VonS

Thank you for the info. - this will save me a lot of time with my SF2 install, not having to tweak such entries if they are only cosmetic. (Makes me wonder about what other entries are only cosmetic and that I've maybe been approaching too seriously.) In terms of watts used for powerdry/powerwep values, etc., one word of advice for those tweaking FMs is to be aware that historical watt numbers for the engines don't necessarily and always translate to historical results when flying in the TW sims. At least for my WW1 tweaks package, endless testing was needed to get the models behaving historically within FE2 - although sometimes this would require unhistorical engine power numbers, or higher/lower rpm values for the props, usually a balancing act between the two, etc., and of many other factors. Theoretically, historical numbers might work well in the data inis all the time, but this would probably require entire revamps of several data inis, a very time-consuming process....touching on drag values, lift/data tables for wings and stabs, etc. My approach with the WW1 models has been to "hammer" the FMs into a shape that works well historically, based on the wonderful FM work initially done by Ojcar, TexMurphy, and others - and even then it takes at least a couple of years to comb through the data inis. The A-team data inis usually require more work...I have limited myself to touching only 5 or 6 of their WW1 aircraft. Sure wish we had some kind of program for FE2/SF2 that would "visualize" (as in a wind tunnel) what's happening when we change and crunch numbers into the data inis...would be more efficient than doing endless cycles of testing in the sim itself...but it is what it is. Happy flying, Von S

While I've noticed that I get about 12-15 extra kph with the La-11 at around 5200 m alt. already, it would be a good test to include the HasWEP=TRUE value as well, under the Engine section. I am also comparing some of the types further with modifications to the Engine section based on my long post above...currently working on the Thunderbolt "M" upgrade tweaks and the what-if Superbolts from the A-Team...will post if I find any important differences between performance on the different types. Also, I recommend testing with the SLPowerWEP value also incorporated into the Engine section of the data ini, and then without that value included. I am currently testing with SLPowerWEP included for the Superbolt, and I am noticing some extra, subtle acceleration - although no change to the top speed. Fortunately I'm able to run it in the 780s kph which is close to the historical top speed for the first prototype of the Superbolt. It took some time to get everything running with the Superbolt since I had to incorporate many alpha and data table values for the wing sections, borrowed from the Thunderbolt data inis hosted on CombatAce. Otherwise, in stock form, the A-Team Superbolt would start descending, above about 5000 m alt., if running beyond about 650 kph, with no ability to correct the descent - now it works fine with the borrowed wing values in place. My engine dry/wep values for the P-72A-1 prototype are: SLPowerDry=3072665.0 SLPowerWEP=3572665.0 I will test further by reducing wep to about a value of 3272665 - I think a difference of a value of 200,000 units, approximately, between the non-wep and wep entries, should be adequate for subtle performance differences. Also, I have noticed some other oddities regarding the late prop aircraft that are worthy of some info. here, regarding the wep manifold pressures. From what I've been able to read over the past few days...manifold pressures, if wep power was available, for early WW2 types were around 52 inches, about 64 inches for late WW2 types, with a possible 70 inches being used on these post-war variants I'm currently tinkering with for my Cold War SF2 install. Manifold pressures of 72, 74 inches, etc., are only used on modern performance and racing planes. What is confusing in the data inis is that some files record these values in inches, others in "ata" (absolute atmosphere) units...I think TK was most likely using the ata units. The general rule is 30 inches of manifold pressure equalling about 1.0 ata units, so: early WW2 types, WEPManifoldPressure=1.73 late WW2 types, WEPManifoldPressure=2.13 post-WW2 types, WEPManifoldPressure=2.33 I've as well increased the WEPTempDelta value from 10.0 to 20.0, hopefully for more overheating chance although I haven't seen any differences so far. I've currently gotten rid of the entry for max alt. at which WEP operates, so that it operates no higher than the max alt included at the top of the data ini, and I've removed the max. time for WEP duration entry since it seems largely a nuisance at this point, although I will keep testing further. Von S

