Hi nats

I'd recommend (and fly) all three sims but based on a fair bit of time with all three, First Eagles 2 is my firm favourite.

Websites first. FE2 is available here:

https://store.thirdwire.com/project_fe2.htm

The previous version, First Eagles Gold, is also available there (and despite what Third Wire say, it runs on Vista when patched) but most think FE2 is better - tho it dropped some features like multiplayer and changing weather in-campaign, the AI is I think better, graphics are generally improved, and it runs better (FPS) on more recent, DX10, multi core PCs.

For mods - and there are many! - the main site is CombatAce; here's their FE downloads section:

http://combatace.com/files/category/358-first-eagles-by-thirdwire/

Also essential is the A Team Skunkworks (NB you have to email for a login to access the active download page, rather than this front-end, and be VERY careful to follow the download limits and generally be patient, or you will get locked out):

http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/

Will come back soon re your other question.

You do not need ALL the WW1 Skunkworks planes because (i) some like the Albatrosses and Fokker triplane were later incorporated into the sim and (ii) a few have more modern versions, available at CombatAce, like Stephen1918's DH4 and Fokker DII.

Hi again Nats.

Re the sim's main features, my post here gives a flavour:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3278630/1/First_Eagles_revisited

Some gameplay/setup advice here:

http://combatace.com/topic/78392-sucked-into-the-rotary-propwash/#entry625310

...and here:

http://combatace.com/topic/78285-just-bought-it/

As for features, the basic sim is pretty good. It has a modest but adequate set of flyable and AI-only airrcaft for the period autumn 1917 to the end of the war. It has several campaigns, each based around an historical battle, eg Battle of Cambrai 1917, German Spring Offensive 1918. In each of these, you can chose which side, which squadron and thus which aeroplane you want to fly. These campaigns are quite good. You fly as flight leader, so you get the extra tactical element and no tedious formation-keeping or dubious AI flight leaders to worry about.

High points include:

- the battle-based campaigns, realistic and variable, with some ground activity and moving fronts;
- the graphics, especially the excellent aircraft models;
- dynamic shadowing (cockpit and external);
- lots of animations- rotary engines rotate, pilots and gunners scan the skies, control surfaces move, gun cocking handles reciprocate, ammo belts feed into breeches.
- very good air combat AI - not perfect but better than the others - realistically variable from dud to ace, two-seaters behave convincingly;
- damage and flight models are generally very good;
- subtle head-bobbing means you feel you're in a manouevring plane, rather than sitting at a screen;
- audible and visible stall buffet effects mean you can 'fly on the edge' and need not be caught out frequently by stalls and spins;
- distinct squadron and individual aircraft markings applied to each plane;
- aircraft are relatively easy to see at realistic distances, good for tactical decision-making;
- great view system and decent maps;
- highly configurable;
- lots of depth but relatively easy to get into ('sim lite' is a complete misnomer);
- last but not least, if you but take the trouble to install them, with the mods you can have by far the best planeset (and set of theatres of war) of any recent WW1 sim, and can thus fly convincing missions and campaigns from 1915 to the end of the war, on the Western Front and elsewhere.

No reason not to get WOFF when it comes out too, but I would definitely recommend FE2.

Nats,have you tried the Dark Blue World 1916 mod for IL2?

You may already have IL2 and the mod is free.I can't vouch for it as I have not tried it.

Looks good though...

I covered the latest Dark Blue World 1916 mod for IL2 in a Nieuport 28 mission comparison over at CA, albeit the DBW one was just a quick mission:

http://combatace.com/topic/78684-a-nieuport-28-campaign-sim-by-sim/

It's a bit of a rough diamond at the moment but has some great points already. I've an article on a DBW 'mission set' campaign awaiting editorial clearance over at CA.

Thanks 33lima,I'll check that out.

Just as well you posted this I thought you were referring to First Eagles The Great War which is available for £3 not FE2 which is available for around £20! Luckily just managed to retract my bid on Ebay! Quite expensive I think for an older game but I might still get it. Very impressive mods available for it I see, I wonder which of these, if any, could be considered 'essential'.

