Geezer

Haven't had much time for modding, but have been able to experiment a bit with terrain tile art. By trial and error, I've found that a Google map shot with the scale bar at "200 feet" will paste down on a 500m FE terrain tile and - almost - look real.

Looking better and better.

Outstanding work!

I just posted the 1940 desert CR42 in First Eagles. Late this year, or early next year, I'll develop a BoB version for SF2. Shot below show testing of BoB camo colors. Some of the Italian aircraft sent to Belgium were repainted in northern European colors, while others retained their Mediterranean colors - see second shot.

Resumed work on the BoF Gladiator, plus tweaked the colors for the BoB CR42.

Yes. Mostly it was psychological - you want a .45 in your hand if you are going down a dark alley. Also, some Communist pilots weren't trained well enough to use their range advantage, and would close on the B-52, allowing the tail guns to get some hits.

Apologies for not answering sooner. Sure, some medals would be greatly appreciated.

Gterl has not been able to work on the mod recently, but may resume work soon. Meanwhile, I am working on ground objects. You can track progress at the SCW thread: http://combatace.com/topic/86464-spanish-civil-war/

Thanks. It will be a while before the Spanish Civil War mod is complete, but I assume Gterl would not object to someone borrowing his tile art. Should ask him to be certain. Meanwhile, I hope to tinker with 2048 size tile art for SF. They won't look as good as FE tiles, but they should look a bit better than current SF tiles.

Shot below shows same colors used late-war in a kind of splinter camo.

OK - send me everything you can. I am already up to my eyeballs in work for Gterl's Spanish Civil War mod, but I'll tinker with the Range once in a while. Gterl is making dynamite 1024 terrain art for Spain - sample below.

The above map is Gterl's WW1 Italian Front map running in FE2, using Jan Tuma's 512x512 artwork (with occasional higher res art showing better furrows, fields, etc). Desert shots below show really large experimental 2048x2048 artwork applied to SF2-sized ground tiles. The "problem" is SF and FE have different sized ground tiles. So artwork that looks pretty good in FE does not look so good in SF because it must be stretched across a ground tile sixteen times larger than the FE tile. Larger artwork, such as the 2048x2048 desert art, looks like it is the only workable way to improve SF2 terrain at low altitude. Assuming several dozen examples of 2048 art were to get made, the problem becomes one of frame rate performance. Has anyone ever tried using 2048 art in a large SF map? I am busy with lots of other stuff, but if someone was willing to make an experimental map I would be willing to donate a few 2048x2048 examples of desert art.

Steve - Looking good, especially the cockpit.

More shots...

Progress shot of BoB camo, plus first stab at hi-res ground tiles.

My hitch in the USAF was spent maintaining B-52 tail gun systems. All B-52s through (and including) the G-model were equipped with MD-9/ASG-15 fire control systems, armed with four .50 machine guns. Only the H-model was equipped with the ASG-21 fire control system, armed with a 20mm Vulcan rotary cannon. Early radar-directed gunnery systems had difficulty getting enough 20mm cannon hits to destroy a target quickly. A .50 machine gun had a higher rate of fire than a 20mm cannon, so closely concentrating four of them in a turret created a kind of flying shotgun that would get more hits than a slower firing 20mm cannon. Eventually two things happened to change this: - Airborne radar gradually improved to where it could precisely, and continuously, track and hit a target - The Vulcan Gatling gun had a higher rate of fire than conventional 20mm canons or .50 machine guns The two combined to guarantee enough hits in a short engagement time. At about the same time, improvements in air-to-air missiles extended their effective range beyond a 20mm cannon's range, so the cannons were eventually removed to save weight. The flying shotgun:

File Name: Halberstadt D5 File Submitter: Geezer File Submitted: 07 June 2015 File Category: Other Central Powers Aircraft This aircraft is an all-new model, with hi-res skins. The D5 was basically a cleaned up D3. The upper wing structure was revised with a simpler strut system that improved pilot visibility, and the exhaust system was simplified. The D5 had provision for two Spandau machine guns, but usually just one was installed on the left side (to save weight). The D5's structure was very strong for its day, but the 120 hp engine was not powerful enough to match the performance of Albatross fighters so only fifty-seven D5s were built. A separate graphics pack will be posted soon, containing textures and templates. To install, unzip the contents to a new folder. For FE/FEG: I don't have them so I don't know how to install these files. If you run FE/FEG and have trouble loading these files, post a question in the First Eagles section here at Combat Ace - someone should help you. For FE2: Copies of three ini files - ENVIRONMENTSYSTEM, SOUNDLIST, VIEWLIST - go in your FLIGHT folder. A copy of the HalberstadtD5 folder goes in your OBJECTS/AIRCRAFT folder. A copy of the Pilots folder goes in your OBJECTS folder. A copy of the SOUNDS folder goes in your First Eagles 2 folder (alongside FLIGHT, OBJECTS, etc) There is a long list of guys who helped me produce this aircraft, or posted stuff that I used to complete the package: - Stephen1918 - Ojcar - gambit168 - Sully - Southside Bucky - Nixou - Viper63a I've probably forgotten someone - if so, my apologies. Enjoy! Click here to download this file