A good question...I think that only TK really knows how those formulas add up and work in FE2/SF2...my impression is that much of the number crunching that we tweak into the data inis are manipulations and changes to "already established" formula averages that were directly programmed into the TW series of sims. The trick is to figure out what units TK was using...most of the data inis are in metric (m/s, etc.), but some of the ratio numbers took a bit of guesswork to figure out, and actual testing in the sims. Perhaps Baffmeister knows more about thrust formulas, etc. - might be a good idea to ask him. Most of the mods I've done for FE2 are all hand-edited and then tested, over and over again, within FE2 - an approach that, while slow, works well for WW1, but I haven't really touched any of the jet-age stuff where thrust is handled in more complicated ways. Here are a few links I've managed to find on CombatAce that might be of some help: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/61789-calculating-a-boosters-acceleration/ https://combatace.com/forums/topic/93066-used-fm-units-of-measure/ https://combatace.com/forums/topic/89652-aircraft-acceleration-values/ Von S

Been tinkering some more with the data inis, this time with the Lavochkin-11 since it flies similarly to the Extra-300 aerobatic plane from what I've noticed in SF2 and is fairly high performance. Will incorporate this into several of the late prop aircraft soon hopefully and will upload the data inis under the downloads section for SF2 if anyone's interested (SeaFury, SeaFury export version, F4U-4 and F4U-5 Corsairs, Yak-9P, LA-9 and LA-11, also "Sprint" upgrades for the Thunderbolt, and I'm tempted to look at the A-Team Superbolt what-if models and Spit Mark 14, also Paulo's Mark 19 - this is enough for an early Cold War install - the WW2 stuff I doubt I'll look at tweaking since I'm usually busy with WW1, but using the tweaks below people can cook up their own solutions to the WW2-era types). Below follow the latest modifications for the LA-11 data ini, and I think that WEP power is now modelled correctly from what I've been able to experience. SLPowerDry=2037317.5 ----------> this value had to be increased noticeably from stock, sometimes by values of half a million, sometimes more, to give the engines the necessary brute force ThrustAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0 ThrustPosition=0.0,1.2,0.0 ----------> I've slightly reduced the middle thrust value on several of the types ThrottleRate=0.50 ----------> higher value for more acceleration, needed on these late prop, early Cold War aircraft IdleThrottle=0.12 CruiseThrottle=0.55 MilThrottle=0.80 WEPThrottle=0.95 ----------> important discovery, the WEP value should follow somewhere between military power and max throttle, not after the max throttle value (higher than max throttle) MaxThrottle=1.25 ----------> the "accordion" effect works when the wep value is lower than max throttle, then once we expand max throttle beyond a value of 1.00, the extra power kicks in (this I may tamper with further but wep values of 0.95 and max throttle of about 1.25 work well, giving a boost of about 15 kph once we go into the wep range at altitude, but not at sea level where it's disabled now) AltitudeTableNumData=61 ----------> this was incorrectly recorded as 64 initially, now fixed AltitudeTableDeltaX=350 ----------> smaller intervals in meters for more subtle changes AltitudeTableStartX=0.0 ----------> start at the zero interval for alt table data (sea level) AltitudeTableData=1.00,0.9999183,0.999698,0.999339,0.9988413,0.9982049,0.9974298,0.996516,0.9954635,0.9942724,0.9929425,0.991474,1.0297504,1.107311,1.224733,1.3020163,1.1291609,1.0261668,0.987311,0.984733,0.982016,0.980609,0.976166,0.963034,0.9597625,0.9563524,0.9528035,0.949116,0.9452898,0.9413249,0.9372213,0.932979,0.9285981,0.9240784,0.9194201,0.914623,0.9096873,0.9046129,0.8993998,0.894048,0.8885576,0.8829284,0.8771606,0.8712541,0.8652088,0.8590249,0.8527023,0.8462411,0.8396411,0.8329024,0.8260251,0.8190091,0.8118543,0.8045609,0.7971289,0.7895581,0.7818486,0.7740005,0.7660136,0.7578881,0.7496239 // ----------> wep values below are basically a reduplication of the non-wep alt. values included above (I've copied these from the Corsair files and then tweaked further as per aircraft