Need Advice On Doing Another Install Of CFS2

[Typhoon Willy]

Hi all,

I was planning on doing another install of CFS2 only I want this one to be a USAAF vs. Luftwaffe. In the SOH library I found UIRES for the Eighth Air Force for use as the main interface screens and thought I could use the Luftwaffe UIRES by AJAX. However, I'm wondering what else would require modification to make this an honest-to-goodness ETO install? How could I modify cfs2.cfg to start with county.7 (my designation for American/USAAF)? The only German radio chatter mod I found has to be used with mission builder. Would the callsign.dat, modelnames.dat, etc, require modification? Not to mention adjustment to quick combat, ships, vehicles, among other things. Has anybody taken on a from-the-ground-up rebuild like this?

Thanks in advance,

TW

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Typhoon Willy,

Wow...now you's a speakin' me language! All of my installs are theatre-specific, from the ground up. To answer your question about UIRES, Ajax is the man to see on this question. Let's have a look-see...

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...ction=show&sort=d&literal=1&userid=305&page=2

You'll want to use the ETO interface. You may notice that he also has an MTO and OstFront version.

You can also use his UIRES screens for individual nations, and to answer your question about starting out the nationality...if you look at the very top of the country.cfg file, you should see this:

[defaults]
country=3

Changing the "country=3" to "country=7" should then give you the default setting you wish. Conversely, a setting of "2" would give you Germany, or a "1" would give you Great Britain.

You can use the ETO splash screens to give you the opening screen and menu screen of your choice.

The sound packs by Franz von Baron and Edfule, among others, not only give you sounds in missions, they work in quick combat, as well. So, let's link you up.

German: http://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=fvb_german_radio_calls.zip&fileId=33740

British: http://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=fvb_brit_radio_calls.zip&fileId=33739

French: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=48&id=6553

Italian: http://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=italian_chatter.zip&fileId=3971

Spanish: http://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=Spanish_Radio_Chatter.zip&fileId=39450

The only catch with these is the aircraft's nationality in reference to the country.cfg must agree. That way, a German aircraft will have German radio chatter. This can be found in the [MISC_DATA] section of the .dp.

As an example...

[MISC_DATA]
unit_family=1
category=1
allegiance=2
max_group_size=8
min_speed=280
cruise_speed=470
max_speed=640
min_alt=50
cruise_alt=5400
max_alt=12497
entered_service=1/1/40
crew=1

In short to the mdlnames.txt and callsigns.dat, yes, if you plan to work in Mission Builder. Otherwise, no.

One other point...if memory serves me correctly, Captain Kurt, when he released his 354th Fighter Group campaign, included a comprehensive UIRES set within his auto-installer.

JackMorris also did an 8th Air Force set: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=17&id=5700

The only other significant modification to the country.cfg for Europe involves [country.18], which instead of being an open "Allied Country," is now used by Canada, with these URIES screens by Dirtman: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=17&id=2244

As far as the quick combat file is concerned, replace the Japanese aircraft with German ones, and the US Navy aircraft with American models, and then build from there.

 

[Typhoon Willy]

Hi Rami,

Thanks for the input. In the long run, I've come up with 12 country specific/theater specific installs I'd like to eventually do and may come up with more. Given the info you've provided, I have my work cut out for now. Have you given any thought as to creating a tutorial giving step-by-step instructions for doing this? I'm guessing I may not be the only one interested.

Kind regards,

TW

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Typhoon Willy,

Not really. Unlike scenery, there is not a "one-size-fits-all" approach to this...my campaigns tend to use a common core of aircraft and scenery that would serve you well in your Europe / Med / OstFront based installs, but everyone's approach to this is slightly different. My solution was to come up with a centralized system for scenery, aircraft and ship models, as well as sounds, to cut down on the overall size of these installs on my hard drive.

It's kind of like following a recipe which tells you, at the end, to "add salt/sugar/etc. to taste." It's up to you.

