HPW FM and EW Campaign Mod 3.1 now available

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

The update to my FM mod is now ready for download, pending approval from the moderators.

 

FM 3.1 corrects the "craft invalid" error which prevented some friendly and enemy aircraft from properly loading and appearing during some campaign missions. All aircraft currently available in HITR should now appear in your campaign as originally designed.

 

The update also adds upgraded engine version of the Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Tripe, Spad VII, and Spad XIII aircraft.

 

For instructions on how to install and use this update, including information about the alternative airplane versions, please see the full readme included in the HPW FM and EW Campaign Mod zip file.

 

Please direct any questions or comments about the installation or use of this mod in this thread, not the old 3.0 FM thread. As always, feedback about the mod is appreciated. Finally, thanks again to OBD Software for their help and support in the development of this and all other mods.

 

Cheers!

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Here is the download link for the mod: http://combatace.com/files/file/13417-hpw-fm-and-ew-campaign-mod/

[+elephant 26]

I haven't played OFF for a long time now...

(I thought WOFF release was closer)

Nice opportunity to test your new FM version.

Have you noticed any anomalies with the aces skins like previous versions?

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

I haven't had a chance to check the skin problem recently, but I would assume it is the same as before: after starting your campaign mission with your aircraft on the ground (or in the air if you chose air start), end your mission and exit to the main OFF menu. Click on Campaign and then click "Fly Last Mission." Ace skins and modded skins should now appear.

 

As long as you fly the same campaign and do not exit the game entirely you shouldn't have to do the entire process over again. Next mission, simply fly as normal without ending the mission and restarting. Of course, if you switch pilots or campaigns, or exit OFF entirely you need to repeat the process over again.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Lothar,

 

Have you updated OFFBase to accept the corrected version of my FM (3.1)?

 

Thanks.

[+Lothar of the Hill People 6]

Lothar,

 

Have you updated OFFBase to accept the corrected version of my FM (3.1)?

Version 0.8.4 which I hope to release later today supports FM 3.1. I also submited your 3.1 to SimHQ since they still have the old version 2, so hopefully Doug will get it up there soon.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Okay, thanks.

[DukeIronHand 8]

With everyone seemingly in hibernation while waiting for WOFF I wanted to extend my thanks to you for your continued work with OFF.

I have been on "extended leave" for about 18 months and am looking forward to giving this a try. I already have it d/l'ed and installed.

And, as long as I am here, thanks to you also Lothar for your several recent mods.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Thank you, Duke. Most people, with the exception of the devs, likely have no idea how much time I have spent working on the FMs for these aircraft. My hat is off to Pol and the gang for the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of development, testing, tweaking, testing some more, followed by more tweaking and testing, and so on that they had already done before I had even begun to think about dabbling in the black arts of what is the CFS3 FM. Furthermore, because of the nature of the FM, this constant tweaking and testing has to be done for every single aircraft in the game! It's no wonder I have begun to feel a little burned-out about the whole thing!

 

And yet, I am still not satisfied with the current status of the FM mod! My next iteration of the mod will be to restore the "elevator responsiveness" values to the settings that each plane had in the stock OFF version. A few versions of my mod ago, I reduced this value by about one-third in all of the planes because I felt that each aircraft's pitch responsiveness was too good--most of the OFF aircraft respond immediately and very strongly as soon as you pull back on the stick to initiate a climb or a zoom. Unfortunately, what I did not notice at the time was that changing this variable also effects the "tightness" of each aircraft's turn. In the game, we experience this as the ability to complete a sharp turn of X degrees in Y amount of seconds by pulling back hard on the stick. Lowering this value also has the overall effect of making each aircraft feel more sluggish and docile. For some planes, it also greatly reduces the chance of a spin. So, back to the old OFF values I go!

 

Then, in my next iteration of the FM (ha ha), I will probably undertake even further adjustments of this variable in order to even better reflect the different turning abilities of such planes as the Pup versus the Pfalz, for example. In other words, most aircraft will have their elevator effectiveness values go up over the stock OFF values a little, while a few will see their values go down a bit from the stock value (but not as low as they currently are in FM 3.1).

