Campaign .CAT file help

[vascrats 0]

I am an obvious newbie to mods to FE. I can use the SFP1E program to extract the .cat files but I seem to run into a lot of situations where I modify the .CAT file and the change does not seem to take effect.

 

For example, My biggest desire would be to add the ability to fly a DVII in the Operation Michael campaign (historically accurate or not). I have gone in the CAMPAIGNS/wwiE1Camp2 folder and modified the wwiE1Camp2.ini file. I changed the entries in bold.

 

[GERMANYUnit005]

UnitName=Jasta 6

ForceID=2

UnitID=5

StartDate=3/21/1918

AircraftType=FokkerDr1 - FokkerD7F

DescFile=wwiE1Camp2Start.txt

StartText=wwiE1Camp2Start.txt

StartScreen=wwiStartGerman.bmp

CampaignBaseScreen=wwiBaseFokkerDr1.bmp - wwiBaseFokkerD7.bmp

 

I made the same changes to the WWIE1CAMP2.INI file in the FLIGHT folder (why is this file repeated in the flight folder? Only difference I can see is this file is named with a cap I in the 'WWI' in the name.

 

Also in the flight folder I changed the WWIE1CAMP2_DATA.INI file as follows:

 

// German Unit 5

[AirUnit024]

AircraftType=FokkerDr1 - FokkerD7F

UnitName=Jasta 6 *** I know that there is not Jasta 6 under DVIIF folder but forgot to change this at the time ***

ForceID=2

Nation=GERMANY

DefaultTexture=Jasta6 - GermanCamo1

BaseArea=Awoingt Aerodrome

RandomChance=100

BaseMoveChance=10

MaxAircraft=12

MaxAircraft=12

MaxPilots=12

StartPilots=12

Experience=100

Morale=100

Supply=100

Intelligence=20

etc.....

 

When I fire up FE and play it, it still has the DR1 listed as the plane when I choose Jasta6 in the Operation Michael campaign and it works as if I did not change ANYTHING .

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Onther thing I changed and does not seem to matter is the ROF for the archie guns. I try all different values and they seem to fire at the same rate anyway (but this issue is secondary to the first one).

[+Tailspin 3]

First...Welcome to CombatACE. Can't help with the campaign stuff but when you change gun data you must load the altered gundata.ini in the Gun Editor and save the gundata.ini in the Gun Editor for the changes to take effect. The latest Gun Editor can be found HERE.

[vascrats 0]

First...Welcome to CombatACE. Can't help with the campaign stuff but when you change gun data you must load the altered gundata.ini in the Gun Editor and save the gundata.ini in the Gun Editor for the changes to take effect. The latest Gun Editor can be found HERE.

 

 

Thanks for the quick reply Tailspin. I will give the Gun Editor a try. Was not there last time I looked I don't believe.

 

What kind of things does the Weapons Editor let you do?

[froggy 3]

I am an obvious newbie to mods to FE. I can use the SFP1E program to extract the .cat files but I seem to run into a lot of situations where I modify the .CAT file and the change does not seem to take effect.

 

For example, My biggest desire would be to add the ability to fly a DVII in the Operation Michael campaign (historically accurate or not). I have gone in the CAMPAIGNS/wwiE1Camp2 folder and modified the wwiE1Camp2.ini file. I changed the entries in bold.

 

[GERMANYUnit005]

UnitName=Jasta 6

ForceID=2

UnitID=5

StartDate=3/21/1918

AircraftType=FokkerDr1 - FokkerD7F

DescFile=wwiE1Camp2Start.txt

StartText=wwiE1Camp2Start.txt

StartScreen=wwiStartGerman.bmp

CampaignBaseScreen=wwiBaseFokkerDr1.bmp - wwiBaseFokkerD7.bmp

 

I made the same changes to the WWIE1CAMP2.INI file in the FLIGHT folder (why is this file repeated in the flight folder? Only difference I can see is this file is named with a cap I in the 'WWI' in the name.

 

Also in the flight folder I changed the WWIE1CAMP2_DATA.INI file as follows:

 

// German Unit 5

[AirUnit024]

AircraftType=FokkerDr1 - FokkerD7F

UnitName=Jasta 6 *** I know that there is not Jasta 6 under DVIIF folder but forgot to change this at the time ***

ForceID=2

Nation=GERMANY

DefaultTexture=Jasta6 - GermanCamo1

BaseArea=Awoingt Aerodrome

RandomChance=100

BaseMoveChance=10

MaxAircraft=12

MaxAircraft=12

MaxPilots=12

StartPilots=12

Experience=100

Morale=100

Supply=100

Intelligence=20

etc.....

 

When I fire up FE and play it, it still has the DR1 listed as the plane when I choose Jasta6 in the Operation Michael campaign and it works as if I did not change ANYTHING .

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Onther thing I changed and does not seem to matter is the ROF for the archie guns. I try all different values and they seem to fire at the same rate anyway (but this issue is secondary to the first one).

 

 

Hi Vascrats

 

I can see 2 problems here (there may be more).

 

1 - Once you've extracted the camp.INI and camp_data.INI files, you must put both of them in your \camp folder. (In fact you don't need to extract and replace the one already there)

2 - In wwiE1Camp2.ini your UNITID should be 24 (the air unit number), not 5.

 

Hope this help.

[vascrats 0]

Hi Vascrats

 

I can see 2 problems here (there may be more).