I think I prefer the idea of WOFF dynamic campaign as I already own RoF so I dont need great graphics just more involving gameplay. But out of interest what are the campaigns in FE2 like - are they just made up of canned linear missions or is there any sort of dynamicism to them? RoF is just a bit too stale for me when out of the missions (and in them most of the time as well!) so I was wondering what FE2 is like, I can imagine OFF has got quite nice immersion whilst out of missions. But how does FE2 compare?

I am not greatly into WW1 sims (more of a jet sim fan myself) but I wouldnt mind one very good one to play and am not that impressed with RoF. But for me the quality of the campaign is everything.

Edit: Hmmm, just reading the online manual and it says the FE2 campaigns are dynamic and that failing to succeed in your sector may not mean other sectors are not unsuccessful - that sounds great! Just my cup of tea. Damn I might have to find £17 for this game now!!!

I wonder what Strike Fighters 2 is like - now you have got me wondering ....

Hi Nats

the cheap, original FE can be patched to the current version and can accept most FE mods including planes. There are some people who prefer the original FE (not me) - it has changing campaign weather, for one thing, and seasonal terrain (the latter can be added to FE2 as a mod) but from memory, the main downsides to FE(1)are:

- you need either the 'Expansion pack' or some extra downloadable planes, to get the same planeset as First Eagles Gold (=FE+Expansion Pack);

- terrain view distance is less, setting for setting;

- not so good effects, including 'non-persistent' plane wrecks;

- AI good, but not quite so good as FE2.

Definitions of what makes a campaign 'dynamic' seem to vary. OFF has an active campaign world with historic squadrons and aces in the air (within the limits of the planeset, which is very good indeed but well behind FE with mods). But I not at all sure the OFF campaign meets the classic definition of dynamic. There is also a disconnect between the OFF campaign interface and the campaign world - strange stuff like somebody you saw going down in flames not being reported harmed, in the mission debrief. WoFF may improve this.

The FE campaigns are dynamic, in that your results in the air influence progress on the ground and in the air - IIRC a lot on 'easy' setting, a little on 'hard'. And FE is also good at filling the skies with other flights going about their business. You get the best effect with user-made campaigns like 'Ojcar's 'Armchair Aces' of 'Bloody April'. As seen in my comparative mission reports! The stock campaigns are pretty good too but limited by the stock planeset. You can edit stock campaigns using Wordpad, to get modder-made planes you have downloaded and installed, to appear - eg I hand-edited 'Battle of Cambrai' to give Jasta 10 the Pfalz DIII, instead of the stock Albatros DV.

Personally I think an active campaign world with lots of realistic stuff going on is enough - OFF and FE both deliver this very well, but FE is rather better at recreating the experience of patrol-leading and air-to-air combat in WW1. Others will have different views, but that's been my experience.

Another plus in FE campaigns is the basic squadron management. In briefing/mission planning phase, as well as being able to drag your en route waypoints around, you can play squadron CO and select who's to be in your flight. By picking the same 4 each time, you can form your own flight and try to get them through the campaign in one piece and with some kills of their own. There's no disconnect between what happens in campaign and the results displayed in the briefing.

As in most WW1 sims, the FE campaign generates a fresh mission each time, chosen from a set of realistic ones for your aircraft type and the period, as chosen by the campaign designer. You don't get unrealistic missions (in OFF you do, regularly, stock anyway, like fighters on artillery observation missions). Obviously there are only so many different types of mission that a given unit would be allocated, so variety is necessarily limited by that.

If you have a look at the FE forums at CombatAce, you'll find different people's recommendations as to the must have mods; the FE (and Strikefighters, same system) knowledge bases cover topics like installing mods (slightly different drill between FE and FE2).

FE doesn't have a decent pilot logbook (just a 'stats page'), has few campaign frills (no newspapers or video clips) and you can't man the observers' guns; but good though the others are, as a WW1 patrol-leading and air-fighting sims, it's the best there is.

