VonS

I have Jul 2010 in the botttom right corner of the FE2 opening screen listed as the last update that ThirdWire did for FE2 - I'm actually glad that they didn't do further updates since that would probably break all of these tweaks and mods that have been done over the last several years by many modders on this site for FE and FE2 - would probably ruin all of my FM work too. Blip settings are now correctly set whenever possible in the data inis for the aircraft, so it should "cut out" properly if you have a throttle of some kind (z-axis) on your joystick. Also good is to map a key from your keyboard to the blip setting in the Default.ini file located under the "Controls" folder of the FE2 user folder. My setting is: BLIP_SWITCH=B But I usually just cut the "fuel" by toggling across the blip threshold using the throttle control on my joystick - it gives the same results. Von S

Here is the link to the HD2 (that one is a seaplane variant, with two Vickers guns): https://combatace.com/files/file/14130-hanriot-hd2/ And the HD1 that I've tweaked is the one-Vickers variant, with the gun in the middle: https://combatace.com/files/file/5730-hanriot-hd1/ Also, here's some helpful info. for the variety of Nieuport single-seater types located in my FM pack: a) my Nieuport 16 data ini is for the Nieuport 16 mega pack file posted on CombatAce - the relevant aircraft folder to use inside the mega pack is the regular "Nieuport 16" https://combatace.com/files/file/11510-nieuport-16-mega-pack-for-fe1/ b) my Nieuport 17 and 23 data inis correspond with the Nieuport "17/23" big pack that is uploaded here on CombatAce - the relevant aircraft folders to use inside that pack are the "Nieuport 17_Bis" and the "Nieuport 23" ones (all of my Nieu. 17 types are variations on the "Nieuport 17_Bis" data ini file) https://combatace.com/files/file/5386-nieuport-17-megapack/ c) my Nieuport 24 data ini corresponds with the "Nieuport 24bis" aircraft posted here on the site (that has the older-style tail of the Nieu. 17 and one Vickers gun) and is available for the Mesopotamian theater for the Brits (some Nieu24bis types arrived there in their storage boxes with the factory Vickers still installed; the Brits used some Nieu24/24bis types on the Western front too, rarely, but there they would field-mod them with a Lewis and remove the Vickers - it's possible that they flew with the Vickers in Mesopotamia instead - didn't bother including a 24bis Lewis variant for the Western theater since it was rarely used there and obsolete when it showed up)...there's also a 2-gun Vickers, Nieu. 24 available here on CombatAce but I never bothered tweaking that one since they historically either had one Vickers, one Lewis, or maybe a Vickers and Lewis in rare setups, never two Vickers from what I've been able to research (probably a leftover "myth" from Red Baron 3D where the Nieu.24 had two Vickers in unpatched variants of that sim) d) my Nieuport 17 C.1 is a "slower" variation on the 17bis file, not a variation on the Nieu. 17 C.1 that is available in the big Nieu. 17/23 pack; my 17 C.1 therefore replaces the 17 C.1 that is in the big 17/23 update pack - and is more historical I think e) there is also a "Siemens-Schuckert D.I" quick modification in my FMs pack (for the Eastern front) that is a mod. of the 17bis once again that's included in the big 17/23 Nieu. pack on CombatAce [edit: this is now obsolete, please download my latest FM for Stephen's beautiful SSW D.1, located under the support thread for the FM updates packs; Stephen's model can of course be found in the relevant aircraft downloads for FE2] f) the country-code Nieuport 17 types that are included for the Western front (Belgian 17 C.1, British 17 C.1, Lewis variant, etc.) all use the 17 C.1 data ini file that I modded based on the 17bis - I put in that bunch of redundant types to have the Nieu. 17 C.1 (and British Lewis variant), a common type, showing up at the same time in game and flown by different countries, as was historical on the Western front - there's also a few copies of the Nieu. 16 for the Western front - one flown by the French, the other by the Belgians, plus the French get the late, Vickers-armed Nieu. 16 too (as do the Brits. in Mesopotamia) Hope you get your install of FE2 up and running well, soon. Happy flying, Von S

