Helmut_AUT

Sorry for the beginner question, but I searched and didn't find specifics: For First Eagles, I extracted Menusystem.ini and changed the screen resolution to 1920x1200 in order to keep my widescreen from constantly switching resolutions between flight and menu. Is there a similar procedure for SF2, or does the game now use the same resolution (from graphic options) for menu and flight? Thanks

Just now downloading - as far as mods go, I mean no disrespect to the hard-working modders, it's just you suddenly have an aircraft for single missions you can't fly in the campaign, or where a certain instrument doesn't work, or where the cockpit texture resolution seems lower compared to some defaults... and for the "all in ones" at least in First Eagles I never managed to find all aircraft and weapons needed. I'll likely drop in a few things though.

Aye, you meant on the receiving end ;) This game really sounds a lot more complex than it originally got credit for. I have to say though I'm not big into modded installs (tend to break the "polish" of the overal game IMHO) so I hope most of the stuff is included in the original install. Going to buy now, another convert ;)

Isn't the Harrier's Twin Aden a 30mm? BTW, does the game model SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles), and countermeasures for aircraft - or just triple AAA?

You guys are awesome for the fast help and even screenshots. I really like that pit, also the moving map seems to work. Guess it's a safe investment, I can live with the simplifications highlighted here.

Wow, thanks for the quick and fast replies. Bit of a bummer about the "target next" thing - which I guess also applies to Laser Designator Pods? - but good to hear the Harrier is modelled nicely, that and the A-10 could end up being my rides of choice. Is there actual a keymap or axis map for turning the nozzles? Any known bugs/problems with SF2 over SF1 - I think SF1 is also supposed to run on Vista with the Oct. 2008 patch. Kowalski, you say Gen.1 sims you could run off a memory stick. I hope for Gen.2 it's still possible to simple copy & paste the game directory to a different system when you upgrade or reinstall? Thanks all, looks like I'll buy tomorrow when I have a proper download connection. This and First Eagles will likely replace LOMAC and IL-2 for me - somehow those games, while nice in details, just don't cut it for me anymore. Oh, last favor I'm asking: Anyone knows where I can find a screenshot of the Harrier cockpit and maybe a Tornado one? That's really the two birds I wanted to fly for years in a sim.

Hi Guys I've long ignored Thirdwire's sims (shame on me I guess) for what was supposed to be "simplified" Air/Air, Air/Ground radar and other jet avionics. Instead I flew LOMAC for my modern sim needs. Now I stumbled across First Eagles on the lookout for a WW1 sim, and obviously avionics are not a problem there. I like that game a lot (a steal at 20 bucks), in general I really like the underlying engine, it obviously has nice potential for generating quick single player missions as well as ground/air campaign with moving frontline and so on. I can now imagine this engine would be fun in a modern jet sim as well. Now I guess the main question is - what do I really have to expect in terms of system modeling and avionics from Thirdwire's modern sims (I'm particularly looking at SF2:Europe). Is there an all-seeing, all knowing radar on hard mode which simple gives me all targets and full situational awareness, or does it have range limit and jamming modeled? Is the handling of the Maverick seekers on the A-10 reasonable done? (i.e., you actually have to slew and look for ground targets instead of pressing magic "target next" button). Do the modern setting sims (like SF2:Europe) also simulate ground units, supply levels and stuff in the campaign, so you get what feels like a real ground war? I guess flying the Harrier or Hunter, lack of radar details won't be my main problem. Does the Harrier do proper V/STOL or is it like the Microsoft Flightsimulator hacks using "oversized" flaps? I really could love a Harrier full of dumb iron with a proper flight model - is there a CCIP bomb targeting mode? I've also seen addon helicopters - does that mean the engine can model helo flight? Also looking for a Tornado or Strike Eagle addon that works well - are there such things? The quality of user mods for FE varies a lot (as usual with these things). I guess if I can get my head around some of these questions, SF2:Europe looks like a really nice deal. Please help me understand better what I can expect from that sim so maybe I can join your ranks here flying this. Oh, and final point: I absolutely love the fact that there is no activation, logon or similar DRM/CP restrictions on these games. I want to "own" my bought games, and Thirdwire is excellent to it's customers it seems as they do not include any headache for legit buyers.

Interesting, so W7 works better for First Eagles then Vista? I really want to keep the game "as is" and not have to deactivate graphic features like shaders for the new OS. Muesli, are you using Nvidia or ATI drivers? High Game graphic settings? EDIT: I see that from the Knowledge base entry http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=34221 it says that the October 2008 patches fixed that Terrain shader issue with Vista and DX9. I guess that's really good news.

Sorry for bumping this older topic - I saw a lot of users who had problems with FE and Vista, with the requirement to disable some shaders and some other things to make it work. Does it run fine in W7 RC1 "as installed" or does it also need tweaks?

Okay, so I'm really that stupid ;) Recently I complained that enemy aircraft always came with a Triple-A cloud around them and were too easy to see - obviously NOT if you are over their friendly area. I run at 1920x1200, but I guess the zoom factor makes things better visible, maybe I shouldn't scan "wide view". Map icons are disabled, and I don't want to "target-key-spam" - it's a nice challenge to get jumped by AI for once. I just wanted to make sure the game wasn't being unfair by spawning them midair on my six, as some games do. Thanks for clarifying. BTW, I guess this also explains why on the inbound leg to the front I don't usually find any random enemy fighters on my friendly side - since they are starting at their runway, they need enough time to fly over. IL-2 does airspawns, which means you can get jumped by "ghosts" but also has the advantage that some enemy flights appear on your side of the front quickly after takeoff.