type) WEPAltitudeTableNumData=61 ----------> fixed to 61, from 64 WEPAltitudeTableDeltaX=350 WEPAltitudeTableStartX=12.0 ----------> this took a while to figure out but is important since otherwise WEP does not work, the value corresponds to the value in the wep alt table data below, counting from zero, which is the sea level value (with a value of 12.0 for the startx value, the wep boost that gives me 125% throttle kicks in somewhere around 4700 meters alt. for the Lavochkin in the case of my tweaks, close to the "1.107311" value below, the power boost being most noticeable around "1.3020163" below, which places us around 5200 meters altitude where I can get to about 680 kph on full wep power) WEPAltitudeTableData=1.00,0.9999183,0.999698,0.999339,0.9988413,0.9982049,0.9974298,0.996516,0.9954635,0.9942724,0.9929425,0.991474,1.0297504,1.107311,1.224733,1.3020163,1.1291609,1.0261668,0.987311,0.984733,0.982016,0.980609,0.976166,0.963034,0.9597625,0.9563524,0.9528035,0.949116,0.9452898,0.9413249,0.9372213,0.932979,0.9285981,0.9240784,0.9194201,0.914623,0.9096873,0.9046129,0.8993998,0.894048,0.8885576,0.8829284,0.8771606,0.8712541,0.8652088,0.8590249,0.8527023,0.8462411,0.8396411,0.8329024,0.8260251,0.8190091,0.8118543,0.8045609,0.7971289,0.7895581,0.7818486,0.7740005,0.7660136,0.7578881,0.7496239 PropDiameter=3.375 ----------> this I increased slightly since it looked too small but such details are easy to modify PropPFactorCoefficient=0.0 PropTorqueFactor=0.02 PropRotationDirection=1 ReversePropOrientation=TRUE SpinnerNodeName=Spinner StaticPropNodeName=SlowProp SlowPropNodeName=SlowProp FastPropNodeName=FastProp // ----------> prop rpm values below are estimates but fairly close, most of these aircraft wouldn't/couldn't exceed about 3000-3100 rpm SlowPropRPM=1700 FastPropRPM=2500 MaxPropRPM=2900 IdlePropRPM=500 BSFC=0.01 ExhaustEmitterName=CleanExhaustEmitter ExhaustPosition=0.0,1.5,-0.3 FireSuppression=TRUE MinExtentPosition=-0.5,2.2,-0.5 MaxExtentPosition= 0.5,0.8, 0.5 MaxPowerAnimationTime=0.1 MinPowerAnimationTime=0.3 ConstantSpeed=TRUE // ----------> borrowed the more subtle prop efficiency numbers from the Corsair PropEfficiencyAdvanceRatioTableNumData=27 ----------> this was incorrectly recorded as 26, now fixed to 27 PropEfficiencyAdvanceRatioTableDeltaX=0.10 PropEfficiencyAdvanceRatioTableStartX=0.0 PropEfficiencyAdvanceRatioTableData=0.1039061,0.2017555,0.3307556,0.4630645,0.5773853,0.6674284,0.7350242,0.7854134,0.8242808,0.8561408,0.8837222,0.9080403,0.9388862,0.9455014,0.9572477,0.9641239,0.997018, 0.9976275,0.968019, 0.9698392,0.9732296,0.9955389,0.9699651,0.9443028,0.8800089,0.7018427,0.4483748 MomentOfInertia=4.0 ----------> this number was too powerful on some of the types, or too weak on others (lower number is more powerful)....the WWI types are usually in the 7.0 to 12.0 range, values of about 3.0 to 6.0 work better for these post-WW2 prop types Three other important things to be aware of: 1. leave the max sea level top speed commented out in the FlightControl section of the data inis since that entry is no good for late prop types (it will artificially cap top speeds at all altitudes, not just sea level) 2. for max realism, use only full military throttle near sea level...top speeds near sea level should be around 600-650 kph then....seems reasonable, less/more depending on what the top speed at alt. is anyway on the various aircraft types...the good thing now is that even if you go full throttle at sea level, you are not engaging wep boost that pushes beyond 100% throttle since you are not at the necessary alt. (determined by the startx value in the wep chart above) 3. I'm still thinking about whether or not it's a good idea to include the values for max time of wep power...since, technically, once a set time runs out, you can again lower throttle, go back up again, and you have wep power, unless there's some kind of timeout command that can be used to force an "interval" between wep on/off...I might not bother therefore with wep max time limits since wep already guzzles gas once you punch it up to max, so that's a good enough limiter itself Pics below of the LA-11 during tests and another Corsair that the AI lost control over during excessive maneuvers at high speeds - I'm thoroughly enjoying the increased realism now with these "brute force" machines. Von S

