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OT Janes WWII Fighters

Posted By: markl

OT Janes WWII Fighters - 04/30/15 11:48 AM

I recently tried to reinstall Janes WWII Fighter in WinXP. Unfortunately when I click fly I get a lot of garbled graphics. None of the compatability modes worked either.

I am hoping someone here may know how to get it going on a semi modern PC. (Dual core socket 775, nvidia 560 and 2 gig ram)
I had a look in the read only section and the links to possible fixes no longer work.

I treid the ini file and font fix from "http://tech.aroundthehat.com/games__ww2_fighters.php#Downloads" but still no luck. But not sure if I used the font fix correctly.

The FA-18 still works OK, but not WWII Fighters.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 04/30/15 04:06 PM

Hello Markl,

Did you try the Opengl mode ? It works great for me under win 8.1, though I don't know about WinXP.
Setting API=2 and cranking up the resolution in the .ini file did the trick.
No more corrupted fonts, and mostly no artefacts.

I also tried nglide (glide emulator) which allows for widescreen resolutions (and that's really great) but sadly the artefacts and the bad fonts are back. Plus, the game gets unstable at times.
So I stick to the Opengl mode for the time being.

Fly safe,

Andromedius.
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 04/30/15 08:10 PM

Hello Andromedius,
My problem is the graphics are so garbled I can not enter the menus to change anything. I get the cockpit outline and ground textures but everything else just pops in and out.

When I press escape I can see what should be the menu but the mouse cursor does not work either.

Edit:
I tried an install on the Win7 64 bit PC 2500K processor and nvidia 6600 Ti card, and it worked a lot better. I can now enter the menus etc and the game does play.

How do you enable the Opengl mode? I can not see it in the 3D options or anywhere else.
I set API=2 and my screen size in the ww2.ini but can not see Opengl there either.

After reading the readme there should be somewhere to change the 3D options as the game supports Voodoo, glide opengl directx etc. just not sure where.

If it is an option I can see in the ini file, could you post the contents of yours here as it is not a very big one as far as lines it it goes.

Still looking for a listing of all the ini options but have not fould one yet.

At least I have it going now, not great but going. It must not like the driver verion on the older XP box.

I would like to try the opengl though.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/01/15 02:37 PM

Hi, Markl,

Well, the opengl mode is active but you won't find any indication about it in the UI of the game. I know it's working for me because I can see a huge difference when it's on. Like I wrote previously, I initially launched the game in glide emulation mode, but I had the same corrupted graphics and fonts. Direct3D was better but still not okay, so I found this tweak API=2 and it solved most of the artefacts in the sim.
It is also really twitchy to set your resolution manually via the ini file : the game will only be stable when selecting its original ones. It actually crashes every time I set a custom resolution.

I also had the same issue as yours with flashing menus and disappearing mouse cursor when I used glide emulation and D3D - but not on a regular basis. I think the game doesn't like it that much when you mess with the ini file - specifically with the resolution.

To get rid of this issue, I had to delete the ini file and let the game generate a new one. Then, in the options menu I was able to change the resolution and navigate through the menus.
I exited the game, modified the ini (API=2)and that was it. After that I didn't modify ww2.ini again.


As far as my ini modifications go, it's pretty straightforward :

Here are my 3D settings in the ini file:


[3DGraphics]

.API 2 <----- for OpenGl/ 1=glide emulator/ 0=D3D (you could try this)
.Device 0 <----- this could be how to bypass the type of graphic card. Not sure about this.
.Width 1280
.Height 1024
.ColorDepth 32
.ZBufferDepth 16


Important : I didn't change the resolution via the ini file.

I'll post some screens later.

Hope this helps.

Fly safe,

Andromedius
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/01/15 03:39 PM

Hi, again,

As promised, here are some screenshots. Mode OpenGl- FSAA x4 - 1280x1024.
Running under Win 8.1 64 bits- 32gig RAM - GeForce GTX 970 - Core i7 4770K @4.2ghz.

Enjoy !




No artefacts on the canopy





3D volumetric clouds are looking good.





Light them up !!!



Intros for missions display nicely




Hum... Looks like someone's on a hunt...




Let's gain so more altitude...




Cockpit view is not so bad for an old sim...




OpenGl mode is perfect for getting rid of the bad fonts.





Fly safe,

Andromedius.
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/02/15 09:37 AM

Thanks for the screen shots. My installation nearly looks as good as yours but for the skin textures. Are you using a skin pack?

My ME262 looks similar to yours by my Thunderbolt has really fuzzy textures. I am using the same 3D settings as you currently and all options on high. I presume you are setting the AA via your nvidia control panel as I did not see those options in game.

My clouds look OK, just the aircraft textures need firming up a bit. But compared to what I was getting first off I am now really pleased.

One thing that was happening was since I was entering in my screen resolution manually some of the unsupported resolutions were causing the ini file to be reset. Or at least I think that may have been the cause.