Hi all In three consecutive campaign missions I've now been jumped by Camels. I'm scanning horizon left to right and left with my view hat, on "wide view", I look up, I look down, my head is constantly in motion (damn, need TrackIR). And suddenly I have a flight of enemy Sopwith Camels in firing range, to add insult to injury they often get my engine on the first head-on. Is the game "spawning" these enemies near me in the air when I'm over the objective? Or am I just too stupid to see them in time? I had this only on occasion in IL-2 that the AI caught me unaware, but here in this sim its much worse for me. Do zoom settings matter when you are looking around - can you see aircraft further when zoomed in? thanks for the help Helmut

Well... I flew about 8 or 9 campaign missions today, and it seems you never see unexpected enemies on the way to target. Over the front it does get a bit crowded, which is nice. Also clearly different campaigns have different amount of enemy activity, which is of course realistic. Now I disabled map icons, yet every approaching enemy is clearly visible by the cloud of triple AAA around them. Would be nice if that could be reduced.

Thanks again for the fast reply, you guys are a most helpful bunch. Could it be that this doesn't happen for single missions? Because so far - mostly playing single missions - I've never meet an enemy flight when I wasn't suspecting one. The main question for me is if it's worth to "hand-fly" the distance to target and back - which is pretty cool but can become repetitive - if there's a chance to run into enemy, it's definitly worth it.

Hi all Just a small question about campaigns: Has anyone ever seen enemy planes NOT related directly to your mission? So, if you are flying intercept, of course you will see enemy planes, but does the campaign engine also spawn "random" enemy flights doing their own thing over your sektor? From my - limited - playtime, it seems as if there's always just one enemy flight per mission, and that's the one specifically hunting for me. It would be nice if there was a random chance to "run into" enemy aircraft doing their own mission. OTOH, I saw a flight of friendly RFC around attacking a ground target, so maybe the campaign does generate random activity?

When I tried to host a "freeflight" multiplayer for my self yesterday, it seemed to me it comes with a nice enemy selection screen. It crashed upon load, but can't that be used to create quick fights?

Is there any way to select enemies for single missions yet? I haven't found it.

Great. I guess I'll burn one disk with all the source files and installer, then another with the "completed" game directory once it's set up nicely. I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to keeping my games around in pristine state, or moving them to a new system/reinstall.

Thanks, I just downloaded those since it makes sense to have "relative correct" FMs for everything. Small additional question: Is it actually possible to backup and transfer the First Eagles Installation simple by copying the First Eagles program folder with all sub folders? I do it this way with FS2004, since there's such a lot of addons and settings included that a "hand-reinstall" or port to a new computer takes days. FE will not be that huge, but I can see how it's already growing on my drive.

Cool, thanks for the fast reply.

Sorry for the bunch of questions, but I did do a search and came up empty... I know that user-created aircraft have to be added into campaigns by hand to show up as AI? But how is it if I want to fly a single mission (say, with an Albatros D.V) but I want to maybe see a Nieuport 17 as enemy? Do I also need to modify files somewhere, or will the game automatically select appropriate aircraft by year and type, as long as they are in my Objects folder?

Thanks for the welcome. I guess it's just the usual problems when you enter a well-developed and modded flight sim, to get your head around stuff other people "grew up" with. Some of the download links here now obviously don't work since FE got it's own section recently. Other stuff that likely was there before now isn't anymore. All understandable, just a bit complicated ;)

Thanks for the reply. I already reduced Horizon to NEAR since that's also an incredible framerate hog - and with the engagement distances/visibility of these small aircraft, it shouldn't be a realism issue anyway. But I'd really like to keep the cockpit shadows. I need to experiment more with the two shadow parameters, since I would think it should be possible to remove the "ground shadow". Maybe the framerate problem when ground shadow is in view is related to remains of the "old" method of casting shadows by a LOD?

Sorry for the crosspost, but I figure a lot of people do not frequent both boards, and I found this interesting maybe also for others with performance problems. ************************ Hi all, Bought this game yesterday, and I'm positively surprised about the production values and looks for such a bargain. I especially like the "self-shadowing" where parts of the aircraft throw their shadows around the cockpit and wings. However, there seems to be a weird performance-draining bug: When I enable High Shadows (Medium or Low do not have that nice self-shading effect) AND when I then in flight see my own shadow on the ground, my framerate drops from avg. 30 to 15. It's not actually a problem when there are shadows moving around on the aircraft cockpit or upper wing, the framerate remains stable. But if I get my own shadow on the ground insinde my view - or the ground shadow cast by any other aircraft - the framerate drops to half. Now, it doesn't make much sense, since even two aircraft in view hardly cause any framerate drop, but a single airplane shadow does? I'm looking for ways (maybe by editing the CastShadowDistance and MaxVisibilityDistance) to keep the self-shading on the aircraft, but remove the shadows thrown on the ground. I rarely pay attention to them in any sim, anyway. Does someone have pointers on fixing this performance problem? As for tech specs, a 5000+ AMD X2 with 2GB RAM and a 512MB 9600GT Video card certainly should be able to run this game, given the core engine and graphical features compare to IL-2 or FS9? I can't see any advanced shading, bump-mapping or HDR being applied, and purely for textures and 3d-objects, the system should be plenty.

Hello Firecage I'm new to First Eagles - bought the Gold Version yesterday. I found the "Planefest II" campaign in the download section, but it seems to me half of the required planes are not available here. For example no Pfalz III anywhere? The link to the required planes and FMs has changed as well it seems. Same problem for other campaigns too. I'd really like to fill up my "newborn" install with a decent load of planes, but somehow I'm missing where I can get them? Seems to me I missed some major changes in the community, I realize at least one major site now needs a password? Very confusing for a newbie.

Thank you, got it sorted. Shame that no one got around to make a true high-res background theme for the menus, I saw some nice ones for WoE or WoV.