Newbie looking for help

A

Alex B

Guest
Hi everyone, new CFS2 player on the board. Having played a bit on the standard Pacific campaigns I got really started and really wanted to get some European stuff installed. So I downloaded some BoB files and (being a newbie) got stuck. Bit by bit I am learning, but there is a file I am looking for and I can't find it. It is the ju87_wingrack. Does someone of you have it (I'm sure you have) and could I get it one way or the other? If I'm lucky enough to get the file, in which folder should it be stored?

Thanking all of you who are willing to lend a helping hand in advance,

Alex
 
Welcome abaord Alex B! I am not much of a fan of that aircraft and do not recall reading about ju87_wingrack on these pages. If it is available, one of the guys might be able to tell you where to find it.:salute:






That was fast!
 
mariereid said:
...Welcome aboard Alex B! I am not much of a fan of that aircraft and do not recall reading about ju87_wingrack on these pages. If it is available, one of the guys might be able to tell you where to find it.... That was fast!...
Click to expand...

I'm bucking for the Assistant Librarian's Positiont, M ! LOL

SC
:icon_lol:
 
Thanks for your kind welcome guys, most appreciated. I downloaded the JU87 because it is part of what is needed to play either russBoB's or Rami's BoB missions. It was in fact one of Wolfi's Ju87-B's that I downloaded and brought up the wingrack issue. It was when I tried to fly the first mission on the RAF's side that I got the warning about the wingrack.

Now something else that puzzles me (in all my CFS ignorance :icon_lol:): I had the impression that if a plane was downloaded and unzipped into the Aircraft folder, it should be possible to select that plane for flying it. I downloaded some planes needed for the BoB campaigns (and others), put the jpeg files in the Info folder and tried to fly them in Freeflight. Some of the planes appear in the list you can pick from, with a rotating picture in the picture frame at the right hand side of the screen. However, the plane won't materialize and I get all sorts of messages indicating that files are either wrong or missing. Examples of malfuctioning planes are the AH_Hurricane_2CCFS, AH_Spitfire_ML1A_LANECFS2 and the mk_km_Fokker_DXXI_Netherland_No214 (not forgetting my roots :holand:). In the texture folders are files that don't give a picture. I think I am overlooking something in the installation, but can't figure it out, so PLEASE HELP!

Thanks again in advance,

Alex
 
Hi Alex; I find most planes install quite easily. Sometimes you may need something else. I have found that the error message sometimes will tell you what is missing, and you can round it up. Once again, one of our wonderful members will come along and help you out. Jeez, last time I did not even get a chance to finish typing a reply to you and sc7500 came to the rescue. The guys here are great, and can answer all questions. I am just learning the ropes here myself. Good luck!:ernae:
 
Hi Alex,

Make sure the sound folder inside the aircraft folder has a sound.cfg file, and the appropriate sound files. Otherwise, the plane will be a no-show in free flight. Alternatively, the sound.cfg can just alias the sound to another aircraft. Lots of times, an empty sound folder is the problem.

Welcome to the basement! If that doesn't fix your issue, there are lots of guys much smarter than I around here who will help!
 
Alex,

Welcome to the Outhouse. Just so you know, the "Battle of Britain - Part I" includes the RussBoB missions, they are named "Hornchurch Squadron."

As far as the questions you have...it seems like either the panel or sound.cfg may be directed to an aircraft you do not have. (This in CFS2-speak is known as "aliased")

If you have any other questions, be sure to ask, it's why we're all here!
 
Welcome to the House, Alex!

Rami and Ghostrider already pointed out some glitches one can easily encounter when leaving the relatively safe stock CFS2 environment to venture into the huge universe of addons, written for this still great combat flight simulator.

If I might add, a basic computer knowledge is a must in this case. Knowing how to edit a text file, how to direct a command through a path, concepts of folders, subfolders and root program folder are all vital if you want to succefully install addon aircrafts, sceneries, ships, vehicles, missions and campaigns.

For example Rami and Ghostrider talk about aliasing a sound set or a 2d panel. It means the following:

create the panel.cfg with a text editor, Windows Notepad will do nicely, and enter the following:

[FLTSIM]
alias=F6F_HELLCAT\panel

Save into your new addon aircraft empty \panel subfolder and exit.

now your aircraft cockpit panel will use the stock F6F Hellcat 2d panel. This if the Hellcat folder is sitting in the same \AIRCRAFT folder your new addon was copied to. If the panel you are aliasing your new aircraft to is stored somewhere else, then you will have to set the path differently such as, for example let's say you downloaded a new Spitfire and you have a nice Spitfire 2d panel sitting in a folder inside your CFS2 root folder called "2D_PANELS":

[FLTSIM]
alias=..\2D_PANELS\Spitfire_MkI

where "Spitfire_MkI" contains the bitmap picture of the 2d panel plus a panel.cfg file with all the necessary gauges listed inside.

