FE vs FE2

[eagle2046 2]

I have FE, and have enjoyed it and the community mods. I am running it on XP OS, no issues. Is there any real reason to upgrade to FE2, other

than for Vista / Windows 7 OS compatibility. Are graphics improved ? I know that most of the mods are for FE. Thanks.

[+ojcar 157]

FE2 versus FE:

 

FE2 has somewhat better graphics (dx10/11 support against dx9 in FE). You'll have animate water and stock airplanes have bumpmap. You'll also have better framerates in multicore systems and somewhat better AI. You'll also have more airplane versions and AI Sopwith Strutters.

 

On the other hand there is not stock stational terrains (easily fixed by mods), the weather randomizer is broken in campaigns (there is also a mod to fix it)  and sometimes the game goes CTD when going to the planning map before a mission........so it's a matter of taste

[Panama Red 22]

The biggest reason I went from FE1 to FE2 is the doubling of the FPS with the increased graphics & distances.

[33LIMA 972]

Another benefit of FE2 is that plane wrecks produce...well, a wrecked plane that burns on the ground, rather than the FE-stye explosion then nothing.

 

There's definitely a difference in FE2's AI, don't recall now what exactly but I remember that I thought it improved/more capable, compared to FE

 

I only got a modest FPS jump from FE2. I copied my seasonal terrains across from FE into FE2 (I like the stock 'green blanket' terrain, it looks much like what I see out the window).

 

I liked the extra terrain draw distances from FE2 but found I had to hand-edit a number ('Meshdetailsize' or something like that) in Options.ini to push out the distance at which buildings in towns were drawn, so I didn't see jagged edges where they stopped.

 

You don't need to get FE2 to be Vista or Win 7 compatible; the FE patch does that, despite the fact the TW store describes FE as not Vista compatible. FE plays fine in Vista 64 for me.  But overall I found FE2 worth the investment. The only mods made for FE that won't work in FE2 are effects or clouds that rely on FE's different particle system. About everything else - and I have a lot - works just fine, provided you adapt the install instructions to suit the FE2 'second generation' mod folder structure.

[eagle2046 2]

Thanks for the quick response. I didn't consider the aspects of FE2 that you guys mentioned. I have no intention of upgrading from XP to W7 at this time, but all things considered, that was mentioned, I think I will purchase FE2, if for just supporting this simulation, and some added benefits. Thanks again for your input.

[+russouk2004 6,951]

erm....FE forum now eh?...lol...

[Hansa 12]

Thirdwire screwed the game with FE2, you will need a lot of fixes to make it work like FE GOLD and the only benefit that you will get will be the bumpmap ONLY in the stock planes and ONLY in Vista or Windows 7 (and even that was screwed: Fokker Dr. I lower wing doesn't have bumpmap).
BTW, some people are saying that FE2 introduced terrain bumpmap and animated water - False: FE GOLD updated to the latest patch already had terrain bumpmap and animated water. About the AI, i think everybody use Peter01 FMs even for the stock planes, so it doesn't matter.



 

Edited June 26, 2013 by Hansa

[eagle2046 2]

Never saw FE Gold, just regular FE. So FE Gold is the same as FE, but with the latest updates ?

Also, sorry for posting in wrong Forum at first ( General Discussion SF2 ).

[33LIMA 972]

 

Thirdwire screwed the game with FE2, you will need a lot of fixes to make it work like FE GOLD and the only benefit that you will get will be the bumpmap ONLY in the stock planes and ONLY in Vista or Windows 7 (and even that was screwed: Fokker Dr. I lower wing doesn't have bumpmap).

BTW, some people are saying that FE2 introduced terrain bumpmap and animated water - False: FE GOLD updated to the latest patch already had terrain bumpmap and animated water. About the AI, i think everybody use Peter01 FMs even for the stock planes, so it doesn't matter.

 

 

Hansa, could you elighten us please, as to what you believe to have been 'screwed' with FE2, exactly? Yes we know campaign weather changes aren't supported (less important if you have bad weather and/or fly with Armchair Aces a month at a time) and you need a mod to get seasonal weather?

 

For example, what fixes are needed to get FE2 working like FEG? I have both, and I'm not seeing any of this. A missing bumpmap for the DRI lower wing is really pretty trivial, you'd need to look pretty clsoely even to notice, and even then it's pretty low key.

Never saw FE Gold, just regular FE. So FE Gold is the same as FE, but with the latest updates ?

Also, sorry for posting in wrong Forum at first ( General Discussion SF2 ).

FE Gold is FE plus the subsequent Expansion Pack, which added more flyables mainly. Both I believe can be patched to 'FE2 standard' as developer TK has said...although there are still differences eg patched FE/FEG doesn't have FE2's persistent plane wrecks, for one thing.

 

This is FE Gold, and despite the statement that it does not run on Vista, my FEG/FE+Expansion Pack is working fine on Vista 64, after patching (mine is not the D/L version below).

 

https://store.thirdwire.com/project_wwi_combo.htm

Edited June 26, 2013 by 33LIMA

[Wrench 9,417]

just so you all know, I moved this from the SF2 forums, as THIS is the place for all things FE/FE2