Projected knowledge base:

The first portion of the SeaWater.fx file included in AnKor's shader30 folder has several wave size settings defined. If you create a .txt file called State.txt in your effects/fxtextures folder, and type the name of the size setting you want as the first and only line of the file, you can easily switch between different wave sizes between sessions. For example, to use the Sea_Light setting, type Light as the first line of State.txt and save it, the Sea_Light settings will be used. If no State.txt file is found in effects/fxtextures, then the default settings will be used.
 
With the issuance of the New BoB Mod, I rediscovered an old issue and it's solution. The Spitfires have a mirror in the cockpit model that uses a static reflected image of the tail and a blue sky. This is rendered as part of the texture file spitfire_IA_c2.dds. The remainder of that texture is made of several cockpit gauges and control labels.

In taking advantage of the full functionality of AnKor's shaders I wanted to have both a dynamic reflective mirror, and illuminated gauges at night.

My initial attempt failed in that I created a spitfire_IA_c2.+sr.dds file to make the mirror area reflective (combined with adding the 00 00 FF 00 drawing type in the cockpit m3d to activate), and spitfire_IA_c2.+Clight.dds to provide the illuminated gauges. What I had forgotten was that other than the +nm normal map file there can only be one additional helper file.

Fortunately you can combine both types of information into one file by putting the Clight color information in the rgb channels, and the specular information in the alpha channel as spitfire_IA_c2.+Clight+sa.dds. Just remember to use the interpolated alpha DXT5 format to preserve the shading variations for the specular information.
 
Generic Sector-based Spawns

My coastal shippings spawns exploit a feature that I don't think has been explored on this forum. You may be aware that when looking at a campaign map, there is a grid overlay that breaks the map into a series of small square sectors. You can adjust the size of the grid and hence the number and location of the sectors by making changes in the campaign.xml file. Eg: <Grid Rows="56" Columns="56" CellWidth="27850.0" CellHeight="27700.0" Lat="N48" Lon="E3 30.5">

For stock, it is the campaign.xml file, but for ETO for example, it is NEK_ETO which can be adjusted.

Close to the top of the campaign.xml file you will find a section called "sector properties"
<SectorProperties>
<LandClass> Under the Landclass sector are the names of the different types - open, coastal, road, mountain, forest, water, ocean, etc - presumably a match to the categories in the landclass.xml file found in the Terrains folder.

Note that there is a group of cells in the grid overlay that are labelled "coastal" in the campaign.xml file, as opposed to "ocean". I was able to exploit this for the coastal shipping spawns. I created a "coastal.xml" facility file with an entry Flags="isCoastal". In much the same way, other spawn triggering events can be set up with similar facility files for other sectors.

So, not only is it fairly easy to set up shipping formations that occur in the coastal landclass sector, but simple text editing using Notepad would allow a much more detailed grid to be established, using smaller squares and allowing a more refined definition of the location of the coastal landclass which is fairly coarse scale at the current resolution.
It would be really great if someone who loved tinkering got into this stuff one day :dizzy:
 
Just a small point I've noticed with my install when it CTDs sometimes. If one tries to reset by deleting the uisel.xml successfully, it will still throw you to default (CFS3) controller. not your stick, and also take you off the 'hard' setting. Worth checking this after a CTD of any kind, and any thing you did to rectify the issue.
 
Using WOFF Terrain in ETO & BoB

The object of this procedure is to describe a relatively simple way to employ Wings Over Flanders Fields (WOFF) terrain in CFS3 with as little modification of the latter as possible. There are certainly other ways to do it. Put simply, this works for me! If it's not obvious, the prerequisite for doing this is ownership of WOFF. To sum up what's below in one sentence: Replace the 'assets' and 'terrains' folders in CFS3 with the equivalents from WOFF and the latter's 'terrains2' folder. That said, to detail the intricacies . . .

INITIAL ACTIONS

1. Run WOFF, choose Quick Combat, set the season to 'Summer', fly (even if only briefly), and exit WOFF.

2. Create a folder where you please (a different drive to where CFS3 is installed works best) called something like 'CFS3 Season Changing Files'.

CREATING SUMMER

3a. In it, create a sub-folder called 'Summer'.

3b. Into 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/Summer', copy the 'assets', 'terrains', and 'terrains2' folders from the main WOFF directory.

