themightysrc

OK then. Who's going to start the thread? I will if no one else will! Here are my basic criteria for a good campaign game. I know people will disagree, and I've probably omitted bits and bobs, but we should start somewhere: 1. If you create a pilot, that pilot flies only for the country he's eligible for. No more Capt. Willy Coppitt RFC turning up flying DVIIs, thank you. 2. You should be able to create a pilot from any time that his country put military aircraft into the field. If that means flying missions in late 1914 that are deathly dull because there are so few enemy planes so be it. If you come across one and have no better weapon available that a revolver or a house brick, that's your look out. At least you get to fly! 3. Let's have spotter missions. How difficult would it be to have ground missions - similar to bombing missions - where you have to go to map reference (or in game terms mission point) X and then fly and take photos, or relay ground positions? Given that multiplayer games seem to have communication with other pilots (don't know, never tried them), then surely having an AI 'base' receiving instructions can't be that fecking hard, can it? (please correct me if I'm wrong) 4. Two seaters where you can take up residence in the gunner's position. Perhaps this exists already in FE, but I'm not aware of it. 5. Much improved facilities between missions - this is where RB3D really pisses all over FE's chips. Apart from change the composition of one's flight, there's really a dearth of stuff to do other than sit back and get fed the next mission. RB3D had stuff to look at, local pilots and squadrons to check out, intelligence reports and more. In other words, all the sort of atmospheric stuff that immersed players in the genre and game. And that's not even taking account of transfers to other squadrons. I've sat, teeth aching with frustration, as yet another jobsworth has repeatedly condemned me to a premature and ill-deserved death flying some crappy deathtrap when a true administrative genius would, with a kindly hand, sign that order to allow me to join Squadron/Jasta/Escadrille X to fly the 'ultimate' scout. You know how it works. Except in FE it doesn't, and it damn well should. 6. Cover all the main planes from the major countries, and allow players to partake of minor powers - Austria-Hungary, for example (who wouldn't fancy a quick whizz over the Alps in a Brandenburg scout?) - within historical time limits. 7. Multiengine bombers and zeppelins, flyable and able to bob round the various crew positions? Yes please. And their opponents, as part of longer campaigns - if that means transfers to/from mainland England, then fab. 8. The ability to get promoted to leader of a fighting unit and to choose (within reason) where to site a squadron, and to influence the type of mission flown. That can't be difficult, surely. 9. Historical online documentation, perhaps modified by time/place. For example, if it's 1916 and EI's are rampaging through the skies, you can look up basic details on them. Come 1917, you get to read rather more. Ditto stuff about the ground war, or naval war, such as it was. 10. More varied and interesting ground/base detail that actually more closely reflects the places portrayed in the game. I've never been to a WWI airfield, but I'd guess that they were rather less insipid than those seen in FE. Given that this is more or less the first view a new player to FE has of his surroundings in the campaign game, at least make it appealing. 11. Oh, nearly forgot. Decent inflight sounds for damage and stresses on aircraft. It was the second thing about RB3D that freaked me out (the first was hearing church bells from a Sopwith Pup at 3000 feet), but is immensely atmospheric. There you go. That's my putative wishlist. They're all aimed at immersion in the game. As I said previously, without atmosphere and the player buying into the whole thing as a gaming world, they might as well play Gas Barbecue Simulator 2008. Thoughts?

Have to agree with a previous poster. Get in as close as you can and pump as many rounds as possible into the pilot/engine. Also, have a serious look at the add ons produced by the FE gaming community. For me, they turned the game from being an expensive also ran into a very close contender to RB3D. Unfortunately, the campaign game is still rubbish, but that's the fault of the designers, not the modders. The Bloody April add on campaign is excellent and if it had been produced by Third Wire would probably have won awards. It still makes my list of fecking marvellous additions to a standard game, in the same way as the Western Front Patch in RB3D. As for putting out an engine fire by diving - I appear to end up dead long before I can even think of trying this, but there again I am a completely crap pilot, so that might explain it.

