Spad13

I was using FEG, too. Then I decided to try FE2 after some folks recommended it. I, too, have XP. All's I can say is... WHAT A FRIKKIN DIFFERENCE! The whole game just flies better and is much more challenging. Your crew may still get shot down, but they usually do trying to keep the enemy off your tail. Now it is set up differently on your PC- aircraft are stored in a different location apart from the program part... but if a techno slob like I could do it, you can. The folks on here are glad to help. And with all the downloadable A/C, you can fly just about anything.

I tried downloading one of the seasonal terrains by Jan. I found that his folder is named "terrain" whereas the folder in FE 2 is "terrains". Just for giggles I swapped them out, and I found that my FE 2 would ab-end. Switching them back, it worked again. I also noticed the original terrains setup for Verdun and Cambrai is different from FE I. So I'm wondering if these mods work for FE 2 or not? I'd like a change of seasons and a worn airfield if I can make it work. Thanks!

See, what confuses me is that I have not really touched the way the game was when it downloaded. It came with terrains (Cambrai and Verdun) in the program folder, not in the mods folder. Now to test what you told me, I took the stuff out of the program folder that you said doesn't belong there and put it in the mods folder. When I tried it- it doesn't work. It abends. I put that file back in the program files, created a new folder in the mod files labeled "terrains" and dropped Jan's stuff in it. Now it works. I am also confused as to why Cambrai and Verdun are "security catalogs" and not file folders. So I have a terrains folder in program files that has Cambrai and Verdun. I have a terrains file in the mod files, with Jan's downloads. And the tiles do now change seasons. I get a nice autumn look for October, and a snowy landscape in February. So as long as it works, I'm not going to muck with it. I do appreciate all the help! And I appreciate the wonderful job you modders have done in making this a very satisfying WW1 sim. And I will check out that SF2 knowledge section!

Ok. Thanks.

Hmmm... I just tried it again, and for Cambrai and Verdun the winter terrains are showing up now when I set the weather to inclement (duh). Flanders and Vosegen still abend. I'm not too worried about that, though- I was more wondering how to get the terrain changed. I think it all goes back to those security catalogs somehow. I guess. Should I just remove the terrain folder from the program files? Gee, now let's see how I muck up the airfield mods.

Ok, let me see here- I'm using Windows XP- and it runs on it. Two, let me ask- do you mean by the "mod folder" the one in "My Documents" and not "Program Files"? Now here's where everything was when I downloaded the game. "Terrains" was in the program files, there was no terrains file in "my docs". The files looked odd- security catalogs? The Cambrai and Verdun terrains didn't even have folders anymore, just security catalogs. I dropped the Flanders folder into this folder, and the game didn't read it. It was not available as a selection. Now, I made a Terrains folder and put it in "my docs", and put Jan's mods in there: which looks to me like what you have down, even though the path is worded a bit differently. The terrains now show up on the screen choices: but if I click Flanders or Vosgesen, the computer abends, It will work for Verdun and Cambrai, which also happen to be the two files downloaded with the game in their "security catalogs", but I'm not getting any snow in January 1917 in those terrains. Or is that not how it works? Any ideas, gentlemen?

Menckhoff was later shot down by US airman Walter Avery and captured. Menckhoff was "annoyed" to find out he had been shot down by a novice pilot. Avery cut the "M" off of Menckhoff's plane. After the war they somehow came in contact, and Avery returned his "M" to him.

Never mind, I found it. Does this help, Mike? From Peter01: If the gunner is firing, but not often or very long, you can change it easily enough. You are probably using values I did, and if so, the 2-seater gunners I did/do don't fire as much (and are less accurate) because I always felt they were too lethal as AI. On the other hand, if you are flying the plane, the gunners don't seem to shoot much - and even less for player than as AI. Must admit that ain't much fun if your a 2-seater flyer sort of guy. You can change that: In the [AIData] section change GunnerFireTime=2.5 (what TK uses usually) to something like 5.0. Increases lengths of bursts. In the Crew section, in [Gunner] section, increase the yaw and pitch rates as the gunners will fire more often and be more accurate if the can swing their guns around to shoot. If too slow, they never get a bead on the enemy plane. Change the following to these values (used by TK): PitchAngleRate=40 and ..... YawAngleRate=60 The ones I used were much less .... 25 and 32 respectively. Looks like this tells you how to adjust the accuracy of the gunners.- Spad13 aka Dave.

Ok, that makes sense. How do I make them open up at say 100 meters instead of 50? Thanks!

In my FE EXP, the two seaters would turn my plane into Swiss Cheese on the first pass. In FE2, it's nowhere near as bad. I tried to find the AIData files and such to see what mine was set at, but I can't find it or "gunneroffset". Even using a search... Here's all I could find for the AEG: [AircraftData] AircraftFullName=AEG G.IV AircraftShortName=AEG G.IV AircraftDataFile=AEG_G4_data.ini LoadoutFile=AEG_G4_Loadout.ini UserList=AEG_G4_UserList.ini [LOD001] Filename=AEG_G4.LOD Distance=100 [LOD002] Filename=AEG_G4_LOD2.lod Distance=200 [LOD003] Filename=AEG_G4_LOD3.lod Distance=400 [LOD004] Filename=AEG_G4_LOD4.lod Distance=1600 [LOD005] Filename=AEG_G4_LOD5.lod Distance=10000 [DamageTexture] DamagedPostFix=_holes.DDS [shadow] CastShadow=TRUE ShadowCastDist=10000 MaxVisibleDistance=800 [TextureSet001] Directory=GermanCamo1 Name=German Lozenge Nation=GERMANY Specular=0.400000 Glossiness=0.150000 Reflection=0.200000 However, I looked up the Aviatik, which also is not as accurate in FE2, and here's the settings: [AIData] AileronDeltaRoll=1.2 AileronRollRate=-1.0 ElevatorDeltaPitch=1.0 ElevatorPitchRate=-0.1 ThrottleDeltaSpeed=0.1 ThrottleVelocity=-0.005 MaxPitchForAltitude=25.0 MinPitchForAltitude=-15.0 PitchForThrottle=0.005 PitchForAltitude=0.01 PitchForVerticalVelocity=-0.01 RollForHeading=1.0 RollForHeadingRate=-0.05 MinRollHeading=0.0 MaxRollForHeading=30.0 PitchForRoll=0.23 FormationSpeedForPosition=0.8 FormationSpeedForRate=0.5 GunnerFireChance=80 GunnerFireTime=2.5 GunnerAimOffset=0.0050 MaxRollCombat=30.0 MaxRollFormation=15.0 MaxPitchCombat=30.0 My guess would be the lower the number, the less accurate? BTW, how would one increase the distance in which they open fire? Say at 100 yds rather than 50? Thanks.

