VonS

After finishing up with some FM tweaks for WOFFue, it's always nice to come back to the TW series of sims. The early morning atmospheric shots never cease to amaze me in SF2 (and in FE2). Some far eastern action in 1941 with the Japanese Me109 (E7) - a tweak of the A-Team E8. Happy flying, Von S

There's a kind of magic to dogfights in FE2 that I think (still) make it one of the best WW1 flight sims out there. Some pics. below, enjoying early war scenarios with ver. 3 of Stephen's Galicia terrain (and ver. 9.7 of my FM pack for FE2). Happy flying, Von S

On a related note, those interested in flying the early Me109 variants in FE2 might want to check over the tweaked FMs for them, available in my SF2 (1937 - 1941) FM update pack under the SF2 threads. Keep in mind that those tweaks were tested, however, only in SF2. One thing that may be necessary is to cap the mach limit number more extremely (to lower it) and to reduce overall engine output too, in order to get historical top speeds in FE2 - I'm willing to look over those data inis for a SCW scenario in FE2 eventually...although currently I can't make any promises regarding other FMs for other SCW aircraft since I'm already swamped with FMs - have to go over several FMs for WOFFue, then a part two (two-engined aircraft) for a 1937-41 scenario in SF2, and then finally I have to revisit FE2 and start working on a ver. 10.0 of the FM update pack. Fun times ahead. At any rate, a SCW scenario is a welcome addition indeed to FE2! Happy flying all, Von S

Forgot to tweak the FM for this beauty, for the Cold War Prop FM pack...will upload it soon with a ver. 1.2 of the package. Have also increased sensitivity of the rudder on the P-47M and N types, with slightly snappier aileron response on the type N too, and desensitized aileron response on the type M, as well as on the earlier D "Razorback" sprint upgrade included with the pack. The 47N is a bit slower than the M variant but still very impressive. Top speed around the 750s kph at about 9800 m alt...one of the best high-alt. prop aircraft in the package now. Does great in dogfights against the Lavochkin 11 if you maintain energy...the LA-9 is a bit more challenging but still workable if you fly the Jug smoothly. Happy flying, Von S

Big update packs with Geezer's latest works-in-progress available on pages 17 and 18 of the new aircraft thread...including the Pfalz D.III and IIIa, and extra skins for the IIIa variant. Latest Caudron R.11 available on page 23 of the same thread, including newer skins by Geezer for one of the Nieups. posted on pages 17/18. Bleriot XI type 2 never released, not even in alpha form - if Geezer ever sends us the relevant files for that one, I'll get to work on the FM for it (but not before late August, currently out of town with internet access only on a netbook ). Von S