 

Finally, I am observing some interesting effects by making some very small adjustments to the CoG and CoL values of several planes. In my personal opinion at least, and in general, I think that many of the stock OFF planes are just a little too nose heavy. Again, this makes many of the OFF planes just a little too docile and easy for the human pilot to fly. I have found that making some of these planes more tail heavy result in aircraft that feel a little more lively--but also potentially more dangerous to fly because of an increased tendency to spin in steep climbs and turns. Of course, I haven't had a chance to observe how these changes might effect the AI, so it may not be possible to change these values too much without crippling the AI's ability to fly. However, additional changes to the CoG and CoL values are a long ways off and may never have a chance to see the light of day before WOFF is released, so it all may be moot anyway!

 

Again, thanks for the words of support. In fact, once I get past some current work and family obligations, I may even have a renewed sense of energy to devote to the FM again! (I admit it, I am a sucker for a nice compliment)!

Edited December 6, 2012 by Herr Prop-Wasche

[corsaire31 7]

Installed and working. Thks for the time you spent making this mod.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

You're welcome, corsaire31.

 

I am making progress on increasing the elevator responsiveness values back to mostly OFF values. So far, I've noticed that increasing the values do seem to help the aircraft to turn faster, but it also increases the risk of departing the flight envelope--which is actually a good thing, in most cases!

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Blecchh! I just noticed that the readme file included in the zip file for FM 3.1 has a couple of errors that may be causing some confusion. The main problem is the following statement:

 

Important! This version of the mod is ONLY intended to be used with Jonesoft's Generic Mod Enabler and should not be installed unless JSGME has already been installed into your CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields game folder!

 

The above quote should read "Important! This version is only intended to be used with Jonesoft's Generic Mod Enabler and should not be intalled unless JSGME has already been installed into your OBDSoftware folder." Please note the difference in the placement of JSGME. If you are using Lothar's OFFbase program to install JSGME, it should automatically be placed in the correct folder.

 

The correct readme file is attached below. Sorry about the error.

 

HPW FM and AI EW Mod 3.1 for JSGME readme.html

Edited January 13, 2013 by Herr Prop-Wasche

[+Lothar of the Hill People 6]

The installer version I slapped together for SimHQ will only install if it finds JSGME is in the right folder, and if not will tell you exactly where it should be found:

 

 

It includes corrected documentation as well:

 

 

Sent the installer stuff to you during your break from OFF, HPW, so I'm not surprised you missed it. Your work on this thing is indispensable and I wanted people to be able to use it while you were away. You're welcome to add the installer package to the downloads at CA alongside your manual version.

 

My JSGME installer kit is really easy to use (seriously takes just a couple of minutes to throw these together), and I encourage all OFF modders to use it so files always go in the right place, with no chance of user error. That makes users and modders happy.

[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Thanks, Lothar.

 

Should I provide two versions--one for those who don't use Office (horrors)--and one for those that do?

 

It may be confusing for some if I have two versions on the download page. RTFM, though, right?

[+Lothar of the Hill People 6]

The installer version doesn't require OFFice, just JSGME, so it's for everyone. There's really no need for the manual install version, unless for some reason someone without OFF and JSGME wants to extract the files.

[rjw 10]

I haven't had a chance to check the skin problem recently, but I would assume it is the same as before: after starting your campaign mission with your aircraft on the ground (or in the air if you chose air start), end your mission and exit to the main OFF menu. Click on Campaign and then click "Fly Last Mission." Ace skins and modded skins should now appear.

 

As long as you fly the same campaign and do not exit the game entirely you shouldn't have to do the entire process over again. Next mission, simply fly as normal without ending the mission and restarting. Of course, if you switch pilots or campaigns, or exit OFF entirely you need to repeat the process over again.

 

This suggestion usually results in an increase in number of flights made and hours total for a pilot which is undesirable to have in the pilot log. I'm not sure if this will be reflected in the OFFbase statistics either. Is there some way to prevent this skins problem in a future release?

 

Best Regards;

[+Lothar of the Hill People 6]

This suggestion usually results in an increase in number of flights made and hours total for a pilot which is undesirable to have in the pilot log. I'm not sure if this will be reflected in the OFFbase statistics either. Is there some way to prevent this skins problem in a future release?

 

Looks like we'll have to wait for WOFF for a fix to the ace skins issue. OFFbase could be programed to delete 0-minute missions from the log, but that doesn't stop OFF from advancing time in the process so you'd end up actually flying your Dawn Patrol in the afternoon.

 

Flying the DFW I never get close enough to other planes to appreciate the fancy skins anyway, but I know how much others enjoy them. Can anyone confirm the "Flay Last Mission!" trick actually still works with version 3.1 of the FM?