3c. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/Summer/assets/WW1Texture', delete the all the folders except 'Sum Spring Tex'.

3d. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/Summer/assets', delete the seven non-Summer season folders (one will have texture files in it, but that's fine), namely: WW1Autumn, WW1AutumnLight, WW1Spring, WW1Winter, WW1WinterFull, WW1WinterLight, and WW1WinterMed.

CREATING WINTER FULL SNOW

4a. Repeat Steps 1, 3a, and 3b, but for 'Winter Full Snow'.

4b. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/Winter Full Snow/assets/WW1Texture', delete the all the folders except 'Win Full Tex', then rename 'Win Full Tex' to 'Sum Spring Tex'. This is to facilitate overwriting later.

4c. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/Winter Full Snow/assets', delete the seven non-WW1WinterFull season folders, namely: WW1Autumn, WW1AutumnLight, WW1Spring, WW1Summer, WW1Winter, WW1WinterLight, and WW1WinterMed, and then rename the 'WW1WinterFull' folder to 'WW1Summer'. This is to facilitate overwriting later.

Note: If you are only interested in what's available in the stock installs of CFS3 and the European Theater of Operations (ETO) and Battle of Britain (BoB) mods, which really only support two season options Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, then you can skip step 5 below and jump to Step 6.

CREATING ADDITIONAL SEASONS

Repeat this step six times, once for each of the <season options> (<Autumn>, <Autumn Light Snow>, <Spring>, <Winter>, <Winter Light Snow>, and <Winter Medium Snow>). Note: Spring does not require the 'rename bit at the end of Step 5b.

5a. Repeat Steps 1, 3a, and 3b, but for <season option>.

5b. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/<season option>/assets/WW1Texture', delete the all the folders except the one for <season option>, then rename the <season option> folder to 'Sum Spring Tex'.

5c. In 'CFS3 Season Changing Files/<season option>/assets', delete the seven non-WW1<season option> season folders, and then rename the 'WW1<season option>' folder to 'WW1Summer'.

FINAL STEPS

6. In the main CFS3 directory that you want to use the WOFF terrain in, remove the 'assets' and 'terrains' folders. Store them somewhere so you can bring them back later if you desire, but they must be out of the main CFS3 directory in question (not renamed or placed in a sub-folder). CFS3 doesn't actually care about sub-folders and if you leave the originals anywhere in the main directory, the app will find them and conflicts will ensue!

6b. In all eight of your seasons in 'CFS3 Season Changing Files', in the 'assets\WW1Landclasses' folder, replace the landclasses.xml file with the one at the link below. This removes the WW1 front line.

7. Copy the WOFF-derived 'assets' and 'terrains' folders (created above) of the season you want to fly in into the main CFS3 directory that you want to use the WOFF terrain in. Happy flying! Note: When in CFS3, be sure to still pick the appropriate season. If you don't, you'll likely see summer terrain with winter trees or vice versa!

8. When you want to change seasons, just copy in the appropriate WOFF-derived 'assets' and 'terrains' folders, overwriting when asked. In fact, to avoid any GUI weirdness, you may want to first copy in the 'assets' and 'terrains' folders of a season that is not in the season 'family' (Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter) you want to fly in, then overwrite with the ones that you do want to fly in. This will give your install a 'complete' set of textures.

ETO

If you desire to use more than just 'Summer' and 'Winter Full Snow' in ETO, things get a little trickier!

9. From the main ETO directory, copy the '46th Airfield Addons', 'ACC_Airfields', 'ACC_Axis_airfields', and 'BoF Airfields' folders to the 'Summer' and 'Winter Full Snow' folders you created in your 'CFS3 Season Changing Files' folder. If you wish, you can delete the summer-specific files from 'Winter Full Snow' and the winter-specific files from 'Summer' in these four ETO-specific folders.

10. Then you need to replicate these folders in the six other season options by sifting through Winding Man's or Von Oben's 7 Season Scenery for ETO which do not use per-airfield sub-folders. This is a very tedious task as the 'ACC_Airfields' directory in particular has 54 separate sub-directories where you need to place texture files so they'll overwrite when switching seasons, and I'm not even sure you'll find the necessary texture files for all airfields, so you'll have to make judgement calls on what texture to use in a given season for a given airfield. It helps to clean out the sub-folders as described above and copy the 'Summer' one when doing 'Spring' and the 'Winter Full Snow' ones when doing the Autumn and Winter ones.

