OlPaint01

Hello All I have completed the second installment of the complete survey of the Pilots Dossiers section of OFF:BHaH. This second spreadsheet of Aces, Aerodromes, and Aircraft covers all the French Fighter Escadrilles. The speadsheet is in Excel Workbook format and contains three Worksheets. As before, if you don't have M$ Office you can open the Workbook file inside M$ Excel 2003 Viewer. The link for downloading the Viewer is shown in the first post of this thread. OlPaint01

Mike That is excellent advice!!! I am modifying my Weapons.ini to follow your recommendations with these settings. It really scales down the explosions. Definitely much more believable. Olpaint01

Mike TS is on to something. I was dissatisfied with the huge bomb craters and explosions that the M17 grenades made with the SmallBombEffects choice listed for EffectClassName. I changed it to ClusterBombEffects and now I get a nice small bright explosion typical for a hand grenade that does not throw a huge cloud of dirt into the air and does not leave a crater. You can tone down the explosion visuals by stepping down the effects object choice. I believe you can also permanently edit the effect type in Weapons Editor for each weapon. OlPaint01

Thanks PR I got 'em. OlPaint01

Hello PR I would like copies of the FMs that you edited as well. If you don't mind. Thanks in advance. OlPaint01 PS, OT, have you made any progress with the Terrain Tile edits? I am getting inspired again. Trying to see if I can recover any of my work from an archived backup.

Hello Mike Would you mind posting your _targets.ini file when you finish editing it. I started to add more balloons and missing bridges with AA protection awhile back. But lost interest in the project when I could not get the alignments right. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. I hope you don't mind sharing. OlPaint01

Hey Peter01 Spot On! I had completely forgotten about editing the Soundlist.ini file in the Flight folder to add the Hotchkiss and LeRhone sounds from p10ppy's Morane mod file. I had incorrectly assumed that the game program would auto-add all of the .wav files that are in the Sounds Folder. I was proved wrong. Thanks for the reminder. I have some editing to complete. OlPaint01

Peter01 I have the same issue with the Hotchkiss gun for the P10ppy's Morane-Salnier N. The gun animation is working fine, but I am getting no Gun Fire sound since installing your latest FM files. The hotchkiss.wav file plays just fine in Media Player. OlPaint01

Hello All There have got to be CFS3 sites that have published Seagoing War Vessels that could be adapted to OFF:Phase3. I found a link on Regs Hangar Website that points to Ground Crew Design Group's Official Website with Naval vessels for download. Weren't the Dreadnought Class of Battle Wagon around for WWI? Definitely the four stacker destroyers were brand new for WWI. Has anyone tryed to mod the already published Fighting Ships to remove the WWII equipment upgrades that were applied in shipyards between the Wars - like Radar antennas and such? We also need a good Tramp Freighter for crossing the Channel with war materials. OlPaint01

Hey BB The missions on SOH Library will not play at all when shaken "Out of the Box". I believe that a little editing in a text editor is required. RAF_Lou and Duck both have said the the aircraft naming conventions have changed from the Phase2/CFS3 to the naming conventions in OFF:Phase3. I am in the process of teaching myself how to convert the old missions to OFF Phase3 format right now. OlPaint01

Hey Duck I did not realize that we could move the CFS3 stuff over to OFF so easily. That is an excellent suggestion. I have to check that out. Do you suppose that I can find the seagoing vessels to make the SOH Channel Missions work in the default folders of CFS3 - like freighters, E-Boats, U-Boats, Cruisers, Destroyers, etc? It would be outstanding if we could build a mission to launch Camels from the deck of a British Aircraft Carrier to attack the Zeppelin sheds. OlPaint01

