Damage Zones - CZ Autoz Mods

Each helicopter has 6 independent damage zones. Each zone can be individually enabled or disabled per helicopter via its JSON config file. As of v0.2.2 a disabled zone takes no damage from any source — gunfire, explosions and collisions alike (previously the toggles only blocked collision damage, so a helicopter with its zones off could still be shot to a wreck). Setting all zones to 0 makes that helicopter completely invincible. See Repair & Battery for repair requirements, hold times, and repair settings.

The 6 Zones

Zone Setting	What it covers	Effect when destroyed
`damage.zones.body`	Fuselage / airframe	Reduced structural integrity
`damage.zones.engine`	Engine	Engine failure, forced autorotation
`damage.zones.chassis`	Landing gear / skids	Loss of stable ground contact
`damage.zones.fuel`	Fuel tank	Increased fuel leak rate
`damage.zones.rotor1`	Main rotor	Helicopter falls — immediate crash
`damage.zones.rotor2`	Tail rotor	Uncontrolled yaw spin

Defaults

Helicopter	Chassis	Body	Engine	Fuel	Main Rotor	Tail Rotor
MD500, MH-6, SA342M, UH-1H	0	1	1	1	1	1
MH-60L Blackhawk	1	1	1	1	1	1
AW101 Merlin	1	1	1	1	1	1

Skid-equipped helicopters have chassis damage disabled by default. Wheeled helicopters (Blackhawk, Merlin) have it enabled.

Zone Health Levels & HUD Indicators

Each damage zone progresses through four states, shown as colour-coded indicators on the in-cockpit HUD:

Level	HUD Colour	Condition
0	White	Undamaged
1	Yellow	Light damage (~75% HP remaining)
2	Amber	Heavy damage (~55% HP remaining)
3	Red	Critical damage (~35% HP remaining)
4	—	Destroyed — zone is inoperable

Zone repair is progressive — each repair hold advances the zone one level upward (e.g. Red → Amber). A critically damaged zone requires multiple repair actions to fully restore.

Rotor Damage

Main Rotor Destroyed

The helicopter immediately loses lift and falls. There is no recovery.

Tail Rotor Destroyed

The helicopter enters an uncontrolled yaw spin. Spin rate is set by tailRotorFailure.spinRate and a forced descent is applied at tailRotorFailure.descentRate.

Setting	Default (all helicopters)
`tailRotorFailure.spinRate`	120 deg/s
`tailRotorFailure.descentRate`	2.5 m/s²

These are the uniform defaults across all six helicopters and are editable per variant in each helicopter’s JSON config.

Rotor Blade Shear

Rotor blades can shear off on contact with geometry (trees, buildings, terrain):

Setting	Default
`features.rotorBladeShear`	`1` = blades shear on contact · `0` = no shear

Rotor Disc Collision & Player Kill

Setting	What it does	Default
`features.rotorDiscCollision`	`1` = spinning rotor disc has physical collision	`1`
`features.rotorPlayerKillEnabled`	`1` = players entering a spinning rotor disc are instantly killed	`1`

Blade shear and the rotor-disc player kill are global toggles under the features section of mod_config.json, not per-helicopter JSON. The spinning disc is sampled from the rotor’s centre and tip memory points rather than the model’s collision geometry, making strike detection cheaper and more reliable.

Making a Helicopter Invincible

Set all 6 zone values to 0 inside the damage.zones section of the helicopter’s JSON config file:

"damage": {
  "zones": {
    "chassis": 0,
    "body": 0,
    "engine": 0,
    "fuel": 0,
    "rotor1": 0,
    "rotor2": 0
  }
}

Rotors-Only Damage

Enable only the rotor zones and disable the rest — the rotors can be shot or damaged (they degrade and shear) while the hull stays invulnerable. This is ideal for servers running AI that fire on helicopters: gunfire knocks out the rotors (costing lift and control) without ever destroying the airframe.

"damage": {
  "zones": {
    "chassis": 0,
    "body": 0,
    "engine": 0,
    "fuel": 0,
    "rotor1": 1,
    "rotor2": 1
  }
}

Rotor damage never transfers to the airframe’s overall health, so a rotors-only helicopter can be forced down but not blown up.

Ruined Parts Fall Off

When damage.detachRuinedParts is enabled, a door (or any attachment) that becomes ruined detaches and drops off the helicopter onto the ground, instead of sitting ruined in its slot. Default off.

Setting	What it does	Default
`damage.detachRuinedParts`	`1` = ruined doors/attachments fall off the helicopter · `0` = they stay ruined in place	`0`

Impact Damage

Setting	What it does	Default
`damage.contactCoef`	Impact damage multiplier — lower = tougher airframe	Per-helicopter — see Per-Helicopter Settings
`damage.crashThreshold`	Impact sensitivity — higher = harder hits needed for heavy damage	Per-helicopter — see Per-Helicopter Settings
`damage.playerCrashDamageEnabled`	`1` = crew take HP damage on hard impacts (per helicopter)	`0`
`gameplay.playerCrashDamageMax`	Max HP damage per impact — global setting in `mod_config.json`	`75`

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 or cargo seat.

Wreck Fire

When a helicopter is destroyed, it catches fire and burns for a configurable time — a flickering fire light plus a fire-damage area that hurts players standing too close. The fire is suppressed underwater, and a destroyed wreck will not re-ignite if shot again.

Setting	What it does	Default
`damage.burn.duration`	How long the wreck burns, in seconds. Set to `0` to fully disable the wreck fire.	`120.0`
`damage.burn.radius`	Radius of the fire-damage area, in metres	`8.0`

Both keys live in the damage.burn section of each helicopter’s JSON config, so burn time and area can be tuned per variant.

Setting damage.burn.duration = 0 fully disables the wreck fire — no fire or smoke particle, no fire light, and no area damage. A destroyed helicopter simply becomes a static wreck.

​The 6 Zones

​Defaults

​Zone Health Levels & HUD Indicators

​Rotor Damage

​Main Rotor Destroyed

​Tail Rotor Destroyed

​Rotor Blade Shear

​Rotor Disc Collision & Player Kill

​Making a Helicopter Invincible

​Rotors-Only Damage

​Ruined Parts Fall Off

​Impact Damage

​Wreck Fire

The 6 Zones

Defaults

Zone Health Levels & HUD Indicators

Rotor Damage

Main Rotor Destroyed

Tail Rotor Destroyed

Rotor Blade Shear

Rotor Disc Collision & Player Kill

Making a Helicopter Invincible

Rotors-Only Damage

Ruined Parts Fall Off

Impact Damage

Wreck Fire