Mike Dora

Does anyone know how to remove the overwing Lewis gun from the Skunkworks' very fine Bristol Fighter? While it is "nice to have", these additional weapons were extremely uncommon in normal squadron service. Do I just have to delete the block headed "[LewisGun]" from the *data.ini file, or is there something else I need to do to remove the Lewis gun model from the ac's image? Mike

Many thanks P10ppy Worked first time, now the Brisfit _looks_ like a Brisfit should! You know, I started off very sceptical about this sim, seemed like WW1-lite in its initial incarnation, but with all the mods and customisation, I'm now well and truly hooked. Now if only someone could do a DH4, DH9, Hannoverana and maybe a Halberstadt CLII.. ?? Mike

Does anyone know how to change the stock map icons from a USAS SPAD XIII and (I think) Fok DVII? With all due respect to our American cousins (and gratitude for their support.. ), the USAS really only fully participated in the air war for its last 4 months or so.. and the Fok DVII didn't arrive much earlier. Seems to me that a Camel or an SE5a vs an Albatros would be more appropriate? Any ideas anyone? Mike

That was very quick and very good - thanks!

A-ha! Thanks Peter

Peter Let me add my thanks to all the others, for all the hard work you have done in bringing more realism to FE, and ask a question. What is the function of the blocks headed [Dogfight***] in the ***_Data.ini files? I didn't notice these blocks in the original FE ***_Data.ini files, or did I miss something? Mike

Right Bucky Mainly the Harleyfords, complemented by various aicraft Profiles, magazine articles etc. We _did_ have resources "back" then, though perhaps not as many, as deep or as thouroughly researched as today! I got my first Harleyford "Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-8 War" as a Christmas present in 1966. At the time it cost my parents the princely sum of £5 (=$14 in those days). 42 years, one marriage, 2 (grown-up) daughters, one air force career, half a second career, and one change of continents later, I still have the 1914-18 set. Where I go, they go. Blame Biggles. Mike

Wholly applauded Bucky I had the same issue with mutually incompatible pairings. One of the unique aspects of WW1 air combat was the extremely rapid pace of development, deployment and obsolescence of aircraft types, far more so than in WW2 (and forget about "today" - the Typhoon is only now reaching maturity in full squadron service with the RAF, about 25 _years_ after the first flight of its pre-prototype version, the EAP). The fact that the "atmosphere" over the Front was constantly changing is one of the reasons why it is so hard to use a sim engine designed for another era for a WW1 sim - indeed, one of RB2's immersive strengths was the way in which it handled this aspect (especially with all the subsequent third-party mods like Campaign Manager, Western Front Patch etc etc). That said, TK has really done a magic job "bending" a jet sim engine to the open cockpit era. Sometimes I can almost smell the cordite! Incidentally, way (way way way!) back in 1972, I had a Strategy & Tactics magazine's map-and-counters "Flying Circus" WW1 dogfight boardgame, and did something very similar to what you have just done, by drawing up a table showing service entry and exit dates for all the ac in the game.. Mike

After initial huge scepticism, I have to admit that FE is growing on me - maybe it was the TrackIR that did it, being able to look around and even "lean out" really adds to the immersion. But - I still have a "thing" about major chunks of airframe falling off aircraft. I recall that there is some way of reducing this effect, can someone please remind me what it is? Thanks Mike

Thanks again Tailspin, The various tweaks have transformed my FE experience. In summary, I implemented the "StructuralFactor=2" for all major airframe components, set "DetachWhenDestroyed=FALSE" for all except main wing components, fins and tailplanes, lowered the bullet mass to 60% of the original values, and also applied a lower "MaxG" to the lower wings of all V-strutters (I'm still experimenting between 3.5 (N.11) and 4.5 (Alb DVa)). Now while control surfaces can still be shot away, it takes a much more punishment to knock off something big (and wings come off in realistic complete pieces, not in unprototypical segments), and the V-strutters have a tendency to shed a lower wing if they dive too fast and pull out too hard. _Now_ it feels like the Western Front! Many thanks again for your advice. (Now all I need is for someone to create the final missing ac: DH4, DH9, Han CLIIIa, Halb CLII, a realistic BE2c/BE2e, and maybe some more German C-types?)(Not asking for much, am I?) Mike

Thanks Tailspin (I like the Pilot Officer Prune-type cartoon, BTW), Next question. Where do I find GunData.ini and GunData.dat? I'm guessing I need some kind of utility program to "unpack" and/or "repack" them? Mike

I mean the other way round - I find no great satisfaction in pointing my machine at a target, firing a short burst, often from quite a long range, and seeing it immediately going down trailing smoke. Heaven knows I am no Ball or Boelcke, I would expect to have to try an awful lot harder to acheive a kill.. Mike

Thanks Tailspin I followed your advice, and have had an interesting couple of weeks of experimentation. In the end what I have set up is a combination of DetachWhenDestroyed=FALSE for midwings and wingtips, and StructuralFactor=2 for everything _except_ for V-strutters' lower wings. This means that all aicraft are more resilient than with the stock models, but when wings come off, it is a whole wing not a (non-prototypical) wing "panel". The caveat for V-strutters' lower wings simulates the well-known weaknesses of Nieuports 11-27 and Albatri DIII-DVa - these obligingly come to bits _just_ that bit more easily. The next challenge I have to resolve, is how to stop engines conking out and smoking after only a few hits. Last night I sent a Camel down trailing smoke after firing just 38 rounds at a couple of hundred yards, only 9 of which hit - and some of these knocked off a couple of control surfaces (shades of Stachel's claim for two victories when in reality his guns had jammed after only a handful of rounds.. ). Should I set the "nose" StructuralFactor to some higher number? Mike

I have just installed the FE Expansion Pack, and have found that the old "Check Six" view (Sh-F5) no longer seems to be available. Does anyone know of a key or combination giving a quick look directly behind the aeroplane? On a wider note, while the expansion pack plus downloaded improved models plus selected tweaks have helped overcome my previous annoyance, targetted planes' habit of shedding major portions of airframe after only a couple of hits, I do still have a major problem with the available views. I feel like I am flying with Tunnel Vision, and as they say "lose the sight, lose the fight"! Is there any way (short of shelling out $$$ for TrackIR) to improve FE's view system to give the same kind of situational awareness as offered by RB3D, EAW or IL2? Thanks Mike

Thanks Tailspin, You gave me the clue I needed. I had installed the Expansion Pack _after_ the Apr 08 update. I just reinstalled the latter update, and lo and behold I got the Check Six view back. Not only that, on my quick test flight (SE5a's vs Alb DV's), not only did I survive for the first time, I actually got a couple of Albatri - my first FE victories. I think FE may be about to start growing on me. Mike

I was quite disappointed with FE when it first came out, mainly because of its very unrealistic damage model. Having a sky full of aeroplanes flying around and still fighting with large parts of their airframes missing seemed just silly (eg I think that von Hippel was one of the very few to survive the loss of a lower wing (in an Alb DV), and he certainly wasn't fighting after it came off.. ) However the sim did seem to have promise, so I would like to give it a second chance. Hence my question: are there now any "realism" mods out there, which correct FE's tendency to have 70% aeroplanes continuing to fight? Thanks Mike D