It has taken a lot of work to get cargo dropped by parachute running correctly, and not falling at the rate that a bomb falls.
This morning I made the flag for this as weapons 33-39 in the "weapons.dat" file. It all seems to work well in single mission bomb missions if you are carrying cargo, and in escort/intercept missions if the bomber is carrying cargo.



It does not work fully in multiplayer in that the parachutes fall quickly. However, I cannot see much fun to be had by flying missions involving parachute drops online, so there is no real problem

Therefore weapons 33-39 are reserved for parachute type drops

Excellent work Jel. Many thanks.

Moggy I have written some new code for this in 140, in all sorts of files.
Which exe are you using for the parachute drops in Holland?
It might be better if I have a shot at adding the code to the one you are working with

With Attack in the West with Dunkirk as single missions folders I am working with a tweaked 128C-2016.

I will send you the current code set I have. If you can add in anything that would make the falling chutes not explode and perhaps provide the spawning figures, would be really good.

Hi Tony.

This is a link to Pobs's 3D parachutist. There is a German one on the same page.

http://www.sandbagger.uk.com/pobs/3dpara.zip

Might make the screenshots look better.

Have you been able to slow the decent rate to about 25mph?

Jel: Putting in your folder at the server:

(1) 128C-2016-M4-loading-smoke-wall.zip

This is the complete code files for the tweaked version of 128C-2016 which now includes: D.3dz, 10 crude planesets each with their own slot specific savedata folders, the loading screen, the smoky tmods routines, and an extension of "the wall" southward to accommodate missions around the Italian and southern French bases.

(2) EAW-128CM-2016

The current exe I'm using (included a few yet abortive experiments at bringing in mission time and other desirable things from 129) together with other current setup files.

(3) AITW40.zip

This is the complete current state of the AITW addon for 128C. As previously explained, in the default setup this works using DOM's original utilities in the W40 folder to swap single mission setups for each given day to the "plnset0" folder, which is part of the default setup listed in the dir.set file.

There are 3 additional planeset folders for single missions in the Dunkirk scenario, which can be set using DSP. These provide their own planes, and single mission loading and theatre setup.

Because I know my own work I went back to the 640x480 version of EAW1.29 that I was working on a few weeks ago.
With a few changes to the code I have parachutes dropping gently and not exploding.
The key to getting both things to happen is that the parachute needs to be "ord99.3dz" which is the last one possible.
Yours was "ord34.3dz" so I renamed it and edited your "weapons.dat" file

I think there is probably a squad problem as I cannot select Ju 52s to intercept or escort in single missions, so using your Planeset1 I did a multiplayer escort in a 109E:


All the aircraft released their paratroopers, they descended gently and there were no explosions

Occasionally you do get an explosion when the bomb falling routine is interrupted. It takes a few seconds so interruptions are possible, such as receiving a radio message about enemy fighters.


I will make a package for you to try with only this theatre in it. Then I will get back to you re the critical code

Brilliant Jel.

Thankyou.

Mog640-129.exe is in your folder
It generates my complete folder, but there is only your ETO theatre.
It will give you a chance to see what I have done.
I am getting your 1.28c code now to see if I can adapt it

Thanks. I will give it a run tomorrow.

I have other versions of the exe such as 1.28e. However, I cannot get the Ju88a to fly a single mission with any exe
A CTD occurs with no error message happens every time just after the 100% loaded message.
What happens with your set-up?

You can get CTD's sometimes with non-standard misn**.dat and squad**.dat files. Are you using the EAW default ones?

Funnily enough currently having the same problem and have it on the list of things I am currently trying to fix in the AITW/Dunkirk setups.

I note that in an earlier Dunkirk set-up it was not flyable. Maybe with good reason

In the original Dunkirk setup it as not flyable, but neither were any of the other twin engine bombers.

Have flown the 129 chute setup. Confirm paratroopers not exploding. However, I do get smoking bodies left on the field.

Fixed in 140 and I will now fix it in the earlier versions.

I had originally set it to spawn people running, which it did.
However the next routines killed the people and I never saw the animation in F11.
The new code is this:

The critical changes is the extra condition which disables the "create_smoke_trail" and "kill_people" routines if the "bomb" is a parachute (which has a model number of 99).

Not much to see in this F11 screenie, bot the animation occurred


I will now fix the 640x480 versions and get them to you

This is really looking good guys!

But those mad soldiers need updating. I found a set of soldier sprites the other day, but I can't recall where I saw them.

Please don't take this the wrong way as this isn't meant to denigrate the efforts but how will this enhance the EAW player experience?

Are the paratroopers modified drop tanks or are they modified bombs?

If you are flying the cargo plane and they are modified drop tanks then the game won't award points for a successful paratroop drop. You don't get points in EAW for releasing drop tanks.

If you are escorting a paratroop mission the game won't know that the mission is complete because the drop tanks don't trigger any mission related events.

If you are flying the cargo plane and the paratroops are modified bombs that don't destroy anything how will the game award points?

So the only way that you gain points is if you are escorting the cargo planes and the bomb modified paratroopers hit the target you get a successful mission.

If the paratroopers are a new entity these questions are still relevant in the sense that unless code is added to the awards routines the missions have low interest for repeat play. They quickly enter the same realm as the old "Silent Wings" glider scenario or what Woody and I referred to as the "that's nice" category.

Will the code be edited to make the paratrooper drops a separate category in the same way that ship strikes were added?

I reiterate, these questions are not meant to demean the project in any way. They are meant as a thought exercise for the betterment of the EAW player experience. I hope they are taken in that spirit.

No problem Ray

In fairness I do not think that the points system needs to some into this situation.
As I understand it it applies to careers and medals.
These short term theatres do not lend themselves to careers. To re-focus this is all about Moggy's five day war, and the dropping of German paratroopers in Holland.

The paratroopers are dropped as bombs, but now they turn into running people instead of exploding.
Originally I got it working using your SPAW, with a modified "weapons.dat" file. This was just to get the code right, and I never envisaged parachute drops occurring in SPAW, or any other theatre for that matter, other than the one Moggy is working on.