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Thoughts on Multiplayer in FE2
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VonS, in Thirdwire - First Eagles 1&2
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By VonS
Hi All,
Have been doing a bit of tinkering lately with my FlightGear install (see this thread for more info.) - and results are pleasing enough in what is a free, open-source flight sim. Managed eventually to get accurate photo-scenery working in FG, which is a noticeable improvement over the stock (dated) scenery that has been available in that sim for years on end (see pic. below for photo-scenery at work in FG, in this case in the Mesopotamian/s. Iraqi area; the Alb. D.I is a re-skin and FM-overhaul of a model done by Lester Boffo).
On a hunch, I then converted a bunch of the photo-tiles from FG (stock format is DDS) to BMP format - so that they become visible in the FE2 terrains folder - and it does indeed work - but would require careful, aesthetic choices regarding what tiles to replace in the terrains folder, such as farms, cities, deserts, etc. - for best cohesion and not too many jarring disconnects between tiles.
Nice to see that stock trees and buildings are populating over the satellite/ortho-terrains too, in FE2. Photo-scenery is simply an improved "satellite" carpet that covers the stock scenery and terrain framework in FlightGear - and by extension works the same way in the ThirdWire sims but requires manual conversion to BMP format and manual placement in the terrains folder (perhaps the DDS format would work too, but I didn't bother tinkering with the various settings/text files this time around in the terrains folder).
The other good thing about FlightGear is that it is fully under the GNU GPL (General Public License; i.e., "copy-left" license) - so there are no copyright problems that I know of if one borrows such ortho-scenery for FE2 too (haven't bothered to test with SF2). And if working on such a terrain swap as a personal project - that is of course even simpler.
A few representative pics. below with just a few ortho-scenery tiles placed over Stephen1918's upgrade of the Mesopotamian theater for FE2. Results look pretty good, particularly when flying higher up, and I haven't noticed any FPS drop with the photo-scenery tiles loaded. Some old tiles are still in place in the pics., for comparative purposes. Any empty areas are where I didn't bother to load tiles.
Anyway - I hope you find this post interesting - it's perhaps the "cheapest" way of upgrading tiles across the various theaters available for FE2.
If I find enough free time I might tinker further with this side-project; will post comments if the results prove particularly successful.
Cheers & good flying,
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By VonBeerhofen
A minor adaptation was done to the on line region selection to allow the game a wider choice without having to go through the regions sequentially. Now any region can be set before the game picks a target and transmits the data to the other players. I.e. the routine can directly switch from let's say Channel to Berlin or Normandy or any other region without first going through adjacent choices, resulting in 30 possible choices, where the stock game only has 12 (up and down for 6 regions) . This to better use the resequenced target lists which in most cases are laid out from East to West, whereas Stock EAW uses North to South with overlapping regions already set in the target list. This change can now also select the 'in between targets' in the list, which previously was not possible and therefore often limited the choices available causing the game to regularly default to the failsafe target in each region if you didn't switch through the year selection and forced the game routine to reposition the pointer in the target list due to a changed frontline. At first glance nothing has really changed, the selection still works the same way as always for the host who makes the selection, but the players will receive the region selection upon the game countdown or when the host selects something which also forces transmission. Hope you guys understand what I mean, that it's still simple for anyone to use but more effective, :)
VonBeerhofen
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By Eagle114th
Hello everyone,
I am sharing what I am working on with the team. It is a slow project because we do it for the hobby. We are flowing along with it, and there is no ETA. Initially, I worked on Dhimar and Paran expansion pack without much research, which led me to do a project that made no sense. That was an opportunity for me to learn how to do it properly, especially in a semi-realistic way that makes sense.
I decided to discontinue Dhimar and Paran expansion project because I didn't want to change the stories written by TW. Therefore, I want to honor his work. Thank the community and friends for inspiring me to work on an entirely new fictional nation that I can envision and bring into SF2. A friend of mine recommended I look into the Africa map, where the imaginary nations of Saad and Zafir come in.
