weapons editor question question

[hurricane3 2]

I know the new weapons editor is out ,but I'don't know how it works and don't have the time or desire to go through all the addon planes that the new patch has taken the weapons away from.

Will there ever be a patch or addon to bring these weapons (such as the rockets and extra guns and bomb loads) back ?

I really don't want to do a bunch more work to bring back the sim to the state is was before the patch.

I guess I'am lazy, but wish there was some kind of exe.file to just restore the weapons. Thanks

[+Tailspin 3]

It shouldn't be any more difficult to get the third party weapons to work now than it was before. We just couldn't do it because we had no working Weapons Editor to update the WeaponData.dat in the Exp. Pack. As for all the "legwork" sometimes necessary to update everything after a patch...well that's life in the Thirdwire world.

[hurricane3 2]

It shouldn't be any more difficult to get the third party weapons to work now than it was before. We just couldn't do it because we had no working Weapons Editor to update the WeaponData.dat in the Exp. Pack. As for all the "legwork" sometimes necessary to update everything after a patch...well that's life in the Thirdwire world.

 

My question is ,before the patch , I think I had to do something ( don't remember what, maybe add the Weaopens data Dat.file ,I don't remember now,) and all the weapons worked,,so now if I get what your saying is ,I have to do each plane on an individual basis.

I'am not putting you down for this ,I just don't want to do all that "legwork."

Guess I'am not a modder ,to that extant.

Please don't misunderstand me ,but after doing so much work in all my flight sims and adding terrian mods and planes which was relativity easy ,I just don't want to go to all that "legwork"for each plane.

I thank you for all the work you put into FE and the patches and updates,I know that couldn't have been easy ,so I'll just live with out the extra weapons.

Thanks ,I hope you understand

[+Tailspin 3]

I haven't looked into this in depth but since all the old planes still have their loadout.inis there shouldn't be much you have to do to them individually to get them to work like they did before. I would think it just a matter of reinstalling the third party weapons per the instructions that come with the readme files for the addon aircraft using the new weapons editor make them work.

 

BTW...I understand your complaint. Its a Royal PITA sometimes. :yes:

 

Edit: What I mean is no, you don't have to work on each individual plane. The only thing that kept us from installing the old weapons was the old editor didn't work with the new EP. Now the procedure should work just like it did before.

[+p10ppy 2]

Caveat :I haven't looked at this yet (sooo busy)

I"think" all the 3rd party weapons need there specs altered to reflect the new FM modeling for weapons

 

so its not maybe that straight foward

 

maybe a project for a brave volunteer

[+Tailspin 3]

That is true P10ppy. I hadn't noticed TK has added drag coefficients to the bombs and rockets. Also, there could be a conflict if the old weapon names are the same as the new ones. Like I said, I haven't looked into it closely enough so I probably shouldn't be commenting. What I was looking at is the installation procedure and not what might happen after.

[hurricane3 2]

That is true P10ppy. I hadn't noticed TK has added drag coefficients to the bombs and rockets. Also, there could be a conflict if the old weapon names are the same as the new ones. Like I said, I haven't looked into it closely enough so I probably shouldn't be commenting. What I was looking at is the installation procedure and not what might happen after.

 

Can anyone give me a link or instructions on how the weapons editor works.

Was told in last post that you don't have to do every addon plane on an individual basis.

Also according to the last post the weapons have been changed so maybe I should wait till some one comes out with a fix.

The only way I can get my editor to work is run it in Windows 98 compatability mode ,I don't understand whey ,is it because my install of FE is on my E drive(my second hard drive?)

Also and I know this is off topic so please don't yell ,as you know when I downloaded the Vogesen terrian the seaseon folders show in the Cambrai folder in Windows explorer but I thought thay would show in the sim under Cambrai like Maxe's 188 option,but they don't ,and I was told their date spefic ,but under single missions all I can change is the year (1917 ,1918)and the weather and time.

I haven't had time to read the manual yet so am I missing something?

[+Tailspin 3]

Can anyone give me a link or instructions on how the weapons editor works.

Was told in last post that you don't have to do every addon plane on an individual basis.