API kept getting reset to "0" and colourdepth to 16.
But seems to be holding now.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/02/15 10:11 AM

Hi, MarkL,

Indeed, I'm using the nvidia control panel for the AA. My Thunderbolt has no mods, just plain FSAA.

By the way, if you are using D3D mode API=0, you can get rid of the bad fonts thanks to this patch :
http://tech.aroundthehat.com/files/ww2f/downloads/fixfonts.zip

I've tried it and it works like a charm ! Now, this is interesting because, though the opengl mode takes care of the fonts issues, it unfortunately makes the game crash when you're using mods (colors are limited to 256, so you have to get specific opengl mods for jane's WWII).

So thanks to you, I went back and used the patch for the fonts, set up the 3D options to API = 0 (pure D3D) and I can now use nice skins and mods without ctd.

Gotta admit that with some mods the game looks good, considering it was released in 1998 if I'm not mistaken.


P-51 modded 3D cockpit. Makes quite a difference!




P-51 with a distracting skin...







In case you don't already know about it, here's a link to a great modding site for Jane's WWII :
http://ww2fighters.org/

Fly safe,

Andromedius
Posted By: Pooch

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/02/15 08:17 PM

Ah, Rammjeagers Mustang. Remember it well. I have many hours in that model. Still looks good after so many years. And use Hammerds P-47 if you want a really nice Thunderbolt. With the high res wing mod its a very nice model.
This was my favorite combat flight sim for a long time. I met with an online group every Thursday and Sunday evening. It's some of my fondest gaming memories of all the years I've been doing it. This was a terrific sim.
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/03/15 02:01 AM

Originally Posted By: Andromedius
Hi, MarkL,

Indeed, I'm using the nvidia control panel for the AA. My Thunderbolt has no mods, just plain FSAA.

By the way, if you are using D3D mode API=0, you can get rid of the bad fonts thanks to this patch :
http://tech.aroundthehat.com/files/ww2f/downloads/fixfonts.zip


In case you don't already know about it, here's a link to a great modding site for Jane's WWII :
http://ww2fighters.org/

Fly safe,

Andromedius


Thanks for the patch link, I have downloaded it now.

It looks like the ww2fighters page has expired. Tried a few links to it and get a "403" every time.
Is there anywhere else I can get the mods from? the screen shots you posted look great, and it would be good to get them.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Tarnsman

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/03/15 02:40 AM

There was an AddonCD with all the Mods collected that you could buy for a couple of bucks to burn the disk and ship it back in the day. I did a google for the disk and found this page: AddOn Page

I can not vouch for it, but it may be legit, "swiper" sounds familiar, I can say the file names look familiar and what I recall being on the disk. It has been a long time but perhaps it can still be found or the files are archived somewhere, perhaps even here at SimHq. If there are any remnants of Combat Ace or Check Six websites may have stuff. Also, along with Hammerd and Rammjeager, look for Snorri who was another prominent modder for JWW2F.

Janes WWII Fighters was a fantastic sim and what really got me hooked on the fight sim genre and brought me to this site.
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/03/15 01:53 PM

Originally Posted By: markl

Thanks for the patch link, I have downloaded it now.

It looks like the ww2fighters page has expired. Tried a few links to it and get a "403" every time.
Is there anywhere else I can get the mods from? the screen shots you posted look great, and it would be good to get them.

Regards MarkL



Well, that's odd, I just checked the page and it's working just fine for me. I'm using Firefox, by the way.
In case you still can't access the site, I've uploaded some mods myself, that should allow you to enjoy the overhauled graphics while flying.
I've only placed some of them in my Dropbox's Public Folder but I'll add more in case the site remains out of reach for you.

Enjoy !

Planes :
---------
The P-51Dv2 model : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/P-51Dv2.zip
The P-47M Fireball 3d model : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/P47M_FireBall.zip
The P-47_Willie the Wolf skin for the P-47M Fireball : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/P47_WillieTheWolf.zip
The P38CaliforniaCutie : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/P38CaliforniaCutie.zip


Terrains :
-----------
Alan_Grey_Spring_CFS_Terrain: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/Alan_Grey_Spring_CFS_Terrain.zip
TerrainPack: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/TerrainPack.zip
EarlyFallTerrain: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/EarlyFallTerrain.zip


Clouds and smoke effects:
-------------------------
Snorri improved smoke : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/Snorri_Smoke.zip
Rabu's Clouds set : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14017931/OTE_Clds.zip


Fly safe,

Andromedius.

Posted By: ShoGun

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/03/15 04:25 PM

Try This link:http://www.ww2fighters.org/
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/04/15 10:14 AM

Originally Posted By: Andromedius


Well, that's odd, I just checked the page and it's working just fine for me. I'm using Firefox, by the way.
In case you still can't access the site, I've uploaded some mods myself, that should allow you to enjoy the overhauled graphics while flying.
I've only placed some of them in my Dropbox's Public Folder but I'll add more in case the site remains out of reach for you.


