Mike Dora

Does anyone know how to make an SFP2-generation aircraft model compatible with SFP1? I ask because I have multiple versions of SFP1 on my system, which took a lot of setting-up & tweaking work.I am quite happy with these, so I don't want to have to go back to the start to redevelop them for SFP2. On the other hand, I have just discovered that one of my favourite aircraft, the Su-25 Frogfoot, is included in WOE2 as an SFP2-generation model. I would therefore like to retro-mod this to SFP1 compatibility. What do I need to edit and/or delete? Thanks Mike

Bart, Continued my experiments by copying exactly the Stary terrain and Panama Red sky that you're using (I was using those already, but re-loaded them to ensure consistency), and the FlightEngine.ini settings that you quote. Result is no change, I still get that ugly hard-edged haze. So if it's not the in-game settings, thinks I, maybe it's the graphics card settings? I'm using an NVidia GeForce 9800GT, with the following settings for FE (can't now remember _why_ I set up these settings.. ): I wonder if this is the place where things are going wrong, I wonder what your comparable settings? Thanks Mike

Bart, I'm going to launch into another series of experiments too, but not for a couple of weeks because I have a family visit "in" just now. Just a couple of thoughts & queries in the meantime though. Might my sharp-edged haze be a product of the EnvironmentSystem.ini file as opposed to the FlightEngine.ini file? I ask because I notice that the former has "fog" settings, I wonder if they affect the ground haze? Secondly, and more fundamentally, just what is the "clipping" thing, and how does it work? Maybe I might make more progress adjusting the *clipdistance parameter, if I actually know what I'm doing!! Thanks Mike

Mikhayl, I have the same problem. I've experimented with a range of different FlightEngine.ini settings, currently I'm using these: [FarSceneClip] FarClipDistance=36000.0 NearClipDistance=1000.0 [NormalSceneClip] FarClipDistance=35000.0 NearClipDistance=149.9 [NearSceneClip] FarClipDistance=150.0 NearClipDistance=0.4 [LowDetailOption] HorizonDistance=6000.0 DetailMeshSize=4 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=0 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=128 [MedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=7000.0 DetailMeshSize=6 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=1 NoiseTexture=0 MaxTextureRes=256 [HighDetailOption] HorizonDistance=7500.0 DetailMeshSize=8 DetailLevel=0 WaterEffect=2 NoiseTexture=1 MaxTextureRes=-1 [unlimitedDetailOption] HorizonDistance=20000.0 //HorizonDistance=35000.0 //HorizonDistance=16000.0 DetailMeshSize=10 //DetailMeshSize=16 DetailLevel=1 WaterEffect=2 MaxTextureRes=-1 But what I still get looks like this: Trouble is, I've now long lost the original FE settings! I just wish that I completely understood what each *clipdistance and horizondistance parameter actually does. Mike

This is a pretty trivial question, but does anyone know how to remove the red line (marking the front line) from Gepard's Vogesen planning map? The basic planning map BMPs don't show this line, which I think (rpt think) was the product of a minor post-release add-on, but I can't find that add-on any more! Thanks MD

Thanks, found it, solved my problem. Ta Mike

OK Jel Tried it, it's better, but not there yet. Previously I got the theme music plus a completely garbaged screen - or at least 2/3 of the screen was all jumbled up, but with black margins down the RH side and along the bottom. Now I get the theme music plus a recognisable EAW startup screen, full screen but ripped by horizontal lines. They are worse in the top half of the screen, it's garbage, but I can make out the image through the lines in the bottom half - this is about 50% image, 50% lines. Same result with v-sync forced off, forced on, and default (system-set). Oh well. My frustration is compounded by the fact that tonight my IL2 1946 setup decided to stop recognising its dvd as being genuine... Mike

Thanks Jel, I've given the v1.28a & b EAW versions a try, and do get past the 7127, only to get the trashed main screen as you predicted. I'll just have to wait for the v1.28c, to give that a try. It would be nice to get EAW back, even in this day of a mature IL2 & BoB2 - I had multiple versions of EAW, from the Spanish Civil War (loved that one) to Korea (which was better in my view than any of the commercial Korean air combat sims). Mike

Just a quick question all, How are you getting past the Error 7127 roadblock? I really liked EAW, and had multiple versions on my previous machine, but can't get past this trap with my present rig (it uses an NVidia GeForce 9800GT, driver version 6.14.11.7783). Mike

