Finally, after many fits and starts I've finished the project.

Might need a little tweaking of the flight models but I need some feedback from users before delving into them.

I even managed to add one more Allied floatplane. Though actually a "paper plane" much like the Hurricane that never saw the light of day, the Curtiss Goshawk II was a proposed floatplane conversion of the P-40. Looks pretty good with the enlarged cockpit and under fuselage fin:




The files are uploading to the GEN server as I write this so give Jel a day or so to integrate them into the 1.6 package.

There is a "NewSPAWFloatplanes.exe" 7-zip self installer in the "160Specials" folder at MediaFire

Running it in your "160SpecialGR" folder will add the skin and FM folders to the "SPAWPlanes" folder in the "Aircraft_Inventory".
It will also install the latest 160 exes, two new planesets which use the floatplanes, and a "New SPAW floatplanes" theatre with additional floatplane bases located for multiplayer missions.

Jel

Ray I am still getting the occasional "green line" problem with the F1M2

OK, I'll look at it.

Does the game crash?

No
It is momentary- I have just tried for 20 minutes to get it to happen and stay long enough to get a screenie, but I could not.

Same here. Couldn't get it to show up after four attempts. I will look at the files anyhow.

Edit - Found a couple of problems with the 3dz files so I'm sending you a new F1M2 set by e-mail.




If you have a minute, I've got another problem unrelated to this if you would check your PM's.

I just tested the new skin, no green lines so far

I checked the PMs but could not find the problem you are referring to. So I am at a bit of a loss and you will need to enlighten me

Ok.

The problem is that after I D/L'd and installed the two catapult execs and the catapult.mpf file a weird thing is happening when I try to switch planesets. It won't let me change them.

I finally figured out that the planeset folder properties were changed to read only.

I can re-set the properties and switch planesets as usual but only if I keep the properties pop up window open. As soon as I close it and run PSM160 the folder properties reset to read only.

Never had that happen before.


Also, separate issue, I wrote a PM about my experience with the catapult.mpf. file. When you get a chance read it.

I cannot find any reference to the catapult.mpf file in the PMs here

Actually, there are three unanswered PM's.

Catapults, Folder Problem ( described above) and a proposed new SPAW target set project.

I was beginning to think you didn't like me but it's just a PC glitch.

Right?

PS- The folder problem was driving me crazy so in desperation I rebooted. Problem gone.

Went back to the planes that were giving me rendering fits and applied some new found tweaking knowledge. Managed to resurrect this one.

It started as the Ki-61 model, converted to represent the Nakajima A9He1N, which was a proposed floatplane conversion of the He-100 that the Japanese evaluated:




I might give the Blackburn B.44 and the P-38 another shot now that I have somewhat standardized the floatplane building process.

Hardpointed P.3dz I presume?

VonBeerhofen

They are a mixed bag of hardpoints, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, J, K, O and Q. D was added with the 1.4 series and the last four were added when 1.6 became the default.

It's made life a lot easier for modelers.

In some case I used every single one of the available HP's to get the model to render properly. There is still some work to do because the last four will CTD if you add a HP to them. "D" does not, nor "E","F" and "G" while "A", "B" and "C" also CTD.

Hence, you have to be creative putting the models together although my "Empty F" method takes a lot of the guess work out of the process.

Ray, do I wait for more planes before releasing a patch with the one you sent me and the replacement "Pete" skin?

I know how it works Ray but I'd like to know if you fixed the issue by using the P.3dz hardpoint on fighter planes, as I described to you in a previous thread in a try to be more ''social''.

VonBeerhofen

And I applaud your effort.

I was writing for the general public who do like to follow along on these technical discussions.

So anyhow, I use the P exclusively for the outside prop on all planes. The fighters of course use it all alone but also I use it as one of the 2 or 4 props on multiengine planes.

With this method we have four independent props coded engine 1,2,3 and 4. In the early days the props were all coded to engine 2 or maybe engine 3 and 2 so all the props turned on and off with one or two keys. Worked OK for the twins but not for the four engine planes.

Also, I think Ralf instituted two more action codes for engines 5 and 6 for planes like the HE111Z and a few other radical designs. To my knowledge no one has ever coded for them. Might try it some day on my HE111Z which has five engines. Right now two of the engines are coded to engine 2.

Now, all that said, I do have a few earlier models that use the "P" for something other than the props but that was before the extra HP's were added in. The one that comes to mind is the B-26. I left the props on the wings when I broke the model up to make it hi-res thus freeing up the P to be used for something else, in this case the left half of the fuselage.

Great, it's always nice to receive confirmation of such experiments, especially since one can't rely on videodrivers not playing a role on my old legacy machine. It's happened before that I had things working but it wasn't working when I had to migrate it all to XP, it's one of the things which make progress a bit of a crapshoot.

I think what you're observing is that you can not hardpoint anything onto a 3DZ which is already hardpointed itself. At least that's what I seem to recall from these experiments. For any new 3DZ's there are no hardpointcodes present in v1.2 and as such have to be implemented into the new code first before it will start working like the rest. This means that if the new file isn't given a new hardpoint it should principally be able to be used the same way as the F 3DZ but the superplanes render sequentially so a higher order 3DZ in the alphabeth will not entirely behave the same as the F.3DZ since hardpoints use the same heirarchy by default.

Still it could be usefull in some ways as an alternative model for a certain hardpoint, to solve some R/S trouble in the whole model's structure. It's higher or lower position in the hierarchy might well be just what's needed to solve an issue, but it's not something easy to grasp how to make the best use of it. Like many things in EAW it often comes down to trial and error before pro and contra start dawning on you.

Here is something else interesting, as far as I reasearched the topic it should be possible to incorporate the entire cockpit into the external view of the plane, as long as the cockpit dimensions are the same as that part on the fuselage of the external model, and in EAW they are. However it's restricted by the same conditions of the other 3DZ's in that when it's already hardpointed it can no longer have additional hardpoints in it's structure. The question here is, is it possible to show the instrument panel inside of the pit without using a hardpoint for it or the wingviews outside. I believe there is a way.

VonBeerhofen

It's a mixed bag. Some letters will allow you to assign other HP's and other won't.

The E, F and G allow it because they are USUALLY the wings and fuselage and thus are set up to accept weapons HP's, 1 through 9.

The A, B and C do not allow for it, as recently seen on the new F1M2 which, though it didn't CTD, did exhibit odd graphical problems.

The new D seems to have the characteristics of the E,F and G since I've added HP'd to it without any problem.

However, I,J K, O and Q all refuse to accept HP's.

I've been able to overcome the limitations by rearranging the ordering of the various parts plus the judicious use of my Empty F method which avoids the hierarchy problem.

As to the cockpit, I believe the P-51D original cockpit was built without a HP for the gunsight, so what you are suggesting is indeed possible.

Ray, there was no FM folder for the "SPAW_A9He1 FLOAT" - so what do we use?

Don't know what happened, i attached two zip file to the e-mail, one skin an done FM.

I'll resend the FM right now.

And FWIW, that will be the end of the floatplanes for now. I'm heading out for a week's vacation next Monday so I'm up to my butt in prepping.