Return the civilian mod to life?

[Stratos 3,188]

As my little daughter (4 years in October) watchs this film one time and another and I enjoy it a lot with her, I tought about this mod.

 

http://combatace.com/topic/38997-a-civil-mod-for-tks-sims/page-3?&p=700000

 

Wondering If we can revive it somehow and maybe add a Huey for firefighting and cropdusting... The idea of invisible runways on a lake is just amazing, add infinite ammo and you will be able/have to simulate landing to replenish your water or fire slower (don't cheat yourself), can you imagine hovering a Huey over a water tiny spot or land your Catalina on a small lake on the mountains, even crop dusting can be really fun I think with tiny runways and avoiding all those poles, wires and trees...

 

 

 

We can even have damage mod, with invisible short range (and altitude) AAA capable of damaging your airplane, maybe is even possible to have tracer that simulate sparks...

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,557]

Civilian Aircraft .. yeah why not ... load them with ordonance and bomb the hell out of .... uh .. wrong game :-P

[+Gepard 11,214]

I wrote this mod for FE. Dont know, wheter it would run with FE2, but i guess it would.

It includes the czech Z-37 agricultural plane in the role as firefighter. And i know from other projects like the never released "Heliland" that helicopters are possible in an FE based game. I had the AH-1 and the Mi-24 there and if this bumblebees could fly there, then a UH-1 firefighter would do it too.

If i remember correctly i modded a cluster bomb to a water release (is it the correct english term? maybe waterdrop?). So the helicopter would need only a weaponstation in the data.ini with the possibility to carry a cluster bomb. No problem so far.

Wheter a "invisible" airfield on a lake would be possible in FE, i dont know. Have never tested it. Give it a try.

 

My civilian mod used the Vogesen terrain, the mountain region in France west of the Rhine Valley. I guess you would need a more "american" terrain like California. But i dont know, wheter such a terrain exist and if so, wheter it would run on First Eagles or First Eagles 2.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Gepard

[Stratos 3,188]

Civilian Aircraft .. yeah why not ... load them with ordonance and bomb the hell out of .... uh .. wrong game :-P

 

Cause engine is capable of doing, and it can be real fun. Also you expressed a good deal of enthusiasm on the original post, no idea why this negativism now.

I wrote this mod for FE. Dont know, wheter it would run with FE2, but i guess it would.

It includes the czech Z-37 agricultural plane in the role as firefighter. And i know from other projects like the never released "Heliland" that helicopters are possible in an FE based game. I had the AH-1 and the Mi-24 there and if this bumblebees could fly there, then a UH-1 firefighter would do it too.

If i remember correctly i modded a cluster bomb to a water release (is it the correct english term? maybe waterdrop?). So the helicopter would need only a weaponstation in the data.ini with the possibility to carry a cluster bomb. No problem so far.

Wheter a "invisible" airfield on a lake would be possible in FE, i dont know. Have never tested it. Give it a try.

 

My civilian mod used the Vogesen terrain, the mountain region in France west of the Rhine Valley. I guess you would need a more "american" terrain like California. But i dont know, wheter such a terrain exist and if so, wheter it would run on First Eagles or First Eagles 2.

 

Think we should use a SF2 terrain. The "fire" tanks and the water effect is stil available? And a SF2 version of the Zlin? It was capable of crop dusting? Will try to contact Spillone for that water "rocket" too.

[Wrench 9,801]

love the Cars/Planes universe!! So much fun!!

 

terrain wise, it doesn't really matter, as long as there's plenty of forests and lakes (that aren't on the SoCal map). There's no reason the Vogesen  terrain wouldn't work in SF2, as long as all the components needed reside within the terrain's folder.

[+Gepard 11,214]

I used FE as basic game, because the tile size of the terrain is only 500x500 meters. In SF world the tilesize is 2000x2000 meters. In a firefighter mod you will fly very often very low and the better resolution of the FE terrain makes a much better look.

Here an example what i mean:

 

 

This is the Vogesen terrain for FE with a tileset made by Jan Tuma. I believe that it looks much better than a SF2 terrain could be.

 

The fire and water effects are included in the terrain. But i dont know wheter they work with SF2. An SF2 version of the Z-37 i also never made. The flight model was made for FE, thatswhy it could behave a little bit different in a SF2 world.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Gepard

[Wrench 9,801]

agreed! Jan Tuma's tiles are EXCELLENT!!!

 

should not be a problem; I've dropped the FE2 terrains into SF2 and had no real issues. The only thing one would need to check are the terrain objects (buildings, warehouses, etc) in the types ini, to make sure they're available or substitutes would need to be found. A fairly simple exercise

[+malibu43 142]

I've always thought this was a cool idea.  If I had more time I'd jump in an help.

 

My son (also 4) loves Planes Fire and Rescue as well, and likes to fly the fire tankers I have in FSX.  He mostly just likes to watch retardant drops from external view and then "land" the non-amphibious plane in the water.  I got a CH HOTAS and rudder pedals for my birthday last week and my wife got a great picture of him sitting on my lap with my trackIR hat on and both hands on the controls.  :D

 

FSX lacks the "mission" aspect of it (ie - actually putting out fires/containing fires with retardant and getting some success/failure indication), but it sure does look pretty...

