CFS3 - I'm Lost!

[starbage1]

Hello. Never playing CFS3 before in the past, I recently installed CFS3, updated it to 3.1-3.1a and put firepower 8.1 on. I tried windows xp compat mode vs 7 and 7 is were i get the most frames and works better. Everything works good. But I do have some problems maybe someone can answer these questions?

1. I am wondering if anyone is able to play the campaigns with Firepower 8.1 installed or does it break the campaign? AI for American side doesn't bomb right and campaign seems not to run in your favor even after successful missions. Any campaign tips?

2. Looking at the cfs3config.exe is there any tweaks for the game on windows 7 64bit?

The 3 options under Overrides is what I am referring to.

3. I am looking for an option in that same config so that buildings don't pop into view as you fly by them, terrain, tanks etc. does this as well, anything to increase the "draw" distance to as far as it can take?

4. The nose art on the planes is very smudged?

5. The game doesn't seem to terminate through exiting in the main menu, it still runs in task manager and I have to force end process. Was there a fix to this?

 

[MajorMagee]

1. Don't know
2. Most of the tweaks that were recommended in the old days were because the computers were not up to running CFS3. With today's rigs no tweaking is really needed.
3. see Insane Ring tweak discussion.
4. Yes, they are generally not very good.
5. Use ctrl+shift+Q to exit from the User Input screen.

 

[starbage1]

That is what I am afraid Microsoft set the cfs3config.exe to low end users, and nothing is maxed. Now is the time with todays computers to boost it up to see if we can sharpen textures etc. But Microsoft left no info on the cfs3config.exe file and no one knows how to interpret them so we can.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Hi Starbage1, you have encountered one of the most fiddly aspects of CFS3. Despite computers and GPUs that are light years ahead of when CFS3 was released, it is very important to get your config set up well. After you run cfsconfig.exe, a file called configoverrides.xml will be created wherever your Application Data is located.

By the way, after making changes in cfsconfig, the only way to make them "stick" is to exit correctly using the drop down menu option, NOT by clicking on the x at the top right of the box.

Take a look at the configoverrides file I uploaded here as an example. www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=13&id=16268
Compare this file with your own configoverrides file. Under texturelimits, you can edit your own configoverrides.xml so that the max dim of the aircraft model is 4096. Further down, the compositeaircrafttexture Max Dim should be at least 4096 too. (I can see that the file I uploaded has a few typos in it).

If you set up the max dimensions for the aircraft textures, your noseart will look a lot better.

As for the rest of the uploaded config file, my settings have moved on a little so you may be able to do better with your own experimentation.

Hope this helps, looking at some of the other files I uploaded in that package may give some more pointers as well (although they are a couple of years old and I've moved on a bit since then).

 

[starbage1]

^ Great thanks for the info, I will check it out. Yeah I realized that about not clicking the X in the corner, and using drop down exit instead.

What stuff does ETO add and does it work with Firepower 8.1?

 

[Daiwilletti]

^ Great thanks for the info, I will check it out. Yeah I realized that about not clicking the X in the corner, and using drop down exit instead.

What stuff does ETO add and does it work with Firepower 8.1?

Care needs to be taken when combining Firepower and ETO. IMHO ETO 1.50 is fine on its own; especially the effects and textures (well everything really). So I would simply add a couple of the Firepower aircraft that are missing from ETO. Ensure you add the necessary FP guns weapons and pylons if you do. Also check the sound config for each FP aircraft added.

I really like the FP Arado jet bomber, also the Me410 although it was historically a bit of a dog to fly, also possibly the German Moskito but I think ETO has one?

 

[starbage1]

Great great thanks to all.

On the Campaign side of things

There was a strategy book written from Sybex about Microsoft CFS3, it had some campaign tips in it. Tried to find a PDF version but nothing. If Firepower isn't working right with the campaigns no sense of getting it. I would hate to uninstall firepower just to play the campaign but whatever works. I know that the stars represent the campaign mission available *** *** *. What priority should you chose to attack first? 1 or 3 star target? Enemy captures Britain within 4 months even after winning missions.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Great great thanks to all.

