VonS

A few more tweaks and then maybe one more biplane for the 1937 - 1941 FM package...perhaps Stephen's Polikarpov I-15. Included MaxG limits for the Mk.1 Gladiator and did a quick Chinese skin too (thank you Paint3D ) - should work well now for mto and pto installs in SF2. Happy flying, Von S

Some tests under way...tweaking the FM for Geezer's Mk.I Gladiator, available for FE2, to work well in SF2...will include this eventually with my 1937 - 1941 FM pack. Doesn't hurt to have a biplane or two in that package. Top speed around 410 kph at around 4200 m alt in SF2, and a climb rate around 10 m/s or so, estimated, if you climb at a speed of about 200 to 220 kph. Not bad at all for a 1930s aircraft. Too bad I can't remove the cockpit canopy since it doesn't open/close anyway, and I think the model is lacking damage tga files, but no big deal - it's a fun aircraft and can hold its own against 1930s monoplane types (I'd say it's better than the early monoplanes). Von S

Thank you for this great skin - wasn't even aware of Stephen's I-15 model...might tinker with the data ini in the future so that I can set this one up in my SF2 Pacific theater install...should be a good complement to the Chinese-flown Polikarpov I have running in that install, and it doesn't hurt to have at least one biplane in that late 1930s' theater. Happy flying, Von S

Hi Stephen, yes the shadows-off part is a long story. I have them set to "medium" in SF2 since I installed it directly onto my Mac Pro 2013 (trash can model) in BootCamp - but FE2 I used to run originally on my Mac Mini (2012) with an integrated vid card (Intel HD 4000) where it was a good idea to keep shadows turned off to improve fps. Now that I've transferred FE2 to the Mac Pro too, I'll eventually get to turning on the shadows - but will probably leave shadows at medium settings since they look fine that way. I just hope I didn't set shadows to false in the general ini files for my 200+ aircraft that I fly in FE2 since that will be a slow process to turn shadows back on. Also I might leave shadows off for any FE1 era aircraft since, as far as I can tell in SF2, SF1 era aircraft with shadows on sometimes cast a strange, thin, long line to the ground (I think this was addressed somewhere in the SF2 or FE2 threads a while back, that it's actually the pilot's shadow that should be turned off on older aircraft, not the aircraft shadow itself). Will look into it eventually. Von S

Thank you Jackson. Fully modded, FE2 is an amazing flight sim and the visuals are great too. I'm flying it again more and more after a small break to do some tweaks for WOFFue. Latest pics. from the Eastern front, an afternoon mission against the rare Pfalz and Fokker Eindecker, and then a lone-wolf mission early in the morning (using the modified mission control and formation ini files from my FM update pack to give lonely and often empty skies, as historical for these obscure theaters). Lone-wolf missions are particularly challenging. I'm thinking of flying a bunch of missions, this time for the Eastern front, using my DiD Rules that I came up with a while back, for even more immersion (https://combatace.com/forums/topic/92423-did-style-single-missions-for-fe2/). Happy flying, Von S

Did some flying again this weekend, first in ROF, but then I ended up spending more time in SF2 and FE2. ROF is definitely a respectable sim with great damage modeling, but I had much more fun in SF2 and FE2. Also the AI is I think noticeably better in the TW sims, particularly in FE2 where, depending on skill, aircraft sometimes disengage and try to head for home, or temporarily disengage and then jump back into the fray. Von S

Spent some time again this weekend in the Pacific theater and managed to capture a couple of nice shots of the early Tomahawk. I should probably start doing some FM tweaks for a small selection of two-engined aircraft, for an extension of my 1937 - 1941 package for SF2, but the flying is just too addictive. Von S

While FE2 runs fine on "average" settings on an Intel HD 4000 integrated vid card (the 4000 dates to about 2012 or 2013) - SF2 maxes out at about 10 fps on the same card. The HD 3000 is likely even worse. I recommend running SF2 on a discrete graphics card, or two. Also, for good measure, download the following generic ENB package (http://enbdev.com/download_mod_generic.htm), and dump the "d3d9.dll" located in that package in the "WrapperVersion" folder directly into your SF2 game folder/directory (not into the user folder/directory). Same tip applies to FE2 on Windows 7/8.1/10 - has improved frame rates both in WineSkin and on the BootCamp (Windows) side of my 2013 Mac Pro for the TW series of sims. (Thank you gTerl for mentioning this tip a while back on the FE2 forums.) Happy flying gents', Von S NOTE: FE2 works fine in either WineSkin or BootCamp...SF2 I recommend not installing in WineSkin since the ENB package doesn't seem to make a difference for SF2 in WineSkin (better to do a direct Windows install and then apply the ENB magic).

