VonBeerhofen
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Everything posted by VonBeerhofen
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Open Source Strike Fighters - Global Combat Simulator (SF-GCS)
VonBeerhofen replied to buccaneer4499's topic in The Pub
I forgot to mention that expert knowledge about the Windows Kernel, DirectX and graphics cards are also required. Couldn't access the link either VBH -
Open Source Strike Fighters - Global Combat Simulator (SF-GCS)
VonBeerhofen replied to buccaneer4499's topic in The Pub
Hi buccaneer, Sounds a bit like what the EAW community attempted to do. I've been a code group member for a short time after which I went my own way with EAW's source code. First of all we all had to learn C++ in order to understand the code and additionally I unravelled most of the hex code and disassembly of the EXE linking many tables to the source and figuring out their formats. We started this in 2005 when the source code was handed to us and if you're familiar with the game you may understand what was achieved and what not. I'm still working on it with the source by my side and without further help. I couldn't have done much without the code, not even with the knowledge of various computer languages in my skill set. I agree with previous remarks about needing a skilled team with good knowledge about flight models, physics & lots of time and money. I wish I could be of further help but EAW still consumes 80% of my life. Good luck with your effort! VonBeerhofen -
How to disable enemy from focusing on attacking only me?
VonBeerhofen replied to Materia's topic in WOFF BH&H2 - General Discussion
AI usually are programmed with a limited field of view, so the trick is to have them look in the "wrong" direction while you are trying to sneak away to set yourself up for an attack on a preferably lonely enemy. To shake an enemy off it requires constant turns until you face an opposite direction to your opponent, usually by trying to turn into him and not getting into his line of fire, and with your enemy behind you you make your move. The enemy will need considerable time to turn back onto your 6 and loose energy and may opt to attack an easier target as you've been gaining speed and made distance. AI view distance is limited and as in real dogfights they will loose contact while you have a chance to single out some sucker AI. Use similar tactics to draw an enemy away from your squadron and sideline them before heading back to help. Of course these tactics will not always work as the situation can get very complicated with many enemies around you but it's about all you can do besides killing them or screaming for help. Good hunting, VonBeerhofen -
Falcon BMS 4.38 - The big one is released.
VonBeerhofen replied to MigBuster's topic in General Flight Sim News
This looks awesome gents. Just one minor issue, I need to dig up my CD's from the black depths of my cellar where all my games are stored...... Already found it, 🤠 yippeeree! VonBeerhofen -
Just save an empty notepad file into your game where the EAW.EXE resides and rename it to MOVIES.CDF. Problem solved! VonBeerhofen -
Using a plane's nation value as an offset for the word TMOD in the EXE allows EAWPRO to use 3 nation specific ground object sets without further modifications to the EXE. Each set uses the default hit bubbles and work has begun to create new 3D models. Online the selection is set by the host's nation to prevent discrepancies during our missions. I'll keep you updated on the new models but it will take time to create them so don't expect any releases anytime soon, it's just a hobby! VonBeerhofen
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EAWPRO v1.0 Basic DWnd Profile Settings Download
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAWPRO's Discussions
Yeah, that's precisely my point. I'm just not a great believer in updates and a one solution fits all. There's too much evidence that that is NOT how things work with computer games and a good reason for us to be here. So if anyone encounters any issues don't shy away from asking for help. VonBeerhofen -
EAWPRO v1.0 Basic DWnd Profile Settings Download
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAWPRO's Discussions
Great 😃, Thx for the effort, I hope it will improve people's experience with the game. As I said previously "We're here to help". Good you mention that the patch is for a newer version of the DxWnd wrapper. I assume that the new patch won't work with older versions of the wrapper and that prior to applying the patch the old version must be removed (uninstalled) and the new version must be installed first? VonBeerhofen -
EAWPRO v1.0 Basic DWnd Profile Settings Download
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAWPRO's Discussions
Thx for offering a new patch Mark but people must be aware that different computers and operating systems may require a different approach. This is particularly true for EAW. I don't think we can assume that what happened with your computer will also happen to theirs or mine, as installed hardware and software can have a profound effect on the game. Patching a game isn't an easy thing to do for most, patching more then once may cause conflicting instances in the registry and cause more problems which are very hard to solve. A patch should only be applied as a last resort and at a person's own risk. VonBeerhofen -
EAWPRO v1.0 Basic DWnd Profile Settings Download
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAWPRO's Discussions
It's self-evident that there is no need to change anything when your version of EAWPRO is running fine. Changing a patch may not necessarily improve things, i.e. IF IT AIN'T BROKEN, DON'T TRY TO FIX IT! VonBeerhofen -
For those who found this thread direct download: https://rabartel.home.xs4all.nl/MembersLP/EAWPRO1.0_Basic.zip mirror and list of changes at Mark EAW's helpsite https://eaw.neocities.org/fxexe-patches EAWPRO installs over any official EAW version. Simply extract the .ZIP into the game folder where the EAW.EXE resides and allow overwrites. From there follow instructions regarding wrappers on Mark EAW's helpsite if necessary. VonBeerhofen
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intended for higher operating systems then XP. I managed to fix the lightning speed selection without compromising how it works on older systems, the only downside to it is that you need repeated mouseclicks to change the selections, holding down the mouse button will no longer incite the next successive selection. It applies to all keyboard input which uses this routine, possibly keyboard throttle and such too, but who's still using that option anyway? (retoric question) A big thx to Mark EAW who was so kind to test it's functionality! VonBeerhofen
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3DZ Modelling and RS sequence (limited)
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAW - Skinning, Modding, Add-ons
I referred to 'Its beyond me to do this alone'. This guy from Microprose indicated they had as much problems figuring out how to get the models working from scratch and that it took them a very long time to build them. It's not any different for me. VonBeerhofen -
