer flickers while held
• Fixed A warning now appears again if another mod’s keybinds clash with the collective controls (input pinned)

• Changed The health bar is now continuous and accurate (white → yellow → amber → red), synced from the server
• Fixed Damage-zone boxes are accurate for the co-pilot and passengers, not just the pilot
• Fixed The 3rd-person camera no longer whips/flings during flips and rolls with free-look — and a client crash-log flood on entering/exiting vehicles is fixed (plus another from helicopter sound effects)

• Fixed The Blackhawk no longer leans and sinks onto its front-right wheel — its centre of mass was off in the model
• Fixed Wheeled helicopters sit flush and stable on their suspension, with proper tyre grip (no more sliding on slopes)
• Fixed The Merlin’s ramp no longer sinks the hull into the ground when operated while parked

• Fixed Admin panel slider ranges now match what the config accepts — edge values no longer silently reset a setting to its default
• Fixed The per-helicopter config Edit flow applies correctly
• Changed Admin panel input handling security-hardened
• Fixed The startup Discord webhook fires reliably on boot
• Changed A server that boots without internet now recovers its whitelist the moment someone starts an engine — no waiting out the retry timer

• Changed The fuel drum classname is now CZ_HeliDrum (matching the other items). The old CZAutoz_HeliDrum still works everywhere — existing drums, types.xml and traders unaffected — but please migrate; the legacy name will be hidden in a future release
• Removed Dead config values tiltLiftComp and b2tRampRate (superseded by the new flight model — cleaned from your configs automatically)
• Note Config migration is in place as usual: custom values kept, new keys added at defaults, originals backed up to $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\Backups\

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HOTFIX — v0.2.7 | 20 June 2026

• Fixed A v0.2.6 regression in the wreck‑fire delete‑cleanup that could fail to compile the World script module — on boot (server) or on join (client), shown as Undefined function CZAutoz_WreckFireStopEffects. The cleanup now runs entirely client‑side where the effects live; the v0.2.6 wreck‑fire, burnDuration = 0, and rotor‑shear fixes are all unchanged and intact

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HOTFIX — v0.2.6 | 20 June 2026

• Fixed Deleting a burning wreck (admin tools, server cleanup, etc.) now removes the fire, smoke and light with it — previously the flames could keep burning at the spot until the next server restart
• Added Setting a helicopter’s burnDuration to 0 now fully disables its wreck fire — no flame/smoke particle, no light, no burn damage. Handy for servers with lower‑end clients, since the fire particle is the FPS‑heavy part. Set it live in the Admin Panel or in the per‑helicopter JSON

• Fixed With rotor damage turned off (damage.zones.rotor1 / rotor2 = 0), a crash no longer shears or deletes the rotors — they stay intact, consistent with the toggle. With rotor damage on (including rotors‑only mode), shearing works exactly as before

⚠️ Cabin Walk (Move to Cabin) is unchanged in this release — still off by default and still being reworked. Keep it disabled (cabinModeEnabled = 0) until a future hotfix.

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HOTFIX — v0.2.5 | 19 June 2026

• Fixed Helicopters pulled from a garage (e.g. LBmaster Garage) now keep their fuel instead of arriving empty — and topping one up before you store it now sticks. The helicopter reads its fuel from the same native tank the garage restores, exactly like a vanilla car

• Fixed Helicopters parked on a BaseBuildingPlus floor (or any elevated structure) no longer drop through to the terrain after a server restart or when pulled from a Virtual Garage. A restart re-positioning step meant only for helicopters left in mid-air was wrongly snapping parked ones straight down through the base

• Fixed Getting out of a helicopter with Autohover engaged no longer makes it climb away — it now holds its altitude cleanly. The hover was mistaking the just-exited pilot beneath it for the ground “rising”; a player walking under a hovering helicopter could nudge it the same way, and that’s fixed too

⚠️ Cabin Walk (Move to Cabin) is unchanged in this release — still off by default and still being reworked. Keep it disabled (cabinModeEnabled = 0) until a future hotfix.

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HOTFIX — v0.2.4 | 04 June 2026

⚠️ Cabin Walk (Move to Cabin) is still being reworked — and is now OFF by default. New or first-time-generated configs set features.cabinModeEnabled = 0 automatically. Please keep it disabled (set cabinModeEnabled to 0 in mod_config.json) until a future hotfix completes it — when enabled it does not yet hold the pilot/co-pilot inside the cabin correctly. Cabin passengers and AW101 Merlin seats are unaffected.

