Southside Bucky

Hi again. This one's driving me mad!...I've created a flight of four SE5a's, but instead of just making the player aircraft 'Size=4' (Number Of wingmen). I created four separate friendly planes each with their own names instead of using the SFP1 call signs. Like this: 'AircraftMission001' (Player) Is McCudden. 'AircraftMission002' Is Bowman 'AircraftMission003' Is Hoidge AircraftMission004' Is Rhys-Davids (all real life members of 56Sqn) Up till now no problem...They're all being recognised in the Mission Builder and each has their own waypoints etc. They all appear when I fire up the game, but they're not showing on the loadout screen or the end of game stats screen. The Loadout & Stats screens will only show four planes if I choose 'Size=4' for the player A/C. Does anyone know if there's a way 'round this? Regards. Bucky.

Thanks yet again for the quick reply Tank03. At least I know the game's limitations now. All the best. Bucky.

This one? http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autom...p;showfile=3918 Regards. Bucky.

Hey, Thanks a lot for your input B Bandy RFC! Yeah, you're quite right, I was going for that surprise factor, but the DVIII's are too close at start up...I'll amend that sometime soon. Unless I can make 'em attack out of the sun...That's a good idea BBF! I'm glad that you found it quite challenging, I think the AI is reasonably aggressive enough to keep you on your toes, although it could be better. The weather and flak are set at 'Random' for a bit of re-playability in this particular mission, but the next one I do will have specific settings because I'll try to replicate an historical action. (I've spent the best part of two days researching it!) I'll certainly bear your comments in mind regarding the airfield start. It's just a personal preference of mine to get stuck in quick, but as you say, you can always fast forward to the action anyway. Once again, thanks for your time. You too Tripoli and V. Deutschmark! All the best. Bucky.

Hi guys. I'm testing a new historical mission before I upload it. It seems though, that nothing I do can persuade my wingmen to shoot, drop bombs or generally participate in any way useful... Except perhaps to act as targets! Is there anything I can do about this, or am I missing something? Thanks in advance. Bucky.

Ok, thanks anyway Tank03. Actually, Dhasdell's excellent advice about the 'Engage Target' option was a bit of a revelation to me as well...I thought that facility was for multiplayer only. Doh! I just tried it out and it works!

Thanks to you all for the help and info. Especially you Tank03...I went straight over to Check Six and downloaded Le Missioneur. You're right, it is more user friendly, and the metric to imperial converter is an absolute godsend to me! Yet to get to grips with it entirely though...My first attempt at a mission ended with a CTD. One last request: Does anyone know if there's a tutorial available for Le Missioneur, in English? Thanks again fella's Bucky

Yeah, same here JM...I'm having real trouble with converting the metric waypoint system the KMD mission builder uses. I have to keep on setting an altitude for the planes, then run the game to see what height I'm at in feet. But then again, I am almost innumerate! Anyway, Thanks for your help guys. I'll have another go at it. All the best. Bucky.

Thanks for the mega-quick reply Saganuay82. Not sure I'm with you though...I'm using the KMD mission builder and I've allocated an airfield as a target which my wingmen all follow me to. Do you mean I should set a previous waypoint before setting off for the target? Thanks again for your help. Bucky.

File Name: 19 squadron Dolphin Vs Jasta 6 Fokker D.VIII File Submitter: Southside Bucky File Submitted: 8 Apr 2007 File Updated: 16 May 2007 File Category: Missions/Campaigns A mission for First Eagles. Bucky's quick mission No.1. 19 squadron Dolphin Vs Jasta 6 Fokker D.VIII. ======================================================= This mission, although a 'what if' scenario is quite a plausible aerial engagement that is accurate regarding geography and timing relating to the two units involved (19sqn & Jasta 6). Jasta 6 received the Fokker D.VIII (or the Fokker E.V as it was first called) at the end of July 1918, Jasta 6 being the first to receive it. However, on August the 16th they lost a pilot because of wing failure, and again on the 19th...The E.V was then quickly taken out of service until the weakness was diagnosed and cured. It was accepted back in service in early October, and by the end of the war a mere 80 had been delivered. There is no record of it being used in combat during the last weeks of the war. So to maintain historical accuracy this mission takes place the day before the wing failure incidents; (15/8/18.) At this time Jasta 6 were based at Bernes, a few miles north of St Quentin, which in turn, is about 30 miles from Douai 19 Squadron, using the Sopwith Dolphin at this time, were based at Savy, about 20 miles from Douai. You're flying an offensive patrol with your two 19 sqn wingmen, at 08.25 on Thursday 15/8/18. You have just crossed the German front lines at 12,000 feet near Douai, looking for trouble. You're mindful of the fact that there have been recent rumours within the RAF of a new German monoplane fighter in operation on the western front, reported as being very manoeuvrable... You're about to find out those rumours are horribly true!.... ======================================================= To use this mission as intended, you'll need: Flanders terrain. By Edward The Sopwith Dolphin. By Capun and his team. Available from the Skunkworks site (Registration required). The Fokker D.VIII. By Laton. Available from the Combat Ace download section. The 19 Sqn Blue Nose Dolphin skin. By Gambit168. Available from the Combat Ace download section. All three Fokker D.VIII Jasta 6 skins. By V. Deutschmark. Available from the Combat Ace download section. A big thank you to all of the above artists for their most excellent contributions to this great game. ======================================================= To install, simply unzip the downloaded file to: C:/Program Files/Thirdwire/WW1/Missions. Or unzip to your desktop and drag and drop, or copy, then paste into your missions folder. ======================================================= Feel free to change the mission anyway you like, and should you find anything wrong with it, please let me know. EDIT, 11/4/07: One thing I didn't realise when I first put this mission together is that unless you tell your wingmen to 'Engage Air', they won't fire a single shot! So remember to hit the TAB button and select '1' if you want some help from your Squadron comrades...Think of it as firing a flare gun! Have fun! Bucky. ======================================================= ======================================================= Click here to download this file