All great thoughts - I think you're being realistic regarding the limits of the sim - but that's good because it helps us to push further with it. The Fokk. D7f, also the Dr.1, could take off at a steep angle (because of their thicker wing foils). Mikael Carlson has some clips up on YouTube where he does a really short take off run in the Dr.1 and ascends at a fairly steep angle (his has a 110hp rotary - I'm sure the climb would be even better on an engined-up version with a 130 or 150hp LeRhone). WOFF "ultimate edition" improves the AI over regular WOFF and especially over the old OFF variants - I think the dogfight AI in FE2 is very good too, comparable to WOFF. The AI in ROF is awful on the other hand. That one has received rave reviews regarding its FM - but I think the planes are too flimsy in it (wings falling off all over the place after a few hits). And if you don't like multiplayer, ROF isn't the best choice. It comes down to FE2 and WOFFue for good, current WW1 sims. Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the ThirdWire sims started off either as WW2 or jet-age sims, and were then "rebuilt" to make something like FE/FEgold/FE2. This is why engine management is still difficult to hammer out properly for FE2. Historical speeds and engine outputs are doable, as is overcompression (as I've recently demonstrated in another series of posts) - but engine cutout with negative Gs - that's another story. The WOFF guys have managed to get negative G engine cutout going - but that AI sometimes doesn't display max G limits in the way that player-flown craft does - again, WOFF was originally CFS3 (WW2 sim) - then heavily redone into a WW1 sim - it is now standalone but there are some things to work on there too, as there still are in FE2. I think our MaxG limits are now well done in FE2 - AI follows the rules of flight/physics much like the player has to. I'm still "studying" the FM in WOFFue when I have an opportunity to fly that sim - I like what I see but (call me crazy) I think so far that the sensation of flight (particularly "floating" as was typical in a lot of these wooden aircraft) is more accurately modelled in FE2 - especially when the FMs are tweaked properly. On average, stall speeds are higher by about 20 kph in WOFF, compared to FE2 - but this depends on a lot of factors (they do turbulence really well...the WOFF guys...very impressive) - we now have realistic horizontal winds, but turbulence I will try to "imitate" by tweaking some of the Stall values in the general aicraft ai ini file - again these are all factors stemming from these being WW2 sims that were eventually "retrofitted" to WW1 - or at least the game engines were done originally with WW2 in mind. I have both FE2 and WOFFue and switch between the two, but my go-to sim for quick dogfights is FE2 (it really gives that seat-of-the-pants sensation when flying). I still think the gold standard of FMs in any WW1 sim are the ones done by Greybeard for Red Baron 3D - in a way I've tried to "Greybeard" the FMs for FE2 - also great about RB3d is the ReLoad program that has options to toggle random engine damage, fire, and wind speeds - an app like that for FE2 would be great. Problem with RB3d is that it hasn't aged well graphically, although some of the later patches for it make it somewhat "decent" to look at, in a rickety sort of way. WOFFue I won't ever bother trying to tweak....from what I've studied of its file structure...it's probably best left to the OBD guys who make it, to tinker with the FMs and whatnot. FE2 is much more mod friendly. I'd rate both sims (FE2 and WOFFue) as "excellent" but minor stuff still needs working on in both. But to get back on track, included with this post are two zipped files, data inis for the HD1 and the seaplane variant the HD2 - have now tweaked alpha numbers for the airfoils on both models, pitch numbers too, and at least they don't loop anymore on take off - the HD1 still likes to pitch up but barely controls itself from doing a loop and settles in quickly into a normal flight routine. Will roll these eventually into a ver. 9.1 of the FM pack. The offending entries by the way are our old friends, under the AIData section: ElevatorDeltaPitch= ElevatorPitchRate= Reducing the values greatly for both entries stops the multiple looping for the HD1 on takeoff. Also, if anyone's looking for tweaked alpha values and correct stall characteristics on the Nieu. 24bis...see this post where I snuck in an extra data ini: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/91335-nieuport-28/?do=findComment&comment=738372 Happy flying, Von S