The main downside is the effort required to d/l and install so many mods, to get the veryy best from it; there are no big 'all-in-one' packs. But that is a very small price to pay for an amazing variety of great free stuff.

My recommended downloads for FE/FEG/FE2:

- Ojcar's 'Armchair Aces' campaign (at CombatAce);

- all the downloads in the above readme, that are needed for 'Armchair Aces (=most of the freeware planes at CA and Skunkworks, a nationality/medals pack, some ground objects lihe AA MGs, and some other stuff;


- a cloud and skymod, to get better sky backgrounds and 3-d clouds(at CA)

- the bloody April Campaign (at CA);

- any other mod (eg terrain or effects) that takes your fancy.

Highly recommended.

Hybrid review/mission report on IL2-DBW 1916 'Code of Honour' campaign mission now posted:

http://combatace.com/topic/79664-il2-world-war-one/

Thank you for taking the time to do all that, I certainly will have a good look at both FE2 and WOFF. Certainly I have been impressed by the AI in Strike Fighters 2 Europe so if the AI in FE2 is of the same quality it really will be quite a challenge.

The AI in FE2 is IMHO best, as in, more variable and more believable. They are not snipers; they behave in a relatively human way; some make poor moves, others are real hot shots. If damaged they may well turn and make for home, or make a forced landing if they can. They keep formation better than in RoF or OFF and they respond well and realistically to commands.

If you ramp up campaign difficulty to the hardest setting, the FE AI can be VERY hot. I keep it at the 'Normal' setting because 'Hard' produces a higher rate of attrition amongst my poor flight-mates. The only times I experimented with the harder setting, the dogfights were more often fairly desperate white knuckle rides which I felt really lucky to survive, so if that is your thing, you can do it.

There is little or no going straight for the deck, no strange porpoising at low level, and the 2-seater AI is much the most convincing of any of the big three - little or none of the agile, fighter-like moves of RoF (unless they really are fighters, like the Bristol F2B) and they don't just fly like WW2 bombers in fighter formation, like OFF; spook or damage them and they will jink and/or evade, maybe breaking formation, for example.

You can't gun in the 2-seaters, but there are plenty of them to shoot at or fly, inlcuding the ones you get in the other sims, and many more besides:




Even some 3-seaters, too:



Personally, I prefer shooting them down:




...or at least, trying to:

Yes I am finding the 'hard' AI level is too hard myself!

One thing I would like to ask is is there any way you can get the modded planes into the default campaigns?

I see there is a campaign custom tool on the Third Wire website does this only allow you to change your player plane for a modded one or can you change all the planes in the campaign for new ones?

Yes you can do what you ask, Nats, I have done it myself. It takes a bit of time and care but it is not difficult.

From memory, the steps are:

1. locate your 'mods' folder (I'm assuming here you have FE2 - FE/FEG stores mods in the main game folder) - for Vista it's [your username]/Saved Games/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2

2. open the 'Campaigns' folder.

3. Example - to add the A Team Pfalz DIII to the stock Cambrai campaign, locate this campaign's files - WW1E1CAMP1.ini and WW1E1CAMP1_DATA.ini. They will be in a subfolder WW1E1CAMP1.

4. Open both files with Wordpad.

5. Search ('Edit/find') for entries for 'Jasta 10' (a unit which is in the campaign, and which flew the Pfalz about that time).

6. In both files, overtype the entry for the plane listed for Jasta 10 has - the 170hp Ablatros DV - with the exact filename used by the Pfalz, so you end up with this in the .ini file:

GERMANYUnit005]
Squadron=10JASTA
ForceID=2
UnitID=5
StartDate=11/23/1917
\\AircraftType=AlbatrosD5_170
AircraftType=PfalzD3
DescFile=wwiE1Camp1Start.txt
StartText=wwiE1Camp1Start.txt
StartScreen=wwiStartBritish.JPG
CampaignBaseScreen=wwiBaseAlbatrosD5.JPG

...and this in the data_ini file:

// German Unit 5
[AirUnit012]
AircraftType=PfalzD3
Squadron=10JASTA
StartDate=11/23/1917
ForceID=2
Nation=GERMANY
DefaultTexture=Jasta10
BaseArea=Iwuy Aerodrome
RandomChance=100
BaseMoveChance=0
MaxAircraft=12
StartAircraft=12
MaxPilots=12
StartPilots=12
Experience=100
Morale=100
Supply=50
Intelligence=20
MissionChance[SWEEP]=90
MissionChance[CAP]=90
MissionChance[INTERCEPT]=50
MissionChance[ESCORT]=40
MissionChance[STRIKE]=0
MissionChance[CAS]=10
MissionChance[SEAD]=0
MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=20
MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0
MissionChance[RECON]=0
MissionChance[BALLOON_BUSTING]=10
MissionChance[BALLOON_DEFENSE]=20
UpgradeType=NEVER
KnownAce[01].LastName=Löwenhardt
KnownAce[01].FirstName=Erich
KnownAce[01].RankID=3
KnownAce[01].NumMissions=28
KnownAce[01].AirKills=7
KnownAce[01].AircraftNumber=23

then save the files.

The only changes made are in bold. In the first file, you can see that as a backup in case I got something wrong, I left in the original complete line for the Albatros entry, but 'commented it out' - putting '//' in front of the line means the line becomes a text label, not read or executed.

The CombatAce Strike Fighters 2 Knowledge Base describes the use of the mods folder in more detail (works the same for all '2nd generation' Third Wire games, including FE2). Easy and convenient, once you get the hang of it! Basically all mods are installed here. Mods designed for FE/FEG need installed here, not in the main game folder, so their install instructions need to be adapted accordingly. Yuo may need to create some subfolders in your mods folder - it is created when you first install the sim, but not all the subfolders are created at that point.

The plane you add in has to have a service entry date (in its own data file, which you can also hand edit) that fits the campaign, else it won't show up, I believe.

Better than modding the stock campaigns is installing one of the user-made campaigns, with all the planes its readme mentions that you need. The ultimate is Ojcar's 'Armchair Aces' which uses about everything at some point during its vast 1915-18 coverage, and gets updated as new planes are released, to use those. If you want to start smaller, I would also recommend the 'Bloody April' campaign, which uses fewer planes and fewer other add-ons.

I think the 'campaign customiser' will not work for FE2, perhaps because FE2 ceased to be patched some time back (which many consider a good thing, as more recent TW patches to the other 'Gen 2' sims have been controversial).

PS another recommended mod is Peter01's set of flight models, available at CombatAce. This is essential, if you fly with the 'Hard' Flight Model settings (as with other settings, 'Normal' is actually relaxed, eg some extra fuel and ammo). Reason is - apart from being more realistic, IMHO - that some of the user-made planes have FMs which only work right (or at all) with the 'Normal' setting.

If installing this FM mod, you will find that it also much reduces the deadliness of enemy gunners. You may prefer this; but if you don't, either you have to do without the mod, or hand-edit the data files of every plane with a gunner to increase back up to where theyr were, the values for pitch and yaw rates for the defensive guns, which is what I did. It is certainly a very good idea to copy, zip then back up to DVD your mods folder, from time to time, to save a lot of hassle in downloading, installing and if necessary tweaking all the hundreds of mods you can end up with, if anything goes wrong!

I'd also highly recommend the mod which provides dramatic background clouds and better volumetric clouds, can't recall it's name as I right but it makes a big difference, especially the background clouds.

Thanks, I am working my way through the list of mods that Combatace provides and choosing some good ones but I didnt like the last cloud mod I tried.

Problem is with an older game like this if you search on poluarity of the mods it comes up with lots of older mods that were popular when the game was more popular whereas I really want to search for 'popular mods over the last year'. Considering you have to pay for the privaledge of using combatace the search facility leaves a bit to be desired. Which is why I was asking if there were any that you recommend. I spent years checking out mods for Falcon 4 before I got to a reasonable state with the game, dont really want to go through that again for SF2 and FE2 if I can help it.

