Working with Blender

[Stephen1918]

After my copy of 3D Studio died, I started learning Blender. Mue has made a utility that will make Lods from Blender, but it only works with FE2. So, besides learning a new software, I've also spent a lot of time getting my install of FE2 up to speed. I have rebuilt the Ansaldo A-1 from scratch and it will be ready to upload soon. Ojcar is working on the FM, I am still working on the cockpit, and tweaking the plane. I made a Polish and an Italian version.

 

[whiteknight06604]

that is a beautiful plane. I can not tell you just how excited I am to see new First Eagles stuff being made. Thank you. 

[Wilches]

That´s a GREAT news!!! Can´t wait!!!!

[gterl]

Great news! Sadly I'm still stuck (after all these years) with FEGold

[streakeagle]

First Eagles 1 & 2 were great games. I wish TK would bring these games up to modern standards with full support for VR and being able to look around 360 degrees with full detail.

[JulioJunqueira]

The Ansaldo is awesome Stephen! 
It's great to know you're still creating models for FE2. That's fantastic!

[Stephen1918]

Thanks for your comments and support. The Ansaldo is coming along. The cockpit is nearly finished. Still working on skins and tweaking the model. Every time I do a test run, I find something else that needs fixing. 

 

[VonS]

Great news and glad to see that you are still involved with First Eagles, Stephen. Looking forward to the Ansaldo!

In the meantime, here's a somewhat recent clip of Stephen's Fokker D.II and Voisan Type V at work - and thank you for all of the 3D models that you've created for the FE1/FEgold/FE2 universe.

Good flying,

 

Edited March 24 by VonS
Fixed typos.

[ojcar]

Meanwhile, I'm working in the Ansaldo FM. Italian pilots reported it was a fast airplane, but less manouverable than the SPAD, and harder to fly. At the moment, it's a dangerous S.O.A.B. of an airplane, very "enjoyable" in the take off. I'm trying to make it a little easier...but not much.

[Stephen1918]

The Ansaldo A.1 "Balilla" has been uploaded. This is my first plane made in Blender, I would like to see your comments regarding the quality and overall appearance of the model, download, etc. I have not yet learned animation in Blender so motions of the flaps are rather simple. 

My thanks to Ojcar for making the FM, test flying the plane, and suggesting improvements to the cockpit.

My thanks to Mue for making the exporter for Blender. This would not have been possible without this utility.

Edited March 9 by Stephen1918

[Stephen1918]

Any comments? This is a learning experience for me, so your input, positive and negative, will be welcome.

Edited March 12 by Stephen1918
(typo)

[JulioJunqueira]

Top-notch work! The Blender model didn't show any problem with my FE2 installation. The model is very well done and easily visible from any distance.
Great work Stephen!

 

[Crusader]

Just going by the screenshots: great work!
FE/SF series Blender kites pioneer

[HvitiVikingurrin]

On 3/12/2026 at 6:20 PM, Stephen1918 said:

Any comments? This is a learning experience for me, so your input, positive and negative, will be welcome.

Greetings!

I didn't find any visible differences between the "old" and "new" models (that is, "from Max" and "from Blender"). I can't say whether they've gotten better, but they certainly haven't gotten worse! ))

The very fact that new planes have been released for my favorite game is amazing! Thank you so much!

And what kind of criticism would you like to hear? As far as I know, moderators are very sensitive to such things and get very offended when people try to push them. Some of them, once famous, have even left the community precisely because of criticism from those who "count rivets." ))

[HvitiVikingurrin]

On 3/4/2026 at 10:35 PM, gterl said:

Great news! Sadly I'm still stuck (after all these years) with FEGold

Yes, indeed — those new "Blender-made" aircraft by Stephen1918 don't work in the 1st Gens. (

The models he created in 3DSMax could fly in both versions. This was likely due to the use of the TWExporter09; my copy of Max also couldn't utilize the Dec2010 Exporter — which supports bump maps, JPG skins and the new code format that the 1stGens doesn't recognize.
I played the good old FEG for a long time, but it really bothered me that my game couldn't use so many excellent new models. It was frustrating, and that’s ultimately why I switched to FE2 and SF2. Perhaps it is time for you to do the same? FE2 runs perfectly on Windows XP, if that’s a concern for you.

[Stephen1918]

12 hours ago, HvitiVikingurrin said:

... And what kind of criticism would you like to hear? As far as I know, moderators are very sensitive to such things and get very offended when people try to push them. Some of them, once famous, have even left the community precisely because of criticism from those who "count rivets." ))

Thank you for your feedback. I have always believed that you can't improve if you don't know you're making mistakes, so I have always tried to be welcoming of feedback. I will admit that sometimes it's hard to take, but over the years it has helped me improve. 

When I started making planes for FE and uploading them at Combat Ace, the community was very welcoming and respectful of all the modders. I received at lot of helpful comments during those years which helped me get better at making models. I miss those days. At some point things started getting competitive - people started talking about raising the quality and deciding who was best. I remember modders who would swear at people who tried to correct them. We lost a lot of modders in those days and everyone seemed to get overly cautious about offering critique. Some even tried to shut down all critical comments. 

Instead of outlawing all criticism, we should try to teach when criticism, and modder response to criticism, is appropriate.

There is a way to offer criticism without being offensive. Respecting the work that someone put into a project, even a flawed project, is important. Making a suggestion in the form of a question is easier to take, at least for me. ("Have you considered doing...?" instead of "You should do..." ) In the end, we won't get new mods unless people are willing to share their efforts, and I know from experience that even simple mods take a great deal of effort. Let's a least respect the generosity of modders for sharing their work.

With that said, does anyone have comments about my two recent planes?

 

 

[Spear_Head]

11 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

With that said, does anyone have comments about my two recent planes?

