About This File
INTRODUCTION - Guitarclassic55's Replacement Menu Screens NO MOVIE
GREETINGS! Thanks for downloading Guitarclassic55's Replacement Menu Screens for First Eagles. I created these because I felt the stock screens were a bit lacking in ambience and I wanted more visual immersion from the WWI era.
Unfortunately, because most of the new screens "call" the same global INI files (which I have modified), you can't pick and choose which ones you'd like to use. I'm afraid that for the most part, it's either use these, or the stock ones, or other custom screens by someone else. The one exception: I did create new versions of the stock hangar screens but they should co-exist peacefully with any custom hangar screens that you have already installed along with custom aircraft.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
There are two versions of Guitarclassic55's Replacement Menu Screens available for download, with only one difference:
Version 1. The Main Screen includes a "movie" in the antique watch face. Kind of cool but sometimes takes a little longer to load, and the download size is much larger. (65 MB)
Version 2. Same as above, but the Main Screen does not include the movie. (31MB)
In every other way, the two are identical.
The stock screens that are replaced:
Main Screen
Campaign Screen
Debrief Screen
Loadout Screen
Medal List Screen
Multiplayer Screen
Options Screen
Pilot Record Screen
Planning Map Screen
Roster Screen
Single Mission Screen
In addition, the Hangar screens for the twelve flyable stock planes/variants are included. The Loading screens have not been included but may be added at a later date.
One other change - Planning Map Screen Icons - the air and ground icons of the individual countries for the planning map have been reduced to 75% of their original size. I found the maps extremely cluttered at times, so this gives a bit cleaner look in my opinion. Anyone wanting even smaller (50%) icons may contact me for them. If you prefer the original stock size icons, simply open the MENU folder, find the BMP files that begin with "MAPICON..." and delete them.
INSTALLATION
First, first, and FIRST! – copy the MENU folder (located in the root First Eagles directory, whatever you decided to call it when you installed the game) and all its contents, then paste the copy somewhere safe just in case you want to go back to your previous menus.
NOW - unzip the version of the Replacement Menus that you have chosen, then copy the MENU and OBJECT folders and paste them in the root First Eagles directory. You will be warned that the folders already exist. Click YES TO ALL (I believe) and all the contents will go into the proper folders. Read the next paragraph only if you feel you need more explanation.
[The object here is to ADD the files, NOT get rid of everything that's already there. So if you followed the directions correctly, assuming that I gave them correctly (crossing fingers) you'll have new files in the MENU folder, and new files in the twelve stock aircraft sub-folders inside AIRCRAFT which is inside OBJECTS.]
And guess what... that's it! The wonderful simplicity of ThirdWire's modding system.
UNINSTALLING
You can:
1. Do a clean re-install of the whole game. Not recommended if you have other custom things, like planes, campaigns, texture sets, maps, etc., OR
2. If you want to get rid of everything from the mod EXCEPT the new hangar screens:
A. Locate your backed-up original MENU folder.
B. Find the MENU folder in the root directory of your First Eagles (or whatever you named it) folder and delete all contents.
C. Paste all contents from the backed up MENU folder into the MENU folder inside the First Eagles root folder. That should do it.
3. If you also want to get rid of the new hangar screens:
A. Go to FIRST EAGLES/OBJECTS/AIRCRAFT/AlbatrosD3 and delete the file "AlbatrosD3_hangar.bmp"
B. Repeat the same process in the eleven other stock plane folders inside the AIRCRAFT folder. The folders, and files are:
AlbatrosD3OAW - delete AlbatrosD3OAW_hangar.bmp
AlbatrosD5 - delete AlbatrosD5_hangar.bmp
AlbatrosD5A - delete AlbatrosD5_hangar.bmp
CamelF1_110 - delete CamelF1_hangar.bmp
CamelF1_130 - delete CamelF1_hangar.bmp
CamelF1_150 - delete CamelF1_hangar.bmp
FokkerD7 - delete FokkerD7_hangar.bmp
FokkerD7F - delete FokkerD7_hangar.bmp
FokkerDr1 - delete FokkerDr1_hangar.bmp
SE5a - delete SE5a_hangar.bmp
Spad12 - delete Spad13_hangar.bmp
KNOWN ISSUES:
The Chat record on the Debriefing Screen may or may not be functional. I've never flown multiplayer so I have no idea whether this works or not. If it does not and you'd like it fixed, let me know and I'll try to do so.
I'm not aware of any other problems... but something may surface that I didn't catch. If you find something, please let me know. You can PM me through the forum, or leave a message on the forum itself, or e-mail me directly at jimdickson@fastmail.fm.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to jarrko for the background picture on the mainscreen, used also altered by me for the options screen. Thanks to kout for his original alternate mainscreen, which planted the seed and got me hooked on doing this in the first place. His work is excellent and inspiring. Thanks to sockboy and Barkhorn for their testing. Though brief, it was a pleasure working with you, guys. Thanks to p01ppy for the idea to use a small chalkboard for the hangar screens. He even offered to let me use his hangar screen work as a basis for mine; I initially wanted to but found it too intimidating because his work is also most excellent... so I went in another direction.
I hope you enjoy what I've come up with. There's a lot I could change still, but it is after all a game, something to be enjoyed. It was fun putting it all together... too much more though and the fun would begin to go away for me. Perhaps I'll take another pass at it sometime in the future.
Guitarclassic55
[Jim Dickson]
Prince Edward Island, Canada
May 2008