D folders usually all go into the "Decals" folder, but also worth double-checking is the decals.ini file located within the relevant skin or textures folder that resides within the aircraft folder itself - this usually gives clues or points in the right direction of where proper folder locations should be for the "D" folder. For example, below is an entry found in one of my skins folders inside the late Albatros D.II aircraft folder: FilenameFormat=AlbatrosD1/D/AlbD1Numbers/AD1Numbers This indicates that I should have a folder inside my "Decals" folder called AlbatrosD1, and then inside that folder, as you can see from the hierarchy, you have a nested D folder, a numbers folder, and numbers themselves. I sometimes share the same aircraft decals folder among several aircraft, as noticeable in my example above where the late Alb. D.II calls up the Alb. D.I decals folder. If you are flying lots of FE aircraft in FE2, you will have to tinker with some of those folder paths in your Decals.ini file, to make the decals show up. I've included some decals.ini files with a few aircraft, in my FM update pack, for aircraft that were very pesky to sort out for proper decal positioning, size of decals, etc. (such as the Siemens-Schuckert D.III by A-Team...took me a while to sort that decals.ini file - a lot of the names in many of the decals files don't point to obvious things). Many of the older FE aircraft don't even have folders that should be dropped into the Decals folder, only a local skin/texture folder that sits within the aircraft folder itself, so that can save a lot of time and hassle. Happy flying, Von S

Didn't think this thread would prove so popular but happy to see some fresh posts here gents. Regarding the Corsair, I'm surprised to learn that they used wooden ailerons, fabric covered, for later models such as the F4U-4, was thinking initially that this is something only typical of early war types like the Hurricanes, early Spits, and the "birdcage" variant of the Corsair. Apparently trim tabs were also made of wood on many of the types...a legacy of WW1 maybe?...wood/fabric being easier to fix from bullet holes perhaps. In terms of my further testing of the FMs: It appears that MaxThrottle values manipulated beyond 1.00 (100%) to something like 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, etc., don't make any noticeable difference. I am testing this with WEP tables and values removed entirely. I do have another theory that I want to test, to see if max throttle values beyond 1.00 are somehow relevant only to WEP data, but not to regular alt table data values and regular throttle gradients. Will look at the stock SeaFury data ini with WEP enabled and will toggle max throttle settings further to see if I can at all hit max historical top speeds at alt. I'll also look into tinkering with max throttle values of between about 1.05 and 1.10 or 1.15 - perhaps a slight increase beyond 100% will, however counter-intuitive, give better results than noticeable increments. I'll report back if any of these tests and combinations manage to give higher top speeds at alt. than at sea level. For now, I'm still running the late prop aircraft with SL top speed uncapped and with engine power increased to give historical top speeds recorded at alt., but in this case reachable only at sea level. A compromise of sorts yes but I can tolerate it . Would be nice however to get WEP power realistically implemented (in SF2), although for FE2 there's no need for it. Von S

Alternate data ini posted below gents' for the Morane-Saulnier type N (80hp). This one disables control surfaces beyond excessive speeds, control is regained once speed drops to normal levels...the wing warping is the first to be affected, then rudder and elevator last. Avoid exceeding dive speeds much beyond 200 kph if using this alternate data ini. Will test this further and any feedback may be posted here...if this hardcore realism becomes popular, I will think about implementing such "disabling" speeds across more types for a ver. 10.0 of the FM update pack. 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).

