Nicholas Bell

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

Guess I have a bit of Mick Mannock in me, as I am disappointed in the lack of flamers in FE2. I like to see them roast all the way down. Been working on this a while and the only way I’ve found to increase the frequency of flamers is by modifying the AIRCRAFTOBJECT.INI. The “APRoundFireChance” has to be dramatically increased far beyond what seems realistic. This is “mod for effect”. Even setting it at 100 percent doesn’t mean the target will burn everyone time. I would start at 50 and modify to taste from there. If you leave the other values at the default, burning aircraft will likely explode before they hit the ground. I prefer them to burn until they crash – they are not jets with thousands of gallons of JP-4 in them after all. I’m still working on balancing the FireCheckTime and the ProgressionChance to achieve this. If the ProgressChance is too low the aircraft will continue to fly around burning. I have added DamageRating=DESTROYED to the Fuel Tank on all my planes but this doesn’t seem to help stop them from flying. [ObjectFire] FireCheckTime= 12.0 //6.0 Number of seconds between checks for progression and explosion? APRoundFireChance=50 //1 HERoundFireChance=5 HERoundExplosionChance=1 ExplosionChance=0 //1 They still explode even at zero SuppressionChance=1 //10 I’ve seen plenty of fires snuffed out ProgressionChance=8 //15 This is just where I am at in testing. I hope you will experiment yourself with this and perhaps we can find the correct balance. If you don’t want your planes exploding like jets when they crash remark out this in the AIRCRAFTOBJECT.INI [GameObjectEffect] //ObjectExplosionEffect=AircraftExplosionEffect

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.

The number of collisions my AI squadron is suffering in campaigns is getting to the point of absolute frustration. I've got the damage model and gun lethality to a more realistic level I can live with, but I lose at least 1 or 2 planes to collisions on every mission. Especially bad in German campaigns, but it cuts across the board on nation, aircraft type, AI experience level. And it's not just happening in a head on merge, either. I realize this is not a new complaint, having done a search on the topic and read the discussion about whether edits to the AI might be having an impact . Just wondering if anyone has independently found anything in the last few years to solve this problem (or at least point to the source). I'm at the point of thinking about eliminating collision points (other than those required to land properly) and putting up with planes flying thru each. Thanks.

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

I’ve been playing some heavily modified versions of Ojcar’s Armchair Aces for 1917. Really appreciate the “heavy lifting” he did creating these. Tweaking them is a breeze compared to starting with a 3W campaign. Been working on attempting to decrease the casualty rates via a number of approaches – the hit boxes, other damage model settings, AI settings, gun accuracy and lethality. As a base for starting, I’m using the Von S FM mods where available, and Peter’s to fill in any gaps that Von S hasn’t hit yet. Probably the most important thing I “discovered” (realize this is not new to others, but it’s been since 2007 since I last played…) was that single missions and campaign missions played out entirely differently. In campaign missions the AI pilots will at least on occasion break off from combat, while in single missions it’s a fight to the death. So here I am doing test after test in single missions attempting to increase the probability of the AI breaking off, all for naught. Jokes on me. But the fact remains that the AI will break off the chase or bug out of a fight. Unfortunately this doesn’t have anything to do with odds stacked against them or altitude disadvantage. On the other hand I experienced an interesting situation while flying a Pup and being chased by an Albatros D3 for a good 5 minutes. After I crossed the lines into friendly territory I turned on him and managed to fire off a few rounds in his general direction before running out of ammo. I don’t think I hit him, but he obviously had had enough and flew off in the general direction of his lines. OTOH I had a stubborn bugger follow me all the way back to base just last night. I need to check out the AI data for the Brisfit, as I’ve noted that they will often break off, fly a ways off, then turn about and re-engage. Lewis equipped Nieuports also display this behavior which I suppose is related to the reload time assigned the weapon. After they fire off all their reloads they will break off and fly home. The Brisfits are nasty! I understand why the Germans avoided them. They’re fast, maneuverable, and spit fire from both ends… I’ve often wondered about the apparent ineffectiveness of AAA. By using Debug and a lot of sight seeing after being shot down or while flying back to base I’ve noted a lot of 2 seaters along the front lines with light damage and no enemy aircraft about. I was really surprised while chasing an Albatross and it was hit by a flak burst which blew off both right wings - right in front of me. And it was German flak aiming at me which did him in. Unlucky bastard. Playing a campaign in a single gun plane is a totally different experience than a 2 gun fighter. Despite the higher rate of fire of a Vickers, it seems damned difficult (realistic?) to down any German plane. Lucky if I get 1 kill in 10 missions… While flying for the Germans the AI seems to do better with those single gun fighters against me… In my 1917 campaigns I’ve bumped up the experience of the Jastas and a few RFC squadrons (where appropriate like No 56) to 100 Experience and Morale. I’ve noted that flying against these Jastas as opposed to flying with them is a different experience. Against them, the Albatri AI pilots display what appears to be teamwork. What they look like is a school of sharks! I see them circling together, attacking together, and tag teaming me similar to wingman behavior in SF2. What’s odd is I don’t see that while flying an Albatross. Nor do I see similar behavior in the RFC units. Now I know this has nothing to do with the code favoring the Germans, so it must be something to do with the AI data. I also think the Albatros’s relative lack of maneuverability might have something to do with it. The faster and more maneuverable allied aircraft have a tendency to really spread out with all their twisting and turning, and this may inhibit the AI cooperation. More observation is necessary… Need to look at the DH2 damage model. On several occasions I’ve seen them on the ground going in circles, tipped up on one wheel. The German fighters came down to strafe them, so they are not in DISABLED mode (AI ignores all aircraft in this state). Some element of the DH2 which is tagged as HEAVY in the damage model needs to be changed to DISABLED or DESTROYED. UFO landing. Saw an Albatros stop in mid air over an airfield and float pretty much straight down until it touched down, at which point it rolled forward a bit. I saw an amazing display of AI piloting a week ago. A German 2 seater – I think it was an LVG – was attacked and did a slide-slip. Cool, except it kept flying sideways and losing altitude. Well, this pilot was so damn good he flew that plane sideways with the right wing pointing forward until he completed a 3 point landing. Then he immediately proceeded to take off, this time with the propeller in front, LOL. I didn’t know the RFC had Russian pilots. I witnessed an SE-5a perform a taran attack on a German DFW. Flew up to it and literally sawed off the DFWs tail, losing only his propeller in the process. The German plane fell in 2 pieces, ending that crew’s existence. The SE-5a pilot glided down to safe landing. Was flying a Pfalz DIII escorting a couple of C-types on a deep recon mission. Unusual mission for the Germans. Things went south when we were intercepted by Camels. My engine was knocked out at about 4000 feet altitude, so I did my best to glide back across the lines. We were so deep I didn’t even get close. Little did I know I had such excellent escape and evasion skills, for I turned up the next day at the squadron unharmed. I’ve also had flight members forced down behind German lines make it back to the squadron, although usually wounded… Murder. I’ve been feeling guilty about an incident from a few days ago. Flying an Albatros against DH-5s. Now I’ve toned down the UFO-like FM of the DH-5 quite a bit, but it remains a maneuverable foe difficult to keep in one’s sights. So here I am in a hard twisting fight with this DH-5, getting off short, high deflection bursts when all of a sudden the pilot stops maneuvering and flies level. We were not close to the ground. Was he wounded? I matched his speed, pulled up right on his tail and aimed for the pilots back. He slumped forward out of sight and the plane dove straight into the ground.