• Fixed Helicopters already persisting on the map are now reliably operable immediately after a server restart — starting the engine, flying, and getting in and out all work first time. Previously they could load in a disabled state (engine wouldn’t start, you couldn’t get out of the seat) until the world was wiped — even though freshly-spawned and Virtual Garage helicopters were unaffected
• Fixed A persisted helicopter that went idle/parked before the server finished its startup checks no longer stays stuck disabled

• Changed The startup integrity check now resolves earlier and recovers quickly from a transient network hiccup at boot, so a whitelisted server never leaves its map helicopters briefly inert after a restart
• Fixed An edge case where certain server network setups (multi-homed / NAT) could be momentarily mis-flagged at startup — a correctly-registered server now stays enabled

• Changed Cabin Mode now defaults to OFF (features.cabinModeEnabled = 0) — first-time and regenerated configs set this automatically. When off, the “Move to Cabin” action simply does not appear
• Known issue The in-flight Move-to-Cabin rework is not finished and should stay disabled until a future hotfix. Existing servers: set cabinModeEnabled = 0 in mod_config.json to be safe
• Note Affects only the pilot/co-pilot Move to Cabin action. Seat Exit Free Walk and Walk-On linking (cabin passengers, AW101 Merlin) are engine-native and unaffected

• Fixed Getting into a helicopter in 3rd person no longer zooms the camera far out and back in on entry — and the brief freeze / black-screen some setups saw at that moment is gone. The chase camera sits at the right distance from the first frame

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HOTFIX — v0.2.3 | 03 June 2026

✅ Good news — version updates no longer reset your configs: every previous version regenerated all configs from defaults on update, so you had to re-apply your settings from the backup afterward. From v0.2.3 the mod migrates your configs in place — new settings are added, removed ones cleaned up, and all your custom values are kept. Your originals are still backed up first to $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\Backups\, just in case.

⚠️ Known issue — Cabin Walk (Move to Cabin) is still being reworked: moving to the cabin while the helicopter is moving, hovering or in flight can repeatedly snap or teleport your character as the aircraft moves, instead of holding you cleanly inside the cabin — the in-flight “ride the deck” attachment is not reliable yet. For now it is most stable while the helicopter is landed and stationary (or held still with Autohover before you leave the seat). A proper fix is in active development and is the top priority for the next update. This affects only the pilot/co-pilot Move to Cabin action — Seat Exit Free Walk and Walk-On linking (used by cabin passengers and on the AW101 Merlin) are engine-native and unaffected.

• Known issue Moving to the cabin while the helicopter is moving or in flight can repeatedly snap/teleport you as it moves — it does not hold you cleanly on the airframe yet. Most stable while landed and stationary, or with Autohover engaged first
• In progress The in-flight attachment model is being rebuilt so you stay locked inside the cabin and bank/pitch with the aircraft smoothly at any speed — this is the top priority for the next update
• Note Cabin passengers and all AW101 Merlin seats use Seat Exit Free Walk / Walk-On linking, which are engine-native and not affected by this

• Removed @CommunityFramework is no longer a dependency — the CZ Autoz whitelist now runs natively inside the mod. Remove it from your server’s Required Items / load order if nothing else uses it

• Added New Our Mods tab — an at-a-glance overview of the CZ Autoz range
• Added New Cars tab — appears automatically when CZ Autoz car content is detected on your server, and lists what’s installed
• Changed Config edits now apply live — saving in the panel updates already-spawned helicopters and every connected player instantly (cabin-mode toggle, action hold-times, refuel rates and more), with no respawn or reconnect
• Fixed Helicopters spawned from the panel now land on BaseBuildingPlus floors and other structures instead of dropping through to the terrain

• Changed Version updates now migrate your configs in place instead of wiping and regenerating them — custom values kept, new keys added, removed keys cleaned up, originals backed up first
• Changed Ruined Parts Fall Off is now a single global feature toggle (previously per-helicopter)

• Fixed A co-pilot can now start the engine on a parked helicopter with no pilot in the pilot seat
• Fixed The first crew member to board now always receives controls immediately — no occasional “no control” until you exit and re-enter
• Fixed Wheeled helicopters now brake the instant the engine is switched off — no more rolling on a slope while the rotors wind down
• Fixed Engine and rotor audio no longer briefly drop out when changing seats or camera

