The future of First Eagles

[Panama Red 22]

In case you have missed this thread about SF2: http://combatace.com...e-noticed-this/, this has implications for FE2 also.

 

If this is TK's plans for SF2 (which sells a lot more than FE2), this means that I would not expect to see any changes for FE2 since Tk's statement in the past is that FE2 does not sell much, so he does not have the time or money to make changes to FE2.

 

 

Edit: Stickied because a thorough explanation of the FE2 Campaign Weather Mod is at the end of this thread.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Panama Red

[+quack74 329]

It would be nice to see a patch that would bring back changing weather for campigns. How hard or time consuming could that be? It was in FE and FEG.

[SayethWhaaaa 245]

Whoa... that's somehow disabled for FE2?!

[+CrazyhorseB34 937]

FE died like 18 months ago. TK said he is putting no more into it.

[Panama Red 22]

The SF2 series changing weather was not fixed until the Jan11 (six months after the last FE2 patch). So yes, it does not work in FE2

 

In thinking about it, this particular campaign weather problem can be easily "fixed". What it entails is using a random number generator program to give you the particular percentage for the weather (for example: clear 25%, scattered 25%, cloudy 25%, overcast 17%, inclement 8%) and some modded EnvironmentSystem.ini files.

 

What you do is before the campaign game is run the random number generator to give you a particular number for the weather:

Clear 1-25, Scattered 26-50, Cloudy 51-75, Overcast 76-92, Inclement 93-100

 

The you would use the JSGME (JoneSoft Generic Mod Enablier) to activate the appropriate EnvironmentSystem.ini file to ensure that is the weather you will have in the game is the weather the random number generator picked and problem fixed without a TW patch.

[+quack74 329]

For real?? or are you just speaking theoretically Panama. Because I will try it if you think that would work. It's kind of bland when the weather is always the same.

[Panama Red 22]

No theory to it. I already found a small free Random Number Generator today (the hardest part), and I will put the package together this week end.

 

At this point, I figure I can create six types of weather (TK only gives us five stock), i.e. Clear, Scattered (less clouds), Scattered (more clouds), Broken, Overcast, and Inclement.

 

You just have to be able to use the JSGME tool with the Random Number Generator and FE2's campaign weather problem is solved. After all, it's nothing more than a Random Number Generator that is broke in the FE2.exe that causes the Campaign Weather to change in the first place.

[+quack74 329]

Well if you can get that crazy idea to work then I owe you a drink my friend! Or a skin of your choice perhaps?

[+Gepard 11,303]

If i see TK's way to lock files which are necessary for modding in SF2, so i would not like to see a new patch for FE2 if he would go the same way.

[Panama Red 22]

Not only has TK "locked down" certain files in SF2, the newer SF2 games have constant microstutters.

 

I know because I have two versions of SF2 on my game PC, my Jan11 version (where he finally did "fix" the SF2 Campaign Weather) and the current Jul12 version. I have heavily modded all of my Jan11 versions and they all fly at 50~60 FPS and are "glass smooth", on the other hand, my Jul12 versions (which I kept stock), fly at 50~60 FPS but have microstutters the entire game.

 

As a result, I will gladly keep the minor "inconviencies" that the current FE2 game has versus having TK "fix" FE2 for the worse.

[33LIMA 972]

Not only has TK "locked down" certain files in SF2, the newer SF2 games have constant microstutters.

 

I know because I have two versions of SF2 on my game PC, my Jan11 version (where he finally did "fix" the SF2 Campaign Weather) and the current Jul12 version. I have heavily modded all of my Jan11 versions and they all fly at 50~60 FPS and are "glass smooth", on the other hand, my Jul12 versions (which I kept stock), fly at 50~60 FPS but have microstutters the entire game.

 

As a result, I will gladly keep the minor "inconviencies" that the current FE2 game has versus having TK "fix" FE2 for the worse.

 

Agree 100% Panama. I too had noticed the microstruters appearing in SF2 Europe (but not in FE2) and finding that they seemed to co-incide with radio calls, had not realised they were a result of a patch! The way SF2 was going, with settings being more locked down, it's maybe no bad thing that FE2 has been unpatched for a while.

 

FWIW I'm not too worried about FE's future. On balance it's the best of the current crop of WW1 air combat sims and seems likely to remain so. RoF will never have FE's planeset or its mod-ability, possibly likely never some of FE's other superior features. And it still remains to be seen how successful OFF P4/WOFF will be, in remedying the underlying (often CFS3 legacy) issues which cost it the crown in my experience. With the sim market going the way it has, it's not clear whether we'll ever see replacements (or whether if they do arrive, they'll really be better except graphically - as with CloD.

