Big Choppa

Heads up: this mod breaks the game's pacing. Big Walk is built around getting places slowly, together, on foot. A helicopter skips all of that. It can take you places you're not meant to reach yet, and flying past the walk can seriously shorten how long the game stays fun. If you haven't finished Big Walk, consider saving the choppa for later.

This mod started as an experiment to see what AI can do: every line of code, art and text was generated by Claude.

A goofy, playground-style toy helicopter for Big Walk, flown with collective, pedals and cyclic.

The choppa is a toy Little Bird: pilot and co-pilot up front (press G to get in), plus two spots on each outside bench that work like the chairlift seats: aim at one and use it to sit, choppa running or not. Miss the original spring-rider choppa (pilot plus a two-person bench)? Pick Classic in the F8 chooser. Everyone in the lobby sees the same choppas, whichever ones people picked.

Everyone in the lobby needs the mod, including the host.

Each side of the choppa has three pockets (on the Little Bird they hang off the tail boom) that take anything a backpack takes. Hold an item, look at a pocket and place it like you would in a backpack. Grab it again to take it out.

Pocketed items count as held: if you quit with something in a pocket, you'll find it in the lost & found next time.

Controls

Flying tips

• Hold W until the rotor lifts you off, then let go. The collective settles at hover.
• Push the mouse forward to tip the nose down and fly forward. Pull back to slow down.
• The choppa doesn't level itself. Whatever angle you leave it at, it keeps. Roll and pitch back yourself.
• Want it easier? Set AutoLevel to 0.3 in the config.

Config

Every key and tuning value is in BepInEx/config/com.andrew1431.bigchoppa.cfg. With r2modman or Gale you can edit it from the mod manager's config editor. The file appears after you've launched the game once with the mod.

Highlights:

• Choppa: Scale
• Controls: MouseSensitivity, FreelookMouseSensitivity, InvertPitch, InvertRoll, every key
• Flight: AutoLevel, ControlResponse, YawRate, MaxLiftG, drag values
• Lights: HeadlightIntensity, HeadlightRange, HeadlightAngle, CabinGlow
• Audio: Volume, MaxHearingDistance

Multiplayer

The pilot's game simulates the choppa and everyone else sees a smoothed copy and hears the same sounds. If the pilot leaves the lobby, the host takes the choppa over.

If the host doesn't have the mod, you may be kicked when you join. Set Networking.Enabled = false to keep choppas to yourself.

Pilot's Logbook (anonymous flight stats)

The choppa keeps a tiny logbook and sends it to me, the author, purely because I'm curious how people fly it. It's sent through PostHog, an analytics service. It's anonymous and there's nothing personal in it.

What gets logged:

• You spawned a choppa, and which one (Little Bird or classic)
• You got in, and whether as the pilot, a passenger or on an outside bench
• A flight ended (logged by the pilot), with:
  • how long it lasted
  • how far it went
  • the highest it got
  • its top speed
  • its speed at the very end
  • how many people were aboard at the end, and the most aboard at once (bench riders included)
  • how many items were in the choppa pockets at the end
  • how many barrel rolls and loops you pulled off
  • how many seconds you spent upside down
  • how much of the flight was in cockpit view versus chase view
  • how it ended: landed, bailed (pilot hopped out mid-air) or ended abruptly
  • which choppa it was (Little Bird or classic)
• A choppa's flight ended abruptly (logged by whichever game was flying it, even with nobody at the controls): how fast it was going, how many people were aboard, whether anyone was piloting, and how many items were in its pockets
• Something was put into or taken out of a choppa pocket, and what the item was (the game's own name for it). Logged by the host, so each one counts once per lobby
• A passenger's ride ended: how long it lasted and how it ended (got out, jumped out or ended abruptly)
• Someone jumped out mid-air: pilot, passenger or bench rider, how high it was, and how fast it was going
• Someone used the flip-upright key, and whether they were inside the choppa or outside it

Each entry also carries the mod version and a random ID made up on your PC, so one person's flights can be told apart from another's.

What does NOT get logged: your name, Steam ID, other players' names, chat, your location, your PC specs, or anything outside the choppa. The service is set to discard IP addresses.