• Fixed Helicopters already persisting on the server are now reliably operable after a restart
• Fixed A healthy helicopter restored from a Virtual Garage no longer shows wreck smoke/fire

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HOTFIX — v0.2.2 | 28 May 2026

⚙️ Please read — a version update resets ALL configs to defaults: updating the mod regenerates every config from defaults — both mod_config.json (admin roles, feature toggles, and all server settings) and every per-helicopter config. Your existing configs are automatically backed up first to $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\Backups\v<oldversion>_<date>\, and only client_prefs.json carries over. Re-apply your settings and per-helicopter tuning after updating — copy them back from the backup folder.

• Fixed Walking the cabin in flight no longer flickers — you’re now bound into the helicopter’s local-space render hierarchy and track the moving aircraft smoothly (the 1.28 cabin walk, migrated to the 1.29 API)
• Fixed You now stay crouched while moving in the cabin instead of standing up on the first movement key
• Fixed Cabin mode behaves identically on every entry, not just the first — a stale state flag was bringing back the stand-up and flicker after returning to the cockpit
• Fixed Edge & wall blocking restored — you can’t walk off the helicopter, and the white-screen flicker at edges is gone
• Fixed Moving to the cabin reliably teleports you onto the interior position (no more ending up outside or below the floor)
• Added A pilot or co-pilot who moves into the cabin reserves their cockpit seat — nobody else can take it while they’re out walking (both cockpit seats reserve independently and at the same time)
• Fixed Parked/idle helicopters no longer go to sleep (and drop you) while someone is walking the cabin

• Changed Realistic inverted flight — tilt past vertical (loops, flying upside-down) and you lose lift and fall under the aircraft’s own weight, recoverable by rolling or pitching back upright. Loops and aerobatics still work, with no artificial tilt limit
• Added Tilt Lift Compensation (tiltLiftComp) — a new per-helicopter value, live-editable in the admin panel, controlling how much lift is retained as the aircraft tilts

• Fixed The per-zone damage toggles (Chassis / Body / Engine / Fuel / Rotor 1 / Rotor 2) now gate all damage — gunfire and explosions, not just collisions. Previously a helicopter with its damage zones turned off could still be shot to a wreck
• Added True rotors-only damage — enable only the rotor zones so AI or players can damage (degrade/shear) the rotors while the hull stays invulnerable; ideal for servers running AI that shoot helicopters
• Changed Turning all damage zones off is full invincibility, now enforced reliably in both directions
• Added Ruined Parts Fall Off — new per-helicopter toggle: a door (or any attachment) that becomes ruined detaches and drops off the helicopter instead of sitting ruined in its slot (default off)

• Fixed AW101 Merlin no longer wobbles or jitters while the cargo ramp or landing gear is moving
• Fixed MH-60L Blackhawk side windows no longer open and close on their own when using movement or flight inputs
• Fixed Animation states (gear, ramp, fuel, windows) are no longer incorrectly driven by player input or movement

• Fixed DayZ Expansion Car Keys — locking a paired helicopter works again; it no longer reports “close all doors to lock” when every door is already shut

• Fixed Cabin collision — interior geometry that previously had no collision now blocks correctly, so the cabin edge/wall protection works as intended

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HOTFIX — v0.2.1 | 24 May 2026

⚠️ Please read — flight smoothness (important): This hotfix makes the flight simulation — the motion that actually carries you through the world as you bank and turn — smooth and kinematic again. It does NOT yet make the helicopter visually 100% smooth. The body-frame transforms during flight can still visually rumble. This is a known, separate issue and needs a dedicated rework against the DayZ 1.29 native rendering/prediction API to appear fully smooth on-screen. In short: your helicopter flies and moves through the world smoothly — the remaining rumble is purely visual, and it is actively being worked on for an upcoming update.

