Hi all. Just so you know, really new at this so if I'm asking a stupid question, sorry, but it has me stumped.

Recently got a 3rd party a/c (Boulton Paul Defiant), set it up and ran it. For a while it worked fine (was actually great, the configuration seems to take advantage of certain aspects of CFS2's ai and I found it very easy to confuse fighters. Anyway, the bullets have stopped working and I don't know why.

Yes, the bullets. When I pull the trigger, the guns fire, muzzles flash, tracer reaches out to touch someone, but passes clean through the target (frustrating being able to formate in an enemy bomber's blind spot and empty 2400 rds of .303 into it to no effect).

I have flown the aircraft inverted and fired at the ground and the water (guns fire obliquely up at 30 degrees). The bullets strike the ground and water with normal visual effect.

I have flown other aircraft just with .303 armament (spitfire Mk2, hurricane Mk1) against same target and had no problems. Bits fly off nicely.

I have checked and meddled with the DP file to no effect.

I have re-installed the aircraft twice with no difference.

If the thing had 'failed' from the start I might not be so befuddled, but it worked a treat for a while then stopped.

Any ideas where to look or what might be causing this? It seems to be isolated to this particular aircraft.

Thanks

P

Thanks for the reply, but I'm pretty sure it isn't the DP. I did alter the damage numbers to see if it made a difference, but it didn't. I also re-installed the whole aircraft file but it made no difference.
The thing I that gets me is that the bullets pass "through" the target. There are no strikes on any aircraft for the Defiant's guns. The bullets strike the ground, or the water, and leave appropriate marks. They don't 'see' the damage boxes of aircraft.
Is all very wierd. Although the aircraft is freeware, has anyone heard of a 'trial limiter' being installed in an a/c file?

P

Please give me the adress of the plane you were trying to shoot down. I've found you have to do a remake of the DP. I had that issue before.

Can you post a link to the page this aircraft is posted on so someone can check it out.

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If the guns are angled upwards how do you aim them? Maybe you're simply not hitting the target.

Forget the trial period. I know of no way to make a DP file stop working after a period of time. The only possible way to do this would be if you modifed it in some way or changed the CFS2 Realism settings.

Thanks for the ongoing info. OK, assuming it is the DP (and some 3rd party aircraft I have downloaded have had issues on my system, including the He219, but I've been able to get them flying by editing the air file or the DP), why wouldn't re-installing the original files have restored the workings? The plane worked fine initially, then stopped working, so something in the files changed a week or so after it was installed. By deleting the original install and reinstalling the files from the original zip file shouldn't that have restored everything to the original working condition?
When I did try tinkering with the DP I deleted the CDP to make sure the game ran from the DP file (and auto-generated a new CDP) but it made no difference.

P

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Exactly. This leads me to believe that you changed something yourself. Most likely the DP files of the Defiant or aircraft you're using as targets.

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Which aircraft are these & what issues? I don't know why editing the DP would fix this sort of problem. Maybe you didn't edit the DP files correctly.

Hagar, I do not know why you need to make the boxes again but it worked.

if you fly a few times with one DP, then change it to somethin' else without deleting the CDP file... anything is bound to happen...


Good Hunting,
Brandon

OK, really the last post before holidays...

My guess is the DP file (or multiple DP's).

As I said in the original post, I tried deleting the whole defiant folder from the aircraft file and replacing it from the original and it didn't work.

OK, I tried it with the second CFS game and it did work.

So, I deleted the bad folder from the original CFS instal, and cut and pasted the working aircraft folder from the second CFS instal into the first.

Tried the original mission (against the He111) and bingo, flames, bits of aircraft and nice explosions all 'round.

In short, I have a working Defiant operating over England in 1940, happily shooting down Germans, but he's Japanese and I can't change that or he stops working.

It is entirely possible that the previous attempts to reinstal didn't work because I changed the allegiance to UK. I don't remember, so I'll say the evidence suggests I did.

So, if any of you can find the link between the allegiance and the guns, so I can alter it and run it in missions etc without any issues, please let me know!

Thanks for the input so far.

BTW, I tried running it with only the main DP file, deleted all the others and the CDP and it still flies fine (but the guns don't work)

P