RB3D does look a bit old, and does get flaky after sustained play, but there's no better campaign play yet, AFAIK. I've heard a little about OFF, but it doesn't seem to inspire people like RB3D (and FE) does. What is FS-WW1? I've never heard of this one. I suppose my take is that, ultimately, FE is a beautiful looking game with dreadful campaign play. I like to have a sense of self determination - as per RB3D - and I don't get that with FE. You gets yer campaign, and that's it. If somebody can prove me wrong by pointing me to a campaign engine/system for FE that pisses all over that in the current FE (or enhanced RB3D), then I'd be absolutely delighted. What FE lacks (IMHO) is the supporting bits and bobs that add atmosphere to what is otherwise simply a flight sim. I know that that's stating the bleedin' obvious, but it simply is not as rounded a game as RB3D, and, until it is, I'll continue to favour the latter over FE.

Hiya, I've been following this thread fitfully, and I was wondering if you have a single downloadable that I can try I out? I'm relatively sound on PCs and downloading stuff for FE (thank you all you modders who've made the game more playable), so if it's a straight install/overlay, fire away. Cheers, Si

Hello all, Despite having a very enhanced version of First Eagles - with add ons from here; where else? - I decided to resurrect RB3D and see if I couldn't make it equally good looking, given that the gameplay is somewhat better! Since then, I've downloaded and applied the permanent sound fix, the Hell's Angels patch (which I've discarded as being too troublesome), and finally - joy of joys - the other week the Western Front Patch (which seems to be version 5.0) which provides full integration with CM11 and allows you to enjoy many more planes. Hurrah! The other day though, I finally received my copy of Full Canvas Jacket through the post, which, whilst largely excellent, doesn't expand on the number of aircraft available (unlike WFP). Trying to combine the two (inevitably) led to the whole thing going tits up, and starting the reloads all over again. Bah, humbug. So here's the question: I think I'll need two instances of RB3D - how can I achieve this, one for WFP and one for FCJ? Cheers for any replies, Si

Peter, I've downloaded oodles of user-generated aircraft, campaigns and so forth, and I was wondering if you'd care to proffer an opinion about adding in your flight model into that heady mix. I didn't get the FE expansion pack - I could see no point, and various posters seemed to think it was only of minimal benefit. So, if I download and install your FM, would I be right in thinking that I'll shoot down even fewer aircraft than I do now, and end up getting shot down even more? Biggles' continued existence depends on your answer! Cheers, Si

Why, thank you very much! Downloaded - will try to use it later... Reloaded RB3D, then added Full Canvas Jacket, and then (tentatively) added Western Front Patch. Everything was fine until I added the last one, although I've had it working before now, dammit. It just hung when you entered the campaign screen. Felt very miffed. Deleted everything I'd installed. Sulked briefly. Fired up First Eagles and shot down an Albatros III. Felt better. Will try again this evening to get all three (RB3D, FCJ and WFP) working together, otherwise I really will have to go for 2 separate installations, which I'd rather not do. But there you go. I'll report back later, or tomorrow. Thanks for all the help, chaps. Si

Sorry to be starting so many threads of late, but I'd be interested, now that EP1 has come out, to know what FE afficionados would like to see in EP2 (assuming there will be one)? What would be in your EP2, and why?

Fabulous stuff. If you find that exciting, may I direct you to this site? http://wwiaircombat.com/ Scroll down to Red Baron 3D. You'll find buckets of stuff to keep you happy. I've been feeling smug ever since I found it.