Further testing of FE2 cloud tweaks in my mini-SF2 install, with a slightly modified data ini for the SeaFury to get it into the 730s kph (model recently posted by Paulopanz if I remember correctly, and a beautiful model too). Works great for early Cold War scenarios, as do the F4U-5 Argentine Corsairs. Thank you modders! Von S

I'm in a similar situation. Even though I bought 20 or so aircraft for Rise of Flight recently (at discount for about 2 dollars apiece), I still spend most of my time flying FE2, there's no beating the ThirdWire sim for seat of the pants flying and action, and the AI is very good too. If you're having trouble with solid telephone poles or square cows in the terrains, try the following tweaks I may have posted elsewhere on the site: Go into the relevant data.ini file for whatever terrain you're flying (such as Palestine_data.ini), scroll down to the SolidObjectTextureMaterial section and change the following entry: BlendOp=ONE should be changed to: BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA Also, go to the following link and download Mue's FE2 shaders and copy the shaders into your terrain folder: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/85970-shimmering-tods-and-target-objects/ Once you've done that, go again into the terrain data ini file, under the SolidObjectTextureMaterial section, and tweak the following values: ZBufferOffset=2.0 change to: ZBufferOffset=5.0 Also I recommend using the improved flightengine.ini file located in my FM update pack for wider horizons and less popping in/out of scenery. The aircraft you're missing are located here... The Voisan type 3 https://combatace.com/files/file/12351-voisin-las-2-pack/ The Aviatik-Berg D.1 (early variant, my 160hp mod. is for this one, as is my early 200hp mod.) https://combatace.com/files/file/13044-aviatik-berg-di-early/ The Other Aviatik-Berg D.1 (late variant, my 230hp mod. is for this one, as is my "late" 200hp mod.) https://combatace.com/files/file/11953-aviatik-berg-di/ The 200hp variants are easy to install (simply drop the data inis into the relevant stock folders and override). To make the 160hp and 230hp variants, make copies of the relevant stock folders, rename to the names I've given my 160hp and 230hp folders, and then copy over my tweaked data ini and general ini files into the stock folders you've just renamed. This should give you the whole Berg "fleet." Happy flying, Von S

Also for further realism, I recommend gents the following modifications to the gun entries, if you are running my fm/realism pack: For the left gun: GunTypeName=303CAL_VICKERS_MK2boost MaxAmmo=400 For the right gun: GunTypeName=303CAL_VICKERS_MK2 MaxAmmo=400 This will give you about 850 rounds/min on the left gun, and about 600/min on the right gun, as typical of some of the later Entente planes (Spad 13 235hp, the Bentley powered Camel, etc.). Von S

Beautiful skins, now I'm motivated to tweak the FM for the Snipe. Been holding off for a couple of years on it since I had strange purple and neon artifacts present with the old original skin. Von S

Thanks for the nice words gents - the sound variety is very good also for situational awareness...you can usually pick up on what's in the vicinity based simply on the sound of the engine on enemy aircraft. I'm using one of the low-hp, early rotary sounds for the inline engines on BE2c and BE2e types in the sim, because of the nice rickety sound....but if I can find a Beardmore sound on the internet I'll see if I can eventually modify it and substitute that instead for the early two-seater types. Speaking of small communities, I'm also pleasantly surprised how many talented modders we have working on FE/FE2, considering that this is a "niche" simulator within an already niche category of simming (WW1) where most people only know about RoF and WoFF. Happy flying, Von S

Always liked the damage modelling in this one, especially with several dozen mods added to tweak it further for more robustness to the aircraft, the "gavagai" mods in particular work well. Bit of a mishap during a balloon attack in the pic. below, but the pilot was mostly okay. Von S

Additional gun sounds and the latest engine sounds can be found in my FM update pack folders (see the big ver. 9.5 folder, also the smaller ver. 9.7 folder in that pack). As well, double-check that you are using the latest soundlist.ini file in your Flight folder (I have included my latest one in the ver. 9.7 Flight folder). Any sounds that are missing from my packs should be available on CombatAce over at this link: https://combatace.com/files/file/13385-realistic-engine-sounds/ And this other link offers a comparison of sound names from the CombatAce pack, above, and names I use in my FM update packs: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/87403-tweaked-flight-models-and-realism-pack-for-fe2/?page=5&tab=comments#comment-727507 Names of sounds in the data inis from my FM pack match the soundlist.ini file included in the pack, and also match the names located in the comparison chart above. If you want to use your own sound files, you will have to change the name in the "EngineSoundName" entry of the data inis. Happy flying, Von S