11. If you go down this path, you need to do steps 9 and 10 before Step 7.

ALTERNATIVE - ZIP Files

In each of the season folders you created in your 'CFS3 Season Changing Files' folder, you can select the 'assets' and 'terrains' folders and create a ZIP file for each season that you can then just unzip into the desired CFS3 installation instead of copying them in.

ALTERNATIVE - JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME)

As I understand it, JSGME is a nifty app that can automate the switching of seasons and would work with the 'mods' created above. I'm afraid I have not used it as I actually change seasons very rarely. With my 'mod' files on a separate drive to my CFS3 installations a drag & drop a couple times a year has met my needs, but if you require regular switching, you should pursue this!
 
mongoose said:
This refers also to post #34 CFS3 Command line parameters and the parameter

"[space]-m[mission_type_folder/your_mission.xml]
Loads the given mission on start-up.
Eg. Typing [space]-mhistorical/falaise.xml loads this particular mission from your CFS3 mission folder."

 1. There is an error and it should be with the "\" in all cases.

[space]-m[mission_type_folder\your_mission.xml]
Loads the given mission on start-up.
Eg. Typing [space]-mhistorical\falaise.xml loads this particular mission from your CFS3 mission folder.

2. If using MIXED AIRCRAFT in a player's flight you must also

"you must delete the Aircraft="your flight aircraft" parameter completely from the heading portion of your mission xml. "

for example

Mission>
<Params Version="3.0" Directive="bomber_intercept" Country="Britain" Aircraft="eto_huri_mk2c" Airbase="tane136" Date="12/6/1941" Time="23:00" Weather="overcast_5000ft.xml" Multiplayer="y" MultiplayerOnly="n"/>

should now be

Mission>
<Params Version="3.0" Directive="bomber_intercept" Country="Britain" Airbase="tane136" Date="12/6/1941" Time="23:00" Weather="overcast_5000ft.xml" Multiplayer="y" MultiplayerOnly="n"/>
Click to expand...



So, back to mixed player aircraft flight. At the moment, I still seem to have issues getting this to actually work. If I do a mission, I still get all the same and then CFS3 won't shout down properly. has anyone else actually succeeded with a mixed flight?
 
Daiwilletti said:
OK girls and boys,

I guess I have a bit of time on my hands....

Here are the MS knowledgebase articles that turn up on a recent search...

Microsoft Support Articles for CFS3

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/331562
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/813195
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/815069/en-us
How to Troubleshoot Joystick Problems:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/811463
Known Multi-Player Game Issues:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/kbview/331570

There is at least one other that I couldn't find but IIRC is already in this thread - that is, what to do if white objects appear in your terrain. (something to do with Dual Pass Render in cfs3config????)
Click to expand...

All these links are now 404!
 
Some suggestions on mission/QC loading failure inc CTDs

This is not necessarily a solution for all issues, as I have discovered three are many causes which are unfathomable and end up doing what Daiwillettti did!:banghead: See http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/127756-PTO-Startup-Mission-File-Fails-to-load

1. This is driving me nuts :banghead:. It is not a specific mission, just the startup screen. All other installs start fine.

I've just done a search of forum threads. A lot of people have had this problem over time.

Several suggested fixes:


  1. Italflyer suggests selecting the enemy fighter first when in dogfight QC mode.
  2. Another person suggested that if any of the default aircraft are faulty this could happen. However, if the uisel.xml does not call for default aircraft, why would this be a problem?
  3. An interesting suggestion is to disable UI animations in the configoverrides file.


