Making STATIC AIRCRAFT

[Guest IndioBlack]

I've been taking PMs recently about the Static-aircraft concept that Paul Taylor invented, and which he helped me modify for FIRST EAGLES.

Subsequent to me discussing this method and posting my first set of demonstration missions, Edward posted to say that a team were working on a different method than I had used, by creating specific aircraft-shaped ground objects and that there would be lots of them available.

 

I have recently been told that these other static aircraft have not yet become available, and so in response to the people who have PMd me about the methods I use, here's the instructions on how to make your own Static aircraft. It is very simple.

 

 

MAKING STATIC AIRCRAFT

 

1. Duplicate your aircraft folder, e.g: Se5a, and rename to Se5a_STATIC

 

2. Remove any cockpit files, because you won't need them

 

3.Extract and copy the Aircraft.INI, rename to e.g: SE5a_STATIC.INI,

and make the following changes:

 

[AircraftData]

AircraftFullName=S.E.5a Static

AircraftDataFile=SE5a_STATIC_data.ini

CockpitDataFile=

HangarScreen=

LoadoutImage=

LoadoutFile=SE5a_loadout.ini

 

4. Extract and copy the Aircraft_DATA.INI, rename to e.g: SE5a_STATIC_DATA.INI,

and make the following changes:

 

// Crew ---------------------------------------------------------

 

[Pilot]

 

REMOVE ALL ENTRIES

 

// Engines ---------------------------------------------------------

 

[Engine]

 

ALTER THE FOLLOWING ONLY:

 

SLPowerDry=REMOVE NUMBER

 

SlowPropRPM=CHANGE TO 10

FastPropRPM=CHANGE TO 10

MaxPropRPM=CHANGE TO 10

IdlePropRPM=CHANGE TO 1

 

ExhaustEmitterName=REMOVE STATEMENT

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

5.Extract the Prop.TGA files and place in your new aircraft static folder

The Se5a has two:

 

PROP2_SE5a.TGA

PROP_SE5a.TGA

 

Using an art programme, just select all, and cut the image to leave behind 160,0,0 black.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

6. In the mission file, make sure the following entries and statements are present for your static aircraft:

 

 

AircraftType=SE5a_static

 

StartOnGround=TRUE

 

Heading=140 (Whatever heading you put, they tend to snap to the nearest cardinal compass direction. We haven't yet figured out why.

 

Speed=0

 

AmmoPercent=0

 

FuelPercent=0

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

You're done

[Bandy 3]

IB,

I've really enjoyed your static AC missions, and have recommended them whenever the topic came up. However, there is a distinct disadvantage to doing them that way.

 

I obviously have the staticAC loaded in my game, and just a few weeks ago while in Firecage's earlier version of Plane Fest, I FINALLY got upgraded to the SE5. BUT to my surprise, it was a static SE5... I ended the mission, and tried to re-enter the campaign, but was stuck and had to kill that campaign after all that "work".

 

Also was attacking some DVII's a few weeks ago when I noticed they had no pilots (!) and didn't react to my assault: they were static AC at about 7000 ft...

 

Any way to fix this?

[Guest IndioBlack]

IB,

I've really enjoyed your static AC missions, and have recommended them whenever the topic came up. However, there is a distinct disadvantage to doing them that way.

 

I obviously have the staticAC loaded in my game, and just a few weeks ago while in Firecage's earlier version of Plane Fest, I FINALLY got upgraded to the SE5. BUT to my surprise, it was a static SE5... I ended the mission, and tried to re-enter the campaign, but was stuck and had to kill that campaign after all that "work".

 

Also was attacking some DVII's a few weeks ago when I noticed they had no pilots (!) and didn't react to my assault: they were static AC at about 7000 ft...

 

Any way to fix this?

 

 

That's interesting. I was always a bit reluctant to go this route with creating separate static aircraft. You can actually get a normal flyable aircraft to be static with the way you write the mission script, but the downside was that the pilot was always sitting there, and sometimes the aircraft moved by an infinitesimally small amount that was difficult to see - but when you got back from an hour's mission they were in another field somewhere next to the base.

So I did approach statics with the view that unless it worked better than the mission-scripting approach, I wouldn't use it. But my worry that they might suddenly appear in a campaign never materialised. So it's bothering me that they now do.

 

I believe that you can control the likelihood of aircraft showing up in a campaign by altering some lines in the aircraft's ini file. It's somewhere next to the bit that tells you what year they turn up. You could alternatively, for that matter, change the static Se5s start year to 1942 if you wanted. That way, they'd never show up in a campaign but I believe they would still be available to you when you wrote your own missions. I'm only lateral-thinking here, so there's no certainty this will solve it.

 

I have no idea how Firecage's campaign works, so maybe my statics are just incompatible with his campaign. My interest was only in populating airfields in single missions, and I felt that Paul Taylor's method for the SF series was an interesting way to go. I still believe that creating aircraft-shaped ground objects is the correct solution to everything, and I'm surprised that neither TK, nor any of the plane-makers, have got round to building any yet. Maybe it's just a minority interest.