Geezer

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll remember that if/when I ever release the Libya map. On that subject, more shots below. Once again, this ground tile art should not bring a recent computer to its knees as it is only 1024x1024.

Yes, VERY interesting maps. Thanks. Below is a snippet from a 1942 US Army Air Corps map - this is what pilots actually used in WW2. I've often wondered if it would be possible to hit the M key, and see maps like this?

Spectacular work by LloydNB. He is painting the rib tapes into his Sea Gladiator artwork. Lower wing shows art in preliminary stage, while upper wing shows final look. The tape art lines up with the actual 3D ribs of the model! Second shot of my art shows how sunlight falls on the 3D shapes that simulate the wing ribs. From certain angles, the wing ribs were very evident.

For those of you who like doing research, here is some interesting stuff. Desert airfields in Egypt: http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/targetnorthafrica/Egypt/index.html Shot below shows active airfields/airfield complexes June 1940 - December 1940. Italians are green, and Brits are blue.

Thanks. Two examples of research below, to further enrich the gaming experience. First shot is of primary source docs, and second is what an actual 1940 desert airfield looks like today. For more airfield info: http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/targetnorthafrica/Libya/index.html

Thanks. More test shots below, where I screw around with Google shots of various sizes. First shot is 1024 artwork pasted to a standard FE ground tile. I've had some interesting discussions with Gepard and the When Thunder Rolled guy about constructing realistic maps. Also, I have professional experience making models and gameworlds for aerospace training simulators, so I hope to roll everything I've learned into a Libyan game map suitable for the 1940 and maybe 1941 North African campaigns.

Yep, and once again I want to thank you for teaching me the mod ropes. Two Gladiators (Mk 2 and Sea Gladiator) use the cockpit I am working now. The Mk 1 cockpit has different instrument panel and gunsight, and will get done after the Mk 2/Sea Glad. The models also require new gun and sound files, plus the usual packaging effort so I'm guessing they should be ready by around New Year. After that, I will make some Asian river objects and try to get the Hurricane's landing gear working. Landing gear, flaps, radio, etc all work in FE, but I have the same problem you do when making gear animations. No dedicated game maps as yet, but I occasionally tinker with terrain tile art so I think I know enough to start a map of Libya/Egypt someday, using 1024 tiles in FE/FE2. Example below.

As soon as we can get it done. I don't need to tell you how much work is required to release an aircraft - we are talking THREE Gladiators here! Baffmeister's efforts are significant, but subtle. For instance, he has worked out some "typical" recip engine performance tables that better simulate real engine performance at various altitudes. The good news is this stuff can roll into other aircraft as we get them done. The bad news is that TW software does not model propeller performance well. Baff, Lloyd, and I are exploring late 1930s aircraft technology - the last biplanes (Glad, CR42, etc) and the first monoplanes (Hurricane, etc). They are interested in 1940 Italian East Africa, Battle of France, Battle of Britain, and Malta. I'm helping, but am also interested in earlier stuff such as 1937 China.

LloydNB is going to town on the Sea Gladiator skins, and Baffmeister is tweaking the FM. Meanwhile, I'm making good progress on the MK2 cockpit, shown next to the CR42 cockpit.

Forgot to include info on values - lightness/darkness. Old B & W photos can be useful if you select them carefully. But beware - lens filters, over-exposure, under-exposure, etc can all distort the values (shades of gray) in an old photo. You want photos that have a full range of light, medium, and dark grays. While not infallible, this will usually identify photos that accurately show how light or dark the old camo colors were. Make a shot of the skins you are working on, and then make a desaturated copy of that shot. Compare your desaturated shot to an old B & W shot to see how close your light, medium, and dark values are. Usually, your first colors will be too dark because you did not compensate for optical illusions. In first shot below, the dark green is a bit too light in value compared to the real world dark green shown in the original photo, but the light tan is not quite light enough. In the original photo, note the faint red "10" just ahead of the white fuselage band. Then compare it's shade of gray to the red "5" of the model skins. Pretty close - close enough to say "that's good enough." Second shot of the Hurricane reveals two problems. First, the yellow ring of the fuselage roundel is not light enough. Second, the gameworld's light settings are generally too dark. If that were a real photo of a real Hurricane in bright sunshine, the upper surfaces of the wings would be reflecting more light - they would not be as dark as they are in the screen shot.