Francois
FS Veteran
Hi all,
I am currently packaging (building the installer) the very first iteration of the D-Day Project base files and its first module. The project is based upon FranceVFR's Normandy 1944 photoscenery, but can of course also be used without. It makes profound use of objects and scenery built by other wonderful freeware designers, such as our 'roger-wilco-66' and his Solomons object library, and many others (in future).
While you wait for the release, let me explain what I have in mind re setup.....
I am 'packaging' it (and including an installer, which is not so 'common' for freeware I guess) because I have a certain structure in mind. You see, I intend to build the entire Invasion Area over time, in FOUR separate stages. You can select these via your scenery library and selecting/unselecting the 'periods'.
It works on my machine now, but I am well aware of the intricacies of trillions of different PC installations, so it will need 'beta' testing.
And of course, as is the case with freeware, I am happy to annouce that each and every one of you who downloads the products, will be beta tester ! *grin*.
The way it looks now is that there will be a 'D-Day Base Pack' that installs the initial (FSAddon) object libraries and scenery structure. I have a separate install for the Solomons Object Library, because that is Mark's and not mine.
The Base Pack also includes the setup for subsequent 'period scenery', i.e. there will be 4 additional entries in your scenery.cfg: D-Day Defense, D-Day Attack, D-Day Bridgehead and D-Day Aftermath.
The idea is that you select (check) ONE of these four at any one time...... so if you check D-Day Defense you will see the 'situation' of the Normandy coast and hinterland as it was prior to June 6th, 1944. You will see FLAK bursts when flying over defended areas, and all beach obstacles are in place.
When unselecting this and checking D-Day Attack you will find yourself (roughly) on June 6th and the initial landings in full swing, shells exploding everywhere, ships along the coast and landing craft everywhere.....
The first 'module' I made (and mind you, it is a TEST, or Proof of Concept, so please do not expect it to be perfect yet.... I am still building and tinkering) is that of 'Courseulles'. Courseulles-sur-Mer was one of the towns along the beach (Juno Beach, Mike sector, Canadian area) with German defenses, a little port and a river going through it.
It has been my 'testing ground' for the past 8 months or so.
Modules I am working on now are 'Pegasus Bridge', 'Arromanches - Mulberry B' and (together with FranceVFR) the first two airfields that were constructed by the US Engineers, E-1 near Saint Laurent sur Mer and A-1 near St. Pierre du Mont. The first is freeware, the latter (probably) commercial.
That's it for now, gotta get back to my installers...... more later tonight (I hope) !!
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