Realistic Winch

IRL I've owned a couple of vehicles with winches - one (Land-Rover) had a winch on the front, the other (AEC Matador) had one mounted under the chassis, with the ability to feed it out of front, rear or either side.
In the game I can feed a winch out from many points on the truck - door pillars, trailers etc. which isn't very realistic. I don't mind being able to attach to anywhere, IRL you'd fix to anything solid but it would be nice to only have realistic "attachment points" on the source vehicle.
Of course, if the winch feature is supposed to simulate e.g. a hand cranked Tirfor my only complaint is that the motor sound should be replaced with grunting.

In real life you could also use snatch blocks to go from a tree back to other points on vehicle for righting a vehicle with only a front mounted winch. So given limitations of the game engine, it actually is quite realistic.

What we need is electric winches.

@articzap
Exactly what I was thinking while reading the OP. 🙂
What platform are you running on? PC, or console?

@mexican_420 PS4
@articzap

I did think about snatch blocks, which are also handy for winching around corners or just effectively doubling the pulling power, but thought simply limiting points rather than adding new functions would be easier to implement.

If I think too hard about it I'd like to be able to use winches from two vehicles and control them both....and how about ground anchors?

I'd rather have more content and working mirrors first.

@smithers-1968 i hear you fellas on the added feature for the winch and i agree it would be nice, but as it is now there is no real need for them. one winch does the job. i have seen some people say that they need more than one winch or winching points to use at one time, but i feel this is just a case of needing to learn how to use the winch better (as in using the correct winch points and/or knowing how you should be pulling on a vehicle). now if they were to try and implement these features i could see it being a bit of a headache with the coding possibly. still though something like this would be nice, but also something that would most likely be put off till a later date since it is not really a needed feature, but one the people just want.

@8up-local I wasn't asking for more winches. In single player I can link two vehicles together but only control the winch of the one I'm driving. IRL I'd also be able to use the winch of the other truck. I assume this works in multiplayer?

I actually started this thread asking for fewer winch options.

My original point aside I like the way winches work. You can't just use them to get out of any situation - sometimes the tree pulls out of the ground, often the winch simply isn't strong enough. Back when I used to mess about with Land-Rovers I soon learned how often having a winch doesn't help!

in the first post yes, but a was referring to articzap's post and your reply to it. i do still agree though. being able to winch "out" would be a nice addition as well as multiple winch points. as for the static "ground" anchors. this seems like it would be the easiest way to go, but i am no coder so what do i know? lol

pulling stumps and small trees out of the ground can be a headache when you really want to get unstuck, but i does add a bit to the game, so to me they kinda balance each other out. only time i have found the winch to not be strong enough is when i knock a tree or stump down and then drive over it. which usually leads to the tree or stump getting wedged under the truck and having it hold me there. once i back off them they sink and disappear. still would agree here as well, a slightly stronger winch would be nice.

When I try to make game harder, i feel that the winch is overpowered -

  1. too fast (irl it takes time to set it, and its very slow paced),
  2. too powerful (E class truck with 8 log points, totally stuck - show me the winch AND the tree which can do we job),
  3. too unrealistic:
    a) winch on the sides of fuel or garage trailer...interesting HOW???
    And winches on chassis sides and at the rear of trailers - very questionable...
    b) only kamaz 4310 has front and rear winch, you can see it in the game:
    alt text
    (big respect to devs for detailed chassis...you can see the rope even in wheel ark)

Others, visually in game: only front winch - (zil 131, gaz 66), or rear winch (kraz 260) (hidden ural 4320-?)
Also I've found that both urals, maz 6317 has stock rear winch, kraz 255&260 and maz 535 has both way winch (like kamaz 4310). Maz 538 - some winch.
If you want front or rear winch - it can be additional equipment, but if im not mistaken - less powerful.
So ok, here we can assume, that we equipped all trucks with both way winches...
c) on jeeps irl and in game we have electrical winches - so ok, we can help it by wheels
But on trucks we have mechanical winches in most cases. And it restricted to use the whells while winch is working.
d) you can use winch at any angle, irl - there is 15 degrees limit. Ok, you can set anchors and use other objects and ways, and we dont need such headache in game - but still its a fact - too easy!

PS. But im not criticize here, its just my mania to make it more hard and immersive. Current in-game winch is great, but i would make it less powerfull in hardcore+ mode))

last edited by Stazco

@stazco
You are basically right, winches are a bit OP.
To the point of side-winches I can tell you, that those were requested as a improvement from ST - there were just front and rear winches and getting a truck back onto wheels when it was flipped was a terrible nightmare, usually even impossible.
Sadly, second half of request wasn't fulfilled: pasive winch points. Point, where you can attach a winch from other vehicle but you can't use it as a winch point on your own.
In general, I think that it is not that bad, there are definitely things those are unrealisticly easy, but because there is a lack of other helpy things, together it is not that bad...

last edited by Sodoma

@sodoma ok, clear! Thx!
Yes, passive side points is a must, and great that we have it in mr.
See rl common example:
alt text

As for their active role - you can "turn it off" as your own rule, like I do, or think that its a compensation of construction cranes and excavators, used in RL to put on wheel hopelessly stuck or fallen trucks.