Tail Gunner View - by Oglivie

K

kwb737

Charter Member
Is there a way in CFS2 to change my position view in a B-17G so that as I am flying I can change my view from pilot with gun sight to tail gunner with gun sight so I can fire on enemy aircraft attacking me from that direction?
Just wondering.
Thanks
 
Yes. It involves editing the panel.cfg to add the required rear view data, and adding bitmap files to the panel folder (because usually there seldom is a rear view portion included in the model VC).

I already have some done for the Alpha and FDG2 B-17s (pic below). They are rather crude with very little detail, but if interested I'll throw together an upload for the library. It will include the data needed to be put into the panel.cfg, two bitmaps (gun sight and rear view) and I'll need to write some install directions yet.

Cheers, O
 
Oglivie said:
Yes. It involves editing the panel.cfg to add the required rear view data, and adding bitmap files to the panel folder (because usually there seldom is a rear view portion included in the model VC).

I already have some done for the Alpha and FDG2 B-17s (pic below). They are rather crude with very little detail, but if interested I'll throw together an upload for the library. It will include the data needed to be put into the panel.cfg, two bitmaps (gun sight and rear view) and I'll need to write some install directions yet.

Cheers, O
Click to expand...
Yes, that would be wonderful if it's not too much trouble. The Pic you included is petty much what I was looking for. Thank You.
 
No problem. I'll get started writing some directions for install and get a zip for upload.

Cheers,
O
 
Reply...

Oglivie,

I have approved the upload, it is in the library. Great work!
 
Oglivie said:
All done (I think). It is in the CFS2 Panels as B-17_Tail_Gun.zip.
Click to expand...

Thanks Oglivie. I installed it and it worked like a champ! I still got shot down in flames though (Laugh!) But at least I was able to defend myself a bit. I think with a little practice I'll be able to splash my first Zero. Thanks.
[h=2][/h]
 
You're Welcome.

The VIEW_REAR_ZOOM is at 0.7, but you may try more power, say 1.0. That will give you a closer view of the attacking plane. However, the gun sight probaly should be rechecked for accuracy after adjusting the zoom (refer to fine tuning in the install text file).

It does take a bit of practice.

Cheers,
O
 
Some experimentation....

I set the zoom to 1.5 and lowered the sight just a little (seemed to be a little high) with MS Paint.

Results: It seemed to work a bit better, splashed one with first try with the different settings. I'm sure the download can be updated with the different settings if it beneficial.
 
Oglivie said:
Some experimentation....

I set the zoom to 1.5 and lowered the sight just a little (seemed to be a little high) with MS Paint.

Results: It seemed to work a bit better, splashed one with first try with the different settings. I'm sure the download can be updated with the different settings if it beneficial.
Click to expand...

I made some adjustments like you said. Splash Two! Splash Two!!

  • :icon_lol:





 
So, if we set autopilot in the B-17s and revert to the rear gunner view, do we control the movement of the guns with joystick, or does CFS2 require that the sights and therefore the rounds, only shoot straight back and we have to await the AI enemy aircraft to enter our sights?
 
Devildog73 said:
So, if we set autopilot in the B-17s and revert to the rear gunner view, do we control the movement of the guns with joystick, or does CFS2 require that the sights and therefore the rounds, only shoot straight back and we have to await the AI enemy aircraft to enter our sights?
Click to expand...

Yeh that's kinda how it works :) However even with the autopilot you still have some up and down movement through the joystick which helps a little.
 
Devildog73 said:
So, if we set autopilot in the B-17s and revert to the rear gunner view, do we control the movement of the guns with joystick, or does CFS2 require that the sights and therefore the rounds, only shoot straight back and we have to await the AI enemy aircraft to enter our sights?
Click to expand...

Haven't tried kicking the rudder back and forth yet for left and right movement.
 
I haven't been using the AP myself. I wrote in the install.txt that maybe it could be an aide to set the sight elevation, but I have noticed now that it does tend to jerk the tail up and down a bit also.

Below are some screenies from QC using a variety of enemy plane skills.

Top Left) This one is set to ace; nailed the left wing (sight came off target when I was quickly trying to find the print screen key, same as in bottom pic). A little right rudder brought it back in the sight and it was shot down before the 17 took any more hits. Aces are a bit further away when they open up, but are accurate shooters and don't come in as close as the veteran to hit their targets.

Top Right) More often than not the veteran leaves no chance. Not only swoops in much closer, but also aligns their guns and opens fire much quicker. (aircraft label was off).

Bottom Left) Enemy plane set to rookie; nosed the 17 down (so sight was a bit high on target) to compensate for bullet arc and opened up fire at about range 800 and pulled nose up slowly (to lower tail). While firing and the sight lowering on the target I nailed em before the Zeke opened up return fire.

Bottom Right) This one set to veteran; In QC with the Alphasim 17, they swoop in much closer and don't leave much time to manuever the sight on them. I got this one with a second burst after applying left rudder and up elevator to realign the sight with a slight lead on the Zeke. Lucky shot, and maybe a little bit of skill.

I flew one QC with a formation of three B-17s. I didn't collide with the formation somehow while trying to shoot with the tail gun at the Zeke. An AI B-17 in the formation shot it down!

I hope that helps out a bit. I reccommend rookie or ace for practicing in QC. The veteran setting is quite more challenging, and it is already a challenge as it is!
 
That is one of the really nice thing about AI bombers. They do tend to defend each other rather well.
 
Copy that...

That's why its always a good idea to edit your bomber missions and add another AI flight very close behind yours, if it wasn't provided in the original setup. Let the trailing flight do the dirty, distracting work of protecting your rear.

Level bomber ops is one area where CFS2 AI shine at multi-tasking. The level bombers drop on-target 95% of the time, while self-protecting, holding formation and following waypoints without the need for 'autopilot'.
 
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