hi again Cas & Andrew

Cas, you'll need to d/l a hex editor, I used XVI32 (X-Ray-Victor-India figures Three-Two), get it at

http://www.downseek.com/download/19214.asp

Open it like any proggie eg d/click its .exe after you've installed the download.

It opens in a window and has the usual Windows-type options on its menu bar.

Select File/Open and navigate to wow.exe. That's after you've made a backup copy of wow.exe, of course. I'd suggest editing the no-CD version, take it you've got that already?

When you've opened wow.exe in XVI32, you get a confusing load of alphanumeric stuff showing up in three panes inside XVI32's window.

In the LH pane you get what I'd call the addresses, listed alphanumerically, in a single column. This is where you look up Flyby1’s change location.

In the middle pane there's a grid giving two-digit alphanumeric values. row upon row, one row for each of the "addresses" in the LH pane. This is where you swap the old string for the new ones.

In the RH pane, there's another grid of, well, mostly gibberish, some digits, some "obelisks". Ignore this pane.

Watch the LH pane and scroll down till you get a value that looks like the one you want to change - see Flyby1's instructions. You probably won't see the exact same "address" but should be close (last 1-2 digits different, rest the same). First, you’re looking for 20FBF. I think I got to 20FBB or something like that, but that’s close enough for the next step; IIRC the LH column lists the address of the first pair in the middle pane, you’ll get the exact address by clicking on the correct pair of digits in the middle pane.

Now, look across at the middle pane. Look for a sequence of pairs of digits, which matches the sequence you want to change, as per Flyby1's instructions. For the first change, you’re looking for 8B.EA.83.C5.05. Each pair is in a little box of it's own, in a grid in the middle pane.

Click on the first box, in the middle pane, which has the first pair of digits. Note that in the little readout at the bottom of the XVI32 window, it will now show the precise “address” given by flyby1, which is further confirmation that you’re in the right place.

Overtype the first pair of digits with flyby1’s replacements. Click on the second pair, and repeat. Continue till you’ve changed all the pairs in the sequence. IOW, you’re replacing 8B.EA.83.C5.05 with 33.ED.90.90.90

Then do this again for the second change – this time there’s only one pair to change. At 20FF3, you’re replacing the value 08 with 00.

Save wow.exe and exit. Play WoW and bingo, no rockets!

This will sound confusing - written from work so from memory - but it will be easy to follow if you're doing it with XVI32 open and actually seing what I'm trying to describe here.

Flyby1/Andrew, yes, a mission editing facility is what's needed most, beyond what you can fix; even if we have to start by manually editing WoW's existing missions. Tom C at SimHQ has indicated he's not got any contacts at Gathering due to their limited sim output so we'll have to see how it goes, I'll have a go myself by or about this weekend if as seems likely there's no sign of any official or unofficial forum before then.

To make the most of instant action, it would be useful if we could disable all bonuses, and develop even limited control of other planes. For example, the protoype Albatros triplane (Fisch-R) and Neiuport (Silverfish-R) should rarely or never show up.

It would be nice, beyond that, if we got enemies from roughly the right era - say grouped into two, early and late - early being Fokker monoplanes, Alb C3, N.17, Roland C2, DH2, FE2; late being Dr1, D7, D8, Pfalz D3, Alb D3, SSW D4, H-B W39, Zepp-Staaken, SE5, Camel, Brisfit, Dolphin, B.14, Ca33 (?). But certainly drop (if they can't be greatly reduced in liklihood) the Neiuport and Albatros triplanes as routine enemies, they show up way too often. That sort of thing; random choice between appropriate enemies. Also it seems we only get fighters as enemies in SP instant action. Never bombers. It would be nice to get a random mix on the enemy side (or your won, simulating escort or intercept missions)

eg you might get X figthers, but a couple of 2-seaters - provided that 2-seaters or bombers spawned in IA fly defensively as they do in campaigns, not attack you head on, imagine being attacked by a dogfigthing Zeppelin-Staaken Giant!

Another change that might bring some life to IA is to make it less instant. IOW, can the opposing forces be placed further apart at the start, so they have to find each other? This might cause problems if (a) your side's planes aren't programmed by default to follow you in the absence of anything to attack, or (b) if the enemies aren't programmed by default to fly around withing the arena (what would happen if they flew into the "walls of wind", would they get blown back in and carry on OK, get sattered, or some crash?

Might be worth seeing what happens if you can increase the initial separatio on spawning.

Another thing that might be worth looking for, this time on FMs, is momentum. IIRC that's one thing the documantation says is "switched on" when you go for the classic FM. I have the feeling that if it's possible to increase momentum, this could reduce the ability of planes to make the more wild changes of direction that they do. There might be a variable that all planes would use, hopefully factoring in their own properties, and that could be edited. Crude, but might help with those unrealistic manoeuvres.

Just some thoughts, obviously you'll have your own ideas, and you know what you're doing while I'm just typing which like talk is cheap!


When you soar into the air in a Sopwith scout
And you're scrapping with a Hun and your gun cuts out
Well, you stuff down your nose till your plugs fall out
'Cos you haven't got a hope in the morning!