Also according to the last post the weapons have been changed so maybe I should wait till some one comes out with a fix.

The only way I can get my editor to work is run it in Windows 98 compatability mode ,I don't understand whey ,is it because my install of FE is on my E drive(my second hard drive?)

Also and I know this is off topic so please don't yell ,as you know when I downloaded the Vogesen terrian the seaseon folders show in the Cambrai folder in Windows explorer but I thought thay would show in the sim under Cambrai like Maxe's 188 option,but they don't ,and I was told their date spefic ,but under single missions all I can change is the year (1917 ,1918)and the weather and time.

I haven't had time to read the manual yet so am I missing something?

 

Basically what the weapons editor does is create a new weaponsdata.dat file which is what the game uses to set weapons parameters etc. in game. It usually only works in Win 98 compatability mode because it was created and coded for Win. 98. How it works? Well I'll give it this a try but and apologize in advance if this doesn't make sense. When you add a new weapon or modify an existing one you edit the WeaponsData.ini. You can do this by editing the WeaponsData.ini with a text editor (Notepad, etc.) or you can actually edit the data.ini within the weapons editor itself. You run the editor then click the OPEN button and find the WeaponsData.ini through the correct filepath in the "Look in" pulldown. Highlight or double click the WeaponsData.ini and it will appear on the screen in the editor. Double click the weapon you want to update and either make the changes in the editor or make sure the changes you may have already made in the file are correct. Then you click the SAVE button and close the editor. This will create the new WeaponsData.DAT file.

 

Re: the season changes for the new Vogesen update. I don't have it so I can't say for sure but the Vogesen terrain is probably set up to find the correct folders even though they are not physically present in the Vogesen terrain folder itself.

 

Re: Date specific weather changes. In Single Missions the game randomly generates a date for the mission. In order to get a specific date to show you have to make a custom mission. Otherwise you can keep switching back and forth from the Create mission screen to the Hangar screen until the date in the upper right hand corner of the Hanger screen falls within the season you want to fly in....at least thats the way I do it. There may be an easier way...I don't know.

 

Finally, I'd like to encourage you to "hang in there" and not give up. I've kind of followed along with some of your posts here and other places and I actually admire your tenacity in trying to tackle all this stuff. The "trick" is to always back up the files you're attempting to change so you can easily return to your previous version. Once you have this done the best thing, IMHO, is to jump in and try it out. Most readme files and directions will make more sense when you can see the changes you've implimented. Its really the only way to come to an understanding of how things work in the game.

[hurricane3 2]

Basically what the weapons editor does is create a new weaponsdata.dat file which is what the game uses to set weapons parameters etc. in game. It usually only works in Win 98 compatability mode because it was created and coded for Win. 98. How it works? Well I'll give it this a try but and apologize in advance if this doesn't make sense. When you add a new weapon or modify an existing one you edit the WeaponsData.ini. You can do this by editing the WeaponsData.ini with a text editor (Notepad, etc.) or you can actually edit the data.ini within the weapons editor itself. You run the editor then click the OPEN button and find the WeaponsData.ini through the correct filepath in the "Look in" pulldown. Highlight or double click the WeaponsData.ini and it will appear on the screen in the editor. Double click the weapon you want to update and either make the changes in the editor or make sure the changes you may have already made in the file are correct. Then you click the SAVE button and close the editor. This will create the new WeaponsData.DAT file.

 

Re: the season changes for the new Vogesen update. I don't have it so I can't say for sure but the Vogesen terrain is probably set up to find the correct folders even though they are not physically present in the Vogesen terrain folder itself.

 

Re: Date specific weather changes. In Single Missions the game randomly generates a date for the mission. In order to get a specific date to show you have to make a custom mission. Otherwise you can keep switching back and forth from the Create mission screen to the Hangar screen until the date in the upper right hand corner of the Hanger screen falls within the season you want to fly in....at least thats the way I do it. There may be an easier way...I don't know.

 

Finally, I'd like to encourage you to "hang in there" and not give up. I've kind of followed along with some of your posts here and other places and I actually admire your tenacity in trying to tackle all this stuff. The "trick" is to always back up the files you're attempting to change so you can easily return to your previous version. Once you have this done the best thing, IMHO, is to jump in and try it out. Most readme files and directions will make more sense when you can see the changes you've implimented. Its really the only way to come to an understanding of how things work in the game.