• Changed Restored the smooth, kinematic flight feel from 1.28, rebuilt on the 1.29 engine — fluid world movement, banking and turning
• Changed Rebalanced per-helicopter top speeds (in knots), tuned to sit below the engine’s FPS-drop threshold
• Removed Auto-leveling in both powered flight and autorotation — the aircraft now holds the attitude you set
• Added Altitude retention through banked turns
• Fixed Autorotation tilt smoothed to match powered flight

• Changed Helicopters inherit CarScript again (Transport in v0.2). The v0.2 force-based flight model, autorotation, tail-rotor failure, control feel, admin panel, lights, particles and audio are all unchanged — only the base class changed
• Changed Wheel suspension, movement prediction and contact damage now use DayZ’s native CarScript systems instead of the custom Transport-era replacements

• Removed The manual <rootclass name="CZAutoz_Helicopter_Script" act="car" reportMemoryLOD="no" /> entry that v0.2 required is no longer needed — as a CarScript vehicle the helicopters are covered by DayZ’s native vehicle Central Economy root automatically
• Upgrading from v0.2: safely remove that <rootclass> line from your mission’s cfgeconomycore.xml
• Important Wipe helicopter persistence once on update — the save format changed with the base class, so existing saved helicopters will not carry across

• Changed DayZ Expansion (get-in, safe zones, locks), MuchCarKey, TraderPlus CarLock, VPP Admin Tools and Community Online Tools now recognise the helicopters natively as CarScript vehicles
• Removed The v0.2 Transport-era compatibility shims that hand-rolled this recognition — no longer needed
• Changed All mod compatibility stays optional & auto-detected — no hard dependency

• Changed A sheared rotor no longer shuts the engine off — unless fully ruined, the engine and tail keep running and the aircraft stays powered; you only lose control authority
• Fixed Fuel leaks now start the moment the tank is damaged (previously only once a player boarded) and stop once the tank is empty or repaired
• Fixed Wreck fire now triggers when an unoccupied helicopter is shot to ruined — it no longer requires a player to board first

• Added Adding an admin or changing a role now applies live — no rejoin needed to open the panel
• Added Removing an admin now revokes access instantly and closes their panel

• Fixed Rotors creeping/spinning slowly forever after shutdown or a server restart
• Changed Netsync optimisation — lower bandwidth and fixed the Blackhawk camera/rotor desync
• Changed Parked/idle helicopters stop ticking to save server FPS

• Changed Two per-helicopter config keys were renamed for clarity: inputSmoothRate → b2tRampRate, and playerCrashDamage → playerCrashDamageEnabled
• Important Regenerate your per-helicopter configs so the new keys populate — those two fields revert to defaults until you do. Note that updating to a new version regenerates all configs from defaults (including mod_config.json); your previous configs are backed up to $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\Backups\v<oldversion>_<date>\ first, so re-apply your settings afterward

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UPDATE — v0.2 | 21 May 2026

• Changed Flight system migrated from CarScript to Transport — the correct DayZ 1.29 base class for script-driven aircraft. The old CarScript wheel, suspension and gearbox subsystem has been removed from config
• Changed All helicopter motion is now driven by force and torque (ApplyForceAt, dBodyApplyTorque) — direct velocity and orientation assignment has been removed from the flight code
• Added Native client-side prediction — pilot inputs are tied to physics ticks and replicated through DayZ’s own prediction pipeline, replacing the previous custom 40 Hz input RPC
• Changed Passengers, co-pilots and bystanders now receive helicopter movement through native Transport interpolation between network updates
• Changed Pilot/owner detection moved from seat-index checks to the native Pawn API (IsOwner() / IsProxy()), matching the 1.29 network model
• Removed 10 physics-state network-sync variables (velocity, orientation, angular velocity) — physics state is now handled entirely by the native Transport system
• Fixed On 1.29 only the pilot’s client was simulating the helicopter — the moment the pilot left the seat, nobody else saw the rotors spin or heard the engine. All clients now see and hear the helicopter whether or not a pilot is seated
• Fixed Physics body going dormant between network updates and stopping simulation — the body is now kept active while in use

Still being worked on: hard snapping during flight is gone, but some rumble on tilt and rotation can still be seen and is being actively worked on. This is the first phase of the 1.29 flight rebuild — further smoothing and refinement is coming in the next phase.