 

1 - Once you've extracted the camp.INI and camp_data.INI files, you must put both of them in your \camp folder. (In fact you don't need to extract and replace the one already there)

2 - In wwiE1Camp2.ini your UNITID should be 24 (the air unit number), not 5.

 

Hope this help.

 

 

I will give those a try, thanks.

 

If there is a better way to add the DVII as a flyable aircraft in the two new campaigns with the expansion pack, please let me know. This was the only way I could come up with thus far.

[+Tailspin 3]

vascrats. Since you are trying to change the ROF I assume you've found the gundata.ini in the Objects folder. Basically all the data in the gundata.ini appears in the Gun Editor. What the Gun Editor does when you hit the Save button is both save the gundata.ini and create a new Gundata.DAT file which is actually what the game reads. Changes you make in the Gun Editor also appear in the gundata.ini so you can edit it either way.

[vascrats 0]

Hi Vascrats

 

I can see 2 problems here (there may be more).

 

1 - Once you've extracted the camp.INI and camp_data.INI files, you must put both of them in your \camp folder. (In fact you don't need to extract and replace the one already there)

2 - In wwiE1Camp2.ini your UNITID should be 24 (the air unit number), not 5.

 

Hope this help.

 

Thanks Froggy, when I moved the camp and camp_data.ini files from the FLIGHT folder to the apropriate campaign folder it worked right away . I did not have to change the unitid to 24.

 

Tailspin, now its on to that rate of fire! I was also wanting to shorten the distance the archie guns can reach out just a bit as not to have guns firing at you that are WAY off in the distance. Like I said, these changes are for MY enjoyment of the game and may not necessarily be historically accurate.

[+Tailspin 3]

Things like gun range and the range at which the gun "sees" you are controlled in the data.inis for each weapon ie. 77mmFLAK_data.ini. You can extract these, using the SFP1e extract utilitly, from the ObjectData.CAT file in the Objects folder. They will extract to the main Objects folder but the edited versions need to reside in the individual weapon folders which are located in the GroundObjects folder.

[vascrats 0]

Things like gun range and the range at which the gun "sees" you are controlled in the data.inis for each weapon ie. 77mmFLAK_data.ini. You can extract these, using the SFP1e extract utilitly, from the ObjectData.CAT file in the Objects folder. They will extract to the main Objects folder but the edited versions need to reside in the individual weapon folders which are located in the GroundObjects folder.

 

 

Not having the modified files in the correct folders seems to be my biggest problem. I extract them, modify them where they are extracted (the same folder as the .CAT file) and leave them there.

 

Tailspin,

Do you happen to have a good reference for what the weapons settings do? Some settings seem to have similarly descriptive names?

[+Tailspin 3]

Ahhh....the "Black Art" of data.ini interpretation.

 

I don't know if there is anything in the Knowledge Base about this stuff or not. But I have a few ideas from some trial and error experimentation. The problem with all this is that what might seem LOGICAL doesn't always apply.

 

The Detect System controls what the "gunner" sees.

 

[DetectSystem]

TargetType=AIR <-------- which type of target the gun will engage

OpticalSight=TRUE <-------- self explanatory

NightSight=TRUE <-------- adds night firing capability

VisualRange=6000.0 <-------- range at which gun "sees" a target and engages?

VisualMinimumAlt=100.0 <-------- alt. limit at which gun will see a target

ViewportPosition=0.0,0.0,2.50 <-------- position of the gunner's "eye", affects gunners line of sight

MaxVisibleDistance=6000.0 <-------- not sure? maybe maximum visual detect distance?

RadarCrossSection=5 <-------- N/A for First Eagles....don't know what it means exactly anyway?

 

 

Weapons System controls actual physical characteristics of the gun

 

 

[WeaponSystem]

TargetType=AIR <-------- same as above

GunRange=6000.0 <-------- self explanatory

PitchAngleRate=6 <-------- speed at which gun will change pitch angle while tracking target

MaxPitch=75.0 <-------- self explanatory value in degrees

MinPitch=0.0

DefaultPitchAngle=35 <-------- angle of gun "at rest" ?

YawLimited=FALSE <-------- When set to TRUE then you can define yaw limits by adding min/max as in pitch angles.

YawAngleRate=6

DefaultYawAngle=0

ReloadGunAtAngle=FALSE <-------- not sure how this works...doesn't work like I expected it to?

GunRecoil=20 <-------- not sure. may affect accuracy of rapid fire guns?

GunMinAltitude=100.0 <-------- min alt gun will fire?

GunMaxAltitude=6850.0 <-------- max alt gun will fire?

GunStabilization=FALSE

GunRadarTracking=FALSE

RangeFinder=0

BallisticComputer=0

YawModelNodeName=barrel_pivot

PitchModelNodeName=AAA_German

 

Question marks denote lack of knowledge on my part. Also the Detect System interacts with the Weapons System. Exactly how? Not sure either. If the Detect System can't see you the gun won't shoot at you. The gun seems to operate within Weapons Systems parameters for the most part. All I can suggest is to experiment with the values and see what happens. Maybe someone with more experience than I will add to (or correct) my interpretations. :yes:

[vascrats 0]

Thanks for your translations of these settings tailspin. Your dedication and efforts are greatly apretiated! I think getting the ini in the right folder will be my first step. It just got frustrating changing settings (even to 'off the chart' settings) and not seeing any change.

 

Hopefully now I can do my experiments

 

Thanks!