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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
CFS2 Perma-stickied help / problem / tweaking thread
- Thread starter gedm
- Start date
Ravenna
SOH-CM-2023
DP for AA
Rami,
This site should give a few useful pointers:
http://www.hans-egebo.dk/Tutorial/damtut.htm
Depending on what parameters you want to change you will get varying effectiveness from the AA. Reducing the damage dice in the gunstation will make the AA less effective. So will reducing the rounds per minute and the time alive. You could also limit the number of rounds in the guns entry.
Rami,
This site should give a few useful pointers:
http://www.hans-egebo.dk/Tutorial/damtut.htm
Depending on what parameters you want to change you will get varying effectiveness from the AA. Reducing the damage dice in the gunstation will make the AA less effective. So will reducing the rounds per minute and the time alive. You could also limit the number of rounds in the guns entry.
Ravenna
SOH-CM-2023
Ravenna,
Thanks, this is specifically referring to .dp files for AA guns and one ship .dp file.
Yep, that was understood in my reply above. The gunstations section in the AA DP has various relevant parameters.
Here's an example from one of the WWI AA DPs:
[GUNSTATIONS]
gunstation.0=4,-1,1,10.00,1127.76,60,0.08,4000,0,100,1d1*50,0,0,0,0,0,0,-180,180,80,-10,8
;range=4 Km (2.5 miles)
[guns.0]
gun.0=1800,0,2.4036,1.1808,0,0,1
[MISC_DATA]
unit_family=4
category=29
allegiance=1
Another parameter you could change is the angle or field of fire for the gun/s and limit the area covered by facing the AA gun in a direction which doesn't cover all of the oncoming "traffic".
UncleTgt
SOH-CM-2026
Everything Ravenna said.
The sim treats everything as a machine gun bullet, & only tracks it for 2 seconds. So "real world" muzzle velocities won't give Heavy AA the reach it needs, but speeding up the bullet makes them super-accurate.
The only other thing I would add to Ravenna's comments would be to tweak the angle-off:
[guns.0]
gun.0=1800,0,2.4036,1.1808,0,0,1
change to:
[guns.0]
gun.0=1800,0,2.4036,1.1808,+0.5,-0.5,1 or similar
This means the initial rounds will be high(+) or low(-), or starboard (+) or port (-) of the target's real position. The AI will try to compensate, & as the range decreases & the angle off error distance reduces, eventually it will get onto target, but this buys you engagement time.
I use this quite often for bomber guns, my rule of thumb is adjust both for hand-held weapons, & one or the other for turretted weapons.
Also I would checks the time between rounds.
[GUNSTATIONS]
gunstation.0=4,-1,1,10.00,1127.76,60,0.08,4000,0,100,1d1*50,0,0,0, 0,0,0,-180,180,80,-10,8
as too often these are theoretical rates of fire, & flak guns in particular would not operate at these rates all the time (they wait for the first rounds to burst & correct the barrage).
Also don't forget many light weapons are clip fed, so sustained rates of fire are far short of the values often quoted. ie increased time between rounds. eg JAP 25mm auto actual engagement RoF was 225 - 250 rpm, far short of the guns capability, mainly because of the clip feed issue.
The sim treats everything as a machine gun bullet, & only tracks it for 2 seconds. So "real world" muzzle velocities won't give Heavy AA the reach it needs, but speeding up the bullet makes them super-accurate.
The only other thing I would add to Ravenna's comments would be to tweak the angle-off:
[guns.0]
gun.0=1800,0,2.4036,1.1808,0,0,1
change to:
[guns.0]
gun.0=1800,0,2.4036,1.1808,+0.5,-0.5,1 or similar
This means the initial rounds will be high(+) or low(-), or starboard (+) or port (-) of the target's real position. The AI will try to compensate, & as the range decreases & the angle off error distance reduces, eventually it will get onto target, but this buys you engagement time.
I use this quite often for bomber guns, my rule of thumb is adjust both for hand-held weapons, & one or the other for turretted weapons.
Also I would checks the time between rounds.
[GUNSTATIONS]
gunstation.0=4,-1,1,10.00,1127.76,60,0.08,4000,0,100,1d1*50,0,0,0, 0,0,0,-180,180,80,-10,8
as too often these are theoretical rates of fire, & flak guns in particular would not operate at these rates all the time (they wait for the first rounds to burst & correct the barrage).
Also don't forget many light weapons are clip fed, so sustained rates of fire are far short of the values often quoted. ie increased time between rounds. eg JAP 25mm auto actual engagement RoF was 225 - 250 rpm, far short of the guns capability, mainly because of the clip feed issue.
Ravenna
SOH-CM-2023
Great little resource. Thanks Uncle!
The time between rounds you highlighted is a very useful operator. I've been increasing it gradually in Robert John's Maxim Flak14 Cannon ( soon to be released in the Flanders Pack) and leaving the tweaked angle off as a constant. Flying the same mission, with height heading and no evasive flying I end up being bracketed with 37mm rounds but each increase in the time between rounds buys me more time before being hit. Because this weapon is belt fed the increase in time between rounds is limited. The Maxim's rof was 300 rpm or 5 seconds between rounds, so even allowing for change of belt/drum the rate would be sustained when there is whole battery of guns.
