Hi Staiduk. I don't get involved with creating the missions themselves but I do have some experience with everything else. I think for the type of missions you have in mind it would be best to stick with the CFS1 defaults for AI aircraft & wingmen. You can use any suitable 3rd party aircraft for the Player aircraft if you wish. Charles Simpson converted the CFS1 defaults for use in CFS2 to save you the bother. Try the Allied & Axis Expansion packs here. http://www.simviation.com/cfs2aircraft1.htm

Doing it this way will be useful if you intend uploading the missions as these aircraft can be downloaded by users who don't have CFS1. They should also perform properly in AI which many 3rd party aircraft don't. The only problem with using separate downloads is that great care must be taken in installing them with their correct folder names. This is the most common cause of all problems with 3rd party missions. I prefer to include all necessary files with the missions/campaign.

I think the CFS1 scenery objects you mention can be used in the missions. The asterisk is used to identify them. I don't think you need worry about different versions of CFS2. There are regional variations but they're all basically the same.

Hope this is some help. Good luck with your mission building.

I just checked out the He 111 from the Axis Expansion pack in QC. It even has breaking parts. Works a treat.

Sounds a great idea. Just be careful with those furballs. All those aircraft are bound to affect frame rates. In most cases the RAF squadrons were scrambled separately & directed onto individual targets. This was later judged to be the most effective method by most historians. The big wing wasn't used until late in the BoB, during September 1940. It's still controversial today & one big drawback was the time taken to assemble the wing. This usually gave the enemy bombers the chance to bomb their target & be on their way home before they could be attacked. I always thought the idea was seriously flawed.

Hi Pads. People often ask me about a CFS2 BoB campaign & I forgot all about the GC stuff. Thanks for reminding me.

Staiduk. The way I see it, you have 2 options. The choice of Player aircraft is up to you.

1. Use the existing GC aircraft & scenery as a basis for your own campaign.

2. Use the CFS1 defaults (Allied & Axis Expansion packs) for AI aircraft & wingmen.

If I was doing this I would choose option 2. Being comparatively simple models the CFS1 defaults should be far less graphics intensive than the average 3rd party aircraft. They are also much smaller files & perform well in AI. Nobody is going to get close enough to worry about the quality of the visual models.

You will need to find suitable 3rd party scenery. I've lost track of the the latest stuff but Steve McClelland's CFSII Europe Release 2 (UK) always worked well for me.
http://www.simviation.com/cfs2scenery3.htm
(Steve did this at my request). He deliberately left out the CFS1 default airfields but there are plenty of others (over 80) included. The GZR airfields are fully compatible with Steve's mesh.

BTW - I agree with ya about the Big Wings; there'll be very few in the campaign - getting them set up in MB will be a bloody NIGHTMARE!
But; they were used; so I'm putting a couple in, to the limits described above. Most will be on the individual section level.
Cheers!

Staiduk,
I'm with you on prefering the 1% planes and where possible I only fly them.
Obvious problem is a lack of 1% Spitfire Mk1!

I suggest you put a post on the Avhistory site and you may find that one of the members has done a model that you may be able to use! I'm saying no more than that!!!

I agree that some of them are too heavy on the framerates.
I have found that a lot of this is due to the huge textures that are used on some of these planes.
All the planes that I have found a problem with have 1024 24bit textures. The file size for the texture folder comes in at +10mb on some of these.
By using any graphics package you can reduce the image sizes in half from 1024 to 512px.
And by far the best saving can be made by converting all the images to DXT1 format using Martin Writes image tool.
All this will reduce the folder size from 10mb to 500kb.

I realise that some of the addon planes have large numbers of poly's  and no multi-rez but the above will help enormously.

The problem with using such planes is ensuring that everone who flies you missions knows about redoing the textures.
Unless you provided the textures along with the campaign!

Have you got Gary's BoB airfields from the download section. I think these would be the best fields to use. They also add the White Cliffs of Dover.

I hope this helps.

Kev

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Kev will know more than me but this might not be possible. I believe the AvHistory guys have strict rules on their stuff being posted anywhere but their own site. Many other designers feel the same or don't like anyone messing with their files. That's why we decided to create all our own stuff for the Fox Four campaigns although this obviously takes longer. The same might apply to the scenery. This is why I recommended Steve McClelland's stuff as I'm sure he will give permission. It would be just as easy to download separately & is a comparatively small file.

Making things as simple as possible to install & keeping the necessary downloads to a reasonable size is important with 3rd party campaigns. IMHO

I Got About 30 A/C TO Land On One Strip ???

