33LIMA

Thanks Baxter! I'm near-certain the main sky mod I use is this one, by Panama Red, which seems to work by producing the incredibly atmospheric distant/horizon cloud effects: http://combatace.com/files/file/9664-realistic-sky-mod-first-eagles/ I also use a cloud mod - which I think is NOT the one that came with the above mod, as I vaguely recall having probs with its Environmentsystem.ini - to 'beef up'/texture the stock volumetric 'cotton wool' clouds. But I DO use the horizon cloud textures from Panama Red's mod. I have no idea if his realistic sky mod (the horizon cloud part) changes automatically - or at all - with season/time or if (as I suspect) you need to choose files manually to choice - I vaguely recall viewing all the horizon cloud images in the mod, and choosing the most dramatic - but I do know that whether I chose the file myself or FE chose it for me, I think the effect as I see it is a must-have for FEG/FE2.

Worth it when you get there; tho at the moment I'm back with the stock terrain whose appearance I find looks most like the natural hues I see out my window (unlike the rather garish shades on first release of FE), has a convincing lower contrast between the Lines and the other countryside, and has least visible tile repetition, tho I like stock, Jan T and Flanders too; it's nice to be spoiled for choice

What Migbuster said. The critical point may be that in FE2/SF2 sims, the install folder is 'Terrains' ie plural, while in FE/SF it's 'Terrain' ie singular, a detail that's easy to miss. One of those areas where install instructions based on a 1st gen sim can be wrong for a 2nd gen, even if you remember to use the Saved Games 'mods' folder.

Looking forward to your Tripes, Quack! The A Team Tripehound is a great machine tho I'd prefer a slightly browner scheme (which I think you favour) as - in line with Arthur Gould Lee's 'our planes are choclate brown' description - I belong to the 'PC10 is brown not green!' school.

Hi Ojcar! Thanks for the feedback. I might have fixed it, but perhaps it is co-incidence...I deleted my existing British pilots and started a brand new Armchair Aces 1917 campaign with a brand new pilot, created just for that, in 8 Naval, and this time I got into the planning map! It did not do me much good tho, as my rudder was shot off during a series of battles during my patrol, first with DFWs, then with some V-strutters, then with Rumplers, then some more Albatroses, helped by some DH2s...there is plenty of variety and action in your campaigns! As a final gesteure on my way back over the lines I managed to chase a Hun off the tail of a friend and got away by diving, but on landing at the nearest airfield, my plane rolled over at the last minute abd blew up! Even if it's not fixed, I can live with this; tho I like to use the planning map to drag my 'initial point' a bit further from my patrol objective, so that if I use 'Alt+N' I have plenty of time to check out the area before I get too close! Looking forward to Armchair Aces 1918!!!

I'm getting intermittent lockups if I try to access the planning map before campaign missions (that is, before selecting 'Fly'). It SEEMS to affect my current Armchair Aces 1917 campaigns, but intermittently. At first it seemed to affect every 10 RNAS mission, but just now, I also got the same problem flying a Jasta 10 campaign in September 1917. FE2 just freezes with the cursor over the 'Map' button, the instant I click it. I have to launch Task Manager to kill FE2 which shows as 'Not responding'. I haven't done enough flying in different modes to narrow it down much, as to when it happens, and when it doesn't. I can only think that I must have incorrectly installed some component needed for Armchair Aces but cannot thing which one. I have afeeling the culprit might be my nations.ini as I remember doing something to it to get RNAS squadrons to show up as such; I have a suspicion it started about then. I can access the map fine in flight. Any ideas or suggestions as to where the problem might lie, would be most welcome! TIA!

Great stuff Stephen, off to grab 'em now. Hope you can also manage another new plane or three in the days ahead, FE is still in need of a proper 1916-17 BE2, a 1917-18 German general purpose 2-seater, and a better Albatros DII, all major types.

Grand job - grabbing 'em now!!!

Off to grab it now, HPW, great work! I've been away from simming for some weeks for various reasons (not least some irritations in my last few OFF campaigns eg no Huns) and this will get me back in harness, especially if it improves the quirky Pfalz!!

Wow! Very nice work Stephen, and a pleasant surprise to find waiting for me on return from holidays!

Woooo, nice, grabbing it now!

Friedrichshafen DI, 1916, serial # D2405, 160hp Merc DIII, 2x'Spandaus'.

