It's FINALLY here!

Sorry for the very long delay, but real life happens, ya know?

This is the very first release of a totally new Plane Pack for Fighter Squadron - World War One. As such, of course the contents within are considered Beta, and in an ever-changing state. Also, this release just includes the first 5 aircraft, with basic missions and ground units. In the future, we hope to offer more aircraft, varied ground units and even a new airfield designed for Pioneers of Flight.

Download from here:

Pioneers of Flight at ModDB
Pioneers of Flight v1.0 for FS-WWI

And now the readme:

**Pioneers of Flight for FS-WWI**

Install to your root 'Fighter Squadron' or 'FS-WWI' folder.

Add-ons that are required/not required:

You MUST have the latest FS-WWI Plane Pack installed for this add-on to function.

Be sure to check out the individual readme files in the 'Fighter Squadron' or 'FS-WWI'\wwi_readme folder for credit information about all of the included add-ons.

How to uninstall:

A file called 'Uninstall PoF for FS-WWI' gets placed in your 'Fighter Squadron' or FS-WWI' folder when you install the Pioneers of Flight for FS-WWI mod. To uninstall, simply double-click this file and follow the instructions.

What aircraft/lighter-than-air craft are included?

The Early Dirigible
The Eastbourne Monoplane
The Farman III
The La Mouche Monoplane
The Santos Dumont 14bis

What ground units included:

Race Pylon, tweaked from the Ground Unit pack from WW2 SDOE.
Barrage Balloon, tweaked from the Ground Unit pack from WW2 SDOE.

Known Issues:

-The Santos Dumont 14bis cannot be flown by the AI. Overall it is a very twitchy aircraft and requires much skill to handle. Please do not start it off in a mission with an altitude of over 2,000 feet.
-At times, some missions with many of these aircraft will cause a CTD. I am still working on trying to find a solution to this problem.
-6,000 feet is the max most of these aircraft can fly at. Some, much lower. Please do not start these aircraft mid-air above 5,500 feet.
-The Early Dirigible is not actually lighter-than-air. That is a feature Fighter Squadron does not support. Be sure not to fly slower than 10-12 mph.

If you find any other serious issues (Not cosmetic) than the ones above or the ones in the aircraft readme files, PLEASE report them to me via e-mail or the www.openplanesim.com forum. You can E-mail me at: ArgonV@AOL.com
If you have any suggestions/comments/contributions you would like to add, also feel free to e-mail me!

Notes:

All the aircraft have been looked over by me personally. I did some "poetic licensing" so-to-speak. I would like to apologize in advance if I offended anyone by "tweaking" their work, but I assure you it was for the good of the whole pack and I believe you will like the results.

Please look at each individual aircraft readme file for more specific information.

Thanks to:

-Lewis aka LesterBoffo who came to me with his wonderful work he wanted to see fly in Fighter Squadron. Without his dedication, skills and persistence none of this would be available!
-I would like to thank my loving wife Shandy for putting up with the long hours I dedicate to this mod, as well as for her valuable input and support.
-Recon3 for his outstanding skin work that I borrowed much from.

Enjoy!

-Lewis
-ArgonV

Grabbing it now - thanks and keep up the good work!

I hope you enjoy these old kites!

Yay!

What is FS-WWI? Is that FSX? Is this an add-on for FSX?

It stands for Fighter Squadron - World War One. It is a total conversion mod for the WW2 sim Fighter Squadron: Screamin' Demons Over Europe (SDOE)

Okay thanks.

Hi Argon,
are these two different downloads,
or one from two different locations?

Pioneers of Flight at ModDB
Pioneers of Flight v1.0 for FS-WWI

Thanks,
AO

It's the same file.

Hello,

I'm now trying to run this on Win7 64 bit... and I get crashes (more often than not). Any tips?

Hello!

Yes, keep the directory out of Program Files
Run the 1.6.0.6/1.6.0.7 Patch as an Administrator
Run in OpenGL32 under Options - Display
Set Transparent Shadows to Off (Unchecked) under Options - Display

If you do have to move the FS-WWI/Fighter Squadron directory out of C:\Program Files, you need to be sure to update the Path entry in the sdemons.ini file with the new path. That file is located where the 1.6.0.6/1.6.0.7 Patch is installed.

Thanks! It works! Does a manual over-ride work with resolutions? There are less options for OpenGL...

Anyway, thank you for all of the hard work. I particularly love the pioneers of flight mod and the Farman III (beautiful forward view, but still with a nice reference points for the plane's attitude).

If you are running the FS-WWI 1.6.0.7 Beta Patch there are widescreen resolutions. Sadly, all OpenGL32 resolutions have to be hard coded in (That's how the engine was designed)...

Glad you are now enjoying it, mostly CTD free! The Farman III is very nice to fly. For some hilarity give the Santos-Dumont a try, you will curse all the way down to the ground.

I wish we had a turn-of-the-century Englad/France terrain! Sadly, none was ever made as this is a combat flight sim first...

This has certainly been extremely influential for me! I've now installed Flight Gear, MSFS 2004 and repeatedly searched X-plane.org all searching for other variants... I still adore FS-WWI though. I'm even building model kits of the Demoiselle and Boxkite in my spare time! Thanks!

The Santos-Dumont is flyable once you realise that it isn't meant to bank... just rely on rudder and elevator... Oh, and keep the nose down so as to never stall... It is still quite the deathtrap though.

Great news! Glad FS-WW1 could introduce a peek of the early flying year's aircraft.

There's a reason Santos-Dumont stopped making aircraft, LOL!

Well technically he went on to produce the first series produced aircraft and first ultralight - an extremely successful and pleasant design:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T243CHZDodw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0QjMbUeMpw

His aircraft production stopped as a result of the war and multiple sclerosis - he eventually took his own life.

I'm extremely impressed by the fact that he went from the 14 Bis to the N19/N21 in only two years! It shows the amazing pace of development.

That is true! His story has a sad ending...

I've always loved the look of the 14bis, nothing really quite like it.