I'm starting to run up some high numbers in victories, and was wondering if there was a way to reset my pilot's scores? I have 5 of them that I named after movie aces- Bruno Stachel, Erich Von Stalheim, Reed Cassidy, James Bigglesworth, and Ace Drummond. It'd be nice if I could reset them and start over. Thanks!

What a hoot! "If you can fly a Sopwith Camel, you can fly anything!".

To rephrase an earlier question to make it more clear, for some reason in my FE2, whenever I'm flying a German plane, many of the enemy fighters wear American roundels. Hanriots, Nieuport 27s, and now Sopwith Camels are flying in American colors. Any idea what's causing that and how I can fix it so they wear their appropriate roundels? Much obliged.

FE2, yes. Stock Install. I have not messed around with any of those things, since I didn't know what I would be doing, except for texture sets trying to see if say "Insignia007" = Belgium or something. But I changed those back when I got no change. I did set up a decals folder for some of the imported planes that required it. Those are working fine, thanks to Kevin's advice on correcting the "1" to "3". I just played a few rounds, and everything seemed to be working ok now. Glad I got a print screen to show it really happened. I did notice that when I select the Sopwith to fly, the default is the USAS, rather than RAF that it was in FE EXP. I think Thirdwire should take all the mods you guys have made to date, put out FE 3 that combines them all into a simple download, and pay you folks royalties. BTW, FE 2 is cool- glad I took your advice to get it. Dave

I'm playing around with it, since I was able to fix the Hanriot and Ne27 (don't know exactly what I did, either) - but to prove I'm not crazy, here you see where the AI came up with a French Sopwith- I was flying a Fokker.

I'll work on getting the answers here. But actually, the Sopwiths are ones downloaded with the game. I played around with it, and now they have French Roundels. I'll get a screenshot. I checked the nation names, and they are accurate. The years I haven't found a pattern yet but I'll check.

I thought so, too, until I read in a book McCudden's take on Voss's maneuver: "Voss turned in what a startled McCudden referred to as a "sort of flat half-spin". Which I think is what DOGFIGHTS illustrates. Don't get me wrong- a number of folks on the AERODROME forum have questioned the DOGFIGHT's realism. Flat half-spin

Can anyone tell me what the FilenameFormat= for British Roundels, Belgium Roundels, and French Roundels? Right now most of my enemy Allied planes are flying American Roundels. The (FilenameFormat=Insignia) is what I imagine is what's making them all American planes. Thanks!

I'll check. But it's when the game picks AI enemy fighters that they show up as American. For example, I was flying an Albatros, and the enemy plane was an NE27 with American Roundels. I've found that happened with the Hanriot, too. Not correct, especially for 1917!

There are folks here who are more experienced than I am, but let me tell you what I noticed: 1. In all the times I've played, only once have I seen a plane hit by flak, and that was me. Odds are really against anyone getting zapped regularly by flak. 3. I've had that happen. I assumed it meant I was so badly wounded that I died after landing. Unlike other games, like even Red Baron, you don't know that you've been wounded. 4. You're a better shot than you thought! :)

Is there something that needs to be done to make the decals show? For example, the Siemens Shuckert has no markings. Thanks!

Kevin- Sonuvagun- I changed that number to 3, and now it works! Unbelievable! Thank you sooo much! Dave aka Spad13

Sorry I lost it there, Wrench. I really do appreciate the help. I'm not a modder of any sort- I'm a middle aged fellow (WW 1 air buff, too) who doesn't like TV so I like to play games on my PC in the evening. Plug & Play is my speed, and sometimes I get frustrated at my lack of techno skills. Got another question though. The Roland DVI doesn't have a "D" file. It has a "Decals" file with this in it: [Decal001] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=RIGHT FilenameFormat=Insignia Position=-2.28,0.04 Scale=0.5 DecalMaxLOD=1 [Decal002] MeshName=Fuselage DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=LEFT FilenameFormat=Insignia Position=-2.28,0.04 Scale=0.5 DecalMaxLOD=1 [Decal003] MeshName=WingTO_L DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=Top FilenameFormat=Insignia Position=-3.379,0.261 Scale=1.3 DecalMaxLOD=1 [Decal004] MeshName=WingTO_R DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=Top But no "D" file with pics or whatever in it. So the crosses aren't showing up. Can I make a D folder, and if so, what would I put in it? Thanks!!

I find that when I hit F5, I get an "over the shoulder" view. If I use my mouse to turn to the plane's side profile, it swings back to behind the tail after a few seconds. Did anyone do a mod that will hold the view wherever I place it? I found one to extend the F10 Flyby- that's a big help. Thanks!

Thanks! That's it exactly.