That's good news - if some instability remains, the old advice always works well - re-install FE2 to get it to stock settings, and if all goes well on a stock re-install, run FE2 at least once and it should automatically make a folder under the appropriate mod directory (in Windows it's Saved Games, on the Mac side it's generated in the Documents folder). If no mod folder is created, just move over your previously modded one but make sure to follow the appropriate names and folder hierarchy structures. Von S

Runs fine in my 64bit Win10 install - I'm running the Oct. 2018 update of Win10. I recommend placing the dx9 driver (from the ENB website, generic version 0.0076, directly inside the FE2 game folder...has done wonders for the frame rates on my FE2 install on the Windows side, and also in WineSkin on the Mac side)....the driver is available in my FM update pack but can also be downloaded from the ENB website...link to the generic dx9 driver follows below: http://enbdev.com/download_mod_generic.htm Hope you're able to get FE2 running again. Von S

Hello gents,' See pics below for oddities on the early Flogger-A (MiG 23 type S)....occasionally the plane drifts sideways at a 90 degree angle, throwing the cockpit view off...this also happens sometimes in spins/stalls...the only mods I've made to the data inis that come with the early Floggers is copying/pasting of stock CD0 values from SF2 (from the MiG 23 MS export variant)...otherwise it was impossible to push past about Mach 1.2 at alt. I haven't noticed this oddity on later Floggers, only the early ones with the narrower wing (have tried limiting yaw values but doesn't seem to make a difference). The Floggers I'm using are from the big 2-pack MiG install available on CombatAce, by the way, with Stary's enhanced cockpits installed. Comments/suggestions appreciated. Von S

Thanks gents' for the quick replies...have now double-checked everything and it is definitely the "wall" in the Himalayas map, good to know that it's not a data ini problem. Map pic. below of where the wall emerges in the Himalayas map...somewhere approaching 70 longitude. Von S

Thanks for the reply Wrench...the MiG-23 S is from the following pack: https://combatace.com/files/file/12151-sf2-mig-23-mig-27-floggers-part-1/ I'll also test the 23 S with a different data ini (maybe one of the stock ones such as from the 23 MS that comes with SF2 and will post results in a day or two). Probably it's just a data ini problem. Only tested this out with the Himalayas terrain...will test the Alaska terrain too and compare. Von S

The Eastern front is usually sleepy but occasionally gives some fine skirmishes. Enjoying ver. 3 of Stephen's Galicia terrain below (looks fine even at medium settings in WineSkin on the Mac side and with the improved flight engine ini file installed - pics below are with dx9 only enabled). Now with the Aviatik C.1 FM modded, I can set up some flights against Be2c and Be12 types...recreating the goodness of the 70s' BBC show "Wings" . Happy flying, Von S

Latest version of the environmental tweaks uploaded today, to the post at the top of this page. Have tinkered some more with top/bottom cloud layer numbers to get the layers looking as seamless as possible...there should be hardly any "stitching" visible anymore, hopefully. Also included now is a dx10 enabled low-cloud variant environsys file for FE2, as well as some further rain tweaks for the Effects folder for SF2, using some more of Stary's files...with intermittent water droplets...looks good in SF2 but probably not realistic for FE2...although it should work in both sims. Will roll this eventually into a ver. 10.0 of the FM update pack. (For other files necessary for the rain effects, see the ver. 9.7 FM update pack folders, and then update with the files posted at the top of this page.) Von S