I'm sure the forums will liven up in the fall gents' - FE2 is a niche sim within an already niche community of WWI sim enthusiasts, so I'm not too worried. I'm sure that Stephen and gTerl are working on things behind the scenes as they find time, perhaps some updated terrains or aircraft eventually. I will roll out a ver. 10.0 update of the FM pack either this fall or early next year - have to look at the Snipe, also several two-seaters that I never touched, and I'm thinking of whether or not to look at the Bortdafarm Fokk. D.III late variant with the ailerons. There's also a Junkers J.1 that Geezer did which is pretty much complete but it could use a skin or two - that could be released eventually under the "new aircraft" thread, although the Junkers is probably not high priority in the sim since it is only a ground-attack aircraft. Other things that need tweaking include the spinning/static prop on Geezer's latest Nieup. 28 model, available under the new aircraft thread, and it sure would be nice if we eventually get a Bleriot XI somewhere down the road - we've been waiting for that one a long time. I'm a little slow with the ver. 10.0 FM update pack since I'm juggling other tweaks currently...would like to comb over the early Nieups, 200hp Alb. D.Va, also the new Fokk. D.VI and the Spad 13 types for WOFFue. After that I want to finish up with a "Part II" of my early WW2 prop tweaks package for SF2, focusing on some two-engined bombers and a cargo aircraft or two, for immersion...then I'll circle back to the ver. 10.0 FM pack for FE2. Have also been looking at ROF recently (a lovely sim) but there's no way to mod the FMs in that one - I like their FMs but the aircraft seem somewhat too fragile and are thrown around by the wind like those 3/4 sized replicas, also several of the top speeds are a bit too slow in that one. I did manage to grab a bunch of their planes, on sale - for 40 USD you can pretty much fill up your hangar in ROF, just look for when the planes are on sale for a dollar or two each. Doesn't hurt to own all three of the major WW1 sims. WOFF is very respectable but needs SweetFX or ReShade to sharpen the graphics a bit more to max. (since it dates back to the CFS3 days). I've found no need to use SweetFX in FE2 or ROF. The FMs in WOFF I think are fine although loops/stalls work slightly differently on some of the types if they are underpowered, also with some of the stock FMs, than in FE2 and ROF. All in all I think that FE2 is still one of the best WW1 flight sims around, good DX10-era graphics and the modded FMs give a good sense of full-sized WW1 aircraft and their peculiarities. I also like the stall/spin characteristics in FE2. ROF apparently does "real historical" spins but considering the lack of real data for some of the WW1 types - I like the FE2 approach more that standardizes most of the spin problems (to get out of a spin, go opposite rudder, nose down, hope for the best - also in FE2 sometimes you should do opposite aileron to the spin as well, yes counter-intuitive but many of those early ailerons are big so there's a strange logic to going opposite aileron, opposite rudder, and nose down too). One of the other things I've come to enjoy in FE2 are the rare side-slips that sometimes happen, on stall, right into the ground, on a few of the types - perhaps a real possibility on some WW1 types given the high drag numbers and other things. Three areas I think could use further work in FE2: (a) higher-resolution ground/landscape textures - although they are okay as they are, especially from altitude where they look more like what you actually see out of the window of an aircraft than the other two WW1 sims; (b) lack of real turbulence effects in FE2 bothers me at times although it's not an immersion killer (I wonder if TK included code for turbulence but never "documented" such things...would be nice to figure that out); (c) we need some kind of illusion of solid trees in FE2 (something like a mesh of invisible but solid poles planted approximately where more trees are located would be adequate and would give an element of surprise since you wouldn't know which trees were solid - a very scary and realistic prospect when landing or flying low - this would be a good compromise since obviously the trees themselves can't be made solid....wish I knew more about texture planting/coding in the TW sims but hopefully somebody who knows more about this might try tinkering with the invisible poles/mesh solution to make heavily wooded areas randomly "dangerous"). Happy flying all, Von S

These tweaks are specifically for SF2, as is my Cold War prop package that was done about a month ago - I've also tried running a few of the WW2 types in FE2 but the results were inaccurate (the Corsair F4U-5 for example has a realistic top speed in the 760s kph in SF2, but when dumped into FE2 it jumps into the 880s kph - so I don't recommend transplanting data inis across FE2 and SF2 - better to tweak things separately for the two sims).... Apart from the Corsair and one or two other types, I haven't tried running any of the other SF2 aircraft in FE2, the Corsair showed up just fine but the FM modelling is way off when I run it in FE2....I think air density among other things is modelled to be "thinner" in FE2...possibly something TK did for more accurate WW1 biplane behavior...this would explain the difference in top speeds across the two sims....also the fact that I usually need to use higher-than-historical hp ratings in SF2 for the prop types to get fairly historical climb rates...in FE2, even when using estimates, the hp ratings end up fairly close to historical values, and sometimes require even a bit of down-tuning so that climb rates aren't too good/inaccurate. Some of the 1930s biplanes that Geezer and Baffmeister were working on were done specifically for FE2 I think, and then eventually re-tweaked for SF2 - on the other hand "backporting" stuff from SF2 into FE2 may not be as easy. Obligatory screenies below, Aircobra and Tomahawk in the pto theater - SF2 is thoroughly satisfying for my occasional WW2 interests, much better than that CFS3 stuff I tried years ago. Von S

