ETO Expansion Download Links, Comments, Questions"

[oki]

eh...

 

[Brainless]

Brainless, yes, but you will probably need to copy and paste the contents only from the Firepower weapons, pylons, guns, shared (in the aircraft folder), sounds, and fxtextures (it's in the effects folder) folders into the same named folders in ETO. DO NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO BE OVERWRITTEN! You will also need to copy and paste lines from the Firepower effects.xml into the ETO effects.xml. The best way to do this is to make a copy of the Stock CFS3 effects.xml somewhere and copy the Firepower effe3cts.xml somewhere else and compare the two in order to isolate the lines that are different in the Firepower effects.xml. After you have isolated these different lines in the Firepower effects.xml, the copy and paste them into the ETO effects.xml, at the bottom, above the last line, </Effects>. ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU INTEND TO CHANGE OR REPLACE IN ANOTHER LOCATION. It will save a lot of headaches later. Run the ETO BDP Zapper after you have done all of this, and before you start the game again. Also, it may be very wise NOT to bring over any missions from the Firepower install.:d

Thanks guys for the useful advice provided. I have copied only the aircraft,the 'new gauges' (in aircraft shared folder) and the Firepower specific weapons and pylons. Now everthing seems to run fine. I have deliberately not copied all the firepower 'bits' e.g.effects etc. to keep the ETO intregity but someone else might disagree with that view.

I'm not at all sure I agree with the Firepower 'more realistic' revisions as whilst I'm sure their research and alterations are as accurate as they say the AI behaviour is in my view not that realistic especially the flying charateristics of the bombers and since this has a big impact on outcomes and flying ( as I always do ) as one of the formation team I am presently content with the default settings.

I know that some of the default damage modeling is unrealistic and it's difficult to find a balance but I'm still comparing things between the two versions.

Thanks again for the heads up on how to do the Firepower transfers.

All the best

 

[Brainless]

Bomb explosions in ETO

Just a quick question guys on the latest ETO install.

What 'bits & bobs' do I need to make the 'bomb explosions' and 'red flares' work?

I know I need the 'facility' files but I think other ones are needed.

Your advice on this would be much appreciated.

All the best

 

[gwar]

failed download

Im having a lot of trouble downloading this, as it tends to stop downloading. Is there any ther location I can obtain this mod?

 

[grizzly50]

Gwar, the proper link for ETO Expansion 1.0 is in Post #100 in this very thread.

Here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=862&page=5

Click on the link, then you can download the download manager. Then you can begin dowloading. This is supposed to be a very good downloading system. No one has reported any trouble with this one.

If you're using dial-up or wireless, good luck.

After you download and install ETO Expansion 1.02, you will need the ETO Expansion Update 1.02.

Here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=4040 Look in Post #2. It's the same type of link and works the same way.

There had been a DVD swap program in place here, but I think it was stopped in favor of this system.

I you need one, just post it here, and maybe someone can help you out.:d

 

[Brainless]

Just a quick question guys on the latest ETO install.

What 'bits & bobs' do I need to make the 'bomb explosions' and 'red flares' work?

I know I need the 'facility' files but I think other ones are needed.

Your advice on this would be much appreciated.

All the best

O.K. guys I've sorted this one. Had everthing in place so I thought, facility file & fx effects, but still it didn't work. Then I found the 'bomb explosions' blighter in the vehicle folder and it all works fine now.

Love the xmas scenery BTW.

Cheers & beers

 

[Brainless]

ETO Airbases

Hi guys. (yes it's me again)

I’ve got a bit of a problem with the ETO airbases.

In my instal in the ACC airbase list (in the ETO main folder) there is only one USAAF airbase listed which is USAAF Rattlesden. However when the 1942 era is opened (in fact any era after 1942) the Quick Combat shows the USAAF Rattlesden location as ‘fowe66’ which I guess you all know is the Fowlmere ID. If you press the fly button the game CTDs which you would expect.

There are in fact three USAAF airbases in the game (qclocations) USAAF Rattlesden, USAAF Rackheath & USAAF North Pickenham . All these show in Quick Combat locations as ‘fowe66’ which obviously isn’t right.

There are two other ACC airfields AAF 121 & AAF143 in the ACC list of airbases. I’m not sure which airbases these refer to and thought one was Bassingbourn (AAF 121) which incidentally shows up as grass runways in all eras but again I think this is not right. I’m not sure if this is correct but I thought (probably wrongly) that Bassingbourn was a major US base with tarmac/concrete runways in WWII.

