Nicholas Bell

Bristol F2b Fokker D3 Fokker EIIa Fokker EIIIa Halberstadt D5 Roland D2 Bristol Scouts HitBox Files 5-9-16.zip

Bombers that are hit and immediately drop their bombs are given an RTB order, whether light or heavy damage. Disabled status always results in RTB. Fighters usually RTB when they have heavy damage, although they may defend themselves. Going to experiment with changing component damage result states from disabled to heavy, the goal is to get more AI pilots to bug out and therefore reduce casualties. However, heavy damage can result in odd behavior dependent on which components are hit and the AI may attempt to continue to fly but is not able to. Disable status usually (but not always) allows for the AI to land deadstick. As noted in my other thread, I've found a way to get more engine and fuel tank fires. That has upset the balance I had with structural factors, VolumeStructurePoint, weapon and AI accuracy, and projectile weight. Back to having too many planes downed in an engagement. In one attempt to rectify this I lowered the weapon accuracy and accuracy to zero. Interestingly, this had little effect on the AI's ability to hit or the number of aircraft shot down. Evidently bullets with no weight or direction still are deadly! Seems only CannonFireAngle, GunnerAimOffset, and GunnerAccuracy have significant impacts on the AI.

Bortdafarm's 3D models are beautiful, but unfortunately the data files are a real mess and will require an extraordinary amount of effort to fix - if I even can. They are going to the bottom of the list, if I bother with them at all. So any one else who's looking for a challenge, please have at them. Still working on others...

I'm missing something here DO335. Is the problem that the CV TF's act as a strike magnet resulting in the annihilation of the Communist Airforces? No matter, the images look terrific. Couldn't help but think "Kamikaze"

Caudron G4 Halberstadt CLIV Nieuport 12 Nieuport 12 B Pfalz D8 Pfalz EI HitBox Files 5-3-16.zip

Are you satisfied with the frequency of such events? That is my interest - increasing the frequency. I'm still experimenting with the fire effects to get a long, narrow flame. Too narrow and it's hidden in the fuselage - especially the engine fires. (I guess not if you put them on the centerline as you mention, and near the top of the engine...) Has anyone seen a fuel leak effect? I spotted it once in how many thousands of engagements and it lasted maybe 2 seconds. FE2 has all these neat effects but I rarely see them. Usually it's just the smoke - unlike SF2 were I do the range of effects.

Yes, that goes against all my work on getting the hitboxes correctly sized so when you shoot at a plane you actually have to hit the 3D model, not just the air around it - as it currently is with many aircraft without the modified hitboxes. Plus there is the engine to consider - it can be damaged and just smoke, or it can catch fire - like in this situation. Fortunately the fire extinguished itself a couple of seconds after this screenshot and I was able to land without being fried.

Oh I've got the graphics effects just fine - I'm talking about the damage model. Stock they smoke a lot, but rarely burn.

Beautiful!

Thanks for that feedback on the pilot, that's higher than what I would have expected. You've saved me some work! Size is about the same. I eliminated all the wing collision points, just leaving the nose, fuselage, tail, and tail control surfaces. I still get a few more collisions than I would prefer. I'll be doing something similar when I get back to SF2 (I swing between FE2 and SF2 - don't fly them both at the same time...). One thing I was thinking about was that the collision points are also needed for landing. This is simply in FE2 since the landing gear are components of the fuselage and tail. In SF2 aircraft the landing gear are often components of the wings, so some investigation on how to approach this is in order.

Thanks, guys. I've got this down pretty good now so I can do one model in 30-60 minutes...dependent. 41 complete and I'm not counting how many more to do...LOL. Albatros D1 Albatros D2 Early and Late Halberstadt D3 Hannover CLII HitBox Files 4-29-16.zip

Fokker E II Fokker E III HP 400 Nieuport 10 Nieuport 11 Pfalz D12 Rumpler C1 HitBox Files 4-27-16.zip

Thanks, DO335! That did the trick for most of the effects. Still not getting the KAW tracers I want in FE2, but I've obviously messed up somewhere....

I don't think I'm having too many problems in SF2 WOE, but I may not be seeing what I am missing - if you know what I mean. I am noting a lot of problems in FE2 effects with win10. I feel as if the individual effects ini files are not being read, ie changes I make to them seem to have no effect, while editing the PARTICLESYSTEM.INI does... Also have problems with missing effects and have been especially frustrated by muzzle blast and tracer mods which just don't work. It was pointed out a while back that win10 is case-sensitive, and that it was necessary to ensure the names of the various files being called out in the ini files matched the case of the actual file. Might