I'll report back if I can ever fix this blasted issue. One other problem is I can't get ground spawns or frontline spawns to work, and I suspect whatever the problem is, it is common to the mission file error message on startup, and the failure of ground and frontline spawns to work. (Daiwilletti)

2. For me it's most often the result of (in order of frequency) (MajorMagee)

Missing referenced sound files (runs the first time, but then won't restart)
Missing referenced weapons (CFS3 remembers the previous loadout sequence number and inappropriately tries to reuse it on the next aircraft selected instead of "clean")
Missing referenced aircraft (I changed the name or removed the last model I was flying while working on mods. This includes the aircraft I was flying against in QC)
Missing referenced location (I tried a mission that did not match the mod version I was in)

3. I always keep a copy uisel.xml file around; in fact already out of dogfight mode; and copy that into the appdata file. MajorMagee's point about sounds is relevant but not WRT uisel and some QC issues which may crop up in his latter points. Worse come to worse. I delete the appdata file, rename (to the same!) in the MultiCFS3.exe, re run cfg.exe ,and add back into the ConfigOverrides.xml file my shaders' settings, and also a copy of my non standard ViewUI.xml file plus any .xva file like CFS3_X56.xca. (Mongoose)

4,Editing the game.xml to have ShowUIWorld="false" is the fastest way to reliably get the game running again, so you can change your selection away from whatever broke things. (MM)

5,Thanks guys for the replies. I had to bight the bullet and do a fresh build of PTO Solomon's from the ground up. Then (with fingers crossed) I had to add all my xdp tweaks to ships, vehicles, facilities, spawns. Somehow it all works! The opening screen now loads without flashing. (Daiwilletti)
 
If wierd stuff happens, do a search for dupilcates!

Many of us alreday know about the issue of duplicate m3d files;l CFS3 even tells us! Some duplicate dds files don't matter so much, cut others do. I refer to the issues found in the following thread.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...-not-showing-bases-as-in-qclocations-xml-file

As MajaorMagee said,

"Ahh, the agony and the ecstasy of the original CFS3 programming decisions. I'm sure they though it a wise decision to have the code be able to find and accept any given filename, located in any random folder location versus having a rigid pathname structure. The unintended consequences of the program using whatever file it stumbles across first that accidently shares a name with another have been more than an annoyance for modders ever since.

You don't know the hours I've wasted editing a file, and wondering why I'm not seeing any result, before I discover that the game is using a like named duplicate lurking somewhere in the background. "

So think about a duplicate file search if at a loss for a solution!:dizzy:
 
Notepad ++

I have definitely found that Notepad++ is one of the most useful tools to work with.
1. Search function for lines in all the files in a folder. For example if I want to find what files have the expression "fug.202", or some line in an xml or xdp file.
2. Definitely a good Plugin in selection for comparing files; pretty much of any kind.
3. A plugin for finding errors in xml files.

There are probably a lot more useful features that I have yet to discover.
 
Time Compression
If you want to use time compressions rather than warp, which causes issues with non player associated flights.

(Ctrl+Shift+E) time compression x2,4,8, etc.
(Ctrl+Shift+R) reverses compression respectively

BUT
In ETO and associated installs have to:-

Edit the "MASTERETOSTARTUP.bat" file in the "CFS3 ETO Expansion" directory, uncheck the read only. Add "-time" after cfs3.exe and save the file.
See Below

@ECHO OFF
CLS
CALL ETOEraSwapper.bat
CD "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\global_layer"
CALL ETOGLSwapper.bat
START cfs3.exe -time

In non ETO installs, ie n only one Era

A new shortcut must be added.

Make a new cfs3.exe shortcut.
Under 'properties, add to 'target' -time, as in "C:\C TOW Pt.1 1940-1942\cfs3.exe" -time or whatever. Other properties remain the same but use this shortcut to open the install if you want time compression,
 
Threedp said:
Using WOFF Terrain in ETO & BoB

FINAL STEPS

6. In the main CFS3 directory that you want to use the WOFF terrain in, remove the 'assets' and 'terrains' folders. Store them somewhere so you can bring them back later if you desire, but they must be out of the main CFS3 directory in question (not renamed or placed in a sub-folder). CFS3 doesn't actually care about sub-folders and if you leave the originals anywhere in the main directory, the app will find them and conflicts will ensue!

6b. In all eight of your seasons in 'CFS3 Season Changing Files', in the 'assets\WW1Landclasses' folder, replace the landclasses.xml file with the one at the link below. This removes the WW1 front line.
Click to expand...
Begging your pardon, but I do not see the link that you are referencing. I find the whole idea of this intriguing, so I'm gonna give it a shot.
I should add, I am going to use 'Wings Over the Reich' terrain, which doesn't have WW1 terrain. In what way will this change the process?
Will this change the sky as well? I hope not, coz I think the sky in WOTR is pretty ordinary.
 
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