Decreasing the rof to 7 seconds between rounds and increasing the angle off to +0.7, -0.7 bought me an extra 30 seconds. As I was the only target I assume that a large formation would have an increased chance of survival.
The time between rounds you highlighted is a very useful operator. I've been increasing it gradually in Robert John's Maxim Flak14 Cannon ( soon to be released in the Flanders Pack) and leaving the tweaked angle off as a constant. Flying the same mission, with height heading and no evasive flying I end up being bracketed with 37mm rounds but each increase in the time between rounds buys me more time before being hit. Because this weapon is belt fed the increase in time between rounds is limited. The Maxim's rof was 300 rpm or 5 seconds between rounds, so even allowing for change of belt/drum the rate would be sustained when there is whole battery of guns.
Decreasing the rof to 7 seconds between rounds and increasing the angle off to +0.7, -0.7 bought me an extra 30 seconds. As I was the only target I assume that a large formation would have an increased chance of survival.
dvslats
Charter Member
Just to add one more log to the wood pile...Pen did some rather extensive work on the *.dp files for land based AA fire. He literally spent hours in the sim pulling information as to what is actually going on in CFS2. The revised files are included in the AF_AA_Pak2.zip. Spend a little time going through the readme. It's pretty informative.
There's another *.zip with his ship *.dp files. (forget the name ATM) The parameters in these (IMHO), are a great improvement compared to the stock iterations.
There's another *.zip with his ship *.dp files. (forget the name ATM) The parameters in these (IMHO), are a great improvement compared to the stock iterations.
Reply...
Michael,
Jim Jacobson's Westland Lysander Tropical. I use it in BoF for a nine-mission campaign, as well as in a few other missions.
https://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=lystrop1.zip&fileId=32685
Note: This version in BoF has been substantially modified by UncleTgt and Baldy to get rid of the underbelly tank, as well as to add the wheel spar fairings for bomb racks..
Michael,
Jim Jacobson's Westland Lysander Tropical. I use it in BoF for a nine-mission campaign, as well as in a few other missions.
https://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=lystrop1.zip&fileId=32685
Note: This version in BoF has been substantially modified by UncleTgt and Baldy to get rid of the underbelly tank, as well as to add the wheel spar fairings for bomb racks..
The air file should have these entries
Section 1004 Landing Gear
*type of gear =0
cycle time left main= 0.0
cycle time right main= 0.0
cycle time nose/tail= 0.0
Section 1004 Landing Gear
*type of gear =0
cycle time left main= 0.0
cycle time right main= 0.0
cycle time nose/tail= 0.0
Andrew, I just flew the plane and checked the air file. It needs to have the cycle times fixed, but I think you are referring to the gear up and down sounds heard in the cockpit. That is an error in the Gladiator sound file which the Lysander uses. (Should be fixed for the Glad too). The sound cfg calls for a gear up and a gear down sound and the sound folder has a wav sound file for each. The cfg file should have the gear entries deleted and the wav sounds removed from the sound folder.
Oooookay, further update. I've made the changes above and the plane still has gear up and gear down sounds. Theoretically that should not be possible as there are no gear sounds in the aircraft sound files, but it seems there is a default sound somewhere for a retractable gear. Still changing the gear type to =0, i.e. fixed, should have fixed that.
So now I'm stumped. Anyone else know what's going on here?
Oooookay, further update. I've made the changes above and the plane still has gear up and gear down sounds. Theoretically that should not be possible as there are no gear sounds in the aircraft sound files, but it seems there is a default sound somewhere for a retractable gear. Still changing the gear type to =0, i.e. fixed, should have fixed that.
So now I'm stumped. Anyone else know what's going on here?
Last edited:
Okay figured it out. 
Not only does the air file have to have the entries described above, but the aircraft.cfg file contact points for the gears have to have the retract and extend times set to 0.0 and the sound set to 0.
These are the last three values in each gear contact point values line.
Not only does the air file have to have the entries described above, but the aircraft.cfg file contact points for the gears have to have the retract and extend times set to 0.0 and the sound set to 0.
These are the last three values in each gear contact point values line.
Reply...
Kurt,
Thanks for all of the detective work. The only thing I can't figure out is which of the contact points in the aircraft.cfg file references the landing gear.
But since I went through at your recommendation and modified the sound.cfg in the Mercury sound pack since the single-engined .cfg file is only used by the Lysander and two Gladiators, I guess it's kind of moot at this point?
Kurt,
Thanks for all of the detective work. The only thing I can't figure out is which of the contact points in the aircraft.cfg file references the landing gear.
But since I went through at your recommendation and modified the sound.cfg in the Mercury sound pack since the single-engined .cfg file is only used by the Lysander and two Gladiators, I guess it's kind of moot at this point?