I am actually only really interested in mods that vastly improve the sky, environment and ground at the moment so if you remember any good ones please let me know. As for adding planes and campaigns thats a much larger job I think so I will play with the vanilla campaigns for the moment.

But need to get over this flipping flickering building shadows issue first though (posted about in third wire forum) its really annoying me - only noticed it in FE2 not SF2.

Looking through the combatace site for FE2 practically all the mods for environment only say First Eagles I have found only three that say First Eagles 2. Does this mean that the mods will work for either game (for example the high res terrain), or does it mean that there arent many environmental mods for FE2?

Hi Nats

CombatAce downloads are free, tho a free 'account' has limits per 24 hours. A team Skunkworks likewise, tho they have different limits (which you need to observe manually, whereas CA stops you automatically at the limit).

Most mods for SF2 will work in FE2. SOME mods for FE won't work in FE2 - clouds and effects AFAIK (due to FE2's different 'particle system' I believe). Most FE/FEG mods work just fine in FE2 (you just need to install differently, into the so-called 'mod' folder).

I think this is the sky and cloud mod I use in FE2:

http://combatace.com/files/file/13454-realistic-sky-mod-first-eagles-2/

This for SF2 likely works in FE2 also, unless they place clouds too high or do something else that's jetsim-oriented:

http://combatace.com/files/file/12836-sa...d-sky-mod-v-13/

Some other recommendations:

http://combatace.com/files/file/4023-vogesen-terrain/

http://combatace.com/files/file/5102-worn-airfield-for-flanders/ [for stock terrain airfields]

http://combatace.com/files/file/4424-first-eagles-flanders-terrain/ [needed for the recommended 'Bloody april' campaign, IIRC]

I like the stock terrain best, but a popular alternative is Jan Tuma's replacement (reported broken but still seems ok to me):
http://combatace.com/files/file/10549-first-eagles-seasonal-tiles-by-jan-tuma/

If you like the stock terrain and want some seasonal variation (FE/FEG had this but FE2 dropped it, no massive loss), then you may be able to find a modded set of them which includes the seasonal variations, like this one:

http://combatace.com/files/file/9756-first-eagles-stock-terrains-visual-upgrade/

NB in FE2, terrain mods get installed into a subfolder called 'Terrains' [plural] tho the install instructions for FE/FEG will say 'Terrain' [singular, as well as not mentioning the 'mod' folder system, introduced with SF2/FE2]

Some other suggestions for FE2:

1. turn the shadow setting high enough so that you see the moving shadows, in the cockpit view as well as external;

2. use the highest setting for aircraft detail, so you get the bump-mapped textures (few user-made planes have this tho)

2. if you're seeing visible hard edges and 'draw-in' to the buildings of the larger towns, open in Wordpad your file [your username]/Saved Games/ThirdWire/FirstEagles2/Flight/Flightengine.ini and increase the value (for the graphics option setting you use, or all of them) of 'DetailMeshSize' to a higher number. This will push out the draw distance - I think the value is the draw distance in kilometres.

Here's what I have, IIRC I 'upped' all of them:

[LowDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=10000.0
DetailMeshSize=18
DetailLevel=0
WaterEffect=0
NoiseTexture=0
MaxTextureRes=128

[MedDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=12000.0
DetailMeshSize=22
DetailLevel=1
WaterEffect=1
NoiseTexture=0
MaxTextureRes=256

[HighDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=14000.0
DetailMeshSize=22
DetailLevel=2
WaterEffect=2
NoiseTexture=1
MaxTextureRes=512

[UnlimitedDetailOption]
HorizonDistance=16000.0
DetailMeshSize=22
DetailLevel=2
WaterEffect=2
NoiseTexture=1
MaxTextureRes=-1

If this file or subfolder isn't there, this is because it's in one of the files that are read from a compressed .cat file in the main game folder. FE2 works like EAW, it reads from a mod file first IF it's there (in the 'mods' folder, in the case of FE2/SF2) and if not, the game reads the stock file. You can mod the stock files by extracting them from the stock .cat file (the SF2 knowledge base will have an article on this) using a 'cat extractor' (FE2/SF2 uses a different one than 1st generation FE/SF), modding it, and then putting the extracted/modded file into the appropriate 'mods' subfolder (its structure parallels that of the main game folder) where they will be read by the game in preference. Sounds complicated but becomes second nature. Zipping and backing up your mods folder soon becomes a very good idea!