3DZ Modelling and RS sequence (limited)
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAW - Skinning, Modding, Add-ons
No shame in that Mark. I recall one of the Microprose modellers mention how they themselves were struggling with it and being under a deadline for a release got pretty stressed out too. VonBeerhofen -
3DZ Modelling and RS sequence (limited)
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAW - Skinning, Modding, Add-ons
Learning 3DZ modelling needs a hands on approach and like anyone else who've mastered some of the arts, like Col. Gibbon or Rotton and others, you have to start building objects with the modelling package I send you long ago and start experimenting. If you have learned the tools in the package you can start gathering information about the R/S from the 3D modelling websites and from using other (free) 3D modelling programs. I've learned from a few fun programs like FSDS2, Blender and a few other programs, which ofcourse I had to learn too and I gathered what information I could find. After messing for 10+ years with all available programs in the package and working with my friend Mr Johnson on figuring things out we slowly learned how things worked by using spread sheets. Sadly Mr.Johnson was dismissed so I learned how to use the R/S after generating manually created R/S for app. 100+ polygons but started with seemingly easy models first, like my pyramid and church. Their creation alone took about 5 years and I spend almost every day experimenting with those to try and expand my knowledge. It"s like building cars from scratch, if you don't start building all you will have is an engine, frame, wheels and a bunch of useless tools. I told you before, there are no short cuts, sorry! VonBeerhofen -
I've managed to give each plane type in EAWPRO it's own reticule by copying the same parameter used in the P***VIEW routine into the GUNSIGHT.SPT loader without having to reserve any extra memory for it. This allows the use of any available reticule drawing per plane slot. For example, the SpitIX will use GUNSP111.SPT for now but may change if needed. The change can also be added to the STEAM or GOG versions of V1.2.
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Modified configuration menu with the 3 options: VonBeerhofen
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I think I cracked the computed gunsight from another EAW version. As a result of this I had to come up with a new plan to be able to switch between the 3 available modes and asign a new key in the keylist. The INI entry DisplayHUD was freed and no longer necessary and was turned into a bit switch which can control 8 different operations in the same way DisplayInfoSettings works. My intention is to allow real time control of the reticle's mode and perhaps even it's size and position. Sofar the selected mode rotates with each pressure of the new mode key but as usual things may change in the near future. You heard it first in the Combat Ace forums! VonBeerhofen
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This one is pretty funny I think. As I attacked an enemy base, a truck delivering a load of replacement pilot seats for enemy planes was shot to pieces and the pilot seats flew all over the place causing secondary impacts and creating havoc under the airfield personnel who tried to run away in all directions. 🤣 https://rabartel.home.xs4all.nl/test/Gallery/image/PilotSeats.jpg VBH
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In the background is a photographic horizon picture. Everything in the explosions are mixed animations of EAWPRO's enhanced FX set and due to it's endless possibilities still very experimental. It's so easy to swap drawings or change them, so I'm just having fun with the hundreds of animations I created. For instance, throw in a persons animation and they'll fly in every direction in an explosion. More realistic are animations of grass, bricks, soil or plane parts. In the bomb explosions it's predominantly smoke, fire and soil and an occasional generic piece of debris. Often multiple animations are triggered from an event which makes it all look different. The goal is to have extreme variation as opposed to the stock animations which are every time exactly the same and not distractive. VonBeerhofen
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In this screenie of a B17 bombing raid on an airfield you can see the new transparent version of the jagged edge explosion on the right. VonBeerhofen
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Here's a shot with the old jagged edges explosion overlayed on top of a screen shot of last night's online mission in the EAW Launchpad. Notice the red hot colored shrapnel and the old rusty version. These were both rusty before the changes to the sprites list, so there are now 8 different planehit animations of 8 frames instead of the stock planehit of just 2 large debris parts. So lots of stuff flying around when you explode💥 VonBeerhofen
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The EXE was tested on various operating systems and computers in online battles with Launchpad members and worked great. In the process of it's creation the no longer needed transparency link of the reticule, which is now under hardware management, was given to the only explosion animation which didn't have the feature and was showing jagged edges. Those are now gone and with the transparency in it looks pretty Impressive and realistic. VBH
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SimHQ old Historical Forum EAW Archive 2000-2008?
VonBeerhofen replied to MarkEAW's topic in EAW - General Discussions
What do you need to research Mark? I think you have all the collected information on EAW plus all my collected notes gathered since 2000. Perhaps you can help some players in the Gog and Steam forums as there doesn't seem to be much support at all. VBH -
Well things went horribly wrong when I noticed another sprite file got damaged so spend this weekend searching for answers. The sprite table was reorganized, something I already planned a long time ago but never got to it. The gunsight switch kept working great but plane damage kept showing an alien terrain tile being animated and a giant soldier in between the explosions and in desperation I decided to try the routine without an extra call I added to free up memory prior to loading the new reticule, i.e. I rolled back to what I believed was causing the first problem which made me add that call, as I was about to throw in the towel. Again it showed I should have done more testing but haste got the better of me as the sprite table still needed a complete overhaul. The reorganisation meant I had te relearn all the mess I made from mixing animations and improving what was there already. I crashed about 1000 planes on the runway and kept switching and taking pics to see if all was there. When the free up call was removed things finally went my way, and here's one shot which I liked and gives a small impression of the new animation order and one resized reticule. It's a bit small but it was just a test and in comparison an easy fix. Hope you like it. VonBeerhofen