Hello Duck The folks at SimsOutHouse (SOH) have finally repaired the download links on the Add-ons > Library > CFS3 Missions & Campaigns (Over Flanders Fields) pages. I have grabbed all missions that Pilotsden, British_Eh, Sp1t2, EuroFinn, WildFowler, and O-1Driver have posted for Phase 1 thru Phase 3. I hope I have not left somebody's name out of the list, sorry. I realize the you and Stumpjumper and RAF_Lou are heavily involved in building Multiplayer missions but I could not find any of your work at SOH. I am discovering as I unpack the compressed files that some of the missions have Vehicles, Buildings, Facilities, or Aircraft Addons zipped up and attached with some of the several missions. I am wondering if these addons are public domain and could they be used to build new missions. My impression is that we need permissions from the original designers to do that. Couldn't these Addons be used as a starter set for an Addons Library in a Missions/Campaigns Section Sticky? I have already grabbed the ZeppelinL30 and the Gotha bomber and Searchlights and flown the MP missions you and others have built. I have tested them in SP mode. Absolutely outstanding experiences! I also just found your post with the Port_Sub_Base facility addon so I now will be able to fly the rest of PD's Boys of 60 Squad missions. The Missions part of OFF is really drawing me in!!! OlPaint01

Hello TailSpin With the FMs that Peter01 has published for First Eagles EP1 Nov 08 patch which add the ability to fly the heavy A/C, I have been inspired to fly bomber missions in the game. I see realistic damage at the aerodromes that I attack with smoke and flame showing on direct hits on the various assets and ruined structures or vehicles or aircraft remaining. But I am unable to see any visible damage to the bridges that I attack and apparently score direct hits upon. Are there LOD and BMP files that I need to load to show dropped bridge spans after a successful attack? OlPaint01

Panama Red, Thank you for taking up the fallen banner... I am right in the middle of completing my A+ certification studies so RL has a hard grip on any of my spare time. But I would very much like to contribute to the effort you continue. I was just on the verge of understanding the workings of the Terrain Editor when I lost my files. Several folks have expressed the opinion that photo realistic landscape is not worth the effort. I disagree. Edward's Flanders Terrain is stunning. IMHO, it really contributes to the game immersion. OlPaint01

Hello Quack Not to steal the thread, but... the pics that you included in your post above show a beautiful photo realistic landscape. Whose Terrain Tiles Set are you using in your Simm, if I might ask? OlPaint01

Hello Panama Red Have you approached Gepard or B Bandy RFC. Both these excellent terrain modders have released the recent Vogesen Section terrain set and the Rhine River mod for it? They might be able to provide you with incites to the .tga file handling. I think the targa formatted files add rivers and trees and some scenery structures to the landscape. When I attempted to build the missing interfacing tiles using copy&paste method to construct a complete superset of tiles, I was frustrated with trying to blend the edges of the two adjacent tiles to make a seamless match. Also the color and hue was difficult to manage for the different season sets. Unfortunately, I lost all my previous attempts to build a complete set of seasonal tiles for all the terrains - Flanders, Cambria, Verdun, and Vogesen - were lost when my hard drive crashed late last year. I would sure welcome your contributions to the community to make a visually pleasing landscape to fly over. OlPaint01

Hello Jan Tuma Do you have a beta set of tiles that you have completed for the Sudentenland 1938 campaign you might be able to publish at this time so we could test overlay them onto the Cambria sector terrain in First Eagles? Late last year I attempted to apply Edwards Photo Realistic Flanders terrain set in the Cambria sector but found that many interfacing tiles are missing; IE, grassland to farm, or forest, or NML, or whatever. I started to edit various Cambria tiles to build the missing tiles by copy and paste method from portions of the Edwards tiles but I lost all my work when my hard drive crashed. I have not been inspired to recreate my lost work. Jan Tuma, your work is stunning!!! I can not wait to get my hands on the First Eagles tiles and overlay them over TK's bland Seasonal tiles of repeating geometrical rectangular shaped fields and forests. I desire an interesting terrain to fly over. OlPaint01

Hi Tailspin, Would it be possible to reduce the number of direct bomb hits required to show visible damage? It is quite a difficult task to even score one hit without a workable bombsight in the heavy bombers at high altitude level. I can dive bomb fairly accurately now but it would be nice to see bomb damage after one direct hit. OlPaint01