If you like old Counter Strike titles, I also recommend checking out the obscure granddaddy of them all - Damage Inc. (originally a Macintosh title from 1997, based on the Marathon 2 engine, but eventually ported over to Windows). We Mac Heads enjoyed this one on our beige-colored Power Macs back in the '90s, running System 7 or 8 - while most of the world was on Windows 95. The original website for Damage Inc. is still online (http://www.paranoidproductions.com/damage/). I think the game is abandonware now so you might be able to find it by doing some Googling for either the Mac or Windows version. Von S Intro pic. of Damage Inc.

Fighter data ini tweaks now all done for a mini 1937 to 1941 install, will most likely package this soon and upload as a "Part I" package..."Part II" will follow later in the year with five or six two-engined bombers that fit well with a late '30s install. Have finally gotten around to tweaking the P-39 Aircobra (c variant and early d batch), and also one of my favorites, the P-40 (cu and/or early b variant), this should work well for early and obscure pto and mto installs. The Flying Tigers flew the c variant largely but I'll leave that perhaps for a future tweaks package for a mid-war scenario. Happy flying, Von S Can barely get above 8500 m alt in the early P-40 but good enough to create some contrails Some damage from a dogfight with Folgere types but the P-40 is fairly sturdy and can take a beating Couldn't resist getting some of the later-variant Folgeres at their base (Series 9 of the c.202 tweak in the pic below) Keeping good formation on the way back home I always find time to enjoy sun effects in the TW sims

A couple of screenies to refresh this thread...was trying out some of the Entente aircraft in ROFue recently and, similar to WOFFue, I think my two favorites are the SPAD VII and the Tripehound (for some reason the Nieup. 17 seems a bit too fragile in ROF and I've never been much of a Camel jockey to explore those further) - but the SPAD VII is wonderful even against the Dr.1, and at low-level too - simply use power to extend and climb gently, and come back for another slashing attack. Works well most of the time in the 150 hp SPAD VII, should work even better in the 180 hp version. Von S

And let's put up some more updates for the FM tweaks in progress...the Macchi 200 and 202 done by A-Team for SF1 now fly well in SF2...have re-tweaked the old 202 as a series 1 Folgere, while the 202 posted above has been further split into approximations of a series 5 and series 9 of the Folgere, should be enough variety now for an early MTO install. Speaking of MTO installs, I was looking at the nice Spit V.a available at CombatAce and modified the data ini to fit a Mk.II...and it works well in an early MTO install (purists may prefer the tropical Mk.V with the sand filter for an MTO install but technically those fit better for a mid-war scenario in 1942 and later...so I went with a Mk.II instead, and the Mk.I has been re-tweaked for an ETO install)...will take a small break and then onto the MS. 406 and Curtiss variants...also want to include some two-engined types, so I will decide whether to do a small update pack first or maybe continue to expand it and upload the FM tweaks later once I've covered the types I'm using for my 1937-1941 install. Representative shots below of the latest tweaks...hair-raising adventure with Mk.II Spits and the Macchi 200, was out of ammo after the first dogfight so I eventually sawed off the second fellow's elevator with my prop...then chased him to a higher alt. to make him stall and fall into an unrecoverable spin...I then ran out of fuel (probably damage of some kind) and had to find a spot to land. SF2 is every bit as good for WW2 as FE2 is for WW1 in my opinion. Von S Chasing the fellow high after sawing his elevator off He ends up spinning, with no elevator, rudder, or ailerons to correct Looking for a spot to land the Spit Mk.II after the engine conked out or fuel ran out Landed close to what seems like an outhouse (appropriate after the extreme adventure)

