ShrikeHawk

I agree storm. I'm still "fiddling." I had blue coming through in a lot of the clouds (mask was catching some of the background), so I was fixing that. A little tweak to the vertical component and I think I'll get those random (and tall) shapes back again.

Thanks guys. The transition is pretty good. Varying levels of all white until you're through. Sometimes you definitely get the tunnel effect. Credit TK for the idea of layering cloud images on top of each other to build complex shapes. The effect this can have is that you think you're passing through a solid wall of cloud when you're actually not and you feel like you're entering a tunnel. Fun! Chasing a mig through is a real thrill too. Still working on this, though it's going in the right direction now.

Yay! Finally got the result I was looking for in WoI. It took building a whole new image and a lot of cursing, hehe. The object was to create varied looking clouds producing random shapes and depth. Here's the the same cloud used with Widesky.

I think they'll work fine with the widesky mod. I always boost my cloudcount the way widesky does. And I expect they'll look pretty much the same without horizon clouds. I'll have to test that. I wasn't getting quite the same results in WoI so I've been creating a new cloud image for it.

After purchasing WoI and SFG I immediately put my old cloud mod from FE into them. But I thought the grayish lowlights didn't fit well with the bluer skies I see in the modern skies. So, cloud enthusiast that I am, I set about making a new cloud1.tga. Here's the result... Took these shots in SFG. I think this new version blends well with the horizon clouds.

For me, Tk's games hit that sweet spot between complexity and playability. For the first time, I'm flying jets and firing missiles without feeling overwhelmed by the "keyboard drill". Normally, I'm a total "prophead". There's very few improvements I can think of, but here's a couple ideas: - Improve the graphics for when close to the ground so the mudmovers get some eye-candy. The aircraft graphics look great to me, so I don't think they need anymore help. - Single mission creation - I'd like to select the specific aircraft, enemy count, skins and terrain I want to fly against, ala Il-2. - Voices need to be upgraded. Not every American sounds like they're from Alabama (I suppose I could do this myself). Just now the voices in WoI don't fit at all. It also would be nice to support sub-folders in the speech folder so you could include a pointer to it from the aircraft.ini or aircraft_data file. - Support for variable cloud files (Cloud1.tga, Cloud2.tga, etc). You could probably use the %d variable already in place in the environmentsystem.ini. You could have a lot of variety with multiple cloud sets that automatically (as opposed to editing the .ini) run on mission start. Cheers!

Nice! Hope you don't mind if your F18 screenie is now my wallpaper.

Got it! Thanks for the assist, all, and also for the links to resources. I'll be using them.

Ah yes - that was the sky mod I had gotten before. I just got that and loaded it into my WoI install. Also, I made my own cloud1.tga mod for FE a while ago. I recently changed it again and included edits to the alpha channel as well as the image. It works in WoI and I'm getting good results... Just recently had a great mission where I caught 3 mig-17s in a landing pattern. Surprised the heck out of me. I just love the depth of this game! These guys were easy meat. Thanks to CA_Stary for the awesome effects.

Ha! I thought I saw that one. It looks great. My new computer should show up tomorrow (Quad 2.88GHz CPU 4Gb RAM GTX260 vidcard WinXp64 bit - Oy!) and it should run WoI much better than my current machine (3.05GHz CPU 1Gb RAM 256mg V-card). It stutters quite a bit and a lot with widesky installed. I'll be re-installing everything (and more) with the new machine. I'll be going for a merged install with SF2 and SF2V and a SPF1 Gold install with the new India terrain and several installs for WW2 (China, Pacific, BoB). Woot! Lots of plans ahead for me.

Awesome! Thanks so much guys. It's been a while since I diddled with FE so I couldn't remember. I'm planning to jump in the Mystere, Super Mystere, and Sa'ar. Definitely a Hunter. And what the heck, It'll be fun to fly the Migs too. I had a rough time last night in a Nesher trying to turn inside a Mig-17. Finally gave up and boomed and zoomed him 'til I gunned him down. I'd like to get inside a '17 and see what it feels like to turn 'n burn like that. I still like my old WoE version made for the Israeli theatre, but WoI is definitely an improvement over the older sim. I can't remember where I got my Ourangon, but I'm hoping it'll work okay in WoI.

Gorgeous Phantom shot, mikepie. Is that the widesky mod?

I'm seeing all these great AI aircraft in my WoI install and I would love to fly them. So what do you need to convert them into a flyable version? I know I need a cockpit any <aircraft>_data.ini mods? Anything else?

Oy! So many addons added since I was last here. I'm really excited to get SF2V, but I wonder what addons could be used with it that were developed for other products? Can you add addon aircraft SFP1 or WoV or WoE? What about terrains? I see there's an Indian terrain out there now. Would that be usable? Sorry if this has already been asked. Thanks!

Love the Sopwith Tripes, Gambit. Will you be posting those up? ShrikeHawk

Why does it have be 72 virgins? I'd rather have 72 sluts. At least they would know how to do it properly!