What took the longest time was actual research about the nations around the horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and the ancient civilization around that area. The research on the language, cultures, and history was also involved. It taught me many new things, which opened me to Africa and the Arab world.
This is how Saad and Zafir get an enriched history and depths with the cultures, languages, and where they come from. This led me from just making SF2 mods into writing a book. I never thought I would do it, yet I am doing it as a hobby.
Then it came to me; this book is not just for SF2; it can be used for any simulation. It taught me how to be creative with the stories, including the graphic designs (flags, insignia, roundel, pilot badges, and other materials).
After finishing the short history series about Saad and Zafir's ancestors, I can start focusing on finding the right aircraft for Saad and Zafir. It is intended that Saad and Zafir are truly unique to each other and the world of SF2. It won't be another classic "USA aircraft vs. Soviets Aircraft." Instead, they use various aircraft tied to Saad and Zafir history with connections to certain nations from Europe to the Middle East to Asia. They will still use some of the United States and Soviets aircraft, though.
My friend has been a great teacher who taught me a lot about the military system and how they do things. I can make Saad and Zafir military semi-realistic with it, especially when being fictional nations. I intend to bridge the alternative world (SFAW) with this world in balanced ways.
By the way, here is the information about the SFAW project:
I will give you the brief background about Saad and Zafir.
NOTE: I am NOT an expert with the language of Tigrinya. I am still looking for someone who knows the Tigrinya languages. I find them to be very interesting. It is intended that the language of Tigrinya for Saad is one of the native languages. That way, Saad can be fully immersive in the book and SF2.
ሳድ (Saad) - (1920 – Present)
الظافر (Zafir) - (1930 – Present)
FAQs
Cheers!
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By VonS
Hello Gents,
Here are the steps to take if interested in installing FE2 on a Mac. The procedure is similar to "bottling" of CFS3.1, the ETO and PTO expansion packs, also WOFF ue for the Mac, and of course RB3D, but a little "simpler" with FE2 (and RB3D) since less winetricks are required...the process is at any rate a slow one and requires patience, but is convenient if you want to have everything running on the same operating system.
STEP ONE: go to https://sourceforge.net/projects/wineskin/ and download the latest wineskin winery (ver. 1.7 as of this writing) via the green "download" button there (for Mac OS vers. 10.6 to 10.12)
[EDIT: if running Mac OS 10.13 or later, recommended instead is to install the "unofficial" WineSkin-for-Mac located at https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer]
STEP TWO: double-click on the program; in the menu that opens click on the plus sign to the left of "new engines available," and in the list that then opens choose WS8Wine1.5.1, download it, and then - when you're back in the main menu - choose "create new blank wrapper" (now wait about 3-4 minutes for your Mac to make the custom wrapper; once finished, the wrapper will be placed in an Applications folder that has been made inside your user folder on OS X and/or macOS)
STEP THREE: go to the WineSkin wrapper that's just been made and double-click on it; in the window that opens, choose "set screen options"; in the window that then opens choose "override" instead of automatic, and choose "rootless (windowed)," then "virtual desktop at" (whatever resolution suits you), then "use these settings" instead of force normal windows; once happy with your choices, click on "done" at the bottom of that window
STEP FOUR: back on the main menu, choose "advanced"; in the window that opens click on "tools"; this will then open another window in which you should click on "winetricks"; in the window that then opens, type in d3d in the search window at the top, then click to expand the "dlls" menu that shows up in the list below your search, and look for d3dx11_43, and click in the box to the left of it, to select it; now click on "run" located towards the bottom of that top screen of the window you're currently in, and let it install the winetrick; once the process finishes it will say "done" in the text window that is visible in the bottom half of that same window; finally, click on the "close" button at the very bottom of the window, and you're taken back to the "wineskin advanced" menu (close that advanced menu by clicking on the close button in its menubar)
