No enemies out there........?

[Foxendown 0]

I must be doing something wrong. I've just added the expansion pack (very nice) but I've flown 4 missions without anything coming up to meet me. There are static aircraft on the ground when I chack in external views, but that's all. I'm flying single missions with enemy air activity set to "heavy" but not a foe in sight. I always take off from the airfield. I thought flights might be generated as I got nearer to their airfields but no that isn't happening. Is anyone else experiencing this?

[+Tailspin 3]

Hello and welcome to CombatAce. When playing single missions the game will only generate enemy A/C when you are near the IP of your specified target area. However, since the EP I have noticed an increase in the number of enemy A/C that crash or don't show up when you hit Alt-N to skip to the IP. Also if you use Targeting the game will not usually "auto target" A/C until they are within 2 nm. Sometimes hitting the Targeting key (T on the keyboard) will identify targets at longer ranges as long as they are in your line of sight and not obscured by clouds or terrain. If you want to see more enemy activity you will see that in the campaigns.

[Foxendown 0]

Thanks for the helpful information Tailspin. It's good to be here.

 

When I tried out the single missions, I was using accelerated time to get to WPs quickly and I checked (in "normal" time) before each one whether there were any enemies airborne but there weren't. So I assume that if I had flown more of the mission in "normal" time the autogeneration of enemies might have worked better? Also when I reflew one of the missions with an air start there were plenty of enemy fighters aloft (but I don't like air starts, kills my immersion)!

 

I've tried the campaigns but my problem with them is that I find the plane sets too small to be realistic so my immersion goes again. I've tried my hand at editing campaign files but some of the results seemed to be causing CTDs so before I installed the EP I did a clean re-install of everything. I was very pleased with the results of that (doubled my fps and stopped some graphics corruption I was getting in the sky) but I'm still looking for a way of setting up the kind of missions I want (large realistic planeset using the excellent work of the modders and most of all more two seaters, which would seem to me to reflect the reality of the WWI air war). What I'm not clear about is if I add third party aircraft and then use the single mission generator will it limit their appearane in a mission according to the year (e.g. no Fokker DVIII in 1917). Also there seem to be only two years to choose from, 1917 and 1918: is there any way generating missions that are limited to types in service in 1916 or 1915?

 

The quality of First Eagles makes me wish there was a graphical mission builder like the one in IL2, though having the ability to generate random missions is a great feature provided there is some control over it so the results make historical sense and you don't end up with Snipes dogfighting Eindeckers! :yes:

Edited December 8, 2007 by Foxendown

[+Tailspin 3]

Yes the game will limit the A/C available to the years according to those given in each A/C data.ini (ServiceStart and ServiceEnd dates in the MissionData section). The EP is set for late 1917-1918 and the stock A/C data.ini reflect that. Downloading earlier A/C will increase the available years according to the A/C's dates installed. However, most pre-expasion flight models are not compatible with the EP. You will need to download Peter01's updated FMs to fly earlier A/C. Not all are modified yet as there is another hot-fix type patch coming and Peter01 has wisely chosen to limit his work until we see what the patch will do. Those downloads are available here:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autom...p;showfile=5579

 

I agree it would be nice to have a good, easy to use, mission builder.

 

ps...for a little more diversity in A/C encountered try INTERCEPT missions.

[MigBuster 2,861]

Havnt tried the EP yet - but I get a lot of offensive and defensive single missions where no enemy shows up.

I start near the IP mainly because I want a quick dogfight - then time accelerate to see if anyone shows then give up.

Intercept missions almost always provide aircraft.

[MigBuster 2,861]

Also what is it with the bombers that constantly try to climb at 1 knot then stall into a dive and crash into the ground? they seem to switch into some kind of suicide aversion mode when they are losing

[sparkomatic 7]

maybe they are afraid of you...

[Foxendown 0]

It's good to have the info about the flight models Tailspin, thanks.

 

I found a couple of mission editors in the download section. One (KMD) is described as generic so I gave it a go, but I can't see how to insert waypoints at the moment. I suppose it may not be compatible. Anyway I've sent a PM to the author (kreelin)-hopefully he can put me right.

 

It would be good to get a mission editor up and running for FE because I'm sure there's a lot of creativity out there waiting to be tapped. I've built missions for IL2 and would like have a try at doing the same with FE if the tools were in place. Now if only I could program........

[JediMaster 451]

You can always do it the super-old-fashioned way...edit the .msn file with notepad and do it manually!

[Nicholas Bell 117]

I One (KMD) is described as generic so I gave it a go, but I can't see how to insert waypoints at the moment. I suppose it may not be compatible.

 

The tutorial (a seperate download) explains it all quite nicely: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autom...p;showfile=2679

[Foxendown 0]

Thanks for the link to the tutorial: I've downloaded it and will read carefully. It's true that you can build missions with notepad in this and other sims, but that's a bit slow, at least it is when I'm doing it. I find it really hard to visualise waypoints on a map by looking at a set of co-ordinates. Just ran up a mission quickly with kreelins's editor-the sort of thing I wanted-a strong recon patrol of RE8s escorted by SE5s and further along the Front Camels attacking German balloons, quite a melee!