The Holy Grail is Ojcar's 'Armchair Aces'. Not only is it a good thing in itself, but by the time you have grabbed all the recommended downloads for it, you will have not only a great selection of planes, but also a lot of other good stuff like different nationalities you can fly for, new ground objects, a greater variety of medals, and other good stuff, like AA machine guns (well not really 'good stuff', if it's YOU they're shooting at!)

I do like the stock campaigns, especially Cambrai, but it's also good to be able to fly during 'Bloody April' or hunt BE2c's during 'the Fokker Scourge'.

PS a couple of other tips to get the best from FE2 add-on planes:

1. shadows in the external view - some planes - like the Eindekker and the FE8 in the pics above - have shadows turned off in the external view, by default, to reduce the FPS hit presumably. Unless you have an older graphics card, or maybe in certain planes like the polygon-intense A Team DH4 (now also available as a Stephen 1918 version) this isn't necessary. Shadows can be turned back on by editing (eg in Wordpad) the plane's setting (on hols so can't confirm if it's in the .ini or data_ini file for the plane, but it is one or the other) from CastShadows=FALSE to TRUE.

2. decal visbility - most planes use these for national and individual markings; only a few, like the Nieuport 17s IIRC, have them 'painted on' permanently. Markings on some user-made planes may disappear at a rather close range from the player. This can be increased by hand-editing the setting, in the plane's decals.ini file - again I can't confirm the exact line in the file but it'll be obvious when you open the file; make sure the value representing decal visibility range is at least 4 (some are at 3) to make sure you can see national or individual markings out to a good range (IIRC, 4 corrsponds to 1000m) and minimise the effect of them popping into or out of view.

The #2 is the number one...what????
Let me explain. I've have and play all of the main titles (was even unfortunate enough to buy Warbirds RedBaron 2012 - a mistake).

Stack the 3 major titles head to head (ROF, OFF, FE2). Rise Of Flight and Over Flanders Fields take turns grabbing the #1 spot in all the major categories. They are either the best in the category, or the worst in the category. However, First Eagles 2 is consistenly second place out of the 3, the exception being the AI category, where it takes the #1 spot.

If somebody says to me, I want the sim that has the absolute best campaign and everything else is of secondary importance, then I would tell them to buy Over Flanders Fields.
If somebody says to me, I want the sim that has the best overall graphics and flight modes, everything else of minor importance, then I would tell them to buy Rise Of Flight.

However, If somebody asks me for the WWI sim that has the best overall package taken in its entirety, then I have to give the nod to First Eagles 2 (Modded). This may change when Wings Over Flanders Fields is released...

My 2 cents, for what it is worth.
(and thanks to 33lima for getting me interested in FE2 and giving it a serious go. )

My pleasure Redwolf!

And that's a pretty darn good assessment of the relative merits of the 'big three'. Only thing I would add are that it's now quite a close-run thing, in the campaign department. For RoF, Pat Wilson's campaign generator is continually upping the ante, while for FE, despite the lack of trimmings, the SF-based campaign engine might actually be the closest to a genuine 'dynamic' campaign, under the hood...AND courtesy of Gertl we're soon to get a great new Italian theatre complete with more new planes from Stephen1918:
http://combatace.com/topic/76900-italian-front-wip/page-6

Hi 33lima,

Thanks for letting us know about FE/FE2.
I did not know that these games exist before I read your posts.

Now I have the game, do you know how to set up freetrack/track IR for FE?
Contrary to what other people says, I can't manage to get it working.

Please advise.
Thanks.