• Added Only one cockpit seat holds flight control at a time — the first player into either cockpit seat receives it
• Added Press T (rebindable) to hand control to the other cockpit seat — the receiving player must be seated and alive
• Added Control passes automatically if the holder leaves or dies, and resets when both cockpit seats are empty
• Added Without control, all flight and systems inputs (cyclic, collective, yaw, autopilot, lights, engine) are locked out
• Added HUD control indicator — green when you hold control, red when you do not

• Added Full controller / gamepad support for flight — cyclic on the left stick, collective on the triggers (right raises, left lowers), and rudder/yaw on the shoulder buttons. Autohover stays on X by default. Every binding is rebindable in the controls settings
• Added New rebindable keybinds: open the admin panel (default F10) and transfer cockpit control to the other seat (default T)
• Changed All flight inputs are now read locally and delivered through the native prediction move pipeline rather than a synced input action, removing input latency

• Changed The pilot control indicator and the auto-hover icon have been repositioned on the HUD
• Changed The airspeed readout is now smoothed to remove needle and number jitter, and shows true airspeed in knots (the old per-helicopter speed display factor has been removed)

• Added The 3rd-person chase camera now smooths its position and gently leans with the helicopter’s pitch and roll, for a less rigid, more cinematic feel
• Added Free-look can now be held momentarily as well as toggled with a double-tap
• Changed The 1st-person cockpit view now updates every frame, smoothing it at the physics-tick rate

• Added In-game admin panel for server owners and admins — manage the whole helicopter fleet without leaving the game
• Added Fleet actions — teleport to a helicopter, repair, refuel, reset, delete, repair all, delete empty, and reload configs live
• Added Roles & permissions — assign admin Steam64 IDs to roles and grant granular per-action permissions; the owner role always has full access
• Added Live map view of active helicopters
• Added Server-side validation on every panel action — nothing can be triggered by a modified client

• Changed mod_config.json reorganised into clear sections (logging, features, gameplay, repair, refuel, extra modules, admin) under the new CZAutoz_ naming
• Added Admin roles & permissions block — define which Steam64 IDs are admins, their role, and the exact panel actions each role may use
• Added Physics logging toggle for flight diagnostics
• Added Automatic config backup on version change — existing configs are copied to $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\Backup\v{version}_{date}\ before regenerating, so no settings are lost when updating
• Removed In-game config guide generation — configuration is now documented at docs.czautoz.co.uk
• Changed All config files regenerate on the first server start after updating — your old files are backed up automatically so custom values can be re-entered

• Changed Per-helicopter configs reorganised into clear sections — flight, altitude, aerodynamics, control, autorotation, tail-rotor failure, damage, fuel, battery, audio and camera — under the new CZAutoz_ naming
• Changed Control feel rebuilt — the old per-axis acceleration/decay multipliers are replaced by a time-constant (Tau) smoothing model per axis (rollAccelTau/rollDecayTau, pitchAccelTau/pitchDecayTau, yawAccelTau/yawDecayTau)
• Added Aerodynamics tuning — ground effect, effective translational lift (ETL), and flight-envelope drag
• Added Altitude tuning — lift fall-off start altitude and hard ceiling
• Added Bank-to-turn strength (b2tStrength)
• Added Autorotation coast duration (coastMinutes) — how long the rotor keeps turning visually and audibly after a mid-air engine cut
• Added Tail-rotor failure tuning — spin and descent behaviour
• Added Per-zone damage toggles (body, engine, fuel tank, both rotors, chassis) and post-destruction burn tuning (duration + radius)
• Removed Per-helicopter mass key — mass is now read directly from each model’s physics body, set via mass in config.cpp per variant
• Removed Speed display factor
• Changed Tuning units are now more natural — altitude values are entered in feet and maximum airspeed in knots — and the previous hard caps on top speed and climb/descent rate have been removed (each tuned per variant)

<rootclass name="CZAutoz_Helicopter_Script" act="car" reportMemoryLOD="no" />

• Changed Script files reorganised into Client/, Server/ and Shared/ folders by compilation layer — easier to locate and hotfix systems
• Changed Server-side physics, systems, damage and rotor safety consolidated into a single server module
• Changed Preset loading unified into one generic loader, replacing six separate dispatch chains
• Changed Wheel attachment slots for wheeled variants (Blackhawk, Merlin) moved from the CarScript SimulationModule block to standard attachments — wheel items still work as normal
• Added Server FPS overlay, toggleable from the admin panel, for live performance monitoring
• Fixed Spawning a helicopter could drop the server or client to ~1 FPS until relog — wheel and inventory initialisation was running inside the physics tick; it now runs deferred, outside the simulation loop
• Changed Rotor strike detection — used for blade shearing and the rotor-disc player kill — has been optimised: the spinning disc is now built as a circle sampled from the rotor’s centre and tip memory points instead of relying on the model’s collision-geometry disc. This is cheaper to run and more reliable
• Changed General optimisation pass across the server simulation and client visual/HUD paths