Actually Laton, after a bit more checking, it turns out there's no difference between the Morane and Pfalz at all. The Morane had those diagonal struts too. This pic illustrates what I mean: http://www.wwi-models.org/Images/Rada/Allied/Moranne-06.jpg I'm sure you knew that already though...The models coming along nicely, great work, well done! Any plans for your next project? Regards. Bucky.

You could also put crosses on it and turn it into a Pfalz Parasol, which was a licence-built copy of the Morane. I think the only visible difference between the two was the Pfalz had two extra diagonal struts on the rear of the engine cowling, going up to the wing leading edge, in line with the cabane struts. Regards. Bucky.

Kissenberth's fate is testimony to how difficult it was to fly the Camel. Even a pilot of his experience (He obtained his pilots badge in October 1914!) could come unstuck flying it: On the 29th of may 1918 he was severely injured when he crashed the Camel on landing. He spent the next two months in hospital and his combat career was over... Regards. Bucky.

Quote. Old Guy: You're doing good work, but you've introduced so many variables now that it's difficult to sort out the stuff that works from that which doesn't. Yeah, good shout Jim...I'm getting a little muddled by all the changes myself. Apart from Bortdafarm's AI mod, I'm also using the Headshake mod by Warbirds, which I have to keep on adding to Bortdafarm's DATA INI's. Now I'm kinda dreading the first official patch being released 'cause it'll take me back to square one! It seems the only way to keep on top of all the changes is to keep a diary! Bucky.

OK, just did a bit more testing and I think I can safely say the plane DATA INI's go in the relevant plane folders, and not 'OBJECTS'. Also, Armour set to 'STEEL' is too tough...In a DVII I got within 10-12 feet of a Spad and heard the bullets ricochet off it like it was a tank! No bullet holes either, so, keeping all of your other settings in the DATA INI's, I set all the 'Armour' back to wood. Hope this helps some with your testing Bortdafarm. Bucky.

Yeah, Thanks for your efforts Bortdafarm, your mods are pushing the sim to new levels of realism, well done mate! Couple of things though...I noticed, in order to make enemy planes harder to shoot down, you've set their armour levels to 'STEEL'. It now seems inordinately hard to bring the blighters down! Is there some middle ground between 'WOOD' and 'STEEL', maybe by reducing the 'thickness' to a lower number than 25 maybe? The other thing that is slightly confusing me (not hard to do I admit!) is in your AIMOD readme, you say put all the files in the OBJECTS folder...I thought the plane DATA INI's have to go in the relevant plane folder, no? Thanks again. Bucky.

File Name: FESounds File Submitter: Southside Bucky File Submitted: 17 Dec 2006 File Updated: 30 Apr 2008 File Category: Sound Mods Updated 19/4/08. I've now included a louder "bullet hit" sound. Designed to make you jump when your plane gets hit! EDIT 30/4/08: It's taken a while for me to work this out, but initially I didn't realise that the bullet hit sound was as loud on the AI planes as on the players...Even from long distance. Not very realistic...There's no way you'd hear hits on the target plane above your engine noise. So, to rectify this, extract, then open the "SOUNDLIST.INI" file from the "FlightData.cat", scroll down to "DirtHit", and change the "MaxDist=" line to: MaxDist=030.000000 or even 025.000000. Job Done! The player engine sound in FE is not loud enough IMO. The AI flyby sound easily drowns it out, so here's a louder version which to my ears sounds a lot better. I've also included louder and better machine gun sounds which I think balance nicely with the new engine and ambient sounds. There are various ways to use them, but the way I do it is to rename the original file, eg to Proploop2 or Vickersorig, or whatever suits you, then drop the new files into your Sounds folder and you're good to go... I think it's an improvement, I hope you do too! Bucky. Click here to download this file