Geezer

When I get burned out, I work on ground stuff for a change of pace. WIP shots below are of an Italian artillery battery used in the 1940 desert war. Both sides would often mount a ladder on a truck bed to give an observer a longer view.

Steve - thanks. As Wrench once pointed out, the FE2 software will occasionally switch the .ini file type from ANSI to UNICODE. Also, LloydNB is doing an exceptional job on the Sea Gladiator skins. Despite the holiday, I got a little work done on the cockpit.

Right now, I don't have an answer for your first question as I only run FE2. Has anyone else had a problem running the Halberstadt or CR42 in FE/FEG? First Eagles WW2 is still evolving, so I don't have a crystal clear idea of what it will eventually look like. I am working with several other guys to develop 1930s biplanes/early monoplanes, and we intend to release stuff for FE2 and SF2. Hopefully, a bunch of Gladiators will be released for both FE2/SF2 soon-ish, The CR42 will be released for SF2 pretty soon, plus an update for FE2. 2nd generation software runs faster, plus has other advantages that have not been fully exploited. Consequently, our focus will be on 2nd generation FE2 and SF2. I am also cooperating with other guys in an effort to improve game maps, ground objects, etc - not just aircraft. FE/FE2 software has a clear advantage for the low and slow aerial combat of WW1 through the 1930s. For SF ground tile art to look the same as FE art ingame, the SF art would have to be sixteen times larger, with an obvious frame rate penalty. Also, FE software only draws the cockpit once - for the gamer's aircraft - so large numbers of dog fighting aircraft don't penalize frame rates as much as they would in SF. This all comes together in FE/FE2 because most aerial combat - even in the early days of WW2 - was low level combat. While there are numerous records of combat at "angels one five" in early WW2, there are just as many records of combat occurring at "angels five." Two reasons for that. First, the fighters went to where the bombers/recce aircraft were and they frequently operated at low altitudes because the early bomb sights lost accuracy at high altitude (except the Norden, Loftje, etc). Second was aircrew in open cockpits did not function well at high altitudes. Yes, they could function, but their efficiency fell off at high altitude so there was a natural tendency to plan ops at 10K feet or less - often a LOT less. Two examples below.

I'm busy with Real World stuff, but hope to return soon - I may include the broken pencil and cigarette butt from the Martinsyde G.100.

Lovely.

Personally, I am more interested in airplanes than cockpits. You make a good point, but this is a situation where theory collides head-on with reality. Reality is that modders don't get paid to do unpleasant stuff - they work for fun/satisfaction/whatever. Making cockpits is a complex, time-consuming pain in the ass - an interactive cockpit is MORE work than an airplane. That's why I don't do working instruments. Indeed, I am looking at ways to simplify my cockpits to reduce development time. Bottom line: if it ain't fun, I ain't gonna do it.

Making good progress on the cockpit. First shot shows model before mapping and texturing. Second and third shot shows progress this morning. Last shot shows what the model looked like when mapping. Now you know why most modelers, including myself, don't like making cockpits.

Thanks. The first block of 1940 aircraft, shown below, is coming along nicely. Combined with Lloyd's Sea Gladiator, there should be a bunch of Gladiators ready around Christmas/New Year.

LloydNB and I are making good progress. Shot below of inwork cockpit.

Thanks. To give credit where credit is due, the five shots immediately above feature aircraft/skins by Hinchenbrooke (Gauntlet) and MontyCZ (B534 and Stuka). All I did was adjust the colors a bit and drop them into Gterl's excellent WW1 Italian Front. I've also adjusted some of the the Italian Front's colors, plus used some excellent sky files I got from Quack74. Gterl and I have begun work on a Spanish Civil War mod, but its on hold right now. Two shots below show preliminary work that can also be rolled into other mods.

If this 1940 desert war map ever gets made, then it would be easy to use it for 1941-42 scenarios. Afrika Korps models shown below.