Stephen1918

I tracked down the Target Area Editor that Wrench recommended (It's part of Mues Toolbox - http://combatace.com/topic/87780-mues-toolbox/ ) but I haven't got it running yet. Meanwhile, I'm still placing targets using Notepad. Currently, I'm working on the trench line through the mountains. I'm trying to get the trenches to follow the terrain, with most of the devastation in the valleys, and with bunkers and AA guns on the ridges. I'm adjusting the tiles, adjusting the height map, and placing the targets simultaneously. It's slow work, but I'm making progress. I'm using some of Geezer's bunkers, and I made some new bunkers and AA guns for the mountains. From a game-play standpoint, the terrain is playable - all the airfields and military targets are placed. I need to do a lot of eye candy work - putting more buildings in the cities, adding ground objects to the airfields and bases, and making sure all the mountain targets are reasonably level (there are still some AA guns sitting at a 45 degrees angle.) And I need to make the seasonal tiles for the 5 new tiles I made. I'm expecting my real world workload to pick up next week, so I may not get this polished off until May. Shall I upload what I have so far? (It's use-able, but not perfect.)

The tugboat and barge are all one piece, centered on the boat's funnel. I'm placing the targets the old fashioned way, using Notepad. In the cities it's the only way I can see how things fit between the TOD buildings.

I know what you mean about how a project gets bigger and bigger. And it seems like every good idea leads to a lot more work. Right now I'm putting buildings into the cities - which for me is very tedious, a lot of trial and error. I'm starting to prioritize - some things will have to wait for a future version, or I will never get done. Maybe you could get Verdun good enough for now and plan on an upgrade later? I noticed in the stock Verdun Terrain, there are some target locations without any actual targets in them. I wonder if they ran into the same problem you have - trying to lower the frame rate without having to renumber everything in the target ini. Send me what you have for the IAF Campaign. If you made it for the Verdun Terrain, it may not fit Vogesen very well, but I'm sure it will be helpful. I'm am not going to fill the parts of Vogesen that overlap Verdun (not in this version anyway) so your campaign probably has a lot of places that are not on my map. I'm trying hard not to break Ojcar's Armchair Aces Campaigns. Adding new locations to the target.ini shouldn't be a problem, but I'm trying not to rename or re-position any of Gepard's or Ojcar's targets. My biggest problem at the moment is that I keep getting ideas for new ground objects, which are fun to make and become a welcome distraction. But then I have to add them to the targets in the target ini and the amount of work grows. I did make some new boats for the Rhine River, because it seemed like a good idea, but I have to limit that or I will never finish. (Thanks for the offer Geezer.)

Thanks Quack, I'll check it out. Until now, I've been using some maps I found online. Most of them just deal with the first year of the war, when there were major campaigns being fought in the area. After that, activity on the Vogesen Front seems to have slowed down and I haven't found much, but I know the air war continued. Are you planning to upload the IAF campaign and the Verdun Terrain? You mentioned them some time ago, but I haven't seen anything recently. Are you still working on them?

Jan Tuma's tiles do work in it. Except, I did make one new tile, I can make one to match Jan Tuma's tiles and include it in the upload. I am also placing AA guns in some of the farms and forests, I don't know if they will be intersecting trees when Jan's tiles are used.

I've been placing targets and roads in the Vogesen terrain. It overlaps the Verdun Map quite a bit - I'm concentrating on areas along the front line that were missing before. I'm using the Cambrai tile set so we can have a more-or-less uniform look for the entire Western Front, from the North Sea all the way to the Swiss border. I have the military targets (airfields, supply depots, balloon and AA stations, and trench lines) pretty much done - but I still have a lot of work to do in the mountains. Next I want to add more civilian targets - villages, train stations, factories and warehouses in the towns, etc. I'm thinking it will be a few more weeks before it's ready.

Thank you for this Ojcar! I appreciate all the continued improvements you've made to Armchair Aces.

AS you can see, I'm incorporating some of your forts and airfield objects into the terrain.

To clarify - it was actually my third or fourth mission of the campaign. But it was the first time I ever earned a medal. I was very proud. Capitaine, I think your solution is a good one for the game; and thank you for doing the many hours of work to help extend First Eagles beyond the Western Front.

I have contacted Gepard, and he gave me permission to make a revision of his Vogesen Terrain. Gepard did a beautiful job on the Alsace Valley and the Rhine Valley in the north. I will keep all his targets as they are. I will also keep all the targets Ojcar added - so Armchair Aces will still work. I am adding targets to the Lorraine plateau and the north-west part of the map. I will make some changes to the tiles, but not many. Mostly I will add a lot of the ground and terrain objects that have become available since Gepard first made the terrain eight years ago.

Nice looking plane Geezer!

It may take a while, but I usually get it eventually. Thanks for your help.

Have you taken a look at Max188's 1024 hi-res tiles? They were posted in the download/terrain section a long time ago. I never downloaded them so I don't know how they look or if he did the whole set or just selected tiles. It might be worth a look.

I'll have to check that installed it correctly. Capitaine Vengeur made two versions, one for the Imperial government, and another for the provisional government in 1917. I may have gotten them mixed when I installed them. But I'm still having fun with it. I know what you mean by posthumous awards! I have gotten some of those too.

I know it may not be that impressive to some people here, but it was a first for me and I was very proud. I'll try flying the same campaign as an Austro-Hungarian Pilot and see how I do. It is impressive that we now have complete games for Eastern, Palestine, and Italian Fronts.