I've been having fun copying Stary's recent stock terrains visual upgrade mod, including the seasonal variations, into Gepard's Vosges terrain and Edward's Flanders terrain. I now seem to have everything running fine, apart from a couple of mismatches on the Flanders coast. These mismatches fall into 2 categories. For most of the seasons, there are 5 *.TGA tiles for which the "sea" shade does not match the rest of the sea, see attached "summer coastline" screenshot. For the winter seasons I've had a bit more success, by borrowing the relevant *.TGA files from Max188's "Deep Snow" mod (by way of B Bandy's Rhine River seasonal tiles for Vogesen - we are nothing if not an eclectic bunch). This at least gives me a common sea colour, but at the expense of excessively bright snow tiles at the coastline, see "winter coastline" screenshot. What I'm looking for now, is some method or utility for adjusting the brightness of the sea part of the first lot of *.TGA files, and for adjusting the brightness of the land (ie snow) part of the second lot of *.TGA files. I've been trying to do this using the Ultimate Paint utility, without success. I can adjust the brightness OK, but can't seem to save the results in a format which works with FE. So, ideas/advice/suggestions anyone? Thanks Mike

Yes Olham, NY is right for me, been here since '94 - but what are the OFF Pilots Maps? A new one on me, am I missing something? Mike

Actually it was the Kaiser himself who created the term "Hun", unwittingly presenting a gift to the allied propegandists. In a speech to his troops heading for China to deal with the Boxer Rising in 1900, he declared: "No quarter will be given, no prisoners will be taken. Let all who fall into your hands be at your mercy. Just as the Huns a thousand years ago, under the leadership of Etzel (Attila) gained a reputation in virtue of which they still live in historical tradition, so may the name of Germany become known in such a manner in China that no Chinaman will ever again even dare to look askance at a German." (from the Times, 30 July 1900) In any case, as pointed out by WE Johns, creator of Biggles, "Hun" usually wasn't intended as a derogatory term by the average British serviceman. It was simply their name for the enemy. Incidentally, the RFC/RAF flying instructors also called their pupils "Huns", because they destroyed so many British aircraft! Mike

Thanks Bart, In fact I can take no credit for any of the editing, all of the tiles you see were produced by others, such as Stary, Gepard and Max188. All that I've done is mix'n'match (or not match, as the case may be). I certainly haven't figured out how to create layers within tiles! Right now my root problem is that I can't save my work in Ultimate Paint in a format that is recognised by FE. What editing program do you use, and in what format do you save your *.TGA files (32-bit, 24-bit, interlaced, etc etc?)? Mike

Bart, I had a similar problem when I was fiddling around with the transparency of the Rhine River tiles, trying to get them to match Stary's seasonal tiles. I used the Ultimate Paint(UP) utility, and when I set them to 0% transparency (255 Alpha in UP), I got just the effect you are describing. In the end I settled back to use the stock Vogesen FRRhine tiles (Gepard's originals?) included by your good self in the pack you uploaded in December last. They're not quite the right shade/intensity to fit with Stary's tiles, but are close enough - especially as most of the action takes place well to the west of the Rhine. Mike

Good luck Mike, I spent 25 years in the Service (72-97), regret none of it, have very many happy memories (especially of working with our top-of-the-line SNCOs and WOs), and feel privileged to have been able to be part of such a proud, yet understated tradition of professionalism and achievement. I wish you all the best with your efforts to join, be not downhearted, there has _always_ been competition to get in! Mike

Hello again Still having fun fine-tuning my FE graphics, benefiting from the work of the experts. Just noticed an odd thing though, the presentation of the barbed wire between the trenches seems to have become "less better", if I can coin a phrase. Until just recently, what I think I was seeing was a relatively dense area of "sticks" in the wired areas, nicely representing the posts and stanchions used to secure the wire. As I say, I think that's what I saw, and I think that these came from someone's graphics update pack. Trouble is I've fiddled so much lately that I'm no longer sure that I saw them (maybe it's a Senior Moment.. ), nor can I recall where they came from. What I'm seeing now though, are the separate grey "wire" panels from the TEROBJECT_WIRES1.TGA file that comes with the default FE graphics, see below: So, help (again) please. Was I seeing things, or is there a better wire graphic out there - and if so, where? Thanks all Mike

Interesting idea, SB, but I'm a wee bit confused about the alternative skins reference because as far as I can see, the A-Team's Aviatik CII model comes with only one skin, and I can't seem to find alts in the CombatAce downloads section. Where can one find the other skins that you refer to, Orange Square, Alb, Rumpler etc? Mike

Gary, I initially put back the default ww1cambrai_data.ini [AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] text, as follows: [AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=FALSE RenderedInOrder=TRUE AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE CullMode=NO_CULL LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=2.000000 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE But I've since replaced that with this minor change: [AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=TRUE //FALSE RenderedInOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE CullMode=NO_CULL LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=2.000000 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE Because the latter seems to have solved the jagged-edge surface mist problem I was suffering from a few weeks ago. It's all up to user preference of course - which is one of the great things about FE. Mike