On the Campaign side of things
If Firepower isn't working right with the campaigns no sense of getting it. I would hate to uninstall firepower just to play the campaign but whatever works. I know that the stars represent the campaign mission available *** *** *. What priority should you chose to attack first? 1 or 3 star target? Enemy captures Britain within 4 months even after winning missions.

Hi Starbage1, There were several threads with heaps of stuff about strategy here about 3-4 years ago. You could try searching.

The 3* missions are the go, they have the most effect on the frontline. Look in the bottom of the campaign.xml file that you are playing and you will see missioneffects and offensive effects sections. They provide the MSP figures (Morale Supply Power) for a successful campaign mission. The higher rated missions get the 3* in the interface for chosing your next mission. If you get tired of antiship missions, you can tweak other preferred mission types' in the missioneffects section so that they get the 3* instead. If you attack part of the frontline where an offensive is going on, the offensive effects come into play to determine the impact of your mission on the frontline.

When you say "winning missions", do you get the screen saying that all mission goals have been successfully accomplished? For example if you fly an intercept campaign mission and do not fly to the waypoint, and you shoot down all the aircraft and return to base, that will not get you the full points because you did not get to the waypoint. The problem is the intercept.spawns kick in up to 6-7Nm before the waypoint, and it is sometimes a slog to get to the waypoint if you have your enemy air spawns engaging you all the time.

In the standard campaign, if you successfully achieve each campaign mission goal consistently, then you should win fairly comfortably. I can't remember what parameters are changed in the Firepower version. There is a campaign SDK which explains about 75% of the terms in the campaign xml - although frustratingly there are a number of the probablilistic entries that simply have a ? as commentary. I think the SDK is here for downloading at SOH. It is a .doc file so needs a reader.

Good luck with it all

 

[starbage1]

Thanks Daiwilletti, this helps a bunch. In FP campaign I rarely reach the waypoint because it just doesn't show or fails to initiate (like you say) but I always destroy the primary target, so you're saying If I don't reach the waypoint I will miss points? I use warp a lot to get to the target, maybe I will try canceling warp 3/4 of the way there and see if I can catch the waypoint.

Good I will stick to the 3-star targets then. Interesting about the M.S.P never knew what that was about.

EDIT The Waypoint says reached only when I get the target to 0% goal. Pretty odd.

 

[starbage1]

Where does the MSP go?

So in the campaign an enemy with

57,84,100

would mean 57% power 84% Morale, and 100% supplies?

Which goes with which slot?

Also
The campaign mission picker already auto selects a mission should I use what it selects or use my own missions for campaigns

 

[Daiwilletti]

Where does the MSP go?

So in the campaign an enemy with

57,84,100

would mean 57% power 84% Morale, and 100% supplies?

Which goes with which slot?

Also
The campaign mission picker already auto selects a mission should I use what it selects or use my own missions for campaigns

The order IIRC is M,S,P. If you hover over the campaign map frontline, you will see the MSP values as you hover over each sector along the frontline.

Also on that campaign interface there is a button which leads to some notes about campaign play.

I think the picker automatically selects the mission with the most impact on the frontline, however I choose any 3* missions for variety.

Another important part of the strategy is to boost the abilities/experience of your wingmen. I do things to boost the wingmen so they fly better next time:
- I shoot up target aircraft but allow wingmen to shoot them down, deliver the coup de grace
- I use the target selector and assign only a pair of wingmen to a target, so that they can get more points. Even when attacking a factory, generally two guys dropping 1000lbers from a p-47 will score most of the points available from obliterating a factory. So I select other targets (bracketing with the yellow target indicator) and press "A" once to send off a pair of wingmen. In an industrial area like the Ruhr, or on the frontline, it is possible for wingmen fighter bombers to score bags of points by sending them off to different targets. You have to be confident that the mission goal is destroyed, however!