 

We all have our lists of the coree features we'd like to see improved in FE/FE2 - like changing campaign weather, wheel rumble, no ghosting thru ground objects, more ground activity (especially barrages), balloons hauled down under attack, the ability to set the enemy AI to 'Hard' without making life to hard for your flightmates, the ability to fly as gunners, and some more RB3D or EAW-style features like a decent pilot logbook. And some still-needed planeset additions or upgrades, like a real 1916-17 configuration BE2 or an improved Albatros DII. Fokker DIII or Martinsyde Elephant. Some of which will never happen, others the modders may be able to sort.

 

But on balance I think FE2 is more than good enough, as well as best of breed, just as it is now. Anything more, is icing on the cake. The aircraft and terrain models, skins and animations are nearly in the RoF league, the AI is generally very good, the wingie commands are good, the effects good, the FMs and DMs totally belie the 'sime lite' tag and are better than OFF and on balance as good as RoF IMHO. You can lead, fly and fight with every visual aid turned off, and the padlock and view system are top-notch.

 

Short of the introduction of genuine virtual reality systems I reckon FE2 is about as good as it gets.

 

So I think the thing that will best ensure its future is not FE3, or support from TW, but the mod community doing two things:

 

1. As I have tried to do, taking the opportunity to make it clear in 'sim land' that FE is no sim lite, but a great all-rounder and at least a strong contender for best of breed award;

 

2. as others have already done and hopefully will continue to do so, find ways of making as many as we reasoably can of the little improvements or tweaks that will fill in some of the gaps or overcome some of the limitations that still exist.

[Panama Red 22]

quack74:

Good news and bad news for the FE2 Campaign Weather fix.

 

Good news is I can get Clear, Scattered or Broken to look like Clear, Scattered Less, Scattered More, Broken or Overcast.

 

Bad news is I can not get Overcast or Inclement to really look like anything other than themselves. The reason is (1) certain parameters inside the FirstEagles2.exe mandate that Overcast and Inclement have the cloud layer between you and the clear sky above it, and (2) only the real Inclement will have rain in the game.

 

What this does mean is if you mod your Terrain.ini file's weather to only have Clear, Scattered and Broken (or just leave it Clear=100), you can have five types of skies - Clear, Scattered Less (clouds), Scattered More (clouds), Broken or Overcast skies to fly in using the JSGME. You just have to accept that if the weather happened to be Inclement on any particular day in the Campaign, you would not fly like in real life back then and not worry about it.

 

Are you still interested ????

 

P.S. These Campaign Weather mods would not affect the Single Mission Weather parameters if you remove the Camapign Weather mod files using the JSGME and reactivate my regular Realistic Weather Mod.

[+quack74 329]

I think I can live with that!

[Panama Red 22]

I need to finish "tweaking" the mod and I should post it this weekend if I get everything satisfactory.

 

As you know, Clear has two interanal FirstEagles2.exe game settings, the first with horizon clouds and the second without horizion clouds. As a result one of the interesting side efects I did discover was that if you are using Clear as your Campaign Weather base in the Terrain.ini file, and you have the Overcast Campaign Weather activated in JSGME, the Overcast look is very reminisant of light Fog versus just Overcast !!!

 

Good and the bad of having Clear as the base is that it gives two varieties to your other settings, but then it also removes other options too (decicions, decisions, decisions).

[Grinseed 19]

I'm still very interested Red. Please continue and thanks for your time and effort.

p.s. and thanks for all your work with RB3d, you helped make that sim great.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Grinseed

[Panama Red 22]

In an attempt to overcome the broken changing skies in FE2, I have created 4 varieties of Clear, Scattered Less, Scattered More, Broken and Overcast skies in my upcoming Realistic Campaign Weather Mod.

 

Nobody should ever get bored while looking at the sky when flying in the FE2 Campaign games again.

 

It will take a little bit of manual work to set the Realistic Campaign Weather mod up using the JSGME, but after that, you will have different skies while flying in the Campaign game.

[+quack74 329]

Very excited Panama Red! Been waiting a long time to see the days go from better to worse

[SpinyNorman 1]

very cool :)

[Panama Red 22]

I have uploaded the FE2 Realistic Campaign Weather Mod, so it will be available as soon as the moderators release it.

[Grinseed 19]

Its up and I got one. Thank you Red.

[33LIMA 972]

Great work Panama! Looking forward to trying this out when I get back from my hols/vacation! Another big step forward for FE!