• Fixed Some variants could not be started at all — a faulty condition in the start sequence was blocking startup for certain configurations

• Fixed Rotor spin no longer snaps to a stop after a mid-air engine cut — the rotor now coasts down gradually over the configured coast time
• Fixed The shutdown chime no longer plays on a mid-air cut when the rotor has enough energy to autorotate — it only plays on a normal grounded shutdown
• Fixed Engine and rotor audio now fade together over the full coast instead of the engine cutting to instant silence
• Added Tilting the cyclic during autorotation now translates the helicopter — you can glide forward and steer the descent, instead of only rotating in place

• Added Destroyed helicopters now catch fire and burn for a configurable time — a flickering fire light plus a fire-damage area that hurts players standing too close (burn duration and radius are set per helicopter). Suppressed underwater, and a destroyed wreck will not re-ignite if shot again
• Added Crash and hard water-impact damage now also applies to players moving in the cabin or standing on the airframe, not only those buckled into a cockpit/cargo seat

• Added New built-in pump-refuel action — fuel a helicopter directly at a working fuel station (vanilla, Enoch, or a Simple Gas Pump) with no jerry can needed, at a faster fill rate
• Added Helicopters spawned by the Central Economy (types.xml / events.xml) now start with a partial fuel load rather than empty or full

• Removed The Emergency Recovery reconnect action has been removed — it was never meant to be player-facing, and the situation it covered is now handled internally with no player action needed

• Added Every integration below is auto-detected and optional — there is no hard dependency. The mod runs standalone, and each integration only activates when that mod is also loaded
• Added DayZ Expansion — helicopters register as Expansion vehicles: respected by Expansion safe zones (no damage inside a safe zone), routed through Expansion’s damage and explosion system, and persisted through Expansion ModStorage
• Added MuchCarKey — lock and unlock helicopters, assign keys, show the owner’s name on the vehicle, and optionally require the correct key to start the engine
• Added TraderPlus CarLock — password lock/unlock with an on-screen lock menu, attach and detach a CarLock, lockpick attempts, and lock/unlock/alarm sounds
• Added VPP Admin Tools — the /refuel chat command now fully repairs and refuels a CZ helicopter and maxes every damage zone
• Added RaG Core — helicopter enter/exit, door open/close, deletion and weapon-hit events are written to RaG’s vehicle activity log
• Added Community Online Tools (COT) — helicopters appear in the COT vehicle manager, “spawn with attachments” picks the correct doors for each variant, and bulk delete (all / destroyed) now includes them
• Added Push — the vanilla push action works on a grounded helicopter, scaled by a per-helicopter push-force multiplier

• Fixed Exit/get-out actions on doorless cockpit seats no longer appear both centre-screen and in the cockpit hints panel — they now show only in the cockpit hints panel

• Fixed Spotlight (landing/search light) and navigation lights (port, starboard, tail and beacon) now work correctly on DayZ 1.29 — the move to Transport dropped the old CarScript light handling, so both have been reimplemented as independent, network-synced toggles that every nearby player can see
• Changed The spotlight also lights the cockpit dashboard, and lights require a fitted, charged battery to switch on

• Fixed Rotor downwash now appears over buildings and other objects, not only over terrain
• Fixed Water spray no longer spawns beneath a structure the helicopter is landed on over water — surface detection now uses what the helicopter is actually resting on

• Fixed Touching down while still moving and holding descend could send the helicopter skidding across the ground at very high speed — body tilt was still feeding flight thrust after ground contact. A helicopter on the ground at idle or descending collective no longer accelerates from its attitude, and instead bleeds off any remaining landing speed and settles to a stop
• Fixed Stationary helicopters with the engine off are climbable again — a damping value was being rewritten every tick and preventing the body from settling
• Fixed Helicopters restored from persistence (server restart) or pulled from a virtual garage onto an elevated structure — such as a BaseBuildingPlus floor — could drop straight through it to the terrain below. The ground check now starts above the airframe and reliably detects the structure underneath, so the helicopter stays where it was placed