Turning it off: set Enabled = false under [Pilot Logbook] in the config:

• r2modman / Gale: Config editor → com.andrew1431.bigchoppa → Pilot Logbook → Enabled → false → Save.
• Manual install: open BepInEx/config/com.andrew1431.bigchoppa.cfg and change Enabled = true under [Pilot Logbook] to Enabled = false.

With it off, nothing is sent at all.

The card at the top of this page shows everyone's totals added together, refreshed about every 10 minutes.

Source and bug reports

https://github.com/Andrew1431/big-choppa

Changelog

3.0.2

• Fixed players on the Little Bird's bench spots turning invisible for everyone else when their choppa ended abruptly.

3.0.1

• The F8 choppa chooser got a toy-box makeover: chunky outlined cards that perk up when you point at them, big bouncy buttons and a little choppa to explain Call In and Spawn. Same choices, same keys.

3.0.0

• Meet the Little Bird: a brand new toy MH-6 choppa with room for six, see-through windows and saddlebag pockets on the tail boom. Pilot and co-pilot get in with G; the four outside bench spots work like the chairlift seats (aim and use), even when nobody's flying.
• F8 now opens a choppa chooser: pick the Little Bird or the original Classic choppa, then Call In (it flies in and lands near you) or Spawn (it appears right in front of you). Each choppa is built the way its owner picked, so mixed lobbies work.
• [Controls] FlyIn is gone: choose Call In or Spawn in the chooser instead.
• Quieter choppa: [Audio] Volume changed from 0.8 to 0.4 (updated automatically unless you had changed it yourself); set it back to 0.8 for the old loudness.
• Everyone in the lobby needs 3.0.0 or newer; older versions won't see your choppas.

2.0.0

• Much smoother ride as a passenger (or watching someone else fly), especially at speed and in turns. You folks can definitely report these issues on GitHub, I didn't know this problem was occurring!
• Everyone in the lobby needs 2.0.0 or newer; older versions won't see your choppas.

1.2.1

• The choppa is smaller by default, which suits the world much better. [Model] Scale changed from 1.0 to 0.6 (updated automatically unless you had changed it yourself); set it back to 1.0 for the old size.
• In the chase camera you can now see your own head and body in the seat.

1.2.0

• Calling a choppa (F8) now has it fly in from the distance and land near you, if there's a flat, open spot nearby. Don't like it? Set [Controls] FlyIn to false and it appears right in front of you like before.

1.1.4

• Items left in choppa pockets now count as held when the game saves, so they turn up in the lost & found instead of disappearing.

1.1.3

• Free look (hold Left Alt) was far too twitchy. It now has its own setting, [Controls] FreelookMouseSensitivity, defaulting to 0.4 (it was effectively 2.0 before; set it back to 2.0 for the old feel).

1.1.2

• Fixed: the choppa's bump sounds never played (the game's build strips the part of Unity they relied on). Hard landings now go bonk.

1.1.1

• Pilot's Logbook now also notes how many items are in the choppa pockets when a flight ends, the most people aboard at once, and what gets put into or taken out of the pockets. The full list is in the README, and [Pilot Logbook] Enabled = false still turns it all off.

1.1.0

• Choppa pockets: three on each side, holding anything a backpack can. Items in choppa pockets are not "held" when the game saves. Take them out before you quit, or they won't be kept.

1.0.3

• Night flying: navigation lights, flashing beacons and strobes while someone's at the controls, a long-reaching headlight, and a faint cabin glow so you can find a parked choppa in the dark. Tune them under [Lights].
• The choppa now pitches and rolls around its middle instead of near the skids. Config: [Flight] CenterOfMassHeight default changed from 1.4 to 1.8. If you never changed it, it updates automatically; set it back to 1.4 for the old feel.

1.0.2

• Live Pilot's Logbook card at the top of the page: everyone's flight totals added together.

1.0.1

• Pilot's Logbook: anonymous flight stats, on by default and easy to turn off (see README).

1.0.0

• First release: a flyable playground helicopter with collective, pedals and mouse cyclic.
• Three seats, synced for everyone in the lobby.
• Synthesised rotor and flutter sounds.