In version 2.2.1, the radio now uses the helicopter's real line of sight. Instead of guessing based on distance, the pilot's "lost visual" and "spotted" calls now follow the helicopter's actual sight state—the same state that triggers its search mode—so the radio calls align with what the helicopter is actually doing. The distance check remains active as an automatic fallback. Additionally, the detailed status log now indicates whether the helicopter is chasing, searching, or attacking, and corrections were made to the documentation regarding what the game does and does not expose.

In version 2.2, the helicopter now works properly above 60 FPS. Need for Speed: Most Wanted was originally built to run at 60 frames per second, and its helicopter flight logic was tuned around that baseline. Removing the 60 FPS cap—whether capping at a higher monitor refresh rate or leaving it uncapped—caused the helicopter's flying behavior to degrade the faster the game ran. It would stop swaying and sweeping as it followed you, and above 200 FPS, it stiffened up completely and hung in the air pointing at your car.

The helicopter now flies the way it does at 60 FPS across high frame rates—including 75, 120, 144, 165, 240, or higher—while still moving as smoothly as your frame rate allows. Three main issues caused the original problem:

First, the game stopped measuring helicopter speed above 200 FPS. It measured speed by comparing position across frames, but only ran that check if at least 5 milliseconds had passed. Faster frame rates meant the check never ran, causing sideways and forward movement calculations to fade to zero. That internal limit has now been lowered.

Second, the mod's own timing was too coarse. It used a clock that updated roughly every 16 milliseconds, so above roughly 64 FPS, most updates registered zero elapsed time and were skipped as errors. This froze movement estimation, prediction, stopped-player handling, and sudden-turn recovery. Timing now uses a high-resolution clock.

Third, per-frame calculations ran too fast. Anything moving a fraction of the distance per frame closed that gap much faster at higher frame rates, stripping away the motion lag that creates natural swaying flight. These calculations now scale with real frame time and are kept steady so normal frame-time jitter won't make flight alternate between smooth swaying and stiffness.

Finally, new settings are available in GeneralSettings.ini under the FrameRate section: Enable (on by default), HelicopterUpdateRate (set to 60 by default, matching the logic rate the helicopter flies at), and LogFrameRate. Players who remain capped at 60 FPS will experience no changes.

V2.1 Changelog

Helicopter radio speech controller — Radio.ini

The game includes a full set of helicopter radio lines that are rarely heard during normal gameplay. This controller activates those lines during appropriate moments in a police pursuit.

Features:

• The dispatcher announces when the helicopter joins the pursuit.
• The pilot reports movement into position.
• The pilot reports when visual contact is lost.
• The pilot reports when the suspect stops or begins moving again.
• An arrest message plays when the suspect is stopped beneath the helicopter.
• Radio messages use the game’s original sound system and correct radio channel.
• Messages wait behind existing police chatter.
• A built-in cooldown prevents repeated or overlapping messages.

Optional features — disabled by default:

• Attack-run announcements
• Obstacle warnings
• Full-aggression swarm announcements

IgnoreHeliSheet restored — Navigation.ini

This option makes the helicopter ignore the game’s terrain-height guidance, allowing it to fly and descend in locations that would normally be restricted.

This setting is less cautious than the standard safety override. Read the included notes before enabling it.

Changelog
V2.0 (release candidate: V2.0-rc1)
Version 2.0 is a complete rebuild of HelicopterOptions. The police helicopter
now flies and chases much more competently, almost everything is configurable,
and the whole mod is safer and better behaved. Compared with the original
release (V1.0.1):

Added
Chase-speed control that keeps the helicopter from crawling on straights,
with an optional minimum and maximum chase speed.
Movement prediction so the helicopter aims where you are going, easing off
when you brake or turn hard.
Stopped-player handling that holds a close position when you stop instead
of drifting off into the distance.
Sudden-turn recovery that re-centers the helicopter when you make a hard
U-turn or handbrake turn.
Stability protection that gently levels the helicopter if it ever rolls,
pitches, or spins too far, so it recovers instead of tumbling.
Configurable attacks: control attack frequency, angle, timing, and spacing;
a follow-only mode that never attacks; and an option to stop repeated ramming.
Optional aggression that can build up over a long pursuit.
A safety net that hands control back to the game if anything ever goes
wrong, so the helicopter always keeps working.
Extras: never lose sight of you, never run out of fuel, adjustable flying
height, turning, and acceleration.
Improved
The helicopter keeps up and corners with you far more naturally than before.
Motion is smoother and more stable, with built-in protection against the old
uncontrollable-spinning behavior.
Logging is clearer and written in plain language, and it never floods the file.
Fixed
Resolved the long-standing spinning/instability problems from the original
release.
Corrected many internal values that did not match the game's real behavior.
The mod now reliably recognizes the supported game version and starts up
cleanly.
Configuration
Settings are now split into fourteen topic-based .ini files under
scripts\HelicopterOptions\Configuration\, each with plain-English
explanations, recommended ranges, and default values.
Missing settings files are recreated automatically; existing files are never
overwritten.
Sensible defaults improve the helicopter noticeably out of the box, while
experimental and difficulty-increasing options stay switched off.
Compatibility
Only runs on the supported English PC v1.3 game version; other versions are
left completely untouched.
Works alongside other .asi mods: if another mod already changed the same
part of the game, the affected feature is skipped and everything else keeps
working.
Changes are applied only in memory and fully undone when the game closes.
Removed
The old single settings file (replaced by the fourteen topic files above).
The preset system.