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HOTFIX — v0.1.5 | 05 April 2026

• Added CZH_autoHoverOnExit — controls whether autopilot automatically engages when the pilot exits their seat while the helicopter is airborne. Default: 1 (on — existing behaviour, no change for current servers)
• Changed Default refuel action distance increased from 4.2 m to 5.0 m — the action now triggers from slightly further away, making it easier to refuel without needing to stand directly against the airframe. Note: servers with existing per-helicopter config files must delete them and restart once to pick up the new default, or manually update CZH_refuelDistance in each file

• Changed JSON configuration system, internal class structure, variable naming conventions, and config map pipeline have been fully rebuilt from scratch — the CZH config architecture is now entirely distinct and independently authored with no structural overlap with any third-party helicopter mod implementation

• Fixed Players reconnecting after a mid-flight crash over ocean were being snapped to the ocean floor
• Fixed Players reconnecting after a mid-flight crash above a rock, cliff or building were snapped to terrain level and placed inside or below the object — they are now correctly placed on top of it

• Fixed Helicopters that were airborne at the time of a server restart now land safely on the nearest terrain or geometry surface on the first simulation tick after restart — engine and rotor are shut down, physics are reset, the helicopter settles as if it had been parked
• Fixed Helicopters that were airborne over ocean at restart no longer fall into the water — autopilot is automatically engaged to hold their position until a pilot returns
• Fixed Helicopters parked on the ground bouncing for several seconds immediately after a server restart

• Added Pilots who reconnect after a game crash or server restart while their helicopter is airborne now receive an Emergency Recovery hold action (3-second hold)
• Added The action is exclusive to the pilot who was last in control — tracked by a persisted GUID on the helicopter that survives server restarts; no other player ever sees it
• Added On activation, the pilot is placed directly into the pilot seat with no extra button press required
• Added The action disappears automatically the moment another player enters the pilot seat, the helicopter lands, or the helicopter is destroyed — it is never permanently visible

• Fixed Servers using the War Dogs 3PP mod crashed when a player held the native free-look key inside a CZH helicopter — no effect on servers not running War Dogs

• Fixed Turning the engine off while airborne caused the helicopter to freeze completely in place — it now correctly enters autorotation and descends under its own mass
• Added Autorotation descent rate now scales with helicopter mass — heavier helicopters descend significantly faster than light scouts, reflecting real rotor disc loading behaviour. The existing CZH_autoRotGravityFactor preset still lets admins tune the base rate per aircraft

• Updated Ground wash particle effect — rotor downwash now kicks up dirt and dust when flying close to the ground, replacing the previous effect

• Updated Simulation module adjusted — suspension and wheel behaviour improvements
• Fixed Geometry adjustments to reduce entry blocking on both sides of the helicopter — players could previously get stuck or prevented from climbing in

• Fixed Landing gear and cargo ramp sounds remaining fixed at the location where they were first triggered instead of following the helicopter — audible when flying away after activating them mid-flight

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HOTFIX — v0.1.4 | 04 April 2026

• Added CZH_autoShutdownOnExit in mod_config.json — when set to 1, the engine shuts off automatically when the pilot exits their seat while the helicopter is grounded and the engine is running. Default: 0 (off)
• Added CZH_engineHoldTime in mod_config.json — controls the hold duration in seconds for the Start Engine and Stop Engine action circles. Default: 1.0

• Added Ramp, landing gear, and exit actions on doorless pilot and co-pilot seats now display on the side of the screen — removes centre-screen clutter during flight

• Changed Door open/close action while seated now only appears in 1st-person view — prevents the action cluttering the screen during 3rd-person flight

• Fixed Suspension compression animation playing in the wrong direction on takeoff and landing
• Fixed Cargo ramp auto-closing the moment the pilot entered the seat after a server restart
• Fixed Cargo ramp showing “Open Ramp” when the ramp was already open after a server restart
• Fixed Cargo ramp state now correctly restores after a server restart — open stays open, closed stays closed
• Fixed Landing gear spawning retracted on server restart — gear now always lowers on server boot regardless of its state at shutdown

