Herr Prop-Wasche

In testing my damage mods, I often set the AI against each other to observe the damage effects. Once the AI gets tagged, it tends to flop around a lot, but still manages to somehow fly for the most part. I sometimes wonder how they manage to fly so well against us after watching them fly around like drunken sailors against each other.

You are correct here, I think. Weights for aircraft in OFF include empty weight, ramp weight, loaded weight, and max gross weight. It appears that empty weight is the only variable used directly by the sim to determine flight performance. Weights for fuel and for the pilot are included elsewhere in the .cfg file and seem to go into ramp weight and loaded weight, but it is unclear if they have a direct effect on performance, although they do seem to indirectly effect speed, climb, dive, and turn to a certain extent. My main concern is what effect adding to the .cfg empty weight will have on the Center of Gravity and Center of Lift for the AI planes. Since we can't get in the AI cockpit, it will be difficult to determine if this might change a tail heavy plane into a nose heavy plane, or vice verso, for example.

Sounds exciting, H! Unfortunately, I'll probably have to wait until it is in the bargain bin--and has loads of user mods added to it!

I'm gonna go with a swing and a long drive to left-center field. Back, back, back, back, back, back--and she's outa here! Just like Pujols and his three homer night against Texas last night.

I think all of the OFF planes already have weight budgeted for fuel, so be sure not to include extra fuel weight into your added poundage. With the exception of the EV, weight for ammo and oil weight are not included in any plane. No plane has a specific weight allotted for "military load," as far as I am aware.

A swing and a solid hit up the middle!

At least in the player controlled planes, weight definitely has an influence, most notably in cruising speed, turn, and climb. Be sure to be careful about adding too much weight to the AI planes. One reason I think they do not suffer from weight like the player controlled planes is in order to compensate for the fact that they operate at approximately 70-80% throttle except when they want to climb or under combat conditions. When you wish to climb but they don't, they always seem to lag several hundred feet below you. But when they want to climb, they leave you in the dust! I think this is because CFS3 assumes their engines perform like WW2 engines--100% power reserved only for combat or emergency conditions. Good luck with the mod and be sure to let me know if you have any questions.

I'll try to have a look at your "proof of concept" later tonight, Lima, in between watching my St. Louis Cardinals play in the World Series. You are generally correct about the weight and balance section. In the EV, 97 extra lbs. were alloted to ammo and oil. That doesn't quite account for the difference between your sources and the max gross weight, but it does narrow the gap a bit. Incidentely, I haven't noticed any effect from changing the max gross weight in the cfg file, so I'm not sure it matters anyway. One thing that does matter, however, is the Center of Gravity and Center of Lift being affected by oil and ammo weight. If you look at the cfg file for the EV, you will see that the extra weight is placed a few feet in front of the pilot (I can't remember how much because i am not at my gaming computer). When I removed the weight, it had an effect on the plane's balance. So, if you want to add weight to the AI planes you will have to choose where to place it in the plane's fuselage. Adding the weight too far forward or rearward is likely to have a negative effect on the plane's FM.

I think I saw this before, but I will say it again: "Holy Freakin' Toledo!"

In theory, it sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure it works in practice. You are correct the the issue is an FM issue, and involves the .cfg and possibly the .air files. You are also correct that the human pilot uses the QC and Sqd version of his particular aircraft, while the AI uses the AC1, AC2...SQ4 versions. So, in theory it should be possible to add some weight to the AI planes. The main problem is that altering the weight is likely to have an influence on the flight dynamics of the AI flown aircraft. Currently, I am working on a revised FM for the Fokker EV. In the .cfg file for the EV, I noticed that the EV has extra settings for oil and ammunition weight. The EV is the only aircraft in OFF with these weights added to the FM, probably because the source was from an actual test flight of a captured D VIII which listed these weights. I felt it was a little unfair for the EV to be the only plane to be carrying this extra weight, so I took it out of the cfg file. Not surprisingly, the revised EV flew faster, had a better turn, and climbed better than the official version. The problem was that other parts of the flight model also changed. Without being able to actually get in the virtual cockpit and fly the ligter plane, I don't know if I would have been able to correct the new problems. Of course, we can't do that with the AI planes, so I'm afraid if I added any extra weight, it might cause some strange and possibly undesirable effects on the AI's ability to fly the plane. The best we can do is watch how the AI seems to adjust to flying the heavier aircraft and then guess as to what else in the FM may have to be adjusted. In short, I don't think I have enough time right now to devote to such a big project. However, if you are interested in working on your own FM, I can give you some advice on how to avoid conflicts so you don't get the dreaded "this aircraft is not an OFF certified aircraft" and can't be used in QC battles or the main campaign warning. You might also be able to tempt me into working on at least one "test of concept" project to see just how difficult the whole thing might be to implement.

