HSFX7 Observations

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Couple things of note about HSFX7.

I mentioned this in another thread, the HUDconfig options for tweaking the speedbar have been changed for HSFX7. The entires under the [Mods] section of your conf.ini used to look like this :

SpeedbarUnits=3
SpeedbarSpdKMH=1
SpeedbarSpdMPH=1
SpeedbarSpdKnots=1
SpeedbarAltMeters=1
SpeedbarAltFeet=1
HUDGauges=2
SpeedbarTAS=0

They have removed the ability for the speedbar to display TAS and the game now remembers your last used speedbar settings so there is no need to tell it what you want it to default to. They have replaced the rest of the entries with two new ones for increments that apply to all the various speedbar display units, they are:

SpeedbarSpd=1
SpeedbarAlt=1

So you can remove the top 8 lines and replace them with the lower two in your HSFX7 conf.ini if you want to tweak the speedbar increments.


About the conf.ini setting Forest=3 in your rendering options. There were a couple maps in HSFX6 that did not play well with the 3 setting and this would result in the console filling up with warning messages. One of the maps that had this problem was the one we flew the White Lightning campaign on so we advised everyone to set it to 2 since this issue could apparently result in crashes. It seems they fixed those maps in HSFX7, I've tried the two Westfront maps with the 3 setting and saw no error messages. So if you like trees it looks like you can freely use the 3 setting again.


In regards to smoke/fires/lights in HSFX7, they made some changes here that could affect older missions built with these objects. I noticed in some of my missions that used smoke and fires that they did'nt look right, it seems the game was using different fire and smoke effects in some places. I did some testing and came up with the following table:

HSFX 6                      Description                                          HSFX 7

Smoke 1 ------------Small, lazy black column----------------------
Smoke 2 ------------Large black ball------------------------------
Smoke 3 ------------Narrow high column----------------------------Smoke 1
Smoke 4 ------------Thick tall column-----------------------------Smoke 2
Smoke 5 ------------Small black ball------------------------------Smoke 22
Smoke 6 ------------Black-grey small column-----------------------Smoke 6
Smoke 7 ------------Small White Column----------------------------Smoke 7
              ------------Small grey ball-------------------------------Smoke 3
              ------------Large grey ball-------------------------------Smoke 4
   ------------Large black-brown column----------------------Smoke 18
   ------------very large-black brown column-----------------Smoke 19
   ------------Curvy smoke column, slightly thicker----------Smoke 20
   ------------Curvy smoke column, slighty thinner-----------Smoke 21
   ------------Small very black column-----------------------Smoke 5

Fire 1 --------------Small fire-----------------------------------Smoke 25
Fire 2 --------------Massive fire ball----------------------------Fire 2
Fire 3 --------------Small fire-----------------------------------Smoke 25
Fire 4 --------------Tiny fire------------------------------------Fire 4
         --------------Medium Fire----------------------------------Fire 1
         --------------Small fire alt-------------------------------Fire 3
         --------------Wind blown massive fire ball-----------------Smoke 23
         --------------Super massive wind blown fire ball-----------Smoke 24
         --------------Small wind blown fire------------------------Smoke 26

Light 1 --------------White light---------------------------------Light 1
Light 2 --------------Red light-----------------------------------Light 2
Light 3 --------------Green light---------------------------------Light 3
Light 4 --------------Large yellowish light-----------------------Light 4
           --------------Blue light----------------------------------Smoke 16
           --------------Amber light---------------------------------Smoke 17

As you can see, some of these effects remain consistent from 6 to 7 and still have the same name, those will work fine. A couple of the ones from 6 no longer exist in 7 and there are many new ones in 7 that don't exist in 6. But there are some that exist in 6 but appear under a different name in 7. For example Smoke 3 in HSFX6 is now Smoke 1 in HSFX7. So if any of our missions builders need to make changes to these effects in their old missions they can use this table to figure out what it's called in 7.

DW

[_AH_Jack]

This is a lot of work.  Thanks, DW!