Well, have now experimented with the data ini for the HD1 - it was missing a TakeOffRotationAngle entry so I plugged that in, reduced the values; also reduced values for OnGroundPitchAngle, for Min and Max Pitch for Altitude; also reduced the value for the PitchForAltitude entry, set the cg to slightly nose forward - and no change, it still likes to ascend vertically and do a couple of loops to impress everyone on the field. This leads me to believe that the problem is too high a value for the Alpha Stall/Max/Depart entries on the airfoil sections (FM stuff) - will reduce those and see if it gets rid of the problem, since those remain untouched from the original unmodified data ini. Happy flying, Von S

Yes Stephen is right, I had written OnGroundPitchAngle but was thinking in my head of the TakeOffRotationAngle value (have now edited my post to read TakeOffRotationAngle) - and yes that is exactly what it controls, pitch as the plane leaves the ground. Tails lifting before the wheels, on some types, is either the result of the TakeOffRotationAngle value or of the CG value located under AircraftData - if the y value of the cg is set forward (a positive value) - the nose usually goes down and the tail up, rather quickly, as the plane is accelerating for takeoff. The CG value can also be manipulated to change your view in the cockpit, although a cleaner way of doing that is to change the seating position in the CockpitSeat entry of the cockpit ini file. Von S

A few other tips to stop the AI from taking off "vertically" if you are having such trouble: Reduce values under the TakeOffRotationAngle entry located under AircraftData in the plane's data ini. Sometimes those values are around 15, reducing them to 10, 11, or 12 works well - this value tells the AI at what position to "sit" while taking off (nose high, tail high, tail level with nose, etc.). Two other values to tinker with are the MaxPitchForAltitude and MinPitchForAltitude ones located under the AIData section of a plane's data ini. Typical values are usually about 20 for MaxPitch and -15 for MinPitch. I usually like to see these numbers around 15 and -10 if a plane likes to behave too much like a helicopter. As indicated previously, a good value for PitchForAltitude is something like 0.0003 (often the default values are much too high, around 0.08, sometimes higher). And if a data ini is missing such values but displaying strange, vertical ascents on take off - simply include the entries listed above (PitchForAltitude also goes under the AIData section). Happy flying, Von S

Always a good idea to compare the default FE2 inis with some of the third-party ones from CombatAce. The Cat extractor file is excellent! I also recommend the following post (and the ones that follow below it) - it's from a while back but Von Oben and I were discussing some of the particlesys.ini variants, and other effects there: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/88700-fe2-bad-framerates/?do=findComment&comment=724830 Also possible is that there is a mismatch between the individual ini names called up in the Particlesys file. and the ini files stored in the Effects folder, such as AircraftEngineFireEffect, AircraftExplosionEffect, and so on - and then some of the effects don't show up. Von S

Hi Don, The MacOSX folder and .dsstore files can be deleted (that's stuff that OS X automatically creates in each folder - it's not related to FE2). I'm including a zipped version of my particlesys.ini file - try it out, it might fix the gun flash. If you take out the particlesys.ini file from your Flight folder, FE2 then uses the default game settings - so either approach is fine. (The particlesys.ini file controls density of particles for effects, which can improve frame rates if the numbers are lowered, under the ParticleSystem section that is at the top of the file. It also contains settings for colors and density of vehicle fire effects, exhaust emitters, fuel leak colors, artillery fire density and color, and a whole lot of other fire and smoke effects.) FE2 calls up its own embedded values for this file if a "custom" one is not placed into the Flight folder of the FE2 user directory. To make the AI take off more gently, lower the values for the PitchForAltitude setting located under the AIData section of the data inis for planes that have that problem. A good number to use is something like 0.0003 if they pitch up too much on takeoff. I've fixed the number in most data inis but there may be a few plane types that still display the vertical pitch up problem on occasion. Yes the sim is a great one - one of my favorite WW1 sims. Happy flying, Von S

If I remember my Bleriot XI readings correctly, the two-seater variants had an 80hp 7-cylinder engine, and some of the one-seater types had a 50hp, 5-cylinder job - both are of course better powerplants than the original Anzani 3-cyl variant that gave about 25-30hp. Will have to read more into the top speeds of those engined-up Bleriots. Great to see the satellite terrain taking shape! Happy flying, Von S

