Heck

Just make certain that when you download them from here, that you're getting Quack's updated versions. His latest work on both the Pfalz D3 and D3a is unbelievably good. The weathering is tremendous, and you get the gravity fuel tank in the upper left wing. I've even made Jasta 77b my default skin.

If you mean in army cooperation missions in the single missions, then the answer is no. They'll appear in this type of mission as long as they're in the ground objects folder. I've gone into the data.inis of all my tanks and infantry and changed the availability line of infantry to Availability=Very_Common, then changed the lines of the real tanks to Availability=Rare. This makes infantry show up a lot more often than tanks. If you mean in the actual quick mission, you need to edit the instantaction.ini, which specifies the forces involved in a quick mission. Like Quack, you can add them to the types and targets inis of the various terrains, which places them as battlefield objects. You don't need to add them to the terrain folder, because you add them to the types.ini by using a line that says, "UseGroundObject=True, then specifying which ground object type to use in another line. Look in the types and targets inis of the Flanders terrain for examples of this. I did this once, it makes your eyes bleed placing them, but you'll see them wherever you place them along the front, no matter what type of mission you fly. Hope all this didn't just confuse you. Heck Oops, another ps. If they're appearing in Quack's 1918 campaign, as stated in the caption to one of his pics, then he's added them as ground units in the appropriate lines in his campaigndata.inis

Fantastic! Thanks, Quack!

Hey, Quack. Did you see the link at Geo's site to Marco's skin packs? http://www.geos-airc...m/SFObjects.htm You can have multiple types of infantry, each wearing their own uniforms. I have Poilu (early, with red pants; late, with horizon blue), Scots, Brits, US Army, US Marines; just by copying and renaming the inis and data.inis, then changing the nationalities, etc. You can also dress up his two field guns as different types. I have a French and an American 75, a British 18pdr, and of course, a German Whiz Bang 77. Geo has great stuff at his site. Boy, the modders here (yourself included) have taken this sim to a whole new level. It is light years beyond what I bought from TK. So many addons and improvements. My thanks to all!

Hi, Quack. I mentioned this problem over at Thirdwire, but the older hands seemed to assume I had done something wrong. You can temporarily fix this, however. Once you make your changes to the desired .ini, save it and close it, then choose properties by right clicking on the file and change its properties to read only and apply that. The game won't be able to alter or overwrite it, whichever is happening. Don't know what went balls up after the latest patch, but TK is aware of it, if he read my post at his forum. I know it's a pita to have to keep making it read only after changes, but the fix does work for me. Looks like another patch is in order....

Thanks, Quack!

Nice!!!!

Yes, I have modded my own fms to suit my personal taste. They are generally based on TK's, are mods of Peter 01's, or mods of Charles original FM's from Capun's site. When it comes to FM's, I think any new member here is best off choosing Peter 01's, because of the consistency across the board that they represent when it comes to the stock aircraft and addons. Consistency is paramount in my opinion. Nothing throws off the sim worse than having a particular aircraft that doesn't perform anything like the rest, the greyhound amongst sheepdogs. So, choose a consistent set, like Peter's. Then, if you're a tinkerer, like me, and you've read a little on aerodynamics, tink away to your hearts content. Just remember that with level top speeds ranging between 89-130 mph the nuances we may feel were there between two different aircraft really didn't exist to the degree we percieve they did, because there wasn't that much airflow for the aerodynamics to work with. And most of the aerodynamics were ruled by the terrible lord bracing wires, which is why the Fokker DVII, which looks like it was cut from a butter stick, had a better performance than a streamlined Albatros with the same engine, because Fokker did away with the picket fence between the wings. Tinker, tinker, tinker... That's the best thing about this series of sims.

I use most everything I've downloaded for FE1 in FE2. I haven't encountered too many issues, but my FM's are based on TK's. The Sopwith Tripe and Pup are Capun's, you'll have to download them from his site. See my post in this thread, if you don't already have access to his site. http://forum.combatace.com/topic/54621-pfalz-diii-lowered-guns-and-painted-on-muzzle-ports/

These skins are truly beautiful. Quack says he's going to work on the individual pilot skins when he gets the chance. He has really brought both these types, D.III, and D.IIIa, to life in this series of skins. This is one of my favorite WW1 aircraft, I guess because what I've learned about it over the years is so much different than what I read as a kid. In essence, it suffered from not being better than it was, just like the Albatros DV and DVa. And that has left it an afterthought in the minds of many a flight simmer, and especially flight sim skin artists, who, in the past, haven't dug very deep into what this aircraft looked like in combat, presenting just the more well known color schemes in many sims. I can't remember any sim I've owned presenting anywhere near this variety when it comes to the Pfalz, so my hat's off to Quack for all his hard work.