When attacking ships as the mission goal, I do not select a target. I assign a different wingman to each ship by simply pressing "A" when the target is close by. "A" sends off two wingmen to attack, however without a target selected they will attack separate ships. If there are 7 ships in the mission target formation, pressing A three times will send 6 of your wingmen to attack separate ships. If you have 7 wingmen, press A again and the final ship will be attacked. If there are only five ships, you need to consider which ships need more wingmen to take them out. For 5 ships, press A twice and four ships will be attacked. Then bracket the warship escort and press A, two wingmen will attack that ship. If you circle and watch you can work out if any ships are not being attacked, and go and sink that yourself. Better yet, damage but don't sink ships yourself, allow wingmen to finish the ships off and thus they will gain experience points and thus skill, as explained in the thread below:

Read this thread: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...knowledge-base&p=703037&viewfull=1#post703037 and some of the others in this post realte to campaign play.

HTH

 

[starbage1]

You do you see MSP values but they are no words or keys that are shown as MSP which got me confused.

Super! Great info, I would be lost without this stuff. Thanks Daiwilletti !

I'm into August 1943 now with the campaign and doing well, and have bought a P-38J. Missing the Thunderbolt already though.

 

[starbage1]

Just notice AI enemy squads and friendlies can obtain personal aircraft for their squadron, you can tell by the custom paint.

Have seen it on enemy FW squadrons already. So is it possible to see the same enemy ACE through out the campaign? Hmmmm.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Just notice AI enemy squads and friendlies can obtain personal aircraft for their squadron, you can tell by the custom paint.

Have seen it on enemy FW squadrons already. So is it possible to see the same enemy ACE through out the campaign? Hmmmm.

Sadly we would need one of the whizz people from OFF to help us unlock those secrets.

NBB forgot to mention - if you press M whilst over the target waypoint on a campaign mission, you can scroll through the pop up window and see how your progress is going to meet the mission objectives. Being able to read this stuff by pressing M ensures that you do not return to base prematurely.

 

[starbage1]

Sorry to tell you this Daiwilletti but i stand correct.

AI is indeed choosing their own nose art for the squadrons in single player and campaign mode.

Here is me in on a single player B-17 mission I zoomed out so you can see the ai did choose nose art for this FW, which I have also seen in the campaigns. The tail and waist stripe colors are chosen by ai as well, making it possible to see old foe squadrons.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Aces in campaigns

Sorry to tell you this Daiwilletti but i stand correct.

AI is indeed choosing their own nose art for the squadrons in single player and campaign mode.

Here is me in on a single player B-17 mission I zoomed out so you can see the ai did choose nose art for this FW, which I have also seen in the campaigns. The tail and waist stripe colors are chosen by ai as well, making it possible to see old foe squadrons.

Hi Starbage1, no correction intended! all i was saying is that in standard CFS3 and theatre packages we do not have lot of control over enemy AI. Interestingly, if you read the link to the thread, you find that the *.cmpstat files (readable in Notepad) have a list of all your AI wingmen. when you start a campaign, you can influence skill and experience and health levels that your ai wingmen start with, by tweaking the pilotattributes.xml file. The thread explains you can also tweak the rate of improvement in ability of your pilot, by tweaking the rate at which your AI wingmen gain experience, in flying their missions, in the pilotconstants.xml file

Whereas, the AI enemy are not so controllable. The thread explains that you can tweak your Uisel.xml file (not the one in the root folder, bu the one in the Appdata pathway) so that AI skill levels can be tweaked so that campaign play remains interesting. However, if you are using air spawns in which a skill level is set for enemy air spawns, the skill level in the spawn file will override the skill level set in the uisel file.

What I was referring to was the wonderful historic accuracy with which a campaign in OFF tracks the development of aces, whether friendly or enemy. It could be done in CFS3, but the best way for that to occur would be for a guru like Wiinding Man to turn some attention to the old game, and I don't think that is likely, the whole modern OFF platform has cut free from the shackles of CFS3, as I understand it, so he might be reluctant to look backward, although I am sure he could make a huge difference. Five years or so ago he did mention he had some work in the BoB era he had in mind, not sure how much of his ideas have percolated into ETO and Pat's Bob. IIRC he provided some docks and facilities?

Good luck with the campaign journey, it is possible with som esimple editing using Notepad, to change the dynamic of stock CFS3 campaigns

 

[Old Tiger]

At REGS Garage section there's a good example on config settings. Works for me.