Thanks I downloaded all the mods you posted, hope to try some of them in a day or so.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/04/15 10:19 AM

Originally Posted By: ShoGun
Try This link:http://www.ww2fighters.org/


Thanks for the link. I do not know why but I cannot open that site with any browser on my PC, but I can on my tablet.
Looks like it is time to re image the web PC. I use a seperate PC for all web use and have a separate PC for games. That's why I am interested in all the old ones with no activation etc, and they are still good games.
Just wish the Janes series was on GoG.

Anyway thanks to Andromedius, I have some mods to try.
Looking forward to installing them in a day or so.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Andromedius

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/04/15 05:44 PM

Originally Posted By: markl
Thanks I downloaded all the mods you posted, hope to try some of them in a day or so.

Regards MarkL


You're welcome ! As fellow simmers we must pull together. salute
Since I understand you still can't access the site, I'll PM you more links including german planes and many other mods in a couple of days. Stay tuned !

Fly safe,

Andromedius.

Posted By: Recluse

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/05/15 12:22 PM

Originally Posted By: markl
I recently tried to reinstall Janes WWII Fighter in WinXP. Unfortunately when I click fly I get a lot of garbled graphics. None of the compatability modes worked either.

I am hoping someone here may know how to get it going on a semi modern PC. (Dual core socket 775, nvidia 560 and 2 gig ram)
I had a look in the read only section and the links to possible fixes no longer work.

I treid the ini file and font fix from "http://tech.aroundthehat.com/games__ww2_fighters.php#Downloads" but still no luck. But not sure if I used the font fix correctly.

The FA-18 still works OK, but not WWII Fighters.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards MarkL




Looks like you are good, but I just wanted to affirm that I have WWII Fighters running on a similar XP rig to yours. Components in the signature. I have the slightest bit of graphic corruption (occasional spikes on the fonts where the labels are.. minor, almost like "|" characters.

I remember when I installed it at first, I made use of various mods from a compilation CD that someone put together at one time, but I honestly don't recall what I have going at the moment. Meant to check to see if I am using a GLIDE emulator, and if so, it would be DGVoodoo 1.4 or 1.5

If you have additional interest for XP, I will go back and try to figure out my settings.
Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/06/15 10:10 AM


[/quote]

If you have additional interest for XP, I will go back and try to figure out my settings.

[/quote]

Yes my prefered gaming systemwhere possible is XP, so any information you can provide will be appreciated.
My installation on the XP box is many years old now. The disk has been filled up, games uninstalled a few times si my problems may be it just needs a refresh, not sure.

Anyway Hope to try to install the mods I have downloaded over the coming weekend, real life got in the way this week.

Regards MarkL
Posted By: Recluse

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/07/15 01:04 AM

On WinXP I am using the DGVoodoo 1.50 Beta Glide wrapper with the following settings:




I have the WW2 Fighters Base Mods CD, but I really don't recall what mods/patches I may have applied beyond a NOCD executable.

My NVIDIA settings are:


Posted By: markl

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 05/07/15 09:09 AM

Thanks for the settings screenshots.

Where do you get the WW2 Fighters Base Mods CD?

Cheers MarkL
Posted By: D'Ace

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 06/23/18 10:51 AM

Nice to see this game is still alive, my favorite among all. And I fly a lot ALL of them... my problem this morning was with the joystick. I have thustmaster Flight Stick, with throttle axis and rudder axis in the same joy (is the joystick I I usually plug for this old games) and I found that throttle and rudder axis are exchanged. When I tur my whrist the engine goes up. I'm trying to find any solution in ww2.ini and w2keys.txt files, but no luck. Could you help please? I guess Andromedius is an expert in these issues. Thanks to him I flew again IAF, USAF, F15 and F18 from Janes.
Posted By: Dornil

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 06/25/18 04:48 PM

I don't know exactly what could be the problem in your case, but in nothing else helps, you can use PPJoy software to create a virtual joystick, and then map your physical axis to it via Joystick Remixer.
Posted By: hunter1

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 07/07/18 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by D'Ace
Nice to see this game is still alive, my favorite among all. And I fly a lot ALL of them... my problem this morning was with the joystick. I have thustmaster Flight Stick, with throttle axis and rudder axis in the same joy (is the joystick I I usually plug for this old games) and I found that throttle and rudder axis are exchanged. When I tur my whrist the engine goes up. I'm trying to find any solution in ww2.ini and w2keys.txt files, but no luck. Could you help please? I guess Andromedius is an expert in these issues. Thanks to him I flew again IAF, USAF, F15 and F18 from Janes.

Hi, D'Ace Have you try use ms sidewinder configuration in the option screen ? Sorry for my poor english.
Posted By: Hardtale

Re: OT Janes WWII Fighters - 07/08/18 07:45 PM

Has some great interviews in the museum section!
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