Was always bothered by some of the oddities of the Nieu. 28 data ini...even though I had tweaked it a couple of times already. Finally I realized where the problem was, today (drag values were too high for the wings in the unmodified sections of the data ini). Also corrected now are stall moment values (with the type dropping tail first, slightly, in a stall, as is correct for such a thin-winged fighter). Most of the data from this post is still relevant: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/90447-fm-numbers-4-fes-nieuport-28/?do=findComment&comment=731547 But it is now much improved in turns...bleeds energy slightly more slowly - tight turns are possible with the sensitive rudder now, but apply opposite aileron (and try not to drop much below about 100-110kph in tight turns). The type also does well in faster turns above about 150kph. If encountering a stall, put the nose down and use rudder to correct. The AI has also been slightly tweaked now to avoid tail "porpoising" because of the new stall moment values that make it slightly "tail heavy." Also, I recommend using about 30% throttle when landing, as with the SPADs - otherwise the type may stall and spin in. Throttle values are also now improved, giving smoother acceleration. (Will roll this into a ver. 9.1 update of the FM pack, but I'm posting it below, already.) Happy flying, Von S Edit: Added the 24bis data ini file too with drag reduction values and proper stall moment characteristics (it had similar problems to the Nieu.28, with high drag values); now it stalls tail first as correct for thin-winged aircraft; also possible now are flat spins in it.

Hi Don, Lack of gun flash and plane sounds means that some of the effects and sounds are missing. I've compiled a long list of helpful links below, taken from the Read Me files in my FM update pack, also from CombatAce - this should be convenient for a quick install of proper mods/effects/sounds if anyone suffers a HD crash and loses lots of FE2 files: My Install Order for Effects (this should bring back the "big" gun flashes...there is a short muzzle flash also available somewhere here in the downloads section, but I can't find the link now) https://combatace.com/forums/topic/88700-fe2-bad-framerates/?do=findComment&comment=716531 Good Skins for the 135hp Fokk. Dr.1 "gaskammer" variant (particularly good are the generic Jasta 15 skins) https://combatace.com/files/file/8994-jasta-15-fokker-dr1-4-pack/ Good Skins for the 150hp Josef Jacobs Dr.1 (or extract Jasta 7 skins from the relevant cat folder in FE2) https://combatace.com/files/file/10081-josef-jacobs-3-pack-dr1s/ Tutorial for Pilot Folder Organization for FE2 https://combatace.com/forums/topic/88951-some-newbie-questions/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-720051 Stephen 1918's Pilots https://combatace.com/files/file/15832-pilots-with-helmets-for-first-eagles/ Stephen 1918's Armed Observers https://combatace.com/files/file/16424-armed-observers-for-first-eagles/ Tweaked Smoke and Balloon Explosion Effects (for better framerates) https://combatace.com/forums/topic/88700-fe2-bad-framerates/?tab=comments#comment-716980 List of My Engine Sound Names and Original Engine Sound Names https://combatace.com/forums/topic/87403-tweaked-flight-models-and-realism-pack-for-fe2/?page=5&tab=comments#comment-727507 Engine Sounds Pack (any sounds not available here, for engines or guns, are located in the relevant folders of my FM update pack, see both ver. 8.9 and 9.0 folders) https://combatace.com/files/file/13385-realistic-engine-sounds/ Green or White Parachute (to be used with aircraft fire or balloon explosion effects, see Effects folder in my ver. 8.9 folder of the FM update pack for the relevant ini files) https://combatace.com/files/file/8008-ejecting-pilots-mod-v10-update/ Albatros Serial Numbers https://combatace.com/files/file/10904-serial-s-for-diii-diiioaw-dv-dva/ Albatros Skin Pack https://combatace.com/files/file/10905-17-pack-of-albatros-models/ Stephen's AEG G.IV Cockpit https://combatace.com/files/file/16589-new-cockpit-for-aeg-giv/ A-Team Website (HP 0/400, Gothas, etc. are located there, also the SPAD 7 cockpit folder and cockpit ini file) http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/ Flyable SPAD 7 Skins (contains a cockpit.ini file that makes the types flyable using the SPAD 13 cockpit, use the A-Team cockpit if you prefer a sparse SPAD 7 version; I recommend the cockpit.ini available in the skins folder instead of the A-Team cockpit, since it sits better and gives a more realistic view from the SPAD 7) https://combatace.com/files/file/13215-flyable-spad-7-iras-skin-set/ (I have my cockpit.ini files and data.inis in the relevant plane folders, not in the "Objects" folder by the way.) Happy flying, Von S