STEP FIVE: double-click on the wrapper once again and choose "install software" in the main menu; then "choose setup executable" in the next window that opens and locate your exe file for FE2 that you bought (usually called setup.exe or install.exe); now let the wrapper do its thing to install the game
STEP SIX: once installed, the wrapper will go back to the main menu and you can click "quit" (it may also prompt you to locate the program before it drops to the main menu, the program in this case being the exe file of the game that was just installed - best thing at this point is just to leave this alone and close that window, if it doesn't drop to the main menu automatically)
STEP SEVEN: once the wrapper has quit, don't double-click on it but "right-click" it and choose the option in the popup menu on OS X and/or macOS that says "show package contents" (this will open the wrapper's folder and should list something like a contents folder, the alias to its c drive, and an app/icon called WineSkin); double-click on the app named WineSkin and you will open the main menu window again, of the wrapper, and choose "advanced"
STEP EIGHT: under the advanced menu, to the right of the box called Windows EXE (that contains a file path), click on "Browse"; this will open up your finder on OS X and/or macOS, and then you can scroll into the "c drive" of the wrapper into which you've just installed FE2; in "c drive," look for "Program Files," scroll into there and look for "ThirdWire," scroll into "ThirdWire" and look for "First Eagles 2," scroll into there and look for "FirstEagles2.exe" and choose that (click "choose"); then you're back in the WineSkin advanced menu with the proper file path for the game's exe now listed in the box near the top of the window (while you're there you might want to give a name for your freshly created Mac program in the "menubar name" box, something like First Eagles 2 or FE2, and also, later, don't forget to rename your wrapper/app to First Eagles 2, for consistency, if you haven't done so already)
STEP NINE: now close that advanced menu window, and double-click the program you just created (not the WineSkin icon in the window that popped open when you right-clicked and chose "show package contents," but the actual, main wrapper that is in the custom Applications folder that was created in your user folder on OS X and/or macOS) - see if the game works, and if all is well, then double-click the WineSkin logo that is visible in the window once you right-click the main app wrapper to "show package contents"; once you're in the WineSkin menu again, click on "screen options" one more time and choose "fullscreen" instead of "rootless (windowed)," also choose your desired resolution in the box below that and leave the other options at 24 bit for color depth and 0 sec. for switch pause; all the other options there should be left as they are
STEP TEN: since you've now run the game successfully (in windowed mode), you will find a ThirdWire/First Eagles 2 folder located in your Documents folder (of your user folder under OS X and/or macOS); in that folder you can find, under "ThirdWire/First Eagles 2/Controls," a Default.INI file that contains the keyboard and joystick controls for the game; open this ini file in TextEdit and modify the keys to your liking (also, don't forget to tweak the joystick sensitivity slider within the game's menu too, to get the joystick to behave as you like); and one more thing - it's best to set the game resolution, within the game's menu, to the same resolution that you have set within the "screen options" of your wineskin wrapper - for everything to behave as smoothly as possible
STEP ELEVEN: all user mods from CombatAce should be installed into the relevant folders of user/Documents/ThirdWire/First Eagles 2 on your Mac - not into the First Eagles 2 folder that is buried in the c drive of the WineSkin wrapper into which you installed the game's exe and the related files
NOTE: Von S makes no guarantee that following such steps will recreate the magic of First Eagles 2 on your Mac, but careful following of the directions listed above should work in 99% of cases
NOTE 2: the game can of course be run in windowed mode, as indicated in the earlier steps above....at say 1600 x 900...but why keep such a lovely game windowed - full screen is better for it, but you might want to keep the resolution at 1600 x 900 on lower-end systems, for better frame rates (Red Baron 3D on the other hand is better windowed at something like 1280 x 1024 - full screen is hit-and-miss with RB3D in WineSkin, but the situation may improve since WINE is always being improved)
Happy flying,
Von S
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