The same goes for a sound set made of *.wav sound files of different rpm revving sounds, tipically 4, ranging from idle to 100% of throttle power, internal and external, plus other sounds like engine startup and shutoff, prop wash, landing gear, flaps, bombs and stall clicker plus a sound.cfg file governing all of them.

Let's say you want to use the stock F4F Wildcat sound set for your addon Curtiss P-36 Hawk, which used the same Pratt & Whitney engine. You would then alias the P-36 sound to the Wildcat in this way:

Open your Notepad and type:

[FLTSIM]
alias=F4F_WILDCAT\sound

save the file to your P-36 empty \sound subfolder and try it out.

Remember that the basic structure of an aircraft subfolder will ALWAYS include:

\model ------> (the aircraft *.mdl or model file)
\panel -------> (the 2d panel files or simply the panel.cfg aliased to another aircraft panel)
\sound -------> (the entire sound set or simply the sound.cfg aliased)
\texture -----> (the aircraft livery or "skin" files)
aircraft.cfg (among the first lines of this file one can change the name of the aircraft as it will be displayed in Free Flight by CFS2)
aircraft.air (this file is the flight envelope, usually named after the aircraft name)
aircraft.dp (damage profile: again named after the aircraft, a file containing the damage information used by the flight sim engine when the aircraft is hit, plus different payloads info).

Any of the above missing and your addon aircraft will either not show up or not fly at all.

If you have all of the above correctly positioned, adding a new aircraft will simply mean:
  1. unzipping the download to a temporary folder,
  2. cutting the aircraft folder with its subfolders and pasting it into CFS2 root \AIRCRAFT subfolder,
  3. eventually aliasing 2d panel and sound set to another aircraft,
  4. go fly!
Sometimes addons will include new weapons, or payloads, different and always better looking than stock bombs, torpedoes and rockets. In this case the new weapons will need to be installed in CFS2 \OBJECTS_DP and \SCENEDB\WEAPONS subfoders.

The missing Wolfi's Stuka payload objects from the above folders caused all of the error messages you talk about in your opening thread. Always read carefully the enclosed README.TXT files and follow the addon designer instructions step by step.

Adding to your CFS2 is definitely a time-consuming endeavor but, if you like aviation history, it's the most rewarding computer hobby I ever saw. From a mere two CD stock size my CFS2 grew to a respectable 18 Gb in 8 years of constant adding, tinkering and improving.

Besides, here at SOH you will find all kind of expertises developed over the years. Airplane designers, repainters, scenery designers, objects developers, computer wizards, airplane flight developers, tinkerers and testers, aviation historians and researchers, historical mission/campaign developers, real life pilots, military experts and so on.

Ah, I almost forgot:

THIS IS NOT A COMPUTER GAME BUT A COMPUTERIZED FLIGHT SIMULATOR!!!

Never forget this: I was able to fly a real airplane with small effort a few years ago, my avatar shows that magic day of my life, just by learning how to fly with CFS2 and other early combat flight sims I purchased over the years!

Cheers!
KH :ernae:
 
I believe that! My father in law flies some little tin can. I let him fly a wildcat in cfs2, because I thought it would be easy for him. Man, he was flying that thing with feet only! He said, " That's just like flying!"
 
Sorry Kelti - slight correction

kelticheart said:
THIS IS NOT A COMPUTER GAME BUT A COMPUTERIZED FLIGHT SIMULATOR!!!
Click to expand...

I was told this in the SOH FS9 forum a couple of years ago:

CFS2 is a COMBAT flight simulator. Cuz we've got guns, bombs, rockets 'n stuff that blows things up REAL GOOD!

Which is different from the Computerized Flight Simulators that those FS9/FSX "bus-drivers" use!!!

.... View attachment 27920 .... View attachment 27920 .... View attachment 27920

But we all agree that none of these are games!

............. View attachment 27922

.
.
 
Thank you everyone for the kind welcome and good advice. Bit by bit I am getting an overview. Kelticheart, your reply with explanation is very useful. I printed it out, so I can fiddle with files with your guidance between me and the screen.

Alex
 
Hey Alex, my desk is full of information from these guys. I am still a computer moron, but without these guys, I'd be totally lost. Man, there is an endless amount of stuff you can do with CFS2.:ernae::salute:
 
Hi, Alex. I started out with CFS2. Look here at SOH. I believe there is a JU-87D in the downloads under Alphaoldies.
 
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