Geez; this is annoying; trying to find a Mk1 Spit!
Looks like I'm going with Hagar's idea after all - use CFS1 aircraft and modify them for CFS2.
On the plus side; scenery looks good (using the Cfs2BoB textures); especially when combined with PACTEX.
First three missions are done. Good thing the fun is in the building; otherwise this could get REAL tedious! LOL
Building a quick webpage for downloading the mess once it's ready to be tested - I'll keep you guys posted.
(And for inspiration; I've just watched The Battle of Britain on DVD 6 times in a row. )

Thanx for the info; Woodlouse, I'll check it out.

Just as an update; here's how it's gone so far:
Campaign Length: 40 missions. (5 complete)
Scope: the length of the real BoB.
Mission: To fly first as a junior hurricane pilot at Kenley, then flight leader. Ultimately posted as CO of a Spit squad at Hawkinge.
Campaign type: Linear; semi-dynamic. (Same missions; but victory or loss in the previous mission determines resources and info for this one. i.e. if Ventnor takes a beating; you'll have less time to scramble.) - flowcharted and plotted; .cmg file written.
Required files: (Just finished testing. Still have to get permission; even if it's not actually required.)
CFS2BoB V.1.01, by Gary Burns. Excellent airbases; perfect for what I need in this campaign. includes the Cliffs.
1GB Hurricane mk.1. Great 'cane; lovely to look at and fly.
VB Spit mk.1 What you'd expect from VB; superb work.
Note - should I not recieve permission for these planes; modified CFS1 stock will be used instead.
Remaining BoB planes stock CFS1.
PACTEX. Not actually required; but so good you really, really want it.
New .50 cal. sound. God knows where I got it; but it's great.
Modified existing files:
Airbases.dat. Stock CFS1 fields adjusted to match BoB airfields. Hawkinge, Kenley, Hornchurch and Tangmere now have double strips; landing and taking off in both directions. (Tangmere, for instance, now has 07L, 07R, 25L and 25R. It's a field; not a strip; so multiple runs is reasonable.) Unneeded airfields removed.
Callsign.dat. An American must've come up with the British callsigns; they're so cheesy. I've added about 30.

Needed: a sound pack of British voices for comms. The silence is drivin' me nuts!

Reference: Found a fantastic site on the Battle; one I'm sure many are familiar with: http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/bobhome.html
Superb site; great resources. Includes a daily report section for the entire battle - what I've based the campaign flow off of.

...And that's where I am! Geez; I've barely started - now the hard part comes in!
The hardest part has been trying to get the 'feel' right. That's important. I think I've managed.
The website for it's being built; it's just a cheesy little Geocities page; but I don't know how to do more than that.
Cheers!

'Lo again, Hagar - I see we keep the same hours - stupidly long. 'course; you've got an excuse - it's daytime for you right now.
Anyhoo; that's exactly what I'm planning. the Geocities website I'm building only allows so much (10Mb? Don't know for sure) usage a day; so I have to be cautious.
The main reason I'm asking permission for all is a) it's courteous to do so, and b) there are small modifications that must be made to a couple of 'planes to get them to work properly within the campaign - I need to keep them balanced right. I plan to do it this way: hypertext the link to the required aircraft; and provide  a "Campaign only" .dp (only thing changed is the sound of the guns; to take advantage of that lovely .50cal. sound) and .air file for it in the downloaded kit. That keeps my usage small (I don't know any of these webpage words - just mucking about with the editor), and the developers happy - hopefully.
I don't want to run into another issue like I did with you that one time. Amiable as it was; I should've realized right out that the folks who spend so much time making these birds won't appreciate tweaks without at least a by-your-leave.
I've done a lot of work on CFS2 in my time; making missions and such; under different names. (VF20 Recce, 67th Mako, Mako_PacCom, Cattier Corgi, Midnight Wolfe, and others.) I served with several online squads - in each squad; I'd design missions for training; competing, etc. Did my best to combine the limitations of CFS2 - few though they are - with my real-world flight and instruction experience to make each one enjoyable. This one; I intend to be my opus; if you will - the best I can possibly do. I want it to be everything the stock campaigns weren't. Hell - they're not campaigns; just a collection of disjointed battles. This one; I really want to put a player into the seat my Grandfather sat in. Max realism; max challenge, max fun.
hee hee - just hope I get it done before CFS8 comes out.
Cheers!

There is a Spitfire Mk.Ia over at http://www.avsim.com

Search for 'YAS Spitfire'

Regards,
Stratobat

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LOL Thanks for explaining. You would know if I was offended or upset. It's not a pretty sight.

Quote:


Dicksite,

I think there's a .50 cal sound file here in the Misc section or over at Netwings. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll send it too you.

Regards,
Stratobat

You can convert the radio chatter from cfs1 and place it in cfs2. And if you make a seperate instal as Hagar suggests you won't have problems with duplicate names on the sound files.

regards  Collin