+Geezer 3,569 Posted January 18, 2018 (edited) VonS sent some outstanding experimental shots that I just had to share with you guys. He is systematically tweaking files to develop a much improved environment for the new aircraft we are developing. The last two shots would look great over a muddy France! Edited January 18, 2018 by Geezer 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) Total of 10 different skies to roll into the environsys ini file for a ver. 9.5 update of the FM pack. Or I might make two separate environsys ini files, that contain the five weather patterns (clear, scattered, broken, overcast, inclement), to accommodate for the 10 weather types - and so that entries don't have to be toggled in the environsys file. Another alternative is to make four versions for the four theatres for FE2, so that they can be "installed" into the relevant terrain folders - will see what is most workable. Also tweaked now is the sky width (slightly wider) and vertical sky panels with Panama Red's cirrus effects in place (slightly taller now) - this allows the clouds to intersect with and "fade into" the vertical sky panels at some altitudes. Weather types: 1. clouds clear high - cirrocumulus layer 2. clouds clear low - altocumulus type 3. clouds scattered high - stratocumulus and cumulus types at higher alt. 4. clouds scattered low - stratocumulus and cumulus at lower alt. (slightly taller and thicker than no. 3) 5. clouds broken high - cumulus and cumulonimbus at higher alt. 6. clouds broken low - cumulus and cumulonimbus at lower alt. (much taller and slightly thicker than no. 5) 7. clouds overcast high - nimbostratus type at higher alt. 8. clouds overcast lower - nimbostratus type at lower alt. (slightly shorter and thicker than no. 7) 9. clouds inclement higher - nimbostratus and cumulonimbus at higher alt. 10. clouds inclement lower - nimbostratus and cumulonimbus at lower alt. (slightly wider and thicker than no. 9) Stary's "thin" cloud from the ver. 1.3 Sarcasm pack, also his cloud for the ver. 1.5 Sarcasm pack - work beautifully with this for the right effects. Also necessary is the very thin Ilyushin2 cloud for FE2, by Gumpy (will include the necessary files). Panama Red's clouds are too thick for these subtle variations to work - although they can be used if you really like them. Have compressed Starry's and Gumpy's clouds from 4 to 1 MB (from 1024 x 1024 size to 512 x 512) - improves frame rates but the clouds still look pretty much the same. Pics included below of the weather types (Stary's blizzard effect on the inclement pics, by the way, but rain works well too ). Happy flying, Von S inclement low inclement high overcast low overcast high broken low broken high clear low scattered low scattered high clear high Edited January 19, 2018 by VonS Added labels for pics. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Soulfreak 6,524 Posted January 19, 2018 That looks outstanding! Maybe it could also adapted to SF2? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Crusader 2,101 Posted January 19, 2018 You could check if setting a specific environment file works in FE2 like it does with SF2 from within the terrain's main ini. Example from SF2 [Terrain] TerrainFullName=Southwest U.S. ... EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_STOCK.INI //EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_SARCASM_14.INI //EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_SARCASM_15.INI In this case the different inis are all in the terrains (SWUS) folder but the path can be changed to point to the Flight folder. You can have one set of different environment inis in the Flight folder and link to them individually EnvironmentFile=..\Flight\SWUS_ENVSYS_STOCK.INI Hope this works.. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) Just got VonS' first test version, and it looks great running in Win7 Pro with DX11. Edited January 21, 2018 by Geezer 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted January 21, 2018 On 1/19/2018 at 7:15 AM, Crusader said: You could check if setting a specific environment file works in FE2 like it does with SF2 from within the terrain's main ini. Example from SF2 [Terrain] TerrainFullName=Southwest U.S. ... EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_STOCK.INI //EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_SARCASM_14.INI //EnvironmentFile=SWUS_ENVSYS_SARCASM_15.INI In this case the different inis are all in the terrains (SWUS) folder but the path can be changed to point to the Flight folder. You can have one set of different environment inis in the Flight folder and link to them individually EnvironmentFile=..\Flight\SWUS_ENVSYS_STOCK.INI Hope this works.. Thanks. VonS tried your suggestion, but no joy: The environsys file should be installed into the Flight folder too by the way (tried placing it in the terrains folder and calling it up, also leaving a bunch of them in the flight folder and calling them up through the terrain.ini file, but was getting strange sky/cloud results and that ugly horizontal banding that's sometimes seen in WOFF....seems such install tricks, while working well in SF2, are not applicable to FE2...so best to put the environsys in the Flight folder and switch out for a new one when needed). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) A few more shots of overcast/inclement weather: Edited January 21, 2018 by Geezer 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted January 22, 2018 Battle in the clouds, with test versions of VonS' atmospheric files. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) Decided to tweak Stary's rain pack to give more realistic rain effects in inclement weather, using a combo. of the in-game rain and the Stary/Orsin vertical drops...will also re-tweak the blizzard effect for smaller snow particles....should work well for further immersion in FE2. Happy flying, Von S Edited February 2, 2018 by VonS Repositioned pics. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted February 4, 2018 Also more tweaking of in-game menu text to fit hud text modifications from previous FM update packs...finally got the same font and size across all entries, even when targeting new types, and for the squadron command menu too - as well managed to include a "cover me" command for the squadron...seems to work well, sometimes giving close support as in the Albatros pic, other times giving higher alt. cover as with the two Eindeckers...good variety. When no enemy aircraft are present, the command works largely like the "rejoin" one. Since there are no wingmen submenu commands in FE2, unlike SF2 - use the "cover me" command with caution, otherwise your whole squadron will try to cover you. Will roll these little oddities into a ver. 9.5 of the FM pack. Currently tweaking obscure entries in missioncontrol.ini and for single missions in the options.ini, to reduce numbers of enemy aircraft per theater, as historical, and to increase randomness of aircraft appearing, also (historical/sometimes poor) supply levels for air units...results look favorable so far but will test further. Von S 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted February 5, 2018 (edited) Continued testing of VonS's atmospherics reveal semi-transparent qualities that are usually seen in more advanced flight sims. Really outstanding work. Edited February 5, 2018 by Geezer 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted February 6, 2018 Re-tweaking smoke and fire effects too in the particlesys ini file for more subtle smoke/fire, and corresponding individual effects inis from the effects folder...the thinner smoke and fire trails should also help to improve realism, and smaller balloon explosions with quicker dissipation of burning debris. Von S 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
don246 65 Posted February 6, 2018 Nice one VonS can you include these effects in your next FMs update they look realy good, Thanks 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted February 16, 2018 A few more pics. of the latest tweaks to the smoke and fire effects, this time a multi-engine fire on a Gotha G.III - will roll this eventually into a ver. 9.5 of the FM packs. The effects now look more realistic I think for the WWI period and aircraft construction of that time, especially average size of fire on various types. Happy flying, Von S 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted February 22, 2018 Tweaking a third environsys ini file too that will be devoted to fog effects across the different weather types (from morning mist to overcast fog) - no high clouds available in this one but the vertical cloud panels vary by weather type to give some variety...the fog also slightly varies by weather type (thickness, shape, etc.). Great for immersion in low-level dogfights, will include this with a ver. 9.5 of the FM pack - this will give us a total of 15 different weather types when combined with the tweaks included at the top of this list of posts. Happy flying, Von S 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted February 23, 2018 I'm amazed. While testing the CL4, I blundered into a situation where gterl's superb map and VonS' equally superb atmospherics combine to make this old game engine look like a painting! 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted March 23, 2018 A few more shots of variations now available with the latest fire/smoke tweaks, and for balloon explosions...will package all of this with a ver. 9.5 FM update pack eventually. Happy flying, Von S 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Geezer 3,569 Posted March 24, 2018 Gorgeous! Eventually, we will get this stuff packaged up and released. Unfortunately, back end packaging takes just as long as front end development - and isn't any fun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted April 17, 2018 Some further pics. of the latest smoke/fire tweaks...this time attacking an AEG G.IV with a late-variant Tripe...takes a while but eventually it lights up (used up all of my ammo. on it - the left engine fire went out, then I worked on the right engine, with more success...wonderful randomness in FE2). Von S 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
don246 65 Posted April 17, 2018 Wow now that looks just too real VonS, one thing I have noticed what I have now in my install when the plane is on fire the fire can go out after a while I would have thought with canvas and wood it would never go out, still love this sim. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+VonS 1,424 Posted April 18, 2018 6 hours ago, don246 said: Wow now that looks just too real VonS, one thing I have noticed what I have now in my install when the plane is on fire the fire can go out after a while I would have thought with canvas and wood it would never go out, still love this sim. If you'd like to increase the chances of fire progressing, tweak the following settings in the aircraftobject.ini file (located in the Objects folder): [ObjectFire] FireCheckTime=20.0 APRoundFireChance=70 HERoundFireChance=40 HERoundExplosionChance=0 ExplosionChance=0 SuppressionChance=30 <---------- reduce this to something like 15, for a smaller chance of fire going out ProgressionChance=60 <---------- increase this to about 80, will guarantee fire progression most of the time (don't have the original values in front of me now but I settled on 30/60 for randomness) Happy flying, Von S Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
don246 65 Posted April 18, 2018 4 hours ago, VonS said: If you'd like to increase the chances of fire progressing, tweak the following settings in the aircraftobject.ini file (located in the Objects folder): [ObjectFire] FireCheckTime=20.0 APRoundFireChance=70 HERoundFireChance=40 HERoundExplosionChance=0 ExplosionChance=0 SuppressionChance=30 <---------- reduce this to something like 15, for a smaller chance of fire going out ProgressionChance=60 <---------- increase this to about 80, will guarantee fire progression most of the time (don't have the original values in front of me now but I settled on 30/60 for randomness) Happy flying, Von S Thanks for that. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