Anyway I have obviously done a ‘Brainless’ with something not installing properly but I can’t find a solution. I don’t know if the USAAF Rackheath & USAAF North Pickenham bases are supposed to be ACC ones or are in the folder somewhere else. It’s all a bit of a puzzle to a half wit like me! All the three USAAF airbase are in the qclocations list & Global Layer list.

Can someone please check their instal and advise if they have all three ACC USAAF airbases in which case I’ve got at least two missing!!

 

[grizzly50]

Brainless, Here you go:

1. Rattlesden is the only USAAF field in Era 3.

2. North Pickenham, Rackheath, and Rattlesden are the only USAAF fields in Eras 4 and 5.

3. Bassingbourn is correct for Eras 1 & 2.

4. Bassingbourn changes appearance beginning in Era 1.

The set of airfields changes from Era to Era. If you change Eras when on one airfield, there is often no guarantee that the same airfield is in another Era.

Look at the Location window on the left side of the screen after you change Eras. In your case, you saw "fowe66", which is the internal ID for Fowlmere. It appears there because Fowlmere was there before you switched Eras and changed fields again. Four lower-case letters and two digits indicates that the airfield in question either does not exist in the new Era, or was the last field location before the switch, because the field you just left behind is not in the new Era.

The best way to handle this in the future is to set the airfield to one that appears in all Eras.

This is very simple, Fowlmere is common in all five Eras, and is also the default field in Stock CFS3. Simply remember to set the field location to Fowlmere before you exit the game, and you shouldn't have this problem again. This is what I always do. Believe me when I say that I'vew had this problem, too, and it can be quite aggravating.

I hope that this helps.:d

 

[rbp71854]

11. What happens if I exit out of QC from an airfield that is not in the next Era I choose?
You need to make sure that you select another airfield before clicking on the FLY button.
If you don't you will get the floating hourglass or the sim will CTD. If you get the floating hourglass you can recover by immediately selecting the options pull down menu and Exit the game.

 

[Brainless]

ETO scenery file

Brainless, Here you go:

1. Rattlesden is the only USAAF field in Era 3.

2. North Pickenham, Rackheath, and Rattlesden are the only USAAF fields in Eras 4 and 5.

3. Bassingbourn is correct for Eras 1 & 2.

4. Bassingbourn changes appearance beginning in Era 1.

The set of airfields changes from Era to Era. If you change Eras when on one airfield, there is often no guarantee that the same airfield is in another Era.

Look at the Location window on the left side of the screen after you change Eras. In your case, you saw "fowe66", which is the internal ID for Fowlmere. It appears there because Fowlmere was there before you switched Eras and changed fields again. Four lower-case letters and two digits indicates that the airfield in question either does not exist in the new Era, or was the last field location before the switch, because the field you just left behind is not in the new Era.

The best way to handle this in the future is to set the airfield to one that appears in all Eras.

This is very simple, Fowlmere is common in all five Eras, and is also the default field in Stock CFS3. Simply remember to set the field location to Fowlmere before you exit the game, and you shouldn't have this problem again. This is what I always do. Believe me when I say that I'vew had this problem, too, and it can be quite aggravating.

I hope that this helps.:d

Thanks Grizzly 50 for the kind advice which didn't help because I had forgetten to press the scenery swapper 'thingy' in the 'global layer' folder.:redf:

I spent about a day going thro' all the global layer and qclocation entries trying to find an error which of course didn't exist

I just pressed the 'swapper' and everything fell into place with the right Bassingbourn runways etc. etc. It's all just brilliant when you have it right

Now you know why I'm 'Brainless' here and elsewhere.

Thanks again for doing your best to help a complete idiot!

 

[gosd]

Hello guys,
I am stuck in era 5 ,every time I try to start the game it comes out to era 5 even if I choose another era like era 1.
So how can I correct this ?

 

[gosd]

Correction, it`s only the era screen that is stuc in era 5. When I select an era all the missions are there exept the era screen does not change from one era to another anymore.:isadizzy:

 

[grizzly50]

Correction, it`s only the era screen that is stuc in era 5. When I select an era all the missions are there exept the era screen does not change from one era to another anymore.:isadizzy:

Gosd, try this: Start in Era 5, go to Quick Combat, and click FLY. Then hit Esc and choose End Mission on the right-hand side of the screen. Then Quit CFS3.

Now do all that again, a second time, while setting for Era 5 yet again.