I have a lot of different moods. Right now I'm listening to Celtic, not Celtic Rock, just Celtic. Later, I might listen to Jethro Tull, Tempest, or Clannad. Later I might jump to Blues and listen John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters. Then again I might try jazz with Weather Report, Spyro Gyro, or Al Di Meola But I listen to classic rock the most by far. Even that has moods; Hippie Mood: Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y Funk mood: Spinners, Temptations, Cold Blood Good Times Rock: Doobie Brothers, Bad Company, Montrose, Kansas, Chicago, AC/DC Progressive Rock (old meaning): Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, Pink Floyd Head Music: Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Allman Brothers More Recent Rock: Black Crowes, Soundgarden, U2, InXS, Pearl Jam The list is actually much larger, but you get the idea

Nice work! Target-rich environments are always a happy thing, though a bit dangerous, hehehe.

Thanks guys. If anyone is interested. There's one last one. I finally got the olive color to "stay" reasonably olive through the whole streaking process. After creating the streaks, many artifacts of the streaking method remain. Blurring removes them but brings much of the green out of the olive I start with. So I end up with a brighter green than intended. Finally, I can let this skin rest. And thanks for your indulgence. Here's a screenie: Voss9 Cheers! ShrikeHawk

View File Voss Skin Pak Voss skinpak for the Fokker Dr.1 10/13/2007 by ShrikeHawk Original model and skin by the A-Team of: Capun, Gramps, Charles, Kesselbrut & The Wrench We had a lengthy debate about what the true colors and streak pattern should be for Werner Voss' triplane. Everyone could find examples on the internet somewhere from a good source. But very often these sources conflicted with one another. So I could never decide on exactly how Voss' skin should look. I made many examples. These are four of my favorites. I will leave it up to the users to decide which one they Like best. The download is pretty chunky (24mg). Sorry about that, but it does include four different skins. The archive is highly compressed. Let me know via PM if you have any trouble with it. Good hunting! ShrikeHawk Submitter ShrikeHawk Submitted 10/14/2007 Category Fokker Skins

Well, I have made my last skin for Voss. I just now posted up four of my favorites in a Voss Skin Pak. Here's how the last one turned out... Voss7 Cheers! ShrikeHawk

That Cockpit looks great 'Gator! The last mod was great and I was satisfied with it. Jumped on it right away, hehehe. And then here you go and make it even better. I'll be making your latest adjustments as soon as possible. Hey Warlord - I've been continuing to work on the Voss skin. I've got it so applying the new paint can be done in mere minutes. The trick has been making the swatches that I copy the paint from. I haven't been quite satisfied and have made lots of paint swatches - 41 different ones in fact. And that was just for the Voss skin. I created 10 swatches for the Udet skin. *picky picky* hehehe. And I have 15 different, layered .psp files each with up to 3 skins buried in all the layers. The folder where I've put all the skinning files is up to 447Mg! Almost the same size as a fresh First Eagles installation. Well, I was much happier with how the streaking came out for the Udet skin. So I've been using a similar technique for Voss. Now, my Voss skin folder now has 6 different variations. These latest two have a more "roughish" look as though the paint was hastily applied. I kinda like that. I'm not sure if the balance between blue, green, and olive is correct. But trying to get that balance is partly why I ended up with so many swatches. Here's the latest two skins: Voss5 Voss6 I'm thinking of posting a "Voss Skin Pack" so people could pick out the one they like best. The information on Voss' colors is varied and conflicting it's hard to get a good read on what it should look like. With a skin pack people could make their own decision. Just a thought. Cheers! ShrikeHawk

Some more quotables...Happy Birthday Marines! "Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking!" FERDINAND FOCH "We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!" CHESTY PULLER, USMC "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." GEORGE ORWELL "We're not retreating, Hell! We're just attacking in a different direction!" GEN. OLIVER SMITH, USMC "Teufelhunde! (Devil Dogs)" GERMAN SOLDIERS, WW1 at BELLEAU WOOD "So they've got us surrounded, good! Now we can fire in any direction, those b*****ds won't get away this time!" CHESTY PULLER, USMC WE STOLE THE EAGLE FROM THE AIR FORCE, THE ANCHOR FROM THE NAVY AND THE ROPE FROM THE ARMY. ON THE SEVENTH DAY WHILE GOD RESTED, WE OVERRAN HIS PERIMETER, STOLE THE GLOBE AND WE'VE BEEN RUNNING THE WHOLE SHOW EVER SINCE. ShrikeHawk

Indeed, I did hear that treasonous phrase mentioned here. I didn't shoot the idiot because they aren't in season just now... There really are some rational minds here in San Francisco. And those who could attend had a great time watching the Blue Angels fly. My cam has lousy zoom, but here's some pics I took at the event. Fat Albert showing off: The Blue Angels! No dogs, cats, or squirrels were frightened or injured during the performance. Although it is rumored that Chris Daly pissed himself... Next Day: Fleet Week is still on. So the Marines showed up at the 49er game. ooh rah! We could've used these guys in the offensive line... Cheers! ShrikeHawk