If the weather gets hot where you are, may I suggest a golfing hat instead of a baseball cap, which covers your entire head.

Swing and a miss!

Or, you can look for a file I posted to the website called DM Utilities. It contains several batch files I created to make working with xdp and bdp files easier. It's a little old now, so be sure to check whether it works with the BHaH add-on by looking to see if it deletes bdp's for the new airplanes such as the Fokker EV and the Nieuport 28.

I've seemed to have noticed that when the sim detects an altered .xdp file it tends to automatically delete and regenerate the .bdp files-- but NOT always. Therefore, I think it generally is a good idea to delete the old .bdp files after you have changed the .xdp ones. Fortunately, one day when I was bored, I put together a batch file that automatically deletes the .bdp files for you with only a button push or two! If you want the batch file I can send it to you, after I rummage around to see where I put it. I just downloaded your .rar file and will try to take a look at it tomorrow. It shouldn't be too complicated to integrate them into my xdp files. Salute!

Ha, ha HW, as luck would have it, I am currently working on a small revision to my Ultimate DM to help improve the engine settings and (hopefully) deal with the perpetual flamers problem. If Lima would like to PM me his xdp files for the two seaters, I will gladly incorporate them into my DM, possibly creating two versions--one with Lima's changes and one without. Of course, I will give Lima equal billing in the altered DM. Deal?

If you don't mind doing a little work yourself, you can combine the two mods. First, find the parts of Arcmod that are different from the standard OFF installation. These are probably in the .xdp files of the two-seaters. Use a program like Textpad (its free shareware) to compare the two files. Second, copy the lines in Arcmod that are different. Third, paste these lines into the corresponding section of the .xdp files in my DM mod (be sure to make a backup first). As an alternative, just take the values in Arcmod and replace the values in my mod for the observer with Arcmod's values. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions or problems.

HW, I don't know of any reason why they would not work with my DM or FM mods. They may conflict with one of my gun settings mods, if you have them installed. If you have JSGME, try loading Lima's mod on top of one of my mods. If you get a warning message about file conflicts or files being overwritten, that is a sign that the mods may be in conflict with one another. Salute

You've just been dying to use that emoticon, right?

Only one word comes to my mind: Exquisite! Excellent work, Lou. I wouldn't be surprised if the devs of a certain little sim we all know and love may have been already been in touch with you about the design of their medals for P4!

I believe that is correct, although I haven't looked closely at the gun settings for awhile. Also, don't forget to consider "noise" or spread of the bullet pattern when adjusting the lethality of observer gunnery.

Over Flanders Fields: Battle Above the Clouds Over Flanders Fields: The First World War in the Air Over Flanders Fields: Fire in the Sky Over Flanders Fields: The Killer Sky Over Flanders Fields: Kites of Death

Yeah, but will P4 be able to model the G forces of the observer falling out of the airplane??

Not a bad question, there, Duke, although I'm pretty sure the devs have already tried changing the designation of two-seaters to fighter-bomber. Still, might be worth a look and is easy enough to change in the .xdp file.

Now there's a flamer! Er, by that I mean a man who is flaming! No, that's not quite right, either. That dude is hot! No, still not right. How about, "Da plane, da plane, it is on feeer!" Oh, I give up.

If you look closely at the video, you can see the kid's body flying through the air and then skidding across the lanes of the interstate into the right median. The Angels were certainly with him on that day.