streakeagle

Unicode files can be saved as simple text files. JPGs can be saved as bmp files, but WOI with the expansion pack should be compatible with unicode and JPGs if I remember correctly.

There was a point where SF2 was patched to lock up the stock lods and a point where the 3d models were changes such that they wouldn't work in earlier patch revisions... I am thinking that was when bump mapping was added? I was always a fan of SFP1/WoX multiplayer and had done a lot of work importing SF2 aircraft models (external and cockpit) into WOI with expansion pack 1. SF2 was more complicated / realistic avionics, such as the RWR functionality, so you have to dumb down the cockpit ini files to match the capabilities of WoI Expansion Pack 1. My work was primarily on F-4 variants. You have to splice relevant ini lines from the WOI F-4s into the SF2 files to create an F-4 with WOI functionality and SF2 models/textures. It is not hard, but a little time consuming. I think my main problem with WoI Expansion Pack 1 in terms of bugs was with the F-16. I vaguely remember it had some kind of flight model problem. But the real work is integrating the other WoX games into SF2: merging the terrains, objects, weapons, etc. I decided it wasn't worth the time.

WOI with the expansion pack was just short of being SF2I. Much of the code going into the first SF2 release went into WoI, its patches, and its expansion. WoI with the expansion pack provides a unique situation: it can import the 3d models and textures of the stock aircraft from the early SF2 releases and it also supports multiplayer. However, there were still plenty of bugs in the final patched version which TK never addressed. So, if you don't notice or mind the remaining bugs, it is the most advanced version of the SFP1/WoX series, just short of SF2.

I never cared for the original IL-2 very much. When Pacific Fighters came out, I enjoyed flying the F4U from carriers. Other than F4U carrier ops and some P40 missions vs Japanese, I have less than 10 hours of flying time invested in all the IL-2 releases from the first all the way to 1946. If you count mods, you can also fly just about anything in the SF series. I don't like IL-2 1946 to begin with, so I have zero interest in its mods... Especially trying to make jet fighters with radar and missiles work. Mods not withstanding, virtually no sims ever had the Blenheim or the Beaufighter as flyables out of the box... and certainly none with the graphics quality and realism of CoD.

It has taken a long time, and there is still some work to be done, but the C-101 has succeeded where the Hawk failed. For me, the C-101 was always better than the Hawk. But the simple flight model ensured that I did not fly it often. The new external flight model and armed variant now make it a viable alternative to the L-39. I did not go for the pre-release of the Christen Eagle. In fact, I wasn't planning on buying it at all. I have much better alternatives for flying civilian stunt biplanes: P3D and Aerofly FS2. However, I am all about the flight modeling and a review by a real Christen Eagle pilot convinced me to get it. I don't have much stick time yet, so I haven't explored the edges of the envelope that this aircraft is supposedly the first to capture correctly in DCS World, perhaps in any consumer PC flight sim. But as cool as it is to fly, it is unarmed and therefore won't get any more flight time from me than trainer jets like the L-39 and C-101. DCS World's principal advantage over P3D / X-Plane is its comprehensive and realistic modeling of combat. I am in favor of DCS World expanding its capabilities to compete directly with FSX/P3D/X-Plane such as a map comprising of the entire globe and a healthy civil aviation plane set fully modeled. But sight seeing in aerobatic biplanes is really low on my priority list when I could be knocking Tomcats out of the sky with Tigers while flying over Nevada. While I am more familiar with the Fw190A-5, I will gladly buy the Fw190A-8 when it becomes available for download. It will be interesting to compare it to the performance of the Fw190D-9 when fighting against the P-51D and Spitfire Mk IX LF. I am eagerly awaiting the F-14 and the MiG-19 which are being released very soon.

I bought the updated Steam version a while back because it was cheap and I understood it was largely fixed compared to the original release. The graphics are nice. I like the plane set. For me, it is the one reason to fly CoD. The Beaufighter and Blenheim aren't flyable in any recent and/or mainstream WW2 combat flight sims. But I will hardly ever fly it. There are simply too many available options that are better, both newer and older.