Love the Jasta 5 Albatros - beautiful finish! 1. You probably have the original First Eagles without the Dr1, as Whiteknight says. The Expansion Pack which added the Dr1 is no longer available; you need to either (i) buy First Eagles Gold or First Eagles 2 from the Third Wire shop or (ii) register at the A Team Skunnkworks (you have to request access by email, to get the downloads) and download the DR1 which is available there, with many other planes: http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/ 2. To remove the information boxes, (i) make sure you have combat set to 'Hard' in the game options screen and (ii) hit Alt+D twice - the first time, it adds an FPS display, the second time, it clears the screen of all text displays. You can also hand-edit one of the game files to remove the little aircraft icons from the in-flight map. 3. Sorry, don't know. 4. FE does not repordice the effect of rough ground on your wheels, there is no wheel rumble. No wind effects either I think. But the head-movement effects and the visible and audible shudder/buffet near the stall is very effective, compared to other sims. 5. There is no option to adjust gun range but the 'Hard' gunnery setting is most realistic.

Yes many thanks again Stephen, off to grab 'em now!!!

Peter01's FM pack includes a Liberty-engined DH4.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I have since installed over 150 planes in my second FE2 install and the Loadout screen is fine; so it seems to be one of the other 40 or so planes, that could be the culprit (I have just over 190!!)...or maybe it's some other mod causing the problem, that the main install has but the second one doesn't, perhaps something completely different and not a plane at all! I like Stephen's idea of a 'virtual hangar' or boneyard for rarely-used planes. When Ojcar's Armchair Aces 1918 is released, I will probably retain just the planes needed for the whole Armchair Aces series (c.80%?) in my main FE install, and either put the rest into the virtual hangar, or use the second install for Caporetto or other theatres with only the necessary planes installed for that. Thanks for the feedback, guys. I have since installed over 150 planes in my second FE2 install and the Loadout screen is fine; so it seems to be one of the other 40 or so planes, that could be the culprit (I have just over 190!!)...or maybe it's some other mod causing the problem, that the main install has but the second one doesn't, perhaps something completely different and not a plane at all! I like Stephen's idea of a 'virtual hangar' or boneyard for rarely-used planes. When Ojcar's Armchair Aces 1918 is released, I will probably retain just the planes needed for the whole Armchair Aces series (c.80%?) in my main FE install, and either put the rest into the virtual hangar, or use the second install for Caporetto or other theatres with only the necessary planes installed for that.

Did you see the celebrations fom Kim Il Jung's birthday centenary? A big stadium filled with tens of thousands of people dutifully clapping, I'll bet nobody wanted to be the first one to stop applauding. I expect the rocket scientists' invitations got lost in the post, or maybe they were simply unable to attend due to having to go to an 'interview without coffee'.

I rarely bother accessing the loadout screen as I mostly fly scouts and when given mud-moving missions or flying 2-seaters I'm happy to accept the default loadout provided. However it would be nice to be able to select loadouts on occasion, or markings as well...but I can't. I've discovered that if I try to access the loadout screen, FE2 locks up hard, only way out is Ctrl+Alt+Del then close via Task Manager. This seems connected to mods; I had a clean 2nd FE2 install (copied the .exe then renamed, then ran so it created a second mods folder) and it didn't have this problem till I started installing extra planes. It might be just one plane that's causing the problem as it hit my second install after I installed a handful of planes. I didn't experiment to try to isolate an 'offender', as I don't really miss the Loadout feature much, but if there's an easy fix, that doesn't involve sacrificing any planes, I'd be glad to hear of it!

Yes Javigato, that is what I have done, not as high as stock settings but a lot closer to that than Peter's settings. Below are what I understand are the relevant parts of a typical Data.ini file, for the A Team Bristol F2b in this case: [AIData] GunnerFireChance=80 - these two lines, I leave alone [= as per Peter's FM, which I think uses stock values], increasing them will increase gunner effectiveness. GunnerFireTime=2.5 [RearGunner] PitchAngleRate=30 - these are mine, a little lower in some planes eg double or awkward gun mounts like the BE2; I believe stock FE values are 40 and 60 (degrees per second?); Peter's values are lower, usually 25 and 32. YawAngleRate=50 [RearGun] GunTypeName=303CAL_LEWIS_MK2 - this is stock- but with Peter's FM, a suffix'_GUNNER' is added this eg '303CAL_LEWIS_MK2_GUNNER' - this is a modded weapon with less effective rounds, so I delete the '_GUNNER' to return it to the stock weapon. Here's the link to the post I mentioned, I'm grateful to Grinseed, who directed me to this useful thread. It also mentions a GunRange setting which can also be adjusted up or down, which I have not done: http://combatace.com/topic/51340-two-seaters-why-wont-my-gunners-open-fire/page__p__382237__hl__the+rear+gunner__fromsearch__1#entry382237