Have been tweaking the environsys and flight engine files further for a future ver. 10.0 FM update pack gents. Screenies below of some tweaks...was able to install the top/bottom cloud layer files available for SF2 over here, in FE2 too: https://combatace.com/files/file/11836-alternative-overcast-layer-for-the-sf2-series/ In order for those cloud files to work well, download my tweaked environmental system files below, and also further improved flight engine files (only a high-alt cloud and low wind variant are included below for now, for FE2 and SF2). Cloud thicknesses, heights, and widths have been slightly modified for the SF2 variant, also slightly lowered are inclement weather clouds for both FE2 and SF2, so that they're not cut through by the bottom cloud layer in the link above. Other tweaks, in the flightengine files, include higher texture limits and better mesh/horizon distances, etc. For SF2, don't forget to enable 32-bit for the "z buffer layer" in your options.ini file (since 32 bit has also been enabled in the flightengine file for SF2 - for FE2, enabling of 32 bit offers micro stuttering on occasion but no benefits...leave at 24 bit (default) in the flightengine for FE2). Also tweaked were other numbers in the environsys files for both SF2 and FE2, so that the lighter horizon band transitions naturally into the bottom cloud layer for overcast/inclement conditions, without ugly lines or boundaries present. Happy flying, Von S EDIT: The environsys files included in the link below have dx10 shader calls enabled...the particlesys and individual effect ini files currently included with the ver. 9.7 FM update pack have dx10 shader calls, but the environsys files that control the weather/clouds are only for dx9, for now (you can of course add the relevant shader calls by comparing with the environsys files included in this post...although I will eventually include newer dx10 enabled environsys files based on the tweaks in this post, for a ver. 10.0 update pack). The bottom cloud layer, by the way, with dx10 enabled, is about 5 to 10% darker than in dx9 mode. Will test further to see how the effects look with dx9 only. EDIT: File removed, will be included in mini ver. 9.9 update of the FM pack under the relevant thread (this thread).

Yes, the beauty of FE/FE2 is that, unlike SF and SF2, these two are largely cross-compatible. Most info. applicable to FE2 is applicable to FE/FEgold, except for some directory paths for file installation, and I think that FE/FEgold do not have a separate "user directory" as does FE2. Even most plane types made specifically for FE2 are backward compatible with FE (Crawford has figured out an ini trick to get FE2 aircraft loaded in FE....I think he posted some of the info. under the "new aircraft" thread...somewhere around page 20 of that thread). And most FE aircraft are flyable in FE2 (only thing requiring tweaking is usually decal placement and decal files). I fly several FE-era aircraft in FE2 with no problems. Happy flying, Von S

On heavy settings, you should indeed be getting some occasional traffic going back and forth. For bombing and ground strafing, I don't have much experience with that but I'm sure someone will pitch in who flies FE2 frequently in ground attack mode or bombing runs. There should be a command to send your flight to "attack ground targets" - I've tried the command a few times but it's usually hit and miss, although I've only tried it by sending my flight to strafe an AA post or something similar...from what I learned later (I think from Crawford), FE/FE2 does not have the ability to tell other aircraft to do a strafing run, using the attack ground command - "attack ground target" being limited to bombing/grenade runs. I'm sure some of our fellow flyers know more about air-to-ground technicalities in FE2. (It's possible also that the attack-ground-target command is limited to the type of mission being flown....with limited effectiveness, for example, in offensive-type missions...but I'm sure that someone knows more about this.) Von S

Feb. 9, 2019 Update ("The Early Berg Special"): Several tweaks re-applied to the Rumpler C.1, the HF.20 and 20U variants, also the Voisan type 5. As well included are three new winds for the environsys files, to mimic more realistic turbulence effects hopefully. Also included is Crawford's rotating fuel pump trick for Geezer's Martinsydes. More major tweaks include reworking of the early Farmans, types 7 and 11c, of the Caproni Ca.3, of the entire line of Fokker Dr.I, D.VII, and D.VIII aircraft, including the addition of an OAW variant of the Fokk. D.VII. Further, now included is a transformation of Geezer's Halb. D.V into a D.III variant, a reworked Aviatik C.I from the A-Team, also of their Siemens-Schuckert D.III. Stephen's latest SAML S.2 has been tweaked as well. Also tweaked is the Roland D.VIa, and a new engined-up type, the D.VIb variant. Four sub-variants of the Aviatik Berg D.I are now included (160 hp, early and late 200 hp, and 230 hp). The Phonix D.IIa has been re-tweaked, and the earlier D.II variant is now included too. Have also re-visited and re-tweaked the Hansa-Brandenburg D.I. For more detailed info. and installation instructions, and other updates not mentioned here, please look over the latest READ ME file that's located in the update pack, and also the included pic. of the ver. 9.7 FM updates. Happy flying to all. Von S