Huh. I wasn't able to get the results I wanted without reducing MaxRollFormation dramatically, although I only lowered the FormationRollForVelocity to 0.05. Rather than me just being "wrong" - I would suggest we are approaching the solution to the problem from slightly different angles.

You're welcome. And thank you for your FM edits. They take a lot more effort. I'm running out of steam on this myself. I should note the stock 3W Albatros D3's and D5's, DFW, Camels and Spads are good enough not to bother with them. I've been decreasing the pilot sizes a bit, but if someone wants to do that for these they can do that on their own (reduce the x value to 0.25 and -0.25).

Here's how to stop your wingmen from "waltzing" from side to side in formation. Yeah, I know it's not really waltzing but that's what comes to my mind when they roll from one side to other in unison. I did a forum search and came up empty, so hope I'm not repeating old news... Each aircraft is a little different, and if you push the values too far they become too steady. Adjust to suite your taste - and post your edits on other aircraft. The critical factor is the MaxRollFormation. The common value of 5.0 creates overcorrection which starts the cycle of rolling from side to side. Examples: AlbatrosD3_Data.ini [AIData] . . FormationSpeedForPosition=.4 //0.8 FormationSpeedForRate=0.2 //0.5 . . MaxRollFormation=0.9 //5.0 <----critical FormationRollForPosition=0.8 //0.01 FormationRollForVelocity=0.05 //0.2 . /////////////////////////////////// CAMELF1_110_DATA.INI [AIData] . . FormationSpeedForPosition=.4 //0.8 FormationSpeedForRate=0.2 //0.5 . . MaxRollFormation=1.0 //5.0 FormationRollForPosition=0.8 //0.01 FormationRollForVelocity=0.05 //0.2 . ////////////////////////////////// PfalzD3_DATA.INI [AIData] . . MaxRollFormation=0.8 //5.0 FormationRollForPosition=0.8 //0.01 FormationRollForVelocity=0.1 //0.2 ////////////////////////////////// Pup_Data.ini [AIData] . . FormationSpeedForPosition=.4 //0.8 FormationSpeedForRate=0.2 //0.5 . . MaxRollFormation=0.7 //5.0 FormationRollForPosition=0.8 //0.01 FormationRollForVelocity=0.05 //0.2 .

Be2c Be2d Dolphin Salmson A2 3W Strutter 110/130 Strutter 1A2 Walfish HitBox Files 4-14-16.zip