• Fixed Wheeled helicopters (Merlin, Blackhawk) rolling down slopes during engine spin-up
• Fixed Suspension and wheels not settling correctly when the engine is stopped during landing — the helicopter would freeze mid-settle with wheels at uneven heights
• Fixed Wheeled helicopters (Merlin, Blackhawk) no longer snap level when landed on a slope
• Fixed Stationary helicopters no longer jitter or shift when a nearby helicopter spins up or flies past
• Fixed Damping and ground contact stability improvements across all variants

• Fixed Severe FPS drops on spawn — simulation module adjustments applied across all helicopter variants
• Fixed Client FPS drop during engine spin-up — a broken startup effect was silently failing 60 times per second throughout the entire startup sequence

• Changed Wheel radius and wheel hub radius adjusted across affected variants

• Changed Move to Cabin and Return to Cockpit actions changed from press to hold — prevents accidental activation while moving around inside the cabin

• Removed Switch seats temporarily removed — will return fully working in a future update

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HOTFIX — v0.1.3 | 03 April 2026

• Fixed SA342M, UH1H, MD500 and MH-6 suspension constraint was collapsing server FPS to 1–6 during flight

• Fixed Action not always appearing or completing correctly
• Fixed Jerry can refuelling instantly on second use instead of gradually
• Fixed Fuel drum draining at the same rate as a jerry can
• Fixed Fuel leak not draining correctly with engine off
• Fixed Repairing the fuel tank now fully stops the drain — fuel was continuing to drop silently after the effect stopped
• Fixed Helicopters spawned via admin tools with no fluids selected were spawning with a full tank
• Added Fuel pump mods (Simple_Refueling, Gas-Pump-Refueling) now work with CZH helicopters
• Added Helicopter Fuel Drum (CZH_HeliDrum) — 2 drums fill any helicopter from empty by default
• Added Refuel amounts and drain speed per container type now configurable in mod_config.json

• Fixed Clipping terrain at speed caused a full instant stop
• Fixed Helicopter spinning to 90° on engine start after landing

• Fixed Helicopter jumping or tilting when interacted with while parked on a slope

• Added New CZH_freeLookAlwaysOn option in mod_config.json

• Fixed Safety snap firing every second near any helicopter — now fires once on connect only

• Fixed No hub spin on startup with sheared rotors
• Fixed Admin repair now correctly restores blade geometry

• Fixed Remote players saw rotors instantly jump to full speed on startup and shutdown

• Fixed Standing on a hovering helicopter caused constant camera shake — 50/50, awaiting confirmation

• Fixed Helicopter nearly inaudible when facing away from it

• Added Damaged fuel zone now shows a drip particle at the fill point

• Fixed Running out of fuel froze all simulation — now enters autorotation with full control

• Added Going past 90° bank applies downward force — full cyclic retained to flip back

• Fixed Bounce on touchdown after autorotation
• Fixed Opening a door with engine off jolted the helicopter post-autorotation

• Fixed Damage HUD now shows base name only — variant suffix no longer squishes text

• Fixed JSON float values writing at full IEEE 754 precision — now clean
• Fixed New config keys from updates now appear automatically on restart without deleting files
• Recommend deleting all JSONs in $profile:\CZAutoz_Heli\ to regenerate clean — we are still in early builds

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HOTFIX — v0.1.2 | 02 April 2026

• Fixed Cargo modules not appearing as extra cargo space
• Fixed Cargo modules respawning empty on server restart — contents are now preserved across restarts

• Fixed Engine startup and shutdown sounds not heard by players outside the helicopter — remote clients now correctly receive engine transition sounds

• Fixed Pilot and co-pilot seats could not be entered from outside when the helicopter was on a natural slope

• All helicopter classnames now use the CZ_ prefix (e.g. CZ_UH1H, CZ_MH60LBlackhawk). Any existing types.xml entries, trader configs, or persistence saves referencing old classnames must be updated. Pre-existing helicopters on the map will despawn if classnames are not updated before loading this version.

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HOTFIX — v0.1.1 | 02 April 2026

• Fixed Flight system conflicting with cars causing them to jitter on the spot

• Fixed Opening a door or leaving a seat while landed on a slope caused the helicopter to reset position into the ground

• Fixed When using no-damage mods (e.g. Hunter’s Improved Vehicles), a sheared rotor would instantly respawn — now fully controlled by CZH and toggleable via CZH_rotorBladeShear in mod_config.json

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v0.1.0 | 01 April 2026