It would be lovely if random engine failure could be modelled on some of the geared engines such as the lower-hp Hissos, also for earlier variants of the SE5a (should models for an SE5 pop up eventually in FE2). Have studied the engine section of the data inis very carefully over the last couple of days, experimenting with manifold pressure values, also oil pressure numbers, etc., including introduction of WEP values and separate delta number lists for WEP power values (as on many of the WW2 data inis available for StrikeFighters2) - and there are no changes. It's likely that FE2 does not recognize WEP entry calls (I realize that WEP was not available in WW1 but wanted to try "behind the scenes tricks" to see if this would give random engine damage...so far no results but will keep trying with other things...although I am very happy with the current state of things in FE2 when it's modded up). Also have tried negative numbers under the BaseWindSection of the environsys.ini file, to test for evidence of turbulence (so far not possible...only implemented are horizontal winds...although there is some vertical "rumble"/buffeting in aircraft when they are close to stalling). Also tested arbitrary entries such as "BaseVerticalWindSection" and "BaseTurbulenceSection," but none of this "connects" with the game engine - I will try tweaking the "StallModel" entry in the aircraftobject.ini to see if more consistent buffeting can be exploited across aircraft types - this might help to create the illusion of turbulence in game. Beautiful work on that Nieup. 28 Geezer! I see that we have a whole factory of WW1 types now up and running. Happy flying, Von S

Hi Don, Ground objects go into the "user/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2/Objects/GroundObject" directory. Gun flashes and most other effects should go into the ""user/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2/Effects" directory. My FM and Realism Pack largely contains modified data ini files for the different plane types; most of those should install into the relevant folders of the ""user/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2/Objects/Aircraft" directory. Other files located in my FM pack are organized by relevant folder name, such as "ForObjectsFolder," "ForSoundsFolder," etc. - files in such folders should go into the Objects folder, the Sounds folder, etc., of the "user/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2" directory. I recommend that if you want to get the full benefit of the FM and Realism pack, once you get a clean (stock) user directory for FE2 set up - make four copies of the "user/Thirdwire" directory, and then mod up your Aircraft folder of each of those directories with the data inis from my four aircraft folders, such as "Aircraft_EastFront," "Aircraft_MidEastFront," etc. - this will give you four modded theaters in the end (four modded user directories) that give you the ability to fly on four fronts. All you need to do then is rename the user directory you want to "fly" as "ThirdWire," place in your "user/" directory, and you're good to go - easily switching out between theatres when you feel like it. The process is a bit of a pain to go through but once modded up gives you one of the best WW1 flight sims on the market, and more than 190 plane types. I also recommend making a back up of all modded user folders to a DVD, and maybe on an external HD too, for extra security in case of technology failure. Happy flying, Von S

Geezer you are always full of surprises! Not only do I see chiaroscuro in that black and white image, but a Vickers installed on the Bullet - maybe a Morane Type I (or V) is in the bag for the distant or not so distant future.... I will load up some other theaters like the Eastern front and Italy, and see if I can reduplicate some of these new cloud effects. Happy flying, Von S

Stimulating thoughts gents' - have now checked a previous post and indeed "TOD objects are non-collidable and there is nothing" Mue can do about it, as he wrote there: Didn't notice those posts until now since they're under the SF2 section. Happy flying, Von S

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible, and a good idea for extra "atmosphere" in the sim. I remember a few yrs. ago that Stephen implemented some random explosion effects across no man's land - some of those experiments were carried over into the Italian map if I'm not mistaken, and random explosions can be seen when flying across some sectors of the Italian-Austrian front for example, as if a battle is going on in the trenches. I'll have to re-fly the Italian map one of these days since it's been a while - I'm still stuck in late 1917 as a German pilot in the Palestinian theater, but hope to finish soon with missions there and load up a different map, maybe Italy or the Eastern front for a change. What I'd like to find out is a way to make the trees "solid" in FE2 - similar to how they work in RB3D. Many of the custom airfield objects, such as hangars for example, definitely feel solid when you crash into them and burn, if clumsy while taxiing around the field. Airfield towers, guns, ships, etc., are all solid. Only the trees and observation balloons, and Zeppelins perhaps (will have to double-check those) are hollow. Von S