We can't. It's one of Capun's models. You have to email him for a password. It can take him a little time sometimes, but he does respond. http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/ Just be patient, polite, and follow his rules, and you'll be able to access his site. This is the link to the forum mentioned in the downloads page. The link seems to have disappeared. http://cplengineeringllc_bb.cplengineeringllc.com/Forum/

Over the last couple of days, I've converted the Campaign.inis and Campaigndata.inis for the four Campaigns included with FE2, replacing aircraft with proper models, where possible, by using downloaded aircraft from here, and Capun's site. Some interesting results. Only six types could not be replaced with a proper model, as follows: ;AircraftType=SPAD16 ;AircraftType=Halberstadt CL2 ;AircraftType=AlbatrosC3? ;AircraftType=LVGC6 ;AircraftType=DH5 ;AircraftType=AW (I'm assuming TK means an Armstrong Whitworth FK8) I used the Halberstadt CLIV as my own substitute for the CL2, because I'd rather have the CLIV in these units, rather than the DFW C5. If there was a proper Halberstadt CL2 out there, then some 80-85% of substituted aircraft would have a correct model in the campaigns. Second most numerous missing type is the Spad 16. If this were replaced, some 90-95% of aircraft would be correct in the campaigns. Haven't had much time to test these, but so far all the new types show up, and I'm able to fly both the Pfalz d3 and Pfalz d3a in campaigns (thanks, Quack!). It provides for a much more varied campaign, so I'm hoping I won't run into problems. This is a short list of aircraft I've been able to place into the campaigns: Pfalz D3 Pfalz D3a DH-4 Hannover CL2 Hannover CL3 FE2b Dolphin Halberstadt CL4 (yes, one unit actually used them) Can't remember if there were any others, but this group filled a lot of slots. My thanks to the modders and skinners for making this possible.

... but here's a very short one. Halberstadt Cl-2 It was the backbone of the Schlastas from late 17 through the German offensives in early 18. Rumpler C-IV It could easily be data.ini modded into a C-VII Rubild, the high altitude reconaissance version. Armstrong Whitworth FK-8 The big Ack The addition of just these three would give us near complete coverage of the major aircraft types from January of 1917 through the end of the war. I wish I had the talent to 3d model, but I don't. And I know that the 3d modellers might be somewhat leary of doing aircraft for the sim, for fear that TK will cover them in future expansions, but I don't think he's given any indication that these three are going to be covered, through what he rems out in Campaign data.ini's, or what he's said on the Thirdwire website. And I know that these may not be the most interesting modelling projects for the modders out there, but with just three aircraft I feel this sim would give us a representation of this period of the war, as far as aircraft you encounter on a mission, that can't be matched by any other WW1 flight sim. And I know this because I just updated my aircraftlist.lst and wound up with a literal blizzard of additions to that file, so my great thanks to all the 3d modders out there who've shared their time and their talents with us. Heck

Quack, can you extract your huddata.ini, set display debug=true and let us know what kind of frame rates the game says you're getting? It might help people figure this out.

Hey, Quack. Sorry to be a bug. We need a new tailband.tga for the d3a skin, in the new Bavarian Blue color.

Keep 'em coming, Quack. Thanks for all your hard work. I've just been modifying my Campaign ini's, adding Pfalz D3's or D3a's where they're called for (I'm using d3's where TK calls for them in the early stock campaigns, D3a's in the later campaigns), so these skins are very much appreciated. To anyone who hasn't downloaded them, do so as soon as you can. The detail is fantastic. Quack has even put on the upper wing fuel tank on the D3 and D3a. The attention to detail here is awesome.

Gorgeous, Quack.

No, no, Quack. You're right. Keep the pistol outside. I can't say for certain that no pilot had it mounted like this, and if the detail would tend to disappear if you remove it, especially the wonderful 3d effect you've achieved with the holster, I'd rather keep it. Just holster it deeper, so it doesn't look like it's falling out. It would have been held in by a spring steel clip inside the leather holster. I'm not a stickler for absolute historical realism, because in WW1 we don't really ever have enough bonifide evidence to support a preponderance of evidence anyway. Can I say that sitting in someone's attic there is a photograph of Great Uncle Heinrich's Pfalz, or Albatros, that supports just what you've presented here? No. But, I can't say that there isn't either. Please leave it. You could even offer two versions, one with the pistol, one without. Believe me, I'll be one of the people who chooses with. It is a great piece of art work and if anyone doesn't like it, or their sense of historical realism is just unhinged by it, all they have to do is remove the item from the decal.ini. Great work, Quack. Your work is approaching a truly mature art. Every piece, every detail gets better. I'm not sure, but I think you could create a flair by creating a special rocket that you'd have to choose as an air to air weapon. You could even have four separate ones to represent the four separate commands in FE2, so the sequence would be: choose a/a weapon attack flare, fire it, choose the attack command from the menu, issue it.

