Geezer

Gorgeous stuff! You put a LOT of effort into that, and it shows.

OK - I've found all of my old backups for WW1 pilots, WW1 AA guns, and Storm Over The Sahara (SOTS). I've also found FE, and FE2 - to avoid TK's tinkering, I don't want anything more recent? I have been away for some time and have forgotten A LOT, so bear with me when I ask questions. I also found a 1916 Morane-Saulnier Type P that is more-or-less complete and ready to map and texture. Some time ago, Panama Red very graciously tested some new FE pilots, but then I had to check out so we have lost touch with each other. I'm a models/textures guy, so someone else will have to assist with getting the new stuff ingame and working - contact me by PM if you are interested.

Sorry for the long silence, but I've been busy with real world stuff. I'm just now returning to modding, so I still have to inventory everything and figure out where I am. The good news is that, being recently retired, I will now have more time for Third Wire.

Good thinking! FE is the best Third Wire sim for low altitude action because of ground tile size. You could call your mod First Helos!

A number of WW1 airfield ground objects are undergoing test right now, many of them suitable for 1930s conflicts and WW2.

Thanks for the tip - I'll ask him.

I got this response in an email - someone might give it a try and see if it works? I am not 100% sure but I think you can have landing gears in FE/FE2 but just adding a couple of command lines in the Control\Default.ini file I know there are other commands that are not enabled in FE/FE2 that I turned on in the past by just adding those command lines. I think these commands (and others) are not in the Default.ini FLAPS_DOWN=JOYSTICK02_BUTTON10 FLAPS_UP=JOYSTICK02_BUTTON09 AIRBRAKES_TOGGLE=JOYSTICK02_BUTTON21 WHEELBRAKES_TOGGLE=JOYSTICK02_BUTTON20 LANDING_GEARS_TOGGLE=JOYSTICK02_BUTTON22 If it works, then Capun gets the credit.

Heh - doesn't bother me. I was aware of the non-jet handling problems in SF2, but that was not the main reason why I settled on FE2 as a vehicle for my stuff. The era I am interested in is basically the last dying gasp of the biplane. Those theaters - China, Libya, etc - were in many ways repeats of the Western Front in 1918: medium to low altitude combat with unsophisticated command/control and fairly primitive bombsights. FE's larger terrain tiles makes low altitude action look better - being coded for biplanes was an added plus. I realize that anti-ship action doesn't work very well in FE, but that kind of combat was not very prevalent in the theaters that interest me. Most of the action was dogfighting, strafing/ground attack, or fairly low altitude bombing. Not to worry - lots of WW1 ground stuff can be used in early WW2 situations.

Having found my old backups of FE stuff, I thought I'd ask the community about some hi-res ground objects that were among the old backups. These are airfield facilities that were deliberately made to push the envelope. The anti-aircraft models are fairly low poly and use small size bmps for artwork, but the airfield objects are higher-poly and use large bmps for artwork. They should still run on the FE2 game engine, but not everybody's computer will be able to handle the higher work load. If most of the guys still playing FE2 have old, low horsepower computers, there is little point in putting in the effort to release the ground objects. So....how many guys have fairly recent computers? Not uber computers, just healthy ones?

Thanks for the suggestion. It wasn't high on my list of things to do - it just fell off the page!

Heh - you have better reseach material than I do for East Africa. I'll keep that in mind as I transition to the early WW2 stuff.

Thanks for that input. It sounds like the SF code for retractable gear was not completely removed from FE? When I get around to "modern" aircraft - with retractable landing gear - I'll ask TK if it is possible to manually extend/retract landing gear in FE2.

The SM.81's dorsal turret was retractable, but I don't know about the ventral turret. My guess would be "probably." I've also started the Bristol Bombay - I don't think it was used in East Africa, but it was used as a night bomber/transport in Libya. I've also gathered reference data for the Vickers Valencia, which was used as a night bomber/transport in both theaters. The SM.79 is nearly complete, but I have not given any thought to retractable landing gear in FE2 - maybe just have the gear snap up and down?

Thanks - its good to be back. Yes, many of the FE ground objects will be suitable for SF. Searching through my old backups, I've also found some 1930s/WW2 hangars and buildings, in addition to many vehicles.

Yeah, its too bad that Third Wire isn't interested in FE2 any more - looks like TK has to focus on profitability to survive? That leaves it to us to improve the sim. As I've already made a number of figures and buildings, I'll continue on this theme to improve airfield atmosphere - more workshops, support vehicles, and ground crews. I am a 3D model and texture guy who does not enjoy the final phase of production - setting up the various files and then play testing. Is anyone interested in assisting me?

Sounds encouraging. IIRC, ground objects can have a LOD0 (close up object) and a LOD1 (distant object). The ground object LOD1s are designed to cut the art and poly workload by around 50%, so they should work OK. I have some additional models that are not yet mapped and textured - after finishing the pilots, I'll work on both the AA stuff and expand the airfield ground objects. Looks like FE2 can also use some additional vehicles for atmosphere? What else? When the old team was working on the AA stuff, we tried making duckboards work but weren't successful. The ground sloped too much - one end would be above ground level while the other end would be below ground level. Damn shame, really - the Western Front was notorious for mud. Also, the altitude gap between AA machine guns and AA cannons was filled with light auto cannons of around 37mm. The Maxim "pom-pom" was used by both sides, so German and British versions were developed to add historical realism to AA defenses. Guns such as this were responsible for the "flaming onions" described by many pilots.

Yes - I'll make a brown version, then desaturate a copy to make a black version for both types of pilot.

Well, I finally found the 3D model for the WW1 pilot, but not the maps or textures. As long as I have to re-map and re-texture, I thought I'd use the opportunity to make two new pilots - one for summer and one for winter. Both are significantly narrower than the first pilot, and both have shortened legs to prevent the pilots' feet from sticking out the bottom of the aircraft.

Now that I've figured out how to post shots on a thread (thanks Steven1918), I thought I'd add a few that depict the flavor of that "forgotten war." There were some monoplanes, but most of them were first generation with wooden/steel tube structures and fixed landing gear. Only a handful had all metal structures and retractable landing gear. The flavor (and the combat) was more like the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.

Good suggestion. When I find and modify the WW1 pilots, I will also shorten their legs.

Below are two more shots of Italian gunners for Storm Over The Sahara.

Thanks - will keep looking for old pilot models, then narrow them so they will fit in all cockpits. On subject of old gunner models, did they fit within cockpit when gun traversed? I can't remember. If not, I can experiment with the lower torsos so they do not protrude outside of aircraft when gun is elevated or traversed to the side. New Storm Over Sahara models below:

Got one planned, along with an A.13 and M11/39. In the fullness of time.....

Thanks - will give it a try. Have been splitting my mod time between the BB and a CR42 cockpit, but may decide to concentrate on the BB. Will also look for old backups this weekend that have the WW1 pilots and gunners that quack74 asked about some time ago. Given the state of my garage, I never know what is lurking in the shadows.....

Thanks. They've been sitting on my hard drives for a couple of years, so I'm determined to finish them - though it will take a while. Maybe that will generate enough interest for someone else to get involved?