It's a great sim - the dogfight action is really seat-of-the-pants stuff, especially with all the mods installed. Von S

Been tweaking the environsys file a bit more today as a short break from the FMs, particularly the section called [HighAlt] - and I'm now seeing results that I've never seen before in FE2, in terms of mixture of clouds, breaks in the weather, lovely plays of color and shadow, also in terms of depth of the sky (will roll this into a ver. 9.1 update of the FM pack eventually). Managed to almost get rid of the very thin band of darker blue (present in the pics above in my previous post) that separate the high altitude sky from mid-altitude and from the horizon, by putting in the same color values for the high alt sky, high alt horizon color, and high alt fog color that are used for the [Day1] entry that is for afternoon/late afternoon sky settings anyway. A slightly crisper blue emerges this way for the high altitude sky, and further reduces evidence of that thin darker blue belt that seems to sit at around 40,000 to 50,000 feet. Also interesting is that an increase in the values for the HighAltColorStart and ColorEnd entries seems further to help with this, but also seems to "position" distant clouds in a more realistic way in relation to clouds in the foreground - will test this further but these obscure entries are already producing new results on my rig. I'm now getting an obvious "sfumato" effect (fine shading and haze pioneered by Da Vinci) with cloud contrasts and breaks in the weather - particularly evident in the pics where I'm flying around the Suez canal in my trusty Alb. D.3. Happy flying, Von S

Hi Jackson, the .dll of the particlesystem ini is a part of the game itself, as I can see from the folder structure "c/firsteagles/system" - then it's likely the case, as in my post above, that FE/FEgold does not create a user folder under "c/users/documents/thirdwire/firsteagles" as is present in FE2. While this does complicate tweaking somewhat, toggling of the settings in the game menu itself should help to increase framerates (the main culprits are usually shadows set too high, and the horizon set to medium or far). Keep us posted, hopefully some of these tips will help. Von S

Hi Jackson, Wrench is right - nothing beats a dedicated video card. Having said that, if you want to tinker to get the most out of your integrated card, try setting shadows to "low" in your FE menu, also the horizon should be set to "near." Other things to do...dig into the general ini file for your different plane types (not the data ini files), and set shadows to "False" - also, dig into your user folder for FE and open the options.ini file, scroll to the setting for antialiasing, and set that either to 0 or 2 (higher values slow down frame rates). Also worth tinkering with is the particlesystem.ini file, located in the Flight folder of your user directory for FE. Reducing particle sizes helps to keep integrated cards from slowing down too much. As well, check over the following posts: While those posts are for FE2, much of the advice may apply to FE/FEgold. Von S P.S. FE2 makes a user directory separate from the actual sim folder (I'm assuming that FE/FEgold does something similar...if not, disregard my comments about "user folder" or "user directory" in this post - what I've said about the individual files should still be relevant). Also, you might want to max. out the RAM on your computer if possible - the more system RAM you have, the more your integrated video card can use.

Thank you gents'! What a pleasant surprise - it's always a pleasure to work on FE2. Lots more FM tweaks to other plane types coming up and will also continue testing the possibility of including vertical winds or turbulence into the sim, also negative G effects on the engines. FE2 is a great sim and very mod-friendly! Happy flying, Von S

Hi Stephen, Have you tried toggling the horizon cloud, fog enabled entry to "False" in the environsys file for the Panama Red clouds? It's worth a shot...might get rid of that purple banding effect. I haven't noticed such banding running Stary's "Sarcasm v. 1.3" clouds, with horizon fog enabled on or off - perhaps experimenting with different environsys variables, and cloud types, will help. Von S