I will say, in difference to those who rely on the "multi-install" method, that I like the specific control and modifications you can do when you have a stand-alone install for a specific theatre.

 

[SPman]

I was wondering about the central core of scenery/aircraft/sounds etc.

As the old PC is on it's last legs and the need to replace it looms, I was thinking about doing something similar. There are about 10 installs I'd like to do. Any hiccups to watch out for?

 

[Fibber]

MY TWO CENTS....

Doing a central sound file is really quite easy but labor intensive. I did one for all the knowm sounds and as new ones come up it is just a matter of subbing in the new sound file into the respective folder. Works quite well in all my different installed theaters.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

I was wondering about the central core of scenery/aircraft/sounds etc.

Spman,

Okay, here is what a "centralized" scenery.cfg entry looks like for one of the scenery layers for Malta...

[Area.024]
Title=Land Class Malta
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Land Class Malta
Active=TRUE
Layer=24
Required=FALSE
Remote=

You can see that the scenery.cfg local entry "points" to the folder where my "common" scenery (used by more than one installation) resides.

The same applies for aircraft and ship models that are used by more than one installation...

[models]
normal=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Models\Boeing B-17f Flying Fortress\B17F

[models]
normal=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Models\VN_FREIGHTER\vn_freighter
crash=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Models\VN_FREIGHTER\vn_freighter

And as far as sounds for an aircraft...

[FLTSIM]
alias=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Engines\Single\Allison V-1710-39

The idea behind this is to only have one set of sounds, scenery, and models that every sim can use.

In some cases, if the aircraft / scenery / or sounds are not used by other installations, then they just remain exclusive to that sim. This happens often on the Eastern Front.

 

[SPman]

Thank'ee kindly, sir.

 

[kelticheart]

Hi Spman!

You can also get rid easily of the default PTO sceneries so that they will not show up in your FF list, it will not affect CFS2 at all. As Rami pointed out, you can have a dedicated country.cfg without Japan showing up, its stock country number is #4, so you can even leave it empty since all missions written for the ETO use 1 for GB, 2 for Germany and 3 for USA.
Those country numbers are also used for radio coms, so you will never hear Japanese language while flying over Europe.

Pay a careful attention to your Quick Combat file, it's a source of many headaches. It doesn't care about planes that are not listed in the QC file, but it raises hell when a listed plane is missing from the /AIRCRAFT folder and the upsetting thing is that it doesn't do that constantly, it happens when one least expect it thus confusing about its source for troubleshooting.

You can even have a dedicated world texture folder, since CFS2 uses different texture filenames for PTO and ETO, this reduces the size of the folder and I noticed a slight performance improvement. This also helps taking advantage of the beautiful water texture packs available in order to have Atlantic/European water textures different than the Pacific ones, for example.

Having centralized folders for engine sounds and 2d panels helps performance as well. It makes it easy tracking down possible problems with aircrafts not showing up or missions causing CTD because one, or more, of the planes called by the mission cannot show up due to incorrect alias= instructions in their /panel or /sound folders.

With Jean "Bomber" Cornichon's Easy Multi-install setup all of the above can be achieved with a single, multi-theatre install. I use Jean's method, it allows me to keep control over all of my operation theatres with single CFS2 legacy files in one main CFS2 root folder. By activating the simple DOS batch files included in Jean's pack, I change theatre at every CFS2 startup, but if you prefer a single, dedicated theatre install it's up to you.

Since I do not know how well you know CFS2 inner workings, if you need me to be more specific, let me know.

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Great Thread... keep it up!

Believe it or not, I am relatively new to the world of multiple installs. I now have 9 of them and have texture question: What is the best texture pack for Western, Central and Eastern Europe? Stitz's or someone else's? And what about the Med and N. Africa? :salute:

 

[Rami]

Reply...