Thank you for your time and effort.
If by "comments" you mean how these models could be improved, I think animated guns would be very useful in the Fokker's cockpit. And (perhaps) slotted machine gun covers, not just the tubes with painted slots, as they are.

As for the planes themselves, I'll need to crank up the graphics to the max and take another look.

It's possible that someone is already making photorealistic textures for them.

[HvitiVikingurrin]

2 hours ago, Spear_Head said:

animated guns would be very useful in the Fokker's cockpit. And (perhaps) slotted machine gun covers, not just the tubes with painted slots, as they are.

I agree with you. I also like the twitching machine guns. 

In 3D exterior models, I absolutely adore wings with protruding ribs and sagging canvas. That would be really cool! But that probably makes modeling much more difficult, so wings are usually made flat and the relief is simulated in a texture.

I myself once dreamed of making "perfect" models for the community: the Roland D.I and Halberstadt D.II and D.III (which still haven't appeared in the game), as well as some two-seaters like the Avro-504K, Dorand AR.1/2, and AWFK... I dreamed of reaching the level of the great and terrible Geezer... but my skill was only good enough for models slightly better than those in the ancient RB3D.  Besides, I'm completely inept at making cockpits...

Edited June 11 by HvitiVikingurrin

[HvitiVikingurrin]

I am also sure that the gas tank and oil tank caps should be visible from above the hood, but this needs to be checked. It probably looked the same as on earlier rotary-engined Fokkers.

Edited June 11 by HvitiVikingurrin

[Spear_Head]

6 часов назад пользователь Spear_Head написал:

Что касается собственных самолетов, мне нужно будет выкрутить график на максимум и ещё раз всё проверить.

Я с вами согласен, HvitiVikingurrin!

Итак, я посмотрел модели в LOD-просмотрщике и заметил, что у них отсутствуют анимации. Конечно, это не недостаток, так как вы можете этого не заметить во время боя. Но, как это принято, модераторы FE добавляют анимации для колёс (отдельно для левого и правого) и задней подвески.

This might not improve the models, but it would add to their completeness.

Edited June 11 by Spear_Head
grammatical errors ))

[Stephen1918]

Thank you Spear_Head and HvitiVikingurrin. You both make valid points.

I am relatively new to Blender and I am still working out how to make animations in Blender, and get those animations to carry over into First Eagles. So things like machine gun animations, making the suspension flex when the plane takes off or lands, and most importantly for me, making the control wires move when the control surfaces move. On the two newest planes the wires are static while the flaps move around them. I am aware of these problems and am working on solving them. But these flaws don't interfere with game play so I'm not that embarrassed by them.

As for the other things, I always ask myself "Am I playing the game or am I just looking at the plane?" It's tempting to include a lot more detail in the model, but it eventually slows down my install of FE. So I try to find a balance. Ripples in the wings really slow things down on my machine so I choose not to include them. I make planes that work well on my computer and that's what I upload.

I am running on Windows 7 and, with high graphics and shadow settings, I get 15-20 FPS with about 20 other aircraft in the air and a good level of ground detail in the game. I try to keep my mod file sizes similar to the original FE objects (probably a little bigger) and that works well on my machine.

[HvitiVikingurrin]

6 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

I am running on Windows 7 and, with high graphics and shadow settings, I get 15-20 FPS with about 20 other aircraft in the air and a good level of ground detail in the game. I try to keep my mod file sizes similar to the original FE objects (probably a little bigger) and that works well on my machine.

Yes, the struggle for frame rates is a constant problem. Especially on weak PCs, like mine, for example (I'm still on XP). My game setup particularly doesn't like 4K skins, but when they are reduced to 1024x1024, the game runs much smoother.
When it comes to high-level planes (most modern models weigh 6-10 MB or even more), I have to lower the graphics quality so it doesn't look like a comic. Or even switch to LOD_02 as the main model (the game does this automatically when changing graphics settings, but there is a way to manually change the ini file of a specific plane). Another thing is that moderators often provide just one model — they are too lazy to make LODs with decreasing quality. It's implied that everyone has powerful gaming PCs that can handle everything...

[HvitiVikingurrin]

7 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

and most importantly for me, making the control wires move when the control surfaces move. On the two newest planes the wires are static while the flaps move around them. I am aware of these problems and am working on solving them. But these flaws don't interfere with game play so I'm not that embarrassed by them

Yes, you are absolutely right about that! Some amazing models (Geezer's, for example) fall short precisely because their control surfaces move separately from the fixed wires. Although it doesn’t affect gameplay at all, it’s still really unpleasant to see. There’s a feeling of frustration: after all, it wouldn’t have been hard to perfect this, but some small detail ruins the whole effect!

And yet, graphics rule nowadays. Otherwise, we’d still be flying in Red Baron 3D and be happy with it! Although, some old-timers still do. When I tried to create models of the Roland D.1 (I remember, I hoped to surpass your Roland D.2)) and the Sopwith Dolphin, where the pilot sits directly above the wings, it seemed like a very good idea to make the wings ribbed. Visually it would have been fantastic, but in practice, I never mastered this technique. :))

Edited June 12 by HvitiVikingurrin

[HvitiVikingurrin]

14 hours ago, Spear_Head said:

Я с вами согласен, HvitiVikingurrin!

Итак, я посмотрел модели в LOD-просмотр...

I got you, comrade, at least thanks to an online translator! 

[Spear_Head]

7 hours ago, HvitiVikingurrin said:

I got you, comrade, at least thanks to an online translator! 

Forgive me, friend. My browser has automatic page translation enabled, and I simply forgot to switch to English in time.

15 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

On the two newest planes the wires are static while the flaps move around them.

A minute ago I was going to write about protruding wires, but as it turns out, you already know about this without my participation.