 

 

 

Thankyou so much for taking the time to explain all this ,you did a good job,I just have to have the nerve to try the weapons editor.

As far as the season terrian ,I probley wouldn't have had to ask if I'd just take time to read the manual , I think I understand but have to experiment to find out.

I thought they would show like Maxe's 188 option which says winter under the Verdun folder ,so thats way I couldn't understand why they didn't show up.

I put them back so I'll see what happens.

Thanks again for your trouble I know how busy you must be.

I know this computer is already 6 years old ,but I'am trying to keep things going as long as possible.

I guess when you hit 60 and a half you get stubborn and I hate to give up.

Thanks again

[+Tailspin 3]

You're certainly welcome. Unfortunately I'm far busier with RL issues than I am computer gaming these days. I have a few projects that have been sitting on the back burner for weeks now. I get my kids raised and on their own and now I have to care for my elderly parents. The "circle of life" has true meaning.

[hurricane3 2]

You're certainly welcome. Unfortunately I'm far busier with RL issues than I am computer gaming these days. I have a few projects that have been sitting on the back burner for weeks now. I get my kids raised and on their own and now I have to care for my elderly parents. The "circle of life" has true meaning.

 

I fully understand what your going through , for one ,sorry to bother you at a time like this and two the seasons have me beat.

I did what you said and flipped back and forth and according to the dates and weather given by Gepard you should get snow 50% of the time with overcaste conditions ,if I'am interperting this correctly .

Well I almost wore out the keyboard out going back and forth but never any change, so on this I'll give up.

Who knows ,I'll leave the folders in and maybe one day before the computer wares out I might hit snow.I hit the correct dates many times but if it's only set for 50% of the time it might take all night.

I'am not putting this addon down but (ok yes I am) it's set up very poorly.

Thanks again , I printed out all I could find about how to use the extracter for the ini.files and how to use the weapons editor but doubt I'll try it. Maybe someone will come up with a simple way to make the weapons work and change the seasons,but I doubt if it's before I'am ready for a new computer ,then I will have Vista to contend with.

PLEASE tell me when the fun part of flight simming comes,I'd hate to miss it. At least I have snow with the Max 188 option .Thanks and good luck to you.

[+Tailspin 3]

Ok, I just had to try it for myself. I like the Vogesen terrain and I have had the original since it was released. I downloaded the new version and the weather changes work just fine for me. Using snow for example, it will appear starting 1/1 thru 1/27.

 

[season001]

Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Snow

StartDate=1/1 <----

EndDate=1/27 <----

ScatteredChance=0

BrokenChance=40

OvercastChance=50

InclementChance=10

 

Snow will always appear during these dates. The rest of the numbers are for cloud conditions and have nothing to do with the ground condition. As described I kept retrying the Accept button until I got a date within the timeframe to appear in the upper right hand corner of the Hangar screen. Here's how I installed it.

 

Since I already had the other version of Vogesen I removed it from my terrain folder. Then I extracted everything in the new Vogesen.rar file into a separate folder on my desktop...just right click on the desktop and create a New Folder and extract into the New Folder (Windows/Desktop/NewFolder). Open the New Folder and you will see a folder named Vogesen, the three Seasons folders, a custom mission, and a Readme. Copy, Drag and Drop, or Cut and Paste the Vogesen folder into the Exp Pack Terrain folder. Open each season folder and Copy (or use whatever method you like) the contents (two files each, NOT the folder itself) into each season folder in the wwiCambrai terrain folder.

 

Extracting directly to the main Terrain folder in the Exp. Pack should so this automatically for you but I always extract to another folder because: 1. I always like to see whats going into my sim and 2. This will prevent folders getting "nested" inside other folders which won't work. I didn't install the mission but it goes in the Mission folder.

 

As they say "VIOLA"! It worked for me. Hope this helps you out. Gotta go, be back online later this evening.