I now have 9 of them and have texture question: What is the best texture pack for Western, Central and Eastern Europe? Stitz's or someone else's? And what about the Med and N. Africa? :salute:

Shadow Wolf,

Sander's textures all the way, for North Africa and the Mediterranean as well. Use Stiz's ETO water package for Europe, and the Mediterranean water that comes with Jean Bomber's Gibraltar scenery for the Mediterranean.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Got the textures and installed them, thanks old buddy.

 

[Typhoon Willy]

Hi all,

Ok Rami, I set up the country.cfg, installed the UIRES, put aside the quick combat stuff for the time being, and went for the install of the European scenery/mesh using Sander de Cocq's and rhumbaflappy add-ons AND your instructions. With the exception of NOT deleting all the bgls except the north.bgl and south.bgl in the SCENEDB/WORLD/SCENERY, I believe I followed your instructions to the letter. All seems to have gone well except in some small areas along the coast, the water is still that of the original Pacific texture. Also, flying over land, my fps's are excellent (using F1 Double Trouble's FW190A as my test plane), however, when I move my view to see the water of the English Channel, I take a hit on my frame rates which decrease by approximately 20fps (using Stiz's water texture per your instructions). Can you recommend a way to correct these two issues?

Thanks for your time,

TW

 

[Typhoon Willy]

Oh Crap!

Hold the phone! I lied! I didn't follow Rami's instructions, forgot to install the Mesh Lod 08 folder, my bad, I'll pick it up tomorrow. :isadizzy:
Edit:OK, I couldn't let it go til i got it right, looks much better now! By the way, this is near Abbeville.

 

[Discus]

Hold the phone! I lied! I didn't follow Rami's instructions, forgot to install the Mesh Lod 08 folder, my bad, I'll pick it up tomorrow. :isadizzy:
Edit:OK, I couldn't let it go til i got it right, looks much better now! By the way, this is near Abbeville.

TW

Something strange is happening away from the coast. It looks like the pacific or caribean waters are nearing France!

 

[Typhoon Willy]

Hi Discus,

Yes, I noticed the difference in water color in the distance as well, but when I fly towards it, the water changes color to dark blue. I am, however, enjoying the new ground cover in France, been flying around in my Fw190 just enjoying the show!

TW

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Hey guys,

For the water textures, make sure you have Stiz's ETO water in two places...the BETA4 folder of Sander's scenery files, AND the "root" texture folder in your CFS2 install.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Typhoon Willy,

Make sure to check your scenery folders for anything that might not be there.

Question....did you install the airfields by Gary Burns, and did you use the auto-installer? If so, there was a "sneak circuit" in that installer that would install European coastlines that slide "under" Sander's, and if those are there, the conflicting coastlines that Sander's would override would cause FPS issues near the coast.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Hey guys,

I just ran the auto-installer on my desktop to refresh my memory. In your "SCENERY" folder, (this is in the main CFS2 installation, not the SCENEDB folder) look for anything that starts with "hyp." If you have these files, this is likely the cause of your FPS slowdowns near the coast. Delete those little devils, and the filelist.dat file.

The coastline FPS already takes a slight hit because the "Global_Exclude" layer is blocking Rhumba's coastlines in the ETO, but you still need them for the Frozen North; Sander's textures only cover Norway up to about 60-62 degrees North latitude, and only halfway down the coast of the former Yugoslavia.

 

[Typhoon Willy]

Hi Rami,

I did a manual install of Gary Burns' BoB airfields and everything went well, no problems so far. I figured out the water texture issue before you posted a reply, so that's taken care of. And lastly, I just checked my scenery folder and found nothing starting with "hyp", so I'm good there as well. I didn't consider it at first, but then realized my reduction in frame rates on the coastlines was probably due to all this "stuff" being added. I did notice while on a low-level fly-by near the Dover Cliffs it appears they may not all be sitting at ground level, although it may just be me.

I am planning to add the Coastal Command bases by merlin2, along with a few other English scenery add-ons before moving to France and Germany.

TW