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Delivered
Previously on this roadmap and now shipped — see the changelog for the full release notes.True Force-Model Flight (v0.2.8)
Done. The flight simulation runs on a true physics force model with native client prediction on DayZ’s CarScript base — instant, fully smooth pilot response, and (v0.2.9) passengers and co-pilots ride the network feed cleanly like native vehicles.
Wind Physics (v0.2.9)
Done. Optional live-weather wind that physically pushes the aircraft as gust-driven buffeting — per flight-mode profile, off by default.
Advanced Flight Feel (v0.2.9, retuned v0.3.0)
Done. Vortex Ring State, collective-to-yaw anti-torque coupling and blowback — real aerodynamic behaviours, Advanced mode only, all tunable. Fixed, fully flight-tested and retuned in v0.3.0, with hard pilot-authority caps so no tuning value can overpower the pilot.
Survivor Animations Integration (v0.2.8)
Done. With the Survivor Animations mod loaded, pilots hold a proper helicopter pilot pose instead of the steering-wheel grip — automatic soft-detection, no configuration.
In-Game Admin Panel
Done. Manage the whole fleet in-game (default F10) — teleport, repair, refuel, reset, delete, repair all, delete empty, reload configs live, map view, and role-based permissions — mirroring the config files one-to-one since v0.2.9.
Full Controller Support
Done. Fly entirely on a gamepad — cyclic on the left stick, collective on the triggers, yaw on the shoulder buttons. Every binding is rebindable.
Wreck Fire
Done. Destroyed helicopters now catch fire and burn for a configurable time, with a fire-damage area that hurts players standing too close (suppressed underwater). Since v0.3.6, repairing a burning wreck extinguishes it immediately.
Observer-View Smoothing (v0.3.5–v0.3.6)
Done. The residual micro-stepping non-pilot viewers saw is gone: a frame-rate-exact smoothing filter now covers every observer view of a flying helicopter — unmanned aircraft (v0.3.5) and helicopters flown by someone else (v0.3.6) — for bystanders, seated passengers and cabin walkers alike. Piloted flight itself was already fully smooth.
Tandem-Rotor Airframe — MH-47G Chinook (v0.3.9)
Done. The v0.2.9 twin counter-rotating disc groundwork was built for one aircraft in particular, and it has landed: the MH-47G Chinook — 27 seats, a stand-up walkable cabin entered off a two-stage rear loading ramp, dual fore/aft sling hooks, and the heaviest lift, highest ceiling and fastest cruise in the fleet.
Sling Load (v0.3.9)
Done — ships EXPERIMENTAL. External underslung cargo: hook a vehicle from the pilot seat or as ground crew standing at it, winch the line up and down between 4 m and 22 m, and release from the seat or the ground. Every airframe has a real lifting class, from the MH-6’s 500 kg to the Chinook’s 10,000 kg. Fully playable and server-safe, but the rope visuals and carrying feel are still being actively polished —
features.slingloadEnabled = 0 disables it.Mouse Flight (v0.3.9)
Done. Fly the cyclic with your mouse — press K in the pilot seat to toggle, with a KEYBOARD / MOUSE badge in the dial cluster and the choice saved to your DayZ profile. Keyboard keys keep full authority in both modes, sensitivity is tunable via
CZAutoz_MouseSens, and v0.4.0 added an on-screen confirmation on every toggle.Altitude-Aware Lift — ISA Air Density (v0.3.9)
Done. The air thins as you climb and so does your lift — roughly 9% less per 1,000 m, following the ISA standard atmosphere. Server-tunable with
features.isaAirDensity (default 1.0; 0 turns it off entirely).Pilot / Co-Pilot Control Handoff
Rebuilt, returning. Shipped in v0.2 as control priority with a T handover; DayZ 1.29 restricted flying to the pilot seat (engine-wide for CarScript helicopters), so it is disabled for now. The rebuilt “Transfer Controls” — a physical seat handover — is in development and returns once fully proven in multiplayer testing.
Gameplay & Crew Systems
Player Rappelling
Crew members will be able to rappel from the aircraft while it holds a hover. Designed to work alongside Autohover — pilot locks position, crew deploy to the ground on ropes.
Winch System — Player Extraction
The cargo half of this shipped as sling loading in v0.3.9. What remains is the crew half: hoisting a player up to the aircraft on the winch line from a stable hover, and lowering them back down. Planned to integrate with the existing Cabin Mode crew system and Autohover.
Flight Model
Tail Rotor Authority vs. Speed
Refined tail rotor authority modelling where pedal effectiveness reduces at low airspeed and increases in forward flight, more closely matching real helicopter handling characteristics.
Weather Extremes
Building on the shipped wind physics (v0.2.9) — further weather-driven flight hazards such as lightning are being explored for a future update.
Immersion & Visuals
Damage Visual States (v0.4.1)
Done. Every helicopter now shows five visual damage stages on its hull and tail — pristine, worn, damaged, badly damaged and ruined — across every variant and livery, with doors and wheels wearing their own damage independently. Destroyed aircraft are visibly burnt out: scorched paint, blistered metal and a sooty finish. Community retextures inherit the whole system automatically. Visual component deformation remains a future consideration.
Content
Additional Helicopter Variants
New helicopter types to expand the core fleet beyond the current seven airframes. Candidates are evaluated against DayZ’s physics constraints and the feasibility of cabin/seat/door systems within the existing architecture.
Door Gunner Positions
Dedicated weapon firing positions at open doors on applicable helicopters, with positional restrictions and limited arcs of fire matching the aircraft geometry.