There is an instant action for the Hornet in the Persian Gulf that is a guns only 2 vs 2 fight against the MiG-15bis. It reminds me of so many SFP1/SF2 fights with the F-4 vs the MiG-17. AI response is similar and tactics required to win are similar... Given both sims have fairly realistic flight models, here is why the combat feels so similar: Weight: F-4 41,500, F/A-18 36,970 A/B thrust: F-4 2x17,900, F/A-18 2x17,750 Mil thrust: F-4 2x11,905, F/A-18 2x11,000 Wing loading: F-4 41,500 / 530 = 78 lbs/ft^2, F/A-18 36,970 / 410 = 90 Wing span: F-4 38 ft 5 in, F/A-18 40 ft 4 in The Hornet's aspect ratio and maneuvering flaps make up for its wing loading, but a slatted F-4E has respectable AoA authority. The F/A-18C is really a slightly smaller F-4 with more agility, a bubble canopy, but slower and smaller stores load. The F/A-18E pretty much matches the size and payload of the F-4. Of course the MiG-17 is basically a MiG-15bis with an afterburner and wings swept back a bit more for better transonic/supersonic performance. At dogfight speeds, the MiG-15bis is a lot like a MiG-17F stuck in military power with a higher wing loading. So, beating the Korean War era MiG-15bis with an F/A-18C in a guns only fight is not much easier than beating a Vietnam War MiG-17F with a slatted F-4E. The Hornet can climb and turn using its power/weight advantage to spiral above the MiG-15 and then bleed that altitude pulling high AoA to saddle up for a medium to close range gunshot. It is a little bit easier than the F-4 vs MiG-17 because the Hornet can briefly pull some radical AoA to lead for a gun shot while the MiG-15 can't turn or retain energy quite as well as a MiG-17. If you try to beat the MiG-15 with a ham-fisted turn-n-burn fight, you will bleed your speed giving the MiG-15 a chance to gain angles or even get a decent shot. Of course flying an unslatted F-4 or better yet an F-100D or F-105D vs the MiG-17 is far more challenging, but the overall fight looks the same. You just have to be more proficient at exploiting boom-n-zoom opportunities given the AoA restrictions on unslatted F-4s.

I never bought CloD until the relatively recent Steam Blitz edition offer popped up in December of 2017. Patch 4.54 was just released a few days ago. The patch was so big (8 GB) that it was effectively a new installation. So I took it for a ride. The graphics look very good, especially for such an older game. The Spitfire feels twitchy, i.e. really sensitive to very small stick movements, but that is not surprising considering the DCS World Spitfire Mk IX pretty much feels the same way. The problem is that despite great graphics and what seems to be a passable flight model, I still like Battle of Britain 2: Wings of Victory more for the excellent dogfight AI and the option to fly in full scale bomber interception battles where the sky is truly filled with Nazi bombers. Additionally, the latest games like DCS World and IL-2 BoX support VR and generally have equal or better graphics. If I didn't have DCS World, I would probably be flying IL-2 BoX. But if I didn't have either of those sims, I might be playing CloD. But since I have DCS World and pretty much spend most of my sim time flying DCS aircraft, both CloD and IL-2 BoX just take up space on my hard drive. I will keep my eye on CloD to see where it goes in the future, but it will probably never be good enough for me to want to play it with any frequency.

Both BoB and MiG Alley were monumental sims for their time despite the bugs. BoB2 ensured the game would look good enough and run well enough for many more years. Unfortunately, MiG Alley did not get the same overhaul. Kudos to Rowan for releasing the source code for both sims allowing BDG to produce patches and ultimately deliver BoB2.

As DCS World is almost exclusively the sim that I fly and SimHQ has nothing but endless drivel about how bad DCS is, I have no use for SimHQ. At one time it was the place to go for Jane's USAF until Gulf Knight hijacked that function with a pay-to-be-a-member website. It was also the place to go for Strike Fighters Project 1 until the anti-fanboi's drove TK away leading to the rise of Third Wire's forum for official tech support and CombatAce for everything else. I like a lot of the long-time SimHQ members, but the site has been a waste of time for me for quite a while.

Update page if you have the Wings Over Europe CD: http://www.thirdwire.com/downloads_pc.htm

Download center for games purchased from the Third Wire store, which require an access code from your purchase email: https://store.thirdwire.com/mygames.php

If you purchased the game through Third Wire, then you should be able to use your original link provided in your purchase email to download the final version of the game. If you lost the email then you can contact Third Wire via their website. If you have the original CD, then you merely need the final patch, which is also at Third Wire's website. So go here: http://www.thirdwire.com That should point you in the right direction. If not, provide more clarification on exactly what it is that you need.