[hurricane3 2]

Ok, I just had to try it for myself. I like the Vogesen terrain and I have had the original since it was released. I downloaded the new version and the weather changes work just fine for me. Using snow for example, it will appear starting 1/1 thru 1/27.

 

[season001]

Directory=..\wwiCambrai\Snow

StartDate=1/1 <----

EndDate=1/27 <----

ScatteredChance=0

BrokenChance=40

OvercastChance=50

InclementChance=10

 

Snow will always appear during these dates. The rest of the numbers are for cloud conditions and have nothing to do with the ground condition. As described I kept retrying the Accept button until I got a date within the timeframe to appear in the upper right hand corner of the Hangar screen. Here's how I installed it.

 

Since I already had the other version of Vogesen I removed it from my terrain folder. Then I extracted everything in the new Vogesen.rar file into a separate folder on my desktop...just right click on the desktop and create a New Folder and extract into the New Folder (Windows/Desktop/NewFolder). Open the New Folder and you will see a folder named Vogesen, the three Seasons folders, a custom mission, and a Readme. Copy, Drag and Drop, or Cut and Paste the Vogesen folder into the Exp Pack Terrain folder. Open each season folder and Copy (or use whatever method you like) the contents (two files each, NOT the folder itself) into each season folder in the wwiCambrai terrain folder.

 

Extracting directly to the main Terrain folder in the Exp. Pack should so this automatically for you but I always extract to another folder because: 1. I always like to see whats going into my sim and 2. This will prevent folders getting "nested" inside other folders which won't work. I didn't install the mission but it goes in the Mission folder.

 

As they say "VIOLA"! It worked for me. Hope this helps you out. Gotta go, be back online later this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I tried following your instructions and ,nothing. No difference between those dates at all

I maybe I'am not following you ,but I had to also make snow, spring ,and fall folder's and put these in the Terrian Cambrai folder.

Then I made a new folder in my documents and extracted the Vogesen Rar file into that,then extracted the files in the three season folders in to the season folders I made in the Cambri folder.

I noticed that the files within these folders are all the same.I mean ther are two different files in each folder but the files are the same two in each folder.

This doesn't seem right to me ,but what do I know?

Anyway after just about wearing out my mouse clicking back and forth I got the dates right twice but the terrian was still the same.

We are talking version 1 right?That and the first beta file are all I could find in the terrian downloads section.

So I hate to dissapoint you but I give up.It's not worth the effort and time and frustration,after all I stiill have snow with good old Maxe's 188 option in Verdun.

Thanks for trying ,but for some reason it just won't work for me .

I gotta get a life. thanks again.

[+Tailspin 3]

Nope. The stock Cambrai terrain comes with a Snow, Fall, and Spring folder. These contain all the files you need for the seasons to work in the Cambrai terrain. The Vogesen terrain uses these textures (files) to make seasons also. Those two files in each of the season folders that come with the Vogesen terrain are textures around the Rhein river that are particular to Vogesen. Those go in the stock Cambrai season folders with the rest of the files already in there. Do the seasons work for Cambrai? Sounds like you may have overwritten the stock season folders trying to create the new season folders for Vogesen which isn't necessary. I'm guessing the seasons don't work for Cambrai either? If they still do then I have no idea what may be wrong. I had a quick look and I'm not sure you can get those stock season folders back without reinstalling the Exp. Pack. Sorry for all the problems, but I think if you had just extracted the Vogesen.rar file into the main Terrain folder as explained in the text on the download page it would have worked as advertised. Gepard has been doing terrain mods for a long time and they've always worked fine AFAIK.

[hurricane3 2]

Although I thought I followed the directions,(I always read the read me file )guess I screwed up somewhere,like you said such is life. Thanks

[hurricane3 2]

Although I thought I followed the directions,(I always read the read me file )guess I screwed up somewhere,like you said such is life. Thanks

 

I've been thinking back(a dangerous thing for me to do) and I never saw any season files in the Cambrai folder from the first install.

if I open the folder their are what look like files with pictures on them and opening these, list everything in that file, but never have seen any season folder's before or after the patch.

You said there were always season files but where they hidden at?

