How To Make AI Planes Flyable

[Wrench 9,901]

Right then, since this is a topic that seems to appear on almost a weekly basis, we figured it was time to codify the basic ini moding procedures for getting those Red Air Birds flyable.

 

Now, mind you, there are several real good cockpits available for the Fishbed series, albeit for the earlier versions (and we're not talking the Bison or 21st Century HUDed upgrades currently on the market). We're going to cover the basic tweeks necessary to give them a cockpit you can use.

 

You're going to need several easy to use tools to start this process:

 

Cat extract utility - this is the most important one!!! Avalible here are CA in the "Utilities" section of the SF/WoV/WoE downloads

Text Editor - notepad or word pad are the units of choice.

 

There are several 'in the works' mods for Soviet/Warsaw Pact aircraft using various 'moves' and repaints created by Lexx_Luthor, as posted on the 3rd Wire Boards, Generic Cockpits but these aren't out yet (wish they were!). So we're stuck using what's available right now in game, or modifications thereof for use on our little Red Friends. Also, here at CombatAce, in Marcfighters section, you'll find some downloads to make your Red Birds flyable; cockpit repaints and info needed. You'll be using either the A-4 or F-100 pit for his mods.

For WoE users, it might even be possible to use the Hunter's pit for some of the early Soviet birds, as it also has the 'steam-gauge' look to it.

 

Most of the 'stand-in' cockpits out there are repaints or mods of the exisiting A-4 Skyhawk pit for single engined birds, or mods/repaints of the F-4B pit for twin engined birds. It should be noted that Mago's Mig-21F cockpit, with some tweeks to stop the moving canopy, could also be used for some of the "Teen Series" MiGs and Sukhois, or ArmourDave superb Su-17 pit which also has multiple uses (Su-7, Mig-23, Mig-27). I'm not going into those now, but suffice it to say, there are usable alternatives.

 

The aircraft we're talking about in here are:

MiG-17

MiG-19

Su-7BM

IL-28

Tu-16

Tu-22 (although bombers are a real special case!)

 

Be advised, you will be extracing files, and placing them into the aircrafts in question. You will be renaming said files, and making adjustments in the "PilotPosition=" line in those cockpit inis. This is a much beter way than simply adding the cockpit pointer line, as this will give you correct cockpit/pilot positioning from the player viewpoint, inside the cockpt. In other words, a little extra work that'll make it easier to drive around with.

 

Ok...getting started. In our example, we're going to use the Stock 3rd Wire MiG-17F Fresco-C.

In the main aircraft folder you will have a file called "MiG-17F.ini". This is the file we're going to be editing. It looks like this inside:

 

[AircraftData]

AircraftFullName=MiG-17F Fresco-C

AircraftDataFile=MiG-17F_data.ini

LoadoutFile=MiG-17F_loadout.ini

 

You'll see there are no references to anything resembling a cockpit, hangar screen, avionics (they didn't have any in any case), loading screen, or loadout image.

This, below, is the same section, but from the player flyable F-4B Phantom:

 

[AircraftData]

AircraftFullName=F-4B Phantom II

AircraftDataFile=F-4B_data.ini

CockpitDataFile=F-4B_cockpit.ini

HangarScreen=F-4B_hangar.bmp

LoadoutImage=F-4B_loadout.bmp

LoadoutFile=F-4B_loadout.ini

AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll

AvionicsDataFilename=F-4B_avionics.ini

LoadingScreen=F-4B_Loading.bmp

 

Before we get to modifiying, lets take a moment and explain what each of the lines are, and what they do.

 

AircraftFullName=F-4B Phantom II: this is what shows on the dropdown on the mission selection menu, that allows you to pick your plane.

AircraftDataFile=F-4B_data.ini: tells the game engine what data set to use for this aircraft

CockpitDataFile=F-4B_cockpit.ini: tells it what cockpit to use

HangarScreen=F-4B_hangar.bmp: the hangar screen. The Loading Image is the one you stare at while waiting for the progress meter to reach 100%, so you can fly. Some aircraft have them, both from 3W, or made by 3rd Party modders (like myself and many others)

LoadoutImage=F-4B_loadout.bmp this is the little picture on the loadout screen, where you select weapons, drop tanks etc.

LoadoutFile=F-4B_loadout.ini: defines what weapons are carried on which hardpoint.

AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll: which avionics file to use. This is the one giving some people some problems. Simply put: you cannot have a HUD with avionics 60.dll. You cannot have ground mapping and terrain avoidance radars with avionics70.dll. And yes, there are workarounds, but that is the basic rule of thumb.

AvionicsDataFilename=F-4B_avionics.ini: defines how your electronics work.

 

Now that we've got our definations out of the way, and you hopefully understand what they mean, let's get you in the cockpit of that Fresco....