It has been confirmed for awhile. Belsimtek's F-4 was bumped to the back of the bus to focus on ED's preference for the F-16. For my entire PC/internet life, F4 has meant a hardcore sim for the the F-16. Belsimtek reveals screenshots of an F-4E that is pretty much exactly what I have wanted all these years, and its development is stopped to make way for another F-16. If it wasn't for TK/Third Wire, I would have been stuck playing Jane's Fighters Anthology and Jane's USAF up to now to be able to enjoy the F-4 in a realistic combat environment. Cheers to TK for keeping me entertained for a decade before DCS World started on the path of my ideal sim: a hardcore F-4/MiG-21 air combat study simulator. DCS World has actually bettered my vision by simultaneously providing both a survey sim and study sim of almost the entire flyable aircraft library with some of the most famous historical air-to-air matchups of all time. I would greatly appreciate it if they could just the the F-4 done before I die.

After the A2A poster got BoB2 running correctly in Win 10, he didn't need any special settings and got decent frame rates.

I would presume you have read this thread, but if you haven't, here's the link: http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=48817 Apparently the game can run perfectly well under Windows 10 without any compatibility mode with the videos disabled... assuming later video drivers haven't broken things that used to work. Good luck!

I don't have any Windows 10 gaming PCs, both of my mine are still Windows 7, so I can't really help you. But I hope you get BoB2 working as it is still a great sim. Excellent flight models, excellent AI fighter pilots, and the largest, most historically accurate bomber formations I have ever seen in a sim. Despite all the updated textures, the terrain may look a little dated, but the air-to-air combat against AI is unmatched by any other sim. I am not much of a campaign person. My favorite things to do were to either fly a historical single mission as a Hurricane trying to stop the bombers or 1v1 duels as either a Spitfire or 109 vs various levels of AI to see how they fought given different aircraft and skill levels.

NIce story. Glad you posted it or I may never have heard about it.

BlueSky FS facebook page back up. So they merely updated their remaining web assets to clean up their VEAO loose ends.

The purchase was made directly from VEAO, not ED, so ED owes me nothing. I bet on many DCS releases. The MiG-21bis was my first and mostly paid off. The WW2 debacle wasn't really a debacle for me, I got three planes, the new terrain, and asset pack for $40. I only lost the P-47 and the Me-262 from the crowd funding promise, but that was still a fantastic deal. Not only has the VEAO FB page and YouTube channel disappeared, but so has the BlueSky FS page and channel. They have gone kaput! Found this great video on YouTube:

Not happy with this, but not surprised at all. I have the Hawk and pre-purchased the P-40F when it was first made available with the announcement that it would be available for early release download in about "two weeks". When they changed their name to Blue Sky and released the P-40F for Flight Sim World, the writing was on the wall despite all the show appearances and promises that the Hawk was being completely redone and the P-40F was very close to release again. In less time than VEAO produced 1.5 aircraft, one a subsonic trainer with no radar and the other a "simple" WW2 fighter, RAZBAM released the very advanced and complex Mirage 2000, AV-8B, and have one more aircraft coming relatively soon, the MiG-19. VEAO bit off more than they could chew. I remember their project list that had countless aircraft on it with 3d models in various stages of completion for the F8F, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Meteor, Spanish Bf109, etc. I can't remember how much I spent on the Hawk, but at least I have something that is halfway flyable. Whereas the $40 I put on the P-40F is gone. ED has enough problems without third parties that are unable to put their money where their mouth is. I shed no tears for the departure of VEAO from ED's approved third party developer list. I am only sad at the thought of how much rum and coke I could have bought with the money I lost on the Hawk and the P-40F. From my email records: 2014/10/19 DCS:Hawk Beta (EFM) Pre-Sale 20% Discount $39.99 USD 2015/07/02 DCS: P-40F Kittyhawk (EFM) Beta (Pre-Sale) $34.99 USD

Historically, the USSR didn't like to issue any more fuel than required to execute the mission to prevent defections. Perhaps Russia still issues minimal fuel and sometimes they inadvertently use more than planned?

Aside from being able to copy a few useful files over to SF2 like the F-104 and A-6 cockpits, the only real capability SFP1/WoX offers over SF2 is multiplayer. If you aren't using multiplayer and have already extracted the files you need for you SF2 install, then there is nothing to gain from keeping any first gen games installed.

Well done.