Successful over-compression of the late Spad 13 (235hp variant), Se5a (Viper), and Ansaldo SVA.5 now completed. Detailed stats follow below, and a ver. 9.0 update pack is soon to follow. Also I'm happy to see that the altitude tests are not far off from some of the numbers, for example, that the venerable Dan-San Abbott had posted on TheAerodrome.com: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showpost.php?p=492512&postcount=3 Stats. in FE2 for the Viper-powered Se5a, with a slightly high compression ratio of 5.6:1 100% throttle @ near sea-level: 228kph 85% throttle @ near sea-level: 222-3kph 100% @ 1500m alt: 223-4kph (often-cited top speed) climb @ 85% throttle in 120s kph to about 1100m: 4-5 m/s climb @ 100% throttle in 120s kph from about 1500 to 4000m alt: 5-6 m/s 100% @ 3000m alt: 212kph 100% @ 4000m alt: 200kph 100% @ 5000m alt: 187kph 100% @ 6000m alt: 134kph (noticeable drop off since exceeding ceiling here) 100% @ 6050m alt: 70s kph (drops quickly to 60s kph and into a spin) can attain about 440kph in a dive with engine full on (good stats., comparable to the nearly "300mph" in a dive as reported figure; 440kph is about 275mph) Stats. for the Spad 13 (235hp), with a slightly high compression ratio of 5.6:1 100% throttle @ near sea-level: 222kph (close to sometimes-cited top speed) 85% throttle @ near sea-level: 213kph 100 % @ 1500m alt: 215 kph (close to sometimes-cited top speed) climb @ 85% throttle in 130s kph to about 1100m: 4 m/s climb @ 100% throttle in 140s kph from about 1500 to 5000 m alt: 4-5 m/s (starts to stall if climbed below about 120kph) 100% @ 3000m alt: 207kph 100% @ 4000m alt: 196kph 100% @ 5000m alt: 184kph 100% @ 6000m alt: 173kph 100% @ 6930m alt: 142kph (noticeable drop off since exceeding ceiling here) 100% @ 6960m alt: 117kph (on verge of stall/spin here) can attain about 445kph in a dive with engine full on (good stats. again, comparable to historical notes on the type; this one doesn't break when pulled out of a dive that fast, although there is creaking of the frame; the Se5a does lose some of its wings if pulled out roughly at these speeds...see notes on how to "really dive" in the Se5a, available on the internet; watch for one buckle in the wings said the flight commander, two buckles getting close to 250mph, etc., three buckles and away the wings go) Stats. for the Ansaldo SVA.5, with high compression at a ratio of 6.0:1 100% throttle @ near sea-level: 232kph (close to sometimes-cited top speed) 85% throttle @ near sea-level: 226kph 100% @ 1500m alt: 229kph (close to often-cited top speed) climb @ 85% in 120s kph to about 1500m alt: 4 m/s climb @ 100% in 130s kph from about 1500 to 4000 m alt: 5 m/s 100% @ 3000m alt: 217kph 100% @ 4000m alt: 203kph 100% @ 5000m alt: 190kph 100% @ 6000m alt: 179kph 100% @ 6340m alt: 111kph (noticeable drop since exceeding its ceiling here, stalls/spins easily at this height) can attain about 430kph in a dive with engine full one (doesn't lose wings when pulling out roughly, but frame does creak) Happy flying, Von S

Tweaking of horizon cloud fog to "false" in the environsys file, combined with the clouds from the Stary effects pack v. 1.3 - has given me interesting results recently, with a nice combination of WOFF-style clouds in the foreground, and background clouds more visible than the high cirrus ones that emerge if horizon cloud fog is set to true. Also enjoying that the Gotha G.III in this case, after its high-compression FM tweaks, has rolled onto its back after its engine fire - always new surprises in FE2. The Nieuport 23bis makes for a wonderful interceptor by the way. Happy flying, Von S

Gentlemen, Thank you for bringing life into this long-dead thread...looking at the posts, I tinkered with Stephen's cockpit for the AEG G.IV and managed to get a flyable version of the A-Team Handley Page working in my FE2 install. I then dropped the A-Team Spad 7 cockpit into the stock Spad 7 folder in FE2 and now I have a flyable Spad 7....wonderful stuff! I will now be able to tweak the FMs properly for the Handley Page and the earlier Spads - will also modify the alpha, stall, and stall moment values for the airfoils on the Spad 12 and 13 further, while I'm working on the early Spads...thanks again, otherwise I wouldn't have spotted this thread! Happy flying, Von S