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
   Sure is  lot of typing for sure but......M -I -C - K -E - y......M O U S E.
   I can say this without a doubt. I will NEVER understand any of what the Boss typed above.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Don't worry about it TD. I'm just speaking nerd to the other AH nerds and even I don't understand BBQ when he speaks supernerd.

Look on the bright side, when we're done all this hullabaloo we'll have a nice new Yorktown class CV to land on.



DW

Edit: Here's another shot for size comparision. The Saratoga at the top and the Intrepid at the bottom. The Saratoga looks different cause it now has a later war skin in HSFX7.

[_AH_Lippy]

Nice comparison they are starting to look like todays carriers and later after the war they will have slopped decks for jets.

[_AH_Autorotate]

good stuff DW, cheers!
:drinking-43:

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Some replacement numbers for our AH Base runways.



DW

[_AH_Lippy]

Post the new qual room in HSFX 7 so I can run it when we switch. Is there much difference in expert on than off. I realize it will make thinngs tuffer, actualy I only really wanted it off for the quals, I guess if we really worked at it we could have made it work.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

I'm in the process of updating the qual rooms, I'll zip em all up and post em when it's done. In truth there are'nt alot of tweaks needed, the difference between HSFX6 and 7 is'nt as drastic as UP to HSFX.

I've also been rebuilding the Rough Carrier Qual in moving dogfight format as there is no reason to keep it as a COOP. Problem is the variables for wind and turbulence and what not are now a seperate settings and I don't know what the default values for those setting were with the old "Thunder" weather. The old mission still has the turbulence, but if you open it in HSFX the settings are blank probobly cause the mission file has a different structure. Actually, I think I just figured it out. If you delete the new weather settings in the game it applies the old defaults. Does'nt feel the same as the old mission though, more work is required.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
       You do good work Boss.

[_AH_Lippy]

DW may I suggest if converting the RC to Dog fight lessens the settings and we lose some of the quality that makes this qual what it is lets just leave it as a COOP. The settings maybe the reason it is a COOP originaly and not a DF. The way it is is perfect except when you crash ya cant respond, but that isnt that important. But lets do some testing and see what we have. i am up for assisting in that matter.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

I think the only reason it's a COOP is that was the only way to do moving carrier stuff back in the day. It seems like the "default" settings for the turbulence has the wind gusts going in one direction. (I misspoke in my previous post, I meant removing the new weather settings from the .mis file) I turned the carrier's course 90 degrees to the starting course of the carrier in the COOP and the bad crosswind gusts were there.

The carrier in the COOP does'nt hold that course though, it turns several times which I think would change the difficulty as that cross wind comes and goes depending on the ships course. Normally the mission was never run for anywhere near as long as was needed for that to happen. So I could set the new mission up to replicate the conditions from the first few minutes of the COOP version but in the format that would allow for about a 2 hour running time. Actually probobly a little less since the carrier's speed is faster than our moving carrier qual.

Another option would be to simply add airspawns to the existing mission but again that might be a major change since I don't think anyone ever used the mission beyond 15-20 minutes or so. It'll require some more tinkering and discussion.

DW

[_AH_Lippy]

Airspawn would remove the diffuculty of the first take off but could be added at the end, you would still need to take off one more time to make 10 landing and take off's so air spawn is no issue. Good I dea to reduce the time, so the carrier stays at same course. But is that truely an issue it is originally written to change course which does affect your approch and how you land. Something to think about, changing the diffuculty is a good thing since ships do change direction especialy in rough weather. But a carrier needs to keep the wind blowing across the bow to faciatate the slower approach speeds. Now that is jets but I would think the same princiapal applies to props.

[_AH_Olds]

Having some problems with the install. I started by patching from 4.09m, all the way to 4.12.1, checking each after I installed the patch. Everything went fine until I started patching 4.12.1 to HSFX 7. When I got part way through, I had a box pop up that asked me to install the files from floppy disk 2, or something like that. I could not get it to go any further. I tried adding file info for the next exe, but no good. I had to cancel out, which completely cancelled the installation. I figured I needed different files, so I re-downloaded all files.