Also checking the readme file again it said to put the Vogesen file in the terrian folder, and the season files in the Cambrai folder and the mission folder in missions, all of which I did.

Only then did the Cambrai folder have the three season folders.

Maybe I don't know how to work the RAR file but I put them in from extracting the files into their places according to the read me file, then when that didn't work I extracted (after taking them out) to my documents then copying and pasting the files into the Cambrai folder.

I have the Vogesen and mission and they work fine ,it's just those damn season folder's.

You don't have to reply because I know your busy and I hate to keep beating a dead horse ,but if there were stock files in the Cambrai folder I couldn't find them.

Thanks for trying to help and I hope you get less busy in the future and can relax a little without people like me bugging you.

[+Tailspin 3]

After you installed the Expasion Pack there should have been three folders in the Cambrai folder...Snow, Spring, and Fall. These folders contain all the repainted terrain tiles for the different seasons. Did the seasons ever work for the Cambrai terrain? If so, then they were there at one time. If you installed the Vogesen terrain by just extracting the .rar file to the main Terrain folder then it should have installed everything in the right place without overwriting anything. Like I said I only do it my way so I can see whats in the .rar. Only the contents of the season folder that came with the Vogesen terrain should be installed in the Cambrai season folders themselves and the installation process should have done that automatically.

 

This is from the download page:

 

INSTALLATION

 

1.) unzip all files into your WWI/Terrain folder

(files will be placed in folders Vogesen AND wwiCambrai)

2.) the file "Burgen am Rhein.msn" put into your missions folder

 

Thats it.

 

By taking them out do you mean you deleted them? If so, look in your Recycle Bin if you haven't emptied that. Look around for the originals. Where might you have put them? I don't know what happened, bad original install, accidental overwrite, or what, but if those files are gone I think the only way to get them back is to reinstall the Expansion Pack. Without those files in their entirety the seasonal changes won't work for ANY terrain.

 

Don't worry. You're not bothering me. I just wish I could be more helpful and think of something that can fix the problem without you having to reinstall the EP.

[hurricane3 2]

After you installed the Expasion Pack there should have been three folders in the Cambrai folder...Snow, Spring, and Fall. These folders contain all the repainted terrain tiles for the different seasons. Did the seasons ever work for the Cambrai terrain? If so, then they were there at one time. If you installed the Vogesen terrain by just extracting the .rar file to the main Terrain folder then it should have installed everything in the right place without overwriting anything. Like I said I only do it my way so I can see whats in the .rar. Only the contents of the season folder that came with the Vogesen terrain should be installed in the Cambrai season folders themselves and the installation process should have done that automatically.

 

This is from the download page:

 

INSTALLATION

 

1.) unzip all files into your WWI/Terrain folder

(files will be placed in folders Vogesen AND wwiCambrai)

2.) the file "Burgen am Rhein.msn" put into your missions folder

 

Thats it.

 

By taking them out do you mean you deleted them? If so, look in your Recycle Bin if you haven't emptied that. Look around for the originals. Where might you have put them? I don't know what happened, bad original install, accidental overwrite, or what, but if those files are gone I think the only way to get them back is to reinstall the Expansion Pack. Without those files in their entirety the seasonal changes won't work for ANY terrain.

 

Don't worry. You're not bothering me. I just wish I could be more helpful and think of something that can fix the problem without you having to reinstall the EP.

 

 

Off hand don't remember the seasons ever working,When I said I took them out I deleted the Vogesen season folders because thats the first time I ever saw any seaason folders under Cambrai.

Last time I talked with you I deleted the Vogesen folder and the seasson folders I made, since I empty my recycle bin any time there's anything in it, those are gone.

Since I deleted the folders when the seasons wouldn't work I probley deleted the oridginal folders as well.

This is very hard to explane since I've done so many things trying to get the Cambrai seasons to work I don't remember all I did.

If I wanted to reinstall the expansion pack how would I do it with out uninstalling the whole sim? Last time I reinstalled the Vogeson terrian from the RAR file it wouldn.t show and I had to extract it and copy and paste it to the terrian folder.

This whole mess has gone on far enough for both of us so I'll live with it unless some simple way to fix it comes up.