Continuing with some FM tweaks for an early WW2 install...this time the A-Team Veltro data ini reworked as an early Macchi 202, with 12 and 7 mm machine guns. Lightened up the camo a bit for myself and took her for a test...can use the vertical very effectively in this fighter...also sometimes displays a tendency towards nasty spins but overall very nice against Mk.1 Hurricanes if you aren't rough on the stick. I'm enjoying this one very much...next up the MS. 406 and to get to the P-39 and early P-40 Curtiss variants...I've never checked out a more enjoyable WW2 install than in SF2...very nice stuff. Von S Up close and personal with the Hurries A lighter skin...tweaks done in Paint3D Got a few on the ground I was out of ammo. here but I think one of the AA guns exploded while I buzzed over it Back at base

Stephen's beautiful model for the Da Vinci flyer got me thinking today about butterflies, dragonflies, mechanical birds, early flight in general, also horse power and ox power and other (obsolete) power measurements and ratios (oxes are like torque since they have more "pull power" than a draft horse, but the horse always has more hp...I think the old rule is that an ox can do about 65% of the work of a draft horse). In other words, it only has about 2/3s of the hp of a horse, but that makes sense since it's not a real horse. It seems that the major problem with early powered flight (man or engine powered) was the power to weight ratio (inefficient) of early engines, especially steam engines. Clement Ader's "Eole" flyers of the 1890s (the ones with bat-like wings) were about 150 to 250 kg in weight (empty), and had cumbersome steam engines to power them...of about 20-30 hp. It's possible that they got off the ground briefly but had no pilot control. The Wright brothers also encountered a similar power-to-weight ratio problem but overcame this with a somewhat lightweight combustion engine of about 15 hp, and a fairly long wingspan, plus the biplane construction that gives further wing area for better lift. The Flyer B and C would be further improvements...with engines of about 25 to 35 hp. The Wright flyers had similar empty weights to the Eole variants, of about 200 to 300 kg, but a better wing design and lighter (combustion) engine - and also the capability for controlled flight. Man-powered "ornithopters" are another problem entirely, since, to speak in very rough averages, a man has about 1/3 the horsepower of a single horse (race horse), even less if you measure with a draft horse (which may be how the Germans were measuring horse power prior to the 1920s...perhaps this is why German hp ratings are lower on the Mercedes D.III engine when compared to British tests on the same engine...an interesting side-topic). Something like the Da Vinci flyer might actually work but you would have to be able to pump out, consistently, about 40 to 60 horses given the construction materials of the time (linen, wood, steel tubing perhaps, etc.). I've gone with estimated empty weights for the Da Vinci and Der Flieger variant of between about 150 and 190 kg - which seems reasonable given historical construction materials - about half the weight of the Eole or Wright flyer - but with an "invisible" combustion engine included to simulate extreme pedal power. This gives the Da Vinci flyers enough power to take off. There were some experiments in the 1980s from MIT with pedal-powered flight, but those required extremely long wingspans for lift, also cutting-edge construction materials, and saving on weight wherever possible - and they flew at something like 45 kph and maybe 20-30 meters alt. (haven't looked up those statistics in a while). To get something like the Da Vinci off the ground would require about 50 hp, from what I've been able to test in FE2, similar to what's needed for the early MS types and Bleriot XI to get off the ground too (those have longer wings for better lift when compared to something like the Da Vinci so the Anzani 25 hp engine works but barely works on those, as was the case historically when Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909). For some of the types in FE2, I've gone with a lower-than-historical hp rating since the climb rate and lift was already too good on some of the wing types, and they still fly well enough for early aircraft (often you have to juggle between the engine rating, empty weight, and other values, to get the overall result right, without overhauling an entire data ini). I did some more tinkering today with the Da Vinci and provide one more variant in the package below...for this one, I've shaved off the empty weight to 70 kg (average weight of one man maybe), and was able to reduce the power on the invisible combustion engine to only 10 hp - about the power of 10 to 20 men pedaling away - anything less and it can't take off...and I think a lower empty weight also wouldn't be realistic (even this weight is pushing it) - considering typical construction materials for the type. So, this one is as close as I can get it to how birds fly and how a real pedal-powered contraption might behave (one made from materials in the garage or a WWI factory, not with fancy ultralight components or cutting-edge technology) - something to enjoy in FE2. The ai flies it just fine, but requires some time to get to alt. The ceiling on this one seems to be around 500 m, top speed is only about 65 kph. This one is even more delicate than the other two variants posted under the Da Vinci thread, so watch dives and hard maneuvers. To install, simply rename Stephen's DaVinci aircraft folder to TouringEdition and copy over the skin folder and ini files. Von S EDIT: File removed, will be included in mini ver. 9.9 update of the FM pack under the relevant thread.