[+quack74 329]

I got it all up and working. I just want to know if it is supposed to work the way i have it set up. Using the "Mod" enabler ( leaving it open on the desktop), I can only add one weather setting at a time? And the only way to change the weather is to finish a campaign mission, hitting Alt/Tab to get back to desktop (not exiting the game) and swapping the current weather folder with a new one, then click back to the game to start a new campaign mission? if this is the way to do it then I can live with it. It's nice to finally have a choice with the weather. But without it being selected at random for me I cant see selecting anything in the bad weather category. Dont get me wrong Panama Red, this mod is awsome. But whats the point of the "random number selector? Am I missing a step? Great job though Panama Red! Great thinking with this one.

[Panama Red 22]

quack74:

I have never tried changing it mid-mission, try it and see if it works, although, do not be surprised if FE2 "crashes" if you do that. If it does work, that is even better for the realism of the game.

 

The Random Number Generator is to take the place of the broken FE2 internal random number generator that looks at your seasonal WeatherChance percentages in your Terrain.ini file. On FE1, this internal random number generator read the seasonal Terrain.ini WeatherChance percentage and then assigned your Campaign weather every time you started a campaign mission based on that percentage. An example is the FE1 Summer Cambrai default percentages which are Clear 25%, Scattered 25%. Broken 25%, Overcast 17%, Inclement 8%.

 

Using my Realistic Campaign Weather Mod you can either (1) pick your own campaign mission weather or (2) use the Random Number Generator to give you the proper percentage seasonal weather per the particular Terrain.ini WeatherChance percentage. Your choice (don't you just love choices )

[+quack74 329]

I dont change the weather mid mission, but rather when the mission is complete and I get back to the hangar screen to prepare for next mission, I hit Alt/Tab to get back to desktop. Then I select another weather pattern. Click back the game icon in the taskbar and continue the campaign with new weather for the next mission.

 

Does the number generator create random weather? So i wouldnt have to change it manually every mission? where exactly do i put the Number Generator? Into the new " MODS" folder? Sorry I've must be a bit confused. I know you've explained to me acouple of times now.

[Panama Red 22]

You are correct, you can change the weather after every mission by going outside the game and using the JSGME to deactivate/activate the weather of your choice.

 

As for the Random Number Generator, you put on your desktop, not inside anything.

 

The way to use the Random Number Generator is that before your FE2 campaign mission you run the Random Number Generator and it gives you a number between 1 to 100 (if you put 100 in the top cell to start with). You then cross reference this number with the WeatherChance for the particular Terrain.ini season weather percentages and then activate that particular Realistic Campaign Weather in the JSGME for your next campaign mission.

 

Example using the default summer Cambrai Terrain.ini:

 

1. [WeatherChance]

Scattered=25

Broken=25

Overcast=17

Inclement=8

 

Each of the above numbers is a percent for the internal FE1 random number generator. If you also notice, Clear is not stated because it uses the remaing 25% because it must always add up to 100% for total percentage for the FE1 game. With FE2, it apparently does not even read the [WeatherChance], which is why nothing ever changes.

 

2. Now using the external Random Number Generator I provided (or any other random number generator of your choice), you put 100 in the top cell of the Random Number Generator, press GO and see which number it gives you in the second cell (example = 54)

 

3. You now cross reference the provided number in the second cell (example = 54) to your Terrain.ini file [WeatherChance] percentages which break down like this:

Clear = 1 to 25

Scattered = 26 to 50

Broken = 51 to 75

Overcast = 76 to 92

Inclement = 93 to 100

 

4. Since the number the Random Number Generator was 54, you would then activate the 4 Campaign Weather - Broken in the JSGME and then go fly your campaign mission with the Broken Clouds weather.

 

All this does is add some uncertainty as to what the weather will be on your next FE2 campaign mission (based on the hopefully correct historical weather for that region / season). Unfortunately it is not as much of a "surprise" as in FE1 were you did not know what the campaign weather would be until you were at the airfield, but this is the best I can do working within the bounds of the FE2.exe at the moment. True, you could always just pick the campaign weather you want to fly or use the Random Number Generator to tell you which one to pick, but that is your choice. After all, this is nothing more that a game that is meant to be enjoyed.

 

Since I can not make TRUE Inclement weather with the FE2.exe limitations and second with very little all weather instruments, I suspect there was not much real Inclement weather flying in real life so you just have to ignore the Random Number Generator if it picks the Inclement option and either use the Overcast option or rerun the Random Number Generator for another number.

 

Since I did provide two different Scattered clouds (Less and More), you could adjust your percentages to be something like this as an example:

Clear = 20

Scattered Less = 20

Scattered More = 20

Broken = 20

Overcast = 20

 

Or just ignore one of my Scattered options in your FE1 Terrain.ini percentages and then choose which one you want to use when the Random Number Generator picks that percentage (another choice).

 

Hopefully I have cleared this up, if not ask and I will try again.