Thank you, Ojcar and Capitaine Vengeur! For the past few weeks, I've been actually playing First Eagles (instead of just making planes.) Ojcar's camapaigns and Capitaine Vengeur's pilots & recent medals pack have really brought the game to life for me. Tonight I earned my first medal - Flying a Spad A.2 with the Russian 19th AOI, I shot down two planes in the same mission - well, my gunner did after I kept him pointed him at the enemy long enough to take them down. :)

I think you're right Wrench. I did some experimenting, I tried to get Monty CZ's He-111b into FE1 and it just wouldn't work. This may be the same problem Crawford is having with the A-team plane. BUT, I do have the CR-42 flying in FE1. I had to change the ini file to only use LOD001 and it showed up in the game just fine. So bhaskar2789's problem can be solved.

The SVA5 is the Ansaldo SVA5 by Laton - in the "Other Entente Aircraft" section The SP3 is the Savoia Pomillio SP.3 by Laton - in the "Other Entente Aircraft" section The Ca3 is the Caproni Ca.3 by Monty CZ - in the "Other Entente Aircraft" section All of the oefD3 planes are the Albatros D.III Oeffag planes by Jan Tuma - in the "Other Central Powers Aircraft" section - there are five of them with different batch numbers ("Ba.253" and so on.) Hope this helps.

I have Geezer's CR42 working in FE1. When the plane is available on the meu screen, but doesn't show up in the game, it's a problem with the LODs. If the ini file is listing LODs that aren't there, or if the LODs themselves don't have the same model node names and the same linking hierarchy, then the game doesn't use any of them. Check that the LOD names exactly match the names in the aircraft ini file. If those are all correct, then look at the OUT files and see if everything is using the same names and that they are linked the same way. This can be very tedious, so instead you can make a backup of the ini file, then delete all the LODs except the first one and run the game. The plane should show up. Then try adding the LODs back in, one at a time until it stops working. Then adjust the distances in the ini file. LOD files are LOD - Ansi and Unicode are text file formats and have nothing to do with data files. The version of the LOD plug-in is specific to 3DS Max, but the LOD files they make are all the same. Please post here if this helps or not.

Yes, it's a plug-in for 3D Studio, not a stand alone. As I said, there may be other utilities out there, but I don't know what they are. You might try asking on the Strike Fighter forum, it uses the same game engine as First Eagles so importing planes will be the same.

Thirdwire has a plug-in for 3DS Max on their website to convert 3DS files into their LOD format. There might be other ways to get planes into First Eagles, but I don't know what they are. The plug-in can be downloaded here: http://www.thirdwire.com/downloads_tools.htm

Yes! Thank you Lewis. We would be happy to have any planes that you are willing to share. There are several in your list that we don't have yet, and I don't see a problem with having multiple versions of the same plane.

Thank you for your comments, gentlemen! I think the wing vibration is built into the FM. We have Ojcar to thank for that. All of his data files for my planes have been great! For the future - I have nothing in progress at the moment (for the first time in years!) I have been working on getting my Western Front straightened out, I had been using it for testing and experimenting and it was pretty badly messed up, so I deleted and reinstalled the whole thing. I re-downloaded and installed all the planes, and using Ojcar's Armchair Aces as a guide, I've been re-installing all the skins. On my game, I run all the skins down to 512x512. It's very tedious, but it improves the frame rate quite a bit.

I have uploaded the Oeffag C.II. It was an Austro-Hungarian two-seater used mostly on the Eastern Front. The download includes two skins, a small bomb loadout, a full set of serial number decals, and my skinning templates. My thanks to Ojcar for making the FM for this plane. Happy New Year!

View File Oeffag C.II The Oeffag C.II was a two-seat Austro-Hungarian plane introduced in mid 1916. It was intended to replace the Hansa-Brandenburg C.I. Pilots considered it a better plane, but it wasn't as maneuverable, and did not completely replace the Hansa-Brandenburg. The Oeffag C.II was armed with a single machine gun and was used primarily for reconnaissance, but could also carry a small bomb load for infantry support missions. It was used mostly on the Eastern Front, but also served on the Italian and Baltic Fronts. My version has two skins with an early and a late insignia scheme. There is a complete set of number decals and a loadout for a small bomb load. I have included my skinning templates with the download. Historical Note: The Oeffag C.II could carry four 10kg bombs, which were carried in the cockpit and dropped over the side by the observer. In my plane, I mounted them on a bomb rack under the fuselage. Credits: My thanks to Ojcar for making the FM file for this plane. My thanks also to Nix for making the sound for the Austro-Daimler 160 engine. Installation instructions: Note - The engine sound for the Austro-Daimler 160 has been used with other planes so you may already have it installed. I have included it with this download in case you don't have it yet. For FE1: Unzip the file and move the folder named "OeffagC2" into the FirstEagles/Objects/Aircraft folder. If you don't already have it, you also need to move the sound file "Austro-daimler160.wav" into the FirstEagles/Sounds folder. For FE2: Unzip the file and move the folder named "OeffagC2" into the FirstEagles/Objects/Aircraft folder. Then in the FirstEagles/Objects/Decals folder, create a new folder named "OeffagC2". Move the folder named "D" from the Aircraft/OeffagC2 folder into the Decals/OeffagC2 folder you just made. If you don't already have it, you also need to move the sound file "Austro-daimler160.wav" into the FirstEagles/Sounds folder. Submitter Stephen1918 Submitted 12/31/2015 Category Other Central Powers Aircraft