Von S. This is looking good - I think a key factor is the reduction in the defensive angle. I had two separate occasions in single missions (flying as German) where the target flight flew by and kept going. Given they were SE-5s and SPAD 13s in each case I was unable to close on them - they just kept moving! This didn't happen in any of the campaign missions that I flew however. In the campaign missions the results fluctuated from too heavy to perfect. The last mission I flew yesterday was a balloon defense. Took 4 DVII (mercedes). There were 4-6 Allied aircraft in the general vicinity. My flight got 1 Camel - and it wasn't by me. I engaged a Camel and we continued to circle and make ineffective head-on passes at each other until he decided to bug out and fly home. Using debug I noted he had light damage only, and his current instructions were Waypoint. On the last head on I separated a bit and I'm thinking he may have lost sight of me (a function of that reduced defensive angle?). In other missions I've noted numerous planes with light or no damage with either RTB or WAYPOINT instructions moving them out of the fight. One negative I noted was an uptick in the number of planes hitting the ground. Increasing your SafeAltitude resolved this. I'm thinking this may have to do with me flying in 1918 and you're testing mid-war aircraft with lower speeds and therefore less difficulty pulling out. I'd suggest on higher powered aircraft using MaxRollCombat=360 and MaxPitchCombat commensurate with the planes climbing ability & stall speed (up to 75 degrees). With this I've seen practically all the classic maneuvers - full loops, barrel rolls, Immelmans, spit-s, hammerheads. SE-5's, SPADS and Camels really show their stuff. Also, I think ChanceTurnDirection needs to tested more. I'm thinking that lower values might be more useful than using 100 for ACE pilots. In defensive situations the AI's changing direction when in a turn fight is not helpful to their survival. On the original subject, I'm good with eliminating the wing collision points as a good method of getting the number of collisions under control. I very occasionally see one which is fine by me - like once in 10 missions.

Thanks, von S! Will check it out this weekend. Certainly sounds interesting! I know the code has at least some ability to make the AI appear to be doing some really realistic maneuvers. Just a "little" matter of finding out what variable causes it and making it repeatable...haha! Only able to fly one mission last night, but saw what appeared to be an incredibly SE 5a pilot. Saw him perform a perfect Immelman. Later he did a wonderful hammerhead to reverse onto one of my wingmen. It was kind of sad to see his plane side-slipping down after I pinged him at mid-range...pilot KIA. Sometimes I think it's a bit too easy to kill pilots - despite my reducing their hit box size. Wonder what impact increasing the pilot's structural factor would have... Oh, no collisions either.

Aviatik C2 Br 14 DH-2 Hanriot HD-1 Nieuport 17 & 23 Vickers Fb 5 HitBox Files 4-21-16.zip

I remarked out the wing collision points for all the planes (both sides) I have in a campaign. I left the nose, fuselage, tail, vertical & horizontal stabilizer collisions points. Excellent results. 3 missions with large numbers planes and had only 1 collision. One friendly hit the ground chasing a DISABLED Camel which was about to force land, so hitting the ground is not affected. Planes were able to land normally. Thinking I might put the wingtip collision points back in and leave their damage status as HEAVY. Feeling optimistic about this.

Interesting development. I've cut the squadron morale levels in half and the results appear good in the limited testing I've done. In conjunction with eliminating the wing collision points I had a mission with results I've never had in any FE2 mission. July 1918 and I lead 8 D VII on a cap. I don't follow the waypoints, but head directly for the front line and then follow it north. I spotted a couple of Salmsons heading northeast and order my flights to follow me and then engage, so we all started diving. Then a flight of Spads appeared and 6 of my flight peeled off on their own to deal with that, while one of the 2nd flights wingmen decided to stick by my side. I got distracted by what I thought were several Allied 2 seaters headed west (I use no HUD help at all) which turned out to be friendlies. The Salmson's got away - they are pretty fast. So my wingman and I turned about and climbed back into the fray which by that time included SE-5a's and Camels. Typical huge furball, but loose and more dodging than firing (low morale level?). I did get involved with one very aggressive SE-5a and we went up and down and round and round for maybe 10 minutes. They make me feel like I am standing still at times. Any way, I finally got on his tail at mid-range and fired to get his attention. While the log showed I didn't hit him, he climbed up and flew off to the west and eventually turned a bit evidently to hit a homeward bound waypoint (I kept padlock on him so I could watch his moves externally at distance). By that time the whole dogfight had fizzled out. So I RTB'ed. End result - NO collisions, and NO losses to my flight. And only 3 claims. None by me, 2 by one chap and 1 by another. Pretty impressive. Mind you my gun accuracy ratings are 1/2 normal, I've upped the VolumeStructurePoint to 2000 and done a myriad of other tweaks. But the most "historical" results I've seen yet in FE2. I will test further, and perhaps cut the squadron morale levels further. Sure would be good if any else could give this a try with their setup to see what the effect is. Nick

My experience is that losing missions even on "Normal" or "Easy" campaign difficulty settings can end a campaign real early. Agree that not making kills every mission is a lot more realistic. Thus my ignoring waypoints, ignoring the map and just headed in the general direction as I understood the mission, and using the "Request closest enemy" info from "Red Crown" (or whatever) as a pseudo-GCI (note I fly in Europe). Never know what will happen using this method.

If you need some specific information I have this excellent book. Happy to assist.

With you on this. I solve this issue with this edit in MISSIONCONTROL.INI: [Kills] AirKillsForSuccess=0 This way I can go hunting without worrying about the effects of "winning or losing". I play with all visual aids off and off planned course (unless using the "ground controller" to guide me) - which leads to a lot of surprises.

You're welcome! I hope they are improving the experience. Maybe just knowing they are a bit tighter with the actual model is enough. The Fokker D7's are fine. Here's a few more: Snipe Nieuport 28 Fe 8 Siemens-Schuckert D3 HitBox Files 4-18-16.zip

It's in the MISSIONCONTROL.INI [MissionControl] FormationFile=Formation.ini NationList=Nations.ini MaxEventLog=8192 MissionSummary=MissionSummary.ini RulesOfEngagement=FALSE I don't have SF2 Vietnam, but you'd think ROE would be implemented in that game.

Good stuff, Von S. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I've got my head pretty well stuck in the Western Front '17-18. But you've got me thinking.... Nick The Murderous Cad