Hello gents', Thought I'd post some speculations and observations on the FM aspects of some things in FE2 and SF2 that I've recently been tinkering with. This might be an interesting post for those who like to follow these technical threads. I was recently installing more aircraft into my small SF2 install - something I wanted to get to last year but had no time - and I decided to install a couple of the late prop aircraft too, particularly the SeaFury and F4U-5 variant of the Corsair. Overall pleased with the handling of the types, I tweaked a few things such as desensitizing the rudder on them, and also giving them slightly heavier aileron feel - since those late model prop aircraft were fairly heavy, about 4500 kg on average. Further testing involved flying and inspection of the [FlightControl] and [Engine] sections...couldn't get much beyond about 500 kph near sea level or at alt. in the types...so I commented out the MaxSpeedSL entry for the FlightControl, and tweaked prop speeds to close to historical, within the 2000 to 3000 rpm range, also pushed up the value for the SLPowerDry entry for the Engine, usually by a noticeable amount, and then tested further. Some of the things I've noticed, in terms of SF2 specifically (but this post is relevant to FE2 too): a) WEP power is not modelled realistically, since you can keep running it without engine damage b) WEP power doesn't give much of a boost, if at all (although I've only tinkered with the SeaFury and Corsair so far) c) a better way of simulating, however simplistic it is, the potential of WEP power, is to manipulate the AltitudeTableData numbers instead (for example, I plugged in values ranging from about 1.05 to 1.35 around the 6000 m alt. band, which should be where the Corsairs benefitted the most from max. throttle) d) after manipulation of the AltitudeTableData, it's best to get rid of the WEP entries entirely, and set up "throttle gradients" instead under the engine sections, such as: ThrottleRate=0.65 IdleThrottle=0.12 CruiseThrottle=0.45 MilThrottle=0.70 MaxThrottle=1.00 The numbers above I've plugged in, for example, for the Corsair. The space between Military throttle and Max throttle would be where "WEP power" would theoretically in this case be engaged, somewhere around the 0.85 mark for the band I've selected above. For this to work somewhat realistically, the player should restrict themselves to about 85% throttle max. except in extreme situations, depending of course on where military and max throttle are set. Also important for this to work is to make sure that the max SL speed under the FlightControl section is left uncapped (commented out) - otherwise artificial barriers are set up that cannot be bypassed by more than about 20-30 kph. Speed caps work beautifully in SF2 for the jet engines, but, at least from my experience, don't work that well with the late prop planes since you can then never hit top max. recorded historical speeds, not even at alt. - and not at SL either. Also noticeable in the example above is that I've increased the throttle rate from the default of about 0.25. Historically, late prop aircraft would have had better acceleration than early jet planes (not better top speeds, but faster acceleration to their own max speed). By the 1960s/70s, jet engines should surpass the props even in acceleration. I then re-tested by dumping the modified Corsair into my FE2 install. In SF2 it can get into the 760s kph, as