Thanks to everyone who's replied thus far; there've been some brilliant suggestions, and I do hope that someone at Third Wire reads this thread. My own wishes - at the moment - would probably be as follows: 1. More flyable planes, where applicable with gunner/observer 'jump to'. That'd make two seaters interesting. 2. More non-flyables, for increased character to the game. I'd love to see a Voisen or two, plus Brandenburgs and more. I bet that would spur modellers on! 3. Earlier planes wouldn't harm. Let a new player evolve as the fledgling airforces did - I'm sure there's a campaign in there. 4. Put in a library of objects as standard. IL2 managed it; it's only a small addition, and would help reflect all the research that surely must have been undertaken for FE. Show off and benefit from it. 5. Have a truly dynamic campaign. Having played FE and compared it (inevitably, I hear you groan) with RB3D, one of the best features of RB3D was the dynamic campaign. I adored the ability to switch squadrons, but there was a real sense of achievement in surviving the war with X kills, plus the logbook where you could actually revel in those sorties where you'd bagged a Hun/Tommy. Not to underestimated, given that player immersion and suspension of reality is what games like FE are ultimately about. I mean, if you wanted to fly a Camel that bad, you'd buy one. 6. More gradual - but noticeable - damage. Perhaps I've missed something by not buying EP1 (yet), but I've found that it's easy to be bobbing along without various bits of plane and not really notice. This could, I concede, be me, so that might be in abeyance. 7. Rockets! Yes! Please God! 8. Here's one I've yet to see: squadrons where there is a mix of aircraft. This wasn't that unusual in WWI, and would add greatly to the atmosphere and possibilities (although I'm sure the coding would be a bugger). You're in a DH2 squadron but don't fancy getting minced up by the nasty Albatros IIIs and Pfaltzs? OK, talk the CO into letting you loose in that Nieuport 17 over there. 9. That's all for now. 10. Err. I think. Thanks for reading - particularly if you're a ThirdWire bod!

As a fellow recent discoverer of FE (and CombatACE as well), I'd strongly recommend that you download as many of the add-on planes found here as you can. Mostly pretty straightforward. Then you should add the Flanders terrain and the Bloody April campaign. That's what FE should be about, rather than concentrating on the last 2 months of a war that lasted over 4 years and had aerial combat in it almost from the start.

Hi, I've been amazed and entertained by the aircraft produced by people from CombatACE. Bravo - I tip my hat to you all. How, though, would someone new to the game go about producing a new aircraft for FE? What software is needed? Just wondering. Cheers, Si

Thanks for the above. The prices look a bit daunting, so I might just wait until the bank account looks healthier! Thank you for any other tips you might care to pass on. Cheers, Si

Blimey, I only found out yesterday that the Expansion Pack existed! What's it like? Is it worth getting? Will installing it destroy all the installation work I've done with stuff from this site. Basically, is it worth it, and does it make the campaign play less piss poor?

Hi all, Only discovered this fab site the other day, in a search to find stuff that'd make First Eagles more interesting. Needless to say, I've found quite a lot of stuff on here, and it's all fab. Thank you all for your efforts - I appreciate them. The thing that is most disappointing about FE is the campaign side. It doesn't seem to be a patch on RB3D. So why aren't I playing RB3D, I hear you ask? Well, after upgrading my poor old PC running Win2000 to a new one running XP, I was horrified to find that my beloved RB3D wouldn't load. Thinking it was a corrupted CD I bought another copy from a German vendor on Ebay, which *did* load on XP - joy of joys! But. Yes, you've guessed, although I hadn't when I bought it: everything's in German, with which I have but a vestigial knowledge. And the keyboard layout seems to be German too, making it more or less unplayable. Hence the migration to FE. My questions. What can I do to get a working (English) version of RB3D that loads on XP? What happened to RB3D generally? I don't lurk much around PC game sites, so I'm a little mystified as to why the makers did bring out an updated version that looked better and flew better. Sorry if this all seems pretty numptyish/newbyish, and thanks for any replies (particularly those that don't laugh at my inability to spot the bleedin' obvious! Cheers, Si

Thanks chaps, Those sites have been bookmarked, and I'll be perusing them tomorrow. Am I right in thinking, though, that there isn't an English language version of RB3D that loads under XP? I can hardly believe it. How do other players cope? This surely can't be the case. Cheers anyway, Si