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

Minor update (Aug. 17, 2019): version 1.2 of this package includes the P-47N and improves the data inis for the other Jug and Superbolt variants. 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

Hello fellow WOFFue flyers, For those who like sharp, crisp visuals in their WOFFue, please find included below a zipped file that contains two alternate SweetFX settings files that go with my SweetFX tweaks package (for the Bucksnort SweetFX mod). You will find a "subtle bloom" and "no bloom" settings file included. See pics. included further below for examples of how the subtle bloom looks (coupled with a Lod Bias value set to -1, by the way) - the scenery is now about as sharp as I can get it in WOFFue on my rig. Also, for those running WOFFue on AMD cards, as indicated in my posts over on SimHQ, turn off terrain shadows (set to 0) in the relevant d3d8 ini files included with this SweetFX tweaks package, but feel free to enable cloud density and cloud shadow values - enabling cloud density/shadows gives aircraft shadows on the ground too, not only on the aircraft itself. I run a value of 3 for example for cloud density/shadow values, and with terrain shadows set to zero - there is no shadow flickering from my AMD cards. Higher cloud density/shadow values should be fine too, but might slightly shave off some of the framerate. Happy flying, Von S VonS_SweetFX_WOFFue_ExtraSettingsFiles.zip

View File SweetFX Tweak for WOFFue (for Bucksnort SweetFX Package) Hello fellow WOFFue flyers, Please find included with this post a very small package that includes my SweetFX settings file and d3d8 initialization files - this is a tweak of the settings file located in the JSGME-friendly Bucksnort SweetFX mod that is/was available for WOFFue (see the relevant thread for WOFFue on the SimHQ forum for more download info. regarding SweetFX: https://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4580409/re-sweetfx-for-woff-ue-mod#Post4580409). Once you've downloaded the Bucksnort package (or SweetFX ver. 1.5.x and made it JSGME-friendly), read the directions included in the "Read Me" file in my package for how/where to copy over my settings file - which should give greater vibrancy, sharpness, and also very subtle bloom in WOFFue. Works particularly well on AMD cards but should work on any graphics card. See the pics. included with this post for a good example of improved grass color, among other things, with the SweetFX tweak. Happy flying, Von S NOTE: These SweetFX tweaks only work with WOFF (Ultimate Ed.) up to ver. 4.18 or 4.21. The latest patches for the Ultimate Ed. (vers. 4.22, 4.24, etc.) - have changed the way shaders/shader calls work in WOFF - and SweetFX no longer works. SweetFX also doesn't work with the Platinum Ed. and BH&H2. Recommended instead for WOFF vers. 4.22 and later is ReShade and relevant, WOFF/WOTR-friendly ReShade presets. DISCLAIMER: All Von S mods, for FE2, SF2, also WOFFue, are subject to the CombatAce "freeware" terms of agreement. Mods may be shared with others, included on other media devices, also modded further, providing that original documentation and/or credit is included, and providing that the mods remain free to use. Von S mods shall not be sold, resold, etc., and Von S takes no responsibility for injuries or fixations that may result from flying heavily tweaked FMs or from attempts to enjoy real flying without aid or instruction from a qualified flight instructor. Submitter VonS Submitted 06/05/2019 Category Modding Tools and Add-on Software  

Minor update (June 6, 2019): version 1.1 of this package addresses minor errors with prop efficiency numbers for the prop aircraft that are included. Happy flying, 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

Latest Spad XII data ini tweaks included below, also a nice ambient sound for aerodromes...uses the "TruckLoop" entry (simply drop the sound into your Sounds folder). Further reduced rolling coefficients for the Spad XII landing gear and improved elevator down movement slightly, for more realism during take-off...it still requires some dancing on the rudder but it should be slightly more manageable to bring the tail up now once you pass about 60-70 kph. The Spad XII was probably the most difficult of the Spad single-seaters to take off and land...only given to the best pilots. (Will roll all of this eventually into a ver. 10.0 of the FM update packs; included data ini has service dates for the eastern front...copy and paste over service dates for the western front from my relevant theater folders in the ver. 9.7 FM pack if you like - the eastern front used Spad XII types in small numbers, but no Spad XIII types were there, as far as I know - Crawford may pitch in with more details if necessary.) Happy flying, Von S EDIT: File removed, will be included in mini ver. 9.9 update of the FM pack under the relevant thread (this one).