Stephen1918

Yeah, a hard drive crash would be easier to recover from. In this case the software itself died. My copy of 3D Studio Max was about 15 years old. It started shutting down unexpectedly, then it started throwing error messages, then it refused to start. Autodesk stopped supporting it years ago, so no help there. I contacted everyone I know and tried everything I could think of, including reinstalling it from scratch. I finally gave up. 

This happened more than a week ago. I am over the bitching phase, and the feeling depressed phase, now I'm in the "Let's carry on from here" phase. I'm making good progress with Blender. The biggest downside is that I lost a huge library of components that I had created - but if I did it once, I can do it again, it's only a matter of time...

Bad news. My copy of 3DS Max has died and I am not able to resurrect it. So all the 3D models I've done for First Eagles are gone. However, Mue has made an LOD exported for Blender. I'm starting to learn Blender and hopefully I'll be able to make planes for FE again soon.

Mue's exporter only works for FE2. I'm going to have to dust off my copy and get FE2 set up.

I've enjoyed working with all of Mue's utilities and have found them extremely helpful.

I have a question about the LOD exporter for Blender - When I was working with 3DS Max, the exporter made LODs that worked in both SF1 and SF2. Now that I'm working with Blender, the exporter makes LODs that only work with SF2. My question is: what is the difference between the LODs for 1 and 2 and is it possible to convert down to 1?

I'm back to the Polish-Russian war. Finally started working on some new planes - Ansaldo Ballila for the Kosciuszko squadron.

All of my mods include complete installation instructions for both FE1 and FE2. Planes are probably the easiest to install, I would begin with some of them.

Also - Strike Fighters and First Eagles have different kinds of guns, bombs, pilots, etc. so after you bring an FE plane into SF, you would have to do some modding to the data files, and to the system resources to make it work. 

I'm still playing from time to time. Mostly on the Eastern Front and the Spanish Civil War. Still modding a little bit too.

Sorry it took so long to answer, I've had health issues - in and out of the hospital, etc.

If you want the Ford FT-B to operate as a tank, showing up in ground attack missions, simply drop the folder into your GroundObject folder.

If you want to place static vehicles around the terrain, you need to have in your GroundObject folder, then add some lines to the Types.ini in your Terrain folder. I used the data for trucks in the stock game and modified the code. Add this to the end of your Types.ini - 

[TargetTypeXXX]
Name=FordFTB
DetailLevel=1
FullName=Ford FT-B
TargetType=TANK
ActiveYear=0
TargetValue=0
UseGroundObject=TRUE
GroundObjectType=FordFTB
RepairRate=0.555
StartDetectChance=0
StartIdentifiedChance=0
IncreaseDetectChanceKey=0
MaxVisibleDist=8000.0
DestroyedEffect=MediumFire
SecondaryEffect=SmallRocketGroundExplosion
SecondaryChance=100

Change the "XXX" to the next consecutive number in the Types.Ini. list

Then you have to add the vehicle to the Targets.ini in the places you want it to appear, like any other target.

I hope this isn't too late to be helpful.

I discovered a problem with the Nieuport 21. There were differences between the various LODs which caused the wings on one side of the plane to disappear as the plane moved into the distance. I tracked down the problem and fixed it. A new version has been uploaded, I highly suggest you get the new version. All skins, decals, and loadouts are unchanged. The only difference is in the LODs, so you can  just swap the old ones with the new ones if that's easier for you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, to all my friends at Combat Ace!

The tachanka has been uploaded, currently waiting for administrator's approval. The file is bigger than the trucks included in the stock First Eagles. I have included three LODs to help manage frame rate. I'm getting a decent frame rate (low 20's) on my computer. There is a destroyed version, just the wagon. Sorry, no bloody horses.

20 minutes ago, Crawford said:

Why did you get so angry? ....

For what is the point of making a detailed model and not showing it to anyone, because "my machine" does not produce a sufficient frame rate.

 

I don't see nor did I intend any anger there. I'm sorry if you took offense.

Are you saying that I should stop uploading files because they're made for a slower computer?

Yes, we've talked about this before, and as I've said before, I make everything to work well on my machine. For me, playing the game is more important than showing off how much detail I can make. I include as much detail as I can without slowing down my computer too much, and that's  what I upload. Of course, when you make yours, you can make it the way you want.

The tachanka will be ready to upload later today.

I agree with Gepard, a larger horse team looks better. I made a troika version of the tachanka. In FE it functions as a truck (transport) and it shows up in Armed Recon missions. The gunner will shoot at enemy aircraft if they come into his target area. Since he faces the rear, he's perfectly positioned to shoot planes lined up for a strafing or bombing run.

This turned out to be a bigger project than I thought. I got caught up in the challenge of getting the gunner to move in a big enough range to be effective. The file size is much larger that I like, I'll try to bring the size down. Then I have to make the LODs and finish the skins.

I used a two man crew so there would be enough room for the gunner to move. Otherwise his range of motion is too limited.

Beautiful skins, I'm looking forward to your uploads.

Today I uploaded the Nieuport 21. It was intended to be an escort and used a Nieuport 17 airframe with a smaller engine (to extend its range.) It was used by the French, British and Russians, and saw a lot of use post war. I have included two skins, a full set of decals, a fully functional cockpit, and my skinning templates.

My thanks to Ojcar, who made the FM, which captures the fast climbing speed, but low power of this plane.

20 hours ago, Gepard said:

If you are looking for an idea about a widely used vehicle during russian-polish-war how about the "tatshanka".

...

This is a very cool looking vehicle, thanks for finding this. Since it fires to the rear, it couldn't be used as a tank in First Eagles,  but it might be used as a truck or as a static prop. Or maybe for AA...

By the way - I also uploaded better (smoother) versions of the airfield vehicles I made earlier this year.

https://combatace.com/files/file/17512-wwi-airfield-vehicles-and-objects/

3 hours ago, Silberpfeil said:

Great stuff and thank you, Stephen1918!  Am I missing something or can you get this contraption to fire at aircraft?

Silberpfeil - Good thought, but the gun doesn't elevate high enough to be an AA gun so it's ground targets only.

I've been tinkering with the Polish-Russian War. Today I uploaded an armored car for the project. The FT-B was built in relatively small numbers (less then 20) but was an effective fighting machine. Some stayed in service until the 1930's. The download includes high and low poly LOD's and a destroyed version.