Hello Uriah I have been following the work you folks are doing for the Sudetenland Mod for First Eagles, particularly the terrain tileset work. I done a little work trying to convert Edwards Flanders tiles to work with TK's Cambria and Verdun areas. It appears that all the terrain mods work off the same master set of tiles. The tile names seem to be in common with all areas for First Eagles: Verdun, Cambrai, Flanders and Vogesen WW1 terain. I assume that the Sudetenland tile set follows the same naming convention and all we need to do is drop the beautifully detailed, I assume photo realistic, new tiles directly into the terrain folders for each WWI area. So far Edward's Flanders terrain mod has been my inspiration. I am so looking forward to the day of publication when we can chuck out the drab featureless stock terrains for the gorgeous Sudetenland tiles. OlPaint01

Hello Quack Capun's A-Team HalbD3 throws the same kind of shadow shaft from the top of the vertical stabilizer to the ground. It appears as the dark shaft of shadow from the top of the tail all the way down to the real shadow outline on the ground below. I have noticed as I pan around the A/C outside view, the dark shaft disappears when the sky is the scene background only to reappear when the ground is the background. The only way to eliminate the dark shaft, as FastCargo suggests, is to turn off shadows in the HALBD3.INI file for the A/C. I have discovered that Bort's Halberstadt DII and DIII A/C do not show the same issue. But of course Peter01 has not optimized the FM for Bort's Halberstadt A/Cs. So I choose to fly A-Teams's aircraft without shadows enabled. OlPaint01

OVS Would it be possible to start a dedicated library subsection under the 3rd Party MODS Downloads Section of CombatACE, where we could park the Mission Facilities and Vehicles Addons that are being referenced in the new missions files from Stumpjumper, RAF_Louvert, Catch22, Sitting_Duck and many others? As we uncover mission parts or components that were included in old Phase 1 or Phase 2 missions, we could made them available for other modders to use in new mission designs. We already have set of searchlights, and a port facility from a few talented designers that could be posted. I am personally looking for water craft, like E-boats, submarines, freighters, war ships and maybe even an aircraft carrier for building new RNAS missions over the channel. OlPaint01

Hello Duck Does not the community have a standing policy that mission parts and components previously posted are available for use by other modders if appropriate recognition is placed in the new mission files to acknowledge the original designer? IMHO, It seems to me that, as a courtesy to the community, all the mission parts and components should be included inside the new mission archive with a Readme acknowledging the original designer when a new mission is posted - Or at least a good working link provided to where the part or component can be obtained. It is so aggravating to have to do a Google search for a mission part or component only to hit a deadend in a cold link that is several years old. Just my two cents... OlPaint01

Hello All Does not the community have a standing policy that mission parts and components previously posted are available for use by other modders if appropriate recognition is placed in the new mission files to the original designer? It seems to me, as a courtesy to the community, that all the mission parts and components should be included with a readme acknowledging the original designer in the new archive file when a new mission is posted - Or at least a good link provided to where the part or component can be obtained. I am just discovering how difficult some of the old Phase 2 mods parts can be to locate or let alone find the original author to get a permission for inclusion in a new mission file set. Most of the discovered links I am finding are deadends. I consider myself extremely lucky to even find a mod part or component included in any of these old phase 2 missions. OlPaint01

Hello RAF_Lou I believe you have discovered the tricks to convert old Phase 2 OFF missions to run in OFF:BHaH. Pilotsden and EuroFinn have hugh archives of Phase 2 missions over SOH that are just begging to be converted. Could you publish a "How To" for the rest of us unwashed to follow your methods? OlPaint01

RAF_Lou Man, that was quick...The mission is breathtaking. Intercepting a night raid of Gothas over London is quite a challenge. Can we adapt some more Phase 2 missions, Please? I am Lov'n It. OlPaint01