I only have two questions ,then I'am outta here. One if you can reinstall the expansion pack and have it overwrite the other files should I take out the Vogesen stuff, and if I did delete the oridginal Cambra iseason folder's ,how would that effect any other expansion packs?

So thankyou for going above and beyond the call of duty to help me ,your one of the good guys for sure.

[+Tailspin 3]

Hmmmm...since I don't know what you've got in your install as far as mods and it would be difficult to explain how to save them I suggest you start over from the beginning. If you have the hard drive space you can keep your current install if you want by renaming it. Go to your main WWI folder and rename it oldWWI or something. If you don't want to keep it then delete it. Then reinstall First Eagles and the Expansion Pack. Make sure the filepath (use the browse button in the installer) is directed to the correct folder (...whatever drive it is/Thirdwire/etc.) Now you have a clean install to work with and you can rebuild your modded game from there. I know its a PITA but its the "safe" way to do it. Don't feel bad. I've had to do it myself before. To avoid having to run the installer again in the future you can make copy of a clean install by right clicking and Copy the game folder in the same Thirdwire folder. Just keep it named Copy of WWI. It won't interfere with anything. That way you have a game folder with all the files in it...in case something disappears again.

[+Tailspin 3]

Also you can try and run the EXP PACK installer again and see if it works. Might avoid having to do a complete reinstall....

[hurricane3 2]

Also you can try and run the EXP PACK installer again and see if it works. Might avoid having to do a complete reinstall....

 

OK we did it. I took a chance and deleted the Cambrai folder then (since I saved the Expansion pack to disk) reinstalled just the expansion pack and there were the three folders under the Cambri folder .

I extracted each file as you said to each season folder and have snow(although it's more gray than white) drab terrian in the fall( although I thought the trees should show fall colors ,but they don't only the ground is brown) and greener colors in the spring dates.

The only thing I had to do was uncheck the read only box under the controls section and reset all my controls then recheck the read only box again.

For some reason I always have a problem with my CH rudder pedals wanting the rudder to go left but after recalibrating and unplugging and replugging and reseting the rudder's a doezen times I got them to work.

Now I should make this another post but since this was the oridginal reason for this post ,I'll ask this.

You said with the weapons editor ,you don't have to do each plane separtly but I printed out the instructions from Combat Ace and it gives me the impression that you do.

So ,say I want to put bombs on the planes or rockets,how do I do this?

You don't have to answer right away ,you (and me) need a break,and if it's too involved I'll just have to be happy with dogfighting and strafing, cause I have too many addon planes to do each one separtly.

Anyway the season thing seemed to work with out loseing anything other than control settings, so thanks once again

[+Tailspin 3]

Great! Glad we got the seasons sorted out. As was mentioned before the EP introduced some new parameters for the weapons, like drag coefficients, so I don't know how the old weapons will behave in the EP but I assume the installation procedures are the same as they were before...just follow the directions using the new weapons editor. Thats the short answer anyway. I don't think you'll have to update each and every plane if you use the old weapons as all the loadout.inis for the old planes will still be correct for the old weapons. If you wanted to have the old plane use the new weapons then you'd have to change all the loadout.inis. Like I said...I "assume"....I haven't messed with that yet.

[+Tailspin 3]

Oh yeah, check out P10ppy's thread about the new Le Prieur rockets he made for the SPAD. Those are updated for the EP.

[+p10ppy 2]

Yeah thats correct tailspin

 

AS long as you are NOT adding a NEW weapon loadout to a thirdparty aircraft you shouldnt need to touch the aircraft

 

just dump the old thirdparty weapons (lods, bmps) in the addon "aircraft/weapons" folder along with the old WEAPONDATA.ini and WEAPONDATA.dat (the one that you use pre expansion)

and go through and update the thirdparty weapons with the new parametres in the new weapons editor and save(phew... lot of old and new there )

 

nothings changed on the actual aircraft i think....

 

we should get a weapons pack going like the SF/WOE/WOV one....

[+Tailspin 3]

Shouldn't you just add only the weaponsdata for the third party weapons to the new weaponsdata.ini and save them with the new editor so you won't overwrite the new weaponsdata?