Note: This will usually work. If it was stuck in another Era, you would try this same procedure in that other Era.

If this procedure does not work, go into the CFS3 ETO Expansion main folder and look for a folder named "CFS3 ETO Expansion READMEs". Go into this READMEs folder and look for a file named "ERA Files Restore.rtf". Read this very carefully and follow the instructions exactly. This will fix the problem without having to uninstall and re-install the game.

If you need any further assistance, please PM me here at SOH and I'll try to help you out. Good luck.:d

 

[grizzly50]

Fix for High FRP's in ETO

To all, especially those of you who are having FRP issues, there is help.

In the CFS3 ETO Expansion READMEs folder is a document titled "CFS3 ETO EXPANSION FAQ.rtf". This is an excerpt from that document:

"16. I get a lot of stutter and low FPS.. What can I do? In the assets/highres dds folder, there is a dds file called scenerysheet01.dds. Rename it to highres_scenerysheet01.dds. There is also a dds file called lowres_scenerysheet01.dds, change that to scenerysheet01.dds. You should see an improvement. You can also switch the aircraft textures from high resolution to low resolution.
You can also turn down your sliders in the cfs3config file".

Always be sure to backup everything you intend to replace or change.:d

 

[Aceaviator91]

Hello,
I instaled 1.0 but there is one problem... im not sure how to make it run :redf:

When i click ETO Start and select my era the "Splash screen" for the era comes up, but then nothing. So i do a CTRL ALT DELETE to see how its doing and its allways non-responsive.

How do i fix this? Did i do something wrong? Thank you very much for this mod btw

 

[Foute Man]

Some Addon Aircraft

Boys and Girls

The ETO test team did some overtime this week to get the following job done: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=5881

Special thanks to grizzly50 and tailwind for their efforts

:friday: :ernae:

groeten

 

[Aceaviator91]

oh cool ill down load them tomarrow.

And sorry about the first post there, i was impatient.
After letting it sit for about 5 mins it loaded up :costumes:

 

[Foute Man]

oh cool ill down load them tomarrow.

And sorry about the first post there, i was impatient.
After letting it sit for about 5 mins it loaded up :costumes:

I've said some very dirty things to my PC myself when things did not come up. First time loading takes a while, should go faster next time I guess

 

[Aceaviator91]

I've said some very dirty things to my PC myself when things did not come up. First time loading takes a while, should go faster next time I guess

Haha, I think we have all been there one time or another :costumes:


But one thing I'v noticed with ETO that im kind of split on is the planes.

Well, Not the planes them selves but the colors. I Do like the custom skins, it makes the plane look much more authentic. But you cant change some paint, and when you add nose art it doesnt always go over top of the "skin noes art".

Any plans on tweaking this in the future?


I would have liked to see a more "customize" feature. Like, being able to pick which parts of the plane you want a color and how far along the plane it goes. An example would be selecting Yellow for the nose and then selecting how far you want the paint to go. Like from the nose cone to the windsheild.

Do you think this could be a possibility?


But over all im rellay happy with it. :d

 

[Foute Man]

Haha, I think we have all been there one time or another :costumes:


But one thing I'v noticed with ETO that im kind of split on is the planes.

Well, Not the planes them selves but the colors. I Do like the custom skins, it makes the plane look much more authentic. But you cant change some paint, and when you add nose art it doesnt always go over top of the "skin noes art".

Any plans on tweaking this in the future?


I would have liked to see a more "customize" feature. Like, being able to pick which parts of the plane you want a color and how far along the plane it goes. An example would be selecting Yellow for the nose and then selecting how far you want the paint to go. Like from the nose cone to the windsheild.

Do you think this could be a possibility?


But over all im rellay happy with it. :d

Some aircraft have an un-edited mos-file which will enable you to choose various nose-art, id-letters and colorbands. This was a stock CFS 3 feature, but wasn't appreciated that much by some members of the modding community (including me) because it corrupted the looks of custom made textures. For this reason most (if not all) standalones have the color, letter and nose-art tag removed from the mos file.

I know the Desert Rats have tried to bring back these features, but I'm not an expert in MAW aircraft so I can't tell you which aircraft we're talking about.

I also know Microsoft never released a tutorial/SDK for the noseart, color and lettertags.

The easiest way to get an aircraft in the colours you want is to paint it yourself and make a standalone with your new textures. Some templates for various aircraft have been made available (think about Wildbat's textures) for the CFS 3 Community

Good luck