historical, using the engine and throttle values I've included in my graded throttle settings above, while in FE2 the same tweaks push the top speed into the 880s kph - a difference of about 120 kph for top speeds, across FE2/SF2. This is why it's not a good idea simply to transfer data inis from one of the sims to the other. I'm assuming that the discrepancy in top speeds means that TK went with calculations to give less air resistance in FE2 (maybe FE as well?) - to fit better with the more fragile and maneuverable WWI aircraft types. One thing that remains constant between FE2 and SF2 is that, at least from my observations, the WEP modelling is not very realistic - there was no high alt. band where I could push the top speed beyond, for example, a reasonable top speed that may have been possible at near sea level (such as 500 or 600 kph). Some preliminary conclusions, to be tested further: a) speed caps at sea level should be kept in place in FE2, as done in the data inis in my FM packs, since they fit better with the lower top speeds of the early aircraft anyway, and mach limits should also be kept fairly low (I have them set at 120% of the "top speed" of the WW1 aircraft....this allows for realistic dive speeds that I haven't been able to push beyond about the 460 kph mark even on the late war types such as the SE5a) b) flying late WW2 and early Cold War prop aircraft in FE2 is not recommended, but FE2 may be good for "Golden Age" stuff, as Geezer speculated upon in another thread (can't remember the link for that now), in other words for aircraft that don't have a top speed higher than about 350 or 400 kph c) the difference between top speeds at alt and at sea level are modelled just fine for the jet engines in SF2, since caps on SL speeds, and Alt speeds, work fine for those (have seen this in some Flogger tweaks that I did for my mini-SF2 install); in other words, SF2 respects the wet/dry mach values and alt table entries beautifully for jet-age stuff d) I think that the MaxThrottle value in SF2, for the prop aircraft, could use some more tinkering/testing...I've set it at 1.00, but will try other values of 1.20, 1.50 etc., to see if this creates more realistic differences between regular power and WEP, or some kind of "accordion" effect e) as it stands, I'm enjoying the SeaFuries and Corsairs but only with SL speed uncapped and giving historical top speeds not at alt. but near sea level (this is a compromise of sorts since, at alt, they still make about 600 kph and sometimes a bit more - so I'm not terribly irritated by not attaining 740 kph at 7000 m alt or so, for example, in the SeaFury, as recorded for that plane) f) a couple of pics included below of the AI in SF2 now losing control of their F4U-5 Corsair during a scrap, and doing several back flips (too much throttle applied perhaps?); he then bails out of the otherwise undamaged plane; so, overall, I'm liking the realism of some of the haphazard maneuvers they now make, and also the increased speed at which these late prop fights now happen, even on the deck g) anything that I find of further use in the SF2 data inis, and if relevant to FE2, I will tinker with more to bring even more realism into FE2 (the lockout speed trick implemented for control surfaces in the alternative Morane-Saulnier type N data ini posted under the FM thread for FE2 is an example of things discovered while combing through the SF2 files) Happy flying, Von S

