Hi guys,
My old HP Pavilion was the victim of a lightning attack. Rather than repair the old HP, I bought an Emachine with Vista. The Vista took some getting used to, but having figured things out, I now have CFS2 running perfectly on it. The Emachine has a slower processor than the HP, but has a better video card and more than twice the RAM. The result is, I can cram much more stuff into a mission or DCG campaign now.
Rami is correct. Unless you are the "administrator" of the machine, AND you have user control turned off, you cannot edit or copy over a file - unless it's one of your personal "user" files inside your personal "documents" folder. Turn that user control stuff off and leave it turned off, and everything works just like XP. Alternatively, you could probably put CFS2 inside your personal "documents" folder. I haven't tried that, but it seems to be the case that everything inside your personal "documents" folder is completely at your disposal at all times.
A couple of minor issues... If you minimise CFS2 with the CFS2 minimization button, you will not be able to return to the game. It will hang up, and you will have to hold down CTRL/ALT/DELETE to unhang it. However, all is not lost. If you want to minimize CFS2, use the key with the Windows icon on the keyboard, and all will be well.
Also, much to my chagrin, my DCG/AIRBOSS/Qbasic version 4 will not work with Vista. The way Vista writes up directory paths completely befuddles Qbasic. However, the previous version of AIRBOSS does work. The only things lacking in that version are the more advanced AIRBOSS escort assignment routine, and the ability to delete destroyed ship squadrons from the DCG files. So I ripped the destroyed ship squadron deleter out of V4 and dubbed it AIRBOSSV - meaning AIRBOSS for Vista. So the DCG "ghost ships" remain, depite all my efforts. Unless you have Window XP. Then you can use AIRBOSS V4 to get rid of the ghost ships.
Speaking of which...I've found that adding escort flights to a DCG carrier battle creates some interesting action - that is, if you enjoy brutal slaughters. What happens is, the opposing armadas of aircraft usually pass each other on their ways to their respective targets at waypoint 1. The difference being, both armadas have fighter escorts, thanks to AIRBOSS. The escorts on both sides immediately lay into the opposing bombers. Then the surviving bombers are accosted by the CAP's when and if they reach their targets. It's like a hammer and anvil attack in reverse. The bombers get it coming and going.
Tip: you're going to need a lot of bombers if you use AIRBOSS in a DCG carrier battle. Or fewer fighters. Maybe less of everything is the way to go. The thing about the AI bombers is, they don't miss. If they make a run and drop ordinance, they score a hit.
I had a lot of bombers in my last carrier battle. Two carriers on each side with each carrier launching four squadrons of bombers, for a grand total of 16 bomber squadrons in the battle. Still, great numbers of them did not survive the marauding fighters, of which there were also a good many.
But I played it smart. I was escorting Avengers, and I stuck with them. Flights of Vals and Kates were zooming past me. Such tempting targets. But I kept my cool, stayed with the Avengers, and kept most of the Zekes off them. The result was, three squadrons of Avengers slipped through and pummelled Shokaku and Zuikaku with torpedos, sinking both of them. The bad part was, most of the Zekes were busy slaughering most of the dive bombers while the Avengers were slipping through down low.
I don't exactly know what happened to the Japanese strike. Enterprise and Hornet were still there when I returned. The radio chatter I picked up before losing contact indicated a great slaughter of Japanese bombers was happening. I'm afraid I cheated a little on the ship lineup. I used a couple of Pen's AFVN Atlanta class flak cruisers, and they also took a toll. The Japanese TF didn't have any correspondingly deadly flak cruisers.
I don't think the escorts attached to their bomber flights. AIRBOSS places the escort attach point at waypoint 1. The fighters get to waypoint 1 well ahead of the bombers, then turn back and attach. But in this case, the two armadas met at waypoint 1, probably before the escorts had time to attach, which may be the reason why they went after the bombers.
The really interesting part was, my new Emachine handled the massive battle without a stutter.