 

 

 

[Wrench 9,801]

some more stills

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h2Tbd4nLZQ

 

we have 75%+ of the aircraft needed. Some lack templates (F7F), but those can be made.

[Stratos 3,188]

Pretty cool video Wrench! Would love to fly a firefighter Tigercat!! And nice pics Malibu!

 

We should try If the fire and water effects work on SF2, and select a proper terrain for making a proper trial. Anyone have ideas? We need rivers and or lakes.

[Stratos 3,188]

Cannot find the firefighintg mod in First Eagles part of the downloads. It was never released? I want to to try If the destroyuable fires and the water effect still work on SF2.

[+Gepard 11,214]

http://combatace.com/files/file/9089-civil-mod-firefighters/

 

I found it in first generation downloades hide in terrain mods. Maybe, that i uploaded it at the wrong place 6 years ago. Sorry

[Wrench 9,801]

so, we add Jan Tuma's tileset too it?? As it doesn't come with any tiles (referecing a stock FE terrain cat..)??

[+Gepard 11,214]

You ask a good question. I have this mod not anymore on my computer. It is on a laptop of my son. Hopefully. I can check it tomorrow.

 

If i remember correctly then i made this mod for the Vogesen terrain, which used the stock tiles of FE plus some (2 or 3) new tiles for the River Rhine. If you download a Jan Tuma tileset the mode should run, but the tiles, where the Rhine is rituated would be white. But i think, there was a fix for that problem. Someone had made the missing tiles, so that the Jan Tuma tilesets would fit in Vogesen terrain.

[Stratos 3,188]

Currently trying in a SF2 clean install. The VW of the fire services is there, but the fire is not appearing. Will keep trying.

 

[NIELS 420]

Wow, What a cool idea for this series. I think as Wrench mentioned - there are plenty if not all US Forest Service types in this gathering except for paint jobs.    

[Wrench 9,801]

how did you get it to run in SF2, Jordi??? Damn thing keep locking up on me -- even after replacing all the airfields with SF2 versions (which locations now will need to be retiled to 'clear' airfield zones)

[Stratos 3,188]

how did you get it to run in SF2, Jordi??? Damn thing keep locking up on me -- even after replacing all the airfields with SF2 versions (which locations now will need to be retiled to 'clear' airfield zones)

 

I made clean SF2 + Exp 2 install and dropped all the proper files there. The terrain is vanilla Europe, not the Civilian Vogesen one from Gepard FE mod. I cannot make that work, my planes explode on runway and terrain is all dark grey (I have no idea of where to get the proper CAT either).

 

I sent a PM to Spillone, waiting for his answer on his water spray "weapon". But the fires are not visible, no idea of why.

[mono27 84]

That would be a GREAT addition... 

[+Gepard 11,214]

I have problems to bring the Vogesen terrain in SF2 too. Got always a CTD.

[Stratos 3,188]

I have problems to bring the Vogesen terrain in SF2 too. Got always a CTD.

 

I don't get a CTD (using SF2 Europes EXP 2 as a base, clean game), but my plane explodes on runway and the terrain is daaaark grey.

[Wrench 9,801]

did you add a tile set? It doesn't have one by default.

 

also, you'll need the WW1 airfield inis INSIDE the terrain folder

 

another issues is that the sides, or alignments (Friendly / Enemy) are incorrect...

 

Location=1 is always Friendly

Location=2 is always Enemy

 

this isn't so in the Targets ini.

 

another could be the nations listed in the Nations ini. Try changing them to USAF for Friendly, and Soviet for Enemy.

 

The above advice (for nations) is only for experimental purposes ... I can't get the cursed thing to even start, it just freezes, and one needs to 3 finger salute, bring up Task Manager, and shut down the game

[Stratos 3,188]

It's not easier to simply use the SF2 terrains? They are not that bad.

[Wrench 9,801]

Indeed.

I've spent the last day and a half going over my "Fighter Bowl" terrain .. it's small enough, has mountains, canyons, rivers, an inland sea. Converted from desert tiles to GCE tiles -- and this is the bitch ... it has to be completely retiled by hand.

My main problem is time ... I for go my eye surgery on Sept 2nd. I don't know how 'usable' the right eye will be, or for how many days it might not.

OTH, the Dr says there will (or should be) minimal change in what vision there is (need new glasses as the prescription had changed due to the previous work) . But, we'll see

[Stratos 3,188]

Never tried the original "Fighter Bowl" terrain, so no idea how big it is. If you can upload it with proper tileset I will try to open it in the editor and see If I can work on it, it will require changing all the tiles one by one?. If I can, we will have the terrain, as I will tile it. I still have to test the fire effect, Gepard sent some help, but was not able to try his instructions yet. Anyway we will need some firefighter planes.