The Kaiser's birdmen flying home after a short flight.... Thank you FE2 modders for your hard work...FE2 is a treasure-trove of undiscovered things...perhaps soon we'll have some hot-air ballooning too. Von S

While patrolling the front today, I was attacked by this strange fellow - it seems that the Kaiser has a new instrument . To install, copy Stephen's DaVinci folder, rename as DerFlieger, and copy over the files included in the package below following the relevant file structure (the skin is Stephen's but I've re-colored a few things in Paint3D...should make for a good opponent to the DaVinci). The FM is similar to the DaVinci tweak but with slightly more pedal power and a slightly better ceiling, also a bit more weight so watch your dives since these things are delicate (top speed around 75 kph on this one from various tests near SL). Happy flying, Von S EDIT: Files removed, will be included in mini ver. 9.9 update of the FM pack under the relevant thread.

Took a break from my early WW2 tweaks to work on the FM for Stephen's wonderful Da Vinci flyer - enclosed in the file below is an updated sounds list for your FE2 flight folder, a new sound that works well for flapping wings, and the tweaked data ini for the aircraft. Some notes: top speed about 70 kph ceiling about 750 m if you really pedal well is somewhat unstable because of lack of traditional rudder (stable flying requires good coordination of throttle, left/right rudder, wing warping, also up/down elevator...a real workout and requires a bit of practice) tip to take off smoothly: increase throttle slowly to about 50-60% while keeping the tail down and direction stable other tip: to turn more easily left/right while flying, ease up on the throttle while using rudder and warping throttle is now an approximation of slower and faster pedaling to glide, turn "pedal engine" off with whatever key you've mapped to toggle engines - can also pick what position to lock the wings in when pedaling is off (wings up, level, or slightly down - this requires external view to check of course as you turn the engine off - seems to alter glide behavior slightly depending on the "off" wing position chosen) excessive dives and maneuvers will make you lose the wings, also the tail sometimes tweaked all sorts of other little lift values, alpha numbers, and added outer left/right wing panel data and outer left/right warping data as well ai flies it well (although the type is hard to fly on some of the high-alt dromes such as on the Galicia map, that are above 700 or 800 m alt...should work better for Flanders, Cambrai, Palestine, etc.) have included the Lebel rifle on the type and two reload chances (gun located roughly in the middle of where the two wings join the main wooden spar) will include the modifications eventually with a ver. 10.0 of the FM update pack but I'll leave the package here for now under this thread EDIT: Have included the Da Vinci FM tweaks with the Der Flieger package in the post further below (May 5, 2019). Happy flying, Von S

This is a lovely surprise - I look forward to flying it in FE2. And perhaps also testing it in "what if" dogfights against German-flown MS Type G variants.... Was thinking about the Wright Flyer B (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Model_B) and more dangerous Flyer C (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Model_C) variants over the last few days...so this is an interesting coincidence to see a "very early" model ready for FE2. Thanks for this Stephen. Link to history of various Wright aircraft: http://www.wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Airplanes/Wright_Airplanes.htm Von S

More progress shots....the A-Team A5M4 data ini converted to an A5M1 for early-war PTO scenarios, and a rare high-alt Me109 E7-N (conversion of the A-Team E8), a small no. of which apparently were Japanese flown...should also be good for 1941 scenarios at least. Also tweaked is the Yak-1b (downtuned to the 1a, first batch of Yaks)...I think I got hit by shrapnel from the second fellow since my engine conked out...oh well, was able to dead stick it successfully. Now onto the Curtiss P-40 and other types. Happy flying, Von S

I've combed over about a dozen or so FMs for prop aircraft for the early Cold War period (1946 to about early 1960s) - those can be found at the link below: https://combatace.com/files/file/16990-sf2-cold-war-prop-and-flogger-fm-tweaks/ Simply disregard the MiG-23 files there if you don't like jets (the relevant folder in the package is the prop aircraft one - aircraft that correspond with those tweaks are all linked to in the Read Me file included with the package by the way). I'm currently working on 10 to 20 FM tweaks for a pre-WW2 and early WW2 SF2 install (approximately 1937 to 1941), and hope to upload that package in a couple of weeks...I still have several FMs to get through...but included below are a couple of links with representative pics from my PTO and MTO SF2 installs...I'm focusing on obscure and early variants, such as the early "Army Zeke," Polikarpov type 10 (Chinese flown), the Dewoitine 510, also early marks of the Hurricane and Me109...still need to look through the P-39 and P-40 types, also included in the pack will be a tweaked FM for the Dutch-flown Curtiss P-36 (should work well for the China and Taiwan maps). I'll look over two or three multi-engined types for the early WW2 install too...an early German multi-engine type, one for the Japanese, and perhaps the B-17 variant of the Fortress for the US...and maybe an airliner or transport plane of some kind too for the late 1930s.... If I find time in the future, I might do a small FM upgrade pack for a mid-war scenario (1942 to 1943), and then something for the late war (1944 and 1945)...consisting of maybe a dozen FM tweaks or so per package...but I'll leave that stuff for much later. Once I finish with this early war package I'll come back to the WWI stuff...have to look at the Sopwith Snipe, etc. Representative pics of my early WW2 experiments: MTO install https://combatace.com/forums/topic/77564-ww2-screenshots-thread/?page=40&tab=comments#comment-754169 PTO install https://combatace.com/forums/topic/77564-ww2-screenshots-thread/?page=41&tab=comments#comment-754282 Happy flying, Von S