 

You basically need to add only 1 or 2 lines, depending if the aircraft is equipped with a radar. If it's equipped with a radar, radar warning system or if you want to add hangar & loading screen and the loadout bmp, you'll be adding a few more lines.

Again, let me remind you, we're only dealing with the stock cockpits already inside the objects.cat. If you're using one of the modified Skyhawk or Phantom pits available for download, they should already come with instructions as to what to do; some even come with a fully edited ***.ini ready for use.

 

Since the stock Scooter pit is positioned differently from ANY of the MiGs, you'll probably want to go ahead and extract the A-4B_COCKPIT.INI from the objects.cat. You'll also need the Fresco's data ini, so go ahead and extract that too.

Place BOTH files into the "MiG-17F" main folder.

Add this line to the MiG-17F.ini:

 

CockpitDataFile=MiG17_COCKPIT.INI

 

Rename the A-4B's cockpit ini to match. IE: MiG17_COCKPIT INI

 

Open up the MiG-17_DATA.INI and scroll down until you see this section:

(Pilot)

SystemType=PILOT_COCKPIT

SetCockpitPosition=TRUE

Position=0.0,2.50, 0.73 <--this is the important line!

 

Open up your recently renamed "MiG17_COCKPIT.INI", and look for the following lines:

 

(CockpitSeat001)

ModelName=a-4b_cockpit

Offset=0.0,-0.08,-0.03

Position=0.0,4.437,0.658 <-this is where the pilot sits

ViewAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0

 

Copy the "Position=" numbers from the Fresco's data ini, and paste them OVER the existing one in the cockpit ini. It's not perfect; it may be off a few centimeters in any direction, but it will get you very close to the actual position in the physical model. This can be re-checked by looking out the canopy, and by using the free camera view (whilst sitting on the runway) to note the pilot's place in the aircraft, usually relative to the wing leading edge. Then adjustments to the pilot's position up or down, forward or aft can be made.

 

The procedures outlined above can be used for any of the other aircraft listed.

 

One of the special cases involves using AD's Su-17 pit on the Su-7 Fitter C. You'll again need to do some extracting of the Su-7 data ini; you've probably done this already to adjust the weapons loads if you use the WepPack. If not, do so now.

 

1) copy the ENTIRE cockpit folder from the Su-17 and paste it into the Su-7 folder.

2) copy/paste the Su-17_COCKPIT.INI into the Su-7's folder. Rename to "SU7_COCKPIT.INI

3) add the cockpit pointer line, as shown above

4) open the Su-7BM_DATA.INI and find the pilot section, as outlined above.

5) copy those numbers into the cockpit ini, also as shown above.

6) Save and close. Go fly a mission and enjoy your new pit!

 

BOMBERS:

 

A very special case. As there are no real bomber pits available, we have to make do with what we have.

 

I don't usually fly bombers; there are several issues with flight modeling and the lack of a proper bombsight hinders player operations (this is without the bombsight mod available here at CA). Of the stock ones, the only ones I've used are the B-57B and Il-28. And even these have "issues".

But there's always some pervert that want to fly them so.....

 

The Il-28 Beagle has already been covered; my mod of this is available here at CA and at my site. Albeit a 'sovi-ick blue', when it should be a gray, all the ini edits are done for you.

The Tupelov's are another matter...since they are usually a side-by-side seating arrangment, they require a little more special handling.

A stand-in pit, although it has no verticle bombsight, could be created by using the A-6 Intruder's or even the F-111 pit. The Dev A-Team's WW2 bomber pit could also be used, but it lacks the 'jet gauges'.

 

You'll need to follow the basic procedures above, but since these all have a ground mapping radar of some kind, you'll need to make the other additions to get it to work. Below is what my Tu-16 Badger looks like, using the A-6 Intruder pit from WoV. NOTE: if using this in anything OTHER than WoV, you will need to have a copy of it, as you'll have to extract EVERYTHING that has anything to do with the cockpit, and create a sub-folder in you Badger called "cockpit", and place all the bit in there. You'll also need to A-6's avionics_ini, cockpit ini, and have the Tu-16's data ini in the main folder.

 

[AircraftData]

AircraftFullName=Tu-16 Badger-A

AircraftDataFile=Tu-16_data.ini

LoadoutFile=Tu-16_loadout.ini

HangarScreen=Badger_Hangar.bmp

LoadoutImage=Tu-16A_loadout.bmp

AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll

AvionicsDataFilename=Tu-16A_avionics.ini

 

You'd do the same edits for the pilot position as outlined above, of course in the renamed cockpit ini.

 

REMEMBER: it is highly reccomened that the various inis be placed in the main aircraft's folder, and renamed to match that aircraft!!!!

 

I hope this clears up some questions. If there are any more -and I'm sure there will be-, please feel free to post on the boards, and I'll try to answer them. But it's a pretty cut and dry process...simple text edits and some file moving.

 

Happy Landings!!

Wrench

Kevin Stein