I went through the install again, and got through part 2 and into part 3 before the same box popped up. I hit cancel, which didn't cancel the installation, but closed the box and continued it. I finished the install, moved the HSFX History Mod over to the right, and launched. It came up 4.12.1 HSFX 7, and crashed to desktop at 5%.  :help-sos-sos-29402:

I looked in the IL2 directory, and the IL2 fb.exe file is blank when the History Mod is enabled, and looks normal when it is not. I also looked in the History Mod folder, and it is blank also. Could there be a problem with the IL2fb.exe folder for the History Mod?  :thinking-008:

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Hmm, in your second attempt something clearly went pear shaped during part 3. I'd try re-downloading part 3 and trying again. If it gave you and error and kept installing who knows what might be porked in that install now.

You mentioned going from 4.09m to 4.12.1.  Your 1946 is 4.08m off the disk?

DW

[_AH_Olds]

I think so...it was a copy I've had for some time. Besides, I've tested every version after I patched it, and each one was a plain, unmodded version, without even my user file (as in "John Mad" Doe"). All of them launched fine, including 4.12.1. I think the problem is with the HSFX, I'm just not sure what. I'll try downloading part 3 again.

[_AH_Duff4r]

Ummm..... It's been a while but, You aren't trying to execute each part are you?

Go here: http://www.242sqn.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3770   If you don't belong to the site please register as all of us should.

Here's the crux of it:

You need to download each file and place them all in one folder together.

- HSFX_Version_7_0.EXE - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_7_0.W02 - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_7_0.W03 - 650 Mb.
- HSFX_Version_7_0.W04 - 62 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_7.EXE ..........- 650 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_7.W02..........- 650 Mb.
- Part2_Ver_7.W03..........- 620 Mb.
- Part3_Ver_7.EXE...........- 650 Mb.
- Part3_Ver_7.W02..........- 650 Mb.
- Part3_Ver_7.W03..........- 333 Mb.
............................. total - 5.31 Gb

This is a three part install, due to the size limitations of the installer software used. The part2_Ver_7.EXE file is the second part, and
Part3_Ver_7.EXE the third, both are executed automatically by the HSFX_Version_7_0.EXE. To start the installation run HSFX_Version_7_0.EXE

This is a very large release, because it contains all Mod content from the very beginning of HSFX History Mod.

Here are the MD5 Hash Cal #'s. If you don't know what that is it verifies the files are in tact. You need an MD5 checker get it free here: http://www.winmd5.com/

Hope this helps!
Duff

[_AH_Olds]

Good news! I re-downloaded all the files, and ran the install again. This time it worked, without the box asking to install to a floppy drive. The only issue I had was a pop up from AVG, which froze the mouse, because it thought IL2fb.exe was a virus.  (roll) Got that fixed, ran 4.12.2, which worked, then installed the updater and ran it. It now says 4.12.2 HSFXv7.0. It seems to launch and run fine. I still have to add the mission and other files yet, but I'll do that later.

Thanks for the help!

Olds

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

If I remember, once you install and run the updater it will put you at 7.0.1

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Indeed after 4.12.2 and running the auto-updater it should be 7.0.1, is that what you meant Olds?

DW

[_AH_Olds]

Yes, it is 7.0.1. Just forgot to put in the ,1.  :lol-053:

I put in the missions, paint schemes, and other folders. Game runs and looks good. Thanks!

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Couple interesting new features for the mission builders among us :

AA guns now have a skill level setting, so they can be set to Rookie, Average, Veteran or Ace. It appears when you load an old mission into the FMB the guns will default to Average skill, so it will be interesting to see how that compares with what we had before. AA certainly seemed much more effective after we switched to HSFX7.

Under the waypoint options for AI aircraft you can now set the formation for each waypoint, which is kinda nice.

Also it's been mentioned you can select a skin for stationary aircraft which is cool, but in old missions the stationary a/c default to markings off. So if you're picky you'll have to go in and turn the markings on for all stationary a/c.

DW