I recommend running FE2 and SF2 in compatibility mode if you're having CTDs gents - I run mine fine in Win10 Professional, and FE2 also in WineSkin on the Mac side (Mojave 10.14) - having said that, you can set compatibility mode by right-clicking on your FE2/SF2 program, then choosing properties/compatibility and checking off the box next to "run this program in compatibility mode for" (and choose Win7 in the dropdown menu, and click "Apply," etc.). This has fixed some oddities for me in WOFFue - should work well for FE2/SF2 as well. Happy flying, Von S

Hello gents, I think that Gatling's post links up with the speech enhancement pack posted by Menrva over here (https://combatace.com/files/file/16919-speech-enhancement/), not with the older speech pack and older WW2 nations ini file that I posted links to here earlier this morning (before deleting them)...will test this on my rig too, to see if I can finally get Japanese in my PTO install...since, using the older WW2 nations ini and older multinational speech pack...there was no Japanese language available, only Chinese. Thanks for the heads up on this. Von S UPDATE: I've had some CTDs with the latest speech pack so I've reverted back to the older Wrench WW2 nations ini file and multi-language pack (links below) and all is well...two bits of info. to keep in mind however if going that (retro) route...keep in mind that WWII_China has an underscore in the nations.ini file (modify accordingly in the relevant textures.ini and data.ini files for the Chinese-flown aircraft for the nation calls to work well in the SF2 menu)...and also, if using the older language pack, include the relevant nation speech calls under the "SpeechFile" entries of the nation.ini file...otherwise only English comes through (also, since there's no Japanese in that pack...best option is to use Chinese for the Japanese aircraft too...humble apologies to any Chinese or Japanese speakers reading this ). Links: https://combatace.com/files/file/13552-multinational-speech-pack/ https://combatace.com/files/file/13095-ww2-nations-formations-inis/

And just a few more representative pics for this thread - currently tweaking the A-Team Polikarpov (I-16, type 24) into an earlier "type 10" used on occasion by the Republic of China - should be good for late 1930s scenarios using the China and Taiwan maps - will also include real engine sounds with the FM pack whenever possible...the Polikarpov rattle is great fun while flying. SF2 is an unexplored goldmine of WW2 possibilities...never liked any of the WW2 flight sims until I picked up SF2...great stuff gents'. For those wondering about how I get the crisp terrain graphics in the pics, especially at altitude, grab the "ATISetLod" app (if you have an ATI card, for non-ATI there are probably easier ways to set the lod) at the following link (https://community.hwbot.org/topic/137720-benchmark-tweak-software/) and set the LOD bias entry to a value of "-1" while in administrator mode, and save settings (I'm running such a value and have noticed crisper terrains in FE2, SF2, also WOFF and ROF). Von S

After finishing with my FM tweaks for the Cold War prop package, I decided to do a small early war "1938-1941" install for myself in SF2 too - will eventually get to uploading these early WW2 FM tweaks...several representative shots below of Mk.1 Hurricane and Me109 D adventures in the middle east...had to follow the fellow up to about 10,000 meters and forgot I was out of ammo. in all the excitement...I eventually found a solution that also gave me a Hurricane "glider conversion" . Von S

Hopefully I will soon have time to do FM tweaks for a 200, 220 and 235 hp Spad 13 for WOFF....and will also comb over the early Nieups. (10, 11, and especially the 16 that should have a higher wing loading than it currently does in WOFFue...also they are currently too fast in the mid 170s kph, getting the same speed as the Nieup. 17). Von S