In the last couple of weeks I've been tinkering with Stary's new seasonal terrains to enhance Edward's Flanders and Gepard's Vosgesen. Thanks to a lot of help from Stary, I'm happy to report that these terrains now have the same excellent seasonal effects as Cambrai and Verdun. There's one snag that's still bothering me though (which I hasten to say, pre-dates Stary's recent work). In both Flanders and Vosgesen, there's an odd change of land "brightness" and water shade at the coastal and Rhine River tiles respectively. On checking, I find a similar (though less marked) problem with the lake edges in Verdun, please see the attachments. Does anyone know how to sort these issues, is there a tile-specific "shade/brightness" parameter tucked away somewhere? Thanks Mike

Good call PR, I just tried reverting the [AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] section of the ww1cambrai_data.ini file back to the original parameters, and the wire is back to "normal". So far Stary's trees still seem to be OK too. Fingers crossed.. Mike

I've read a lot in the OFF forum about the immersion factor of that excellent sim, so I thought I'd share a recollection of a recent very immersive mission in FE. I was running the Operation Michael campaign, using Stary's new terrain & effects mods and Panama Red's recent realistic sky mod. My persona was Lt Tom Cundall of 46 Sqn, flying a Clerget Camel (readers of Yeates' classic "Winged Victory" will understand). It started as a simple morning four-machine Offensive Patrol over the Hun lines. Recently I've re-set the starting position to "on the ground", so that I can enjoy Stary's new terrain as I take off and climb out. The early Spring countryside looked very nice, turning green with just the occasional field still showing signs of frost. The trip to the Lines was uneventful, though there was quite a lot of cloud about. Even at this stage in the war it was sad to see how the villages closer to the Lines show the ravages of almost four years of conflict. Shortly after crossing the lines at about 8000ft, we spotted a couple of Hun 2-seaters heading out to do their morning mischief. We swung round to take them from the east, and after a quick scan to make sure that no other HA were in sight I gave the signal to attack. I took on the right-hand Hun, which turned but to be a remarkably tough-skinned DFW. I must have hit him with a couple of hundred rounds, but he simply refused to go down. This was odd, because often only a few dozen hits suffices, and I have known EA go down with the pilot killed after only the shortest of bursts. Maybe I was firing from too far away. Mind you I must have hit the gunner, because during the engagement I noticed that he wasn't firing back any more. In the end I heard the ominous "click" meaning that I had shot off all of my ammunition. Time to go home Tom. But as I gave the "reform" signal, I realised that the rest of the flight, and the other DFW, were nowhere to be seen. To be seen instead were a couple of Tripes and an Albatros, heading straight for me... So it was stuff the nose down and get the hell out. Went down to tree-top level, and ran away bravely to the west. Shades of Biggles hedge-hopping back to the safety of the Lines! One of the Tripes started taking pot-shots at me, and soon I was using all the tricks, swinging into the last line of fire, skidding sideways, popping up then diving to the side, and all the time tracers were flashing by so close I swear I could almost smell the cordite. Often I would see the dirt kicking up from bullet striked on either side or in front, and often (too often) I would hear the clacking sound of bullets hitting my Camel. After a few minutes of this the Lines arrived, and I began to breath a wee bit easier. Everyone knows that the Hun prefers to stay on his side of the Lines, right? Wrong!! This one followed me over, shooting all the time, with his mates close behind. Thank God he was in a Tripe, so that he wasn't actually fast enough to catch up. So now it was time to get down really low, go like hell and hope to get home in time for the mid-morning tea and toast without twisting so hard that I gave the other chap time to catch up. BTW this is where Stary's new terrain really starred (sorry.. ) To cut a long story short, I made it back to my home airfield with the engine still running full chat, and not enough airframe damage to seriously hinder my machine's flying ability. So I plonked her down as quick as I could and as close as I could get to one of the ack-ack MGs, which was already blazing away at my pursuer. To give him credit, he came all the way, and tried to shoot me up on the ground on my own home airfield! As he zoomed overhead, I saw for the first time. It was a Fokker Triplane alright. An all-red Fokker Triplane... At this point all I wanted to do was run and hide in the kitchen!!! The other two Huns then turned up and took a couple of pot-shots before heading home, the other Tripe was flown by von Wedel, I recognised his "wheel", and the Albatros carried Flashar's well-known dragon. Not sure how much I'm looking forward to the next mission in this campaign, now that I know who we have for neighbours.. BTW only one of the other three chaps made it back, and they didn't get their DFW either. Mike

That's a good idea Hansa, how does one include an ace and his aircraft in a campaign file? What text goes where? Mike