I like it, but think you should fully holster the pistol. You'll be flying around with it half falling out all the time. I know you were trying to show people what it was, but I think it will look more realistic the other way. I'd add it to every fourth. Wouldn't have been issued to the other pilots. Also, was the pistol actually mounted externally? I've only seen the cartridges in photos.

Beautiful, Quack. Thank you. Love your Pfalz skins. Really looking forward to your D-IIIa Skins.

I'm afraid I have to agree with him. They have caused a couple of earthquakes for me. Just not the kind he's talking about...

You don't need to. There's a provision in FE2's options.ini file (you'll find it in your documents/thirdwire/FE2 folder) so you can use mods folders instead of making separate installs. You can have as many different folders as you want. Just add lines to the mods sections for the different folders you want the game to use, and rem out the lines you don't want it to use. For example: [Mods] ModsEnabled=TRUE Directory=C:\Documents and Settings\Heck Mitchell\My Documents\ThirdWire\FirstEagles2\mods\Russian Front //Directory=C:\Documents and Settings\Heck Mitchell\My Documents\ThirdWire\FirstEagles2\mods\Italian Front Editors=FirstEagles2 Create new objects, flight,menu, etc., folders within the mods folders and place what you want to change in those. The way mine is set up is this: If I rem out both mods folders, the game is the Western Front (standard install). Or I can remove the rem lines from either the Russian Front folder, or the Italian Front folder, and the game will use only the aircraft, terrains, and menu items I've chosen for that front. Your setup may be a little different than mine, because I use XP not 7. Your folder will be a saved games folder if you use 7, I believe. The game will use whatever is in the mods folder you've specified first, then take any files it doesn't find there from outside the mods folder (cats, etc.) When you want to change, just rem out the other lines and remove the rem lines from the folder path you want to use before you start the game. There's no way I know of to do this on the fly, so you have to do it before you start the game.

Inside your documents folder you should find your thirdwire folder, and inside that you should have an objects folder. I use xp, so I don't know what your file structure might be if you use windows 7. Inside, you need a decals folder. There wasn't one in my install, I had to create it. Any decals for your mods should go in there. Just make certain they're not named the same as stock decals, or they'll override them. Then, change your decal ini to this: [Decal001] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=Stag Position=-1.9631,0.0100 Scale=1.10 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal002] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=Stag Position=-1.9631,0.0100 Scale=1.10 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal003] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=weights Position=-0.5021,0.1500 Scale=0.6 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal004] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat= Position=-2.0521,0.0200 Scale=0.6 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal005] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=-2.0521,0.0200 Scale=0.6 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal006] MeshName=WingTop_L DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=-0.5421,-0.1000 Scale=3.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal007] MeshName=WingTop_R DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=-0.5421,-0.1000 Scale=3.8 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal008] MeshName=Tail DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=-2.1521,0.0700 Scale=2.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal009] MeshName=Tail DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=-2.1521,0.0700 Scale=2.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal010] MeshName=WingTopO_L DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=TCross Position=-3.2421,-0.1500 Scale=1.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal011] MeshName=WingTopO_R DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=TCross Position=3.2421,-0.1500 Scale=1.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal012] MeshName=Nose DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=Jasta7/D/ Position=0.3021,0.1500 Scale=0.1 DecalMaxLOD=3 [Decal013] MeshName=Aileron_L DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=TCross Position=-3.2421,-0.1500 Scale=1.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True [Decal014] MeshName=Aileron_R DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=TOP FilenameFormat=TCross Position=3.2421,-0.1500 Scale=1.5 DecalMaxLOD=3 Reverse=True This worked for me in xp. Hope it works for you. If anyone has windows 7 and I have any of this wrong, please correct me.

If you've moved the decals into the decal folder, you also need to change the decal.ini for the plane, taking out everything in the filenameformat= lines except for the name of the decal itself, such as: FilenameFormat=PfalzD3a\Ex Works\D\pfalzserialga FilenameFormat=pfalzserialga Hope this helps.

I've always used the Spad13 cockpit to make my Sevens flyable. I just make a copy of the 13s cockpit.ini and adjust the position to make it fit the Seven better. I know it's not historically accurate, but I like flying the Seven.